#146
“Haa…”
Dan Joo-hyuk finally felt a sense of crisis at the fact that he had almost completely lost his reason.
However, he couldn’t tell who this sense of crisis was directed at. Was it toward himself? Or toward Yoon Pa-ran?
He looked down at Yoon Pa-ran who was sleeping peacefully between his hands resting on the bed. While quietly observing, Yoon Pa-ran slightly furrowed his brow and shifted his body as if uncomfortable.
Reflexively, he gently rubbed that soft brow with his fingertip. Reason belatedly awakened his self-control like a cold fire.
After coming to his senses, he had been acting desperately all along. Dan Joo-hyuk now realized his own behavior of desperately trying to grasp Yoon Pa-ran without thinking.
He wondered what that impatient instinct meant, but the question was soon followed by a cautious answer.
…Because it will all soon disappear?
“Ha.”
Dan Joo-hyuk couldn’t hold back the hollow laugh that escaped. A breath resembling cold self-mockery fell upon Yoon Pa-ran’s face.
In the end, Dan Joo-hyuk had brought back the S-class syndrome he had once turned away from, right in front of him.
He had thought lightly at times that perhaps his condition had improved a bit. But it seems that after recognizing it, it became impossible to completely forget it again, so he had been holding onto it in a corner of his mind all along.
This was just like a symptom of the S-class syndrome. Once revealed, it could never be ignored.
With his head completely cooled, Dan Joo-hyuk pulled his waist back. The wet sound provoked impulse again, but this time he endured it.
After arranging Yoon Pa-ran’s body neatly, he lay down weakly on his side next to him. As if proving the remaining heat of pleasure, he lightly placed one arm on Yoon Pa-ran’s waist.
Somehow feeling burdened by this, Dan Joo-hyuk pulled Yoon Pa-ran’s body into his embrace.
“…”
The small wet naked body wrapped around him gently as if they could stick to each other completely. Though he was desperate for Yoon Pa-ran’s touch, if the syndrome appeared right now, Dan Joo-hyuk wasn’t confident he could stay like this. The best option would be to endure it and leave this place.
Though he had been skin-to-skin with Yoon Pa-ran for an unusually long time, Dan Joo-hyuk didn’t hold high expectations. No, he couldn’t hold expectations this time either.
He didn’t intend to endure like Heo Sang-yeon or Kim Min-ji. He couldn’t wait expecting things to change.
At fifteen, when he first awakened. How many expectations did he have when he was still young?
Dan Joo-hyuk’s current feelings were close to a kind of learned helplessness. You might not know when it’s not there, but once the S-class syndrome attacks, it’s impossible to resist that sensation afterward.
So occasionally Dan Joo-hyuk would think. That it was fortunate his parents had passed away before he awakened. Thanks to that, his feelings toward his parents could be preserved uncorrupted.
Though it was an impious thought, he couldn’t help thinking that way on the day he felt disgust toward Kim Sin-cheol and his family.
“Haa…”
When he was still young, Dan Joo-hyuk dreamed several times. Dreams where he was holding Kim Sin-cheol who was falling off a cliff, but suddenly letting go of his hand due to a feeling of disgust. Some days the subject was Kim Sin-cheol’s father, and on other days Kim Sin-cheol’s mother appeared in the dream.
As the disgust deepened, at some point everyone around him started to feel like aliens. Then it felt as if he himself was the alien presence that shouldn’t be here.
That sense of disconnection was truly terrible. Though reason shouted that it was all simply a mistake of the mind, the confusion did not subside. Moreover, the sensation that was more intense and widespread than other S-class users made Dan Joo-hyuk unable to expect that this symptom would gradually improve.
Kim Sin-cheol’s family would avoid meeting altogether if they sensed the syndrome might appear. Though they maintained perfunctory courtesy like grasping at the last straw, they didn’t foolishly try to hold onto the relationship forever like Kim Min-ji.
Only after preparing to let go of everything at any time could he manage to endure somehow.
Until he kept Yoon Pa-ran this close.
“…”
At last, Dan Joo-hyuk realized that the line he had drawn with Yoon Pa-ran had been blurred for a long time.
He thought that because it started lightly, he could end it lightly. Even without considering the S-class syndrome, he thought his interest would run out first. As it always had.
