As Scarlet Sumr Moon vanished into flas, Baek Yu-Seol finally allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.
Even though it had only been an avatar, fending off a Moon with a thousand years of experience while protecting Hong Bi-Yeon had pushed him to his very limits.
"Hooh... Hey, are you alri—"
He released his Harmony of Heavenly Qi and hyperfocus, calming his Tae-Ryeong's Godly Technique, and turned to check on Hong Bi-Yeon's condition—
Only to see her body collapsing to the ground.
[Flash!]
In less than half a second, Baek Yu-Seol used Flash to teleport to her side, barely managing to catch her before she hit the ground.
"Hey! Are you okay? Are you hurt sowhere?"
That's when he noticed—
Sweat streaming down her face.
Her lips were deathly pale, but her body burned with feverish heat.
For a mage warrior - soone who, after reaching a certain level, could resist common ailnts - this could only an one thing.
Sothing was gravely wrong.
'No way...'
Baek Yu-Seol gently sat down and laid Hong Bi-Yeon's back against his knee. Supporting her neck, shoulders, and face with his left arm, he carefully examined her condition.
But as their faces drew closer, even in such a dire situation, Baek Yu-Seol froze montarily.
Her silver hair clung to her sweat-soaked cheeks, and tears pooled at the corners of her eyes as she groaned in pain.
She looked so unreal. As though she didn't belong to this world.
'What the hell am I thinking? Snap out of it!'
Shaking off his stray thoughts, Baek Yu-Seol forced himself to focus.
According to Scarlet Sumr Moon, the fla branded on her heart had been tampered with.
'... But what can I even do to help her right now?'
Although he vaguely rembered clues about curing her curse - thanks to countless gars' strategies - there was nothing he could do at this very mont.
But at this very mont, those answers remained out of reach.
Despair crept in as he watched her writhe in agony, powerless to help.
'No. I have to try sothing—anything!'
— Infuse her with cold energy!
"Wha—!?"
A booming voice suddenly echoed in his ears.
It was the rough, commanding tone of Blue Winter Moon.
"Blue Winter Moon?!"
— You've grown weak while I wasn't watching! Infuse her with cold energy! You can already handle my power, can't you?"
The words struck him like lightning, cutting through the fog of despair clouding his mind.
He hurriedly tried to draw out the Blue Winter Moon's energy.
But unlike during his battle with Scarlet Sumr Moon, it didn't flow easily.
Just monts ago, he had been able to freeze the entire lake. Now, he could barely summon enough cold to form a faint chill on his palm.
— You're panicking! Focus your willpower and keep an unyielding spirit!
Right... He had let himself waver.
Baek Yu-Seol steadied his breath, forcing himself to recall the unshakable resolve that embodied the Blue Winter Moon.
Placing his right hand gently on Hong Bi-Yeon's forehead, he began channeling the cold energy into her body.
[Blue Winter Moon's Essence]
Ssshhhh...
A cold aura flowed into her, and imdiately, Baek Yu-Seol could feel the blazing fire surging within her chest.
'This is...'
It was scorching. It felt as though his palm would lt away at any mont.
But he endured it.
If he faltered now, those flas might truly consu her.
'This isn't sothing that can be extinguished with cold energy alone.'
The infusion of cold was rely a temporary asure... it wasn't a cure.
He needed to find another way.
Suddenly, information about Hong Bi-Yeon stored in his Sentient Spec surfaced in his mind.
[Certain Death]
At the ti, he had treated her as just another NPC in the ga and lazily recorded that grim note.
If he could go back ten years, he swore he'd slap himself across the face.
As one of the top-tier veteran players of Aether World Online, Baek Yu-Seol was sure he could have found a way to save her.
He had scoured the continent for hidden artifacts and rare items—surely one of them could have been used to develop an effective cure for her.
But here, at this mont, he had nothing.
— Stop daydreaming and focus!
"... Yes."
Snapping out of his thoughts, Baek Yu-Seol summoned more energy, channeling even stronger cold waves into her body.
Hong Bi-Yeon's brows furrowed from the sudden surge, but he didn't stop.
— Too much cold energy is concentrated in her head, and it's hurting her.
"But if I go any weaker, it won't work at all!"
— You fool! Her heart is burning, yet you're trying to cool it through her brain? No wonder it's ineffective!
"Ah!"
Baek Yu-Seol froze.
He had been too fixated on the common practice of placing ice on soone's forehead during a fever.
It was a completely inefficient approach for this situation.
But then...
'The area closest to the heart is...'
Unlike a man's chest, Hong Bi-Yeon's heart area gave off an intense presence—so much so that Baek Yu-Seol hesitated.
He couldn't help but feel awkward about placing his hand there.
"... Hong Bi-Yeon. Are you awake?"
Her complexion had improved slightly, and she gave a faint nod.
It seed she was barely clinging to consciousness.
That wasn't exactly good news.
If she had fainted, he could have just closed his eyes and placed his hand on her chest without hesitation. But with her awake, it felt far more awkward.
"Hong Bi-Yeon... I'm going to cool your heart now... But just so we're clear—what I'm about to do has no ulterior motives. Okay? Please don't misunderstand. You're hearing , right?"
She gave a small nod, though her expression tensed slightly.
"So... Uh..."
He cannot hesitate anymore.
Baek Yu-Seol reached toward her chest, but paused again—
And awkwardly added, "I an... I might've had just a tiny bit of ulterior motives... For a split second..."
"Hah..."
She barely laughed.
Even with her pale complexion, Hong Bi-Yeon managed to show a faint, fragile smile.
