Something felt off. When he’d parted ways with Moon Tae-young, he’d been calm, even content.
Even when he got home and wrapped up what he’d been doing, he was perfectly fine. He got in touch with Kim Jeong-baek, sorted out his schedule for the trip to Seoul—he felt nothing in particular about any of it.
But the moment he lay down on the bed, it hit—deviously, heat surged through him again. That was when he knew something was seriously wrong.
I’m so screwed.
There’s a reason people say that when you’ve got too much time on your hands at home, you end up watching porn and jerking off. In the summer, he used to hate the long days. Now, with winter approaching and the nights getting longer, he was in trouble for a whole new reason.
Cha Eui-sung had to lie there, in an empty house, wrestling with urges that gnawed at his brain like rats. In hindsight, he should’ve just thought of someone like Oh Se-dan and instantly cooled off.
But instead of rolling around for hours trying to resist, he gave in and tried to let out some of the pent-up tension. That was his mistake. Afterward, he ended up showering for what felt like an hour, but thanks to his freakishly endless stamina, he wasn’t the least bit drained—he just got more fired up.
Still, that alone wouldn’t have been a big deal. What truly messed him up was that of all people, the face that popped into his head while his hand was wrapped around his lower half… was that damn Demon King.
The sheer shock of it was enough to blank out his mind.
This has never happened before.
Who the hell hasn’t pleasured themselves at least once in their life? But Cha Eui-sung had never been someone driven by impulse. Even when he did need release, he focused on the sensation—not on fantasizing about someone.
But now? Was it because he’d been roped into this temporary fate-sharing deal? Or because he’d kissed someone for the first time?
When his hand moved in excitement, Moon Tae-young’s face brushed across his thoughts.
……
That hand pulling him close by the nape. The front teeth nibbling on his lip, the tip of a tongue rubbing beneath his own. Fingernails pressing into his earlobe. The raw desire flickering in those eyes—eyes that pierced into him from behind half-lidded lashes.
“Hngh!”
As pleasure surged through him and his head twisted to the side, a weird sense of clarity followed—and yet the lust came crawling back, even stronger than before.
Now that he’d touched himself once, his thirst had only intensified. Even the briefest memories tied to Moon Tae-young spiraled into vivid delusions.
The shadow of him that lingered in Cha Eui-sung’s mind ran its hands down his back, tracing along his spine. Bit his ear, breathed into it.
As steaming water poured from the showerhead, Cha Eui-sung recalled those wet, clinging kisses.
“Huhk…!”
He came, shuddering over and over again for what felt like an eternity. And still, the heat lingered, his body burning up. At some point, he caught sight of the deep violet sink, and the sight abruptly snapped him out of it.
What the hell… is this even?
Reacting to Moon Tae-young’s touch wasn’t a bad thing. If he’d felt absolutely nothing, that’d be a real problem for where this relationship might go.
But just because they’d exchanged a few bites and kisses didn’t mean he had to be acting like some hormone-crazed teenager.
If all it took was excess stamina to stay endlessly aroused, then every high-ranked Hunter out there would be in heat 24/7.
No matter how he looked at it, this was just because he was such a painfully inexperienced idiot that it made him want to die from embarrassment.
Even a fake relationship was still a relationship—and now that he’d finally gotten a taste of stimulation, it hit him way too hard.
Meanwhile, Moon Tae-young was probably sleeping peacefully right now.
“Ugh, seriously…”
Cha Eui-sung felt genuinely wronged. So he threw on clothes and stormed out of the house. He wasn’t even horny anymore, but he kept running.
By the time he came back home with leaves stuck all over him, scrubbed himself down with ice-cold water, and collapsed into bed again, it was past five—his day was already starting.
Goddamn it… Still, this should be fine for a while now. Right?
The price of underestimating a younger body had been brutal, but… at least now when he thought of Moon Tae-young, it was warm shoulders and a comforting embrace that came to mind—not some twitch of his hips.
Maybe if he’d had someone by his side during the second round of his twenties, like people always said he should, he wouldn’t be this pathetically out of it today.
Cha Eui-sung replayed the advice he’d once brushed off, then pulled the blanket all the way over his head.
***
―Ttirororo— Loriring— Paaam—♪
Episode 04. The Hero Aims for the Frozen Heart of the Demon King
With the weight of a fragile world on their shoulders, the [Hero] strides forward with unwavering resolve! To seal away the [Demon King]’s assault, they must seize the cursed heart. Meanwhile, the kingdom supporting the [Hero] through wave after wave of enemy incursions has fallen into financial ruin, and sensing a disturbance in the proxy’s balance, the Outer Gods begin to circle like vultures…
King: Since the austerity measures began, this is the first time we’ve met again, O [Hero]!
King: We came up a bit short on the travel budget after reinforcing the world’s protective shield…
King: However, seeing you persevere in solitude for so long and achieving a demonic resistance level of 45%, I must say—your feats and patience are truly commendable!
Just as expected, the king’s transmission arrived early that morning.
Cha Eui-sung bolted upright, all traces of sleep gone in an instant.
