Taming the Change Cat and Facing the Blackened Hero
Kang Nabi stirred and opened her eyes. Our gazes met.
“You’re awake?”
I gave her a morning greeting.
Remembering last night, she averted her eyes.
“You okay now?”
I asked, worried about her heat cycle.
“Yeah… I’m fine….”
Kang Nabi replied, her cheeks flushing red.
“You said you’d do anything for me yesterday, right?”
“Huh? Doesn’t that end with yesterday?”
“Nope.”
At my response, Kang Nabi whipped her head around to look at me.
“You think you can just do something like that and get away with it?”
Rape. The worst crime.
And Kang Nabi had committed that worst crime against me.
“Fine, I’ll do anything.”
Knowing that, she couldn’t defy me.
“From now on, you’re my pet.”
“W-what?! What’s that supposed to mean?!”
Kang Nabi looked like she was angry.
But the corner of her mouth twitched faintly.
And her lower body flinched.
She likes it.
She hadn’t realized it herself yet.
But Kang Nabi had awakened to her masochistic tendencies.
More precisely, the side that gets dominated, I suppose?
Either way, Kang Nabi was now firmly in my grasp. She wouldn’t escape.
When should I introduce her to Choi Rin?
I had to introduce Kang Nabi to Choi Rin.
Thankfully, polygamy made it less of an issue.
“I’ll introduce you to Choi Rin later.”
“I-I’m scared of that woman.”
Kang Nabi was afraid of Choi Rin.
I pondered the best timing for their meeting, but it was pointless.
Because….
Bang—!
“We’re back! Caught the villain faster than planned! I missed our maknae so much, so I flew… here…?”
Choi Rin had burst through the door.
Kang Nabi and I were both naked.
And we hadn’t cleaned up last night’s traces—they were still there.
No way to deny it.
As expected, Choi Rin’s expression darkened.
“Who’s this?”
“H-hello….”
Her tone was icy enough to freeze the room.
Kang Nabi’s face stiffened, her body trembling as she greeted her politely.
She was genuinely terrified of Choi Rin.
“So… who is she?”
Choi Rin completely ignored Kang Nabi.
She stared only at me as she asked.
“Well….”
How should I answer?
My pet?
She’d think I was crazy.
Guess I have no choice but to call her my second girlfriend?
But look at that face.
That emotionless expression.
The lack of emotion made it scarier.
There’s that saying: it’s scarier when they don’t get mad.
That was Choi Rin right now.
“She’s my second girlfriend, Kang Nabi.”
I introduced her in a trembling voice.
“H-hello….”
Kang Nabi greeted again.
“….”
And Choi Rin ignored her once more.
“Haa—”
“Hic—!”
A cute hiccup that didn’t fit the mood.
Kang Nabi hiccuped in terror at Choi Rin’s heavy sigh.
“That question back then… it was all buildup for this moment, huh?”
It was something we had to face eventually.
I didn’t run. I met Choi Rin’s eyes straight on.
After locking gazes with me for a few seconds, Choi Rin turned to look at the ignored Kang Nabi.
“Hic—!”
Another hiccup as their eyes met.
“You probably know, but I’m Choi Rin.”
Choi Rin extended her hand while saying her name.
“I’m Kiyong’s main wife.”
Choi Rin drove the nail in deep.
She glared at Kang Nabi as if to say she’d kill her if she crossed that line.
“K-Kang… Nabi….”
Kang Nabi clasped Choi Rin’s hand with trembling fingers.
And so the morning incident wrapped up for now.
****
Clink—! Clink—!
The only sound filling the house was clinking dishes.
Me, Choi Rin, and Kang Nabi.
The three of us were having a late breakfast.
Kang Nabi had originally tried to bolt.
“I-I should get going—!”
But….
“Let’s eat together.”
“Hiiing….”
She didn’t have the guts to refuse Choi Rin’s suggestion.
Even now, she was shooting me pleading looks for help.
Sorry.
My own nose was barely above water.
The awkward, silent meal ended.
Kang Nabi tried to escape for real this time, but….
“What do you do for work?”
Choi Rin’s question foiled her again.
“She’s unemployed.”
I answered for her, afraid she’d slip up.
“It hasn’t been long since I left the orphanage.”
It had been a few months since the orphanage, but Kang Nabi made her excuse anyway.
“Hmm… Got any abilities?”
“Yes, I’m a cat beastkin.”
Choi Rin pondered Kang Nabi’s answer.
“Cat beastkin…? Change Cat?”
Choi Rin instantly connected the dots to the villain from that short reply.
Kang Nabi froze.
I decided on a frontal assault.
“Yeah, Kang Nabi was Change Cat.”
“Was?”
Choi Rin raised a question, while Kang Nabi alternated shocked glances between us.
“Let me start with how Kang Nabi became a villain.”
I told the true story of how she resolved to become a villain for the orphanage.
“Hmm… but you know she’s still a criminal, right?”
Even stealing from criminals was a crime.
Choi Rin reminded Kang Nabi of that fact.
Kang Nabi drooped and lowered her head.
“Y-yeah… I know.”
