Branding the Womb Tattoo
Dohyung had not been in a particularly good mood while watching Jia, Jiseon, and Eunji cooperate with one mind to solve the game. Although the game itself was designed to inflict physical and mental torment on the three of them—making it so that avoiding punishment didn't really matter—the sight of these three, who should have been at each other's throats, cooperating instead was something Dohyung desperately wanted to shatter. Watching them work together dragged up memories of a past he preferred to keep buried. Three girls who were supposed to be meekly enduring their punishment, holding onto hope and clearing the game together... For Dohyung, the creator of the game, this was far from a pleasant sight.
And so, Dohyung refused to sit idly by. He wanted to ruthlessly crush the hope they harbored of clearing this game. Just as his own hopes had once been crushed.
As he pondered how to plunge them into the depths of despair just as they felt hope within their grasp, a brilliant idea struck him the moment he saw them fill the massive goblet to the brim with their own saliva. If he simply prevented them from drinking all the contents of that glass, they would fail the game and face punishment. It was an incredibly simple task. So, he waited. He waited until the very, very end, when the game was almost over.
Even Dohyung was secretly surprised by how quickly Jia and Jiseon managed to gulp down the contents of the goblet. He hadn't expected them to drink it so fast. But in the end, Jiseon had to hand the remaining fraction over to Eunji, and in that exact moment, their fates were sealed.
Dohyung cast a subtle spell on Eunji's arm, causing the strength in her wrist to suddenly vanish. The result?
Clang!
The sound of the glass shattering against the floor echoed through the Basement like a delightful melody to Dohyung's ears.
Jia and Jiseon stared blankly at the shattered glass on the floor, while Eunji trembled violently, looking back and forth between her own hand and the broken shards. The three of them were too stunned by the sudden turn of events to utter a single word. Seeing the expressions on their faces, Dohyung could barely contain his amusement. A snort escaped his lips.
"Pfft!"
In the dead silence of the Basement following the crash, Dohyung's sudden burst of laughter rang out incredibly loud.
"M-Master...?"
"Y-You don't mean... right?"
Jia and Jiseon looked up at Dohyung with pleading, desperate eyes, but their pathetic expressions did absolutely nothing to sway him.
"I certainly didn't expect it to end like this. I don't know why you're looking at me like that... but you failed."
Dohyung spoke with feigned innocence, acting as if he had nothing to do with it—even though their failure was entirely his doing. Dohyung's heart swelled with joy at the prospect of punishing them. It was utterly hilarious to him that, even if they died and came back to life, they would never realize his magic was the sole reason they had failed.
Upon hearing Dohyung declare their punishment, Jia and Jiseon collapsed to the floor. Because they had truly believed they could clear the game, the despair of failure hit them with twice the force. The shock was devastating. At this moment, Jia and Jiseon didn't even have the energy to resent Eunji for causing their failure. That was how deep the shock ran. Once the punishment was over and they regained their senses, their wrath would undoubtedly turn toward Eunji, but that was a problem for later. Right now, the immediate threat was the punishment they were about to receive from Dohyung.
Jia and Jiseon silently looked up at Dohyung, putting on the most pitiful, pleading faces they could muster, desperately begging for mercy. And who could blame them? When the glass was handed to Eunji, barely a tenth of the liquid had been left. Having struggled so hard to get that far, they couldn't bring themselves to accept this sudden failure. They prayed with all their might that Dohyung's words were just a cruel joke.
"What are you staring at? I told you, you failed."
"B-But, if Heavy hadn't dropped it just now..."
"'If'? So what? Are you asking me to let it slide?"
Jia and Jiseon remained frozen, unable to answer. They wanted to at least nod, but they didn't dare risk provoking Dohyung's temper.
The one in the most agonizing position was Eunji. She was driven half-mad with confusion and guilt; her hand had suddenly lost all strength for no apparent reason, causing this absolute disaster.
"Regardless of the reason, a failure is a failure. You can't throw a tantrum just because you don't want to be punished. Now, shall we talk about today's penalty?"
Dohyung looked at Jia, Jiseon, and Eunji, holding up four fingers.
"Today's penalty level is a four-star, and you just had to fail it. Well... the punishment you will receive today is... the Womb Tattoo!"
The three girls, who had been listening in tense silence, tilted their heads in confusion at the term.
"Um... what exactly is a womb tattoo...?"
"Ah, you don't know what a womb tattoo is? Do none of you know?"
At Jia's question, Dohyung turned to Jiseon and Eunji. Both of them shook their heads, just as clueless as Jia.
"Oh, really? You don't even know what it is... Well, this makes it even more interesting. Wait right here."
Grinning with sadistic anticipation, Dohyung stepped out of the Basement to prepare for the branding. Left behind, the three girls could only tremble in sheer terror at the looming punishment.
"I-I'm so sorry..."
In the heavy silence, Eunji bowed her head and apologized. Jia and Jiseon stared at her, saying absolutely nothing. Then, without a word... Jiseon kicked Eunji square in the stomach.
"Gah!"
The force of the kick sent Eunji rolling backward. Coughing from the sharp pain in her abdomen, she looked up, only to freeze in terror at the sight of Jia and Jiseon glaring down at her with pure, unadulterated rage.
"You... you fucking bitch..."
"Because of you, you fucking piece of shit... How could you drop it there?!"
