Mudoo - Chapter 64

Kang Tae-shin slipped between the shelves, his eyes scanning the spines of old books. The hygrometer by the entrance told him what he already knew, these rare books needed steady temperature and humidity to survive.

“I get the history and politics part, but why on earth were you researching new materials?”

Baek Seula hovered near a large wooden chest in the corner of the study, lifting a thick, leather-bound volume. The author’s name gleamed on the cover. Kang Tae-shin.

“You should’ve asked me that before I lost my memory.”

“Back then, I was in no state to look into it this deeply.”

“Why weren’t you?”

“Ah, well…”

Her lips parted as if to speak, then closed again, over and over.

Tae-shin fixed his gaze on her face, visible through the narrow gap between shelves. Moonlight streaming in through the window brushed against her smooth cheek. Every flutter of her thick lashes sent a sharp pulse down below.

Again. It’s happening again. The first time he saw Seula at Hobun’s house, it was like this. His body heated, pants tightening, back taut, saliva thick in his throat. His chest ached with a heavy, restless squeeze. Even without his memories, the same emotions and responses rose in him whenever she was near.

What the hell did she do to me?

“If it’s hard to say, then don’t. I’ll find out soon enough.”

Not knowing what burned beneath his words, Seula seemed relieved. She leaned against the window frame, flipping through his old thesis. Each page turned beneath her long, slender fingers, but to Tae-shin, it looked like she was caressing his skin.

Something had clearly happened between them, he just couldn’t stop staring.

“Come here. I want to show you something.”

He pulled an old book from the shelf and called her over.

“What is it?”

She walked lightly toward him, no suspicion at all. An insidious smile brushed his lips. As she neared, the familiar scent of her body wash reached him. The urge to bury his face in her hair, to get past that softness, twisted inside him.

“This.”

He took her hand and pressed the book into it, letting his fingers mold around hers, kneading lightly as if testing her reaction. Sparks cracked deep in his chest, but Seula held steady, unaffected by his deliberate touch.

“The Memory Collector?”

His brow creased. She doesn’t care about this much contact? Seula read aloud slowly, tracing the words on the page. Tae-shin knew them by heart.

“Yeomra, the Lord of the Underworld, once found herself weary of mortals begging for mercy at his judgment seat. At some point, however, she began to crave the taste of their tears, their agony. Perhaps it was because ignorance was unacceptable to her? From then on, Yeomra began collecting human memories, for through memory she could consume their emotions.”

She glanced up at him.

“So that’s why she stole your memories, maybe?”

But Tae-shin wasn’t listening to the words, only watching her lips. Soft, glossy lips he ached to bite into. The thought alone lit a thirst deep in his gut.

He arched a brow. Seula dropped her gaze and read again.

“Yeomna never returns the memories he takes. Not out of cruelty, but indifference. Humans who lose their memories are no longer useful to him. This is why, in reincarnation, people are born without remembering their past lives.”

“What kind of book is this? Yeomra’s autobiography?” She wedged a finger between the pages and checked the cover. “Observations of Yeorna by a Traveler of the Afterlife? Where did you even find this?”

She laughed lightly, shoulders shaking.

“Am I supposed to believe this? You… you do believe it, don’t you?”

Her smile lifted her cheeks, round and full. Tae-shin’s fingertips brushed her ear, trailing down to her shoulder.

“Is that the kind of man you think I am?”

“Well, you kept it all this time. The Tae-shin I know throws away anything useless without a second thought.”

“You know me that well?”

His grip on her shoulder tightened, kneading slowly. He felt her body stiffen under his hand. She turned her face away and flipped the page again.

“But it is not impossible for humans to recover memories. Though Yeomra never returns them, some recall them on their own. At the brink of death, they say their lives flash before their eyes. Among those fragments, past lives sometimes intrude. Most die and lose them again, but those who survive… what then? Even I cannot answer this.”

“Interesting.”

With a faint smile, she closed the book, slid it back into an empty spot on the shelf, and asked, “So why show me this? I don’t see how it helps me figure out how to help you.”

Tae-shin’s breath came slow, heavy. Tilting his head, he closed the space between them.

“You still don’t get it?”

Her lashes trembled.

“N-no…”

His hand slid from her shoulder down to her arm, wrapping her inside his frame. Pressing her back to his chest, his lips brushed her ear.

“Like I told you yesterday… I don’t care about recovering my memories.”

“Then why—”

“I want to know what we were.”

“……”

“That’s what I’m curious about.”

She turned her head slightly, locking eyes with him. The tension glimmering in her wide eyes only stoked his hunger.

“Why is it that every time I see you, I’m desperate with arousal?” He caught her earlobe lightly between his teeth.

“It’s too strange to call it rutting, when it’s only you I react to.”

Seula’s shoulders shivered, the fine hairs on her nape rising.

“Tell me. What were we? Were we sleeping together?”

He pressed his mouth to the tender skin behind her ear, licking slowly. She shuddered, closing her eyes tight as her lips finally parted.

“…Yes. We slept together.”

Hearing the word spill from her lips, heat surged up his throat, a heady rush filling his chest.

“Say it again. What did we do?”

But she clamped her lips shut, refusing.

“Why so shy? We’ve already had each other.”

“It’s over now. We’re finished.”

“And yet, just one request, and you follow me all the way here?”

“That’s because… I have something I want from you, too.”

“Wouldn’t guess it, looking at you. So dark inside.”

“You’re no different, Tae-shin.”

His hands fell to her waist, tracing the curve from the hollow of her back to her hips. He pressed his hardness against her, throbbing insistently.

A low moan slipped from his teeth. Seula caught his hand on her waist.

“What are you doing?”

She tried to push him off, but Tae-shin didn’t budge.

“What we always did. That’s what I want.”

“That requires consent. And I don’t recall giving it.”

“Then how do I make you consent?” His mouth quirked as he nipped down her neck.

“I wouldn’t know. I’ve forgotten too much.”

His hand slid under her shirt, skin meeting skin. Though her words pushed back, her body burned no less than his. His finger traced her side, dragging down until her soft whimper betrayed her.

“Haa… Why are you doing this to me?”

“I should be the one asking. What did you do to me, that I’m like this?”

She gave up resisting, bracing herself on the shelf as her gaze met his, hazy and undone.

“I’m too weak against you, Tae-shin. When you come at me like this, I can’t help but melt.”

A crooked smile curved his lips.

“Then I’ll take that as a yes.”

And at last, he captured the lips he had been starving for.