Ch.10135. Yuri’s Visit to Busan (3)

Yuri’s heart was pounding. It felt like her heart would burst out of her chest.

‘There’s only me and… Minsu here.’

The moment she saw Minsu sharing a passionate kiss with Soso. It felt like her heart was being torn apart.

And then, as if her heart had been dug out and buried in the polar ice, like an Arctic glacier. She felt her heart growing cold.

That’s why Yuri cried.

She cried from the genuine, excruciating pain of losing Minsu to another woman. But now, Yuri was glad that she had cried hours ago.

‘Yes. There was no need to think about it so hard.’

It was the first time she had cried so much in her life. And when even those tears had frozen.

The voice echoing in her heart gave her the answer to all the problems she had been worrying about.

‘It was really simple. The problem would end once Minsu and I become one.’

She could feel the warmth from their touching lips. Her body was always cold.

So the temperature of his lips.

Minsu’s warmth and breath reached her more vividly. The voice inside her whispered again.

– Yuri Tarkovskaya. You’re doing well. Keep him trapped forever and make him yours.

And Yuri agreed with that voice.

As if possessed. Or as if another personality had formed within her. The voice was distinctly clear.

But Yuri denied it herself. The voice now was certainly not someone else. It was Yuri Tarkovskaya, herself.

‘It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. Making Minsu mine.’

Right now, her lips are pressed against Minsu’s. So she feels incredibly excited, her heart racing with happiness. But an infinitely cold heart coexists within her.

Yuri realized in this moment. That the Yuki-onna blood within her had awakened.

And if she couldn’t make this man hers. If this man became someone else’s.

Her resentment, her grudge as a Yuki-onna, would grow enough to turn this summer into winter.

‘Of course, that will never happen. Minsu is my man. Minsu loves me too. He won’t go to another woman.’

Love. At that word, Yuri’s heart pounded again.

‘Yes. Minsu loves me.’

I love you. Those words echo in her heart. And her feelings are the same as Minsu’s.

‘I love Minsu too. I love him. I love him. I like him so much.’

That feeling overflows, making her heart feel like it might burst. The window of the room overlooking Gwangan Bridge.

That window has already become translucent with thick ice frozen over it. And the bridge’s lights shine through the ice-covered window.

As if blessing the union of the two people. The orange lights shine beautifully.

Yuri briefly separated her lips and looked at the face of the lover she adored.

“I love you… and you’re so cute…”

Minsu remained still, sitting on the bed, looking at her. He looked so cute and lovable that she wanted to hug him tightly.

At the same time, she deeply hated those thieving cats who had tried to steal those eyes, that gaze that had always been directed at her.

‘Seong Arin. Yeon Soso. Filthy women…’

Those wretched women had flirted with Minsu. Minsu’s heart had always been constant. There’s no way his heart, which had loved her since Eins, would go to those women.

‘Still, those two must have seduced Minsu. With their dirty bodies. With their dirty words…’

With that thought, the image of Minsu kissing Soso from a few hours ago flashed in her mind again.

‘No. That absolutely cannot happen.’

The painful scene that made her feel like she couldn’t breathe, like she might die, circled in her mind again. Like hyperventilation, it became difficult to breathe again.

“Haa… Haa… Haa…”

But Yuri calmed herself. Minsu was right here in front of her. And Minsu’s heart was undoubtedly the same as hers.

If he truly disliked her, he could get up and leave at any time. But Minsu was looking up at her with loving eyes.

“So… you love me too, right Minsu?”

As if it were obvious, Minsu said nothing and just looked up at her. Without any denial, he gazed at her kindly with honest eyes.

No further answer was needed. Minsu was already her lover.

For two people who loved each other so much, confirming each other’s feelings was childish and unnecessary.

It would be faster to confirm those feelings by becoming one. Yuri pressed her lips against Minsu’s again.

And then she straddled his body, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“We’re going to become one now.”

***

Yuri climbed onto my lower body as I sat at the edge of the bed.

A hotel room with just the two of us. A place where the night view of Gwangan Bridge could be seen through the window. It should have been an incredibly romantic moment for a man and woman.

But right now, I was desperately resisting. Yet my body wouldn’t listen.

‘Damn it. In this room, this space, Yuri’s dominance is too strong.’

An awakener’s awakening grade is an indicator of how much mana an individual awakener can control.

Yuri is an A-grade awakener. And not someone who achieved A-grade through training mana from the beginning. She was born an A-grade awakener.

Naturally, even among those of the same A-grade. The dominance of a born high-grade awakener who has handled mana as naturally as breathing since birth would be more precise and stronger.

‘No, by now she’s surpassed A-grade.’

My own awakening grade had risen after Hong-ok’s second seal was released. When measured with Flame headquarters’ equipment, I was rated B+.

So if Yuri were purely A-grade, I wouldn’t be frozen like a rabbit before a tiger, unable to move.

‘And this room now…’

The phrase “adding insult to injury” was most fitting. Another idiom called “snow upon snow” in Chinese characters. Like that saying which means snow falling on top of snow.

In this space dominated by Yuri’s ice-type mana. An eternal barrier was being created.

‘I couldn’t escape the eternal barrier even at Eins. At this rate…’

Yuri’s reaction was alarming. I could clearly feel her intention to imprison and bind me here.

