The Third Tutorial (6): The Aphrodisiac Potion
When I suddenly smiled and walked toward her, Kwon Soyeon instinctively went on guard and backed away. Just moments earlier she had been considering making a suggestion to me that was too embarrassing to even say out loud—all for the sake of points. Yet now the same man who had shown her no interest was approaching with a suspicious bottle in hand and a deceptively kind smile. There was no way she wouldn’t be wary.
“...What do you want?”
“Ah, I was wondering if you could help me with something.”
“What kind of something...”
When she cautiously asked what the job entailed, I quietly held out the bottle I was carrying. Kwon Soyeon glanced back and forth between the bottle and my face, as if confirming whether her suspicion was correct.
“You want me to drink this right now?”
“Exactly.”
“How am I supposed to drink it when I don’t even know what it is?”
“I’m telling you to drink it precisely because I don’t know what it is.”
At my utterly shameless answer, Kwon Soyeon was momentarily speechless. No matter what, she hadn’t expected me to make such a demand so boldly. No—calling it a request was generous; it was practically a threat. In a situation like this, how could anyone refuse a request from me?
Even someone who wasn’t trying to gain an advantage like Kwon Soyeon would find it hard to turn me down. I had shown too much already, and I still held a crucial role in the ongoing third tutorial. Angering me could bring unknown consequences. Open refusal simply wasn’t an option.
Of course, I had no intention of punishing her if she refused, but relationships always force those beneath to watch the eyes of those above. That was true even in an ordinary office. Here, death waited around every corner. There was no choice but to stay mindful of the current strongest person.
Besides, Kwon Soyeon herself had been about to ask me for a favor. Refusal was even harder. In the end, she reached a decision.
‘Even if I drink it, I’ll wring every possible benefit out of him.’
This was actually better. She had no idea what the liquid was, but earning points this way would be far preferable to selling her body.
“I can drink it, but not for free.”
Kwon Soyeon spoke as calmly as she could manage.
“Then what do you want?”
“Give me points and I’ll drink it.”
“Tell me how much. I need a number before I can decide.”
“Three hundred points. And if I die after drinking it, help me once we move on.”
She doubted she would actually die from it, but she threw the condition out anyway—just in case. Even so, she was trembling inside, terrified I might refuse. Had she asked for too many points? Should she have left out that last part? The longer I stayed silent, the greater her anxiety grew.
Paying no attention to her inner turmoil, I listened to the proposal and quietly calculated.
‘Not bad.’
Honestly, I didn’t think drinking this would kill her. There was no reason for anything truly lethal to be sitting openly in Baron Recount’s nightstand drawer. It wasn’t even locked in a safe. Still, better safe than sorry—that was why I wanted someone else to test it first.
“Okay, fine. I’ll be generous.”
When the storehouse is full, generosity comes easy. Since I had plenty of points and nowhere particular to spend them, my spending had grown lax. I might regret it later, but if I was going to regret three hundred points, I’d regret everything anyway.
Kwon Soyeon accepted the bottle I offered. She was relieved I had agreed so readily, yet actually drinking an unknown liquid made her nervous. The reddish tint didn’t look like it would taste bad, but the uncertainty left her spinning the bottle in silence, swallowing dryly.
“We don’t have time. Drink it quickly so we can finish this.”
When I finally grew impatient and urged her, she reluctantly opened the bottle. She sniffed it first in case of a strange odor, but there was none. Steelng herself, Kwon Soyeon brought it to her lips and took a cautious sip.
Slurp.
One or two drops brought no strange reaction. The taste was no different from plain water, and she felt no pain or unusual symptoms. She was about to set the bottle down in relief when—
“What are you doing? A tiny sip like that won’t show any effect. Drink a proper mouthful.”
“But if I take a real mouthful, I’ll empty the whole bottle.”
“That’s exactly how you’ll know what it does.”
At my firm tone, Kwon Soyeon had no choice but to raise the bottle again. Since the first taste had been harmless, she simply tilted it back and poured the rest down her throat.
Gulp.
It was clearly different from the few drops. The slight viscosity was noticeable now, and the feeling of it sliding down her throat was far from pleasant. Still, it wasn’t undrinkable. Once the bottle was empty she looked at me, only to find me studying her like a lab specimen. She spread both arms wide to prove nothing was wrong.
“Anywhere hurt? Any strange sensations?”
“Doesn’t seem like it.”
Following my question, Kwon Soyeon checked the injuries she had received during the earlier fight, but none of them had healed. They remained exactly as before.
