Chapter 64

Chapter 64. Temptation

During an earlier conversation between Yuria and Evan, he had once remarked to her, “If an incarnation preceded this one, you were surely a succubus.”

Evan’s observation had been right on the mark. She possessed an innate knack for stirring masculine lust across every kind of living being, including her fellow dragons. It went beyond sheer proficiency as well; she genuinely took pleasure in it.

Even among the other dragons, she had cycled through romantic companions without pause, and after relocating to the mortal realm, she extended her entanglements to mortal men. For her, every encounter was merely casual entertainment.

She had never once genuinely given her heart to an ordinary man, nor had she ever considered binding herself to one through a Love Pact, unlike a particular peer she knew.

Because of this, Minjun seemed no different to Yuria than the endless stream of human lovers she had dealt with previously, save for the detail of his relationship with a dragon.

Her eyes scanned Minjun from head to toe, carrying the calculated gaze of a hunter assessing an appealing target.

‘Quite decent.’

Given this impression, she could somewhat grasp why Sia had developed such a fondness for Minjun. Even so, that did not explain why Sia had openly expressed a desire to seal an oath with an ordinary human.

‘How many minutes will I need this time?’

How rapidly could she bring a male under her sway? Keeping track of the clock to break her own personal records was one of her more twisted and quiet amusements.

“Greetings, Mr. Minjun. The trip here must have drained your energy.”

Employing an alluring cadence tailored to enchant male listeners, Yuria motioned for Minjun to take a seat.

“Chris, our visitor has arrived. Could you arrange some refreshments for him?”

“I will see to it at once.”

The moment Minjun took his place, Chris promptly returned with cups of tea alongside high-end delicacies.

“Go ahead, relax and make yourself at home.”

“…Understood.”

Aiming to disarm Minjun and dispel his guarded posture, Yuria offered him an affectionate gaze and presented a warm cup. Minjun took a measured swallow, clearly uneasy as he waited to hear her intentions.

“I suspect my assistant shared the basic details, but my purpose is to bring you into our guild, Mr. Minjun. You have surely been approached by multiple guilds already, haven’t you?”

“That is correct. But I declined every proposal. At that moment, I had no desire to enter any guild.”

“At that moment? Then the circumstances must have shifted by now.”

A bright gleam entered Yuria’s gaze as she leaned inward, adopting a subtle, captivating posture meant to pull his attention.

“They have. However—”

“What was the highest signing bonus proposed to you? No matter the figure, we will give you double that amount.”

Without even inquiring about the sums offered by competing organizations, she pledged to double the grandest sum outright. Minjun recognized the raw confidence befitting the leader of a top-tier global organization, yet he still offered a subtle shake of his head.

“The truth is, I have already settled on an organization I intend to join. My apologies.”

“Is that so? In that event, should there be any breach-of-contract penalties, we will handle the full expense. May I inquire which guild has secured you?”

She shifted her seat even nearer, steadily eliminating the gap dividing them without his conscious awareness.

“It is… a group that has not formally launched yet. Furthermore, no signing incentive is involved. That is essentially all I am at liberty to say.”

Lacking any compensation upfront, and not even formally registered. Piecing together his statements, Yuria deduced that Minjun was moving according to a completely separate scheme.

That hardly mattered, though. Securing him as an operative for the Aura Guild had never been her true motivation for setting up this encounter.

“I prepared several tempting incentives hoping to bring you aboard, Hunter Minjun, yet hearing your perspective, it seems no terms would sway your commitment.”

“…You are correct.”

Yuria gave an understanding nod, behaving as though she had anticipated such a response from the start. To be sure, she remained in the dark about who would lead this upcoming faction. She had simply assumed Minjun possessed personal motivations for turning away every prior recruiter.

None of that concerned her. Her genuine focus pointed elsewhere.

“Nothing can be done, then. While I would have liked to persuade you further, continuing to push would be bad manners.”

Minjun experienced a wave of relief seeing her abandon the pursuit so readily, although a lingering doubt made him question whether she harbored a deeper agenda.

“Let us put recruitment behind us and converse on equal ground. Simply one Hunter to another. Chris, why not step out for some fresh air for a short spell?”

Under the pretext of speaking privately with Minjun, she dismissed Chris from the room. That left only Minjun and Yuria within the expansive suite.

“Does being here make you uneasy?”

“N-Not particularly.”

Even though the cushions were plush, Minjun felt as though he were balanced on sharp thorns. Prior to stepping into the room, he had felt sheer awe at the prospect of conversing with an SSS-rank Hunter, one of the elite few on the planet.

Presently, an unexplained discomfort hung over the setting. Having her aide present had provided a buffer, but with Chris gone and just the two of them remaining, his agitation grew sharper.

“You need not worry. As I mentioned, I merely wished to converse as fellow Hunters. I also harbor a few personal curiosities, like the underlying cause of your swift advancement.”

With total ease, she rested her fingers across the back of Minjun’s hand. The sudden brush of her delicate skin startled him thoroughly; while his face remained composed, his heart skipped violently.

‘Were Sia present right now…’

Had she been in the room, Sia might have seized this woman by the collar, demanding an explanation for making passes at her companion, regardless of her status as an SSS-rank Hunter.

The mere thought sent a cold shiver down his spine.

Even so, Minjun steadied his nerves by rationalizing that unreserved physical familiarity might be commonplace in America, where social norms were looser than in Korea, and smoothly withdrew his hand from her reach.

“It was… merely an extraordinary stroke of luck.”

“A stroke of luck?”

Yuria inquired with faux ignorance, though she was fully aware of the real power propelling his rapid growth. Even considering that origin, his rate of advancement had surpassed expectations, leaving her genuinely intrigued.