Kang Nabi admitted her crimes.
“Good, as long as you know.”
And that was it.
Choi Rin asked no more.
“Huh? That’s it?”
“Yeah, I won’t pursue your crimes.”
But if other heroes caught her or she kept villaining, I’d arrest her.
Choi Rin warned her to be careful from now on.
Kang Nabi’s expression gradually softened.
Seeing their relationship improve, I smiled.
“How’d you two meet?”
Curious about us, Choi Rin asked.
“Thanks to Kang Hyeok.”
“Hyeok? Why’s his name coming up?”
No more favor left to lose, but I chipped away at Kang Hyeok’s goodwill anyway.
“Nabi had her weakness in Hyeok’s hands.”
I explained how Kang Nabi had been exploited by Kang Hyeok.
“So she was spying on his orders and got caught by me.”
I described how helping her escape Hyeok led our relationship to develop.
“Hmm… Hyeok did that?”
Choi Rin didn’t want to believe it.
Some lingering affection as friends, it seemed.
“On behalf of Hyeok… I mean Kang Hyeok, I apologize. Sorry.”
Choi Rin bowed her head.
“Alright, apology accepted! Now let’s all get along as family!”
I patted Kang Nabi’s shoulder with a smile as Choi Rin looked up.
Kang Nabi’s face crumpled.
Her shoulder must hurt….
Great mood… should I go for it?
The final hurdle.
Revealing I was from another dimension.
Now seemed like a good time. I read the room.
Screw it, let’s do it.
Kang Nabi’s secret was out.
Time to spill mine.
“I have something to tell you.”
Both focused on me.
“Truth is, I’m from another dimension.”
****
…Why isn’t it completing?
A week had passed since my bombshell confession.
The two were shocked, of course.
“You can still come back to your original dimension and see us, right?”
“Of course!”
Choi Rin understood as long as she could see me.
Kang Nabi….
“Even if you’re from another dimension, your essence doesn’t change, so it’s fine.”
“What’s my essence, then?”
“…Trash.”
“Hey! What’s calling your master trash?! Time for punishment!”
She laughed it off and accepted it. Same as Cream—they all took the shocking truth in stride.
Is this the power of love?
Either way, they both understood, the mood was good, but the request wouldn’t complete.
What’s missing?
I pondered what was lacking while gazing at the sky.
Drip… drip… drip-drip—!
The sky darkened.
Falling raindrops.
No rain in the forecast.
I tried to hurry back to the office before it poured, but a figure blocked my path.
“Long time no see.”
Kang Hyeok stood in my way.
Patter-patter—!
We faced off amid the intensifying downpour.
Kang Hyeok’s aura was like Zieg’s.
The Zieg who tried to kill me.
This Kang Hyeok resembled him.
My instincts screamed a warning.
This “Kang Hyeok” was dangerous.
The Demon King who gathered villains and formed an alliance.
He’d appeared before Choi Rin.
Choi Rin can’t handle him alone.
The Demon King was, in a way, this dimension’s protagonist.
Too tough for the heroine to face solo.
I turned to head her way, but….
Thud—!
A sharp impact hit my side.
“Guh—!”
Pain flared in my side as my body flew into the air.
Looking at where I’d been….
There stood Kang Hyeok, emanating black energy.
So that’s how it is….
I pieced it together quickly.
Kang Hyeok had fully turned villain.
Maybe he couldn’t let go of Choi Rin.
Or revenge against her and me….
Didn’t matter.
If I didn’t fight, I’d die.
Before closing in on Kang Hyeok, I pulled Brun from my Inventory and equipped it.
Brun shifted into a light coat.
I also slipped on Andvari’s Ring.
A precious item with a one-year cooldown.
If not now, with my life on the line, when?
Andvari’s Ring: Curse of Ruin
Target: Kang Hyeok
Slowly erodes the soul toward personal destruction.
No visible reaction from Kang Hyeok.
Tch, sustained type, huh.
Not an instant burst, but a gradual torment.
Whoosh—!
Kang Hyeok charged, slicing through the air.
Protagonist-worthy—he’d awakened some insane speed.
No choice.
To help Choi Rin, I’d end this quick.
Shing—!
I drew my sword from Inventory and activated the Holy Sword Gram.
S-Rank Enhancement Sword
Illuminates darkness, boosts physical abilities.
Gram lit up the gloom under the storm clouds.
I raised it high with both hands.
And brought it down on Kang Hyeok as he arrived.
Kagagak—!
Metal?!
Not a flesh-cutting sound, but steel clashing.
Kang Hyeok was pushed back by Gram’s slash.
I’d cut deep, for sure.
Yet only a graze on his body.
“Impressive durability.”
“This is my true power!”
Kang Hyeok glared at me with rage-filled eyes and roared.
“It’s all your fault everything’s ruined! I’m this world’s protagonist!!”
He kicked off the ground and flew at me again.
Protagonist….
Did he know the truth and spit it out?
Or just chuuni delusions….
I didn’t know Kang Hyeok’s true intent.
But one thing was clear.
I have to take him down here.
If not now, it’d get messy.