Pre-S-Rank Shin Ye-hwa
Shin Ye-hwa had been an overwhelming powerhouse—a top dog—ever since awakening. A face anyone would call beautiful. A body that made men's mouths water instinctively. Abilities as an awakener that crushed all others. Someone might say she was just lucky. Fine, she wouldn't deny it. Hell, she'd agree. But so what?
Some people are unlucky enough to live under a father who drowns himself in booze every day, beating his family as his only joy. Others hit the jackpot at birth, born into chaebol families where the world worships them without lifting a finger. In this modern age where even hard work gets called "talent," claiming she was "just lucky" was nothing but the pathetic whine of losers.
Before awakening, Shin Ye-hwa had been one of those losers. No—worse than that, scraping the absolute bottom. Beauty only pays off when you've got some status to back it up. For the old her, crawling in the gutters, it was nothing but agonizing poison. Middle school taught her just how vicious human jealousy could be. And how the world, for all its talk of justice, morality, and righteousness, really turned on money and power.
The stench of rot soaking her hair, trickling down her body. How many times now? Over a year of this bullshit—it should be old hat by now... but it never ended. Her threadbare uniform was already falling apart; washing it this often might just dissolve it in the water.
"Parasites gotta look the part, right?"
They burst into giggles, grinning like idiots. Flashy makeup. Spotless clothes. The bloom of youth. But the looks on their faces? Dark. Lowly.
"As your friend, teaching you how to dress right—that's what friendship's for, yeah?"
"What the fuck."
Laughter echoing through the bathroom. What was so goddamn hilarious? Back when she was a kid. Back when she was a nothing loser. She couldn't fathom why they got off on it. Or why the teachers averted their eyes from the blatant school violence anyone could see.
So when she finally soared high instead of groveling in the dirt, she decided to get some answers.
"S-sorry... I'm sorry, okay...?"
"Sorry for what?"
Eyes that once sneered down at her, gleaming with contempt. Now they trembled, soaked in fear.
"Parasite."
"Hic!"
"Spot on. Until recently, that's exactly what I was."
"N-no... no, that was wrong. I was wrong—hic!"
Pitying her friend's escalating shivers, Shin Ye-hwa gently stroked the long, silky hair she'd always bragged about. No outright violence. An awakener laying hands on a non-awakener got treated harsher than regular assault under social norms and the law. Her friend knew that much, at least. And yet her body jerked at every little touch.
"Without awakeners like me, what would useless trash like you even do?"
Shin Ye-hwa's words flowed leisurely.
"You couldn't fight back against goblin fodder that's nothing to me."
She paused, stepping closer.
"You'd just scream for help from awakeners like me."
The nearer she got, the more vividly she felt her friend's reactions.
"Can't survive alone... yeah. Just like a parasite."
She whispered it right in her ear.
"You know goblins usually don't kill women, right?"
Her friend knew better than anyone—she'd thrown those words at Shin Ye-hwa plenty of times.
"Your body's... well, shabby next to my slutty one. But it'd still tempt some goblins."
"Huu... S-sorry... please..."
Tears welling in her eyes. Ragged breaths. Sweat-drenched clothes. Heart pounding like mad. All because of her.
Shin Ye-hwa seized a fistful of that precious hair, yanking hard. It had to hurt like hell, but her friend didn't resist a bit.
"Fun."
Now she got it. The thrill those bitches felt laughing at her when she was down in the dirt.
After that, nothing stood in Shin Ye-hwa's way. A-rank hunters were the real bosses among awakeners. S-ranks were mythical clouds most hunters never glimpsed in a lifetime. In the academy—full of fresh E- and D-ranks, C at best—an A-rank like her was queen, no question. Even professors couldn't touch her. Few A-ranks among the faculty anyway, and she was a lock for S-rank. Seasoned vets kowtowing to a high school girl, sucking up to look good? The world was a cakewalk with power.
And when she hit S-rank? Nothing could stop her at all.
A-rank was valuable, elite, respected. But S-rank? Gods among stars. A-ranks bowed to the state; S-ranks shook nations. Do whatever, so long as you didn't cross the ultimate lines. One of just five humans amid Korea's tens of millions of parasites.
She figured she'd savor it all as a human. Striding a radiant path. Irreplaceable. Special.
But in the fourth year after reaching S-rank, luck vanished. Sudden as it had struck that hellish 16-year-old girl years ago.
