Automatic Shield

I made it back to the hotel room in a thoroughly foul mood.

And then Yoo Dajeong, right beside me, wouldn't stop fussing.

Given that she'd watched me bleed all over the place, it was only natural.

"See? I'm completely fine."

"You really are. That's so weird. What even happened? You lost so much blood."

"There's an old saying that when you hit your head, bleeding is actually a good sign."

I showed her the spot where I'd been hurt.

There wasn't a single mark left, so I had to fire off every half-assed excuse I could invent just to brush her off.

At least it meant we got out of going to the hospital.

"I'm gonna wash up for a bit."

I left Yoo Dajeong behind and headed into the bathroom alone.

Standing under the shower, watching my own blood swirl down the drain, I started pulling my thoughts together one by one.

First off, nowhere was going to be selling clothes at this hour, so that would have to wait until tomorrow.

No—wait.

I had to hit a Gate early tomorrow too, which meant first thing in the morning... clothing stores wouldn't be open yet.

Whatever. I'd just grab a T-shirt from a convenience store or something.

"Haaah..."

Everything felt like too much effort.

Except for two things.

Two things I absolutely had to keep in mind.

First: Min Hyeokju.

That bastard, at the very least, needed to get stomped into the dirt even harder.

If the wound on my head hadn't vanished without a trace, this would've been a straight shot to the police station.

He wasn't even an Awoken anymore—nothing—and it would've been perfect for locking him up on a rice-and-beans diet. Such a waste.

With the evidence of the injury gone, what could I do?

I'd have to come up with some other way to heap extreme humiliation on him going forward.

And the second thing was about my ability.

Hitting a Synchronization Rate of 50% had raised my Authority to Level 2.

There was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠clearly more to this power—some hidden secret—and unlocking it seemed to require a higher Authority rank.

And the key to that, of course, was Synchronization Rate.

"In that case..."

I probably wasn't going to be letting Yoo Dajeong get a peaceful night's sleep.

If anything, should I be more worried about my own stamina?

Then again, we'd only gone at it once so far today.

I'd bled a little, sure, but I'd also eaten a solid dinner afterward. I was feeling confident.

"Synchronization Rate 100%, let's gooo!"

The thought of another round put me in a good mood, and I finished the shower whistling.

Stepping out in high spirits, I found Yoo Dajeong sprawled on the bed—and her ass right there in plain view.

Without a word, I dove face-first straight into it.

Morning came.

I checked the time—already past eight.

How late had we gone last night?

By the end, both of us were so raw it practically spoke for itself.

Yoo Dajeong lay sleeping next to me, wearing nothing at all.

She was facing the other way, so all I could see was the back of her head and her bare back.

I gave her ass a casual squeeze.

Last night's heat was still lingering, and I got hard all over again.

After all that—and still only 72 percent.

Once it crossed 70, it had barely budged.

The first time I'd jumped past 50 percent in a single go. I had no idea what the problem was now.

Wanting to figure out why, I'd tried all sorts of things with her.

If it'd been Shin Haneul, she would've screamed bloody murder and demanded a breakup. The woman in front of me took everything I threw at her.

An angel. A real angel.

Or a massive pervert.

The latter fit better, but I wasn't about to say it out loud.

By that logic I was just as much of a freak myself.

Either way, this wasn't working.

As far as I could tell, reaching the next Authority level meant hitting 100% Synchronization.

At the rate ordinary sex was going, it felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like I'd have to fuck her another hundred times to get there.

Not that I couldn't do it.

I just wanted Authority Level 3 now.

Oral was already on the table...

If there was something we hadn't done yet—wait. Anal?

I pulled back the covers and shifted my gaze to her asshole.

Was that the missing hole?

Nah. No way...

Think about this rationally.

Unlike the outcall massage girl the other day, I'd cleared 50 percent with Yoo Dajeong in a single round of sex.

What was the difference?

Working girl versus regular woman?

Physical chemistry?

Or the intensity of the pleasure?

No matter how hard I thought, nothing clicked.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

My phone vibrated.

I stretched out an arm and checked it.

Given the hour, I figured it was my senior calling—except today was Saturday, not a workday, and I really didn't feel like moving.

"Huh?"

It wasn't my senior.

It was Shin Haneul.

"Hello?"

"You little shit, what room number are you in?! Get your ass out here right now!"

Haaah... fucking hell, first thing in the morning.

The voice on the other end wasn't Shin Haneul's.

It was Min Hyeokju's—the kind of voice that made your ears want to rot off.

A full night's sleep had sobered him up, but the temper hadn't gone anywhere.

Hearing him made me worry about Shin Haneul for no good reason.

Whether that foul-tempered bastard had beaten her up and broken any bones, for one.

"Crazy bastard."

"What? Has this little shit completely lost his fear? Who the fuck do you think you are."

"'Who the fuck'? Funny—I've never met a guy who says that and actually turns out to be worth a damn."

"Shut up and get out here. Before I tear through every room in this hotel!"

So he was looking for me. The hotel clearly hadn't given him my room number.

Even thinking he was a Diamond Guild Awoken, the security here was pretty tight. Nice.

I'd have to make this place my go-to whenever I came to Suwon.

It was new, the facilities were clean, and for all I knew this room itself was the secret behind hitting 50 percent.

While I was off on that weird ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little fantasy, Min Hyeokju kept screaming every curse he knew into the phone.

I tossed him one line.

"If you miss me so much, come up yourself, you bastard. Who the hell are you to order me around?!"

My tone must have gotten under his skin, because he started yelling loud enough to hurt my ears.

I didn't know exactly how the situation had developed, but from the way he was losing his mind, he clearly had no intention of letting me walk away clean.

