“Ugh…!”
Kim Hanbyul jolted awake, startled. Her breath came in ragged gasps, and sweat drenched her back, as if she’d just been caught in a nightmare. She placed a hand over her chest, trying to calm her pounding heart, stroking it repeatedly.
After a long moment, something caught her eye—a flicker of unease. Was she looking for someone? She glanced around the room and under the bed several times before quietly sitting up. Moving carefully so as not to wake Kim Soohyun, she crept to the door, opened it gently, then closed it just as quietly. But then her steps faltered.
“…Unni?”
Standing just outside was Seon-guest Lee Yujeong. But something was off—she looked terribly unwell. Leaning against the wall with one hand, bent over as if she might collapse at any moment.
“Are you okay?”
Yujeong glanced sideways.
“Just in time… you came out.”
Her voice was hoarse, almost burning with heat, as she barely turned to face Hanbyul. Then, with a weak motion, she suddenly began pulling down her pants. Hanbyul hesitated—not just because Yujeong was undressing so suddenly, but because—
“Unni…”
A clear, sticky liquid trailed down the pants. Looking closer, not only was her intimate area soaked, but the inner thighs were drenched as well. The center of her underwear was stained a bright yellow. A faint, unpleasant scent of urine mingled with the heat in the air. Hanbyul grimaced.
“Did you pee yourself?”
“No. It’s incontinence.”
“That’s basically the same thing.”
“It’s not like I wet the bed.”
“Then…”
“Just shut up and get me some water. I need to wash this. It’s disgusting.”
Yujeong growled through clenched teeth. Hanbyul watched silently as Yujeong stripped off her pants and underwear, squatting down. A flicker of conflict crossed Hanbyul’s face, but then she gently placed a hand on Yujeong’s shoulder.
“I said, get me some water… okay?”
With a soft rustle, Yujeong’s robe and pants slipped off one after the other. Her eyes widened. Between her shyly closed thighs, the white underwear was soaked through, looking more than just wet—almost drenched. When she pulled it down, clear droplets fell from her tightly closed intimate area, dotting the floor. Yujeong then fixed Hanbyul with a strange look as she squatted opposite her.
“…You too?”
“…”
“What kind of hallucination was it?”
“You tell me first, then I’ll tell you.”
Hanbyul began chanting a spell immediately. Yujeong muttered that it was unfair, but as water started to flow from her fingertips, she quickly fetched both their pants and underwear.
Silence stretched between them. Yujeong squeezed and twisted the soaked clothes with both hands, then suddenly bowed her head deeply. A voice barely louder than a mosquito’s buzz escaped.
“…It was a rite of passage.”
“A rite of passage?”
“Yeah, a rite of passage. Remember that bastard Park Donggeol?”
“Of course I do. How could I forget that despicable guy… Unni, you don’t mean—”
As if realizing something, Yujeong nodded weakly, still looking down.
“That’s right. I got fucked hard. For a whole week.”
Hanbyul covered her mouth with her free hand.
“Fuck, what kind of rest room is that, a training room? Thinking back, it was ridiculous. Right?”
Yujeong twisted the clothes as if they might tear. She forced a bright tone, but her trembling voice was slightly hoarse. Her shoulders trembled subtly. The words “right?” echoed in Hanbyul’s mind. Maybe the reason she brought it up was because she felt a kinship or wanted comfort… that’s just how it felt.
Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, Yujeong sniffled. Hanbyul looked at her with pity.
“You looked fine earlier…”
“That was just pretending. Acting like I was okay.”
“Why?”
“Think about it. Our brother was suffering so much… it wasn’t the time to whine more.”
Hanbyul’s eyes lit up with surprise. She’d thought Yujeong was oblivious, but maybe she knew after all.
Suddenly, Yujeong lifted her gaze, staring at Hanbyul with reddened eyes.
“So, what about you?”
“Huh? Ah, me… well…”
“Don’t even think about lying. I heard you groaning in your sleep.”
“…I was ‘offering.’”
Hanbyul closed her eyes tightly and confessed. Yujeong tilted her head.
“Offering? You mean sexual offering?”
“You know your stuff.”
“Did that happen in the Mercenary group? Who?”
