How to Steal the Hero's Woman - 302: Yggdrasil (3-11)
"Sorry, but I'm way too busy right now to make time for you."
"...What?"
Han Yeoreum stared blankly at Park Hee-yeon's words, and Park Hee-yeon forced a smile while looking at Han Yeoreum's dazed expression.
"I've got stuff to do, so I'm heading out."
With that, Park Hee-yeon turned and hurried away from the spot.
Han Yeoreum doubted her ears and lowered her head.
And there was her own... thing sticking out....
'Fuck....'
It was mostly covered by her clothes, so she probably hadn't noticed, but if she had caught even a glimpse, Han Yeoreum's actions right now would make her look less like a sweet guy and more like a total creep.
'No, she didn't see it. For now, someone else...'
Denying reality, Han Yeoreum wandered around looking for another girl.
And then she ran into Son Hye-eun.
"Sorry. This isn't the time to hang out."
And then Park Jin-hee again.
"Ah... um... I-I'll make time later."
Rejected.
'...What? What's going on here?'
Han Yeoreum had boasted a 100% success rate on her approaches until now.
Yet here she was, rejected not once, not twice, but three times in a row.
And the three girls who had clung to her so desperately back in Jepirum Village on the 0th floor....
Han Yeoreum shook her head, starting to rationalize it.
'Hahaha... Come to think of it, in this loop, I didn't pay them any attention from the start when we came up.... I, I need to look after them a bit.'
Rationalizing like that, Han Yeoreum forced a smirk.
She approached the girls again and struck up conversations.
And the Park Hee-yeon she ran into again....
"Haa... I said I'm busy. Can't you see I'm helping others right now?"
Just as she said, she was guiding others to the inn under Han Bom's instructions.
And the Son Hye-eun she ran into again....
"...Could you cut it out?"
She openly showed her irritation and contempt.
And the Park Jin-hee she ran into again....
"Um... I-I'll make time later."
"Th-then how about dinner together later...?"
"Ah... I have plans for dinner... "
"We can eat together though?"
"Ah... I already promised some friends we'd eat separately!"
"Th-then how about a quick drink before bed?"
"Haha... I can't drink."
Watching Park Jin-hee's ironclad defenses, Han Yeoreum cursed inwardly.
'Fucking bitch. What? Can't drink? The one who came running when I suggested wine at the 0th floor hotel?'
But Han Yeoreum couldn't spit out her true feelings.
The wine incident was from a previous loop, after all.
It was already impossible to go back to that point in a loop where different events had unfolded.
Still, she didn't want to let Park Jin-hee slip away like this.
"Then tomorrow... "
The moment Han Yeoreum bent her pride for the first time to try and set a date, Park Seon-hee and Son Hye-eun started waving from afar, calling out to Park Jin-hee.
"Jin-hee! Hurry up!"
"Ah! C-coming! S-sorry, I'm busy right now, but I'll definitely let you know when I have time later! S-see you!"
With a quick bow to Han Yeoreum, Park Jin-hee dashed off toward the other girls.
"... "
Unable to comprehend this first-time experience, Han Yeoreum stood there blankly staring at the ground for a long while.
As she wandered around in a daze, evening came before she knew it, and a few girls started clinging to Han Yeoreum.
"Ah, hi! You're Han Bom's oppa, right?"
"Whoa... you're so handsome for real."
"... "
They were girls who shared the inn with Han Bom's group.
But in Han Yeoreum's eyes, these girls had zero appeal.
'Ugly bitches...'
They were nowhere near the level of the beauty trio.
Deep in her psyche, a warning blared that mingling with these girls would make her a lifelong laughingstock.
But....
"Yeah. I'm Bom's oppa."
Her lust, gripping her heart, swallowed her inner shame and crushed her self-control like pudding.
'Fuck... for now... let's back off a bit.'
Han Yeoreum was in a mood to do anything if it meant erasing Seong Su-ho from her head right now.
