Chapter 27

〈 Chapter 27 〉 Part 1, Chapter 2 (13)

“…What is it?”

Gaeul felt like her chest was about to explode. Me? That woman who was choking a man to death like a dog gasping for breath?

Thump, thump, thump.

Her racing heart showed no signs of calming down. The passionate night under the moonlight was more intense and poignant than anything Gaeul had ever experienced.

Who on earth could it be?

No matter how hard she tried to recall, nothing came to mind. All she could remember was the warm embrace of Blue Flame, but not the face or name of the man.

Only that blue flame lingered in her mind.

“…Ah?! Aah!”

Why had I forgotten this? Gaeul suddenly sat up in shock.

“I’m alive.”

She checked every part of her body, feeling the soft fabric in her hands.

“What’s this?”

A translucent green silk veil. Clutching it to her chest, Gaeul rose from the sofa. Instead of her lost high heels, perfectly fitting slippers lay neatly by her feet.

“Who are you?”

Judging from the situation, someone must have saved her and brought her here. As Gaeul tried to recall her memories before losing consciousness, an image of a girl with blue hair appeared.

“She was truly beautiful.”

Even Gaeul, known for her beauty in the entertainment industry, couldn’t compete with such dazzling appearance. The angelic blue flames burning behind her back were as if heaven had descended to earth.

…Blue Flame?

“Ah. So that’s why.”

They say survival and reproductive urges intensify just before death, but Gaeul felt embarrassed that hers manifested as lewdness.

“Thinking that girl was a guy… Ugh, did I have that kind of preference?”

Confusion about her identity arose. Rubbing her cheeks, Gaeul tried to clear her head. As her muddled thoughts began to settle, she looked around.

“Where am I…”

A torn sofa, a broken table leg, some kitchenware, and faded curtains. It all seemed familiar.

“The men’s lounge?”

A place she had never entered during her undergraduate days but briefly visited for filming. This abandoned lounge covered in dust was where she should have returned to prepare.

The lounge was now spotless, as if visited by a cleaning fairy.

“Are the dimensional gates… over?”

Before entering New Seoul, monster alerts were common, but this was the first time directly facing one. Searching her coat pocket, Gaeul found her smartphone.

“It’s broken.”

The screen was shattered and wouldn’t turn on no matter how much she pressed. Perhaps it was destroyed when attacked by the monster. Putting on the slippers, Gaeul cautiously stood up.

“It’s better if you don’t come out.”

“Kyaa?!”

Gaeul jumped and sat back down at the sudden voice from beyond the door.

Thud, thud.

A giant in a hoodie bowed his head and entered the lounge. Under the fluorescent light, the man’s skin appeared gray like stone.

“An ability user? Hero…or spirit?”

“No.”

As Jo Deokbae strode in, Gaeul slowly retreated.

“Then a hunter?”

“That too is incorrect.”

Searching for an escape route while hiding behind the sofa, Gaeul realized the man was neither hero nor hunter – he was a villain.

“What do you plan to do with me?!”

“Nothing. I won’t do anything.”

Deokbae plopped down on the opposite sofa as if ignoring Gaeul completely. Crossing his arms and leaning his head back, he seemed to be waiting for someone.

“…Excuse me?”

“What.”

Peeking her head out from behind the sofa, Gaeul asked:

“Could it be you… No?”

“It wasn’t me. That…”

Lowering his head, Deokbae bit his lip, unable to find the right words.

“It must have been Phoenix who saved you.”

“Phoenix?”

Deokbae glanced at his smartwatch to check the time: 7:12 PM.

“You mean the person with blue hair…?”

“A young girl in a high school uniform.”

“Ah!”

Gaeul clapped in surprise. The angel she saw before losing consciousness wasn’t a hallucination but a real ability user with wings of blue flame.

“So are you her partner?”

“……”

Deokbae remained silent with his eyes closed. Taking it as affirmative silence, Gaeul moved to sit across from him.

“Thank you for saving me. I will never forget this kindness.”

“It wasn’t me who saved you, but may I ask something?”

Swallowing hard, Gaeul replied:

‘Should I tell the truth?’

Finally confronting what she had been worrying about, Gaeul decided to accept it purely.

“Yes. I’m actor Cheon Gaeul-”

“Do you know Phoenix?”

“Huh?”

“How do you know her? That crazy □… Hmmph. She’s never shown special treatment to anyone before, you know?”

Watching Gaeul stroke her hair, Deokbae rushed to the bathroom and threw up. The gaze Phoenix had while looking at the sleeping Gaeul was almost wistful.

‘How did I see her at first?’

Human trash. A bug too disgusting to touch. For someone who used everyone and everything around them as tools for their own purposes, what kind of precious person could they have?

“So how did someone like you end up with someone like that-”

“I’m not a kid! I’m 28 years old!”

Now it was Deokbae’s turn to be speechless. Showing him her ID card, Gaeul proudly declared:

“Here! Look! New Seoul Resident Card!”

“…Fake?”

“New Seoul Resident Cards are jointly issued by the government and associations! They can’t be forged! Look! There’s an official mark with magical reaction!”