At first, nothing major. Just off-condition stuff. More fatigue than usual. Special ability feeling clunky. That sort of thing.
Then one day, she woke up knowing. She couldn't access S-rank power anymore. She wasn't irreplaceable anymore. Just a pricier cog.
She tried hiding it, but somehow the media—usually gagged by national secrets and security—latched on. Suspicions piled on suspicions. Unavoidable tests. Failure. A star shines in the sky. Crashed to earth? Just a rare, pricey rock. Something to covet because you never touched it.
Offers, threats, humiliations crashing down in under a month. Her towering pride shattered piece by piece, replaced by stabbing blades. No one by her side. Just beasts hungry to chew her juicy flesh.
Maybe there'd only ever been beasts. They'd just kept their fangs hidden because she was an untouchable star.
She felt it—the 16-year-old she'd buried deep clawing out from the dirt.
Shin Ye-hwa couldn't take it anymore. Wanted to forget everything. So she drowned herself in booze she didn't even like.
A winter night, knife-wind slicing skin. That's when she met Seong Ye-han.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
"Ahng! Ang! Hwaang!"
The male roughly plowing her precious spot. Flesh slamming flesh, scorching hot. A bizarre sensation she'd never felt. But instinct screamed pleasure. No virgin's pain—she'd already lost it by the time she sobered up.
Every time that blazing cock slammed her most sensitive, fragile depths, Shin Ye-hwa just wailed—pitiful, slutty.
"Fuck! You're goddamn delicious!"
Crude as hell... yet it set her body aflame. Delicious. Treating her like food. Sober, she'd rip those arrogant lips off. Even as A-rank her, same deal.
But the male wouldn't let her sober up. He hammered. Hammered. Hammered.
"Aheuk! Hauk! Aaaang!"
Each time his cock hit her deepest gate, the tangled mess of worries, gloom, and depression in her head melted away like sugar in boiling water.
Buried deep, grinding her insides to his whim, then whoosh—pulling out. The sudden emptiness made her bitch-body react.
"Ah. Haa..."
Instinctive regret spilling out. He savored her desperation, then plunged deep again, filling her full, soothing the ache.
"You're mine now. Got it?"
"Haeng... Aeu..."
The man pinning her down. His ragged breaths, his tremors. Conquest lust and sticky instinct pulsing toward the bitch inside her.
Dare... nameless, faceless parasite, so cocky. Does he know who she is? Loser punk...
As if sensing her thoughts through her body, he pounded her viciously again.
"Euaang! Ang! Ang! W-wait... Haak!"
"Huwook! Heup!"
"L-let... Ang! Me rest! Ang!"
No matter how she begged, he didn't stop. Arrogant bastard. Ignoring her pleas. She swore: once sex ended and she cleared her head, she'd beat him senseless first thing. Awakener on awakener—no holds barred. Half-kill him, and he'd grovel at her feet. Decaying A-rank or not, she outclassed this narrow-room loser who barely scraped C-rank.
When he was writhing like a bug in submission, she'd declare his price for stealing her precious virginity: eternal slavery. He'd shake his hips for her alone, thrusting forever. All the world's men coveted it—he ate it, so pay up. Lifetime slave was a bargain.
Losing her virginity unaware was a shock, sure. But lost was lost. She'd never cared much anyway. No men before because she had zero interest.
First sex? Not bad. Scorching skin-on-skin. Hot breaths. Eyes desiring only her. His full-force thrusts melting her brain with pleasure. Overwhelming bliss erasing everything. Even the crude talk added exotic spice.
Meaning his stunt barely toed the line of acceptability by her standards.
But that was tomorrow's story. Right now. This instant.
"Ahak! Haak! I... s-somethiiing!"
"Virgin minutes ago, and you're cumming again! What a slut."
"Hwaaaaang! Cuuummiiing!"
Hot waves crashing in the stifling room. Not the soft bed familiar from her 16-year-old days, with its faint warmth... but a hard futon on the floor.
Here, she was just his bitch. His tasty meal.
And so morning came. The result of her swung fists? Contrary to her confidence, she was the one crushed, writhing under him.
"Hueuk... Hwaaaang! You bastard... you fucking bastard... sob!"
Brilliant star turned fallen shard. Toyed by all. The gut-wrenching realization that the world no longer bent to her will.
All she could do now was cry. That's it. That's all.