Im Haneul.
24 years old.
As Yoo Chaerin’s editor, she grew up in quite a conservative family.
Her mother was rather strict and believed in traditional gender roles.
In this inverted world, such beliefs often flip.
From a young age, she learned that a ‘woman’ should be strong and resilient, and a ‘man’ should take care of his own body.
In her ascetic household, anything lewd was, of course, to be avoided.
The saying that boys and girls should not sit together once they reach seven is more than just words.
Of course, kids raised in such strict households often rebel against these ideas. She didn’t particularly like her family’s conservative views.
Thus, the moment she turned 20, she declared her independence and found her own place.
However, leaving home didn’t erase the education of the past 20 years.
The conservative beliefs instilled in her still lingered in her heart.
A ‘man’ showing off his body is a scandal!
People must distance themselves from pleasure; lewdness is disgraceful!
Of course, while she had a bit of, okay, quite a lot of sexual desire, she couldn’t help but be influenced by what she learned growing up.
In internet slang, she was the epitome of a “virtuous person.”
Serious, reserved, and picky; she didn’t manage the chatroom strictly for nothing.
Perhaps that’s why she hadn’t been in a relationship until nearly 26 in Korean age.
She wanted to change, but reshaping a personality formed in childhood is no easy feat.
Anyway, because of this, she had no immunity to ‘men.’
Just like the stereotypical virtuous person online, seeing a ‘man’ made her freeze up.
Then, unexpectedly, a man appeared before her.
“What the heck…?”
And he was half-naked! A man standing there blankly with his shirt off.
He had a perfectly sculpted six-pack, broad shoulders, and long limbs. A tattoo on his right collarbone only intensified his scandalousness.
Tattoos in a medieval era!
What kind of wild life must he have lived?
To her, a Confucian girl, the sight was outrageously stimulating.
Of course, Yor, the man, didn’t care about that at all.
He was still shirtless but didn’t plan to cover up.
After all, someone had just seen his tattoo.
‘What the hell…’
Thinking that, Yor quickly decided to subdue Im Haneul.
He wasn’t foolish enough to think she hadn’t seen it; after all, he had frozen in place for at least 2 seconds.
In that time, a person could certainly see a tattoo on a collarbone.
So, without letting her have any chance to do anything, he resolved to dominate the situation.
He grabbed her neck and pushed her back to the ground.
“Ah!”
Im Haneul, who had just been trying to sit up, found herself back on the ground.
And it didn’t end there.
He sat on top of her to prevent her from rising again.
Still shirtless, of course. To an outside observer, it must have looked quite scandalous, but Yor didn’t care in the slightest.
It was a situation that could easily lead to disaster.
“Uh, wait, just a sec…!”
Naturally, Haneul, unaware of the situation’s gravity, could only blush.
Yor was thinking while looking at her.
‘Damn, what do I do?’
Just like that, he might have to resort to killing her to cover up.
Seeing his tattoo exposed was a serious issue for him.
But since the opponent might be from another world, Yor decided to activate his ‘Player’s Eye.’
[The opposing NPC is currently hostile towards you!]
As expected, the opponent’s status window popped up.
She was indeed an Otherworlder. This meant he couldn’t kill her to silence her.
Realizing this, Yor sighed heavily.
“Haah…”
Should I maybe have been more wary while sunbathing?
No, honestly, he thought he’d done everything he could.
He had been patient for a long time and checked the surroundings before undressing.
But who would have thought someone would fall from the sky?
Especially at that exact moment when he had taken off his shirt!
Yes, this felt like a great cosmic prank!
It was as if someone in the sky was desperately trying to mess with him!
It was incredibly frustrating, but the situation had already unfolded.
So, Yor began to think of a way out.
‘What should I do?’
Killing her was already out of the question. She’d just revive in three days anyway.
Now, he had to keep her.
At least he had to ensure she couldn’t spread rumors about him.
So, how to silence her?
… Unfortunately, he hadn’t figured that part out yet.
“Uh… I’m really sorry for seeing your body, but could you get off me…? Yor?”
It was just then that he heard Haneul’s voice from below.
By that point, her face was as red as a tomato.