“It’s here!”
His voice, trembling with joy, rang out across the room. Had he ever welcomed this ridiculous thing so eagerly before? His heart pounded like crazy at the sight of the long-lost roleplay.
Eyes wide open, Cha Eui-sung meticulously read every single word printed by the System.
“What the hell is this? Financial trouble…?”
Short on travel budget? He’d wondered why the king hadn’t shown up lately, but apparently, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to reach out—he couldn’t. Even the barrage of excuses scrolling down looked pathetic enough to be pitied.
Cha Eui-sung suppressed the urge to throw a jab and hurried on to the next part.
Mentions of a frozen heart and heroic strides forward confirmed that his previous theories hadn’t been wrong. That was reassuring. But then came the “meanwhile” section, and with it, a twinge of unease.
“What’s this Outer God trying to pull…? Is that why you’ve been MIA?”
If each appearance required the System to burn some kind of resource, then between activating the Faded Photograph Fragment and keeping the world in order, it made sense that it couldn’t show up all the time.
Cha Eui-sung, freshly awake and already scrambling to retain all the System’s info, blurted out the question that had been bugging him most.
“All right, I get it. But what about the dungeon? What’s going on with the Shopping Center Dungeon?”
It was the place where he’d died for the first time. He’d even swung by recently and gotten a warning alert. The mystery that had been eating away at him burst from his mouth.
The System went oddly silent for a beat, as if calculating something. Then—blink—it suddenly pulled up a new window.
King: As the dimensional ░░ tier rises, in accordance with the ░░ laws, Protective Order 2░8░░ has been revoked ░&@!!!
King: ░░░ breach ░░░
Zzzzt—Krrzzzt—
It looked like it was trying to explain something… but it was completely unreadable. All the critical information was blacked out or corrupted. Even the remaining legible parts began to flicker and dissolve. The system window’s edges crumpled like old paper, shaking violently—
Sssshk!
—until it shattered right before his eyes.
…?
Cha Eui-sung’s vision lurched wildly.
He was sure he’d seen something like this before.
[!⑀⑃⑄⑄⑅⁇⑁‽!]
Okay, this part? He definitely hadn’t seen before.
What the hell is this…?
PAAK—!
“Ghh!”
A pitch-black screen popped up, unlike anything he’d ever seen, flashing brief text in an incomprehensible language. It sizzled, sparked like a blown-out circuit, then vanished.
His chest instantly went cold.
Damn it—last time was scary enough, but this was on a whole new level. His outstretched fingers began to tremble.
The System’s responses had vanished from the air entirely. Only the episode-themed window remained, fluttering like a broken monitor. Who knows how long he sat frozen, staring at that eerie glitch.
Ttororong! Chirp chirp chirp—Cuckoo—Piyoo—Beeep—♪
[SYSTEM: Adjusting display settings.]
Ttirororo—Loriring—Paaam—♪
Out of nowhere, a peaceful birdsong began to play, followed by a system message. The cheery opening jingle slowly returned. Then, wearing the skin of the long-lost ‘king,’ the System reappeared in front of Cha Eui-sung.
King: Oh dear! It’s not easy calibrating these things in the language of our kingdom’s people.
King: Just ignore it.
King: At a certain point, an inevitable weakness formed in the world’s protective shield.
King: Among the entities classified as Outer Gods ░░, there exists ░░░—a being capable of exploiting this weakness as a sort of [gateway] to link itself to the kingdom’s assets.
King: Well… that’s how it is.
Ignore it, he says. Like anyone could just forget that nightmare sequence. And then he just hand-waves the important part with a casual “that’s how it is”?
Cha Eui-sung swallowed dryly and tried to make sense of the mountain of RPG-fantasy metaphors.
What stood out the most was what the System had screamed at him when he approached that dungeon: Avoid the gaze.
Judging from the context, this ‘gateway’ the Outer God used… might just be referring to Incheon148. He did say it was only a kind of gateway, so it’s not like the Outer God itself was going to come striding out of the dungeon. But… maybe it could seep into this world somehow, in limited ways.
That would explain the alarm that went off when he got near it—and the sudden freak-out. Nothing had happened since, and he hadn’t felt any creepy contact or anything, but he might’ve genuinely brushed up against something dangerous.
“Wait, hold on! Just one more thing!”
As if suddenly remembering, Cha Eui-sung shouted at the System.
“I was in that dungeon in a dream. And I’ve been having more and more nightmares lately. What does that mean?”
He clenched his fists, bracing for whatever terrifying response might come.
King: O [Hero]. I’ve given you two chances now—surely you can maintain a shred of sanity on your own.
King: We’re reaching the limit, so… good luck!
♪ Bam Bam Bam ♪
And with that cold and uncaring farewell, the System vanished completely.
So you’re saying I died twice, and you expect me to be mentally sound, you bastard…
He had gotten a good chunk of the answers he’d been hoping for. But now, a whole new wave of ignorance and anxiety came crashing down with them.
Pale-faced, Cha Eui-sung slumped back against the headboard and stared into empty space for a long, long time.
