Ch.5519. A Night for Two (4)

I couldn’t answer that either.

A young man and woman alone together sleeping in close proximity is dangerous. If I were to mention that, the current Yuri would probably enjoy it even more.

I turned my back to Yuri. I felt like I should move further away from her.

But we were on the second-floor deck of the shelter. Even if I moved away, there was no partition separating Yuri and me.

“It’s cold. Hoo…”

I heard Yuri say that. Then I heard her getting up behind me. From the rustling sounds, it seemed like she was walking toward me with her sleeping bag.

‘Cold, she says…’

Just as I’m completely immune to flame and heat, Yuri is completely immune to cold.

But come to think of it, I’ve heard of people who died frozen in unpowered freezers, not from actual freezing temperatures but from the fear and illusion of freezing to death.

After drinking three bottles of vodka, an awakened one’s senses might be distorted when using mana.

‘Why… am I rationalizing this?’

In that moment, I found myself rationalizing Yuri’s behavior. Something was definitely off. Right now, we were inside the barrier Yuri had created.

Having been trapped in a permanent barrier before, I know that within such a space, the caster’s influence becomes dominant. It means the barrier’s creator has significant influence over the space.

I felt like prey caught in Yuri’s trap.

Yet secretly, I was hoping for Yuri to come closer. It was truly strange. I needed to come to my senses.

“Minsu, you’re a fire mage, right? So please warm me up.”

While I was conflicted, Yuri approached completely. With my back turned, I could see the wall in the corner of the shelter in front of me.

There was nowhere to run.

‘If I flee outside, it would seem even stranger.’

The shelter was already enclosed in a barrier, and outside was a snowy mountain with heavy snowfall.

She was already close enough that I could hear her breathing. It seemed like she had placed her sleeping bag right behind me.

My body wouldn’t move properly. I couldn’t tell if Yuri was truly restraining me with the barrier’s effect, or if I was anticipating what might happen next.

“Because it’s cold… warm me up. That’s an order from your guild leader.”

Finally, Yuri’s hand touched my back. My heart was racing strangely.

This wasn’t my first physical contact with a woman, but my excitement wouldn’t calm down, like a teenage boy’s.

‘An order from the guild leader, huh.’

I could feel the cold from Yuri’s hand.

It’s an absurd thought, but in a situation where we’re isolated in deep snow mountains, if a superior is in danger of hypothermia, wouldn’t it be right for a subordinate to somehow raise their body temperature back to normal?

‘What a foolish thought…’

But I concentrated mana into my Mana Heart. Soon, the rotating fire-attribute mana made my body hot.

And that heat would naturally be transmitted to Yuri, who was pressing her body against my back.

‘This is just part of my job at Flame…’

It feels like self-justification, but it might help prevent a PTSD episode. No, I decided not to think about anything right now.

In the middle of a snow mountain with heavy snowfall, if Yuri truly wanted to restrain me, I couldn’t resist in my current state.

Of course, if Yuri tried to cross the line, I would try to resist. I had to. I promised myself that. But even that resolve was weakening now.

Yuri finally embraced me from behind.

“So warm… Minsu really is a capable subordinate.”

Her body was cold. I unconsciously made my body even hotter, as if to accommodate her.

“Hoo… I feel like I’m melting… you’re like a heater. It feels so good to be warm…”

I could feel Yuri’s breath on the back of my head. Though Yuri was smaller and more delicate than me, I felt like I couldn’t escape from her embrace.

As she held me tightly from behind, Yuri said:

“I want to see your face, Minsu.”

***

Yuri’s voice sounded sweet.

I couldn’t even predict what expression I was making right now. Nor could I imagine what face Yuri was making.

‘I can’t face her like this.’

But it was useless. Regardless of my thoughts, I seemed to follow Yuri’s words. It wasn’t an unreasonable request. She just wanted to see my face.

Yuri gently turned my body. And with disappointing ease, I turned to face her.

The two of us, lying side by side, now faced each other.

“Minsu, your cheeks are red. What’s wrong?”

My eyes met Yuri’s. Those transparent blue eyes. They were the same beautiful eyes I had always seen in Yuri.

But now those eyes were shining from somewhere deeper. Different from her usual cold gaze. They were eyes full of emotion.

Perhaps “enchantment” would be the most appropriate word to describe it.

“You’re cute…”

Saying that, Yuri traced my lips with her snow-white finger. Then, her fingers caressed my earlobe and cheek.

It was a simple touch, but I could feel the emotion Yuri was experiencing.

In this moment, Yuri seemed to feel as if I were her possession.

“I want to have you, Minsu.”

She confirmed it verbally. Then, moving her fingers again to grip my shoulder,

Yuri exhaled a warm breath and said:

“Shall we… kiss?”

My heart was greatly shaken by those words.

I knew it shouldn’t happen, but the moment I met Yuri’s eyes, the moment I saw that gaze desiring me,

I too could no longer maintain my composure. I couldn’t resist. No, I didn’t resist. Yuri’s face approached mine. And finally, her lips touched mine.

Yuri’s lips were soft and warm.

My heart felt like it would burst. And just as Yuri was about to pull me closer, just as I was about to reach my limit of endurance,

“Mmm…?”

Yuri suddenly pulled her lips away from mine. At the same time, those blue eyes that had been seducing me lost their vitality, as if a light had been turned off.

Then, with her eyes closed, Yuri lay down in place. No, she fell asleep.

