Wondrous Equipment (1)

A sweep of Spatial Perception across the whole of the estate grounds told me the place was wider than I'd expected.

No—wide didn't even start to cover it. Gardens included, it had to be pushing eight acres. Enough land to set an entire seven-building apartment complex down inside it. The sort of great house that only really belongs somewhere with room to spare, the way they have abroad.

Franc had drifted a little higher into the air to take the grounds in, and the sighs of wonder just kept coming. Still, I'd heard a house this large was illegal to build. I wondered how they'd managed it.

The garden held a circulating pond, rocks and heaped stone arranged so the water ran like a river, with koi gliding through it. Off to one side lay a pool some twenty meters long, and beside that a tennis court. Underground, there was even a training hall nearly ten meters high, spread across close to two and a half acres, fitted out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with every kind of exercise facility.

...So that's why the permit had been hell to get.

Hah. Was the madam rich enough to put up a house like this? The upkeep alone had to be no joke. I'd guessed she had money, running the foremost private educational foundation in the country, but this looked ready to leave my expectations in the dust.

I finished a thorough pass over the garden with Spatial Perception and turned my attention to the Western-style interior of the mansion—

Whoooa?! Maids! Maids who looked like they'd stepped straight out of a movie, cleaning and tending the house and the gardens!

I was quietly losing my mind over them, careful not to let it show, when the door lock clicked and Hwayeon tapped the hand I had wrapped around her waist.

"Get out."

I smacked my lips at the soft body slipping out of my arms and climbed out after her. The limousine followed a path along one edge of the garden and rolled into a multi-level mechanical parking tower, where several cars were already stacked.

The garage whirred to life with a long mechanical groan. The limousine we'd ridden in rose toward an upper level, and an empty bay descended to the first floor.

A look through the interior turned up full-size Mercedes-Benzes and Chryslers, sports cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis, and a few wearing BMW badges. Every last one of them was a foreign luxury car.

A house equipped even with this...

Somewhere along the way Cha Soyoung had produced a large attaché case, the 007 kind, and sure enough, inside it sat a single vest-like garment. The case was also packed with Phase Power—leaking from the vest, by the feel of it.

Aigoo. All that Phase Power, going to waste.

I clicked my tongue and turned my eyes back to the garden.

A lawn trimmed without a hair's gap, garden stones set so they sat in harmony instead of spoiling the view, pines grown into those uncanny twisting shapes, a brook murmuring along... And the L-shaped three-story house itself, streamlined in blended greens and browns, matched the soft, rounded garden with an old-fashioned elegance that somehow still looked refined.

How much money did it take to build a place like this? I wondered what the upkeep ran, too. And then there were the taxes.

I followed Hwayeon and Cha Soyoung into the mansion, where two maids in their twenties—dressed in neatly tailored, slightly modernized Victorian maid uniforms—saw us and bowed in silence.

Beside them stood an old man in a white shirt, black trousers, a black tie, and a close-fitted, refined black vest. He stepped forward and bent at the waist toward Hwayeon with practiced ease.

"Welcome home, young miss."

...Hhk. Don't tell me he's a butler.

"It's been a while, Grandpa. Are you unwell anywhere?"

An actual butler! And I'd never heard Hwayeon use a voice that soft, or wear a face like that. She'd never been that warm with me, either... The white-haired old man, hair slicked neatly back, was the very picture of hale old age as he answered her with a gentle smile.

"That is thanks to the young miss and the madam. You send such costly gifts every year—how could I possibly take to my bed?"

"It would be a problem if you fell ill, Grandpa."

"Ho ho ho. I shall take care. And this young man is new to me. Might he be the young miss's boyfriend?"

Hwayeon only smiled, and didn't answer. The old butler didn't seem to have asked in order to hear one. When his eyes met Cha Soyoung's, he returned her bow with a silent nod of his own, then looked at me.

"Welcome. I am Han Joo-han, charged with the management of this estate. Please, call me Butler Han at your ease."

Agh, why was he being this polite to me? He came up with movements so smooth and precise, then bowed, and I flustered my way into bowing back.

"Ah, hello. I'm Jung Seoha."

"Ho ho. This is the first time the young miss has brought a gentleman home."

