# 26
“Three.”
“What?”
“Two.”
“No, wait, like that…”
“One.”
“Marriage registration…!”
Jin-ha cried out with trembling eyes.
“Marriage registration is not allowed!”
This was the only clue that came to mind. That day in the forest, the two of them had played house. It was all Jin-ha’s way of using his own tactics to make the man follow him obediently. Marriage registration came up during that time; he had promised to do it if the man behaved.
“That was just a lie to appease you…”
“Hunter Lee Jin-ha, I asked you what you wanted to ask me?”
“To register a marriage, I’d need to ask about your personal details… wouldn’t I?”
When Jin-ha asked anxiously, the man frowned as if measuring something.
“That seems to be not quite wrong.”
“I’ll say it again, marriage registration is not happening.”
“Why? You promised. Wasn’t it just postponed because we needed to go to the district office?”
“That wasn’t a real promise, just to appease you…!”
“So you whispered falsehoods to a magician?”
When he put it that way, Jin-ha felt as if he had committed some terribly improper act. In reality, it was just a white lie told to save a child who wouldn’t listen.
“I could forgive you.”
“…What do you want?”
“Tell me how you like to be kissed.”
Jin-ha stared at the man, not hiding his shock.
He was an adult too, and it wasn’t like he had never had conversations about kissing. But there were appropriate people to have such discussions with and those who weren’t. The man before him was definitely not an appropriate person for such talk. Absolutely not.
If he revealed such personal preferences, it was obvious the man would use them as a weakness to exploit and tease him someday.
“Should I tell you first?”
The man continued before Jin-ha could say anything.
“I prefer to be the one who goes in. To be more specific, I like thoroughly licking inside the other person’s mouth and tasting their tongue deeply. I like pressing until they can hardly breathe, and when I briefly separate, their panting breath touches my lips. Then when I overlap our lips again…”
“St-stop! I didn’t ask!”
Jin-ha, who had been listening in a daze, belatedly panicked and cut him off. The man laughed with enjoyment as he cut a pancake Legas had brought with his fork and stabbed it. His tongue between his parted lips as he was about to eat it…
Jin-ha turned his gaze away, visibly flustered. His turned cheek was flushed red.
“So, what about Hunter Lee Jin-ha?”
Jin-ha clenched his fist and racked his brain for an excuse, but nothing particular came to mind.
“I, I…”
While he dragged out his words, considering how to get out of this situation, the man, who had instantly devoured his pancake, got up.
“Alright. You don’t have to answer that. Your effort was quite entertaining. Excellent.”
Is he just letting it go today?
Before Jin-ha could show relief, the air around them changed. Jin-ha still couldn’t smell or sense anything. But seeing Legas stiffen and unable to breathe properly, he could tell that “that thing” was happening again.
The man’s pheromones were pouring toward him.
“But since it’s not the correct answer, you must be punished.”
Next time, make sure to give the proper answer.
The man whispered chillingly.
* * *
After returning to his lodgings, Jin-ha sat on the living room sofa, sifting through piles of documents, organizing priorities between tasks that needed immediate attention and those that could wait.
Officially, Jin-ha’s job was to persuade the man to teach magic to Earth’s magicians, but that wasn’t his only responsibility. This was because, although on assignment, he was still a civil servant.
He needed to write reports on how they came to trade, what kind of protocol they desired, what foods the Master liked or disliked, and so on for future negotiations.
Additionally, managing the Agency’s magicians was his responsibility. Jin-ha clicked his tongue as he looked at the file of documents he had received after making a few verbal reports to Section Chief Nam, who had briefly crossed over to this world in the morning.
At least the living room was designed so that people had to pass through it to get to their rooms, otherwise he might have had to chase after five, no, six magicians individually.
Feeling tired, Jin-ha reached for his coffee. His hand touched the snack basket the kids had made, and as he unconsciously glanced at it, he paused at the sight of an oatmeal chocolate bar.
“……”
That man.
The man called Master here at the Noon Moon Tower instantly filled Jin-ha’s mind.
He was a strange man. Kidnapping people by opening a portal, playing with them, sending them back, then manipulating the situation so they had to return, and once they did, pulling more unfunny pranks—truly a strange man.
