The Village Chief's Deception
While Hyerim was telling him about the neighborhood—that is, the story of Mahari—an old man claiming to be the village chief came hurrying over to them.
The village clearly wasn’t some traditional yangban settlement. The elderly chief approached Hyerim and Pungjin with obvious urgency.
“Ah… so you’re the one treating Namgyu? I’ve heard the rumors. They say the treatment is going well. Well… the thing is… I have a rather urgent favor to ask of you.”
What the hell? Pungjin thought. He had come to a fantasy world overflowing with magic, yet here was this talk of proper social order and hierarchy. The mix of polite and casual speech only deepened his suspicion. Is this place just another Confucian Taliban state, no different from the Joseon I left behind? An ominous chill crawled down his spine.
The old man was asking for a favor the moment they met. The classic authoritarian attitude of the older generation filled Pungjin with instinctive disgust, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to stay on the village chief’s good side. So he obediently accepted the request.
The chief said he had gathered various medicinal herbs in a storage building a short distance from the village. He wanted Pungjin to check whether any of them could be used to treat Namgyu and whether they held any real medicinal value.
Yeah… that’s a reasonable enough favor.
“Of course. We’ll go take a look.”
In case any of the herbs proved useful, the three of them set off at once. The afternoon had already passed, and the sky was beginning to darken.
The storage building was much farther than the chief had claimed.
“Chief, why is it so far? You said it was just a short walk.”
“Uh… well… just a little farther!”
“Look out! Miss Hyerim, be careful! M-monsters… goblins!”
Out of nowhere, goblins swarmed in, encircling the three of them in an instant. These weren’t the same mindless creatures they had faced before. These ones carried crude metal weapons, spears, and even shields. Their eyes gleamed with vicious, murderous intent.
They wore black clothes and hats, and with them appeared a middle-aged man dressed so obviously like a mage that he might as well have been holding a sign saying “I am a wizard.”
The moment the mage showed himself, the village chief turned and fled, leaving the stunned Hyerim and Pungjin behind.
“Ah… I was worried you might not show, so I was on edge. Hehehe…”
“Hehehehe. As if I would break my promise. You did well. You may leave now. Lol.”
“Yes, Lord Mage.”
“Chief! What the hell is this?!”
“I’m sorry, everyone. It couldn’t be helped… for the sake of the village. It had to be this way. Sigh… I will carry this sin with me to the grave.”
“What are you even saying?!”
The goblins’ sharp spears hovered inches from their bodies, ready to strike. Paralyzed by terror, neither of them could move.
“Enough chatter. Come along quietly. Kekeke.”
The mage began dragging them away. Pungjin shouted in protest.
“What the hell is going on here?!”
“Shut your mouth, you bastard! Bam! Bam! Bam!”
Once again, Pungjin found himself beaten by a magic staff.
“Jinjin!”
Hyerim’s face drained of all color at the mage’s cruel violence.
“Hurry, hurry, my children. Let’s go home. Hehehet! I’m already so excited~!”
Without the slightest idea of what was happening or why, the two were dragged to the mage’s house under the iron-tight watch of the goblins.
The moment they stepped inside, the mage cast a spell that pinned both their hands to the wall. Now they could only stare at each other from a short distance, completely immobilized.
“Um… excuse me, Lord Mage… could you at least tell us why you’re doing this? Just the reason—”
His question was answered by the mage’s staff—no, his club—crashing down on him. Do all mages and witches learn how to beat people with their staves? The situation felt far too familiar. Pungjin felt almost no emotion at all.
Hyerim, however, had never experienced such raw violence. She wept silently, tears dripping down her face as she sobbed without making a sound.
Then, with a sudden poof, thick smoke filled the room. The male mage who had been standing there vanished, and in his place—
—appeared a tall, slender, strikingly beautiful young woman. Her clothes were a revealing, sensual version of a hanbok. While the local fashion seemed to be based on traditional robes, at least it wasn’t as outrageously provocative as what his previous owners had worn. That was a small mercy.
“Maintaining that transformation wastes far too much mana. I wanted to keep this form hidden, but… oh well. It doesn’t matter now. Just wait a little longer, children. I’ll prepare the medicine for you~! The problem is that gathering ingredients has been difficult lately. Prices these days are absolutely insane, truly…”
Medicine again?!
The witches in this world really seemed to lose their minds if they couldn’t force drugs down people’s throats. Illegal human experimentation was apparently just another Tuesday for them.
