Energy Eater 3 (2)

Gaunt as a stripped skeleton, and wary as a cautious cat for all of that, the creature had been scanning everything around it—until we came down into the underground garage and it climbed into Aunt Hyeryeong's car. The moment it was shut inside that enclosed space, it looked up at me with eyes that quietly gave away its relief.

"It really does seem to recognize its Master, doesn't it? I've never seen an aberrant this docile. Like a pet."

Before she even turned the key, Aunt Hyeryeong was murmuring in wonder at the white fox nestled meekly in my arms, and Franc leaned in from the back seat to study it with calm eyes.

Docile? It just didn't have the strength to move, if you asked me. Worse, the look it was giving me was a question—was I going to feed it? Was I going to give it my Phase Power? Aunt Hyeryeong and Franc didn't seem to have caught that at all.

Aunt couldn't help it. She didn't know about Mana Sieve. But Franc, of all people, missing it... I'd thought her eye for things had sharpened a little. Was that intuition only ever good for reading me?

Mindful, at least, that the white fox was still an aberrant, Aunt Hyeryeong made no move to reach out and touch it. Which was only natural. An aberrant was something you kept your guard up around. I was the strange one, bringing it home like this.

I ignored the fox's pleading eyes, rode back to the Grand Blue Building in her car, and was about to head straight up to the fortieth-floor penthouse when she caught me and ran through the precautions.

"Master? I'll file the report with the government and the Ability User Association first and secure a permit to keep an aberrant as a pet, so until then, please refrain from taking it outside the house. I expect the permit will be issued Monday afternoon."

"Understood. I'll be home, so call me if anything comes up."

Having said her piece, Aunt Hyeryeong took the office-wing elevator straight up. I boarded one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠myself, bound for home, and on the way I looked through the creature's body with Spatial Perception—but I couldn't learn a thing about the part that worried me. I'd have to examine it slowly once we were inside.

The house felt empty when we arrived. I opened the master bedroom door, and there was Yeongeun, dead asleep, hugging the jersey tracksuit I'd worn that morning to her chest.

"...Why is she sleeping while hugging my clothes?"

"Holding them like that, she probably feels as if she is with you, Seoha."

"How would you know that? Have you done the same, Franc?"

"......"

She couldn't answer, and her eyes slid quietly away. I stared at her, dumbfounded. She was with me all the time—what could she possibly be lacking? Wait. When had she even done it? She'd been with me the whole way.

Shaking my head at this unexpected perversion, I went out to the living room, sat on the sofa, and looked down at the white fox brat in my arms. It opened its large, round eyes and looked right back up at me.

"If I feed it Phase Power, it'll get healthy fast—but what if it attacks people afterward? What do you think, Franc?"

"If it shows even a moment's intent to attack a person, I believe it ought to be put down at once."

That is not what I asked.

"I-I mean, isn't there a way to prevent an attack? Something like that?"

"Ah—if that is what you mean, we might pull all its teeth, or pull its limbs—"

"Wait, wait! Franc, that's way too brutal!"

Now that I thought about it, I'd taken her for strangely calm this whole time. It wasn't calm. It was a cold face.

"But! It may have lost the traits of an Energy Eater, yet it is still an aberrant! And it attacked you, Seoha!"

"Well, that's true, but..."

This was awkward. I didn't want to force Franc to live with a creature she disliked. ...Wait. Had this thing been trembling, just a little, the whole time? Every time Franc spoke...

My lips had started moving without warning, and Franc's eyes went round. Then she read the shapes, nodded, and understood.

"The white fox is an Energy Eater, and an aberrant. It is meek now only for want of strength, but once that strength returns, there is no telling when it might set upon a person. So even should we keep it, we ought to sever its limbs, pull every tooth, and cut out its tongue—oh! Gouging out the eyes might serve as well."

Just as I'd thought. It flinched at the cutting of limbs, trembled when she spoke of pulling teeth and cutting out the tongue, and shuddered outright at the gouging of its eyes.

"This thing understands human speech."

"Oh my? Truly?"

"Yeah. It just flinched again."

