The intense gaze I’d felt throughout the entire class made me think I needed to have a conversation. Normally, I would have just left it alone. Yes, I would have ignored it if the owner of that gaze hadn’t resembled Ruvlian far too much.
When I told him to follow me, as expected, Lee Hyun obediently listened to my words. Seeing him like that reminded me again of Ruvlian, who would act clingy to an excessive degree when I called him, and would absolutely refuse to leave when I told him to go somewhere else.
…This was already a sickness. The problem started with looking for Ruvlian in Lee Hyun. This conversation should definitively cut that off, and I needed to properly distinguish between Ruvlian and Lee Hyun separately.
Equating the two was rude to either one of them.
Thinking that, I, who had been walking ahead, stopped at a place where we could talk quietly. The place we arrived at was the top floor of the staircase at the very end, with the rooftop door right next to it, at some distance from the classroom.
When I turned around, I saw Ruvlian with his eyes wide open. For a moment, what I saw wasn’t Lee Hyun… it was Ruvlian. Wearing the clothes from our last battle, not a school uniform.
“Ruvlian?”
It was a question that came out unconsciously at the all-too-identical appearance. Unlike me, who had become dazed for a moment, Lee Hyun instead reached out his hand with that same smiling face and wrapped his arm around my waist. Then he pressed his head against my shoulder.
“Mm-hmm. You called me?”
The voice that followed contained an affirmation.
“You, what did you just say…”
“It’s been a while, Sihyeon.”
Ruvlian’s clothes returned to the school uniform again. It had been illusion magic. Seeing that I had called out to him, he had simply decided to reveal his identity.
“Ha… Are you crazy?”
“I am crazy for Sihyeon.”
I was momentarily speechless at the words he said while bewitchingly narrowing his eyes. Right. There couldn’t be two of this bastard in the world. If there were two, that world would probably be destroyed and then some.
“…Don’t talk nonsense. And don’t speak casually to me.”
By Ruvlian’s world’s age, Ruvlian was one year younger than me. Until now, I had known him as ‘Lee Hyun’ who was the same age, but now that he was caught being Ruvlian, he was my junior.
“As expected, do you prefer formal speech?”
“…What?”
“Mm-hmm? You’ve been saying since the old days that casual speech won’t do, so isn’t formal speech better than casual speech?”
Ruvlian moved his head, which had been still. His soft hair tickled my neck. But that wasn’t what was important right now.
I had insisted on formal speech to maintain distance, and after telling Ruvlian, whose identity had been exposed, to do so as before, the original topic lost its direction at the nonsense I heard.
He had deliberately changed the subject. I pulled myself together.
“Stop talking bullshit. I don’t know how you came here, but hurry up and go back.”
“Why are you saying that?”
Ruvlian complained as if hurt, but I firmly removed his head leaning on my shoulder and the arm wrapped around my waist. The cozy scent that had been lingering around my nose grew distant.
“I clearly said that since I caught the Demon King too, I’d follow you around and propose.”
“…Ha.”
Was he saying now that it was something he’d said anticipating it would turn out like this? I had never mentioned the fact that I was planning to return to my original world. My head spun at Ruvlian telling me he had deduced it alone and even prepared, yet my mood lifted.
Conflicting emotions arose—that I should send him back but didn’t want to send him back. Even knowing that sending him back was the right thing to do. Neither I nor he was normal.
“Is that the problem right now?”
“Of course. Rian, no, Sihyeon. Nothing is as important to me as you.”
The voice that followed while tilting his head to the side was devastatingly destructive. Watching me continuously let out helpless breaths, Ruvlian smiled. His plump aegyo-sal was utterly infuriating.
“Ruvlian. Don’t you know what happens when you come to a different world?”
“Mm-hmm. I know.”
“And yet you crossed worlds…”
A cold voice came out, filled with suppressed anger. At this rate, it seemed like unorganized words would gather to create a thorny sentence. Unaware of my inner state, Ruvlian gently rubbed my furrowed brow with his index finger. Then his hand slid down and fiddled with my ear.
“Instead, I thought of a way to stay here with Sihyeon. Thinking about being with you, I didn’t even want to think about a way to go back.”
I never had any intention of researching that kind of thing anyway.
I heard the words he muttered as if to himself. His gentle voice contained only the truth. While I couldn’t say anything, Ruvlian’s hand moved from my ear to my neck.
At the sudden touch of coldness, goosebumps rose up my spine. I quickly swatted his hand away and asked.
“What’s this method you thought of?”
“You’re not going to tell me to leave anymore?”
“No, let me just hear it first.”