With her eyes closed, she barely moved her lips.
"It's... Fine... You... idiot... commo—"
It seed like she wanted to call him a commoner, but her voice trailed off before she could finish.
"Uh... Alright, got it."
With trembling hands, Baek Yu-Seol carefully placed his palm near her chest, hesitating for just a mont before channeling the cold energy of the Blue Winter Moon into her heart.
Surprisingly, the flas within Hong Bi-Yeon began to subside much more effectively than before.
Her complexion quickly returned to normal, and her pale lips gradually regained their natural pink hue.
"Is it... working? She's okay now, right?"
No one answered.
Even as Baek Yu-Seol began to feel a sense of relief, Blue Winter Moon interrupted.
— You can't leave her like this. The mont you remove your hand, she'll imdiately revert to her previous state."
"... What?"
But he couldn't possibly stay like this forever.
— This is serious. I don't know exactly what Scarlet Sumr Moon did to her, but her branded fla is far stronger than that of any other Adolevit. It's intense enough to make normal life impossible.
"No way..."
Baek Yu-Seol bit his lip and looked at Hong Bi-Yeon's face.
He couldn't even imagine that confident, elegant smile of hers being erased by this curse.
"What... What do I need to do?"
— You're blessed. Or rather, you've earned your own blessing.
"What's that supposed to an?"
— While the girl's condition has worsened due to Scarlet Sumr Moon's power, you, on the other hand, carry my protection.
"What... Do I need to do?"
Blue Winter Moon fell silent for a mont, as if contemplating sothing.
— Do you want to save her?
"I'll do whatever it takes."
— It might put your life at risk.
"When have I ever cared about my life?"
Pleased by the response, the Blue Winter Moon grinned.
— Very well. I'll grant you a portion of my power. This will make you stronger, but it will also co with heavy penalties.
As soon as the words ended, a system ssage appeared in Baek Yu-Seol's mind:
[You have acquired the skill Veinbreaker of the Five Shadows as a derivative of the trait Blessing of the Blue Winter Moon.]
"Ugh...!"
Suddenly, an icy chill spread outward from Baek Yu-Seol's heart, and he nearly lost consciousness.
— Focus. The girl is suffering from sothing akin to Veinbreaker of the Nine Suns. Compared to her, the pain you're feeling is less than half.
"... Is that so?"
Baek Yu-Seol gritted his teeth and prepared himself. If this pain was only a fraction of what Hong Bi-Yeon was going through, then there was no ti to hesitate.
Thanks to the power of Pink Spring Moon, Baek Yu-Seol barely managed to keep himself from passing out. He wiped the cold sweat off his face.
— From this mont on, frost will linger within your body for the rest of your life. It won't kill you... But you'll endure endless suffering.
It sounded like he had just been cursed with a terrible affliction.
Yet, Baek Yu-Seol knew the Blue Winter Moon wouldn't have bestowed this power upon him without reason.
"So... I just have to infuse this frost into her, right?"
As Baek Yu-Seol instinctively reached his hand toward Hong Bi-Yeon's chest, the Blue Winter Moon stopped him.
— Wrong.
"... What?"
— Infusing it won't be enough to resolve the issue. What about your suffering? You still have greater tasks ahead of you... you can't spend the rest of your life chained to this affliction.
"Then what should I do...?"
— lt your frost with her fla, and extinguish her fla with your frost.
Hearing this, Baek Yu-Seol focused intensely on the icy chill coursing through his body.
"Hoo..."
His breath turned white in the frigid air, and his gaze drifted instinctively to Hong Bi-Yeon's lips.
'The most effective way to exchange energy... is this.'
He called out softly.
"... Hong Bi-Yeon."
There was still no response.
Baek Yu-Seol gently lifted her upper body, bringing his face closer to hers.
'Don't let your thoughts wander.'
Even though they were similar in age, her ntal maturity remained that of a high school girl. That realization ford an invisible barrier he couldn't ignore.
He tried to convince himself that there was nothing improper about this.
But no matter how much he reasoned, the heat rising in his head refused to subside.
Not even the blessing of the Blue Winter Moon could suppress his instincts completely.
As he felt the softness of her lips, Baek Yu-Seol parted them slightly and breathed into her.
He poured his cold energy into her, trying to quell her flas, while simultaneously absorbing her heat to lt his frost.
For soone with his natural affinity for balancing energies, the process itself wasn't difficult.
But the situation - their closeness, her vulnerability - kept disrupting his focus.
Pulling away, Baek Yu-Seol let out a small sigh.
Thank goodness she was unconscious.
If she had been awake, he might've ended up gravely offending her.
Sigh—
Hong Bi-Yeon's body finally relaxed, and a faint trace of strength returned to her previously limp arms.
— She's lost consciousness as her condition improved. That's good news!
"I see..."
Baek Yu-Seol nearly brushed off the Blue Winter Moon's comnt—until sothing struck him as odd.
"... She lost consciousness? Does that an... She was awake just now?"
The Blue Winter Moon, however, seed uninterested in his question.
— Don't assu this is over. You'll need to infuse her with cold energy regularly. Until the brand is completely erased, the flas will continue to burn fiercely.
With that, the Blue Winter Moon vanished, his image fading away as if he had reached his limit.
Baek Yu-Seol stared blankly at the spot where he disappeared, then turned his gaze back to Hong Bi-Yeon.
Now peacefully asleep, her face looked far more relaxed than before.
But unlike her, Baek Yu-Seol's mind was in complete turmoil.
'... She was awake?'
It was going to be a long, sleepless night.
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