While hammering to create the basic body, he inscribed the spell with the sharply honed wings of the Sky.
Everything went smoothly without a hitch. It demanded a lot of focus, but there were no mistakes along the way.
The ring that was created had a color and shape similar to porcelain, giving it a touch of elegance.
Nodding his head at the result, which had the desired performance.
‘What the hell is going on?’
Gop-hwa exhibited strange phenomena.
– Whoosh!
Suddenly, Gop-hwa puffed up dramatically. It swelled as if ready to explode, undulating wildly in an instant.
He grabbed hold of Gop-hwa, who was trying to spread in all directions. He barely managed to pull back control and prevent the surrounding area from being devastated.
Fearing it might head towards Baek Ahrin, he quickly redirected its path and jumped up, grabbing his right arm.
His face contorted at the phenomenon.
This damn ability went haywire all of a sudden. It sat quietly like a gentle puppy during creation, but now it was ready to tear everything apart like a rabid dog.
‘…Wait, is it trying to burn the outside?’
He felt a sense of unease.
He had managed to contain Gop-hwa’s spread, but it wasn’t truly threatening yet.
The flames danced and the temperature in the workshop soared. The heat was so intense that sweat poured down like rain.
But honestly, even without gripping Gop-hwa, it wouldn’t have caused much external damage.
– Whoosh!
Instead, inside… the seed of Gop-hwa that had formed within him swelled further.
Emotions caught fire.
‘Grrr…!’
Boom! His heartbeat thundered. He curled up due to the vibrations echoing through his bones.
His vision briefly obscured by flames and black smoke. His mind felt hazy.
Gop-hwa clung to his emotions.
The intensity of his feelings rose. It was a natural phenomenon, a typical side effect of Gop-hwa.
While Gop-hwa could burn many things, it fed off the emotions of its wielder.
To inflame the flames further, Gop-hwa stoked the wielder’s emotions, piling up fuel to create greater output.
He had endured this many times without suffering significant damage.
The first time it manifested in the Tower of Growth, he only had a moment of negativity, and since then, he had managed to control it well.
‘This is…’
It felt different from before.
The flames were fierce. The emotional intensity was off the charts. The flames refused to extinguish.
And then…
– Aaaah…!
A vision replayed in his mind.
A blonde man with blue eyes. The throat of a typical Western-looking man was ripped apart.
The monster that had bitten into the man’s neck… the Red Leaf Hound chewed and devoured his flesh.
The scream suddenly stopped. Blood spurted like a waterfall, and the man’s bloodshot eyes rolled back. The grotesque figure staggered forward, drenched in blood.
He didn’t know who it was.
No, to be precise, he had seen the person before.
A person he couldn’t save by a narrow margin in Shipnahah.
The vision of his own face twisted grotesquely.
His hair was still black, magic power still blue at that time. Gritting his teeth, he rushed toward the Red Leaf Hound.
His fist came crashing down. Bam! The fist engulfed in fierce energy smashed into the Red Leaf Hound’s head.
The body of the Red Leaf Hound, its head shattered into pieces, collapsed on top of the man’s corpse.
He had killed the culprit.
But the slain man wouldn’t come back.
At the moment, Lee Ha-yul’s spatial perception had engraved that scene in vivid detail.
From Shipnahah until now.
He had saved many. There were those he had rushed in to save against all odds.
But many more he couldn’t save. Faces of those who could have been saved if he had been just a step faster flashed through his mind.
People who died because of him. People who might have survived had he not stirred things up in China. Those who had perished under the pretense of preventing even greater disasters in the future…
‘…Ugh…’
His breath caught in his throat. His lungs and heart hardened like stone all at once.
The guilt he had buried at the bottom surged up. A hefty mass of guilt surfaced, and Gop-hwa clung to it like a good pile of firewood.
Gop-hwa blazed violently, as if it had found a weakness. More visions swelled up, adding to the fuel.