As if it realized the secret was out, the creature looked utterly terrified—ears folding flat, fur going limp and drooping.

"If it gets the gist, this'll go faster. Here. You want to eat this, don't you?"

I brought a finger up to its nose and drew out about 1 TP of Phase Power at the fingertip. Its eyes flew open and its tongue darted out to lick—but that wasn't going to work. The instant those eyes opened I pulled my finger back, caught it by the back, and pinned it down. It thrashed, letting out a strange cry, a warbling kyuuong-ee-ooong.

"If you want to eat, answer me. You can understand human speech, can't you?"

Still pinning its back, I looked down. It blinked up at me with pitch-black eyes, putting on an innocent act. When I saw that and drew the TP back from my fingertip, it pawed the air and cried kyuung, kying, kying.

"Keep this up, and the scary big sister in front of you might just eat you. You know that?"

Setting aside the odd shift crossing Franc's face, I kept my eyes on the white fox. It blinked, nodded once, then tilted its head.

"So it doesn't understand everything people say."

Kyung. Krrrrng.

Had it learned by watching people talk from the side? I held 1 TP out in front of its pointed, cute little muzzle. It darted its tongue out and licked, lap after lap, then shuddered all over like a gourmet who had just tasted a delicacy. Looking inside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that small body with Spatial Perception, I saw its Phase Power had recovered by one, bringing it to nine.

"Good. Behave, and I'll feed you like this, so you'd better listen to me. Understand?"

It understood, sure enough, and nodded—then, as if its strength had returned, it squirmed in my arms. The strange sounds it made, kyuung, ee-yot, looked rather happy. That lasted only a moment. Soon it went limp again, like cotton soaked through. Well, with nothing left but bone and hide, of course it had no energy.

There ought to still be fresh fruit left from the fruit salad I'd made for lunch yesterday. I carried the fox to the refrigerator and opened the door, and the cold air spilling out made it crack its eyes just a little. I took out the plastic-wrapped container, grabbed a fork, and went back to the living room to sit, and the creature began to show an interest in the fruit. I peeled the wrap off roughly, speared a slice of apple, and held it in front of its sniffing muzzle. It worked its little mouth and nibbled, gnaw gnaw.

Franc, who had been watching, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠asked with a face that said she very much wanted to talk me out of this.

"Seoha. Do you truly mean to keep the Energy Eater?"

"Yeah. There are things I want to confirm through this one, and the researchers said it lost the Energy Eater's traits, didn't they?"

"Mm. And yet it is an aberrant..."

She paced, glancing between me and the white fox with a worried look, unable to settle, as if she wanted to stop me from keeping it even now. Watching her, I spoke to the creature as it held the apple in its dainty front paws and nibbled.

"Hey. You going to attack people?"

Ee-ung? Kiyot.

It shook its head with a little shiver, then went back to nibbling the apple bit by bit.

"Says it won't."

"...You understand what it is saying, Seoha?"

"Yeah. You can't tell, Franc?"

"I cannot..."

I set the fork down, formed a droplet of TP, and waved it in front of the creature's eyes.

"Hey. Not just people—you don't get to attack any living creature on a whim. Act the way you did when you lunged at me last time, and I will never give you this again."

Ee-ooong.

It looked up at me with those pitch-black eyes, tilted its head, and cried as if asking why. How was I supposed to make it understand?

While I was puzzling over it, Franc—her face set with some decision—stepped forward, met the creature's eyes, and spoke in a cold voice.

"People despise dangerous beings. Other kinds that attack their own, especially, they kill and erase. Should you attack people, harm will come to Seoha as well. If that happens, I will kill you."

At the threat, the fox let its perked ears droop and watched her warily, thoroughly cowed.

"If, instead, you live as Seoha's darling pet, I will not torment you either. So if you wish to live long, cause no trouble."

Lightning crackled to life at her fingertips as she said it. The white fox, even more terrified, burrowed into my arms and nodded its small head in earnest. Franc reached out and gently stroked the head of the cowering creature, and the fine trembling in its body slowly subsided. By the time she drew her hand back, it had even put out its tongue and licked her finger.