“Ah, I know that, but your condition…”

Though her clothes were somewhat torn, Deokbae still saw Gaeul as a college student in her early twenties.

“You’re not lying about your age?”

“Hmph. I’m famous for not looking my age.”

Approaching thirty, Gaeul confidently explained her youthful appearance to the skeptical Deokbae.

“But don’t you recognize me? National crush, child acting prodigy, Hyun Ji-yeon from <Last Love> who gained immense popularity?”

“Could you be…from <Madam>?”

Clapping and laughing, Cheon Gaeul responded:

“Ah! How did you know? It was my debut work! Though many people think my debut was something else because it flopped so badly.”

“…”

Deokbae swallowed. The movie that the orphanage director used to play while abusing him. Watching a child around his age suffer harsh abuse on screen made him think deeply about many things.

“But why would an actor come to Seoul?”

“Exactly!”

With the tension easing in their conversation, Cheon Gaeul began recounting her wrongful near-death experience.

“Even if ratings are good and there’s a desire for authenticity, doesn’t shooting a drama in Seoul seem unreasonable? Not even Incheon! Just shooting on any university campus would suffice…”

Raising his hand, Deokbae cut off Gaeul’s chatter. One talkative magpie was enough with Phoenix already.

“Stop. I get it, so stop. Anyway, you really are Cheon Gaeul, right?”

Standing up from the sofa, Deokbae pointed toward the door.

“She’s waiting.”

“Ah.”

Following Deokbae quickly, Gaeul kept some distance in case she needed to run away, resembling a cautious cat.

Stopping in front of a classroom on the second floor after climbing the stairs, Deokbae indicated inside. Peeking through, Gaeul saw a girl sitting cross-legged on a desk, glaring intently at the blackboard with a marker in her mouth and a furrowed brow. Even this serious expression struck Gaeul as beautiful enough to make her heart skip a beat.

“…? Ah.”

Seeing Gaeul standing by the door, Phoenix quickly flicked her fingers. Blue flames erupted on the blackboard.

“Kyaah!”

Startled by the sudden fire, Gaeul stepped back. The flames consumed the numerous writings on the board.

Pop!

Bringing her palms together, Phoenix extinguished the flames instantly. The blackboard shone like it was brand new.

“Cheon Gaeul?”

“Yes, yes?”

Responding to Gaeul, Phoenix clicked her tongue. Deokbae shrugged behind her.

“I hoped it wasn’t you.”

“You yourself admitted being Cheon Gaeul. If you’re not who I think you are, I’ll kill you myself.”

“What?!”

Gaeul immediately backed against the wall. Standing cross-legged on the desk, Phoenix dropped her legs to the floor.

“Congratulations, Cheon Gaeul. You’re alive because you’re Cheon Gaeul.”

“What would you have done if I weren’t?”

Phoenix chuckled bitterly while stretching.

“I would have killed you. Jo Deokbae would have.”

“…!!”

Gaeul was certain now. These two were villains.

“What was your purpose in saving me? Money? New Seoul Resident Card?”

“Don’t you watch too many dramas, Cheon Gaeul?”

“As an actor, it’s natural! No, that’s not the point right now!”

It’s hopeless. Deokbae silently mourned for the increasingly talkative Cheon Gaeul.

“Hmm… To be precise, it wasn’t exactly saving Cheon Gaeul.”

Fidgeting with her fingers on her shoulder, Phoenix frowned.

“I just happened to see a monster while passing by and killed it. It just so happened you were on the verge of dying at that moment. I brought you here because I thought you might be someone I knew.”

“Have we met before?”

Gaeul tried to recall. In her career in entertainment, she had met countless people, including hundreds of beauties unforgettable at first sight.

But no matter how hard she thought, the ‘Phoenix’ before her didn’t ring any bells.

“Did you have plastic surgery?”

“Natural.”

“Then… gender reassignment?”

“It could be, or it could not be. We’ll talk about specifics when the time comes… Just kidding, we’ve never met. But…”

Phoenix approached Gaeul after getting off the desk. Backing against the wall, Gaeul raised onto her tiptoes. Even with heels, Gaeul was only slightly taller than Phoenix, whose eyes reached Gaeul’s neck.

“Excuse me? Who exactly are you-”

Woosh!

“?!?!”

Phoenix hugged Gaeul. Wrapping her arms around Gaeul’s waist, she rested her head on the collarbone.

“Uh, excuse me?”

The warmth transmitted through the close contact felt like pleasant sunlight. Rolling her eyes, Gaeul didn’t know what to do with her hands raised in surrender.

“Gwaah!”

Already outside in the hallway, Deokbae was running while dry heaving. With only the two of them left in the empty lecture building, Gaeul noticed the subtle trembling coming through their clothes.

“……”

The girl was crying. No, trying desperately to suppress sobs that threatened to burst forth. Hesitating, Gaeul finally lowered her hands to embrace the one called Cheongnyeon.

“I-I’m sorry. I really can’t remember…”

“…Ha.”

The deep sigh transmitted through the clothes sent shivers down Gaeul’s spine. There was a sense of relief and longing in the breath that made Gaeul’s face flush and her body heat up.