The weight of that kind of guilt pressed down on his psyche. Normally, he’d rationalize it away, pushing that guilt down again, but the reason overwhelmed by emotion found it hard to do so.
‘What the hell…’
Suddenly, visions of unknown origins mixed in, delaying his judgment. A face similar to his but not his own…
WHOOSH! The flames grew stronger.
Suddenly, his body jolted violently.
‘No, first Gop-hwa…’
The momentum of Gop-hwa seemed to expand endlessly, and heat stacked up within him.
Emotions ballooned, pushing reason aside.
The intensity of the heat grew. If it continued like this, his body might just burst.
Whether it burst or burned, it definitely wouldn’t end well. If he let Gop-hwa run amok like this, he would surely die.
His reason, blurred by an emotional tsunami, recognized the life-threatening danger.
So, to resolve the problem, he mobilized a method.
‘Homogenization, freezing sea.’
– Sizzle…!
Water and ice splashed into the flames. The hastily summoned freezing sea quickly pushed Gop-hwa back.
The heat and cold clashed, offsetting each other within his body.
WHOOSH! Gop-hwa, momentarily stalling, ignited the freezing sea.
‘Not enough.’
The energy consumed by Gop-hwa, now in a rampant state, overwhelmed even the freezing sea he had summoned.
“Of all times, why a trial now…?”
At that moment, the freezing sea from the outside poured in.
It was Baek Ahrin, someone he’d just forgotten moments ago. She approached, accompanied by cooling winds that disrupted the flames. Placing a hand on his back.
Then, taking a second hand position to prepare, the chill of the freezing sea surged into his body.
The torrential force of Baek Ahrin’s freezing sea collided with the one he originated, weakening Gop-hwa further.
– WHOOSH…
As a result, the Gop-hwa that had been swirling around outside calmed down. The flickering flames that were just a shoulder’s width apart finally cut off.
Suddenly, power flooded out of him. His body swayed like a puppet with its strings cut.
Sweating heavily, the effort to catch his breath proved challenging. Baek Ahrin was saying something, but it sounded distant, like he was submerged underwater.
His body crumbled. As he descended toward the ground…
– Thud
“Whoa, what a sudden downpour… Are you okay?”
His body never touched the ground.
As he leaned, Baek Ahrin sighed softly, catching him gently as he was about to fall.
– Huh, whew…
Breathing heavily.
‘Hot…’
His body felt hot. The immediate flames were quenched, but the heat inside him hadn’t dissipated. Steam rose from his flushed skin.
‘So hot…’
It was hot.
Warmth is nice, but once it crosses a certain threshold, it turns into heat. Better than being cold, but it’s equally unpleasant.
‘I want something cool…’
“It’s all over now, so it’s fine. Just breathe slowly…”
As he exhaled heavily, he felt Baek Ahrin’s hand reassuringly patting his back.
That unique coolness from Baek Ahrin…
‘No…’
The cool sensation swept down his back. Each stroke cooled his flaming skin gradually.
There was no need to observe; Baek Ahrin certainly radiated a refreshing aura.
He wanted to relieve the heat.
Though he’d escaped the worst, the residual warmth and heightened emotions urged him to make a choice.
“Yes, yes, you’re doing well. Just focus on breathing now… oh, oh….”
Wrapping his arm around her slim waist, he pressingly leaned into her.
The soft feeling enveloped him.
At that moment, a refreshing coolness radiated from her.
‘Haaa…’
[So refreshing…]
His body trembled uncontrollably, and his mouth opened wide. The overwhelming heat began to cool.
It felt as though he had plunged into cold water after sweating profusely…
“Haha, are you being clingy again?”
Baek Ahrin chuckled softly.
With one hand patting his back and the other pulling down the zipper of her windbreaker,
– Zip…
The windbreaker parted to reveal her black sleeveless top.
“Awww, our Ha-yul, were you scared during the trial?”
