An Eye for an Eye

I couldn't immediately make sense of whatever the crazy bitch in front of me was spouting.

It definitely sounded like the words I'd thrown out earlier, but...

I never thought she'd actually snatch them up and run with it for real.

I asked again, just to be sure she meant it.

"What... did you just say?"

The answer didn't come right away.

I calmly turned over her mental state in my head.

She wanted revenge on me.

Yet she couldn't actually use violence in this situation.

So the conclusion she'd reached was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

Because she'd let me see her peeing, she now wanted to watch me take a piss in return?

Ha. Crazy bitch.

I barely managed to hold back a snort of laughter.

"Think it through carefully before you decide. Do you really want to see something like that?"

"...Who the hell would want to see that! I'm just getting revenge for the humiliation I took!"

Dumb...

The woman standing in front of me was so pathetic it almost hurt.

She was that stupid, so even with fairly high latent potential she'd still scraped the absolute bottom of the Academy rankings.

I let out a sigh and spoke as if I were lecturing a child.

"Shall I show you right here? But before that, there's one thing Miss Kim Isol absolutely needs to understand. You see all the cars around us? The black boxes mounted on them might be recording every second of us right now. And there are CCTV cameras somewhere in this underground parking garage too."

She started glancing around in a panic.

Had she dragged me here without even thinking of that?

"If you've got it, I'll be on my way. See you at the company on Monday."

"W-Wait!"

"Ah, what now? I'm a busy man too."

I was no longer cowed by Kim Isol.

I was certain this bitch would never actually hit me.

She'd spoken pretty strongly, yet she still hadn't launched any direct attack—proof my conviction was right.

She hadn't even jabbed a finger into my stomach.

Without a suit on right now, a poke like that would have cracked a rib or wrecked something for sure.

Even as dumb as Kim Isol was, she seemed to fully grasp that much.

She dropped her voice and spoke to me.

She must have realized ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠black boxes could pick up sound as well.

"If here doesn't work, we do it somewhere else. Don't even dream of running."

"Why? Planning to come all the way to my place? I live alone—just the two of us in my house... me dropping my pants and into a plastic bottle..."

"Aaaah! S-Stop it! Stop talking!"

Kim Isol shot out a hand and clamped it over my mouth.

The way she kept scanning the parked cars made it crystal clear what she was fretting about.

Ah, what a pain.

I was getting bored.

All I wanted was to get home fast and crash hard.

"Will you let me go now?"

"...Fucking bastard..."

Ah~ yes. Yes.

Please just stop already, you crazy woman.

I felt like I was bickering with a kid who still hadn't grown up.

In short, I'd completely lost the will to fight.

I felt pathetic and pitiful for even still being here.

Kim Isol's brain—clearly nothing but a solid lump of pride with zero wisdom mixed in.

Here, it seemed smarter to protect that pride of hers somehow.

That way she'd send me home even a little sooner.

"Then let's go to my place."

"W-What?"

"Ah, don't get the wrong idea. And what could a civilian like me even try against an Awoken? I'm only going so I can show Isol what she wants. And to keep it out of other people's sight."

Just from how she kept grabbing me every time I tried to leave, I could tell how ironclad Kim Isol's pride really was.

She must hate it when things end any way other than how she imagined.

I had no idea how she'd even survived the Academy with pride that high.

Her grades had to have been rock bottom every single day.

"Come on. Let's go. To my house."

In the end, the only way to kill this situation was to make her give up and walk away on her own.

"......"

Finally quiet.

I waited for the refusal I was sure was coming.

While I waited, my head filled with completely different thoughts.

How to use the ability that had suddenly appeared in me.

I wanted to use it right this second, but after the way I'd parted with Lee Donggeul I needed a different target.

Should I call an outcall massage?

Not a bad option at all.

I'd planned to use Lee Donggeul—who seemed to have some goodwill toward me—for a few tests, but it wasn't like I could just rape an Awoken.

I'd have to invest time either way.

Testing things on a working girl instead didn't sound half bad either.

That side I could do today, right now.

Those ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thoughts were still crowding my head when the silent Kim Isol finally opened her mouth.

"Fine. Let's go."

"What?"

I never expected that answer to come back.

I was flustered.

Seeing my flustered face, Kim Isol smiled.

Mistake.

At the very least I shouldn't have shown I was rattled.

My reaction just now had given her the conviction that the choice she'd made after long deliberation was the correct one.

From this point on, nothing I said would make her change her mind.

In short, I was fucked.

I needed a plan.

Otherwise I might actually have to piss in front of this psycho bitch.

Wait.

What's the big deal if I just piss a little?

It wasn't like I had a girlfriend right now, and it wasn't like I'd been guarding some pure virginity either.

It'd be fucking humiliating, sure—but was it really something to panic over?

Or I could just flip this bitch's Magic Switch off right now and be done with it.

I'd been saving it as a trump card, but I could use it whenever I felt like it.

No matter how much of an Awoken she was, once her mana vanished, how different was she from a civilian?

And against a civilian woman whose frame was way smaller than mine—would I really lose?

I smoothed my expression and took the hand of Kim Isol standing beside me.

Suddenly having her hand seized, Kim Isol startled and shook it off.

But that brief contact was more than enough for me.

More than enough to shut off Kim Isol's Magic Switch.

"......?"

Kim Isol's behavior suddenly turned strange.

Of course it would—her mana had just vanished.

I decided to play it completely shameless.

"What's wrong?"

"You... you bastard, what the hell did you just do to me..."

I answered with a face that knew nothing.

"What did I do?"

"Suddenly... my mana..."

"Mana? I'm not an Awoken, so I don't really know much about mana."

Kim Isol shot me a razor-sharp glare.

I casually ignored the look and kept my face blank.

