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Han Dokyeom remained silent for an extended period.
A girl in a bonnet, observing his quietude, swiftly approached him.
She gently patted his cheek, then tilted her head, her doll-like, beautiful eyes blinking in confusion.
[Oh… the youngest always used to smile brightly when this happened.]
[I thought they were unstable… they must have forgotten.]
The elder gazed into the distance, his voice resonating with the hardships of a long life.
Everyone present watched him in thoughtful silence.
[…It seems it turned out just as you said, brother.]
[Child, don’t worry. Why borrow trouble for something that will only be temporary?]
It was the girl seated before Han Dokyeom who burst into a bright smile at the woman’s words.
Her cheeks flushed like ripe peaches as she fixed her gaze on Han Dokyeom, whispering softly.
Something constricted in his chest.
[Sister is right. Even if they’re momentarily stagnant, the youngest is still the youngest. And among us, the youngest has the most outstanding precognitive abilities. They will surely remember soon.]
Her smile was like a burst of sunshine, radiating enough warmth for Han Dokyeom, who remained unable to smile himself.
He tried to form words with his lips, but an overwhelming wave of drowsiness instantly washed over him.
His vision wavered, becoming murky as if submerged in water.
Han Dokyeom collapsed once more, unable to utter a single word.
****
When he awoke from a dream he couldn’t recall, a child with wide, alert eyes sat before him.
The child, draped loosely in a coat from an unknown origin, sat with their back to the pitch-black forest, diligently putting something into their mouth.
His gaze fell to the ground around the child.
It was laden with a bounty of forest fruits and even small wild animals, their hearts still faintly beating.
A peculiar sense of reassurance settled over him at the sight.
He then realized his body felt unusually warm.
It was a profound warmth, and Han Dokyeom instinctively burrowed deeper into its comforting embrace.
However, an arm reached around him from behind.
It clasped his waist and pulled Han Dokyeom’s body backward.
“Come here, Dokyeom.”
The gentle voice, a soft rasp against his ears, sent an unsettling chill through his stomach, causing his shoulders to involuntarily tense.
The touch itself was tender, leaving Han Dokyeom, his mind still clouded, with no choice but to instinctively nestle into that broad embrace.
‘Brother… Sister.’
A low, spreading laugh sounded familiar to his ears.
Han Dokyeom closed his eyes, unable to identify the owner of that laughter.
“Such a good boy. Is it because there’s something to be scolded for?”
A hand swept up his cheek, slowly caressing his ear.
The fingers, which had delicately touched his earlobe, brushed past his skin and gently tapped his torn lip.
Blood immediately welled up, soaking the man’s fingertips.
“Dokyeom, why are you so weak, always making me want to touch you?”
The hand, having left his lips, slowly traced its way up Han Dokyeom’s skin again, deliberately caressing his seal.
‘What should I do?’
Taeseongyeon soothed the pitiful, trembling curve of Dokyeom’s back, a slow, savoring smile playing on his lips as he fell into thought.
Perhaps it was Han Dokyeom’s ashen profile, evoking the image of a gasping herbivore with its throat torn, that deepened Taeseongyeon’s contemplation.
When his eyes, which had been slowly blinking as if lost in a lingering reverie, finally settled on a decision, Taeseongyeon pulled Han Dokyeom’s waist, lifting his body.
As he cradled Dokyeom’s limp form against his chest for support, Dokyeom’s head fell back with a weak thud.
“Being soft is just perfect, but…”
‘Still, it needs to struggle a bit to feel truly alive.’
His words carried a subtle hint of regret.
Taeseongyeon’s sharply defined face appeared close within Han Dokyeom’s hazy vision.
As Taeseongyeon’s hand stroked the back of Dokyeom’s neck, where heat was beginning to concentrate, Dokyeom saw his lips part.
And the thick tongue emerging from between them.
‘…The seal…’
It was then that he caught a fleeting glimpse of a seal on the tongue.
Han Dokyeom flinched, as if pricked by something.
The tongue, having licked up his neckline, then licked beneath his ear.
The fleshy mass pressing against his skin made his limbs twitch restlessly.
Even the clear blue sky seemed distorted.
Something was on the verge of making violent contact.
His heart, pounding as if it would burst from his chest, conveyed a precarious warning.
And it happened abruptly, like a chemical reaction, when the thick tongue met Han Dokyeom’s seal.
Dokyeom’s fingertips, clutching Taeseongyeon’s clothes, curled sharply.
“Hmph…! Wait… it hurts…!”
“Hmm, why would it hurt?”
Behind his gentle words, Taeseongyeon pressed the tip of his tongue against the seal.
Gasping breaths erupted from within his embrace.
Raw, unrefined magic seeped in, its very nature feeling heavy, as if it possessed a physical form.
“It’s almost as if you’ve received some other bastard’s magic, isn’t it?”
“You… hmph, you… hmph, bastards…”
“Dokyeom, your language is a bit rough. Especially to someone who’s trying to help you.”
The magic, having infiltrated his body, systematically corrected the haphazardly arranged framework.