In her mind, Seong Su-ho endlessly treated Min Hayeon and Han Bom like his possessions, and the sight of those two women accepting it fueled Han Yeoreum's lust into overdrive.
'Kuh... Tomorrow, the Red Summoners.... Once I meet those guys, it'll be fine. F-for now... just pick one at random and fuck her.'
Looking at the girls gazing at her with sparkling eyes, Han Yeoreum felt certain.
These girls would accept anything, even if she just vented her urges on them right away....
Forcing a smile at the girls, Han Yeoreum opened her mouth.
"H-hey, if you have time, wanna grab some food together?"
"Whoa! S-sure!"
"M-me too!"
The girls' cheers somewhat restored Han Yeoreum's crumbled pride.
As her pride recovered, she felt the image of Seong Su-ho's harem in her head gradually fading.
'G-good...! Just fuck one and it'll be okay.'
With that, Han Yeoreum slipped in among the girls and headed to the nearby inn restaurant with them.
..
..
Having thoroughly vented his explosively pent-up urges, Han Yeoreum let out a sigh of relief.
'Whew.... Yeah, this is it.'
With many girls clinging to him, Han Yeoreum picked the one with the best looks among them and headed to her inn room.
Dinner was irrelevant.
Even though Han Yeoreum hadn't eaten properly, venting his urges took priority.
But the sense of relief soon soured into irritation.
Lying in bed, Han Yeoreum glared irritably at the girl sleeping beside him.
'Haa... Me sleeping with a girl like this.'
No matter how carefully selected, she was still just some slut.
At least makeup might have made her tolerable, but the inn scramble left no points to spare, and survival ate up everything, so she hadn't bothered with her looks.
'Fuck... Even the girls over there with Ben Crash had pretty faces despite getting worked hard.'
Ben Crash's group was evil, sure, but they were still human.
At first, they passed around new girls in the group like toys, but eventually those girls gave up and joined the crew.
And the early joiners got a thrill of victory watching the newcomers' misery.
That was how those girls survived.
Naturally, they targeted the prettiest ones first.
But Han Yeoreum quickly lost interest in the girl and remembered something important.
'Whew... Gotta keep tabs on that bastard Seong Su-ho...'
Originally, he planned to vent on the beauty trio and use them to monitor Seong Su-ho.
But things went sideways, leaving him to handle it personally.
His mind was clearer than ever, crystal sharp.
The problem was the post-nut clarity hitting hard.
Recently, he'd jerked off to scenes of Min Hayeon and Han Bom getting fucked, but that wasn't proper release.
His unvented lust had built up too long, so he'd thrashed wildly without caring about her looks.
Stamina, willpower, mental strength—all drained.
'One more day... just rest one day. I can always regress.'
Savoring the clarity, Han Yeoreum slowly closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
***
Me, Min Hayeon, and Han Bom sat at one table, raising our glasses in a toast.
Clink!
"Su-ho, you did great!"
"We survived thanks to you. Thank you."
"Glad I could help."
I kicked off the drinking session with their encouragement and thanks.
Normally, it'd be time to meet Yang Ji-hyeon by now, but I'd already turned her into my puppet ahead of time.
Though the process was a bit sloppy.
Originally, I'd waited for the Red Summoners to swarm, put them all to sleep, and start with a veiled threat.
This time, I ambushed her alone from behind, then pretended to uncover her identity and pressured her.
I worried the lighter pressure might raise suspicions later, but Armonia's words let me brush it off.
[With the Subordination in place, simply subduing her was probably enough.]
Plus, a guy fresh from the 0th floor spotting her identity instantly made suspicion unlikely.
Having made Yang Ji-hyeon my limb, I gave her some orders.
(The ones already dead can't be helped, but I won't kill the rest.)
(Th-thank you... Ngh! Th-there...!)
(Oh, sensitive ass? Nice moan.)
(N-no! You surprised me by grabbing it suddenly... Haang!)