Even blackout drunk last night, the memory of me stomping him into the lobby floor must still be vivid.

I gave him the room number.

Listening to him shriek that he'd kill me if I was lying, I almost wished I'd given him a different room instead.

The Diamond Guild rescue team captain's room would've been perfect.

If he was waiting in the lobby, we were going to run into each other anyway.

Might as well call him up here—no need to worry about other people watching, and it would be more convenient.

Other people's eyes would only get in the way of a proper revenge.

"Heh heh."

The call finally ended.

An Awoken who'd lost his power, throwing a tantrum like this—I couldn't help laughing.

Last night he could at least tell himself the mana had vanished from overexerting in the dungeon. After a full night's sleep with zero recovery, he had to be losing his mind.

Or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠maybe last night he'd just been too drunk to notice anything.

I started looking forward to whatever face he'd show up with.

Not long after, the doorbell rang like crazy. I got up from the bed in nothing but a hotel bathrobe over bare skin.

Yoo Dajeong was still snoring away through all of it. Once things got loud she might wake up.

There wasn't much I could do about that, so I just quietly pulled the blanket over her.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Open the fucking door, you piece of shit!"

"Oppa... let's not do this. Okay?"

I couldn't hear everything clearly, but from the commotion outside, he wasn't alone.

He'd dragged Shin Haneul along, no doubt.

What could you do.

If she was still glued to his side after the humiliation he'd taken last night, she was about to get a front-row seat to her new boyfriend getting his ass handed to him.

The room I was in was decently spacious, but aside from the bathroom it was basically a studio.

This place was about to turn into a war zone because of him.

"Hoo..."

I took a deep breath, furrowed my brow, and opened the door.

On the other side, exactly as expected: Min Hyeokju and Shin Haneul.

The two of them standing there.

"You little shit."

Min Hyeokju grabbed me by the collar without warning and shoved his way inside.

With a completely unbothered expression, I asked Shin Haneul behind him to close the door.

Not exactly something I wanted to show off to strangers.

"Let go. You piece of trash."

"What?"

Min Hyeokju looked floored by my reaction.

Come to think of it—was I not supposed to know he wasn't an Awoken anymore?

But why bother hiding it?

I was the one with the power now. Not him.

"Oppa... are you okay from last night? Did you go to the hospital?"

Shin Haneul was worried about me.

Fair enough, given how much blood I'd lost—but honestly, I wished she'd just stop caring already.

No need to show that, though.

I was going to use it as a tool to piss Min Hyeokju off instead.

"Yeah. Thanks for worrying. Must be rough, stuck with a boyfriend that foul-tempered."

She clearly hadn't expected me to speak so gently. Shin Haneul's eyes went round.

Min Hyeokju, on the other hand, was right on the edge of exploding—exactly as planned.

"You crazy bastard, talking to my woman—"

Furious, Min Hyeokju clamped his hands around my throat.

It didn't bother me in the slightest.

Because—

—an invisible barrier protecting my body was already looking out for me.

Whether it had recharged overnight or topped up through sex was still unclear, but raising Authority to Level 2 had changed things.

The moment I'd opened my eyes this morning, a message had floated in front of me.

My answer had been an obvious yes.

I looked at the stunned Min Hyeokju and spoke with a crooked little smile.

"What are you doing right now? Why not squeeze harder? Want me to show you how?"

I shoved both hands hard into his chest.

I'd hit him on purpose with real force, so for a guy who was no longer an Awoken, it had to hurt like hell.

Sure enough, Min Hyeokju nearly toppled over backward, barely catching himself, and stared at me like I was some kind of monster.

Shin Haneul wore a similar expression.

"You piece of trash. You remember what happened last night?"

"What... the hell are you talking about?!"

The shock must have hit hard—his eyes were darting all over the place.

He'd choked me with everything he had and I hadn't even flinched. Of course he was rattled.

He couldn't even look me straight in the face.

"What you did to the back of my head, you bastard."

From his reaction, I couldn't tell whether he actually remembered or not.

The fact that he'd come looking for me in a rage suggested he at least vaguely recalled what I'd done to him in the hotel lobby last night—but something felt off.

Don't tell me he only remembers the parts that make him look good? Give me a break.

Awoken bastards, every last one of them.

His behavior didn't look like he was putting on an act to fool me.

But even if it was an act, so what.

The facts were clear: he'd attacked the back of my head, and I'd bled for it.

And another fact: I had zero intention of forgiving him.

"I'll pay you back the exact same way. Oh, right—I still owe you for what happened at my front door last time, too."

Plus the humiliation I'd taken inside the dungeon, on top of that.

I walked straight up to Min Hyeokju without hesitation.

It was a finicky, high-maintenance ability—but just owning it was enough to change a person this much.

And our relationship, flipped a full 180 degrees?

I was the one with the power now. He was just some small-time rich kid with a little cash.

A snort of laughter slipped out for no reason.

"Has this crazy bastard lost his mind? Do you even know who I am?!"

The swagger was gone from his voice.

Even while he was throwing a fit, there was a tremor underneath.

Good. Time for you to feel some fear too.

Go ahead and taste what it's like to have no power, you son of a bitch.

"You little shit—"

The moment we were close enough for fists to connect, Min Hyeokju couldn't hold back and swung first.

A cornered rat biting a cat—the old saying popped into my head.

He was the rat now. I was the cat.

I swung right back at his fist.

Academy elite, no joke.

At first I was the only one taking hits.

But I didn't feel a thing.

Only his hands, slamming into me, were the ones that hurt.

The invisible shield protecting my body automatically blocked every single point of impact.

After a few punches, whether he'd broken something against that solid barrier or just sprained it, he grabbed his wrist and crumpled in pain.

From that point on, it was entirely my pace.