The sheer panic of their impending punishment had temporarily numbed them, but Eunji's apology acted as a trigger, causing their dormant fury to explode. Completely forgetting Dohyung's previous warning not to leave visible wounds on her, the two girls began to ruthlessly stomp on Eunji as she lay on the floor.
"Argh! Aaagh! I-I'm sorry, ugh!"
"Die! You fucking dog, just die!"
"If it weren't for you! If you weren't such a useless retard!!"
Stomped and kicked for several minutes, Eunji could do nothing but curl into a fetal position, wrapping her arms around her head as she shivered violently on the cold floor.
"Pant... pant..."
"Fucking... worthless bitch..."
The two girls caught their breath, glaring down at the battered Eunji. Suddenly, a chilling sensation crept down their spines. They spun around, only to find Dohyung watching them with an amused grin.
"Ah, Master! This is..."
"We, um, it's just..."
Seeing Jia and Jiseon scramble to explain themselves, Dohyung's grin widened.
"Why so startled? Were you worried I'd punish you for beating her? I have no intention of doing that. I know today's failure is entirely the fault of that Heavy lying over there. I understand why you're angry. I don't mind if you rough her up a bit."
Having listened with bated breath, terrified that Dohyung would hand down an extra punishment for beating Eunji without permission, the two girls let out a collective sigh of relief.
"You can finish venting your anger on Heavy later. For now, you have to receive your penalty, don't you?"
Dohyung handed a piece of paper to each of them. Printed on the paper was a photograph of a woman.
"Master, what is this...?"
"Since you said you didn't know what a womb tattoo was, I brought a reference photo myself. Take a close look and find the womb tattoo."
Jia and Jiseon stared intently at the photograph. Soon, their eyes locked onto a tattoo that the woman in the photo possessed—one that was definitely not on their own bodies. Located just below the woman's navel, the prominent tattoo was a bizarre, intricate pattern.
"I-It's a tattoo..."
"Some call it a lewd brand. As you can see, it's basically shaped like a female womb, and I'm going to engrave this onto you."
At Dohyung's words, the thought of having such a pattern carved into their flesh sent a strange chill through Jia and Jiseon. Today's penalty was a four-star punishment. It was ranked on the same level as having their fingernails ripped out. There was no way a simple tattoo would suffice for a punishment of that caliber; they instinctively felt that there had to be a catch.
"Hehehe... I can read you like an open book. You're thinking it won't end with just a simple tattoo, aren't you?"
Having read their minds, Dohyung walked over to the door of the Basement. He reached outside, grabbing an object he had left hidden from their sight, and brought it back in.
The moment Jia and Jiseon saw the object in Dohyung's hand, they realized exactly what was about to happen, and their bodies began to shake violently. It was an object that had already left them with deep, traumatic scars. The memory of the white-hot iron searing into their flesh was so agonizing that even thinking about it made them writhe. But this time, the branding iron was far larger than the one used to burn the initials 'K.D.H.' onto them. Looking at the massive surface area of the metal, they couldn't even begin to imagine the sheer, unmitigated agony they would feel when that red-hot iron pressed into their skin.
On the other hand, Eunji, who had barely managed to push herself up from the floor after her beating, stared at the object Dohyung brought in. Unlike the other two, she had never experienced the branding iron before, so she had absolutely no idea what he intended to do with it.
"Now then... why don't we bring over the chairs we used for the makeup guessing game? I'll tie you all up and brand you while you're strapped in."
"Yes... Master..."
Knowing exactly how much agony awaited them, Jia and Jiseon dragged their feet, lifelessly walking over to fetch the chairs.
Once the three girls were seated, waiting for their impending doom, Dohyung bound them tightly to the chairs and placed blindfolds over their eyes, plunging them into darkness.
"Sob... huff... N-No..."
"F-Fuck... fuck..."
Knowing that an unbearable agony was about to be inflicted upon them, Jia and Jiseon began to hyperventilate, their breathing turning shallow and rapid. Eunji still didn't fully comprehend what was coming, but judging by the sheer terror radiating from Jia and Jiseon, she could only brace herself for something truly horrific.
After ensuring that all of them were completely blindfolded, Dohyung levitated the branding iron with his magic and began to heat it to an extreme temperature. As the radiating heat began to warm the air around them, Eunji finally started to piece together what was happening. The realization of a white-hot iron searing into her flesh made her understand exactly why Jia and Jiseon had been trembling so violently.
"Alright, I'll press it down the moment I count to three... so prepare yourselves."
Dohyung, eagerly anticipating the beautiful screams they would soon produce, readied the levitating iron.
"Now... one..."
As Dohyung began the count, the three girls focused all their mental energy on bracing for the pain. Jia and Jiseon, who had already experienced this hell, steeled their hearts as best as they could.
"Three!"
Mocking their desperate preparation, Dohyung skipped 'two' entirely. He shouted 'three' and instantly slammed the glowing, white-hot branding irons onto the flesh just below their navels. The sudden, explosive agony tore through their bodies, and their screams erupted so violently it felt as though the Basement itself would burst.
"Aaaaaaaagh!"
"Kyaaaaaaaah!"
"Aaagh! It hurts! It hurts so much!!"
Dohyung hummed a cheerful tune as he watched them writhe and scream in agony, keeping a close eye on their flesh to ensure the beautiful womb tattoos were perfectly branded onto their bodies.