He had a dream after a long time.
Back then, after risking his life to save his comrades, he collapsed with his body covered in wounds and he barely managed to regain consciousness.
The woman who had looked at him with worried eyes before he went into battle was looking down at him with a cold gaze as if she were looking at her mortal enemy.
– Who are you?
To save his body, which was on the brink of death, the Empire used one of the two wishes that could be granted by the guardian dragon with whom the first emperor had made a pact in the distant past.
The dragon who was also known as the representative of the gods had revived his dying body.
And then the dragon revealed that an entirely different soul resided within him.
The woman who had been with him since the past was consumed by intense rage and waited for him to wake up.
Though he tried to speak, he couldn’t say a word.
He too had spent countless nights agonizing over this matter. In the end, he chose to run from the immediate responsibility. He thought that after cutting off the Demon King’s head, he would reveal the truth to her.
But now he knew that saying such things would only sound like an excuse, so he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
– You… you…!
There was nothing he could do for her…. she who was filled with betrayal, loss, and humiliation.
All he could do was quietly listen to the words she poured out in her bitter anger.
It would have been better if they had parted ways then, but he was the hero, and she held the second most important role in the party after him, so their uncomfortable journey continued.
Even amidst the constant creaking noise, the party managed to achieve their goal.
After successfully beheading the Demon King, he was given a choice: stay in this world forever or return to the world he came from.
Unlike Earth where he was an orphan, in this world, he had formed countless deep bonds with many people. Everyone here revered him.
And yet.
“…I’ll go back.”
He chose the path of return.
….
……..
Amidst the warm gazes of everyone in the world, there was a pair of eyes filled with resentment and bitterness. They were more terrifying and painful than anything else.
So, like a man fleeing, he left the fantasy world and returned to Earth.
To a cold, lonely one-room apartment where no one cared about him.
***
In the dim dawn.
After waking up from a light sleep, Tang Seon Yeong silently stretched and got up to go to Baek Woo Jin’s house where he lay asleep.
After the half-day treatment, Baek Woo Jin who had fallen into a deep sleep after passing the critical stage did not regain consciousness even after two days.
“So much for not overexerting yourself…”
All the villagers who had lost consciousness and collapsed due to Jang Sam returned to normal.
After using up all his energy and falling asleep as if fainting, Jang Sam finally woke up yesterday and said it was because the one controlling them had disappeared.
The fact that Baek Woo Jin had come down holding a baby white tiger in his arms was enough to know.
That Baek Woo Jin had single-handedly subdued the giant white tiger, which she herself couldn’t even leave a scratch on.
“What kind of person is he, really?”
Just when she thought she understood a little more about him, another unknown side would emerge. Feeling a bit annoyed, she tapped his nose with her index finger as he slept soundly.
At that moment, Baek Woo Jin’s face which had shown no change for two days twitched.
“Oh?”
Thinking she might have hit him too hard, she leaned in for a closer look, only to realize that wasn’t the reason.
“Baek Woo Jin…?”
His tightly closed eyelids trembled, and before long a single tear fell. His lips which had been gently sealed parted, and he began to mutter something softly.
She lowered her head and brought her ear closer. But she barely caught the faint sound of his voice.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…”
He kept repeating his apology over and over again.
It was pitiful and heartbreaking. The man who had always bowed his head with pride when apologizing for his mistakes was now speaking in such a sorrowful voice, and it made her heart ache all the more.
Tang Seon Yeong gently patted his chest with her arm and whispered in his ear.
“It’s okay… It’s not your fault.”
As if her voice had reached him, Baek Woo Jin’s tear-streaked face gradually began to regain some calm.
She smiled warmly and continued to pat him gently for quite a while. Then she looked at his face with a curious expression.
His breathing had changed. Up until just a moment ago, his breaths had been deep and steady, but now they were shorter, and the rhythm was starting to falter.
“Hey, you’re awake, aren’t you?”
At that moment, his tightly closed eyebrows twitched slightly.
“Open your eyes.”
Baek Woo Jin who had woken up moments earlier slowly opened his eyes.
“Oh, it was nice…”
When he spoke with a hint of disappointment, Tang Seon Yeong snorted as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Is that really what you say after waking up from two days of sleep?”
“Has it been that long?”
“Yes, everyone’s been worried about you and hardly anyone got any sleep. Oh, except for Gu Wang Soo.”
Gu Wang Soo had slept just fine.
“Hehe, that’s good, then.”
There was nothing better than hearing that everyone had been worried when you woke up.
Baek Woo Jin smiled contentedly as if that alone was enough for him, but for some reason, his eyes seemed incredibly sad.
His eyes and face gave off a strange aura. His pale face and sad gaze stirred an indescribable feeling of melancholy.
She gently pressed the hand that was resting on his chest, then lifted her leg and swung it over to the other side of his body.
“Wh-What are you doing?”
Her gaze, as she looked down at him while she was gently perched on his abdomen, was far from ordinary.
A soft sensation and a sweet fragrance began to creep up from their touching skin.
“Right now… this is a bit dangerous.”
His internal energy was completely drained. Though his mind was clear and he might be able to resist for a while, if too much time passed like this, he might end up succumbing to the faint fragrance.
“I have something I’m curious about.”
“…What is it?”
“Do you remember the last thing you said before you entered the formation?”