“…Not in the Mercenary group, before that.”
Yujeong gasped, recalling Hanbyul’s previous clan. Hanbyul glanced up briefly, then continued with a gloomy expression.
“Well… at least it was better than your case. For me, it felt like four days.”
“There’s no such thing as better or worse in this. Anyway, once I get out of here, I’m going to find that bastard Park Donggeol and kill him. No matter what.”
“That’s your call, Unni… But why did you get hostile with him from the start?”
“I told you I was preparing for the police academy back in the modern world, right? Seeing how he kept sneaking glances at Sol, I just knew. No doubt, that bastard’s a criminal.”
Yujeong shook out her underwear, speaking with conviction.
After finishing the laundry with some bitter gossip, the two women sat side by side at the table. With no spare clothes, they were both missing bottoms. Hanbyul shyly took off her top to cover her lower half, while Yujeong spread her legs without hesitation, shaking her calves.
“Still, I wonder if the others are doing okay… I’m worried.”
“They should be fine. Gil is with Geunwon, and if worse comes to worst, there’s Vivian’s squad…”
“Still. Hey, should we contact our brother secretly?”
“Absolutely not.”
Hanbyul refused firmly, shaking her head. Yujeong’s legs, which had been swinging like a pendulum, stopped abruptly.
“Why not?”
“He seems to have enough on his mind already… Let’s not make things more complicated. Don’t you know he gets scary when he’s angry?”
“Hmm. This time, I think it might be okay.”
“No. It’s best not to bring it up at all.”
Yujeong lowered her head again. After staring blankly ahead for a while, she suddenly spoke.
“Well…”
“…Well?”
“No, I just wonder if that’s really the best choice.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Yujeong burst out laughing.
“You know, I have things I want to forget, and so does our brother. Ah, that sounded weird, didn’t it?”
“Extremely weird.”
“Th-That’s right. We’re just trying to help each other out.”
“…?”
“And here’s the most important part… If this expedition ends well, I might get promoted to B-rank.”
“So…?”
Hanbyul stammered, sensing something unsettling. Yujeong’s eyes traced a mysterious curve as she glanced sideways.
With a slightly flushed face, Yujeong spoke.
“Hey, can you do me a favor?”
Meanwhile, at the same time—
“W-What… what…?”
The moment Jin Soohyun barely regained consciousness, she found herself surrounded—no, completely encircled—by insects. Ten, twenty, forty, eighty… an uncountable swarm blocked every direction. Every escape route was cut off. Even more terrifying, the swarm kept growing. Hundreds, maybe even double that, crawled over the corpses of their own kind, endlessly writhing out.
What should she do?
As Jin Soohyun hesitated, the swarm suddenly surged forward in an S-shaped charge.
Rumble, rumble! This wasn’t just a handful of insects. At least three or four times that number came crashing in all at once, like a furious black tidal wave. New, larger waves approached relentlessly. Her mind went blank, overwhelmed by the angry, gaping maw ready to swallow her whole.
‘This is… impossible…’
Overwhelmed by the momentum, Jin Soohyun instinctively stepped back. But before she could retreat far, the insects swiftly closed in, surrounding her. A sharp sting hit the back of her head, filled with blind malice. Left, right, and behind—every direction was occupied. She thought it was over. They’d already faced thousands before, but no one expected this many to remain.
The air was filled with shouts and metallic clangs. Chaos reigned everywhere. No place was safe. The center had long been breached, with Vivian and Im Hanna fighting desperately to hold the line. But even their resistance was nearing its end. There was no one to call for backup.
“…”
Feeling the end approaching, Jin Soohyun stared blankly ahead, then gritted her teeth and swung her sword. The insects, as if waiting for this moment, reared up and lunged forward like arrows, their jaws snapping at the last remaining protective barrier.
If only there had been fewer of them. No, if he hadn’t been so exhausted. No, if only his mana had been enough. Even if there had been an escape route—anything. At the very least, he might have been able to hold on. But Jin Suhyun, burdened by every one of these harsh conditions, was pushed to the brink of grogginess. Despite that, he fought fiercely, taking down five or six of the creatures, but the last line of defense—the protective barrier—shattered into pieces with a sharp crack.
