City of Witches

༺ Selfish Desires (2) ༻

1.

“Seriously, what the fuck were you thinking?”

After Sharon locked herself in her room.

Siwoo decided it was time for a serious talk.

“Okay, I admit that I neglected you for twenty eight years, that was my bad, but haven’t I been looking out for you recently? Why are you acting like this?”

He was questioning his aroused member that lost its cool after encountering a seductive witch.

The relatively pleasant atmosphere was completely ruined because of this jerk.

“At least don’t pull that kind of stunt on me you asshole. Alright, you decide now, how many spanks do you want?”

“…”

“Still not answering?”

He tried harder to bait out a response, but his interest quickly faded.

A sense of self-hatred washed over him.

“Ugh, my little buddy didn’t do anything wrong.”

Because deep down, he knew that he was the one solely to blame.

“Why did it have to end up like this…?”

Siwoo had always prided himself on being a romantic.

Though he had never experienced a proper relationship before, if he had the chance to, he believed that he could wholeheartedly commit himself for that special someone without fooling around with another person.

But earlier, when Periwinkle touched his thighs…

No, even before that, when he caught a whiff of her scent.

It felt like all his brakes were off, and his body instantly reacted.

But, there was an even more surprising revelation.

The fact that he felt that he might accept Periwinkle’s offer if Sharon wasn’t around.

Still, he was aware that though his relationship with Sharon was still rather ambiguous…

He didn’t have the freedom to fool around with just anyone.

Because it would be disrespectful to Sharon.

“Am I losing it…?”

He let out a sigh before tearing up the business card he was holding.

Since he couldn’t just do this in front of Periwinkle, he accepted it without making much noise back then.

“What do I do now…?”

He pondered as his urge to apologize to her grew stronger.

There were still two things he wasn’t certain about, though.

Was the reason he thought that he needed to apologize was because he thought of her as his girlfriend?

Also, was the reason why she was upset because she saw herself as his girlfriend?

This confusing relationship between the two of them left those unanswered questions in his head.

“Ugh, so annoying!”

As he tried to reflect on himself, going over every detail of what went wrong, he discovered yet another mistake that he made.

The fact that he had never mentioned his secret relationship with the twins to Sharon.

In hindsight, he probably thought that he could finesse his ways through both situations.

Without a second thought, he just naturally assumed that being close with both Sharon and the twins at the same time was a normal thing.

“What the fuck is wrong with me…?”

After returning to the modern world, he flipped through his math books and recalled the frustrating experience of him unable to solve a single problem.

He had been completely using Ea’s ribbon and Ravi’s self-essence magic without a clue on how to use them properly.

And he somehow remembered back when he was acting like a casanova, chasing after witches like a dog in heat.

“Something feels off…was I really cured properly?”

There were more than a few changes that he noticed.

So he was completely certain that something happened during the process of his body’s recovery.

But, he could only guess.

As there wasn’t even a single thing he could find out.

“Ugh!”

A sudden headache momentarily overwhelmed him.

All the troubling incidents that had been preoccupying his thoughts vanished and forgotten.

Even the fact that he had forgotten was wiped from his memory.

All the questions he had been pondering about were stored in his subconscious, it was as if his body was telling him that he didn’t need to think about them at this moment.

Sitting on the bed, he found his mind wandering aimlessly, like a puppet with no soul.

Drools threatened to escape from his half-opened mouth.

Then, an external noise woke him up.

-Knock, knock

The sound of knocking echoed through the room.

“Can I come in, Siwoo?”

“Yeah.”

Siwoo quickly wiped off the drool and got up from the bed to greet Sharon.

He thought she might need some time alone, but thankfully, she seemed to be recovering faster than he expected.

It was hard to put it into words, but essentially the thing that transpired was just like being caught by one’s girlfriend for getting a boner after looking at another girl.

In that kind of scenario, it wouldn’t be strange if she were to come up and slap him.

But, instead of doing that, she only looked at him with a sad expression.

She didn’t show any sign of anger at all.

“Sharon, I—”

“Can I say something first?”

“…Sure, go ahead.”

Siwoo was the one completely in the wrong here, but for some reason, Sharon’s voice was trembling.

Like a kid caught breaking something expensive, she started talking quietly. Her hands and feet fidgeted as she did.

“First off… I’m sorry for getting mad at you. I really shouldn’t have done that…”

Originally, Siwoo planned to listen to what she had to say until the end, but after hearing her saying something like that, he decided that he couldn’t stay silent.

“Sharon, you don’t need to apologize. You did nothing wrong.”

“That is that, and this is this. It’s true that I ruined the mood and made a fool out of myself…”

She continued, her head was hanging low, avoiding any eye contact with him.

“Siwoo, you could be with a much better witch than me…and…being a guy, you probably want to be surrounded by a lot of pretty girls, don’t you…?”

She had received a lot from him.

The more she grew to like him, the more she became aware of her debt to him, just like a snowball rolling downhill.

But, when he faced difficulties, she couldn’t do much to help.

Instead…

She was always the one who got saved by him.

The thought that she might only become a burden in his life made her heart ache.

