Chapter 19 : Mongma (1)

-Splash! Splash!

Cold water dripped down my cheeks.

My silver hair shimmered, wet, and my deep blue eyes occasionally trembled finely.

“Huu. Crazy. Crazy.”

I washed my face, roughly dispelling the heat, but the sticky feeling clinging to my body didn’t disappear.

I must be crazy, why on earth did I do that?

“Ah…”

My outer and inner clothes felt stuffy.
When swept away by lust, even that was part of the pleasure, but now that I’d come to my senses, the feeling of being drenched in sweat was just unpleasant.

No. Not just… sweat.
Anyway.

I felt self-loathing.
I wasn’t someone swayed by mere physical pleasure like this, but when Caspar was involved, everything changed.

“Still… This isn’t quite right.”

Doing it with a man’s body, and a sleeping one at that.
This, this is just being a beast.

Though I managed to hold onto my sanity enough that his body wasn’t soiled by my fluids, even that alone disqualifies me as a wife.

What would Caspar think if he knew I did such things?

Undoubtedly, he would despise the behavior of an unchaste woman.
The thought of receiving his contemptuous gaze made me feel dizzy.

Actually, the thought that even that wasn’t so bad briefly crossed my mind…

-Slap.

“Hooo. Guess I’ll just take a shower.”

My reason, momentarily freed from carnal desire, managed to rein in the lust.

Swoooosh.

Turning on the shower, the sensation of cold water washing over me dispelled the hazy feeling.

I washed my hair with fragrant shampoo and generously applied body lotion, erasing any remaining traces on my body.

“Hmm~. Nice.”

A slight smile formed.

Compared to that place where even drinking water, let alone water for washing, was scarce, Earth, where cold and hot water poured from the shower, was incredibly abundant.

It wasn’t that I had a body odor issue; rather, I supposedly had an attractive, subtle natural scent, but…

Still, not washing for a few days makes one dirty.
It was truly fortunate that here, I could always show Caspar a clean and perfect appearance.

Well. Not that he can see yet.

Click.

After finishing the shower.
Dry the body with a dry towel.
Now I feel a bit more normal.

Because I showered with cold water, the mirror wasn’t fogged up, reflecting my naked form clearly.
I admired my own body, like a work of art.

‘Wow. Realizing it anew, my skin is great.’

Unlike before, when it felt somewhat pale, the newly regenerated body this time was healthy, with a subtle pinkish glow.

Thanks to that, my already beautiful body now possessed a fresh aura, making it even more attractive.

It’s probably because my mind has cleared up.
Mind and body are complementary, after all.

‘Nice.’

It was good.

Searching through my faint old memories, this was a temptation no man with normal sexual preferences could possibly refuse.
And based on my observations, Caspar was an extremely normal male.

Long limbs.
Muscles toned just right.
Breasts that fit moderately in one hand.

This was a good body for a man to hold.
No, it was safe to say it was almost identical to my body back in my youth.

Back when I didn’t know the world was nearing its end.
Back then, I think I lamented not being able to hold myself upon seeing my own body, but now, I just wished Caspar would take this beautiful body.

‘The breasts are a little disappointing though…’

Hmm.
It’s fine.
Enhen’s were big, not as small as mine.
If he wanted later, I could probably enhance them through some unconventional means.

Fumbling, I put on my underwear and went outside the bathroom, letting the sunlight streaming through the window dry my body completely.

I could have dried inside, but I liked basking in the sun.
More importantly, I could keep Caspar in my sight even a little longer.

“…Sorry.”

Caspar slept peacefully, unaware of anything.

Feeling guilty, I bowed my head slightly and apologized to Caspar.
Because the etiquette I learned stated that a woman shouldn’t make demands of a man first.

The old me, who acted like a ruffian, perhaps during the peak of dating Caspar, might have done it, but the current me, who belatedly pledged eternal devotion to her lover, could not tolerate it.

Though the etiquette I learned as a wife back then, found in a ‘slightly’ old etiquette book in a corner of the palace after everything was destroyed, was ‘somewhat’ patriarchal.

Though it contained many descriptions, archaic even by the standards of the Land of Prosperity, treating women almost like baby-making machines…

Well… At least Caspar wouldn’t dislike it.

That’s just how men are, originally.

***

After things settled down somewhat, I went to visit Yulha in the hospital.

It seemed she hadn’t been discharged yet.
Perhaps because it wasn’t just physical wounds, recovery was said to take quite some time.

Even that was considered a very light price for enduring at the entrance of an S-rank Gate.

Honestly, the word Gate means door, so isn’t ‘entrance of the Gate’ a bit contradictory? That thought briefly crossed my mind.
But well, that’s the terminology.

“Ah. Hayul. Are you feeling okay?”