Sorry to say it, but I'm not even a little scared of you anymore.

You're not an Awoken now.

You crazy bitch.

"No way... th-this can't be..."

"What's wrong with your mana? Didn't you overdo it in the dungeon today?"

She only clenched her teeth hard and gave no answer.

She had to know the change had hit the moment I grabbed her hand.

But she had no certainty.

And even if she did, Kim Isol's dumb head would never manage to pin it on me right away.

I was actually busier thinking about other things than the Kim Isol standing in front of me.

Later, when I flipped the Magic Switch on some Awoken I didn't like, if they noticed the physical change this fast I'd immediately become the prime suspect.

To keep that from happening, I needed some kind of method.

"I'm going back..."

"Yes. Goodbye. See you Monday."

I had zero intention of stopping her as she said she was leaving.

Dark circles had dropped hard onto her face.

Looking only at Kim Isol's expression, it was the most vicious I'd seen yet.

Because of the shocks that had hit her tonight, she wouldn't sleep properly.

She was about to permanently lose the title of Awoken, after all.

Tomorrow—and the day after—would only torment her more.

I started looking forward, intensely, to whatever face she'd wear when she showed up at the company on Monday.

If I'd known it would feel this good, I should have done it ages ago.

My steps on the way home felt light.

Along the road I picked up a flyer.

Outcall massage.

Today looked like it was going to be a pretty fun day.

I'd never dealt with a working girl before, but as a guy who'd been in a long-term relationship for nearly two years I wasn't about to get treated like some clueless idiot.

A man needs confidence.

Right now my confidence was exploding harder than it ever had.

Because I'd called before I even reached home, the doorbell rang right as I finished washing and stepped out.

And standing there was a quite beautiful woman.

She tilted her head a little to the side and said,

"Hello?"

I'd told them to send the most popular girl without caring about the money, and her looks were honestly startling.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

More than that, just from appearance she looked no different from an ordinary person.

I'd expected some leopard-print, dyed-hair type to show up—that was pure prejudice on my part.

"Please come in."

I scratched the back of my head for no reason, flashed an awkward smile, and acted like a complete fool.

My heart started hammering.

I felt somehow intimidated too.

It was a different flavor of pressure from standing in front of Awoken.

"It's more comfortable on the bed, right?"

"Anywhere is fine. But no filming."

"Yes. Of course."

She spread the cloth she'd brought across the bed where Shin Haneul and I had spent nearly two years together.

Since it was officially a massage, that was how she played it.

Even if the word "decadent" sat right in front of it.

"Do you have a thin blanket or something? Oil might run."

"Ah, yes I do. Just a second."

I followed her instructions, and before long everything was ready.

When I came back to myself I was already lying on the bed staring at the ceiling.

Then her hands began working their way up from my legs.

An insanely ticklish, soft sensation.

Every time her touch skimmed across my skin, a sharp thrill ran through my whole body.

"You can relax. I've never seen a man this tense. Usually they start asking all sorts of things and make it awkward."

"Ah, yes. Th-this is my first time."

"I see. It's okay. I'll take care of everything. Could you lift your hips a little?"

"Yes, yep."

The moment I lifted my hips a fraction, she suddenly yanked my underwear down.

My cock, already hard from the preliminary massage, sprang free with elastic force and stood straight up.

"Wow, so majestic."

I was extremely embarrassed.

Hearing praise even my girlfriend Shin Haneul had never given me—from a woman I was meeting for the first time.

But it didn't feel bad.

"If it's your first time, this might be a little intense. Hehe."

It's fine.

I really like intense things.

I didn't bother answering out loud.

She poured oil over the tip of my cock and began toying with it this way and that using both hands.

She worked the two balls, of course, and even slipped in and out between my ass cheeks.

I really felt like I was going to lose my mind.

A true pro.

I was about to finish way too fast, so I forced my focus somewhere else.

The information window that had appeared the instant she started touching me.

This massage wasn't just for simple pleasure.

It was also a test of my ability.

Just as I thought.

I cheered inwardly.

My prediction had been correct.

An information window that appeared through physical contact.

And above all, a Synchronization Rate that rose the more physical contact there was.

"Hup."

"You don't have to hold it in like that."

She must have felt me forcibly holding back, because she spoke up.

Her name was Kim Hain.

A pretty name, but I wasn't about to make the mistake of suddenly calling it out.

Her hands never climbed to my upper body; they stayed exclusively around the panty line.

I told myself it was because this wasn't the professional massage side of things.

"Shall I use my mouth?"

With her working me every which way, it was getting hard to last.

This woman was far more skilled than I'd imagined.

Of course, the fact that I hadn't done anything for a month played a part too.

Anyway, if she brought her mouth into it right now I definitely wouldn't be able to hold on.

If I finished like this I might not even make it to insertion.

It was too good an opportunity to waste, so I shook my head and said,

"No... if possible, that..."

"Ah, you want to put it directly inside me, right?"

I felt heat flood my face.

I never dreamed that doing this with a complete stranger would be this embarrassing.

Was it because I was just lying there taking it one-sidedly?

"C-Can I do it myself?"

"Okay. Young guys really are different. Just a moment."

She was still dressed; she finally started peeling her clothes off.

While she did, she mentioned that older men mostly preferred just lying still and receiving.

I wasn't particularly curious about that story...

Kim Hain's naked body—beautiful enough to rival an Awoken—was laid bare right in front of my eyes.

Since she was pretty, I'd forgive the chatter.

"You trimmed your nails, right?"

I checked my nails.

Worried about scratches if she massaged with long nails, maybe?

"Yes. They're short."

"Then move over ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a little for me."

When I shifted, Kim Hain took the free space on the bed and immediately lay down.

I stared down at her bare body.

Then I brought my hand straight to her skin.

"Haahng..."