There was no way to stop what came next. Jin Suhyun flung his sword wildly, but in an instant, multiple bites tore from his neck to his feet. Summoning every ounce of strength left, he struck down the relentless attacker clinging to him, but his wounds multiplied exponentially. Even his hard qi could only hold out so long.
Then, suddenly—
“…Ah.”
The ceiling came into view. He realized his body was tilting a beat too late. With a heavy thud, a rough, grainy surface pressed against his back. The earth, damp with bodily fluids, was cold and wet, yet to Jin Suhyun, it felt softer and more comforting than any bed. A dark swarm covered him like a blanket. In an instant, everything dissolved into a peaceful darkness.
“Jin Suhyun!”
Vivian screamed. The protective formation had collapsed while she was distracted, and now disaster had struck. She shouted, watching the layers of crawling insects piling over him.
“Get him out! I said, get him out!”
Her urgent voice turned the commander and a dozen or so beasts around. They swung massive scythes, kicking and slashing at the swarm, desperately carving a path through the insects. But unfortunately, Jin Suhyun was completely unaware of what was happening outside.
All he could feel was…
‘It’s burning…’
Writhing helplessly in a pain that felt like his entire body was on fire.
‘Where is this…’
Darkness filled his vision. No matter where he looked, there was only blackness.
After a while, even the searing heat that engulfed him began to fade slowly, starting from his ankles.
‘Am I… dying?’
Jin Suhyun instinctively sensed it. The fact that he was dying, that he was slipping away.
The sensation of ‘dying’—strangely, it wasn’t as terrifying or painful as he had imagined. Maybe some people would feel that way. But the emotion filling Jin Suhyun’s body now was neither fear nor pain.
There was only one thing.
Emptiness.
He had fought desperately to survive, but death came in an instant. The hollowness that spread through that gap was so intense it swept away all other feelings. At the same time, it pressed on his chest, suffocating him.
But had he simply accepted it? Maybe his eyes were already closed, but Jin Suhyun quietly shut them. Suddenly, a figure flickered in his mind.
‘Ara?’
No. It wasn’t Maeng Ara. Cold eyes, a sturdy build, jet-black armor, a crimson cape… The fleeting memory was definitely Kim Suhyun. Jin Suhyun let out a faint, self-mocking smile.
‘If only… if only my brother had been here…’
In that moment of regret,
‘I wouldn’t have died so… meaningless…’
Then, suddenly,
‘…Why?’
The final question came. And faintly, a spark of anger ignited.
It wasn’t anger at the insects that had brought him down. It was a pure rage directed inward—anger at himself for not understanding, for failing. It was a fury only Jin Suhyun could feel.
Once, under the angel’s plan, Jin Suhyun had been groomed as the successor to Kim Suhyun. Though it had been interrupted, back then, he had been a leader. Not a follower, but someone who led his comrades from the center. Even if it was a constructed situation, he had always stepped forward first in times of crisis. Yes. That was who Jin Suhyun was.
So then,
‘Since when…’
The realization dawned slowly.
‘Since when did I…!’
On the brink of death, the smoldering flame inside him suddenly burst into a raging blaze, fiercely igniting the fuse.
Jin Suhyun’s face twisted like a furious beast.
‘…I won’t accept this.’
At that very moment—
“Jin Suhyuuuuuun!”
With a desperate scream, the darkness that had clouded his vision was suddenly swept away. Through the clearing sight, something rough reached out. Frowning against the sudden brightness, Jin Suhyun instinctively stretched out his hand and grasped it firmly.
Moments later, his buried body was dragged upward by an unseen force.
And then—
---------------------------= Author’s Note =---------------------------
Wait, an awakening after 10 episodes…? OTL
As of yesterday’s chapter, it was supposed to be after 2 episodes. ㅜ.ㅠ
Anyway, this part is done, and the next one will probably be the last episode of this arc.
Ah, by the way, I’m struggling a bit.
To be honest, I want to write a beautiful, subtle bed scene, but I keep ending up wanting to make it more… explicit.
I guess I need more practice.
Maybe it’s because I’ve got a bit of a naughty imagination lately…
Anyway, I need to calm myself down. :)