# 33
Jin-ha turned his head bewilderedly to see the man flapping his wings in the form of a black sparrow.
Why a white wagtail, and why a sparrow?
It was the man’s peculiar talent to make Jin-ha question things even in moments like this. However, Jin-ha decided not to pursue these minor questions any further.
Jin-ha instinctively flapped his wings hard to distance himself from the stuffed animal soldiers below.
“I’m quite enjoying this.”
“Aren’t you?”
Though he had used flight artifacts before, the feeling was completely different now. His body felt light, like he was riding the wind—if he had to compare it to something, it was similar to surfing. Jin-ha flapped his wings once more.
Below them, the stuffed animal soldiers were still causing a commotion. But as Jin-ha and the man moved farther away, they abandoned their futile attempt to catch the birds by stacking themselves up and rushed to the cannons instead.
“I’d like to let you play more, but that won’t work.”
“I never intended to play in the first place. Why are you treating me like a child?”
“Isn’t Hunter Lee Jin-ha like a child who’s gotten into trouble?”
The white wagtail’s round eyes sharpened at the teasing remark.
While he had technically caused trouble, the tower was more at fault. How could it be reasonable for fairies to appear in a walkway and play pranks? In reality, Jin-ha was closer to a victim who had been kidnapped due to the tower’s inadequate security.
“I was just trying to go to the library!”
“Didn’t Legas tell you to stay on the second floor? The library is on the third floor, Hunter Lee Jin-ha.”
“That… I did hear that.”
“I didn’t know Hunter Lee Jin-ha was someone who so easily disregarded rules.”
Jin-ha shouted in frustration at the sarcastic comment.
“Isn’t this happening because you forced me into this bizarre investigation?”
“I told you to think about what to ask me, not to wander into dangerous places.”
“I… thought you’d be pleased since you told me to put in effort…”
“…What did you say?”
The man let out an incredulous laugh. When the sparrow narrowed its eyes at him, Jin-ha instinctively lowered his gaze. Seeing Jin-ha’s reaction, the man sighed and said with irritation while flapping his wings:
“Absolutely no dangerous activities from now on.”
“Yes…”
“What made you think I’d enjoy you doing dangerous things? How could you say that to someone who rushed here worried about you?”
“I’m sorry…”
Jin-ha meekly apologized to the grumbling man. The way the man had flown into the infirmary earlier, embracing him while catching his breath, had not been fake. There seemed to have been some misunderstandings. Jin-ha had thought this man was just an arrogant wizard lord without any goodness in him, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Seeing how he had come all this way to rescue him, Jin-ha even began to think that perhaps the man wasn’t as bad as he had initially thought.
“But how did you end up in a place like this?”
“Well, the fairy…”
BOOM!
The cannon spewed fire. Seeing a white egg being shot and bursting in mid-air, the two realized they had no time for casual conversation and began to focus on escape. There would be plenty of time later to discuss who was at fault or the cause and effect.
BANG! BOOM! CRACK!
More than ten cannons fired in succession. Fortunately, those ridiculous stuffed animal soldiers had terrible aim. The cannonballs repeatedly exploded some distance away from the two, never coming close.
While Jin-ha followed the man and looked around to locate the exit with his own eyes, the man spoke.
“…Jin-ha.”
“Yes?”
Surprised by the voice of the man who never called him just by his name unless it was a critical moment, Jin-ha turned his head to see the sparrow flying unsteadily.
BANG! When a cannonball exploded nearby and smoke drifted toward them, the sparrow forgot to flap its wings and fell about a foot before struggling to fly again and returning to Jin-ha’s side.
“We have a problem.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Pheromones… Omega pheromones…”
A shocked Jin-ha looked back at the smoke from the cannonballs that were still exploding around them.
“You’re saying these are all pheromones? Then how… Hey!”
“It’s… alright… I can hold out until we get there… probably.”
“Probably?”
Probably? They were in the sky right now. And at a height where simply falling would result in far worse than just broken bones!
“Let’s go down to the ground. Once we’re down, I can carry you out if necessary.”
“No. If we go down, we’ll be captured immediately…”
The sparrow pointed out between labored breaths.
“Then…”
“Listen to me, Jin-ha.”
