???-Class Hunter — Jeon Somin: Succubus (6)

Ordinarily, an Awakened's abilities never change.

More precisely, Awakened who never enter Gates simply do not grow. Growth typically comes from leveling up — gaining stats and skills by killing monsters. Skill proficiency can create subtle differences in how abilities are used, but the fundamental path of an Awakened's growth runs through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slaughtering monsters.

That is why an Awakened who never sets foot in a Gate can neither acquire new skills nor raise their stats. In that sense, Somin gaining a brand-new skill was, frankly, absurd.

No — something even more important was going on.

Namely...

Why can I see Somin's status window?

The fact that I could see her status window at all. Honestly, that was the part that made even less sense.

A status window is personal information — a private readout of an individual's specs. Most Hunters cannot see anyone else's. A tiny handful of Awakened can, sure, but there was no reason a powerless ordinary like me should be able to.

It shouldn't have been visible. That would have been normal.

And yet I can see it perfectly.

No matter how hard I stared, the window floating in front of me was unmistakably Somin's.

Hmm. At this rate, I might actually catch up to her specs soon.

Put another way: even if I was still at the absolute bottom, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had already closed the gap on a Hunter's physical capabilities.

Still... after dumping that many points into myself, this is all I've got?

Thinking about how many points I'd poured in did leave a sour taste, but I set that aside for now.

Why can I see this at all?

Why was a status window visible to Taejin in the first place?

Don't tell me... again?

He wondered if the app had done something once more — then shook the thought off.

No. That doesn't track either.

The thing knew how to rewrite perception. It had no reason to know how to awaken abilities through sex.

Or... was this some hidden function?

Haa. No idea...

While Taejin wrestled with the question in his head, Somin was staring at the sheer volume of text flooding her vision, completely overwhelmed.

Th-there's so much...

Moments ago her status window had been almost empty. Now it was so packed she barely knew where to look. Aside from the day she first Awakened, nothing like this had ever happened, and for a second she simply froze — then she pulled herself together and began sorting through the contents one by one.

For the record, Taejin could see the status window, but not the message windows or notification alerts ordinary Hunters used.

Which meant he could not see any of this:

Somin blinked at the chaotic cascade of message windows filling her vision.

What on earth is any of this supposed to mean?

None of it made sense. Why was the first message completely redacted? Why had someone made a proposal the moment she received Succubus Transformation?

It was all completely incomprehensible. So she set the unreadable messages aside for now. She would need to talk it over with Taejin if she wanted any kind of hint.

That didn't mean she closed the status window, though.

W-what kind of skills are these?

She started reading through the skill descriptions plastered across the bottom of the window. Understanding her abilities precisely came first.

Even if she had never become a proper Hunter, she was good at reading a skill and gauging exactly how far its power extended. She never would have earned this kind of money otherwise.

And what she found as she read left her stunned over and over again.

First — Succubus Transformation.

It more than made up for the humiliation she had endured. Because...

Any Hunter who ran Gates would have been salivating over a skill like that. She especially rated the semen-storage passive and the access to mind-type skills — notoriously feared even among Hunters — extremely highly.

Of course, from the perspective of someone like Somin who never entered Gates, it was a slightly awkward skill to have.

But there was something more important than this one.

No — calling it a skill felt wrong.

More accurately...

A curse?

The skill that came closest to a curse was Subjugation.

She had called it a curse, but looking closer, it was strangely reasonable. Aside from Sex Seal — which forbade sex with anyone else unless the master permitted it — she could still exercise free will over almost everything else.

Of course...

I-I'm Taejin's slave...?

That fact itself had not changed.

Somin thought it over carefully. Was this something she should even tell him? A skill like this was the kind of thing that could turn even someone without bad intentions into someone willing to do bad things.

So she hesitated — wondering whether she should speak. The bond of Subjugation already meant that staying silent forever wasn't really an option, but she could at least buy time.

Her thoughts deepened for a moment. Then —

I should... tell him.

She decided to be honest with Taejin.

If, the first time they met, he had looked at her with disgust, or told her to get out and go see a counselor, she never would have made this choice. But the moment he saw her, he had looked at her with genuine concern — not pity, but the sincere worry of someone treating her as an equal.

I-I'll trust him...

She decided to trust him once. And if anything was too unreasonable, she could refuse.

"U-um... Taejin..."

"Did you figure something out?"

So Somin told him about her abilities.

In a way, it was naive. If Taejin had been a bad man, changing the look in his eyes would have cost him nothing. And honestly, a man who had already rewritten a woman's perception with something close to hypnosis and slept with her could hardly be called a saint.

A skill that makes her happy when I give her orders, huh?

Even so, Taejin was not the kind of man who would throw away his first woman. He was not the kind of man who would throw away any woman who liked him or had held him — not until she pushed him away herself.

So the first thing he thought when he heard her explanation was:

Hmm. Should I ask if I can fondle her horns when she transforms into a succubus?

Honestly, he really did want to touch those horns. That was half a joke.

After listening to her, Taejin thought it over seriously. How far was he allowed to go with the woman in front of him? It was a genuinely difficult question.

He couldn't order her to kill herself, of course — she would refuse. But something like taking her money would probably work.

And with that money, I could live a much more comfortable life.

But that wasn't what he wanted. Money would be nice, sure — but if he went down that road, he wouldn't be able to face his mother, who was still fighting hard in the hospital. And if all he had wanted was to rake in cash, he would have already seduced Hanna — who clearly had feelings for him — and angled for a remarriage.

So he kept thinking. About the limits of the commands he was willing to give.

After a while —

"...For now."

He couldn't settle everything perfectly on the spot, but he could at least decide what he would not do.

"I won't give you any orders that put an unreasonable burden on you, Somin. Things like telling you to kill someone, or anything involving money — that kind of thing. If I ever do give an order like that, please refuse it on your own."

"Y-yes!"

Even after gaining power that barely felt human, Taejin still wanted to keep some scrap of conscience. He had to — otherwise the revenge he planned against that bitch who had tormented him would leave a bad taste in his mouth.

Of course, all of this was —

Well. I've already done plenty of terrible things as it is.

— nothing more than self-satisfaction on his part.

But even self-serving words like his still meant something.

"Thank you, Taejin..."

"No — I should be thanking you for being honest with me."

To someone, it felt like a small, fragile hope in humanity had been restored.