Chapter 101:
“You said you already did it while I was unconscious. And my level is much more stable now.”
“What if you’re suddenly assigned another mission like this? Will you refuse?”
She wouldn’t refuse. Seo Jae-yi would go wherever her power was needed, even if it was the government’s scheme.
She couldn’t just stand by and let innocent people get hurt because of her conflict with the government.
“So receive Guiding regularly so I can be at ease, even if that happens.”
Baek Joo-won clicked his tongue, seeing her stubbornness.
Seo Jae-yi, despite her appearance, had a strong sense of justice.
He didn’t like what had happened to her, and the fact that the danger hadn’t disappeared yet bothered him even more.
So he had to make her completely healthy first. That was his only priority.
“And wouldn’t you feel more comfortable here? There are two people here who can stop you if you lose control.”
A dungeon master with power comparable to an S-rank Esper and a dragon who could manipulate water.
There was no safer place to receive Guiding.
“Okay?”
Baek Joo-won’s fingers intertwined with hers. His other hand trailed up her back, with its firm muscles, and gently caressed her nape.
Seo Jae-yi shuddered.
“You don’t seem to care if I say no.”
Baek Joo-won ignored her words and started Guiding.
He had been gentle before, slowly infusing his energy into her when he was “Baek Joo-won”, but now he was pushing it deep from the very beginning.
Insistently, greedily.
“Ah, why are you…”
And unlike before, when he was hiding his identity, he was now using his power, absorbed within her, to stimulate her.
The Guiding energy spread from deep within her stomach, bringing a sense of pleasure so intense that it made her dizzy. Her lower abdomen felt hot, and she craved more.
“It’s okay, cling to me.”
“I might scratch your arms bloody.”
Baek Joo-won chuckled at her threat.
“I’m not even human. And even if your attack power is greater, my regenerative abilities are faster than yours.”
Was she forgetting that he had regenerative abilities?
Seo Jae-yi finally clung to him completely.
Baek Joo-won’s face was filled with satisfaction, feeling the pressure of her arms around him.
“See? I’m fine, even if you’re rough with me. I’m different from those other Guides who are useless to you.”
Like Kwon Yi-soo, for example.
The emotions Baek Joo-won had felt the most while listening to her story were anger, annoyance, and then jealousy.
He had already realized that Kwon Yi-soo didn’t actually hate Seo Jae-yi.
But he hadn’t cared about their relationship back then, as he hadn’t planned on staying by her side for long.
It was different now. He didn’t like the fact that they were close, and he was annoyed by Kwon Yi-soo’s presence around her.
It bothered him, even though Seo Jae-yi had no feelings for Kwon Yi-soo.
She was his. No one else could have her, now that a part of him was embedded deep within her.
“You have to desire me too.”
His eyes, now green, gazed at Seo Jae-yi, who was clinging to him, wanting more of his Guiding.
“You need me for your revenge. You need me to do it properly.”
He already desired her, so it was only right for her to desire him too.
His fingers, which had been stroking her nape, moved forward and caressed her lips. They were swollen from being bitten, as she tried to suppress her desire.
He could give her even deeper Guiding if he kissed her, parting her lips and exploring her mouth. It would also alleviate some of the anger he felt from those insignificant humans who had almost taken her away from him.
He slowly lowered his head, his beastly eyes fixated on her bright red lips.
But his lips landed on her exposed neck, her head tilted back.
“Ugh!”
Seo Jae-yi gasped as the Guiding intensified the moment his lips touched her, even though she thought she was getting used to it.
Baek Joo-won savored her immediate reaction and trailed his lips softly along her throat.
He moved slowly, as if charting a path of sensitive nerves, until he reached the spot where her pulse beat the strongest.
“It feels like it’s going to burst.”
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
The place where he could feel her life force the strongest.
He chuckled, his hot breath tickling her skin.
His fangs, which had grown longer, pressed against her delicate neck, and then…
Seo Jae-yi grabbed his collar and yanked him upwards. Baek Joo-won’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Ah, sorry. That’s a sensitive spot.”
The desire that had been clouding her eyes was gone. Her wary gaze, sharp enough to make even Baek Joo-won nervous, was wild.
It was fortunate that she recognized him as an ally; if she hadn’t, he would have been subdued in an instant for the crime of touching her neck with his lips and teeth.
“You reacted immediately when I touched your sensitive spot. As expected of a trained Esper.”
“It’s instinct, instinct.”
Baek Joo-won reluctantly sat up as Seo Jae-yi released his collar, looking at her neck longingly.
The Guiding had stopped. He could have continued, but he decided to stop here for today.
He had achieved his goal.
“Your body feels lighter, right?”
“Incredibly.”
Seo Jae-yi nodded readily.
Her neck was a bit stiff from being tilted back, but even that felt refreshing, her body feeling so good.
When she had almost overloaded last year, the nausea and dizziness hadn’t subsided even after receiving as much Guiding as possible from Kwon Yi-soo. But now, she felt so good that she could barely remember those days.