Yet, the process was unbearably unpleasant and utterly repulsive.
Each time his strength failed and his head fell back, Taeseongyeon supported Dokyeom’s neck.
He persistently crushed the seal with his tongue.
Sparks seemed to fly before Dokyeom’s eyes whenever the seals clashed and foreign magic burrowed deep within him.
“Haa, haa…”
Various magical energies mingled, swirling unpleasantly within his body.
It was a pitch-black night, one that felt as if the darkness covering the sky would crush him.
His mind was hazy, his body heavy. His thoughts drifted aimlessly again.
‘Who is it? Who… am I with?’
Han Dokyeom, who had been blinking as he stared at the starless sky, soon tilted his head to the side and slowly slipped.
Then, with a soft thud, his hand dropped, and his eyes closed.
****
Lick, lick—
The sound of something licking reached his ears.
Along with a soft smacking noise.
Han Dokyeom’s eyelashes fluttered as he struggled to open his eyes.
It was still a pitch-black night.
After blinking his blurry eyes a few times, a brightly burning bonfire was the first thing he noticed.
And someone was licking Han Dokyeom’s seal.
As soon as he turned his head in his dazed state, Han Dokyeom came face to face with a colossal beast.
It was a lion with a magnificent mane.
Its size was more massive than an elephant, and its head was large enough to swallow Han Dokyeom whole.
This giant lion held Han Dokyeom in its embrace, licking his seal as if grooming its own paw.
“…O…Orias…?”
The lion, which had been smacking its tongue against Dokyeom’s seal, perked its ears at the sound and looked at him.
Its eyes widened like a surprised cat, then narrowed again as if becoming indifferent.
There was a hint of relief in its expression.
[Go back to sleep.]
‘Orias’ merely uttered those words and resumed licking the seal.
Han Dokyeom’s body shivered uncontrollably.
He felt something being corrected, but it was so sensitive that only the sensation of being pricked by needles prevailed.
Fortunately, Agon was curled up nearby, breathing deeply in a sound sleep.
“Stop… it…”
[Stop what? No, I’m currently sorting out the mixed magic… Ah, anyway, no.]
“But… hah, why… why is it so… difficult…?”
[…What can be done? So much of other bastards’ magic got mixed in. I’m settling it down, so just bear with it. Do you even know where you’d find a demon in this world who cares about their contractor like this? Just accept it quietly when I offer to help.]
‘Orias’ nipped at Dokyeom’s shoulder, as if telling him not to move.
When Dokyeom’s head drooped like a sick chicken, Orias resumed smacking his tongue against the seal.
His body recoiled sharply.
The events from earlier floated through his mind.
‘So, was it ‘Orias’ who was licking me earlier too? It felt so creepy. No, but this bastard went out to play and only just appeared now…!’
“Hey, you bastard. Can’t you… hah, stop wandering around so much?”
[Hey! I had my own reasons, you know… Ah, anyway, I had reasons! Do you have any idea how hard I ran around trying to save you?!]
“So, did you save me?”
[……]
Orias subtly avoided Dokyeom’s gaze.
Then, with a huffy expression, as if telling him not to move, Orias playfully nipped at his shoulder again.
[Ah, just stay still for a bit. Why are you making such a fuss when I’m trying to heal you? I don’t know why this guy is so brazen.]
“You… hah, you do well yourself.”
[Look at this, look at this. How is it that you never lose an argument?]
As he was about to retort, he heard a crunching sound from beside him.
Dokyeom’s head snapped around reflexively.
Only then did he recall the forgotten presence of the child.
The crunching sound emanated from the child’s mouth.
With bright red blood smeared around their lips, the child gripped something in their hands, ravenously tearing at it.
They resembled a hyena, burying their head in its prey as it fed.
Upon closer inspection, the child was tearing apart and devouring a live, twitching rabbit.
As soon as Dokyeom’s brows furrowed, ‘Orias’ snorted above his head and added.
[That one has to devour living beings to absorb their intelligence. If it eats that much, its intelligence will likely rise to a human level. Maybe a bit less. If it eats like this just today, you can give it anything later. It’s because of its authority, so just understand.]
He hadn’t known that.
He had only vaguely guessed it might be the case.
Even as the child devoured the live rabbit, they incessantly watched Han Dokyeom’s reaction.
They were certainly displaying emotions closer to those of a human than the dazed state he’d witnessed earlier.
Exhausted, Dokyeom leaned his body against ‘Orias” massive form.
He no longer had the strength to even shudder in disgust.
[You, don’t even think about asking me for anything in the future. Hmph, where does this one get off glaring at a supreme demon? Do you think I’m doing this for my own good? It’s because you’ll suffer if I don’t settle it down.]
“Then… ah… why don’t you… hurry and finish it? What exactly have you been doing since before?”
[Talking like it was just “before.” If you can’t bear it, grab my fur and pull. It’s going to take a while anyway.]
‘Orias’, who had been grumbling discontentedly, extended its tongue and resumed smacking it against Dokyeom’s seal.
After a moment, as if remembering something else, it continued to mutter for a long time.
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