Impressive. She'd tamed it in an instant.

Watching Franc, who was frowning slightly as if she still didn't trust it, I thought of a suitable fix. Train the thing with that, and it ought to do.

"Franc. Let's do it this way."

"Yes?"

She stopped glaring at the creature and turned to me, and I pointed at my own eyes as I switched Mana Vision on.

Seeing my eyes begin to glow, Franc lifted her brows a little, nodded, and moved her lips.

A premonition? Hmm... No. It isn't.

We went on by lip-reading while we watched the creature, but it showed interest only in the fruit I speared on the fork, and paid us no particular mind. Watching it with Mana Vision still lit, I slowly lifted the fork so its head rose with it, then met its eyes. It saw mine and froze with a start—then blinked a few times, tilted its head, turned back to the fruit, and reached out a front paw to grab my hand.

It had reacted, at least. I'd have to keep watching. Franc must have caught the reaction too; the slight upward tension in her eyes eased. I lowered the fork again and pushed it in front of its muzzle so it could eat easily, and it crunched away happily. This time I speared a piece of persimmon, brought it to its muzzle, and thought that when Yeongeun woke I'd tell her about this thing, and when Hwayeon came back I'd need to tell her about the magic bullets as well.

The creature devoured every piece of fruit in the large bowl—too big to hold in both hands—then fell asleep between my legs, its belly so stuffed it looked ready to burst. I watched with Spatial Perception, comparing its state before and after the Phase Power, but I couldn't detect anything like a side effect.

"It's a real shame the analysis ability is gone. If I still had it, I could have known this thing's condition exactly."

"Even so, its face looks decidedly more at ease than when it was in the Association's laboratory."

"Right?"

Franc brought over a large cushion, easily three or four times the creature's size, set it beside me, and lifted the Energy Eater onto it.

Don't tell me she's jealous.

Having moved the creature onto the cushion, she came and sat down between my legs. I stared at her in disbelief. She really was jealous?

"...Franc. Getting jealous of a beast that can't even talk is a bit much, I think."

"Wh-what?! N-no! It is not that...!"

She denied it, but her face and her fluster were exactly those of someone hit dead center. I reached out and stroked the back of the creature, curled into a ball in sleep, and felt nothing but a gaunt spine under my hand. First thing, I needed to fatten this thing back up. I fetched a tablet and was working through homework when Yeongeun finally got up, past three in the afternoon.

She came out yawning, that slim, voluptuous figure covered only by a thin undershirt of a tight tee and a pair of shorts, walked straight to me, and nestled into my arms with a nasal hum.

"Sleep well?"

"Mmm~ I think all the fatigue I'd piled up is gone. ...But what's this?"

Maybe because she wasn't even wearing a bra—just the thin tee and the shorts—Yeongeun's soft body pressed into my arms was felt in full, and it put me in a good mood.

"It's the Energy Eater we caught in April. More precisely, the one that used to be an Energy Eater."

"So this is that one? Why's it here, though? And there's nothing left but hide?"

She reached out and gently ran a finger along the protruding spine of the still-sleeping white fox, then frowned a little.

"Mm. I just felt like I ought to bring it, somehow. Was that a mistake?"

As I said it, I told her the rest—how the white fox had eaten my TP and lost the Energy Eater's traits, how its Phase Power had been dwindling day by day until it was on the verge of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠death, and how I'd gone with Aunt Hyeryeong to the Ability User Association's research lab and brought it back.

"Hmm. You said it can understand human speech, too? Nobody would've taught it language on purpose, so if it picked up speech just from listening to the researchers talk, that means its intelligence is exceptional..."

She was right. If it had learned enough to roughly understand human speech in a little over two months—from mid-April to now, early July—then its intelligence was considerably high. And if it had behaved naturally enough that the researchers never noticed, it was cunning as well.

"So what does my Seoha intend to do with this fox?"

"I didn't bring it with any particular plan. Just... because it was dying?"

"My Seoha's pretty impulsive, isn't he? What's brought is brought, so since this is an aberrant too, we'll need to put safety measures in place."

"What kind of measures?"