He smiled as he said it—the smile of a man who already knew. By then even Hwayeon seemed to find the sight too embarrassing to bear, and she cut in with a fake cough.

"Grandpa? We'll go straight to the training hall. Please call us when dinner is ready."

"As you wish."

Butler Han took the two maids and disappeared toward one wing of the mansion, and Hwayeon led the way to the central stairs descending underground.

"Is that old butler like a real grandfather to you?"

"Yes. He might as well be my own father. He's the only person in this house who ever held me like a human being."

"Is that right~ I'll have to remember him. If he ever gets sick, my... dad can take a look at him too! Just say the word, anytime. Ahem."

Cha Soyoung was right behind us! That was close. She was so quiet I'd forgotten for a second and nearly blurted something about my ability.

"All right. I'll be counting on you then."

Hwayeon seemed to have caught what I'd almost said. She smiled brightly and took my hand.

Hand in hand, we walked toward the stairs at the bend of the L-shaped first floor. I stole a glance at her face as we went. The small smile she was holding looked a lot like happiness.

Satisfied with that, I looked around a corridor that was hard to call a Korean mansion at all.

The floor was marble, the walls dark-brown solid wood, the ceiling arched, and maybe because the marble threw the light back like a mirror, the air of the place felt cold. It didn't feel like a house in this country so much as one from overseas, and I had a feeling that in winter, this place would chill you somewhere deeper than the skin.

Hmm... They say a house follows its owner's character. Was the madam's true nature this cold?

The stairs down sat right beside the stairs up to the second floor. Built out in the open like that, they didn't feel like anything meant to be hidden.

We walked down a fairly long flight, and opaque reinforced glass blocked the way ahead.

I was admiring the training hall's silhouette through the glass when Hwayeon set her hand against a square black panel. A green light blinked once, there was a soft pneumatic hiss, and the reinforced glass split left and right as the door opened.

"It's huge! Actually huge!"

Seen with my own eyes, the training hall looked even larger than Spatial Perception had made it out to be.

I craned around a hall bigger than the entire grounds of a decent high school, taking in the facilities. Doors lined both sides. Behind them: a shower room thirty people could use at once, a sleeping room, an office... and, oddly enough, mountains of preserved rations and blankets that still looked brand new.

Was this meant to double as an emergency bunker, if it ever came to that?

White in overall tone, the hall was rectangular, with a domed ceiling braced and reinforced by all kinds of structural members. On top of that, pure-white square pillars five meters across stood in two rows at thirty-meter intervals, which gave the place a fleeting resemblance to an ancient Greek temple.

"Seoha. Come here."

I was still touring the hall with Franc when Hwayeon, already moved to the center, beckoned me over.

I approached, and Hwayeon—having taken the case from Cha Soyoung—set it on the floor and opened it on a passcode. Water-blue Phase Power burst out into the air, like fireflies dancing over a pond on a midsummer night.

It had a beauty distinct from the rippling release that spread off a dead aberrant.

Inside the case, a pitch-black sleeveless high-collar vest that seemed to drink the light lay neatly in place, and the water-light was spilling from it. Hwayeon picked the vest up and came toward me.

"Is this the thing?"

"Yes. Take your top off."

It wasn't the sort of vest you layered under a suit. It was a sleeveless vest with a collar all the way up, and the lining was densely set with Phase Stones a little smaller than two fingers laid together.

I counted the faint water-colored stones. Eighty of them, each with roughly 300 to 500 TP left.

Judging by the size and the Phase Power still inside, they were roughly stones from a High-Rank Variant. Residual Phase Power, all together, around 36,000. In other words, a thirty-six-billion-won piece of clothing.

No—these were High Grade Phase Stones, so with the premium they'd cost even more.

I touched the vest for a moment. About three centimeters thick, but softer, squishier, and tougher than the underwear I had on. Comfort wasn't going to be a problem.

Living twenty-four hours a day in uncomfortable clothes would be misery.

I took off the school blazer, undid the tie, and stripped the shirt, and Hwayeon quietly shifted her body to block Cha Soyoung's line of sight. Cha Soyoung stared at her with a look of pure disbelief.

Heh. She doesn't like another woman seeing me bare?