【Overload Progress — 20%】
Her level was even at 20. She couldn’t remember the last time it had been this low. No wonder she felt so energized.
She felt incredibly refreshed, free from the headaches that had been a constant companion for years. It was even better than taking stimulants.
“But you’re enduring it better than before.”
“It’s less burdensome now that I don’t have to worry about your safety.”
Seo Jae-yi glanced at his arm as she said that. She thought she had been holding back, but there were scratch marks on his shirt, slightly bloody. She clicked her tongue.
“But it’s not good to see blood.”
“I don’t mind.”
The fact that she had clung to him meant she desired him, so Baek Joo-won didn’t care about such trivial injuries.
Of course, Seo Jae-yi, oblivious to his thoughts, looked at his arm with disapproval.
“But is Logi okay?”
Seo Jae-yi jumped off the table, remembering Baek Joo-won throwing Airok towards the shop.
“Leave him be. He’s not here because he’s being considerate.”
“Considerate?”
Seo Jae-yi tilted her head, confused.
Unlike Seo Jae-yi, who had been lost in the Guiding, Baek Joo-won knew what had happened.
Airok had peeked in to protest, but he had quickly retreated, muttering, “Goodness, how embarrassing,” after seeing them entangled.
He was a perceptive dragon who had served him for a long time, so he had probably even flipped the “Welcome” sign to “Closed” to prevent customers from entering.
‘It was worth training him.’
Airok would have fainted if he heard that.
“I’m glad the shop is open today! I came by around this time yesterday, but it was closed, so I was worried you might have closed down.”
An Esper, who had come to buy dungeon plants, said with a sigh.
Yesterday around this time, she had been receiving Guiding from Baek Joo-won.
“Ah, I was a bit sick. I’m not very healthy.”
Seo Jae-yi sighed, pretending to be weak.
The customer, unaware that she was an S-rank Esper with a body full of combat-ready muscles, looked at her with pity.
“You look so fragile. What should we do? Should I buy you some supplements? It’s hard to subjugate dungeons without your dungeon plants now; it would be troublesome if you got seriously ill.”
The customer pleaded with her to stay healthy and run her business for a long time, promising to bring her a bunch of supplements next time.
“She’s surprisingly good at scamming people.”
Baek Joo-won, who had heard the entire conversation from the greenhouse, emerged, clicking his tongue.
“Scamming? It’s not a lie. I’m really fragile.”
Her body, though her lifespan had increased significantly thanks to Baek Joo-won, was still far from fully recovered after eleven years of damage.
Seo Jae-yi was confident in her claim.
“Fragile people are all dead.”
Baek Joo-won scoffed, as if it was ridiculous.
“Before, you could open and close the shop as you pleased, and there wasn’t a single customer waiting. Now you even have customers praying for you not to go bankrupt. What a remarkable improvement.”
“Right? I’m enjoying running the business these days. Hah, I don’t have to close the shop and rush to see you anymore. I’ll become a successful career woman.”
Don’t call me the Reckless Firestarter anymore. I’m a beautiful, twenty-four-year-old flower shop owner with a successful business.
“You’ll be called the Firestarter flower shop owner once your identity is revealed.”
She ignored his teasing.
“But my carefully cultivated dungeon plants are quickly disappearing with the increase in customers. I’ll have to enter another dungeon soon to restock…”
Seo Jae-yi, who had been pondering whether to ask Kim Yoo-sung to secure another plant-type dungeon, suddenly looked at Baek Joo-won.
“Speaking of which, you’re a dungeon master, right?”
“That’s right.”
“Then can’t you propagate the dungeon plants we have now? Some of them were brought from your dungeon.”
Baek Joo-won opened his mouth to answer and then closed it again. His face contorted in dismay.
“You can do it, right?”
“I prefer cultivating Earth flowers to dungeon plants.”
“So you can do it, but you don’t want to. Can’t you cultivate dungeon plants that we don’t have?”
“Even I don’t have the power to create.”
It didn’t seem like he was lying, so Seo Jae-yi nodded.
“Okay. Then propagate the dungeon plants we have. I saw you accelerate their growth before.”
The forest dungeon, scorched black by Seo Jae-yi. But green sprouts had sprung up from the ashes the moment Baek Joo-won touched them.
She couldn’t forget that awe-inspiring sight.
“I can’t do that here; this isn’t a dungeon.”
“So you’re saying you can make them grow faster than normal?”
“….”
Silence meant affirmation.
Seo Jae-yi patted his back, seeing his reluctance.
“Ah, why are you letting your ability go to waste? Use it!”
He shouldn’t have revealed his identity. Baek Joo-won sighed.
“I’ll give you a boss monster magic stone as payment if you help.”
“….”
Baek Joo-won’s grumbling ceased. It seemed like even a dungeon master couldn’t resist the allure of a magic stone.
He finally nodded.