Overpowered Reincarnation Perks! - Chapter 15.1
Even after Ju-in had left, Callion didn’t lie down but remained leaning against the window.
He quietly gazed at the two-story house beyond the fence, from which yellow light was seeping out. The place where Ju-in and that man were staying. She called it “home.”
Home.
Settlement.
Stability.
Family.
He silently repeated these words that would clearly never have any connection to his life.
Words that were just awkward and unfamiliar to him, but suited Ju-in well. A small garden and low fence, a cozy two-story house that seemed to have popped out of a fairy tale, warm light, warmth, and laughter…
He laid out all those things he couldn’t give her beside her. He could picture her kind face smiling brightly.
‘She doesn’t suit someone like me.’
Yet she had reached out to Callion. She said she didn’t want to part and asked him to stay here.
‘Staying, huh…’
What could he do by staying here? Besides mercilessly cutting down enemies targeting her with his innate physical abilities, there was nothing Callion could do.
He had answered as if enchanted, wanting to stay by Ju-in’s side, but after she left, as his excited mind cooled, a cold sense of helplessness weighed down on his shoulders.
‘Will I be of any use to her as someone who’s not a hunter?’
Callion recalled when he first met Ju-in.
***
He doesn’t know since when. He just remembers it was around the time he started acting on his own with reason.
For so long that he forgot to count the years, Callion had been hunting monsters. He didn’t know the reason. Perhaps he knew a very long time ago, but at some point, such reasons became unimportant.
Callion was a being that couldn’t mingle with people. He couldn’t even enter the safe “castle” where people lived together. His entire existence was just killing monsters that attacked humans.
He would hunt, extract, and sort the core stones, then visit nearby villages to drop them off as if making donations.
Although he didn’t ask for anything, the merchants would calculate the price based on the condition of the core stones and give Callion money. Sometimes they would give him food or clothes, or recommend other weapons or protective gear he might need.
He didn’t want anything, but he belatedly realized that for ordinary people, a stranger suddenly appearing and providing monster core stones without asking for anything in return could be seen as frightening.
So after that, he traded normally. Even without Callion saying anything, merchants familiar with trading with monster hunters would give him appropriate compensation.
Callion, who was poor at calculations, always accepted whatever he was given. Perhaps he was being shortchanged, but it didn’t matter to Callion who had no use for money anyway.
His brother would occasionally advise Callion to negotiate properly when they met, but Callion found it difficult to converse with people.
The thought of someone facing him and looking into his eyes made him feel awkward and want to hide.
Due to his exceptionally large build and excessively beautiful face, Callion attracted people’s attention wherever he went. Feeling awkward about this, he always wore his hood pulled down low and left the village after just finishing his resupply.
Fearing that someone might recognize him, he never revisited a village he had been to before. He felt so out of place among people.
It was Ju-in to whom Callion first reached out.
─ Please take care of me, Callion.
Callion thought she might not be human.
Callion, who had found it difficult to even face others, let alone converse with them, strangely felt no discomfort in traversing the mountains with Ju-in.
He found it fascinating how her small face changed expressions in various ways. Her voice, so different from his or his brother’s, was pleasant to hear as it chattered away.
However, he kept his distance because touching felt awkward. Even just holding hands to prevent stumbling made him feel somehow honored and at a loss for what to do.
He felt sorry and embarrassed, thinking that Ju-in was suffering by staying in this place that she shouldn’t be in, all because he had impulsively reached out his hand.
He had done something regrettable to her by impulsively holding her back. For her, unfamiliar with this world, ordinary people would have suited her better than a wanderer like himself.
Ju-in walking the monster-infested mountain paths looked as pitiful as an angel who had descended from heaven and still didn’t know how to set foot on the ground.
If left like this, she might decide she doesn’t like the earth and return to heaven. Wouldn’t it be better to take her to a safe village and let her form attachments?
It seemed that if she mingled with ordinary people and lived an ordinary life, she would soon adapt to life on earth.
For some reason, he felt a desire to help her set foot on the same earth as him.
It was the first desire he had ever had.
***
─ Before we part, I want to know your feelings.
The ground beneath his feet shook. He thought she would float up into the air, but instead, it was he who lost his footing and felt suspended.
Callion felt dizzy. In the moment his breath faltered, he felt as if he might fall through a floor thinner than glass, and couldn’t move a muscle.
Ju-in approached and reached out to him. When Callion, frozen in place, couldn’t extend his hand, she began to touch him.
The moment her slender fingers touched his body, it felt as if a warm wave was rising and wetting his ankles. Submerged up to his waist, he knew he was sinking deeper and deeper but couldn’t even flail.
He felt an urge to entrust his life to her completely.
That was his second desire.
The sensation of her, whom he had only dared to look at without touching, embracing him first was indescribably ecstatic. Like a snowman embracing sunlight, he wanted to melt into the euphoria she gave him.
“Ju-in. Just a little more.”
The bare body revealed as the thin fabric disappeared was dazzlingly beautiful.
A slender and warm body.
A fragrant voice.
With trembling hands, afraid he might break her if he gripped too hard, he carefully began to touch her.
The first warmth of a person he felt was sweet enough to involuntarily let out a moan.
Although he had knowledge about reproductive activities, it was irrelevant to Callion who couldn’t mingle with people. Even when visiting villages for supplies, he had accidentally brushed against people a few times, but the mere touch made him feel uncomfortable, so he avoided it.
His brother had even jokingly called it “human mysophobia” in passing. Callion had dismissed his brother’s teasing. He thought he would never touch people in the future.