Yuri, who had just kissed me. She briefly separated her lips from mine, but things got more troublesome. She climbed on top of me.

Yuri hugged me tightly, wrapping her arms around my neck. She whispered in my ear.

“We’re going to become one now.”

It was a statement conveying intense excitement. She was completely different from her usual self. In that moment, a word came to my mind.

‘Yuki-onna.’

Maria had told me about Yuri’s maternal lineage. If this were the real Earth, I might have dismissed such a legendary folklore creature as ridiculous.

But Aka Hunter’s Earth was different. Even before the dimensional fusion, something not human existed in the shadows of society.

Now those beings have naturally assimilated with humans, categorized under the term “awakeners.” And though they’re being forgotten, I couldn’t ignore that fact now.

‘Does Yuri really have the blood of a Yuki-onna…’

After hearing about it from Maria, I had become curious and researched it privately. The Japanese folklore about Yuki-onna.

A Yuki-onna is an extremely beautiful yokai with strong powers. And as the name suggests, a being that uses the power of snow.

‘Really… thinking about it, that’s Yuri herself.’

Since she already had the nickname “Snow Woman.”

When I saw her drunk at Mt. Seorak, I had wondered, but the Yuri before me now was the very image of that Yuki-onna.

And I knew the common characteristics passed down in those folktales.

A Yuki-onna in love has an extremely strong desire to control and possess her mate. She loves only one man until the moment of her death.

And in most legends and folktales, the Yuki-onna. Met a tragic end because of her obsession and affection for that man.

My mind was racing, but I still couldn’t move my body. Yuri, still embracing me, soon pressed her lips against mine again.

“Mmph… Mmm…”

Yuri’s tongue entered my mouth. Perhaps because I was used to kissing Soso, Yuri’s tongue movements felt very clumsy.

But it was a kiss that felt desperate and sincere. Since I was under her control and couldn’t respond from my side.

After continuing her awkward kiss for a while, Yuri briefly separated her lips from mine.

Unlike her usual self, her flushed expression was incredibly enchanting. At that sight, I almost lost myself for a moment.

It was said that a Yuki-onna is beautiful enough to enchant any man. Yuri, who wanted me now, was as beautiful as the Yuki-onna described in legends.

Unable to move my body at all. It almost felt like happiness to be at her mercy.

‘No. What am I thinking?’

I desperately denied that unconscious thought. I needed to stay focused. At least at this point, with the takeover of Busan ahead.

I absolutely couldn’t let things happen that I couldn’t control.

‘I… won’t cross the line with anyone.’

Unaware of my inner turmoil, Yuri held my face with both hands and said.

“Haa… How is it? Not Soso. How does it feel to kiss me? I’m better than Soso, right?”

***

At Yuri’s words, it felt like I’d been hit on the back of the head with a hammer, making my mind go blank.

And then, anger welled up inside me, making my insides boil.

‘Lee Minsu. You stupid bastard!’

Now I understood why Yuri had suddenly changed like this.

And why the usually cool and rational Yuri had come to my room, unable to distinguish between public and private matters, when I was her subordinate.

The circumstances became clear at once.

‘Yuri must have seen it.’

The café at Gwangalli. Yuri must have seen me kissing Soso there. Yuri continued speaking.

“This place has a view of the bridge like that café… No, it’s even more romantic than that place… Hehe.”

As she said this, Yuri playfully touched my lips with her fingertips, as if lovingly. My thoughts were correct.

‘You idiot. If you knew Yuri was coming today. You should have minimized the risk variables…’

Since coming to Busan, I had grown closer to Soso. And though I denied it to myself, I didn’t dislike kissing Soso either.

Soso was pretty and always liked me. I was a man too. I had been careless, thinking it would be fine as long as we didn’t go beyond kissing.

‘No. I can’t let emotions ruin things again.’

I was so angry I wanted to beat myself up, but I desperately hit the brakes.

Even if I had already made a mistake. Even if the situation had derailed, I needed to get it back on track. I needed to stay calm.

Yuri laid me down on the bed. And while continuing to breathe sweetly, she unbuttoned the shirt she was wearing.

“Finally… We’re really becoming one. We’re lovers, so it’s natural because we love each other. There’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Soon she took off the rest of her clothes, leaving her in her underwear. She lowered her body onto me as I lay there.

“Like this… Every night I spent hugging the teddy bear you gave me. Because it was a gift from you… Thinking it was you… I was so lonely. The time I couldn’t see you… But now I don’t have to do that anymore.”

Yuri hugged me tightly and briefly kissed me again.

“Because I love you. Because you love me too. So we’re sharing our love.”

And Yuri began to undress me.

‘No. At this rate…’

If Yuri really took me. And if I embraced Yuri. I had the intuition that it would be irreversible.

At that moment, Hong-ok, whom I had desperately called, finally responded.

The image of fire that began to burn. Started to push back Yuri’s mana that was binding me, little by little.

Yuri’s dominance was too strong, so I still couldn’t move my body, but I felt strength returning to my lips. After quickly removing my top, as Yuri was about to kiss me again.

I desperately said.

“Wait. I’m… also a virgin.”

Yuri’s blue eyes looked at me intently.