Cutting off Jin-ha who was urgently trying to voice his next suggestion, the man flapped his wings painfully a few more times and said:
“When we get out, I’m going to kiss you.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m telling you in advance so you won’t get angry if I do as I please.”
“When did I ever get angry…”
“Continuously.”
Jin-ha closed his mouth. Come to think of it, maybe that was true. He belatedly realized that his belief that his head had cooled down and he could view the situation rationally might have been a lie he told even to himself.
“…Is that not okay?”
“How could it be… okay?”
“What if I ask you as a favor…?”
This situation was all because of him.
If he hadn’t fallen into this place, if the man hadn’t come to rescue him, there would have been no reason for the man to be hit by weaponized pheromone attacks in such a place. That fact pricked at Jin-ha’s conscience.
Unable to decide one way or the other, Jin-ha glanced at the man and froze as if shot.
The black sparrow’s eyes were moist. Good heavens, to think that a sparrow’s expression could look so sorrowful. This new discovery was not at all welcome.
“Jin-ha…”
Jin-ha quickly averted his gaze from the man who whispered his name as if he had sensed Jin-ha’s wavering heart. But the man’s intentions were something else.
“Ah…!”
The two changed back into humans. The man pulled Jin-ha into his arms and breathed heavily.
Jin-ha thought it was over. It was clear that the man had lost his strength and could no longer maintain the transformation.
Perhaps it was because he had refused the kiss. Jin-ha shook the man’s shoulders violently.
“Pull yourself together. I understand. I said I understand!”
“Really?”
“Really!”
The man’s breath, laced with laughter, brushed against Jin-ha’s neck. And the next moment, the man unleashed a violent wind spell toward the place where they were falling. The stuffed animal soldiers who had gathered to capture them when they fell were knocked away like bowling pins.
Surprisingly, the exit was visible in between them. The man threw himself toward the exit while still embracing Jin-ha.
“Master!”
“The Master has returned!”
“Are you alright?”
Jin-ha, who had rolled across the floor, got up to check on the man’s condition.
He was lying spread-eagled on the floor, coughing violently. His chest, which rose dramatically and then fell, trembled. His head swayed weakly, and his dazed eyes moved around as if searching for something, then stopped when they found Jin-ha.
Ah… the man’s gaze as a human was much more pitiful than when he was a sparrow.
Jin-ha bit his lip.
“Jin-ha.”
At that call, Jin-ha crawled over to the man.
It was time to keep his promise.
The man’s hand gently cupped the back of Jin-ha’s head. Jin-ha hopelessly surrendered his lips to that not-so-strong guidance.
“Mmph…!”
Alphas and Omegas were said to be vulnerable to each other’s pheromones. While it supposedly didn’t cause problems in daily life, Legas had mentioned that if a high-ranked individual of the opposite sex deliberately released pheromones, it could trigger heat.
Given the man’s current state, this wasn’t a sexual kiss. It was a kind of medical procedure.
“Wait… mmm, I need to, to explain…”
Thinking he should explain to Legas what had happened inside, Jin-ha twisted his head, but the man persistently followed and kissed him again. Embarrassed by his own fragmented words, Jin-ha finally had no choice but to give up.
“…Mmph…!”
A tongue laden with sticky desire licked Jin-ha persistently. Although it was just a kiss, Jin-ha strangely felt like they were doing something more.
When the man’s tongue scraped against the roof of Jin-ha’s mouth, Jin-ha nearly collapsed as the strength drained from his arms. The man then became fixated on licking and scraping Jin-ha’s palate, as if enjoying the way Jin-ha’s shoulders kept flinching.
“Hnng, s-stop it…”
“You promised.”
The man pointed out in a husky voice to Jin-ha’s plea, and immediately pressed their lips together again. Of course, Jin-ha had agreed, but that didn’t mean going this far.
He was suffocating and his vision was spinning.
“Wait. Mmm, mmph…!”
“Let me do more, a little more…”
“Ah, uh… hnngh…”
“Yes, just a little more…”
Eventually, the man rolled halfway over, pinning Jin-ha beneath him and began to press harder. Jin-ha turned his head, but the man quickly caught up and overlapped their lips again. After this was repeated several times and Jin-ha no longer retreated, the man finally sensed something was wrong.
“…Jin-ha?”
“……”
“Lee Jin-ha!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