Doing my best to ignore Franc—who wasn't even pretending to cover her eyes anymore, gulping as she stared outright—and Hwayeon, whose gaze was sliding over my bare torso with poorly hidden interest, I reached for the vest in Hwayeon's hands.

"I'll put it on you. Turn around."

Don't blush while saying that. Now I'm embarrassed too.

I had no reason to refuse, so I turned as she asked, and she dressed me in the vest with careful hands—a brush along my forearm, my shoulder. My side, too. Little touches.

Hwayeon's hands on my body felt indecent enough to set my heart hammering. When I'd had my hands on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her waist in the car, had she felt like this?

Cha Soyoung stood with her arms folded, eyes narrowed to slits, watching the two of us. Hwayeon didn't seem to notice at all.

Anyway, I let her settle the vest on me and drew the zipper all the way up.

"Whoa. This is something."

The vest against bare skin felt a little strange, but not enough to bother me. I rolled my shoulders and twisted at the waist, and as expected the stretch was excellent—nothing caught when I moved. The weight of eighty Phase Stones was there, faintly, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the moment I lit Mana Mode at a low burn, it felt as if I weren't wearing anything at all.

"How's the fit?"

"It's good. Doesn't get in the way when I move, and if I put a shirt and the uniform over it, it won't even show."

The design itself was realistic enough that I could probably walk outside in it as-is. Clean lines, a sharp finish at the hem—it could pass for everyday clothes.

"That's because it's made from Fourspeed Cheetah hide. The ventilation and sweat absorption are excellent, so even if you sweat through a workout, it won't become a problem. Rinsing it in water is enough to clean it."

"Fourspeed Cheetah? That's an aberrant?"

"A High-Rank Variant."

I let out an impressed breath at that, and Hwayeon stepped in to adjust the collar and the shoulders.

"Armor worked from Fourspeed Cheetah hide absorbs impact well enough that even a sniper rifle won't punch through, and it resists cutting from blades. That's why it's so sought after."

I'd always understood that the material structures for stopping cutting force and impact were completely different things, and this blocked both? So this was aberrant hide for you... and then, out of nowhere, Hwayeon slammed a blow into my back!

"Ghk?!"

"Well?"

I staggered three or four steps forward from the impact and turned to find her asking a question I couldn't parse. Well, what?

"The Phase Stones aren't pressing into your skin, are they?"

"Huh? Now that you mention it, I got hit, but it was just the impact. No feeling of the stones jabbing me."

"Fourspeed Cheetah hide has an instant-hardening function. Take a blow, and it goes rigid. The Phase Stones won't get crushed or shatter. And they won't press into your skin, either."

Aha. So that was why she'd tested it on purpose.

"And here I thought you were getting revenge for me smacking your ass yesterday. This thing's got to be insanely expensive. With the Phase Stones included, the price is ridiculous, isn't it?"

At that, Hwayeon's face went bright red. She glanced back at Cha Soyoung and cleared her throat.

"Ahem! It's a little expensive, but it isn't a full set of top and bottom, and I had it made from materials allotted as my share, so the most costly material expenses didn't apply. The Phase Stones were only scraps I'd gathered, bought straight at the international market rate with almost no premium, so all told—processing and the stones—it only came to about four billion won."

"F-four billion..."

Was this me going provisionally bankrupt? The deposit on the contract looked set to get wiped out as a penalty, and now a four-billion-won debt...

"If you're thinking about paying for it, don't. Consider it a gift from me."

A four-billion-won gift?! That made it worse!

My hands were shaking when Franc, who'd been drifting around inspecting the vest, smiled sweetly.

Gear priced in the billions, and Franc didn't so much as blink. Bold, in her own way...

I nodded at her words and looked down at the vest.

Hearing four billion won made even the water-blue Phase Power seeping lazily from the vest feel like a waste. Roughly, per stone, per hour... 1.6 million won evaporating every hour.

Add it all up and how much money was that... Well, if I found the time later and just charged them with TP, it wouldn't matter.

High Grade Phase Power capped at 299,999, so triple would charge to 899,997. Fill one to the maximum and that was nine hundred billion; sell it with the premium included, one and a half trillion? Multiply by eighty and... one hundred and twenty trillion?