Was there some means of suppressing an aberrant's power? Yeongeun shrugged once, then brought up her Certifier and showed me a dog collar. It was a sort of restraint that ran on a Phase Stone—circling the neck and binding the torso and the upper forelegs in an X. At a glance, it looked much like a walking harness for a pet dog. I read the description.

"It seems similar to the tights-armor Yeongeun and Hwayeon wore before," Franc said, having been looking on with me.

Yeongeun smiled and nodded.

"Ding-dong-dang~! You could call it a restraint and a protector both, made with a hint from Paul Dict's armor. Instead of Phase Power control techniques, it draws energy from the Phase Stone set into the collar and hardens in an instant. They tested it—they say it can suppress up through Low Grade aberrants."

"Not from mid-low grade up?"

"From that point on they're real monsters, so they can't even run tests, and they won't permit keeping that grade as a pet."

"I see. Then I'll just buy one and put it on. Let's see, the price is... 1.2 billion won?!"

What kind of dog collar cost 1.2 billion won? I was startled, but Yeongeun muttered as if it were nothing, her Certifier still up.

"We've got one at home, so I'll have Juhan bring it."

Watching her phone Grandfather and order him to fit a small Phase Stone into the restraint and bring it over left me with a strange feeling.

"Looking at it this way, you seem like a rude young lady working an elderly grandfather to the bone."

"Eh?!"

It had been nothing but a simple observation, but Yeongeun started whining—did she look that old to me? Did I dislike her because she was some old grandmother? A flash of insight crossed my mind. I needed to handle this carefully. Dad always waited on Mom like a princess, but even in the midst of that, there was one thing he was careful about.

Age.

Tense with the sense that one wrong word now would make the next ten years a misery, I drew Yeongeun in by the waist and whispered in her ear in a syrupy voice.

"If I'd disliked you, I wouldn't have pounced on you like that last night, would I?"

I slipped a hand under the thin tee and kneaded her bare breasts, soft as pudding, and her face flushed red at once as a heated moan spilled out of her.

"Get this worked up from a slightly rough touch, and all my lovers are perverts."

"You're a pervert too, Seoha!"

"Nnh—yes. A king of perverts!"

"It's not as if my being a pervert started yesterday."

Cynically ignoring their protests, I went out onto the terrace and sat on the bench fashioned from a whole log into something like a chair. Franc and Yeongeun followed and sat to my left and right. I rested the back of my head against the backrest and looked up, and a cloudless blue filled my vision.

"It looks like the sea off Saipan, from that family trip when I was little."

"It does~. Seeing the sky like this from a skyscraper feels different, too."

"The wind is cool and refreshing. The sunlight is warm as well."

Refreshing was refreshing. With my two shameless lovers flanking me, I started kneading breasts I felt I could fondle all day without tiring of them, and teasing their nipples.

"Aah! S-Seoha. People will see!"

"I'm a pervert, so outdoor play is fine by me."

A lie, of course. The residential wing's penthouse and terrace were blocked by the office wing, so the terrace couldn't be seen from the two business-support buildings, and even from the office wing, below the thirty-ninth floor, the angle meant this side could never be seen unless you were pressed right up against the railing. As if I'd be crazy enough to show other people my women's bodies. Yeongeun knew that too, which was why she'd been strutting around the house in an outfit that comfortable.

I was toying with them—kneading their breasts, teasing the lips below—when I sensed the old butler approaching from a distance in a cheese-yellow Volkswagen Beetle. He looked about to stop at the entrance of the Grand Blue Building, so I asked Franc to go receive the dog collar. She nodded, took flight, and descended to the first floor.

"Flying around must feel nice~. I want to try flying too."

"If you jump off, couldn't you glide for a little while?"

"That's falling! Even I would get hurt jumping from this height... or would I? I'm B-Class now."

At my words she flared for a moment, then tilted her head and made a face that said, Shall I try jumping?

"...Don't."

"Even if I get a little hurt, my darling will heal me, won't he?"

Huh? Darling?