He tried to recall the situation from back then, but no matter how much he thought, he couldn’t remember. It was probably something he blurted out without thinking, just in response to being told to succeed and return.
When Baek Woo Jin shook his head, she answered in his place.
“Was it… ‘Ok’?” (TN: Ok is in English.)
“Ah.”
It seemed his old habit from the battlefield, where he used to say “Okay, okay” all the time, had slipped out without him realizing it.
“What does that mean?”
“It basically means ‘Got it’ or ‘Good’. It’s a word the Westerners… or rather, people of the West use a lot.”
She looked genuinely surprised at that.
“How do you know the language of the people of the West?”
“It’s nothing special, just something I picked up here and there along the way.”
Looking at him with a newfound interest, she suddenly gave him a deep mischievous smile and asked,
“Then, do you know what they say for this…?”
“Wha—mmpf!”
Without hesitation, she bent down and her lips met Baek Woo Jin’s.
A deep passionate kiss began. Tang Seon Yeong’s tongue invaded his mouth and stirred everything inside.
What the—!
Her tongue stirred in his mouth, entangled with his as if they were one, and started moving in a sticky intense rhythm before she stopped and licked his lips softly.
He had kissed plenty of times before, but nothing had ever felt this intense or stimulating.
When he looked up at her in shock, she was staring back at him with eyes so sultry that they seemed to overflow with seductive energy.
This is hurting my pride.
Now, it became a matter of a man’s pride. If he melted under her like this, he might end up spending every night beneath her, forever submissive…
Not that it would be so bad… No, no, that’s not right.
Even if he didn’t come out on top, they should at least be on equal footing.
Raising his upper body slightly, Baek Woo Jin leaned forward and began to take the initiative.
“Mmph…!”
He actively used his tongue to match her technique, while his hand slid up her back and started tracing the muscles along her spine.
He caressed her ear, gently ran his fingers through her hair, and teased the nape of her neck. Each time, soft moans of irresistible pleasure escaped from between her lips.
Before he realized it, their positions had reversed. Baek Woo Jin was now on top and Tang Seon Yeong was pinned beneath him.
Her head began to spin. It was a sign that the kiss’s effect was slowly taking over her body.
When their lips finally parted after being entangled for some time, a thin string of saliva stretched between them before snapping apart.
“The Western people call this a kiss.” (TN: Kiss here is in English.)
“A kiss…”
Lost in ecstasy, she repeated the word absentmindedly.
***
As morning dawned, the team members, except for Gu Wang Soo, began to wake up one by one.
The first to rise was Jegal Yeon Ji. As usual, she moved to check on Baek Woo Jin’s condition.
When she opened the door and entered, instead of finding Baek Woo Jin still deep in sleep, she saw him sitting up while clutching a gourd of alcohol.
Tears welled up in her eyes instantly.
“Young Master Baek…!”
She dashed to his side without slowing down and threw herself into his arms.
“Ugh!”
Baek Woo Jin who was still not fully recovered struggled to catch her, and a groan of pain escaped his lips. She grew startled, quickly pulled away, and lowered her head.
“I-I’m… I’m sorry!”
“It’s alright.”
Hearing his gentle voice, her tears began to well up again.
“D-Do you have any idea how worried I was?!”
For the first time, she raised her voice in frustration.
“You said you’d only buy us a little time… how, how could you show up like that…!”
The sight of Baek Woo Jin finally appearing in front of her, after she had waited endlessly and worriedly, caused an indescribable shock as she took in his devastated appearance.
“That guy was fast. If I didn’t kill him, I would’ve been the one dead. Can you understand? Hmm?”
As Baek Woo Jin pulled her into an embrace and whispered, her face which was already flushed with anger turned an even deeper shade of red and it looked like it was on the verge of bursting.
“L-Let go of me…!”
“I won’t let go until you forgive me.”
He held her even more tightly in response to her small struggle, and the sound of his breathing in her ear grew more intense.
“If… if you keep doing this… I… I…!”
“Hmm? What are you going to do?”
He asked with a mischievous grin on his face and she pouted before leaning her face forward.
He stayed still without any intention of avoiding her, but just then, the door suddenly burst open and someone rushed in.
“Wo-Woo Jin-ah! Are you alright?!”
It was Shin Ye Hwa.
“Hiieek!”
The surprised Jegal Yeon Ji immediately pushed herself away from his arms and spread the distance between them. Then she fell backward and rolled on the ground.
“Ouch…!”
She rubbed the back of her head where she had bumped it lightly and saw Baek Woo Jin burst out laughing. He then nodded at Shin Ye Hwa with a smile.
“Yeah, I’m feeling a bit better now.”
“Th-That’s a relief.”
Meanwhile, Jegal Yeon Ji shot an annoyed glare at Shin Ye Hwa, who snorted dismissively and quickly turned her head away.
“Tell everyone to gather in about an hour.”
“M-Mhmm, Alright.”
Shin Ye Hwa nodded awkwardly and grabbed Jegal Yeon Ji’s collar as she struggled, and the two disappeared from the house.
They seemed to be talking amicably to each other on the surface, but his lack of internal energy made it impossible to hear what they were saying.
“It’s been noisy since morning.”
When he saw them laughing and chatting carelessly, he couldn’t help but smile warmly. Then, to replenish his lack of internal energy, he downed the liquor in his gourd several times.
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