But when he came to his senses, he was already holding Yoon Pa-ran too heavily.
It was clearly crossing the line.
Yet Dan Joo-hyuk decided not to mind it, consumed by a subtle resignation.
This too would be forcibly stopped anyway.
Whether he made an effort or not, the result was always the same. So if he stayed like this, everything would naturally come to an end.
That was clearly the attitude Dan Joo-hyuk had lived with until now. Yet somehow his own thoughts felt too miserable.
“…”
Dan Joo-hyuk forcibly turned his eyes to the status window. This too was close to a desperate escape to avoid reality.
Just as all his interest in the gate had been born that way.
“90%…”
There was a surprising number in the status window he properly read belatedly.
After first exceeding 60%, the absorption rate had been slowly increasing until now. Nevertheless, Dan Joo-hyuk came to pay less and less attention to that number.
He also thought it was natural since the time spent having sex was gradually increasing. From some point, the skill was nothing more than an excuse to stay attached to Yoon Pa-ran, so it didn’t matter anyway.
Still, the number 90% was definitely surprising. It was a realm he never thought possible.
The fact that an additional skill had appeared once more was also unexpected. Though the identity of this newly appeared skill was impossible to guess compared to its difficulty of acquisition.
Above all, this status window reminded Dan Joo-hyuk of one serious fact.
To think that skills could be extracted even when the other person was unconscious. This was truly a dangerous thing.
It could fuel his contemplation of keeping Yoon Pa-ran confined. After all, it would provide a good foothold for him to use skills as an excuse again.
“…This is a big problem, Yoon Pa-ran.”
When he fully understood the meaning, the words spilled out like a sigh. However, it remained ambiguous whether it was directed at himself or out of pity for Yoon Pa-ran’s situation.
Dan Joo-hyuk tightly embraced the soft body in his arms. He naturally buried his nose in Yoon Pa-ran’s hair.
Yoon Pa-ran’s scent was strong from being tormented for so long. Yoon Pa-ran’s uniquely soft fragrance was mixed with the erotic smell of their lovemaking.
Allowing it to fill his lungs completely, Dan Joo-hyuk thought with a hazy mind.
“…”
It was truly a contradictory feeling. Wanting to forcibly bind Yoon Pa-ran forever while simultaneously preparing to give up at any time.
In any case, one thing was clear. The fact that someday he would feel a sudden disgust toward Yoon Pa-ran too.
The day would eventually come when he couldn’t stay so peacefully with Yoon Pa-ran. Thinking this, Dan Joo-hyuk slowly lowered his head.
This time he buried his nose in the white nape, then rubbed his face against it. Not satisfied with that, he went lower and lower.
Finally, he crumpled his large body to nestle in Yoon Pa-ran’s embrace. The soft sensation of skin against his face gently stroked Dan Joo-hyuk’s mind.
Even as he was scratched by sharp resignation, Dan Joo-hyuk unconsciously wished.
Whenever that inevitable day came, he hoped it would be as far in the future as possible.
❖ ❖ ❖
On Christmas night, darkness fell over Yoon Pa-ran’s orphanage.
The noisy voices of children had long since quieted. One person boldly cut through that darkness. The footsteps showed considerable familiarity with the orphanage’s layout.
After looking around, the person went to a corner of the backyard and began digging. The CCTV that monitors this place is not operating today.
Yoon Pa-ran is also not here.
They had been anxious because of Yoon Pa-ran who stubbornly wouldn’t leave the orphanage. Still, by not giving up and watching for an opportunity, they were now able to excellently fulfill their mission.
“…”
After finishing digging, the person buried what appeared to be a shoulder piece item in the deep hole.
A deep, black ominousness that was noticeable even in the darkness swirled in the hole. The person seemed unbothered by it and sprinkled dirt to cover it. Behind the moving person, a shadow similar to the darkness of the hole stretched long.
This time, the person threw several [Broken Blessing Fragments] into the half-dirt-filled hole. Only then was the hole completely covered with soil.
The person’s body was stiff, conscious of Yoon Pa-ran who might return at any time. However, having safely completed the task, joy rose from within like a reward.
A moon-like smile soon filled the face of the person who straightened their back. The expression that inhaled an excessive sense of happiness that couldn’t be controlled looked extremely ecstatic.
Everything is for the new world.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