The surprisingly seductive expression she had worn just moments ago was gone. Her peacefully sleeping face looked like the usual Yuri.

“Haa… what was that?”

As everything ended so abruptly, I unconsciously let out a long sigh. I wasn’t sure if I felt relieved, empty, or disappointed.

And I could feel that Yuri’s mana, which had been completely dominating me until just now, had subsided.

Indeed, the reason I couldn’t maintain my composure earlier was because of Yuri’s unusual state.

It seemed that drunk Yuri, a high-level awakened one, had unconsciously bound me. The shelter, which had been transformed into a barrier, started to let the sound of wind through again.

‘That was… a close call.’

Nothing happened because Yuri fell asleep, but I didn’t want to think about what might have happened otherwise.

“Hoo… what am I thinking?”

And I couldn’t help feeling a sense of disappointment. Perhaps this mountain shelter had some magical power that stirred people’s hearts.

I covered Yuri with her sleeping bag and got back into mine.

Though we were still uncomfortably close, I was suddenly very tired after using all my nerves during the earlier incident. The fatigue from training with Yuri still remained as well.

Just as I was about to close my eyes, I felt the shelter shake.

‘An earthquake?’

Not a major one. It was such a brief tremor that I might have thought I imagined it.

But with my Mana Heart replaced by the Red Jade, and my senses extremely sensitive, it definitely wasn’t my imagination.

And knowing the significance of Yuri’s trip to Seoraksan, I couldn’t just ignore it.

‘Could an ancient dungeon have formed?’

In the original story, Siwoo discovers an ancient dungeon on Seoraksan. And there, he obtains an important legacy.

From the ancient empire that existed on the otherworld continent of Ailetan. Ancient Gear is also part of that legacy.

‘The legacy Siwoo obtained from that dungeon was an Ancient Gear.’

So it was like a power-up mission for the protagonist before an important episode. But I couldn’t be certain if the same applied to Yuri.

Unlike Siwoo in the original story, Yuri already has Nivis, an S-class Ancient Gear.

An heirloom of the Tarkovsky family. A very special gear that she could possess as the successor to the Grand Duke.

‘So even if she discovers a gear, it wouldn’t be of much help to Yuri…’

It doesn’t make sense for an S-class gear owner to contract with another gear. My case is an exception.

The Red Jade is an S-class gear, but it became my Mana Heart, so my contract with Windcutter isn’t considered a dual contract.

But I couldn’t continue my thoughts any further. I fell asleep instantly to the overwhelming drowsiness.

***

Morning dawned on Seoraksan and the shelter.

And the sound that opened the morning was not the sound of mountain birds, but a sound of agony.

“Uweeek!!”

I went outside the shelter with Yuri. And I patted the back of Yuri, who was retching on the ground.

‘This is… a bit embarrassing.’

Yuri was extremely embarrassed too. When she woke up this morning, her condition was terrible.

Yuri, who had been complaining of severe headaches, suddenly turned pale and rushed out of the shelter.

“Ugh… I… I… Minsu, I’ll be fine alone… Ugh…!!”

“No, I’d be worried if I left you like this…”

And I patted her back again. It was a very typical scene of someone suffering from a hangover.

Having drunk three bottles of vodka like water, and not consciously breaking down the alcohol, this disaster seemed inevitable.

Looking at Yuri suffering from her hangover, I was convinced. Indeed, everything Yuri did to me yesterday was just drunk behavior.

‘So that’s what it was.’

No, of course I knew it wasn’t just simple drunkenness. While alcohol might have influenced her, those blue eyes that seemed to bewitch me couldn’t be described as normal.

For now, I decided not to think more about yesterday’s events. I continued patting Yuri’s back.

“I’m… I’m fine… showing such… such an unsightly state to Minsu…”

And Guild Leader Yuri seemed more embarrassed about showing me this undignified state than suffering from the hangover.

But I couldn’t just leave Yuri suffering like this. I stayed with her until her stomach settled, and then we returned to the shelter together.

“I’m sorry… as a guild leader, I made you do something you shouldn’t have to. Taking care of a hungover superior…”

“Not at all. You helped me when I was drunk before, so it’s only natural that I should do the same.”

Yuri couldn’t meet my eyes. Then, glancing at me slightly, she carefully asked:

“Um… did I perhaps act inappropriately toward you when I was drunk yesterday? I remember telling you about hunting the wild boar, but after that… I don’t really…”

She had been very inappropriate. But it seemed Yuri’s memory cut off after the third bottle of vodka.

So she didn’t remember me wiping her body with a towel. And she didn’t remember that brief kiss either.

“Nothing happened. You just quietly fell asleep.”

It might be better for Yuri to know about her drunk behavior.

But if I told her, I would have to tell her everything about those… embarrassing moments between us. And anyway, the usual Yuri would never get drunk.

“Phew… that’s a relief. I must have gotten carried away telling old stories. I’ve never told anyone about tearing apart that tiger…”

And I could never tell such a frightening woman that she had tried to pounce on me yesterday.

“Would you like something for your hangover then?”

“Hangover food… my stomach isn’t feeling great…”

“I brought cup noodles and mayonnaise. And I also packed some sausages…”

“Th-that sounds good!”

So the two of us finished our hangover cure breakfast together. And just as I was about to mention the tremor I felt in the snow mountain last night,

We heard someone shouting outside the shelter.