“…Well, this is a disaster.”
Elian muttered, staring out the window.
Every time he opened his mouth, pale puffs of breath scattered into the air. A biting wind cut through the gap of a broken window. There were old curtains drawn across it, but they were completely useless. This was the northern part of the empire — and among its territories, the most desolate of all: the Valeria domain.
Just yesterday, he had been Kim Jaehyeon, a civil engineer in Korea who’d been grinding through overtime. His last memory was suddenly clutching his chest in the middle of the night from a sharp pain in his heart.
So I really was going to die from overwork, just like something out of the news…
When he came to his senses, he had been transferred into the body of Elian Valeria — the twenty-five-year-old young lord of a dirt-poor northern domain.
On the first day of possession, despite this clearly being the lord’s bedchamber, the cold was enough to kill. Elian’s thoughts were simple.
Just let me die.
Ding―!
With a cheerful chime, a translucent blue window floated into view before his eyes.
[WARNING: Resident dissatisfaction has exceeded the critical threshold!]
[Current Status: Crisis of starvation and death by freezing]
[Available Funds: ―52,000 Gold (On the verge of bankruptcy)]
“Yeah, I know! I know! You damned System!”
Elian irritably swiped at the air. The moment he’d opened his eyes, a System Window — the kind you’d only expect to see in a game — had been staring back at him. He barely had time to be baffled before the System, as if prodding him for not responding, kept flashing the same window over and over.
This insane System had demanded he “rebuild the domain” in exchange for saving his life. The penalty for failure: soul erasure. In other words, true death.
If he wanted to live, he needed to make money — but just look at the state of this domain.
Elian pressed his throbbing temple and surveyed the room. The floor was ice-cold, making a mockery of the name “lord’s manor,” and only burnt-out ash rolled around in the fireplace. There were clear signs that furniture had been broken apart and used as firewood.
The state of the residents he’d glimpsed in yesterday’s memories was even more wretched. Children gnawed on tree bark because there was nothing to eat; the elderly slept in fitful snatches, relying on each other’s body heat. This wasn’t poverty — it was a disaster.
Even to him, someone who’d spent years buried in concrete and construction back in Korea, this crumbling stone building with wind whistling through its walls and the frozen domain around it looked exactly like a bankrupt redevelopment site. He wanted nothing more than to throw his resignation letter in someone’s face — but there was no boss left to throw it at.
Even rats would pack up and emigrate — there’s nothing left to eat here.
He didn’t even have enough firewood to get through tonight. It was then that a red warning window stabbed itself into Elian’s vision.
[EMERGENCY QUEST TRIGGERED!]
― Quest Name: Survive the Freezing Night!
― Details: Tonight’s temperature will drop to minus 30 degrees. 30 residents are at risk of freezing to death.
― Required Resources: 5 tons of premium anthracite coal.
― Solution: Purchase from the System Shop for 100 BP.
100 BP. Short for Build Points. Apparently, if he used them, 5 tons of anthracite coal would drop right out of the sky. The problem was that Elian’s current BP was exactly zero.
“How am I even supposed to collect those damn Points?”
The moment he muttered it to himself, the System popped up a tutorial screen as if it had been waiting for exactly that.
[How to Charge BP]
- This System converts Mana into material goods.
- Absorb Mana through physical contact with Grand Duke Calix Drac — the continent’s most powerful Mana wielder.
- The more intimate the contact, the sharper the charge efficiency rises.
- Each point accumulates over time, counted in seconds.
[Charging Guide]
― Holding hands: 10 BP
― Embrace: 50 BP
― Light kiss: 100 BP
― Saliva exchange (deep kiss): 500 BP
― Semen absorption (intercourse): 10,000 BP
― Special contact situations award fixed points plus random gifts
“…Are you insane.”
The soul of this body had vanished, but the memories remained intact — background knowledge surfaced naturally in his mind. Calix Drac. Ruler of the North. The Grand Duke of the North — the murderous madman that even the Emperor didn’t dare cross?
And yet… he was supposed to kiss that man just to get some coal?
“This is absolutely insane!”
Just then, the butler Hans threw open the door and burst in.
“My lord! We have a crisis!”
The tip of the white-haired old man Hans’s nose was frozen red from the cold. A sudden ache hit Elian in the chest. This man had looked after him in place of a father since he was young. At his age, the cold must seep right into his bones…
“What’s happened?”
“It’s — it’s the Grand Duke and his knights! He says the blizzard has left them stranded and they need somewhere to shelter for a while…”
“What? Can we… refuse?”