Maybe they had been in this position too long, but she couldn’t bear the embarrassment anymore.
Honestly, if she stayed any longer, she felt she might overheat and start bleeding from her nose.
Truthfully, Yor had momentarily forgotten about her, but after a brief consideration, he moved aside.
If she was an Otherworlder, she could just ‘logout,’ so it didn’t matter.
And if she tried to physically escape, he could catch her anyway.
As he moved off her, Yor couldn’t help but be surprised.
‘… Oh wow.’
Now, for the first time, he noticed her upper body.
Two massive mounds, nearly the size of her head. Without a doubt, the biggest he had ever seen.
Even though she wore a loose robe, their size was undeniable.
Not uncomfortably so, but they occupied a significant portion of his sight.
Thanks to that, he was momentarily distracted, but knowing the situation was dire, he quickly pulled himself together.
Yor then sat cross-legged across from her, putting his shirt back on.
He needed to have a proper conversation, and he couldn’t continue shirtless in front of her now that she’d seen him.
Look at that overly-red face.
It seemed like just the slightest touch would make her explode.
Of course, even in his own state of shock, Yor remained frozen.
An awkward silence ensued for a while.
The first to break it was Yor.
“Uh… Did you see everything?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. No, it’s not like I wanted to look or anything…”
Im Haneul stammered, while Yor interrupted her.
“No, not the body. I meant… this.”
He pointed to the tattoo on his right collarbone.
Understanding what he meant, Haneul turned her eyes away and spoke.
“Well, I think having a tattoo isn’t that unusual…”
“Huuh…”
Yor sighed again and continued,
“…What you saw today, especially the tattoo on my collarbone, absolutely, do not tell anyone.”
Let’s be frank.
He needed to silence her.
So, surely there must be a way to effectively ensure her silence, right?
“Absolutely.”
… There was none.
No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t come up with a solution.
The opponent was an Otherworlder. To them, this world was merely a game, and they could always escape back to their home world.
That world had an incredibly advanced internet.
She could expose his identity in an instant with just a few taps on her fingers once she returned home.
Torture wasn’t an option. Even if he could silence her then, he couldn’t predict how she would feel when she went back home.
Imprisonment would also likely be impossible. As mentioned, she had the option to ‘logout.’
In the end, all he could do was slightly threaten her and maybe persuade her.
He had no choice but to rely on her goodwill.
Yet, he was not the kind of person to trust her goodwill. His life so far hadn’t been that kind.
Thus, he had to prepare for the worst.
He needed to think about leaving this comfy cave.
He might need to dive into deeper layers where his life could be in danger. Anything was better than dozens of hunters coming after him.
‘… Damn.’
While pondering this, he suddenly wanted to blame the world.
Why was life so hard when the universe didn’t cooperate with him at all?
Yor repeatedly asked her to keep quiet.
The atmosphere turned tense. Im Haneul nodded a few times, indicating she understood, but he showed no signs of letting her go.
The air around them was incredibly tense.
But for some reason, Im Haneul didn’t feel particularly terrified.
It wasn’t that she was fearless.
Even at the convenience store, she’d flinch a bit if a group of high school boys was nearby.
Moreover, Yor had a rather intimidating presence.
But for some reason,
It felt like it was Yor who was trapped, not her.
The one threatening her seemed more endangered.
Yor looked like a hedgehog cornered, bracing himself with spikes, ready to spit in all directions to protect itself.
Almost by sunset, Im Haneul was finally allowed to leave.
It seemed he wasn’t concerned about her having seen his naked upper body; it was just the tattoo he was worried about keeping silent.
‘What’s so special about that tattoo…?’
What made it so undesirable to reveal the past?
Could it be that there was more to it than just a bit of a wild past?
After all, in this era, would a tattoo so intricate even be possible?
“Hmm…”
Her curiosity persisted even after she logged out.
Once out of the capsule, she immediately dove into the internet.
She definitely wasn’t looking to spread the information across communities.
She wasn’t the type for that anyway.
She was simply curious. Why was this person reacting so sensitively?
After some time roaming the internet’s vast ocean, she stumbled upon one piece of information.
It was directly related to ‘Demon’s Blood.’