He represented the type of person Jin-ha disliked. Arrogant and willful, he constantly teased people, enjoyed their reactions, and didn’t care whether they felt uncomfortable. The man fundamentally lacked respect for others. They said he was overflowing with magical talent; perhaps it was because he grew up surrounded by indulgent followers. Anyway, Jin-ha really disliked that man.
And yet.
Yet why couldn’t he ignore him? Born with a somewhat indifferent personality, Jin-ha typically didn’t care if someone disliked him or spoke ill of him. But strangely, he couldn’t be stoic about that man’s teasing. He kept getting flustered, finding himself looking at him unintentionally…
Jin-ha tightly closed his eyes.
‘This is ridiculous.’
It must all be because that man’s behavior was suspicious. Constantly wanting to hold hands, asking to be hugged, talking about kissing, and covering him with pheromones while knowing what that meant in this world… At first, he thought it was all just trashy teasing, but after a few more meetings, he began to think that wasn’t the whole story.
As Jin-ha emptied a cup of coffee, unable to sort out his troubled feelings, Seo Ji-seop returned home.
“Jin-ha! What’s going on? There’s a widespread rumor that you and the Master did it in the forest…”
“Your mouth.”
Jin-ha, half-buried in the sofa, threw a pen at Seo Ji-seop.
“Shut it.”
Jin-ha barely finished speaking, trying not to reveal his seething insides. His head was already aching over that issue.
It was a punishment the man had given Jin-ha. Yes, it couldn’t be anything else. Punishment. It was definitely punishment.
After reaching this conclusion, a sudden surge of indignation rose within him.
Punishment? What wrong had he committed to deserve such an absurd penalty? After being showered with pheromones not once but twice, the people staying at the tower seemed to have already confirmed that the two were “involved.”
“It’s not true?”
“Would it be?”
Jin-ha irritably retorted and finished the rest of his coffee.
No matter how he thought about it, this was unfair. If there was something the man wanted to say, he could just say it outright. If he wanted questions, he could just ask to be questioned. But the man specifically wanted Jin-ha to come up with the questions himself.
Wasn’t that impossible without the power to read minds?
“Hah…”
As Jin-ha sighed wearily, Seo Ji-seop sat down beside him, chuckling. Jin-ha took back the pen he offered and sighed again.
“This is the first time I’ve seen you so irritated. Why do those rumors keep spreading?”
“……”
“…Pheromones.”
“Pheromones?”
“People here…”
At that moment, a group of magicians bustled into the living room. All were dressed in white tunics with light robes, and come to think of it, Seo Ji-seop had also removed his heavy armor and was wearing the same outfit. It seemed there might be a rule that new magicians at the Magic Tower had to wear such clothes.
This was a good opportunity. Jin-ha stood up and gestured toward them.
“Magicians, could you spare a moment?”
The magicians, who had been chattering among themselves and hadn’t noticed Jin-ha, excitedly rushed over when they saw him. Whether minors or adults, they were all like children, energetically greeting Jin-ha.
“Hello!”
“You worked hard today. How are the classes?”
At Jin-ha’s question, the Agency’s magicians made sorrowful faces.
“It’s too difficult. They tell us to move mana, but I don’t understand what they mean.”
“When they asked me to show my skill and I did, they said it was trash. That it wasn’t even real magic!”
“We listened to some explanations about the history of the Magic Tower and had some theory classes, but other than that, we just meditated all day.”
“The teacher is too strict and scary!”
There were plenty of complaints and widespread resentment, but their expressions remained bright.
These were talented and motivated magicians carefully selected by the Anomaly Management Agency. Although they were somewhat young, they had been chosen with the judgment that younger people would be better for learning magic in the future.
Of course, there was probably also an underlying intention that sending young people would make them easier to manage later.
“It’s just the beginning, so hang in there. And I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but you’ll need to write reports from now on.”
Jin-ha handed a document to each of the protesting magicians.
“You’re all civil servants, aren’t you? You should know that all achievements must be documented, so please put your heart into it.”
Next to him, Seo Ji-seop made a disgusted expression, saying he couldn’t tell if Jin-ha was being kind or cold. It couldn’t be helped. Jin-ha’s attitude was mixed—sometimes thinking he should be kind because they were young, and other times wanting them to do their jobs properly as fellow civil servants.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