“If we turn him away, our castle will be seized! And we have nothing to even offer him in the way of hospitality!”
Hans wrung his hands frantically. But Elian’s eyes had already drifted elsewhere. The System Window was blinking like mad.
[Opportunity detected! Target ‘Calix Drac’ has entered within a 1km radius.]
[The closer you are to the target, the higher the Mana resonance.]
Elian swallowed hard. Fear? Dread? No. This was not the time to be picky.
Surely he can’t actually be a murderous Grand Duke.
That man was a walking furnace. A massive human gold mine who was going to feed this domain.
“Let him in.”
Elian gravely pulled on his coat.
“Bring him to my… no, to the reception room.”
* * *
Grand Duke Calix Drac was in a foul mood. Being stranded by a sudden blizzard was irritating enough — but of all the places to take shelter, it had to be some crumbling, half-collapsed domain.
Who is the incompetent lord that governs his domain this badly?
He irritably flung off his wet cloak and stepped into the reception room.
“Welcome, Grand Duke!”
Some man came springing out at him. A pale complexion, but taller than average with straight, broad shoulders. A naturally well-built frame. Softly curling light blond hair the color of ivory. Blue-gray eyes.
He remembered now. The Baron of Valeria. Calix’s brow furrowed. Most petty lords couldn’t even meet his eyes, cowering and trembling — but this one’s gaze was different.
It was like a starving animal catching the scent of meat… a kind of… hunger… he could feel it?
“Welcome. It’s humble, but please rest comfortably.”
Elian grabbed Calix’s hand without ceremony. Calix’s eyes narrowed. How dare he lay hands on him without permission? He was a half-second from snapping the man’s wrist.
“…!”
The Baron’s hand was burning hot. More precisely — it felt as though the excess Mana that had been churning cold through his body was draining away through the Baron’s hand like an ebbing tide. The chronic headaches he’d suffered from for so long due to his overflowing Mana vanished cleanly in an instant. A strangely unsettling sensation.
What… is this?
While Calix stood there disoriented, Elian was desperate. The System Window in front of his eyes was counting up.
[Charging… 8 BP, 10 BP…]
[Handholding efficiency is low. Wider surface area contact is required.]
Damn it, at this rate just holding hands will take forever… 30 people are going to freeze to death tonight!
To rack up 100 Points, one kiss would do it. But if he kissed this man on their first meeting, his head would roll before he ever saw that coal. Then there was only one option.
“Grand Duke.”
Elian looked up at Calix with glistening eyes. Dignity didn’t matter. Acting ability comes from the survival instinct.
“You must have been so cold on the way here.”
“…Let go of this.”
“Allow me to warm you with my own body heat!”
Elian dove straight into Calix’s arms. All at once. He buried his face against that firm chest and wrapped both arms tightly around his waist.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Calix recoiled and tried to pry him off, but Elian clung on like a leech. No matter how decent-looking the Baron was, a man of pathetically low physical capability should have had no chance against the Grand Duke’s strength — and yet, strangely, he wouldn’t come off.
[System Notice: Absorbing Mana!]
“Just a moment! One minute! No — just 30 more seconds, Grand Duke!”
“Let go of me right now!”
“I’m s-sobbing because I admire you so much! Please, just let me hug you once!”
There was only one thought in Elian’s mind.
It’s going up! 70 BP… 80 BP…!
Calix’s body went rigid as stone. Countless men had come to assassinate him, and plenty more had come begging for money or power. But a crying lunatic who purely, desperately begged just to be held — that was a first.
…Am I really that irresistible?
Amid Calix’s mix of bewilderment and delusion — the cheerful chime finally rang in Elian’s ear.
Ding―!
[Goal achieved! 100 BP acquired!]
[Reward: 5 tons of premium anthracite coal has been delivered to the domain warehouse.]
We did it! We’re saved!
“…Thank you.”
Elian beamed brightly — then, as if his business was concluded, shoved Calix’s chest away and snapped back coldly. He straightened his disheveled clothes and bowed his head politely, but very, very quickly.
“Then, you must be tired. Please rest.”
“…Hah?”
Left behind, Calix looked back and forth between his now-empty arms and the Baron’s retreating figure as he all but fled from the room.
Just moments ago, the man had been clinging to him like he couldn’t live without him. Now that he’d gotten what he wanted, he was being told to get lost?
“…Ha. That is one hell of a strange fellow.”
A sharp, dangerous smile crept onto the Grand Duke’s lips.
