The First Meeting Between Miwol and Pungjin
The high-pitched voice of the mage Miwol echoed through the halls once again as she searched for her pet.
"Hey, Jjong~!! Jjongie~~??
Where the hell is this bastard hiding again...? If you don't show up by the time I count to three, you know what happens, right?
One... two..."
"Yeees, Mistress~!! I'm cooooomiiing riiight nooow~~~~!!"
Pungjin sprinted toward the sound of her voice as fast as his legs could carry him. But what awaited him was nothing but the icy fury of the notoriously ill-tempered Miwol.
"You piece of shit, you're late enough to deserve death? I already passed three, you bastard... Looks like we need to start the day with a beating, huh?"
"Ah... th-that's because I was... I was cleaning...!!"
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack~~~!!!
The mage's magic staff swung without mercy. To Pungjin, that staff looked expensive enough to buy an entire apartment in Seoul (at least in his own estimation). It slammed straight into his body with a full two-handed swing.
"Uwaaaaaaaaagh~!!!"
Even though it was basically just a club pretending to be a magic staff, and even though it was swung by a delicate-looking woman, the pain was excruciating. Whether he was overreacting or some kind of magic was amplifying the agony, Pungjin convulsed violently, foaming at the mouth as he screamed and rolled from side to side.
"Aigoo, just look at this bastard overacting... Today's really going to be like beating a dog on Boknal. Maybe it'll knock some sense into you."
"Aigoo... Mistress... I was wrong. Please... just this once..."
Tears and snot streamed down his face.
Even as Miwol's staff continued to rain down mercilessly...
He screamed in pain while desperately begging with his hands clasped together...
Pathetic. Groveling.
Begging for forgiveness... that was Pungjin.
In other words... he looked exactly like a miserable dog getting beaten on a sweltering summer day.
As Miwol beat him, her eyes sparkled with a refreshing, rising joy.
She truly was a vicious masochist... no, a sadist through and through.
After thoroughly beating Pungjin to her heart's content, the mage Miwol spoke with a refreshed expression, as if all her stress had melted away.
"Ah... that feels so much better.
Like I always say, nothing beats playing with Jjongie for morning exercise, right, Jjongie???"
She gently stroked the head of Pungjin, who was groaning in pain on the floor, and spoke with an incredibly benevolent smile.
She seemed to have already forgotten his real name.
Jjongie... the kind of name you'd give to some neighborhood mutt... had become Miwol's official nickname for him.
And since Pungjin himself always called her "Mistress," he had long since forgotten the mage's actual name as well.
"N-no, Mistress... If it makes you happy... then I'm happy too..."
Tears still pouring down his face, Pungjin mechanically recited the lines he had prepared in advance, stuttering as he went.
"Hmm... But why doesn't it feel sincere at all when you say it like that, Jjongie?"
"Y-yes? No, Mistress! I... I!!! Am incredibly honored to be able to serve you! It's my greatest joy and pleasure, and... and!!!"
As Miwol's gaze grew increasingly terrifying, Pungjin reacted instantly, shouting at the top of his lungs just like he'd learned in the Korean military.
Of course, even back in his military days, he'd barely survived as a special-grade attention-seeker, but at least he knew how to scream his lungs out.
And for some reason, the mage Miwol seemed to quite enjoy Pungjin's obvious overacting.
"There, there... How could it possibly hurt that much when I only tapped you lightly with my delicate arms?
Still, it must have hurt a little, so...
Let me, the great Archmage, personally offer you a sip of the special recovery potion I made with great care."
"Y-yes...? Yes???"
At Miwol's sudden kind words, Pungjin's eyes widened in pure terror. He looked even more frightened than when she'd been beating him with the staff.
"Oh my... The beautiful and magnificent Archmage is personally offering you her handmade recovery potion...
Why is your face like that??
This is handmade. Handmade. It's completely~~~ different from those mass-produced potions from factories~~"
'Fuck... How many times have I nearly died from the shit you gave me, you crazy witch...!!'
Pungjin screamed the words only inside his mind—words he could never say out loud—and used every ounce of strength to change his expression.
"N-no, Mistress! Where is the recovery potion? I'll gulp it down in one go right now!!!"
"Good, good. That's my good boy Jjongie... Hehe... Let's see... Here it is!"
As she handed over the vial, Miwol's face had already transformed into that of a devil.
So this witch really was a demon after all...
Or maybe she only looked that way in Pungjin's eyes?
Either way, she was already holding instruments that could measure his body temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and other vital signs. Various other measuring devices had appeared out of nowhere and surrounded him.
'Just as I thought... Here we go again...'
Pungjin instinctively realized that Miwol was once again going to use the excuse of a "recovery potion" to test some terrifying magical drug on him that he knew nothing about.