Hearing an endearment that blunt out of nowhere, my face flushed and my heart pounded. Yeongeun had been watching my reaction with a bright smile, but suddenly she seemed embarrassed herself and covered her face with both hands. Her exposed ears, dyed pink, were cute.

"I-if you react like that, it's embarrassing!"

"Then what kind of reaction did you want?"

"...Like, groping my body while telling me not to joke around?"

Her sense of what counted as embarrassing seemed a little off. Since she appeared to want to be touched, I slid a hand into her panties and worked her clit with my middle finger. She pressed her thighs together, buried her face against my shoulder, and moaned. Meanwhile Franc, having taken the box from the old butler, bowed and flew back.

"Phew. It was so heavy I had a time of it flying back up."

"Hm? That can't be more than about three kilograms. It's heavy?"

"I can exert physical force, but not a great deal. I am able to fly swiftly, yet that consumes a great deal of Phase Power."

"So the limit of what you can lift is around ten kilograms?"

"For an instant, I believe as much as thirty kilograms might be possible... but if I consider how long I can sustain it, six or seven kilograms is likely my limit."

Listening to the two of them, I opened the box of curious material and found a pitch-black collar inside, six straps attached to it, neatly arranged. Lifting it myself, it did seem to be about three kilograms, as Yeongeun had said.

"Will that thing be able to move with this on?"

Franc, who had been talking with Yeongeun, sat beside me and ran a hand over the collar.

"If this collar is three kilograms, that is more than five times the Energy Eater's current weight. Would it not be difficult?"

"Hmm~? But that's an aberrant, isn't it? It'll be hard now with nothing but bones left, but once it puts on flesh, wouldn't this be easy?"

"Uh... come to think of it, will that thing evolve too if it eats TP?"

If it dropped by 1 TP a day, feeding it 1 TP every day would hold the status quo—but suddenly I wondered whether it would evolve as well.

"Even should it, I do not believe it would pose a problem."

"If it evolves, who knows what might happen. It's an aberrant."

"We can control that much well enough. Hwayeon and Yeongeun are both B-Class, and I can call lightning as well."

"That's true, but... thinking of safety, wouldn't it be better for now to give it only enough leeway to live decently even without TP? It won't be too late to figure out that fox's traits while we keep it beside us."

"But it met Seoha's Mana Vision head-on, did it not? We even cautioned it not to attack people, or living creatures, lightly. I do not believe it will run wild."

"That's too optimistic. It's an aberrant. A life-form that still hasn't been fully understood. It's dangerous."

"A danger people can answer is no danger. If a creature were dangerous simply for being an aberrant, then a zoo—where animals dangerous to ordinary humans are gathered—or a nuclear power plant, which spreads into a massive contamination disaster should an explosion occur..."

Neither of them looked ready to yield an inch, each pressing her own claim. I needed to step in. If their opinions kept clashing, things between them could sour.

"I understand what you're both trying to say. That Yeongeun is worried is only natural. It's the attitude someone in charge ought to have."

Perhaps because I'd spoken for what she meant, Yeongeun broke into a bright smile and nodded along—yes, yes. Franc understood that much as well, but since we'd brought the creature home anyway, she seemed to be thinking we might as well make it somewhat useful.

"Let's hold off on evolving that thing. Watch it for a while, get a read on its temperament, and decide then. There are things I need to learn from it anyway, so we can keep an eye on it while we're at it. Looking at how well it eats and sleeps, it doesn't seem likely to drop dead."

I said it while turning to the white fox, asleep with its potbelly stuck out, and Franc and Yeongeun turned with me and nodded their agreement.

A restraint, though... I took out the black collar and felt it over, and the elasticity was incredible. At this rate, a person could wear it too. Franc, whose intuition only ever worked on my face, and Yeongeun, a veritable ghost at reading a room, looked at the collar in my hand and at my expression, and their eyes lit up.

"...What are you expecting? Not happening!"

"Tch."

"Mm."

Yeongeun clicked her tongue, just a little, and Franc hummed in disappointment—my two lovers—and I nearly lost my composure. Somehow their tastes were turning more and more masochistic. Why were they like this, seriously.

I liked things normal.