Chapter 459

〈 Chapter 459 〉 Part 1, Chapter 19, 15

D-13

“Blazing Phoenix! I’ve come for sex!”

“Blazing Phoenix! I’ve come for sex.”

“Blazing…”

“Phoenix…”

“Sex…”

“Chang-yeom!”

“Whaaaat?!”

I lost my cool and screamed like a banshee. He looked genuinely surprised by my outburst, his lips twitching uncertainly as if he hadn’t expected this reaction.

“Every time we meet, it’s ‘sex,’ ‘sex’! What even *is* sex, human?!”

“Oh right, sorry about that. My bad. Thought you were someone else. Uh… let me rethink this.”

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully before snapping his fingers.

“Mating!”

Whoosh!

“Blazing Phoenix, I’ve come for sex!”

“…Are you ever going to get tired of this?”

Apparently not. Someone challenged me to a pride battle once, but no matter how many times he died and respawned, he kept coming back shouting about sex.

“This time, I won’t kill you. Do you even know what sex is? For animals, it’s mating or reproduction behavior…”

“Which is exactly why I’m so irritated! Don’t you think it’s disrespectful to ask someone you just met to do something like that? Intimacy is supposed to be reserved for people you love!”

“That’s perfect because you’re going to fall in love with me.”

“You sure are confident.”

“Without confidence, I wouldn’t even dare to approach.”

He grinned cheekily as he stepped closer. I flicked my finger—was he mimicking my habit?—and blocked his path with a wall of flames.

“Don’t even think about crossing it. I have no intention of having any kind of relationship with you…”

Whoosh!

A charred arm reached over the fiery barrier. Was he really reaching through? Just in case, I canceled the flames.

Tsssss!

Using his own corpse as cover, he leaped over the vanishing wall of fire with an arrogant smile, spreading his arms wide—a sight both irritating and amusing.

“Taking advantage of my resurrection invincibility timer to bypass obstacles!”

“There’s fire on your back, FYI.”

“What? Aaaah!!”

Whoosh!

“Blazing-Sex-Came!”

“…Alright, fine. If I keep this up, I’ll end up screaming like a broken record. Go ahead, tell me why you’re here. Why did you come?”

“Blazing-Sex-Came…”

“If you say ‘for sex’ one more time, I’m serious—I won’t listen anymore.”

“Okay, got it. Let me explain.”

With a serious expression, he began revealing his true identity.

“Blazing Phoenix—that’s your name, right? But originally, you weren’t the Blazing Phoenix. You’re actually the result of the spirit ‘Chang-yeom’ merging with the monster ‘Phoenix.’ So, you are Chang-yeom.”

Ah.

The word ‘spirit’ triggered a memory. The desperate situation of our allies, Tera on the brink of destruction, and my surrender to six monsters to save the lower spirits…

“Aaaaaaah?!”

“Sorry for being forward, but allow me a quick hug.”

He pulled me into an embrace. For a moment, my mind was overwhelmed by shock, and he started muttering something into my scalp.

“All tasks shall be mine. I am your servant and yours alone. You are Chang-yeom, I am Phoenix. Together, we become Blazing Phoenix.”

“…Ah.”

The brainwashing ended, and simultaneously, everything clicked into place. He had awakened me from my role as a pawn to my true self as a spirit.

“Sex might be a method of awakening, but since you don’t want it right now, we’ll skip that part. This is sort of a workaround. I’ll draw the power of the commander toward me while you exist purely as a spirit. However, if you use the spirit’s power externally, Seongju might notice, so for now, I’ll borrow your body.”

“What does that mean…?”

“It means you’ll be a spy—or rather, a traitor. I’ll pretend to be the commander’s Phoenix while you stay hidden as a spirit. I’ll handle everything.”

He still held me close, gazing at me with eyes filled with boundless trust. But somehow, the ‘me’ he was looking at didn’t feel quite like me. My thoughts raced through several hypotheses.

“Regression? Past life? Possession?”

“Not exactly one answer—it’s multiple choice.”

As he confirmed my guesses, he continued.

“The Rusalka who fell in Russia will possess a human body in about a year. Though the human will be dead, Rusalka’s existence proves that souls and consciousness can persist. Same principle applies here. We share a body, and this is the spiritual world.”

“…I don’t understand.”

His explanation made no sense to me. Even if what he said was true, his actions within this space seemed contradictory.

“If you control my body, doesn’t that mean you can do whatever you want with me? And what is this world anyway?”

“Since you’re here, let me clarify: this is a space where you’re the master. If we consider the entire spiritual world as 100, you own just 1 part of it. But this 1 is the core of both you and me, and it holds the key to your survival.”

“My survival…”

“I’d tell you more, but showing you would be better. Heh heh.”

He suddenly started giggling, which annoyed me.

“Why?”

“No reason, just… boring stuff. Someday, when you figure it out, I might—”

Whoosh!

“Why?! You didn’t finish your sentence!”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t catch on?”

Was he teasing me, or was he genuinely listening while hinting at something deeper? His cryptic start eventually led to this:

“You keep talking about sex so openly—it’s making me uncomfortable. If you really want, go find some random human outside and… you know.”

“Tch. That’s absurd.”

For the first time, he scolded me seriously, though I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“How could I possibly look at another woman besides you?”

“But judging by your expressions and glances, it feels like you’ve been around countless women until now, finally settling down with me.”

“…”

He avoided my gaze. My words had hit home, and he knelt awkwardly in front of me, grasping my hand like he was proposing.

“Judge for yourself when you see it firsthand.”

“Ugh, seriously—”

Whoosh!

The azure skies of Deathdinass.