Ah. Even if I sold them, I couldn't fill them up to nine hundred thousand. Charge them to triple and my ability would be out in the open. A shame, but I'd have to stop around two hundred thousand. Still, about three hundred and fifty billion each, and eighty of them was twenty-eight trillion...

A sum I couldn't even picture...

Dump it all at once, and could the real economy even take it? No—people said goods out of the Phase World had formed a market of their own, so maybe they traded in some other currency entirely.

They didn't call Phase Stones strategic assets for nothing. Promissory notes, that sort of thing, would exist too.

Anyway. 0.3 an hour times 80. Multiply by 24, and I could absorb 576 Phase Power a day... so in thirty-seven days I'd be D-Class.

Hit D-Class and the Phase Power figure would climb to 25,000, and the recovery rate would rise with it, so the time to charge them would shrink hard.

I ought to talk it over with Franc and settle on telling Hwayeon about charging the stones.

Turn all these used-up, scrap-grade high-rank Phase Stones into new ones and hand them to Hwayeon, and she'd be pretty pleased.

Which reminded me—what happened to a Phase Stone once all its Phase Power was gone? If it turned to ash and vanished, I'd have to keep them topped up as I used them.

"What happens to a Phase Stone when all the Phase Power is drained?"

"The material is different, but it becomes no different from an ordinary crystal. The Alliance and various research institutes spent a long time looking for a way to recharge Phase Stones, but nothing came of it. Usually, a stone that's been fully drained is discarded."

Some people spent money collecting that waste on the off chance, she went on, but even recently no method of recharging had been found, and the view that no such method even existed was gaining ground.

Lucky me. Then if I collected the high-rank stones people were throwing out and charged them myself, wouldn't that work? I looked at Franc with that thought in my eyes, and she seemed to have started pondering the charging of Phase Power as well.

Hwayeon must have realized Franc was where my gaze had gone. For an instant a jealous look crossed her face, but she smoothed it away at once, took something from her pocket, and held it out.

"Take this."

It was an egg-shaped pendant, worked with the care of a piece of art, and a fine gold chain.

"What's this?"

"Put your charm in it and wear it."

Ah. So this was what she'd said she'd make for me.

"Press the grooves on top and turn, and the upper half opens. Put the charm in there. The pouch you're using now could be lost too easily."

The pendant egg was milk-white, a gold thread circling it horizontally through the center, with four silver lines carefully engraved in a radial pattern.

Following her instructions, I pressed the two round grooves on the pointed top and the two below—four in all—with the thumbs and index fingers of both hands at once. There was a click, and the gold line engraved around the middle split in half, the egg parting like a mouth opening.

"Ooh."

"The chain is an alloy of metals that hold Phase Power from the Phase World, so it won't break easily even under violent movement. Even so, in case the chain ever starts to strangle you, it's made to snap past a certain force. Keep that in mind."

"Thank you!!"

So happy at the care she was taking—fussing over me with this and that—I hauled her into a tight hug, and Hwayeon went rigid on the spot, stiff as a board.

And since she was blocking the view, I didn't have to worry about Cha Soyoung's eyes. I was about to take the Soul Stone out of the pouch and put it in when Franc stopped me.

She answered like that, turning her gaze away in embarrassment and fidgeting with her fingers.

I'd torn a pocket apart with clumsy hands and stitched the thing together all sloppy, and she treasured it like that? Franc was the kind of woman who knew how to be happy over the smallest things.

Ugh. Between Hwayeon and now Franc, my heart was itching so badly I couldn't stand it. I scratched my head for no reason and turned, and found Hwayeon watching me closely, face flushed.

...Embarrassed for some reason, I undid the neck pouch and handed her the two 480-TP Mid-Low Grade Phase Stones I'd taken from the Wind Raccoon and the master of Breast Mountain.

"Here."

"Hm? What... Phase Stones?"

"Got them on my second run, off Mid-Low Grade aberrants. Together they're over 900 TP, so use them wherever you need."

I gave a crooked grin to Hwayeon, who clutched the stones in both hands with startled eyes, then undid only the cord from the pouch holding the Soul Stone, slipped the pouch itself into the pendant, and closed it.

Click.

"Oh, the size is perfect."

I looped the slightly cool chain around my neck, and I liked it more than I'd expected. Just as Franc had said, putting the Soul Stone in still wrapped in the pouch meant the scrap of cloth acted as padding—I gave it a little shake and it made no sound at all. It wouldn't draw any eyes.