If I heard it and it seemed wrong, I planned to send him back again. I could do anything for Ruvlian’s safety. I absolutely hated him being exposed to danger.
“Good. First of all, you, Sihyeon, are the object of my desire.”
“…”
I wasn’t particularly surprised that I was the object of his desire since I had expected it. During the 19 years I lived in this world, I struggled and made all kinds of efforts to gain recognition from my family. Since the main part of those efforts consisted of reading the room, I had become skilled at reading emotions.
“Humans who cross over from other worlds get swallowed by unfulfilled desires and shed their human form to become Demon Kings.”
‘Demon King’ was the name ‘people’ attached to those whose latent power was unleashed upon coming to another world and who abandoned their human form after being swallowed by desire.
“Yeah.”
“Then that means I just need you, Sihyeon, to satisfy me. Just hug me and kiss me like usual.”
Ruvlian smiled with eyes that said, ‘Easy, right?’ Easy, my ass. In the first place, I had no memory of hugging him or kissing him normally. I had memories of pushing him away and dropping him, though.
Moreover, there was no way to know if he was certain I was the object of his desire. Even if I was the object of his desire, there was no clear standard for the scope of that desire. Furthermore, there was also his strength that had become several times stronger.
As if he had noticed my thoughts, Ruvlian hugged me tightly and continued speaking.
“Sihyeon is my desire. I can be certain.”
“How can you be certain of that?”
“Why couldn’t I be? Just looking at Sihyeon’s fingers makes me want to suck and bite them to leave my marks.”
Ruvlian said while dyeing both cheeks coral. It was an expression that didn’t match the words he uttered.
“Crazy bastard.”
“Mm-hmm. I’m crazy for you.”
“Haah. …Even leaving that aside, you should know that your power is so strong it disrupts the world’s balance.”
Ruvlian smiled as if he had also thought of a solution for that. An ominous feeling came rushing in strongly.
“I just need to kiss Sihyeon.”
Ruvlian lightly tapped my lips with his index finger.
I was stupid. I had forgotten that I shouldn’t expect normal answers from Ruvlian in the first place.
“I told you before. Just because you’re like a dog doesn’t mean you should spout dog shit.”
“This time it’s real. When you talk about my power, it’s mana, right? Vast and powerful mana.”
When you hit me with your staff every time we fought? I almost reflexively retorted. Since I had countless memories of him hitting me with his staff every day without using that vast mana much.
“Fortunately, mana can also be transferred to others. Of course, my mana wavelength needs to match well with the other person’s, but yours matches well with mine, Sihyeon.”
There actually was a time when my mana was almost completely depleted and I received Ruvlian’s mana. However, I didn’t necessarily need to receive it through kissing.
There are two ways to transfer mana: contact and non-contact.
Non-contact doesn’t involve touching but requires considerable concentration from the person giving it. If their mind wavers even once while giving, the mana circuit inside the receiving person’s body can get twisted and cause problems. Or they might go into mana rampage.
Contact was more efficient and easier than non-contact. If non-contact flows out a constant amount, contact allows you to give as much mana as you want all at once. Whether holding hands or grabbing arms. As long as you touch anywhere, it works.
So Ruvlian’s words were bullshit.
“You know well that I had reached the level of Grand Mage. Stop playing tricks, Ruvlian.”
“That’s too bad.”
Ruvlian grabbed my hand and pressed his face against it. I knew that pitiful appearance was an act. The problem was me, wondering if I should go along with it even knowing this. A sigh came out naturally.
“Even if you look at me like that, it won’t work. Use your face in moderation.”
“Mm-hmm? I’m not using my face right now though… Did I look cute to you? Or did I look pretty?”
Ruvlian immediately urged an answer with a bright smile. I, who hadn’t been pretending to listen, eventually opened my mouth due to Ruvlian’s persistent questioning.
“…Shut your mouth and just transfer the mana.”
Since it had come to this, I should try to postpone God’s arrival as much as possible until I could persuade Ruvlian. First, keeping Ruvlian alive came first.
“Yees. Pretty me will give it to you.”
Ruvlian beamed as if he had gained leverage. He acts so shamelessly when he deliberately led me to say that.
Soft lips touched the palm he was holding, and then mana was transmitted through the skin. My heart pounded at the feeling of mana accumulating in my body. But anyway, he should give it all at once, yet Ruvlian deliberately let it flow little by little. He doesn’t even listen with deaf ears when I tell him not to play tricks.
“Don’t do it with your lips. And I told you to send it all at once.”
“I haven’t done it in such a long time that I forgot how to send it all at once, what should I do?”
