Slave Number One

Blushing just because I held her hand.

If it had been any other girl, it might have come off as girlish and cute. But the one standing in front of me was the same demon bitch who'd stabbed me in the side with her Awoken power.

My feelings on the matter were genuinely complicated.

"Why are you turning red?"

"W-when did I!?"

"Your face is bright red right now."

"N-no! It's because I haven't eaten today!"

Her face was my type. Her figure was well-built for close-quarters combat. And moments like this were even a little cute.

But that was all.

I couldn't find a scrap of sexiness anywhere on her.

Why was that?

Was it just because last night's partner, Yoo Dajeong, had been such a seductive little devil that the comparison was killing her?

"If you don't like it, then this conversation is over. As you said, Miss Kim Isol, we'll test whether you've lost your power after Monday's meeting. Please go home now. I'm so exhausted I could die."

When I turned cold on her, Kim Isol stood there, unable to move either way. She clearly wanted to say something, but her towering pride wouldn't allow it.

"What are you doing? Aren't you going home?"

"I can't leave like this. I really did lose my power. If things stay like this…"

What if I asked her—I'll restore your power, so how about becoming my slave?

The impulse flickered through me, but I shook my head.

No. That wouldn't work.

Revealing my ability so casually might be far too dangerous. At the very least, I needed to raise my Authority Level further, understand my power more thoroughly, and put proper defensive measures in place first.

Until then, unless I could trust someone completely, this secret had to stay buried.

I stepped closer to Kim Isol.

And I took her hand firmly in mine.

I didn't change a thing. I simply held on tight.

At first she floundered in panic, not knowing what to do—then, when nothing happened to her mana, her shoulders sagged in disappointment.

Sorry, but I had no intention of giving it back just yet.

Still, looking at the information floating before my eyes, it was a waste.

She had the potential to grow into an A-rank or higher—better than Lee Daeman. Raised properly, she could become a rather useful horse.

The problem was her personality.

That was why my first target had been Lee Donggeul, and my second Baek Hwayeon.

Kim Isol's temperament was… a bit much.

Unless I could slap some kind of shackle on her that made disobedience impossible, I wasn't sure.

"No change at all?"

"R-right."

Huh.

Watching Kim Isol yank her hand back in embarrassment, a rather good idea suddenly struck me.

Even I thought it was absurd—but if I used this method, Kim Isol would have no choice but to depend on me.

With the feeling of putting money down on a gamble, I decided to try it.

"Hey. Let's try one more time. Seriously this time—no joking around."

"S-seriously?"

"Yes. Dead serious."

I forcibly snatched her hand from behind her back.

Kim Isol bit her lip and turned her head away.

Her pride made a situation like this almost unbearable—but soon enough, I'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have her begging for it herself.

You're my slave number one.

I kneaded her hand while holding it. Blatantly. Creepily.

Just as expected, Kim Isol gritted her teeth and snapped at me.

"You… bastard, what the hell do you think you're—"

"Didn't you want your mana back? I'm being serious. Please take this a little more seriously yourself."

She was holding her hand out to me while her head was turned a full ninety degrees to the side. I decided to cast a spell on her.

If this didn't work, well, so be it—but if she wanted her power as an Awoken back, she'd end up with her nose firmly in my leash.

"Isol. Would you look me in the eyes instead of turning away?"

"Wh… why should I… with someone like you…"

"I think you're misunderstanding something. Everything I'm doing is for your sake. If you don't like it, you're free to leave right now."

Bright red blood welled from her bitten lip.

Just how massive was this bitch's pride?

Well, the stronger it was, the more satisfying it would be to break her—that much was true, too.

"Come on. Look me straight in both eyes. Ah—and let's lace our fingers together."

Once her power was gone, her pride had nowhere to go but the floor. So to protect that pride, she would want her ability back.

The title of Awoken wasn't so cheap that she'd throw it away just because she hated interlocking fingers and locking eyes with me.

After dragging her feet as long as humanly possible, Kim Isol's head finally turned toward me.

She still couldn't lift her gaze to meet my face—my eyes—but it was significant progress.

Back in the dungeon, she'd been the one to lock eyes with me first when she was goading me. And now, just because we were holding hands, she could barely look at me.

Really, the world was full of all kinds of people.

"Look at my eyes."

Her face, her neck, even her arms had flushed bright red.

What was this, a cartoon?

I even watched you piss yourself, you know.

I wanted to throw that at her, but I held it in and waited.

"Have you fallen for me, by any chance?"

"What kind of bullshit is that!?"

"Then why can't you look me in the eye? Usually, not being able to meet someone's eyes means you've fallen in love, doesn't it?"

As expected, provocation was the best way to handle this one.

I had to jab her pride hard just to get her to move—what was she, a child?

Only after I said that did Kim Isol's head, which had been stuck so frustratingly still, slowly begin to rise.

And at last, her pupils met mine.

Now.

I flipped her Magic Switch on.

Just for a moment.

Then I shut it off again.

I'd planned this from the start.

This much, at least, cost no System Points—I could do it whenever I wanted.

As long as I could touch her skin or her hair.

Would Kim Isol notice that fleeting change?

I watched her expression carefully.

Sure enough—after managing only a few seconds of eye contact before whipping her head away, Kim Isol suddenly went wide-eyed like a startled rabbit and stared back into my eyes.

"Just now…"

I flipped the switch on again.

Then off.

Then on again, over and over.

If she suddenly yanked her hand free of mine right now, it would be a disaster. I had to shut her mana off again before that could happen, so the tension was no joke.

