Dream Intrusion

Yoon Jia listened to my brief explanation, then left the room with me seeing her out.

"For now, I'll trust Instructor Yoon Jia and won't file a separate report on Mr. Go Minhyuk."

"Mr. Go Minhyuk?"

"…? Your boyfriend."

"Ah! Ahh…."

Her attitude and behavior made it obvious right away.

She really can't lie to save her life….

And yet she'd still come here to cover for Go Chungshin. That told me plenty about what a dependent personality looked like in practice.

She was the type who scrambled to keep the person she clung to from falling apart.

Heh heh… I need to make her start depending on me instead, and fast.

I was curious.

Once the object of her dependence shifted, what kind of attitude would Yoon Jia take toward Go Chungshin…?

"For the time being, I'll stick close. If Mr. Go Minhyuk contacts you with anything strange, I'll handle it immediately."

"Th-that… yes. Please do."

Anyone could see how odd the whole arrangement was, but Yoon Jia agreed to everything I said — probably because she was afraid of causing Go Chungshin any trouble.

We settled on staying near each other except when we slept at night. Not that I meant to glue myself to her through every break — just that whenever we went out for field practice, I'd stick close and keep an eye on Go Chungshin.

Yoon Jia said her goodbyes and returned to her own room.

"Hah… well then…."

I shut the door, muttered to myself, and checked behind the trash can.

Ugh… disgusting….

A fly — its guts completely burst, fluids seeping out — was stuck to the floor.

I grimaced, wrapped it in tissue, and tossed it in the trash.

No, this won't do. Wet wipes… ughhh….

I went through three wet wipes, converting the fly's remains into water at the molecular level until the spot was spotless, and only then stopped scrubbing.

The moment I finished, my smartwatch buzzed. The caller ID read as a security guard.

"Hello?"

It was one of the guards on shift. He launched into an explanation about Go Minhyuk — how the man in the next room had suddenly screamed and collapsed, and he had no idea what to do.

"Ah, I'll request medical staff from the Church. Any other abnormalities?"

"Understood. I'll contact them right away and have someone sent over."

I ended the call and switched off the smartwatch.

"Heh heh heh heh…."

That single call confirmed one very important fact.

The reason Go Chungshin hated me so much….

When the fly dies, the possession doesn't just cut off — the pain hits him that hard….

I'd already read Go Chungshin's disposition — and that same disposition had been floating over the fly he possessed.

On top of that, the magic I had was practically tailor-made for swatting flies.

Not that I'd learned it for that purpose….

I should at least make the call. It'd be a problem if the guy died.

You don't break a toy this entertaining this early.

Grinning from ear to ear, I used the smartwatch to brief a Church receptionist and had medical staff dispatched to Go Chungshin.

The next morning.

"You okay?"

"…Yes. I'm fine."

I asked after Go Chungshin over breakfast.

For someone receiving a concern, he wore a thoroughly rotten expression and made no effort to hide his disgust.

I just smiled and pretended not to notice.

"Looks like you're really hurting…. Want to take the day off?"

"Ah, no…."

From the outside it might have looked warm and considerate, but there was no way a relationship like that existed between the two of us.

The conversation Yoon Jia and I had had the night before would still be burned into Go Chungshin's skull.

And if he actually took my words at face value, resting wouldn't sit well with him either.

After breakfast, we followed a Church guide to the parking lot for our first field practice.

Unlike the day before, the departure roster had changed, so I couldn't ride with the cadets.

The reason: two additional Church heroes had joined us.

Yoon Jia stood them beside her and introduced them to the group.

"These two will be assisting all of you for the next week — Park Huiyeon and Oh Jin-ho."

"Looking forward to it~"

"Pleasure to work with you."

Clap clap clap.

The cadets welcomed the pair with applause, and the two of them boarded the vehicles with the students.

Three cadets and one supporting hero per car. The security guards piled into the same van as yesterday and trailed behind us.

As for Yoon Jia and me….

This is way better than the academy!

The two of us ended up alone in the same vehicle.

I climbed in and greeted Yoon Jia.

"Looking forward to working with you again today."

"Ah… yes. Likewise…."

She was still awkward around me, but I could see her carefully trying not to do anything that might get on my nerves.

Especially the look on Go Chungshin's face as he headed for that cheap van — twisted up like bacon frying in a pan — put me in an even better mood.

And so Yoon Jia and I rode alone in the SUV toward our destination.

The front seats were completely sealed off from the rear where we sat. The soundproofing was so thorough that talking to the driver required placing a call on the rear-seat phone.

A polite guidance announcement — presumably the driver's — played through the back speakers.

…I want to be a hero.

The vehicle started moving, and Yoon Jia and I sat in awkward silence.

Hoping to break the tension hanging in the air, I asked Armonia.

Hmm… should I suggest a round of Shoot-and-Spray?

You know the Rice-Barley game?

It's the same thing, just with different words. You go "I shoot, I spray" and punch with your fist….