“It’s Yulha. Hunter Agathe-nim. Hayul is Bari-nim’s third daughter.”

Oops.

She shrugged, looking slightly hurt.
Yulha had brought a laptop to her hospital room and was constantly typing something.

“…What are you doing?”

As I tried to peek at the screen, Yulha calmly closed the laptop lid.
Apparently, she didn’t want to show me.

“Hmm. Enjoying some leisure time. It’s a wholesome activity, informing the public about the Association’s achievements and correcting common misconceptions. You don’t need to worry about it.”

Something’s suspicious.

I snatched the laptop and stole a glance at the screen.
Seeing no password, it must have really been her personal laptop.

“Ack! Ah, don’t look. Really…”

Her expression seemed artificial for someone saying that.
I knew the feeling.

It’s the reaction when you’re hesitant to say something yourself but want someone to see and react.
Caspar always made that face when he returned from exploring ancient ruins.

I never understood why he bothered monsters living perfectly fine on their own, but anyway, whenever he returned after killing some mythical monster, I always praised him earnestly.

“…S-rank Gate Seocheon Flower Garden Raid, Criticism and Controversy…”

Besides that, checking her internet search history revealed several tabs.
An entry for Agathe (Hunter)/Controversy, an entry for Saradoryeong/Achievements, and that community site I visited before and blushed…

Lee Yulha spoke with a strangely proud expression.

“Well, it is officially part of the Association’s work. Public perception is very important in this line of work. Usually, we hire comment trolls, but isn’t it more responsible for someone like me to do it? This is true Noblesse Oblige…”

…That’s probably not what that phrase is for.

Just in case, I went to the community site.
Whether she used multiple accounts, dozens of accounts were listed in the auto-login window.

Resisting the temptation to log into the account that seemed oldest (it used the same ID as her email), I entered a random ID account that looked recently created.

Naturally, Yulha freaked out.

“Ah wait. Wait a moment. How did you get in there? That’s privacy. Respect, please.”

Of course, I had no obligation to obey Yulha’s words.
Except for the minor issue of privacy laws.
And I, as the ruler of the Land of Prosperity, tended to adopt the principle of personal jurisdiction.

Lee Yulha, lying in her hospital bed, flailed, trying to grab my arm, but her hand only grasped air, failing to reach me.

Her recent account history showed 1320 posts, 30 comments… a clearly abnormal ratio.
Furthermore, the only board she was active on was the Hunter board.

While I was at it, I skimmed through some of the titles Yulha posted on the Hunter board.

[Honestly don’t you think the Association is doing a good job lately?] (25)

[I work at the Association and Magic Girl-nim is way more normal and kind than expected] (7)
*(TL Note: ‘Magic Girl-nim’ is likely a nickname for Agathe.)*

[Rate this guy’s dinner.] (1)

[Today’s listen-on-repeat song] (4)

[S-rank Gate raid news out yet!!!!] (143)

[Ha sh*t why so many trolls? Mods what are you doing?] (6)

[Newbies memorize this if you don’t know. S-rank == God] (8)

[Regular worship time] (63)

The last post Yulha made was a typical template post with Saradoryeong’s face picture and some embarrassingly flattering words.
The 63 comments attached were all the same emoticon too.

Hmm.

What a spectacle.

“Aaaack! That, that, let go when I’m asking nicely. No, please let go.”

Yulha screamed genuinely, trying to snatch the laptop from my hand.
I readily handed it back to her.

“Well… It doesn’t seem like you wrote anything bad about me, so I’ll return it.”

If she had slandered me or Caspar, I would have delivered appropriate punishment, but that wasn’t the case.

“How do you know how to browse so well… This, this is cheating… I definitely heard you don’t use the internet at all.”

“…Memories from a past life, something like that. Just because someone’s a Returnee doesn’t mean they don’t have memories from their Earth days.”

After all, I was a young man who had even completed military service.
Besides, having already become immortal, it would be stranger to completely forget past memories.

Before, I forcefully buried all happy memories, but now that Caspar is alive, there’s no need to deliberately try to forget.

“The Association President barely knew how to operate a microwave…”

That’s just him being…

No, never mind.
Being inside a Gate for a long time could do that.

“Anyway. Any special news lately?”

“…Why are you asking me? Seems like you’re pretty good with the internet yourself.”

After returning, I avoided it because I thought negative things might rub off on me.
And I felt I might neglect my lover.

But that seemed a bit rude to Yulha, who appeared to be an internet ghost.

“No. There is something. The recently opened Gate is quite interesting…”

Saying so, Yulha pushed forward an internal report that looked like it was prepared by the Association.

There, it was written.

B-rank Gate. Incubus/Succubus.
*(TL Note: The Korean term (Mongma) can refer to either incubus or succubus, dream demons.)*