Baek Ahrin, with a strangely cutesy lisp, pressed his head down into the embrace of her peach-colored cleavage.
It felt soft and cool.
WHOOSH… the embers of Gop-hwa flickered.
The freezing sea generated within had already chased away Gop-hwa, and now Baek Ahrin’s coolness was pressed against him.
– Sizzle…
The ice melted away.
“…Huh?”
Suddenly, Baek Ahrin’s touch stopped.
For a rare moment, a confused sound escaped her lips.
*
Baek Ahrin recognized Lee Ha-yul as a hedgehog-like individual.
He was inherently fearful and wary.
When approached by others, he raised his defenses rather than welcoming them.
He wasn’t aggressive himself, but if someone harmed him, he’d hit back hard.
If others don’t approach him, he doesn’t go near them either.
He quietly occupies a corner and gauges those around him.
[So refreshing…]
That’s how Lee Ha-yul was when he wasn’t close to anyone.
Baek Ahrin looked down at Lee Ha-yul, snugly tucked into her embrace, with a peculiar expression.
Seemingly satisfied with their position, she buried her face deeper into her cleavage, where it poked through the sleeveless part.
Close like this, he had turned into a completely different person.
The fearful hedgehog transformed into a playful puppy.
Even if startled by a sudden approach, he’d secretly enjoy it while pretending to be aloof, glancing around.
He showed virtually no aggression, and instead of pricking others if they harmed him, he’d dig into a hole and hide away.
Baek Ahrin had diligently tried to become closer to him.
She had done so from the very first encounter, and upon witnessing Gop-hwa that could rival Hong Yeon-hwa, she sought to create a sticky bond.
After realizing the unparalleled fact that both Gop-hwa and the freezing sea could manifest simultaneously, she aspired to create a relationship where she would be available for anything he asked.
Because she thought that if it came to Lee Ha-yul, she could achieve whatever she wanted.
And now…
“…Hahaha!”
Baek Ahrin felt a spark of hope.
It wasn’t just hope of possibility; it was the hope of something actualized.
Laughter bubbled out naturally.
Her heart thudded irregularly. It seemed the illegal intruder didn’t like the situation. But who cares.
“Phew…”
– Eek
Baek Ahrin suddenly lowered her head, burying her nose in Lee Ha-yul’s hair. Inhaling deeply made him shudder.
She didn’t mind it. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Lee Ha-yul tightly.
It was warm. He could sense the heat. The sensation of warm skin brushing against his own, the soft touch of her white hair tickling his face.
He kept breathing deeply.
The scent of her body entangled his senses.
Despite having poured sweat like it was raining, there was no unpleasant odor; in fact, the scent of his body felt even richer.
Thanks to this, Baek Ahrin momentarily felt like she was drenched in honey.
Even with her senses dulled by that cursed mishap, she could feel it overwhelmingly.
The curse had weakened.
Now, it was just a little bit… but Lee Ha-yul’s Gop-hwa could influence the curse.
If Gop-hwa had understood the freezing sea… it was possible.
“Phew…”
Not long after, her senses dulled again.
She pulled her nose away.
[Huh…?]
Lee Ha-yul raised an eyebrow above him, seemingly confused by her sudden action. Even amidst her curious behavior, he tilted his head curiously without a hint of resistance, causing her to laugh again.
“Lee Half-Yul.”
[Yes?]
“I saw that.”
[What did you see?]
Again, he tilted his head innocently. Did he really not remember? Perhaps he’d forgotten in the midst of the crisis.
Baek Ahrin leaned down further, whispering in his ear.
“About your freezing sea.”
As he sat there blankly, his body stiffened. Memories from just moments ago flooded into his mind.
Just like a fish frozen solid, Lee Ha-yul’s head tilted slightly.
[… …]
[…?]
[…Yes? Huh?]
[Ah?]
[What the hell?]
“Haha, look at your reaction.”
Baek Ahrin chuckled again, lowering her hand.
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