Chapter 27
Lumina's waist was soft and pliable.
So this was what a woman's waist felt like.
No, that's not it.
The scent coming from her helmet was incredibly sweet.
The scent of skin strangely mingled with perfume.
With a hint of fruit and flowers mixed in….
Was this Ms. Lumina's natural scent?
It was a fragrance that left me pleasantly breathless.
The kind of warm, comforting scent that made me feel as if I were being held in an older woman's arms….
No, wait a second.
This wasn't it, either.
The view of Taepyeong City at night from the motorcycle was truly beautiful.
Neon signs glowing in the dark night.
The night wind brushed roughly against my body as we picked up speed.
It wasn't because the feel of her waist beneath my hands and her scent flowing over the bridge of my nose made me worry that my little buddy might stand at attention, so I deliberately turned my gaze elsewhere.
It wasn't because I could see her cleavage if I turned my head just a little, either.
It really wasn't.
“Min-cheol! &*@#$!”
Because of the fierce night wind and the roar of the bike's engine, Lumina's voice reached me completely torn to pieces.
“What?! What did you say?!”
“I asked if you like #%*@!”
“I can't hear you!”
In the end, unable to stand it any longer, she slowed down a little, turned her head slightly, and shouted.
“I asked if you're enjoying the drive!”
“Oh, yes! The wind feels great!”
“Then that's all that matters! Should I speed up a little more?”
“What? Even faster than this?”
“Taking it easy is stifling!”
I could almost feel the sound of her giggling inside her helmet vibrating through me.
“Hold on tight! I'm going full throttle!”
“Wait, wait! Aaaaaah!”
Lumina's bike accelerated even more.
“Waaaaaah!”
It felt like riding atop a runaway missile.
Taepyeong City's dazzling neon signs streaked past my vision in a single stream of light.
Vroooom!!!
As she sped up even more, blue flames blossomed from the bike's wheels.
Wait a minute.
Flames?
On the wheels?
“Ms. Lumina! Th-the wheels are on fire! There's a fire!”
“I know!!”
“What?”
“I told you to hold tight around my waist!”
To stay alive, I wrapped both arms around her waist like a madman and squeezed my eyes shut.
Now I didn't even have time to feel the texture of her waist.
I was just holding on for dear life.
Her bike left the dazzling city behind and followed a winding road for quite some time.
How long had we been riding?
“We're here.”
I raised my head at Lumina's words.
We had arrived at a spacious ridgeline on the outskirts of the city.
A small mountain accessible by car, connected to the city.
From the ridgeline, which had the feel of a park, rather like Namsan, the entire city was visible at a glance.
“Wow…….”
A gasp of admiration escaped me.
I remained on the bike, unable even to think of getting off, and simply took in the nighttime cityscape.
“What do you think? It's a prime spot with a sweeping view of Taepyeong City. It's a hotspot I come to alone from time to time when I'm bored.”
The entire night view of Taepyeong City was spread out like a carpet.
The dazzling lights and neon signs pouring from the forest of buildings shone brilliantly even in the darkness.
And here and there, traces of magic tools.
Magical lights and holographic billboards made their presence known.
But more than anything, what overwhelmed my gaze was—
“Hunter Tower sure is impossibly high.”
A gigantic tower that rose higher than the ridgeline where I stood.
“It's an incredible thing. That enormous tower does ruin the scenery. Still, there's no denying it's the tower that keeps our Taepyeong City running.”
There was a hint of bitterness in her voice as she gazed up at the tower.
I remembered that she, too, had once been a Hunter who climbed that tower.
“You said you started doing delivery work because of your head, right?”
At my question, she glanced in my direction.
Then she tapped her own head.
Tap tap.
“That's right. I started doing deliveries because of this. The day I lost my head, I decided to become a delivery worker.”
“You weren't originally a dullahan?”
“I was a dullahan. Surprisingly, I was a dullahan from birth.”
A natural-born dullahan, huh.
When I looked at her in surprise, Lumina gave a small snort of laughter and shook her head.
“I'm joking. Actually, unlike other undead, I have no memories from before I became a dullahan. I just woke up one day and found myself a dullahan. So I thought, ‘Ah, I must have been a dullahan since birth.’”
So she'd lost her memories.
Since I couldn't even dare to guess what that felt like, I kept my mouth shut.
“Still, there are plenty of advantages. The fact that my head can be separated came in pretty handy throughout my Hunter career.”
“Where did you lose your head?”
“I don't know. I don't remember. All I remember is losing it during a mission.”
“Even the manager doesn't know?”
“Hmm, probably?”
“……”
“I climbed the Tower alone, on a solo mission. I lost it somewhere along the way. The problem is, I don't even remember whether I lost it inside the Tower or outside.”
“So that's why you've been searching for it all this time.”
“That's right.”
A never-ending journey to find her lost head.
I couldn't even begin to imagine how hopeless it must feel.
“Then can't you just open your eyes?”
“What?”
“I think I saw somewhere that dullahans can recognize each other even when their heads are separated.”
“Pffthahahaha!!”
Lumina burst into laughter when she heard me.
Laughing loudly, she clutched her stomach and waved a hand as if wiping at the corners of her eyes.
“It isn't that simple.”
“I suppose. If it were, you'd have found it long ago.”
“I laugh a lot thanks to you, Min-cheol. Truly.”
After laughing lightly, she let out a heavy sigh.
“I think I'll find it someday. It may take a little time, though.”
She said it as if making a vow while looking out over Taepyeong City's night view.
Then she scratched her helmet and sighed.
“Ah, I didn't bring you here to talk about something like this. Somehow, being beside you makes my heart feel lighter.”
Lumina looked at me and asked,
“How did you end up coming to Taepyeong City?”