For the record, attack is always the guy and defense is always the girl. If you call "spray" and she doesn't catch it, she takes a bukkake and loses….

….

So prickly.

As expected — my humor was wasted on her.

Running the idea past Armonia had at least confirmed one thing: I absolutely should not mention Shoot-and-Spray to Yoon Jia.

And thanks to that conclusion, the silence just kept going….

Ah! I've got a great idea….

Hey….

I hurriedly explained to Armonia, who'd cut me off mid-sentence.

Dream Intrusion. I mean Dream Intrusion….

….

Once I've stockpiled enough Enel, you and I are playing Shoot-and-Spray.

And I'll keep shooting the whole time.

I steeled my resolve for future revenge and snuck a glance at Yoon Jia beside me.

After yesterday, being alone with me clearly made her uncomfortable — she was staring out the window, doing everything she could to keep me out of her awareness.

Looking at her now, she's not exactly going to fall asleep defenseless next to me, is she?

Tch… then I'll have to put her under. How much Enel do we have?

Huh? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠That much?

With Sutra's playback speed increased, Enel income had risen, and overall support had been expanded accordingly.

I found tracking Enel too tedious to bother with myself, so I'd handed the whole thing over to Armonia and only asked her to tell me the balance when I needed it.

Nice…. I can start pushing past ten soon.

What mattered most to me was magical power.

Every skill I had was tightly bound to it.

Even firing a bow, for that matter….

Bump magical power to twelve first, and leave the remaining fifty thousand as a buffer for emergencies.

Alright — Sleep, then Dream Intrusion. Let's go~

I cast Sleep on Yoon Jia as she gazed out the window, then immediately chained into Dream Intrusion and slipped into her dream.

The first thing I saw upon entering Yoon Jia's dream was her cooking.

"Hmm~ hm-hmm~"

"…."

People act the way they look — and Yoon Jia humming while she cooked felt completely natural.

If she was this happily cooking even in a dream, odds were high she loved cooking in real life too.

On top of that, a full multi-course Korean spread sat proudly arranged on the table.

…Don't tell me she makes this much just for herself?

No matter how I looked at it, that was not a one-person meal.

And the mystery resolved itself immediately.

"Oppa! Dinner's ready!"

"Yeah, coming."

With that, Go Chungshin walked into the kitchen and sat down.

He eyed the spread on the table and started making appreciative noises.

"Whoa… Jia, this looks amazing!"

"Really?"

Yoon Jia lit up with a bright smile and launched into cozy, sweet conversation with him.

The only one who didn't fit into the atmosphere was me, cloaked in stealth.

…Fuck it. Should I just wreck the place?

I started running the numbers in my head.

How do I crash this scene so hard that Yoon Jia ends up despising Go Chungshin…?

But the conversation they were having over the food temporarily cooled my urge to destroy.

"Oppa, do you really have to do this job…?"

"Yeah. It's really important."

"But why security work — and why sneak in to do it?"

"…It's a secret. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Don't go getting curious about it either."

"…Okay."

Yoon Jia put on a disappointed face and started eating.

Aww… so even Yoon Jia doesn't know why Go Chungshin snuck in.

Piecing the conversation together, she was nothing more than a low-level Church employee.

In other words, she barely knew anything at all.

I'll have to dive into Go Chungshin's dreams later.

Next objective locked in: enter Go Chungshin's dream.

I was just about to rebuild my destructive urge from that disappointed expression when the surroundings suddenly shifted — and there was Yoon Jia alone in a room, wearing a VR headgear.

Huh? She's gaming?

She had on a skirt-style set of pajamas and was twitching on top of the bed by herself.

…Heh heh.

I took my time looking over Yoon Jia's body while she was lost in VR, enjoying the free show.

And finally — the place I'd been most curious about!

Oh!! No panties!

Which confirmed that Yoon Jia was the type who slept without underwear.

Her soft, rose-tinged sex looked utterly appetizing.

Should I…? Nah. Cases like Rena aren't exactly common.

Running a rape simulation while we were still this awkward could easily leave me branded as a Dream Raper in Yoon Jia's mind.

Besides, I wanted to save the real enjoyment for reality as much as possible.

Sex that just vented lust was doable even in a dream — but the hunger that fully satisfied my sense of transgression was, in the end, sex in the real world.

Since I'm already in here, it'd be nice to dig up some kind of information at least….

The moment I went to let go of her skirt, I noticed that her rose-colored folds were damp.

And only then did I register that something was off about Yoon Jia herself.

"Hnn… haah… hah…."

"…?"

The Yoon Jia wearing the VR headgear was twitching and convulsing.

I was watching her, wondering what was going on, when she let out a small breath and started pulling the headgear off.

Shit—!

I dropped under the bed in a panic and immediately activated stealth.

"Haah… hoo… hnn…."

Fortunately ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she didn't seem to notice me. Yoon Jia expelled a deep lungful of air and lay back on the bed.

After a moment she collected herself, pouted her lips, and muttered under her breath.

"Haah… I don't even care if Oppa isn't good at it…."