What kind of medicine was she trying to feed him this time?
He had already gone through hell several times after drinking her potions, but she had never once explained what they were or what she was testing.
That was why Pungjin desperately wanted to know the ingredients and the true purpose behind these experiments.
They say even a ghost that dies from eating looks good doing it...
Wasn't it basic human decency to at least tell someone what they were about to die from...?
But of course Miwol would never tell him such things.
Pungjin gave up on everything and stared at the vial she had given him.
A tiny glass bottle containing a red liquid.
If only... this were actual poison... If only it could send him to the afterlife without any pain...
"Alright, Jjongie... Everything's ready... Go on, drink up~??"
Miwol had already attached various measuring devices all over his body and was beginning to collect data.
In Pungjin's eyes, horns sprouted from Miwol's head, wings grew from her back, and a tail appeared above her buttocks...
She looked like the ultimate incarnation of evil.
To forget the horrible pain that was about to come, Pungjin imagined it all by himself.
If he drank this medicine now... he would die.
Honestly... he didn't have many regrets.
A life lived as a hikikomori loser.
Dropout. Unfilial son. Idiot. Moron. Retard.
All the names that had been attached to him.
Now he would die...
But if he was reborn...
He swore he would get revenge on that vicious witch no matter what.
With the mindset of someone committing suicide, Pungjin poured the contents of the vial into his mouth.
In truth, considering the agonizing time that was about to follow, it wasn't all that different from actual suicide.
"Ughhh!!!"
It was bitterly, horribly sour... and carried a violent flavor he had never experienced before... this red potion...
Every time he had drunk these potions in the past, the experience had been completely different.
Sometimes he would faint from unimaginable pain. Sometimes he would burn up with a fever like a madman.
Other times he would shiver from unbearable cold until he passed out.
Each time, Pungjin had come half a step from death, and through those repeated experiences...
He gradually felt his personality, speech, and behavior changing little by little.
Humans...
Naturally...
Change when they die halfway and come back to life...
Whether physically or mentally...
The shock remains as trauma, or becomes a catalyst...
Forcing them to change.
Originally, he had been timid, introverted, and quick to run away or give up.
But after experiencing these near-death states multiple times at Miwol's hands...
After repeatedly dying halfway and coming back to life...
Pungjin had unknowingly begun to change.
How should he put it?
He was becoming a little bolder. His eyes had changed too.
Simply put, he had grown braver.
More precisely, a murderous, venomous glint had begun to appear in his gaze.
Whether he died this way or that...
He had to get revenge on this evil witch Miwol who had done this to him, no matter what.
Every night he spent enduring hellish pain without sleep, he had repeated the vow over and over.
But... how exactly was he supposed to get revenge?
And what did he need to prepare in order to do so?
The very first step Pungjin had decided on for his revenge was...
To flatter Miwol as much as possible, to get on her good side...
To at least get proper food so he could build up his strength...
And to earn even the slightest bit of time and space away from her surveillance so he could plan his revenge.
Aaah... to think he had to suck up to that vile demon, his mortal enemy...
Pungjin had never done anything like that before, nor did he know how.
Yet he had reached the point of making this contradictory, life-or-death judgment and putting it into action...
His obsession with revenge had grown that strong.
In the end, he lowered his head to Miwol, acted cute for her, figured out what she liked, and performed over-the-top acts...
His entire life had become centered around Miwol.
In a way, he had begun to live the life of a true slave.
And now, because he had become so focused on her...
The thought of eventually getting his revenge was slowly, gradually fading...
He had begun to think that he must devote himself to Miwol, that he must bring her joy...
And that he could find happiness in the tiny rewards he received from her...
The priorities had been completely reversed.
Guest and host had switched places.
Pungjin sometimes thought that he had changed into something rather strange.
Was it the combination of his determination to hide himself for the sake of revenge, Miwol's gaslighting, and the slave magic interacting in a bizarre way?
In truth, Pungjin had been an ordinary man living as a hikikomori in a place called Korea.
That day... in the evening... he had mustered up unusual courage and bought a lottery ticket. When he checked the results...
He had won first prize. He was jumping for joy...
Then he went to the bathroom, opened the door...
And arrived here.
At first, Pungjin had been completely stunned.
He thought he was dreaming.
And the first thing he saw in that moment was this insane witch, Miwol.
She had been shouting something at the top of her lungs.
Of course, Pungjin couldn't understand a single word.
Still, captivated by her beautiful face and figure, he had stared blankly—directly at her full, bouncy breasts.
I mean... who wouldn't stare? She was wearing a revealing, sexy black cheongsam that showed off her large chest.
Who in their right mind wouldn't focus on those exposed breasts?
Then—
The club... no, the staff came flying.
Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!!!
"Uwaaaaaaaaagh!!"