With Subordination active, she showed discomfort at my sexual harassment but didn't refuse.
After handling Yang Ji-hyeon, I noticed another difference from the previous loop.
"Where'd that guy go?"
"Unnie, don't worry about him. He's obviously up to something weird again."
The "that guy" was Han Yeoreum.
He'd dashed into the inn earlier, then slipped out and vanished again.
I couldn't keep eyes on him either, so unease started creeping in.
A regressor's changed actions often triggered massive butterfly effects later.
'The Red Crescent is already under my control, so no issue there.'
Reassuring myself like that, I calmly listened to their conversation.
"Bom... did something happen?"
"Huh? Oh, no? Why?"
"You look so drained even after we solved it... "
"I-it's not that... "
"If something did happen, you have to tell me, okay? Don't suffer alone."
"...Thanks."
Han Bom gave a bitter smile, her face showing complex emotions.
She stood up and spoke.
"Unnie, I'm gonna hit the bathroom quick."
"Ah, then I'll come with."
"...Huh?"
Flustered by Min Hayeon's offer but nodding, Han Bom headed to the bathroom with her.
Watching that, I could feel Min Hayeon's affection for Han Bom.
'Whoa... no fellatio this time?'
[She did it yesterday, so maybe she's good for now.]
'Maybe both? She did it yesterday, and with worrying about Han Bom, it might feel off.'
Still, it was clear Min Hayeon was deeply worried about Han Bom.
Thinking about it, Han Bom wasn't the type to mope like this.
She was tough as nails with a foul mouth.
From Min Hayeon's view, she couldn't help worrying if something happened before reaching the 1st floor.
After the two returned from the bathroom, we resumed drinking.
Han Bom didn't want to kill the mood, so she smiled brightly and downed her drinks.
As we drank, the noisy crowd around us started heading to their rooms one by one.
Everyone thanked me for the comfy beds after so long, and I accepted graciously.
We wrapped up and stood to leave.
As we did, Min Hayeon sidled up cautiously and whispered.
"Su-ho, I'm sleeping with Bom tonight."
"Yeah, got it."
"...You reacted too fast? You got another girl or something?"
"Don't be ridiculous... "
Min Hayeon giggled at my exasperated face, humming as she went.
"Hehe... Night night."
"Yeah, have a good talk."
Saying that, I headed to my room and flopped onto the bed.
The buzz made random thoughts bubble up, so I opened the chat.
"Haa... Should I just pick one of the three and do her?"
"Nah, it's for the mission. The mission's to fuck a pretty girl, right?"
I'm absolutely not dying to taste the beauty trio's goods.
It's purely for the mission.
"Laugh lines at my age? Harsh words... "
A sudden curiosity hit me.
'Come to think of it... Gekkosu nailed Min Hayeon's psyche by gut before. What about Han Bom?'
He'd called 1st-loop Min Hayeon "iron pussy," but spotted her growing openness just from her face across loops.
I was curious.
I tossed a question similar to one from before.
"What about Han Bom? She seems like she has high standards."
And Gekkosu's response floored me.
"... "
Damn....
At this point, I had to admit it.
The guy must've been a devout virgin detector in a past life.
"Wanna bet your whole fortune?"
Last time, when I said I'd go for Han Bom, he'd gone beyond discouraging to betting everything.
But hearing me, Gekkosu typed like I was pathetic.
Not 10k, but an extra 1k points... Her bar must look really low.
"Tch... point miser."
Amazed by Gekkosu, I closed my eyes and drifted off.
..
..
Knock, knock, knock.
"...Nghaa?"
I jolted awake at the door knocks, turning my bleary gaze toward it.
Soon, more knocks echoed.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Ugh... Yeah."
Finally convinced someone was there, I staggered up and wobbled to the door.
'Hayeon?'
I opened the door with unsteady steps, and right before my eyes....
"Who... Huh?"
"Do you... have time?"
Han Bom stood there, looking at me calmly.