Ruvlian, who lightly brushed past the words not to kiss, drew out the end of his words cutely. Then he stuck even closer to me. It was a gesture filled with the conviction that even if I realized he was cheating since he was giving me mana, I wouldn’t separate him from me.
“…Cunning indeed.”
Even at the dryly thrown words, Ruvlian didn’t answer. He just embraced me and rubbed his cheek against my head. I decided to ask what I was curious about while trapped in his arms.
I had a gut feeling it would take a long time because he was giving mana in very small amounts.
“How did things like your identity and language work out?”
“Ah, that? I crossed over to this world before appearing in front of Sihyeon. The fountain pen I gave Sihyeon has a tracking spell on it…”
Wait.
“A tracking spell?”
“Yees. I also cast a spell that prevents me from leaving a 50-meter radius around Sihyeon.”
The shameless stalking declaration was quite absurd. Ruvlian even had a confident face as if there was nothing to be ashamed of.
Why did I get caught by that lunatic… I needed time to lament my unfortunate life. Very much so.
“Sihyeon, but I didn’t cast an eavesdropping spell.”
“That’s obvious.”
There was no need to cast an eavesdropping spell in the first place. Who was the person who followed me even to the bathroom and whined like a puppy in front of the door?
“Yees. But because of that, I was able to know about Sihyeon’s world. Otherwise, I almost went to a world without Sihyeon.”
…So doesn’t that mean he couldn’t have come if it weren’t for the fountain pen in the first place? The fountain pen I habitually fiddled with came to mind. For a moment, I thought I should have broken it, but Ruvlian never let go of something he latched onto. So I thought he would have found me somehow anyway.
It was rather fortunate I didn’t break it. If he was going to come anyway, it’s better to come unharmed than injured.
“So?”
When I responded half-heartedly, Ruvlian lowered his head at an angle. A clearly fabricated sulky voice reached my ears, no matter how I heard it.
“Sihyeon doesn’t seem worried about me at all… If Sihyeon lived in a world without me, I would be so, so worried.”
His face, radiating a pitiful atmosphere, gave the feeling that he’d have at least 100 stories at a glance.
I wanted to ask such a Ruvlian in return. Would you worry about someone like you if you were me? The words that it would be more beneficial to worry about the world also lingered in my mouth.
But they only lingered. They didn’t come out and just went round and round before slipping down below my throat. How could I say such things to a face like that?
“I am, so stop it already.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Take your face away.”
“Why? Did I look cute again?”
Ruvlian asked a mischievous question while grinning with his eyes. Since his intention to tease me was clear, I gave an affirmation I wouldn’t normally make.
“That’s right. You’re cute.”
Then Ruvlian, whose cheeks looked like they were soaked with balsam dye, blinked a little faster than usual. His golden eyelashes fluttered, and his eyes resembling rippling seawater repeatedly appeared and disappeared.
“Tell me more. Am I cute?”
I was captured in the pupils that had been rolling and then stopped. It was a gaze filled with expectation.
I lowered my eyes slightly downward. If I kept looking, it seemed like I’d get swept up in Ruvlian’s pace.
“Yeah. So how did your identity work out? List everything from beginning to end.”
I answered as lifelessly as possible, hiding my anxious heart. When I cut off the flow, Ruvlian made a face that seemed to have some lingering regret, but soon faithfully responded to my question.
“I came about a week ago. I followed right after Sihyeon disappeared.”
It was surprising from the start. The fact that he followed me immediately but didn’t reveal himself for a week.
“I don’t know if time between worlds isn’t the same, but I saw you sleeping deeply for the first time in a while.”
The disappointment and lingering attachment completely disappeared from Ruvlian’s face as he continued speaking. What took their place was excitement and joy.
The sight of him gently rubbing the back of my interlocked hand with his thumb and then sweetly smiling with softly closed eyes seemed like he could die with no regrets, happy just from imagination alone.
Around my first year as a Hero, I did hunt like a dog with the mindset of sleeping when you’re dead. But was seeing my sleeping face something worth making that expression over?
“And when I saw what seemed to be your name in letters I couldn’t understand at all, I rummaged through other people’s memories to figure out this country’s language,”
…You did what?
“I went back to the past 19 years ago and used magic to manipulate the mental realm to create an identity.”
Ruvlian had a face as if cherry blossoms in full bloom would greet me despite it being summer, perhaps due to the aftermath of ruminating on my sleeping appearance again.
So in other words, he was mentioning time magic and mental realm manipulation while being utterly refreshing about it. Like saying it’s nice weather today.
I was at a loss for words. What’s wrong with this guy? First of all, there’s no problem with his face.
