The Baseline
I asked the crow a quiet question — the bird still sitting there utterly unbothered, with no idea what had actually happened.
"...And if someone made contact without knowing? What then?"
"Hmm... would that even be possible? Even a Master would instinctively recoil from someone else's blood, wouldn't they? It almost never happens, so don't worry about it."
"Still, even if you somehow made contact without realizing it, you'd be fine for a while. Until she fully recovers her power, simple contact alone isn't enough for infiltration."
Infiltration. What a filthy, ominous word. That was the kind of language you used for bacteria and viruses.
"And if that happens..."
"But ingestion is off-limits. Absolutely. Especially in the Master's case."
The crow cut me off flat, then pointed a serious look toward Na Sehee by the window.
"The owner of that corpse. Alphas have one more special ability beyond their rank — the Blood Pearl."
"...Blood what?"
"Blood Pearl. Literally a bead of blood. It has countless applications, but the one you really need to watch out for is hypnosis. The so-called intoxicating blood — it only works through direct ingestion."
The crow hesitated a beat, then went on.
"A normal person will offer up everything they are to an Alpha from a single drop. Even someone with a will as strong as the Master's can't hold out past a few drops."
The more I heard, the more absurd it got. I had to ask.
"Why the hell didn't you tell me something this important before we left?"
"Huh? Because even if an Alpha's grandfather showed up, forced ingestion would be impossible against someone at the Master's level this early on."
"How do you force blood down the throat of a man who soloed a Beta? And Alpha physical abilities are no different from an ordinary person's, you know."
I frowned into silence for a moment, then tried again.
"You still could've given me a heads-up."
"I was going to, actually. But then the Master started going on about sound play this and that and cut the connection first..."
"....."
"...You're not telling me. Please say you're not."
The crow had finally caught on that my relentless grilling was strange, and asked just in case.
I let out a small sigh and looked away. There was nothing else I could do.
"No. No! How did you even manage to drink it?! An inhuman like the Master! A real zombie who wouldn't flinch if a hundred corpses came at him!"
I really did not want to admit I'd fallen for a honey trap.
"Skalajeeeeee! Get over here right nowwwww!"
I dug a finger in my ear at the crow's first-ever full meltdown, then sighed again.
Only after grilling her on the situation did the crow finally understand what had gone down.
It clamped a wingtip to the brow above its beak and said nothing for a long moment. Then it looked at me — still pretending I had no idea — and delivered a single line.
"Pretty or not, who just sits there when someone smears blood on their lips and comes at them?!"
Look, I thought she was putting on lipstick in her own weird way, okay?
Besides, after all the gore I'd already lived through, was I really supposed to reject a kiss from a woman like her over a little blood performance? It wasn't like I had some AIDS trauma.
I shrugged. Beside me, Na Sehee blinked, then held up her notebook.
Of course. Drawn to each other. Mutual.
...It wasn't quite that deep. I was about to push back with a sour look, but the crow got there first — snorting and fixing Na Sehee with a sharp glare.
"Don't play the pure romantic. Skalaje. I got sick of watching that nature of yours in the last dimension."
Na Sehee didn't so much as flinch. Instead she mirrored me, giving a delicate little shrug of her shoulders, then wrote in her notebook again.
A kind of romance. Always was. Possessiveness too.
I explained it. Every time. In the last life as well.
"Fine. I remember. I really should have accounted for the one-in-a-million chance the Master might get charmed. I forgot that even the greatest physical heroes are helpless in front of someone who can shake their heart."
I scowled at that nonsense.
"Hero, my ass. And don't oversell it with words like 'charmed.' It wasn't even—"
Na Sehee cut off my protest by tapping my shoulder with a finger, then shoved the notebook in my face.
Throwing me away. Now. Me?
...I was so floored I couldn't even find words.
Never had one. In the last life either. A kiss.
"Skalaje. Stop lying. Someone in your position could have toyed with any man she wanted. You're telling me you've never even been kissed?"
Because of Father.
"...Ah."
I stared blankly at the crow as it accepted that without further argument, then shook my head once to clear it and took a step back from Na Sehee.
"So. What happens to me now."
"What do you think happens. You're stuck serving her. Her slave. You'll be put through every humiliation imaginable..."