“Huh?”
“Humans are extremely rare in Taepyeong City. Pure-blooded humans were almost entirely wiped out in wars long ago, and only a handful remain. Beastkin count as human in a sense, I suppose, but… that's a different story.”
“…I don't know, either. I lost my job, so I came here while looking for a new one.”
“And that's how you got in touch with the manager?”
“Yes.”
“I see.”
“But why are you asking?”
“Hmm? It's nothing. I was just….”
Lumina fumbled as though trying to decide what to say, then shook her head and changed the subject.
“How does my helmet smell?”
“……What?”
“You're still wearing it. I was asking because you seem to like it.”
“Ah, I was just entranced by the night view….”
“Not the smell? I rubbed expensive perfume inside it on purpose, and it looks like it suits your tastes. You can take it if you like. I'll lend it to you for a few days.”
This dullahan, seriously.
I hurriedly took off the helmet.
“N-no, I'm fine! I won't take it!”
“Hmm…. I'm only saying you can have it because it's you, Min-cheol.”
“……”
“You know, I said you're the first man to ride on my bike, but my true first time is….”
She lowered her voice and spoke in a whisper.
“You're the first person I've ever brought here, to my secret spot. Even the manager doesn't know about this place.”
Maybe it was because her scent still lingered on the bridge of my nose.
Her giggling voice seemed especially clear tonight.
“Oh my, look at you blushing. Min-cheol, don't tell me you've never had a girlfriend?”
“…I haven't.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
“Ooh, that's unexpected. Really….”
Lumina took another step toward me.
“Then do you have someone you like?”
“No.”
“Really? That's a relief.”
“Why?”
“I was wondering if you might have fallen for me just now because of me.”
My heart had fluttered.
I didn't know whether it was because of the lingering scent from her helmet, but my heart had fluttered a little.
“I have a somewhat lethal charm, you know. Do you realize how much imagination the lack of a head can inspire?”
“……”
“And having no head means I can win you over with this body instead. I may not be confident about other things, but I am confident in this figure.”
Definitely.
When I first saw her without her helmet, my gaze had drifted to her breasts before I knew it.
With no face to look at, my eyes were drawn even more to her chest and figure.
Even now….
“You lecher. Look at you staring the moment I mention breasts.”
Lumina's finger lightly tapped the bridge of my nose.
“But didn't you say you don't usually show what's under your helmet to other people?”
“Yeah. Nobody knows except Jinjo and a few acquaintances. You're one of them.”
“Then how can you use it to appeal to people? Didn't you say I was the first man to see what's under your helmet?”
“…Do you have to try it to know? There's a charm you can feel the moment you look at me.”
She hesitated slightly, then pulled up the zipper of her jacket to cover herself up to her neck.
“How could anyone just walk past these curves, even with me dressed like this?”
“That's true.”
“But you know. If my face turned out to be horribly ugly, would you be a little disappointed?”
“Why would I be disappointed?”
“Hmm?”
“It doesn't matter what your face looks like. I didn't become close to you because of your face.”
She stared blankly at me for a while.
“You really don't have a girlfriend, do you?”
“Yes.”
“…It sounds like a lie.”
“I really haven't.”
Is she teasing me?
Just like that fortune-teller at the shop last time.
They keep saying I must have a girlfriend.
I've never had one.
I had never had any contact with the creature known as a girl my age.
“If I get the chance, I'll help too.”
“Help with what?”
“Finding your head, Ms. Lumina. Working at the convenience store, I hear things. More people than you'd think don't regard the clerk as a person. They talk about all sorts of things, assuming I can't hear them, and if any of that information seems useful, I'll contact you.”
Honestly, how much help could I be?
I was nothing more than Ordinary Person A, someone who couldn't even enter the Tower.
I said it hoping I could be of at least a little help.
Now she'd probably laugh heartily, smack my shoulder, and say she appreciated even the thought.
That was what I thought, at least.
“…Thank you. You're the first person besides Jinjo to say something like that to me.”
“It might not be much help.”
“It's the thought that counts. I mean that.”
Her voice was unusually serious.
Blue flames flickered inside Lumina's helmet.
“This is kind of embarrassing. Hahaha.”
“What are you doing reacting like that after saying something so cool?”
“It's because you took it so seriously, Ms. Lumina.”
“You really are something!”
She lightly smacked my shoulder.
Unlike when she'd caught that raccoon thief earlier, it was an extremely gentle touch.
“I feel energized thanks to you. I was at a loss, but knowing I have one more person willing to help gives me a little strength.”
“I'm glad.”
“Speaking of which….”
Her head turned toward me.
Ziiiiip.
Lumina lowered the zipper of the leather jacket she'd zipped all the way up.
The cleavage between her two white watermelons heaved.
“There's one more thing I'd like you to help me with.”
“W-what could I help you with?”
My eyes kept being drawn to that cleavage.
I might look like a pervert, but.
Men, by nature, can't simply walk past a pair of breasts this large when they're right in front of them.
Even knowing they're just lumps of fat, we can't escape them.
I felt as if I finally understood why mice eat the cheese in a mousetrap even though they know it's a trap.
“How is it?”
“W-what is?”
If she was asking about her cup size, G? Or H?
No, I had no idea.
How would a forever-single virgin like me know a woman's cup size?
I only knew they were big….
“My fashion.”
“Yes?”
“Isn't it too childish?”
“…What do you mean?”
“I want to hear a man's opinion on my fashion. I've gone shopping with the manager before, but I hate her recommendations. She only suggests baggy hoodies or Gothic frilly dresses.”
“……”
“I've always wanted to go shopping with a man.”
Then could it be?
“Help me do some shopping.”