If I failed, she'd become an Awoken again—and there was no telling what kind of retaliation she'd come at me with.

So I kept flipping her mana on and off, never letting her feel certain.

OFF. ON. OFF. ON. OFF…

"Just now—just now! My mana came back! Ah—it's gone again… but for a second…"

Watching Kim Isol light up like a little kid, I wondered what expression I should be wearing.

Should I share her surprise and joy?

Or should I look at her with pure disbelief and tell her not to lie?

I thought about it.

And I decided.

She was going to be my slave from now on—so I'd celebrate with her.

"Congratulations, Miss Kim Isol."

"Thanks."

Just like that, we let go of each other's hands.

At the same instant, I killed the switch—and the vacant joy on Kim Isol's face flooded over with despair once more.

I laughed inwardly as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I checked her expression.

"But… it's gone again."

"Is that so? Then what should we do?"

Kim Isol gritted her teeth and stared down for a long moment at her own hands, which had been laced together until just now.

Then she lifted her head and met my eyes.

We stood there for a long while, looking at each other's faces.

Only moments ago, she'd found it so hard to face me.

I said nothing.

The spell I'd cast would lose its power if I spelled it out myself.

She had to realize it on her own.

That without me, she would never use her ability again.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

Kim Isol couldn't easily open her mouth. She just kept staring at her hands.

It must have been humiliating.

The ordinary person she'd looked down on so thoroughly. The bastard she wanted to kill for having seen her at her most shameful.

That was the image of me sitting in her head—and to get back the power that had suddenly vanished, she had to hold that bastard's hand and look him in the eye.

How could that not be humiliating?

For Kim Isol, stuffed full of nothing but pride, it was something she could barely tolerate.

But what was she going to do about it?

Sorry, but I wasn't stopping there.

From now on, I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠going to tame her little by little until she obeyed my every word without question.

Just like a slave.

"How long are you going to stand there like that? It's already past eleven. The subway's about to stop running, and taxis get hard to catch if you go even a little further into this neighborhood. If you have something to say, say it quickly and go home. I have to go to work tomorrow, you know. On a Sunday!"

"R-right. F-for today… I'll go home."

She'd finally found the will to leave.

But once she got home, the only thing filling her head would be the thought of holding my hand.

Unless there was another person with a power like mine out there, no matter what she tried, her mana wasn't coming back—and the more that sank in, the more she'd think of me.

Do I have to hold his hand again?

Do I have to look him in the eyes again?

I almost felt like too much of a bastard.

Well. I still wasn't going to be the one to ask her to hold hands first.

From here on, everything depended solely on Kim Isol's decision.

If she came to me with her head lowered and begged me to hold her hand, to help her get her power back—I'd do it. If she didn't want that, she could live out the rest of her life as a non-Awoken.

I had no intention of persuading her or threatening her.

But if she chose to rely on me, I would restore her mana and make her into an even stronger Awoken.

Of course, for that to happen, she would have to show me proper respect and build a relationship of trust with me.

Whether Kim Isol was capable of that remained to be seen.

And one more thing.

To draw out her potential, I needed to raise her Synchronization Rate.

Sex.

Would prideful Kim Isol ever give her body to me?

Well. We'd just have to wait and see.

All I had to do from now on was sit back and enjoy watching her choose.

I guided Kim Isol to the front door.

Please just go home already.

But Kim Isol stopped, turned back to look at me, and spoke.

"I-I'll… come back tomorrow. And… don't leave me on read. If you leave me on read again, I'll kill you."

Of course.

I'd planned to wait patiently—but it seemed she'd already made her choice.

It was late, so I'd send her home for today. But that attitude of hers? I'd correct it gradually from here on out.

"Ah, yes~ Take care of yourself. Get home safely."

Yeah, she'd better be careful.

She wasn't even an Awoken anymore—a twenty-year-old woman out at this hour of night.

I wore a vile little smile on the inside as I locked the door the moment she left the house.

"Haa…"

Now I could finally get some rest.

Even though it was Sunday, everyone had come into the office.

This fucking worthless company.

They'd even made a show of letting me and my senior come in two hours late because we'd "suffered so much" on the Suwon business trip.

But what choice did we have?

Three Awoken had died.

Even if they were just F-rank scraps, the value of a single Awoken was dozens—hundreds—of times that of an ordinary person.

The company now had to calculate its losses and figure out how to compensate the bereaved families.

If they botched this and bad rumors started circulating in the Awoken community, the company would have to shut its doors for good.

No one would want to come work for us after that.

And yet companies like ours thrived for one simple reason: the money was that good.

At F-rank you ran nothing but deficits—but once those Awoken ran dungeons and grew even to E-rank, you at least broke even. At D-rank the profits started rolling in, and C-rank and above guaranteed enormous revenue.

Every so often a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠jackpot hit, and a single haul could match an ordinary company's entire yearly sales.

You could say that about any industry, any job—but this one in particular carried the reputation of being full of people who risked their lives for money.

And that wasn't exactly wrong.

I'm not talking about the Awoken.

I'm talking about people like me—Supporters who head into the dungeons. Transport company staff. Even the ones who follow them inside to sell their bodies.

Everyone in these jobs walks toward a dungeon every day with the thought that today might be their last.

Some do it to risk their lives for big money.

A tiny minority do it under the conviction that they're protecting the Earth.

And if it's neither of those, then it's the dream of snagging one good Awoken and living off them for the rest of their lives.

But when you experience someone actually dying—directly or indirectly—the way we just had, all that lovely money and all those daily resolutions come crashing down.

"I'm… quitting the company."

Just like Senior An Sora, standing right in front of me now.