“Are you telling me… I’m a character in a game?”

A tragically doomed existence. He showed me the impossible ‘truth’: how he’d shared love with countless women, causing me to die dozens, hundreds of times, only to whisper about our future together in the final endings.

“…We never got to propose properly, did we? Right before the ending, we said this, remember?”

“Once the battle tomorrow is over, let’s go on our honeymoon, okay?”

“We never got to take that honeymoon, but eventually, we met like this.”

“We went on dates, we kissed, we even registered our marriage—but we never consummated it. After we defeat Seongju, we’ll do it then. It’s a promise, to you. If I forget, remind me a hundred times.”

“You’re not her. The past you and the future her are different beings altogether. Not to mention, the gap between a game character and the real you is even greater. Still, I want to save you.”

He hugged me tightly with a mournful look. With his face buried in my stomach, he silently sobbed.

“Even if I can never meet her again, I’ve met you like this.”

“You…”

“Let me reintroduce myself. I’ll protect you till the end. No matter what happens. So from now on…”

He looked up at me with a tender yet pitiful smile.

“Will you allow me to take on the role of Phoenix?”

“…”

I embraced his head.

“Subtly trying to rub your face against my lower belly and peek at my chest is disgusting.”

“Aaaah, busted!”

Whoosh!

* * *

D-38

Dark Legion.

Seongju.

Tera.

Spirit.

Chang-yeom.

Though I learned various stories from his memories, there was still something I couldn’t fully grasp.

“Chang-yeom!”

“Don’t say you’ve come for sex. I told you not to.”

“…No, no. Today, I just wanted to call your name.”

He stared at me pitifully, like a drenched puppy, carefully gauging my mood. Clearly guilty for some reason, yet still behaving this way, it almost made him seem pitiable.

‘Pitiable?’

How strange, to feel this emotion toward a human. And the fact that it came from me irritated me.

‘It’s all because of those cursed memories.’

The ‘future me’ he showed and the memories he shared. Even though we met through the medium of a game, the happiness they shared together made me envious. Most of all, the idea of loving someone so deeply, laughing and chatting with them, felt foreign yet desirable—

“Gross.”

“Huh?”

“Just thinking out loud.”

It was gross.

Falling in love with a man who freed me from brainwashing without truly knowing who I am, labeling me as ‘Chang-yeom’ based solely on the concept of a spirit.

‘I’m not Chang-yeom.’

Had I always known this, or was even this a mystery to him?

“Hey, do you know my name?”

“Chang-yeom, right?”

“Nope.”

“…Huh?”

He looked at me with trembling eyes. So I clearly stated my name.

“My name is ■.”

“…What’s this?”

Clearly saying my name, but the sound wouldn’t form. I tried again.

“■■ ■■■ ■■■■■■■■!!!”

The entire temple shook as I shouted at the top of my lungs, yet my name refused to emerge.

“Ah, that name? It was taken away during the brainwashing by Seongju. Since you’re now categorized under the race of ‘spirits,’ you’ve been called Chang-yeom. Your name is ■—”

He scratched his cheek nervously.

“Ah… even I’m getting filtered. …Let’s try this!”

He grinned mischievously, holding up three fingers.

“In the Three Kingdoms era, there were three nations, right? Goguryeo, Baekje, and—”

“Shin… Ra?”

“Correct!”

He snapped his fingers and winked.

“Pleased to meet you, Shin-ra.”

“Annoying.”

Whoosh!

That’s how I earned the nickname ‘Shin-ra’ from him.

* * *

D-123

“Ah, I want to cuddle with Blazing Phoenix!”

“Don’t shout so loud, idiot.”

He yelled loudly, trying to disrupt my strategy. But such trivial interference wasn’t enough to stop me.

“You’re about to lose your base. Do you have time for this?”

“I do. Because it’s booby-trapped with mines.”

“What? Wait, hold on. Summon Troop—”

Kiiaaaaak!

My troops were wiped out. My spirit army melted like ice cream under the sun, and he grinned widely, pointing at my mini-map.

“I’m going to raid your main base and the 8 o’clock resource spot next.”

“That warning won’t—”

“One second.”

Red dots appeared simultaneously across my mini-map. Hero units scaled the cliffs to ambush my main base while a massive hunter force attacked the resource lines at 8 o’clock.

“No way.”

“Gotcha?”

“Shut up.”

I spun around and slumped into my chair. Despite being human, his ability to control soldiers was impressive, nearly matching my skills.

“Matching my skills? Be precise. Out of 99 battles, I’ve lost 98.”

“Still, I won. The rest were practice matches.”

“…Honestly, you only won that one due to cheating.”

He grumbled while pointing at the overturned Go board on the floor.

“You promised to let me touch your chest if I gave you a handicap move.”

“And you took it.”

“Which cost me the game.”

He threw the game pieces onto my chest after winning. I don’t understand what’s so great about these lumps of fat, but right now, it feels good.

“Let’s replay from when the attack on the main base began.”

“One more touch?”

“I’ll let you touch three more times.”

“Hehe.”

I stood up, and he smirked as he plopped into my chair. I gently sat on his lap, leaning back.

Mmm, mmm.

He massaged my breasts sensually, more like relieving stress than groping. As his hands worked their magic, I relaxed completely, feeling the tension drain away.

‘Feels nice.’

One thing I’m grateful to Seongju for is making me female. Otherwise, there’s no way he’d lust after me like this.

“Hey.”

“Hmm?”

“Isn’t Gaechonkwang, Hydra, or Cheon Gaeul bigger? Why are you touching mine?”

“Because these are yours.”

What a lunatic.