🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter: 6
“Mutation rate… I’ve definitely seen that somewhere before.”
Jigu chewed down hard on the tip of her fingernail, grinding her teeth as she desperately racked her brain.
The system wouldn’t give an impossible task as a quest. Which meant there had to be a way.
Then—something flashed through her mind.
“The Guiding skill!”
That’s right. She remembered seeing the word mutation rate in the skill description. Jigu hurriedly turned her gaze to the status window and checked the Guiding skill.
Guiding (Passive)
Lowers a Sentinel’s mutation rate through physical contact.
If the mutation rate reaches 100%, the skill will no longer take effect.
There it is!
“So… physical contact lowers the mutation rate? And once it hits 100%, it’s useless?”
Jigu’s eyes shifted to the man’s wrist.
[Mutation Rate: 99%]
It was a dangerously narrow margin.
Whatever happens, I’ll try it first!
If the man turned into a zombie, everything would be over. Clearing the game—and returning to her original world.
Biting her lip tightly, Jigu grabbed the man’s hand with both of hers. Then, as if praying, she fixed her gaze solely on the watch screen.
Tick. Tock.
The system made no sound effects, yet she could swear she heard the ticking of a second hand.
00:28:21
.
.
00:26:00
.
.
00:23:14
.
.
“It’s not working!”
After staring back and forth between the watch and the time limit for ages, Jigu suddenly shouted. More than ten minutes had passed, yet the number on the watch hadn’t budged at all.
What do I do? Should I increase the contact area?
Chewing anxiously at her lip, Jigu seemed to steel herself. She squeezed her eyes shut and yanked open the man’s military jacket. Then she stripped off her own top as well, leaving only her underwear.
Is this really okay…?
Even if he was just a character in a game, facing a man’s bare body left her unsure where to look.
After fumbling helplessly for a moment, Jigu finally shut her eyes tight and carefully laid her body atop his upper torso. The heat of bare skin against bare skin was startling, making her shoulders flinch.
Thump. Thump.
A faint but unmistakable heartbeat transmitted itself through her cheek. Her face, chilled by tension, quickly warmed from the man’s body heat.
This feels… strange.
Her heart felt like it was about to burst, yet at the same time she felt drowsy, as though she might fall asleep at any moment.
The man’s body was enormous—almost like lying atop a huge, cozy bed.
Well… it’s a bit hard, but—
Wait! This is no time for that!
“Mutation rate!”
Jigu snapped her eyes open and quickly grabbed the man’s wrist again.
“Huh—? It’s working?”
The mutation rate, which had refused to budge, had dropped to 98%. It was definitely having an effect.
But—
It’s way too slow.
Only about fifteen minutes remained.
In all that time, it had dropped by just 1%. Far too slow to clear the quest before the deadline.
If this man ended up turning into a zombie…
What happens to me?
Failing the quest might trap her in this game forever. And if that happened, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stay sane.
Over the 444 days she had spent alone, Jigu had slowly worn down, cycling through countless hopes and disappointments. She’d thought she had finally found hope—yet familiar despair was flickering once again in the distance.
It was always like this. She fought desperately between thread-thin hope and crushing disappointment.
But this time… she really thought it would be different.
Time mercilessly slipped away. Only five minutes remained, and the mutation rate still hadn’t moved.
“If this is how it was going to end, you shouldn’t have shown up at all!”
Gritting her teeth, Jigu slammed her fist into the man’s chest.
She thought she’d adapted to this world fairly well. Whenever loneliness came crashing in, curling herself up in the cramped bathtub for a long while usually made it bearable.
But the moment she faced this man, Jigu realized she hadn’t been okay at all.
How could she have been?
She jerked her head up and glared resentfully at his face.
She hated him—for digging up everything she had forced herself to ignore and suppress, only to disappear just like that.
“Wake up. Open your eyes! Look at me!”
Large teardrops fell onto his face. His unmoving expression looked no different from a mannequin’s, and sudden anger surged within her—followed by deep sorrow.
“Don’t go. Please…”
Stay with me. Open your eyes. Look at me. Say my name. Hold me.
Tilting her head at the faint breath brushing her nose, Jigu squeezed her eyes shut and pressed her lips deeply against his.
You never know. Snow White, thought to be dead from the poisoned apple, and Princess Aurora, trapped in a sleep like death, both awoke from a prince’s kiss.
So please—wake up. Don’t leave me like this.
His lips were incredibly dry… and hot.