Thump, thump, thump.

After sleeping for a short while and having dreams that couldn’t be put into words, meeting like this was unexpected. An inner demon that had been dormant whispered “possible” while clicking its scissors and laughing. Meanwhile, an angel watching from the side whispered to Gaeul:

“Wouldn’t it be alright with love alone?”

“??!?!!?!?!?!”

With her accelerating heartbeat, Gaeul unconsciously swallowed hard. The sound was so loud it filled the entire lecture room.

Tsk. Somewhere a wheezing sound was heard. Phoenix patted Gaeul’s waist comfortingly and lifted her head.

“Don’t misunderstand. I was checking your magical affinity rate through magical resonance.”

“…Eh?”

“Food, air, water. The magic accumulated in nature is absorbed in small amounts into the human body. Human bodies only absorb magic attributes most suitable to their constitution, which becomes the trigger for awakening abilities. Everyone has different maximum capacities for each attribute, giving their magic unique properties. This is expressed as ‘affinity rates’, like Fire 17%, Water 72%. Except for dopplegangers, no two people’s magic affinity rates are exactly the same.”

Suddenly a lecture began. The new professor method of bombarding students with unknown academic knowledge caused Gaeul to panic.

Of course, the professor’s explanation doesn’t stop even when students’ mental states collapse.

“Because each person absorbs different amounts of each attribute, everyone’s magic has unique characteristics. This shows up as affinity rates like Fire 2%, Water 17%, Wind 68%, Earth 31%, Light 8%, Dark 37%, Illusion 88%. Remembering these numbers, you’re definitely Cheon Gaeul. Puhuhu.”

“Eh… Excuse me…”

“Ho. What a pity. If your Fire attribute was over 50%, I could have forcibly awakened your abilities. Now it’ll be difficult until the others’ brainwashing is undone. Hmm. Also…”

“What exactly are you saying…?”

Releasing the hug and stepping back two steps, Phoenix scanned Cheon Gaeul from top to bottom. Feeling the suggestive gaze, Cheon Gaeul instinctively pressed her arms against her chest.

“No, it’s just… The numbers match but you feel completely different. Is it the age difference? Your figure seems similar though. Cheon Gaeul, may I touch your breasts?”

“Are you insane?!”

Cheon Gaeul exclaimed loudly and indignantly. Phoenix blinked innocently then laughed while waving her hands.

“Ahaha! Sorry. If it were that person, they’d probably make dirtier jokes and suggest touching more. Hehe. Then um… Since it’s our first meeting…

Phoenix neatly placed her hands in front of her forehead. Contrasting with her previous frivolous demeanor, the solemn atmosphere of conducting a ceremony made even Gaeul feel reverent.

Whoosh.

The school uniform Phoenix wore transformed into Blazing Flames around her body. Seeing glimpses of pure white skin between the flames, Gaeul placed her hand on her chest and gulped.

The flames dispersed into magic energy, transforming into flowing silk robes. The azure fabric, like melted sapphires, was elegantly embroidered with burning flame patterns in white. Spreading her hands to comb her hair forward from the top of her head, the Blazing Flames scattered into powder, forming a translucent veil reaching down to her waist.

“…Ah!”

Gaeul realized whose emerald-green veil she was wearing. Phoenix lightly placed her right hand on Gaeul’s left shoulder and bowed her head in greeting.

“Pleased to meet you, Cheon Gaeul.”

“Ah, yes! Nice to meet you. That…”

“Divine embodiment of the sun. The eternal blue flame that never fades. Known as <Blazing Phoenix>.”

“…Uh, yes?”

Having received several titles in quick succession, Gaeul didn’t know how to respond and fidgeted nervously. Phoenix approached, took both of Gaeul’s hands, and smiled brightly.

“Just call me Phoenix.”

“Ah, yes. Miss Nix.”

“Phoenix.”

“…Yes.”

Reversing the grip on their joined hands, Gaeul bowed her head to Phoenix.

“In any case, thank you for saving me. If it weren’t for you, Phoenix, I would have really died.”

“It’s fine. Aren’t you alive now?”

“Wow, look at the sexism!”

Deokbae, who had returned from the restroom, entered the lecture room with his grotesque gray face showing signs of magical backlash.

“…When did you plan to interrupt the good mood? Subordinate #2?”

“No way. It’s just awkward. Right now. Person who burns others to death, cough!”

A ball of fire shot out faster than the eye could follow, striking Deokbae in the mouth. Trying to turn away, Gaeul barely managed to stop her head from moving due to the force applied to her hands.

“Hehe. Perfect timing. That big guy is Jo Deokbae, my Subordinate #2.”

“…Subordinate, yo.”

Feeling sympathy for Deokbae writhing on the floor while clutching the Blazing Flames on her face, Gaeul watched as he got up and threw the chair he grabbed in frustration.

“□□!”

Though Deokbae shouted something, no sound came out. Phoenix raised an eyebrow and pointed at Gaeul.

“Let me introduce. This is Cheon Gaeul.”

“Ah, let me do it. I’m an actor-”

“She’s the new member of our Blue Wind Sect.”

“Ne?”