Fixed to the wall, the two of them waited helplessly for hours. Night had fallen completely, and darkness blanketed the room.
“It’s done. Here… open wide… ahhh…”
The wicked beauty held out a vial of strangely scented liquid and brought it to Pungjin’s lips.
“No! I’d rather die! Kill me instead, you bitch!”
“This bastard really wants to die, huh? Bam! Bam! Bam!”
Pungjin pretended to resist, but the combination of her deceptively kind and beautiful face and the terrifying barrage of blows made him give up. He swallowed the medicine in heavy gulps.
“Now it’s your turn, you adorable little lady. Here. Good girl?”
“…Yes.”
Hyerim, having watched Pungjin get beaten, was too terrified to resist. She took the medicine without protest.
“Hehehe… Especially you, boy. I don’t know why, but your yin energy is ridiculously potent. I don’t usually resort to this, but I simply can’t hold back any longer. This opportunity is far too good to pass up. Heh heh heh…”
The nameless beauty muttered to herself—the typical soliloquy of a long-isolated witch.
“Wait—Lady Mage! No, Lady Witch! Archmage! Please, at least tell us why you’re doing this! If you let us go, I’ll do anything! I’m really good at all sorts of things, I swear!”
Thankfully his mouth wasn’t sealed. Pungjin babbled whatever came to mind, trying to calm himself. At least the medicine didn’t cause immediate excruciating pain. That was something. But the situation only grew more suspicious.
What kind of experiment is this? Is it even an experiment?
This feeling… Ah, of course. It’s that, isn’t it? No way… but why?
His breathing grew ragged. The sensation was exactly like the time he had been hit with estrus magic. He could already feel himself growing hard.
Don’t tell me I’m about to get raped again? But then why involve Hyerim?!
“Hehehe… I can feel the yin energy rising. Mmm, yes… this sensation, this aroma…”
The witch inhaled deeply, as if savoring the energy floating in the air, and slowly approached Hyerim. The girl was clearly affected as well—her cheeks flushed, her breathing hot and uneven.
She gave a woman an estrus drug too? But… this is too erotic… No… I can’t…!
Hyerim was simply standing there, yet her heated breaths, flushed cheeks, glazed eyes, and restless fidgeting made her look unbearably seductive.
Aah… I can’t hold back…
His mind was flooded with unnatural lust, but he had experienced this so many times that he wasn’t completely panicked. Hyerim, however, was facing it for the first time. She trembled violently, overwhelmed by fear and tension.
“Tsk tsk… Why is this child so tense? Her yin energy isn’t flowing properly. Well, you were only meant to be a helper anyway… If you can’t get excited and seduce him, I suppose I’ll have to do it myself.”
The witch approached Hyerim, gently stroking her face while giving Pungjin a seductive look.
“S-stop… please…”
Neither of them had truly done anything yet, but to Pungjin it felt obscenely intimate. He could feel a massive amount of energy being drained from his body.
“Aah… just as I thought. It’s incredible. What exactly are you? I’ve never encountered a human male like you. With this much yin energy, I could feast for days. Kekeke.”
Speaking in a sultry voice, the witch moved with agonizing slowness, deliberately teasing as she began to untie the strings of Hyerim’s upper garment. She clearly knew exactly how to drive a man insane.
Pungjin stared so hard he thought his eyes might pop out of his skull.
“Ack! What are you doing?! Don’t look! Stop staring!”
Hyerim’s face burned crimson with shame. She screamed, twisting and struggling against her bonds to escape the witch’s hands. The desperate movements only made her look even more erotic.
Shit… Realizing what he was doing, Pungjin squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head. But the image of Hyerim’s pale, shyly revealed skin was already burned into his mind like a dagger to the heart.
“Hmm… maybe the drug isn’t working on them. Don’t tell me they’re both virgins? That would explain the resistance. Still… this yin energy is driving me crazy. I’m already soaked… Mmm… I’m so turned on…”
“Stop it! What are you doing?! Don’t—sob—please!”
The sounds of fabric tearing, clothes being yanked away, and Hyerim’s desperate resistance filled the room. The mental image of her garments falling open pushed Pungjin’s arousal to the breaking point.
“Aah… this yin energy… it’s insane… absolutely incredible!”
The witch breathed heavily as she continued absorbing the energy. Absorbing yin energy? Is she really a witch? Pungjin suddenly felt doubtful. He had never seen Miwol or Shinji behave this way.