But no miracle happened.
What am I even doing?
Letting out a hollow chuckle, Jigu slowly lifted her head.
Then—she felt a large hand wrap around her waist.
Something hot and wet pushed into her parted lips.
“W—wait, hold on—ngh—!”
Just as their lips seemed to part, her view flipped. Startled by the massive shadow looming over her, Jigu blinked blankly—but before she could recover, his tongue pushed in again.
“Mm—ngh…!”
A thick tongue, fitting for his huge body, forced its way between her teeth, making her jaw ache from being stretched so wide.
Unable to bear it any longer, Jigu struggled and barely managed to turn her head—only for damp lips to land on the nape of her neck.
“Ah—wait! Wait a second!”
As if savoring something sweet, his tongue persistently licked up her neck, sliding all the way to her ear.
The sensation soaking her ear made goosebumps ripple across her arms.
Each time the sound of wet flesh rubbing echoed near her ear, her body jerked uncontrollably, her toes curling tight.
“Hh—p-please, stop—!”
As a sharp thrill raced down her spine and a breathless moan escaped her, his lips descended once more in a deep kiss.
When his tongue forced its way between her clenched teeth and met hers, a lightning-like pleasure flooded her mind, bleaching it white.
Each time his thick tongue greedily swept along her slick mouth and sucked in the saliva spilling out, her thoughts dissolved into mush.
And whenever their tongues touched, overwhelming satisfaction and unbearable thirst surged together—so intense it frightened her.
This is strange.
The moment their intimate flesh fit together seamlessly, the severe sense of alienation and detachment that had followed her both in her original world and this strange one collapsed in an instant.
It felt like finally fitting the missing piece into a puzzle.
For the first time, she felt whole—truly existing as herself.
Overcome by that maddeningly addictive sensation, Jigu whimpered and clung tightly to the man.
His massive body was so large that even stretching her arms wide, her hands couldn’t meet. Yet the sensation of his sweat-damp, smooth skin shifting beneath her palms was intensely stimulating.
More. Just a little more.
Hold me tighter. Go deeper. Let us finally become one.
Her overheated mind was desperately craving something.
And the moment his swollen lower body pressed firmly against the intimate space between her thighs, her vision flashed white.
As an unfamiliar sensation vibrated deep within her belly, Jigu gasped—and then she felt unmistakably bright ash-gray eyes lock onto her.
Those ash-gray eyes, burning with frightening obsession, shone in the darkness with only her reflected within them.
Meeting his gaze with tear-filled eyes, Jigu parted her lips.
Ah… now I understand.
What I want.
I wanted this man. I wanted to swallow him whole.
If I could, this burning thirst, this chaotic passion tearing through her mind, and the alienation that had tormented her for so long—all of it might finally disappear.
If that were possible, then the quest—
…Wait. What?
“Gah—! The quest!”
Jigu snapped her eyes open and hurriedly checked the man’s wrist.
[Mutation Rate: 90%…
…Mutation Rate: 89%]
The mutation rate was dropping rapidly. And the moment it reached 89%, the man’s body—thrusting fiercely against her just moments ago—slumped and collapsed.
[Emergency Quest “Lower Caliph Roxburgh’s mutation rate to 90% or below within the time limit” has been completed.]
[Rewards granted.]
[Earth Protection Zone Skill 강화: Maximum area increased from 6㎡ → 66㎡]
“So it wasn’t the contact area… it was the intensity…”
Staring at the system window floating before her, Jigu let out a dazed, hollow laugh.
* * *
“Hmm… hmm~”
A soft humming sound drifted from somewhere.
Listening to it with his eyes closed, Caliph suddenly realized he was lying with his head in someone’s lap.
For some reason, he felt like he knew whose hand was gently stroking his forehead.
Slowly opening his eyes, Caliph instinctively followed the woman’s face.
Noticing his gaze, she beamed brightly down at him.
“Good morning! Are you hungry? I’ve got some amazing chocolate. Want some?”
In her outstretched hand was a half-melted piece of chocolate. The scene felt strangely unreal, and Caliph blinked slowly.
The raging flames, the howls of zombies, the piercing alarm from the watch—everything was silent.
Amid the ruins left by a raging inferno, surrounded by dozens of charred corpses, only the two of them existed.
When Caliph merely stared without replying, the smiling woman popped the chocolate straight into his mouth.
Sweetness spread across his tongue.
The half-melted chocolate was incredibly sweet—sweet beyond measure.