I ignored the crow's grumbling and locked eyes with the person who actually mattered.
Na Sehee stared right back, then started closing in with a playful little step. I put another pace between us.
Not that I was scared. It was just... vaguely unsettling, somehow.
She immediately overacted a wounded expression — except the blank base of her face never changed, which only made the whole thing more unsettling.
Don't have to. Guard. Won't work anyway. You. Because of qualification.
"Qualification? What is that supposed to mean?"
Soul resistance.
"...Ah! Right! The Undertaker mark!"
The crow's eyes went round as the memory finally hit.
Wouldn't have. If you didn't have it. You either. The qualification.
I hate it too. Making them. By force. Slaves.
"Yes! Yes! That was it! Master! Rejoice! By all rights you should have been doomed to slave away under her, but thanks to my foresight—"
"Would you shut that beak already. You."
Useless birdbrain.
I spun the laptop screen all the way around so it faced the other direction. The crow squawked in protest; I ignored it and asked Na Sehee instead.
"So if I hadn't had this tattoo, you never would have tried feeding me your blood in the first place?"
Affirmative. Only wanted. A friend. You, specifically.
Sick of slaves. Now. No matter how impressive they look.
I narrowed my eyes and checked the coffin tattoo. No change. I lifted my gaze back to her.
"...How exactly does the principle work?"
"I can explain that! First, the Undertaker mark—"
I shut the laptop completely.
Na Sehee's eyes curved in the faintest smile as she hid her mouth, then held up the notebook and wrote in a quick, flowing hand.
Simple. The principle. By ability. Undertaker. Raised it. Your soul resistance. That's all.
In the end. Blood Hypnosis. Is intoxicating. The soul.
"...So because I've been absorbing soul fragments or whatever this whole time, I've basically turned into some kind of heavyweight drinker?"
Correct.
She nodded, then wrote one last line and showed it to me.
Hate it. Playing around. With the other kin.
What I wanted. That's why. A friend. You.
I more or less understood.
I thought it over for a few seconds, then spoke.
"So it doesn't matter if I reject the other Alphas."
Don't care.
Na Sehee gave a small shake of her head as she answered.
Those perverts. Far more precious. A friend.
Which meant that, in the end, the crow's speculation had been completely useless.
I went downstairs, took a shower, roughly soothed the thoroughly sulking crow, and was waiting on Na Sehee when a racket kicked up out in the hallway — loud enough that something was clearly off.
Haejun, who'd been happily talking games with me, got curious, opened the café door, stepped out — and came right back in looking dazed after catching a full beating from Soeun.
"Wh-what..."
"?? The hell? Why'd you get hit?"
"...I don't know either, hyung-nim."
That was when Yejin hurried in through the door. She glanced between the men for a second, then leaned in and whispered to me in the tiniest voice.
"Um, oppa. That Sehee girl... you know..."
"Yeah, what about her? Something happen?"
"No, it's nothing major..., or maybe it is major..."
She fidgeted with her fingers, looking awkward, then finally got it out.
"She wouldn't wear any of the clothes we gave her, and she threw the curtain scrap out the window too... and, um, she went upstairs completely naked saying she was going to wait for oppa..."
"????"
I stared hard at Yejin's face, half-convinced I'd misheard. She did not correct herself.
Granted, we still needed to settle her lodging, and I'd planned to tell her to pick any room she liked once we were both cleaned up.
But what did that have to do with not wearing a single scrap of clothing.
In the end the crow, who'd overheard the same thing, sighed and explained.
"As the Master knows, she's old nobility. None of the clothes suit her taste. So she's going to buy her own and wear those."
"Buy them where... ah. Don't tell me."
"Yes. There's nothing my inventory doesn't carry. High-grade fabric clothing is available in any quantity."
"Then you only need yourself for that. Why do I have to be involved?"
"...She wants you to choose. What looks good on her."
"...While she's naked?"
"The nobles of that dimension were just like that."
A medieval aristocratic custom you couldn't even properly call debauched...
The crow heaved another deep sigh. I sat there dumbfounded, then glanced at Yejin without thinking — and immediately had to look away, flinching at the indescribably murderous expression on her face.