Cha Soyoung looked curious about what I was doing, but she seemed to decide I wasn't showing her on purpose, and turned to walk toward the changing room. Sophia would've been kicking up a fuss, squirming for a look.

"Thank you!"

Once I confirmed Cha Soyoung had gone, I threw myself at Hwayeon—still holding the Phase Stones I'd given her like they were precious—and hugged her tight. Her eyes went wide as lamps.

I wanted a deep kiss, but Franc was watching, so I held back.

The more I looked at the vest Hwayeon had prepared, the more it resembled the sort of suit a hero-movie protagonist would wear, and I liked it. The kind of design liable to stir up a case of eighth-grade syndrome I'd thought I'd outgrown.

The fit was excellent, but a few spots still felt stiff the way new clothes do, and I was moving around to work them out when Cha Soyoung returned in a training outfit like yoga clothes, handed Hwayeon a set of her own, and asked for a spar.

I watched Hwayeon, who'd changed behind a pillar, loosen up with Cha Soyoung through light stretches, then put my uniform back on, put a reasonable distance between us, and flopped down on the floor.

"I don't get how the two of them can spar."

"Yeah. And there's a class gap, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too, so the conditions for a spar shouldn't even hold, right?"

"Really? Even granting that, does an Elemental user need to learn body techniques?"

Hmm. Was that how it was?

Hwayeon, finished stretching first, seemed oddly attentive to me. Because I was talking with Franc?

Then Cha Soyoung and Hwayeon faced each other.

The spar between the two, standing five paces apart, began without any signal at all. Mostly Cha Soyoung attacked, and Hwayeon blocked, slipped, or dodged, striking back only now and then.

I watched their fight closely for a while, and Cha Soyoung was impressive too. An Elemental user, and yet her movement was as light and sharp as a seasoned fighter's. Accurate, with a restraint in every motion... I had a feeling I couldn't beat her even with Mana Mode on.

Cha Soyoung swung fists and feet fast enough to cut the air. Hwayeon blocked or evaded every blow poured out in that short span, then left an afterimage as she slipped inside Cha Soyoung's reach and drove a chopping palm strike into her abdomen!

"Hhk—!"

The thud, and Cha Soyoung flying backward with a choked scream, tumbling—watching it, I thought of myself yesterday. Unlike me, though, she rolled back and was on her feet in a swift motion, settling into a taekwondo sparring stance.

The instant Hwayeon came inside five paces, there was a sharp crack, and Cha Soyoung's left foot—a turning kick like a blade—shot toward Hwayeon's temple. Hwayeon ducked her head at a terrifying speed and let it pass.

As if she'd been waiting, Cha Soyoung's right foot lanced up toward Hwayeon's chin. Hwayeon seemed to have expected that too, tilting her head just enough to slip it, and from where I sat Cha Soyoung was in a pinch... or so I thought.

"Hah!"

In a motion smooth as anything, she spun her body like a windmill and lashed a spinning kick—capoeira, I guessed—into Hwayeon's thigh.

Hwayeon slipped that too with a light tumble, became the axis, and caught one of Cha Soyoung's now-unguarded legs to set a joint lock—but Cha Soyoung used the rotational force and squirmed out of her grip like an eel.

I could've sworn that knee bent the wrong way just now, and then she was out in a flash. I'd seen it with my own two eyes and still barely believed it.

Somewhere in the middle of it, I realized I'd switched on Thought Acceleration to watch them, and even then I could barely keep up. The two of them were fast, switching between offense and defense as smoothly as if they'd rehearsed it.

No—more precisely, Cha Soyoung was attacking one-sidedly, and Hwayeon was countering only now and then.

While I was thinking that, Cha Soyoung coiled around Hwayeon's lower body like a snake, took her down, locked in a Boston crab, and hauled both of Hwayeon's legs up.

"Gulp."

Of all directions, those spread thighs were pointed at me, and between the opened legs I could see the camel toe... or I thought I could, and then she seemed about to twist Hwayeon's legs into a cloverleaf. Hwayeon lifted both Cha Soyoung and herself on arm strength alone, as if going into a handstand, and spun her body violently like a windmill.