“I…have nothing to offer you… Teaching you magic…there are plenty of witches that are better than me, even among your acquaintances… What I’ve been teaching you so far is nothing compared to what you’ve done for me…that’s why…”

She emphasized that she had no intention of holding back.

This was what she had been thinking all this time, and she finally decided to tell him about it.

She vowed that she’d humbly accept whatever answer that he’d give her.

“If you want to…you can go to that witch…Periwinkle… Don’t worry about me, I won’t show you my jealousy ever again.”

“…”

“But…when it’s all over…can you…please…come back…?”

If her fellow witches were to hear her saying this, they’d definitely criticize her with, ‘Don’t you have any pride at all?’

Even Siwoo was at a loss of words at her attitude, which was so stooped and submissive.

“I’ve said all I have to say. If there’s nothing you want to say to me, I’ll leave…”

She didn’t burst into tears immediately, but Siwoo sensed that she would eventually.

After this talk, she;d definitely lock herself in her room and cry her heart out.

He was at a loss for words.

Before he knew it, he found himself holding her wrist.

Her eyes widened in surprise, tears welled up on them, threatening to flow out.

“Don’t leave, I won’t go to her. Actually, I ripped up her business card just now.”

“What? Why did you—”

“Because I won’t be contacting her. Why would I even keep it?”

“Do you even know who she is? She’s THE amazing witch who expanded the horizons of complex elemental magic! All the papers she submitted to the academic conference turned out to be big sensations!”

When she heard that he tore up the business card, joy filled Sharon’s heart.

But, it quickly became disappointment toward herself.

Because she thought that her selfish desires had won against her selfless desire to see Siwoo make better choices for himself.

“C-Compared to her…I’m nothing… Hell, I’m nothing compared to you. At this rate, I’d only hold you back… I can’t even offer you any help…”

At this point, she even hated her own self hatred.

Because deep inside, she was hoping that Siwoo would deny her words.

“I’m not particularly pretty among the witches…and you won’t be able to do everything you want because of me…”

“Sharon.”

The moment he called out to her, Sharon held her breath.

When she looked up, she saw him making a bitter smile as he looked at her.

“W-What? Why are you smiling? I’m being serious here!”

Suddenly, he grabbed her wrist.

And he closed the distance between the two of them.

She was about to get angry at him, but this was enough to quell it.

With a mixture of unease and anticipation, she looked up at him.

Seeing her like this, Siwoo recalled Takasho’s teaching, his once close friend and mentor.

‘What should you do when your woman is feeling anxious? A blockhead like you is asking this thing? What happened?’

While he couldn’t recall the exact circumstances behind it, he vaguely remembered talking about that with him.

Takasho raised three fingers with confidence.

‘You just need to remember these three. Kiss, sex and sex.’

However, he never paid too much attention to Takasho’s advice.

His friend had ample experience, having dealt with more than 600 women in his life.

That was why Siwoo always thought that his outlook was just way too different compared to him, as the other guy had lived a life comparable to that of a porn actor.

‘From my experience, this combo has a 95 percent success rate! The girl you use the combo on will relax and fall for it easily!’

‘What’s the deal with you saying sex twice?’

‘Because that’s how important it is! Look, if you only do it once, it’ll leave a variable. They’ll think that you were only doing it because of the mood and you aren’t attached to them!

‘Basically, you do the first sex to follow the mood after the kiss, and the second one is when you seal the deal!’

‘There’s still a five percent fail rate, right? What will happen then?’

Takasho silently made a motion to adjust his bracelet.

‘Well, they gave me warning, most of them, at least.’

‘You crazy bastard.’

That was the end of their discussion, but Siwoo was convinced.

From his own experience, he managed to prove that Takasho’s advice was surprisingly useful on many occasions.

As Siwoo brought his lips closer, Sharon closed her eyes and welcomed his advances.

Her expression looked so adorable that he stopped before their lips touched. He quietly observed her for a bit before she opened one of her eyes slightly.

And when she saw his mischievous smile, she instantly became furious.

“Ah, seriously! What the hell?! Stop teasing me! I’m being serious here—! Mmh–!”

This time, he really pushed his lips against hers.

She had been hitting his chest playfully, but she instantly calmed down as if she had been given a dose of a calming potion.

“Mmhh…sluurp…mmm…”

And then, as if her tantrum was a lie, she grabbed his collar tightly and actively entwined her tongue with his.

The anxiety that had been afflicting her heart melted away.

Replaced by an incredibly strong temptation, that pulled her closer to him like a magnet.

With flushed cheeks, she gazed at him, her eyes filled with desire.

Her bated breaths and heated gaze conveyed her heightened arousal.

Today, she seemed even more alluring than usual, and that wasn’t because of Siwoo’s lust affecting his judgment.

“Ahh…”

Siwoo gently pulled her wrist, and she fell onto the bed.

He didn’t do it forcefully, so she could have resisted it if she wanted to.

But she didn’t.

Because she wanted him to take the lead.

Climbing on top of her, Siwoo kissed her while slowly undressing her.

No more words were needed.

Like a pair of mating beasts, they exchanged their heavy breaths, using their limbs to draw each other closer as they became one.

That night, Sharon’s brand was injected with amplified mana four times.