EP.61 Level 7 - Strengthen (3)
At this point, it was safe to say Yurim's training was essentially complete. I'd already addicted her to dick plenty before, but it hadn't reached the level where I could control her completely at will. That changed unintentionally when she was left without any for a while, letting her addiction symptoms worsen. And with this latest session exploiting that, she'd crossed from addiction into full-blown dependence.
"Eunhyuk, you hate Yurim unnie, don't you? Same with Ayoung unnie."
"You can tell that about Seol-ah too?"
"Yeah. It feels kinda stuffy compared to how you look at others. But after you go through with stuff, you always look refreshed."
But could I really help it? Imagine groveling to someone for years on end—wouldn't you want revenge like this?
For now, though, I'd broken Yurim plenty. She was starting to feel a little pitiful to me.
"Ayoung unnie's memories are still wiped, right?"
"Yeah. We'll watch her a bit longer."
Her heart was still burning straight for me even now. But it was all built on illusions. Just imagining her face when I finally restored everything—when the love she'd felt all this time crashed against the betrayal of being tricked—made my body tremble in anticipation.
"Sure, breaking them is breaking them. But I'll take responsibility for what I've broken."
"That's your style, right, Eunhyuk?"
"You could say that."
I didn't really hold grudges against Hyeun or Hyemi worth mentioning. If anything, Hyemi had exceeded my plans so wildly it left me flustered. I still couldn't figure out why she kept calling me "Master" even after I released her trait.
"Our baby girl's gotten so expressive lately."
"R-Really?"
I'd thought it was a perfect idea at first. But I'd worried there might be issues. Sharing my emotions with Seol-ah turned out to have more positive effects than I'd expected.
"But isn't that obvious?"
"Is it?"
"The feelings you have are all bright and healthy. Even just sensing your sense of responsibility when you're focused on work warms my heart."
"......."
I just thought I had to do the job. Maximize hunter safety where possible, minimize civilian casualties? But that was Dungeon basics.
"You're right. Your thoughts make sense, Eunhyuk."
"Lately it feels like you're reading my mind too much."
"Want me to stop?"
"When it's this effective? No way."
I had no plans to stop until she was fully healed. Not that I was sure this method would cure her perfectly. But it was working now, so no stopping.
"Park Eunhyuk!"
"Oh, Yi Gongju Hunter."
"You can call me casually."
"Got it, then."
She'd leveled up faster than expected, so I'd contacted her right away. She'd rushed over saying she had something to tell me.
Come to think of it, she'd bolted last time without giving her real name. If she pulled that again, I'd use Do It For Me and make her spill.
"So, why level 7 specifically?"
"Level 7 unlocks the torture trait, right?"
"Not torture—Mental Stance."
"You use it for torture anyway. You know me too well. For me, she's a stranger, but to her, I'm an acquaintance. Guess she can't help knowing my personality."
"Remember what I mentioned last time? The Women's Rights Committee's final plan."
"World conquest."
"You failed to stop it. One of the triggering events—we're gonna prevent it from happening."
"What event?"
"It's not directly from the Women's Rights Committee, but..."
It was an incident that soured relations between men who couldn't awaken as hunters and women who could. Things weren't great between them now, but how much worse could it get?
"It escalates to women basically owning men. Down to slavery levels."
"That's bad."
Men's rights were already in the gutter, but they were still treated as humans. Sure, there was talk of glass ceilings keeping non-awakeners from top jobs. But in non-awakener fields, they competed equally enough.
Suddenly dropping to subhuman treatment?
"It starts when a villain breeding men is exposed. About 100 missing guys, raised in a so-called 'school.'"
"School...?"
"Maintaining a secret space like that safely costs a fortune. So she filmed it and sold the videos."
"Kidnapping, sex exploitation, illegal video sales. Weak for hunter crime, but 100 victims changes things."
It was basically using men as personalized slaves. Not that I could complain, doing similar myself... But 100? Overkill. Wouldn't she drop dead from exhaustion handling that solo?
"When it leaked, way more women hunters had bought or watched the videos than expected. Men got pissed: 'Even hunters think it's okay?'"
"Hunters sitting pretty got mad at the backlash hitting them."
Instead of venting at fellow strong hunters, easier to take it out on weaker men.
"They started saying awakening's not just a privilege—you hunters risk your lives protecting us, is that how you talk? It snowballed, souring relations bit by bit."
"Over bullshit like that..."
Mutual gender hate grew, but with the world needing hunters to function, women won. Men's rights plummeted further.
"Women hunters started shunning 'men' entirely. Even an irregular male S-rank like you gets major backlash."
"Men loved it, though."
"They called you hope. But it actually hindered your ops."
What a clusterfuck. Guess I reach S-rank eventually? Spoilers.
"That's not all. The perp had mental manipulation. When your trait got labeled the same, shit hit the fan."
"Fuck. My crew got shunned too?"
"Yeah. They played victim, no one listened."
Our movements got blocked hard. We failed to take down the Women's Rights masters, so she regressed to fix it.
"You're not ready to move big yet. Level 10, S-rank first. But handle this quick, before it stinks."
"Needs level 7?"
"Target's A-rank mental manipulator. Puts targets to sleep, fiddles with their brains."
"If asleep..."
Counts as unconscious. If that's the condition for manipulation, level 7's Strengthen counters perfectly.
"But could lose?"
"Raw? Yeah, lower level hurts. But traits scale with application. Yours eats A-ranks easy now."
"Gotcha."
Hunters aren't pure levels—else explain the level 9 S-rank in front of me. And I'm the prime example transcending levels. Level 5 felt C-rankish, but manipulated level 9s fine.
Now it clicked. A villain incident to squash quietly, no media. Waited for level 7 to enable it.
"Got it. Details on the incident?"
"Organized docs—read while I explain."
She's thorough. Matches my style, easy to follow. Even with Hyeun, it wasn't this seamless...
"Velvelsay? Site name?"
"Related vids and pics shared there. Subscription-based. High-end vids or HD pics cost extra."
"Sales skills top-tier. But why mostly women users? Even if men are victims..."
What the fuck. Two guys holding hands, blushing shyly. One handing a love letter to another. Wedding pics. Even naked rolling-around shots.
"Sorry, I get it now. This genre?"
Most fans are women, yeah. Thought it'd be men-getting-fucked-by-women for broader male appeal, but BL changes everything.
"Stomach's churning from the surprise. Don't wanna see more."
Tastes respected, but spare my eyes.
"Go save those poor exploited guys. Check that first."
"You're evil."
No link to future issues? Just to torment me?
"Name's Eum Jiyoung. Started as sleep inducement, flew under radar. A-rank, no dungeons but endless cash—suspicious. Got nabbed."
"Over that?"
"Didn't dungeon to obsess over Velvelsay lore nonstop. Psycho bitch?"
"That into her worldbuilding."
Write novels with that talent. Why kidnap guys and torment with traits?
"Hired actors at first. But tastes escalated beyond acting..."
"That's her reason?"
Details pending judgment. But from this? Smashable villain.