Though the likelihood remained faint, if Minjun ended up disclosing the reality of a dragon’s influence while begging for her silence, she would secure a valid justification to end his life.

Either result suited Yuria’s aims. And if she could captivate Minjun while extracting his story, the outcome would be flawless.

She needed only to maintain eye contact, answer at just the right beats, and introduce occasional light touches. Before long, practically any man would be blushing.

Across from her, Minjun was busy fabricating a plausible cover story. He harbored no intention of sharing the truth about draconic power or the Dragon Tongue with anyone, not even his closest kin.

What sort of explanation could he offer this stranger?

“…I cannot elaborate on the specifics, but let us simply say one fortunate event followed another.”

He bore no obligation to explain his circumstances anyway, so Minjun chose to brush past the inquiry.

Yuria dangled another hook.

“I had every intention of offering generous compensation had you revealed that technique. It could have served to cultivate the novices in our ranks.”

She was hinting that she would drop the matter of guild recruitment entirely if he would merely unveil the nature of that miraculous breakthrough.

In reality, had he uttered a single word about dragons, she was prepared to eliminate him on the spot. Revealing that dragons had embedded themselves into the human sphere served as a lawful mandate for any dragon to execute the offender.

Yet once again, Minjun declined to take the bait.

“I must apologize. The underlying details are rather intricate.”

“I see. That is unfortunate.”

Leaving Yuria’s true motives aside, the exchange made Minjun suspect she had pursued this meeting not merely to scout him, but to uncover the secret behind his meteoric rise.

If that assumption held true, every piece aligned neatly. That realization brought him a brief sense of relief, as if he had safely cleared a major hurdle.

Yet the true trial was barely beginning.

“My schedule is clear for the rest of the day, and since we have already gathered, you are welcome to ask me anything that has crossed your mind.”

Assuming the persona of an accommodating Guild Master, Yuria shifted into her seduction strategy in full force. Her plan centered on eroding his emotional walls through informal dialogue while sending subtle cues to dismantle his composure.

Unbeknownst to Minjun, the entire chamber was already suffused with a specialized enchantment. One layer stoked male desire, while an accompanying hex dulled the target’s cognitive acuity.

Had the sorcery taken hold too abruptly or overtly, other dragons might have detected the trace and caught her, so Yuria had tuned the potency down to an imperceptible hum.

To compound the effect, the tea poured for Minjun carried an illicit, specialized stimulant she routinely relied upon. Every element of her scheme was fully in place.

It was merely a matter of time before Minjun succumbed.

Blissfully ignorant of the trap, Minjun contemplated what inquiry he should raise. Opportunities to converse one-on-one with an SSS-rank Hunter were vanishingly rare.

Yet despite searching his thoughts, nothing suitable emerged. An ordinary Hunter might have had countless queries, but his path was distinct. The guidance intended for standard combatants likely held no relevance for him.

‘Even so, staying completely silent would seem strange.’

He could have chosen silence, or perhaps posed a standard query concerning current dungeon activities or the future trajectory of the Hunter market. Either path would have sufficed.

Yet clouded by Yuria’s covert enchantment, Minjun blurted out an utterly bizarre inquiry.

“Do you happen to know what sort of presents women enjoy most?”

Yuria’s expression froze. Given the chance to question one of the strongest beings on Earth on any matter, this was what he chose to voice?

The moment the words escaped his lips, Minjun could not fathom why he had uttered them, while Yuria broke into genuine amusement over the unexpected diversion.

“Ah… forgive me. Bringing up something so trivial during a meeting like this…”

“Please, do not apologize. Did I not say you could ask anything? It was merely a surprise because I did not see it coming. What prompted such a question?”

“Well… I had been wanting to surprise my partner with a gift, and since the opportunity presented itself…”

Minjun had genuinely been searching for a gift to lift Sia’s spirits following the recent chaos. With that in mind, had an opportunity for advice arisen, he had indeed intended to seek someone’s input on what might please her.

Yet why in the world had he broached such an intimate matter here?

Color flooded Minjun’s cheeks. Naturally, the possibility of a mental curse never entered his mind.

Whatever the cause, having voiced it, humiliation forced him to squeeze his eyelids shut.

“Please disregard that. Pretend I never mentioned it!”

“It is quite all right. Anyone would be curious. At first glance, I assumed the woman commanding your interest was not your partner, but myself.”

“W-What?”

Minjun’s face burned even hotter at her blatant, suggestive remark.

For reasons she could not explain, Yuria found his flustered embarrassment thoroughly charming.

‘Discarding him after a single encounter would feel like a waste.’

A faint flicker of possessiveness began to stir within Yuria’s chest. Initially, her goal had been restricted to driving a wedge between Sia and Minjun, intending to use him like any other mortal plaything before tossing him aside.

Yet after detecting a peculiar, captivating quality within him, an unfamiliar urge surfaced: she wanted to keep him close for a considerably longer stretch.

Sipping her drink with deliberate elegance, Yuria rested her chin upon her palm and fixed an unwavering gaze on Minjun. Through the remainder of their exchange, she continued probing into his personal life, and despite an underlying sense of oddity, Minjun responded with earnest honesty.

As their dialogue unfolded, Yuria observed Minjun’s eyelids drifting downward. He had already arrived carrying severe exhaustion, and the subtle curse acting atop that fatigue left his awareness thoroughly clouded.

“Hunter Minjun, are you feeling drowsy?”

“N-No. I am completely awake.”

Minjun raised a hand to dismiss the suggestion, yet he could not conceal the heavy weariness dragging at his gaze.

Noticing his state, Yuria offered a gentle smile and spoke in a soft murmur, “In that case, would you care to stretch out on the mattress and close your eyes for a bit before you head out?”