“Still, let’s wait a little longer. Symptoms might not appear immediately.”
It was a reasonable point, so she nodded.
“If anything happens, call me right away. I’ll be searching the first floor in the meantime.”
I had cleared every other floor but still hadn’t fully examined the first, so I left her there and headed downstairs while I waited.
“Whew…”
Kwon Soyeon let out a sigh of relief as she watched my retreating back, then broke into a satisfied smile.
‘This is the perfect scenario.’
This way she wouldn’t have to sell her body and could still obtain the points she wanted. She had drunk the unidentified liquid, but so far nothing seemed wrong. If nothing happened at all, she would pocket the points for free. It couldn’t possibly be better.
“Hoo. What talent should I buy? From what I saw, there weren’t many high-rank ones.”
Even without points, browsing was still possible. Everyone had already checked what they might need. Close acquaintances had even discussed roles like forming parties in a game. Kwon Soyeon had looked too, and among the useful options the highest was Understanding of Magic (Mid-Low).
Magic.
It was probably the same magic she had seen and heard about so often—the kind where staves shot fire or created ice, the sort that appeared constantly in movies and webtoons.
Considering both the grade and the sheer weight the word “magic” carried, choosing it seemed obvious. Yet when she thought about how magic was usually portrayed, it clearly required enormous resources and multiple supporting talents. That gave her pause.
Becoming an official Hero Candidate would bring support, so the money issue could be solved somehow. But she still wondered whether it was truly right to walk the path of magic based solely on that single talent.
“Ha… ah… Why is it so hot all of a sudden… ugh.”
The air suddenly felt scorching. Kwon Soyeon fanned the front of her shirt. It brought momentary relief but solved nothing. As the heat continued to rise, she pressed a hand to her forehead and flinched in shock.
“Ha… My body’s burning… ngh.”
It wasn’t just her face. Her entire body felt feverish, especially the intense heat gathering between her legs. Kwon Soyeon instinctively pressed her thighs together.
Her condition was obviously abnormal. She immediately understood the cause.
‘That liquid…’
So that was its purpose. For a brief second she wondered if I had known and fed it to her on purpose, but she dismissed the thought—there was no reason for me to do so. She was about to call my name when she froze.
‘Sh-should I really call him?’
No one knew her body better than she did. In her current state, she absolutely could not be in front of a man. Instead of calling me, her instincts screamed that she needed to hide somewhere—anywhere—immediately. The moment she tried to stand—
“Hik!”
The friction from simply moving sent a jolt through her. Startled, she collapsed back to the floor. The sensation was entirely new, frightening, and the thought of me seeing her like this made her keep trying to rise. Each attempt failed. Before long her pants were soaked through.
As Kwon Soyeon rolled on the floor, nearly sobbing, unsure what to do—
“What’s going on? Is something wrong?”
I had been searching the first-floor rooms when I found her.
I had spent some time rummaging through the first-floor rooms while waiting for a reaction from the unknown liquid. The search proved even less rewarding than the upper floors. Unlike the deceptively luxurious entrance, most of these rooms were for servants and held little of value.
Disappointed, I stepped out of the last room and spotted Kwon Soyeon collapsed on the floor. I hurried over to check on her.
“What’s going on? Is something wrong? Has the reaction started?”
“Hoo… that’s…”
She looked up at me with trembling pupils. The moment I saw her flushed face, writhing body, and the sticky sweetness that had crept into her voice, I knew exactly what the liquid had been.
‘That crazy bastard Baron Recount kept an aphrodisiac potion in his bedroom?’
No matter how dark this medieval fantasy world was, I hadn’t expected to find something like that just sitting in a drawer.
‘He didn’t look like the type.’
His neat appearance had fooled me. People really were impossible to read.
Anyway. I let out a sigh and stared down at Kwon Soyeon as she twisted on the floor. Her condition had worsened since I first saw her. Her eyes were rolling upward, and she could no longer endure it—her hand had slipped inside her pants.
One hand squeezed her breast while the other moved frantically inside her panties.
Squelch! Squelch!
“Haang!”
This was the first time I had ever witnessed a woman masturbating in real life rather than on a screen. And it was someone I already knew. My lower body stiffened instantly.
‘Fuck. There’s no way I can hold back now.’
I had tried to restrain myself out of some lingering sense of conscience—after all, I had fed her the aphrodisiac before taking her. But this was beyond endurance.
On top of that—
“Hoo…! Help me!”
At those words, I immediately pulled down my pants.