Centrifugal force tore Cha Soyoung's grip loose and she lost the legs; Hwayeon's long, sleek legs kicked her clear. She broke the fall with a proper roll and, in the same motion, tried to land a kick on Hwayeon, who had already closed in.

Hwayeon slipped it lightly, snatched the ankle, and went straight into a figure-four leglock. Face twisting at the pain of ankle and leg being bent, Cha Soyoung tapped Hwayeon's thigh to signal surrender, and Hwayeon let out a small laugh and released her.

"You still haven't broken that habit of straight kicks that comes out when you're pressed."

"The only person who can drive me this hard is you, Boss. It simply will not be corrected."

And the two of them engaged again.

"Feels like every martial art in existence is coming out."

I'd been stolen away by Hwayeon and Cha Soyoung's flashy spar, watching for a long while, before I said that to Franc sitting beside me.

Franc's eyes were sparkling, her whole body fidgeting. The spar seemed to have called up training from her days as a knight, and she looked quite worked up.

"Yeah. Even against Captain Cha Soyoung, Hwayeon looks like she has room to spare."

Cha Soyoung steadied her roughened breathing and approached carefully again—when Hwayeon suddenly closed at lightning speed and brought a leg down from above, an axe kick so dreadful I thought it might split a skull.

She raised a taekwondo guard and blocked the kick driving down through the air, then immediately drove her shoulder into Hwayeon's solar plexus. Taking a move that obvious—had Hwayeon let it land on purpose?

Sure enough, the moment they clinched, Hwayeon seized the back of Cha Soyoung's neck, slipped a hand into her right armpit, and fell backward, throwing her!

A throw perfect enough to drag a cry of admiration out of Franc. She'd taken the momentum of Cha Soyoung charging in with her shoulder and turned it straight over.

Cha Soyoung hit the floor with a crash, and Hwayeon came down on her as if pouncing, pinning her upper body. Her left arm wrapped Cha Soyoung's neck; her right bent Cha Soyoung's left arm and cranked it behind her head to seal it, and she began to choke, wrenching the neck.

Both legs were locked perfectly around the waist. I didn't see a way for Cha Soyoung to escape that.

That was a pro-wrestling hold, wasn't it? Not the entertainment kind—she was choking like she meant to actually finish it, and Cha Soyoung thrashed both legs in resistance... and...

...That was quietly obscene. Every time Cha Soyoung struggled, the pants wedged into her crotch and the camel toe stood out, and with both legs wrapped around Cha Soyoung's waist, the shape of Hwayeon's pussy showed between her spread thighs...

I-isn't that fabric way too thin? Every violent thrash made breasts sway and thighs flex, and Hwayeon's flushed face and Cha Soyoung's expression twisted in distress kept forcing themselves into close-up, and the situation was turning awkward.

Mainly in my crotch!

"Kkh... ghk..."

Maybe because she'd hit the floor without a breakfall and was being choked on top of it, Cha Soyoung's resistance was steadily weakening. She tried to escape somehow, swinging her good right arm at Hwayeon's neck and back, shoving at her face to peel her off, but the angle was bad and she couldn't land a clean hit.

As if to finish the feeble resistance, Hwayeon shifted into a posture that flattened Cha Soyoung beneath her. Before long, Cha Soyoung's face began to turn blue.

She forced her right arm up and grabbed the arm choking her... and in the end couldn't do anything, and the arm dropped limp.

"Hah. Her technique keeps getting better."

Hwayeon stood up barely sweating, perfectly composed, while Cha Soyoung lay slack on the floor, face pale, pouring sweat, not yet back to herself. Whether from the twenty minutes of fierce sparring, her chest, armpits, and back were soaked through... and that wet patch at her crotch—had she actually wet herself?

"Is Captain Cha Soyoung all right?"

"Ah. She'll come around in a moment. I pressed the carotid and put her out."

"That's dangerous!"

My dad's a doctor, so I know this stuff! He said if blood doesn't reach the brain, you can get brain damage!

"I have no reason to use a dangerous technique, do I?"

"...Right. Fair."

"More importantly, I'd like a buff."

A buff? She meant she wanted me to paint TP over her eyes, right?

Hwayeon came over to where I sat, closed her eyes, and brought her face close.