Shura... Pungjin... Miwol...
When Pungjin drove the spear into the succubus, he had fully expected blood to spray everywhere just like it had with the village chief earlier.
Instead, at the spot where the spear had pierced her, a strange black-and-red energy exploded from her heart like a burst of light. He recoiled in shock.
Ah… ah… what the hell is this… Did I screw up?
Terrified, Pungjin yanked the spear free, hurled it aside, and scrambled backward.
“Miss Hyerim… r-run!”
Hyerim darted away just as quickly.
The black-and-red energy kept pouring from the succubus’s heart for a long moment before it slowly began to fade. At the very end, a bright glow emerged, and the wound from the spear… started to close.
“N-no way… how is this even possible…”
Certain he had done something terribly wrong, Pungjin shrank in fear.
“M-maybe we shouldn’t have tried to kill the succubus… Aah… Jinjin-nim, let’s just grab the money and run straight back to the village.”
“Y-yeah, let’s do that!!”
The pair snatched up the bags they had set aside and hurried to prepare their escape.
“Shall I lend you a hand?”
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!”
“What the—?! Aaaah!! I tied her up tight, I swear!”
The succubus they had bound so thoroughly—even lashed to the pillar—Kanshura—now wore a sweet, innocent expression. She blinked her large eyes, rushed straight at Pungjin, threw her arms around him, and pressed her full, heavy breasts against his arm.
“Aah… my benefactor… You didn’t just free me, you awakened me…”
“I, the succubus Provina Kanshura, no longer need to wander the countryside in search of yin energy. From now on I will live by your side forever… Aah, benefactor… thank you so much…”
Aah… what the actual hell…
Kanshura calmly explained the situation.
During their first intense sexual union, all the yin energy inside her body had drained away. Pungjin’s semen had flooded in, completely freeing her from the curse of yin. Yet the primal true energy, the origin energy, the innate energy that filled her heart remained untouched. The two opposing forces had waged a ferocious war within her, transforming her body. Then Pungjin’s spear had pierced her heart, releasing that sealed innate energy. At the same moment her heart was drenched in his semen, completing the change. The succubus Kanshura had been strengthened, awakened, and reborn as a mid-tier demon.
On top of that, the influence of his semen had bound her to him. She had become a slave who literally could not live without Pungjin.
“I don’t know the exact details… Most succubi have already vanished, so very little knowledge remains. It is certain I have become a mid-tier demon, but I don’t fully understand what that means. Teehee~!”
“The old legends say that if a succubus has intercourse with ten thousand men and gathers their semen, she can ascend to mid-tier. But every time we have sex our yin energy drains out, so we must gather it again. That process takes nearly a year, so everyone assumed it was just a myth or exaggeration.”
Kanshura had upgraded from an ordinary succubus to a Succubus Princess, yet after so many long years the related lore had been lost. Even she herself did not truly understand what had happened to her.
Then Kanshura lowered her head and performed a perfect dogeza, apologizing for everything she had done to the pair.
“I did not know who you were. I kidnapped you, fed you an aphrodisiac, and tried to steal my benefactor’s yin energy. And to this woman I threw her to the goblins intending to impregnate her with their spawn. Whatever punishment you decree, I will accept it gladly. Only please… spare my life and allow me to remain at my benefactor’s side… Sob…”
Tears streamed down her face as she groveled, begging for forgiveness. The habitual violent criminal who had casually abused others like any other witch had suddenly transformed into a demure, weeping, suspiciously well-behaved girl. Both Hyerim and Pungjin were utterly stunned.
“Umm… Hyerim… what should we do?”
“Well… Shura is basically yours now, Jinjin-nim, so… you decide!”
Hyerim burned with rage, yet at the same time felt a deep surge of gratitude toward Pungjin. According to Kanshura’s story, without him the wicked village chief would have let goblins rape and creampie her until she became a living goblin breeding factory. The chief had known exactly what he was doing when he muttered about goblins and pregnancy earlier.
Damn it… If I’d known, I would have made that bastard’s death far more painful.
While Hyerim simmered in silent fury, Pungjin stood there dazed by the incredible stroke of luck that had literally rolled into his lap.
Hmm… All I’ve ever done is live as someone’s slave… and now I get to own a stunning beauty like this as my own slave? Is this… real? If it’s a dream, please let me wake up soon…
Ever since the moment he first set foot in this Murim world, everything had felt like a dream. That was the only reason he had been able to stay indifferent to Miwol and that crazy bitch’s merciless violence—by telling himself it was all just Zhuangzi’s butterfly dream, a fleeting illusion. Escaping into that fantasy had let him endure it.
But now the fact that he could actually own a succubus as his slave was reality, not a dream, and the realization left him completely dazed.
Still… is she really my slave? Hmm…
“Kanshura… That’s too long. I’ll call you Shura from now on.”
“Yes, benefactor. Call me whatever you wish.”
“Good. And stop calling me benefactor. Call me Master… No, call me Jinjin-nim.”
“What? But how could I possibly dare to casually use my benefactor’s—”
“Hey now… Already disobeying me?!”
With a thunderous roar, Pungjin slammed his foot down on Shura’s head while she was still prostrated in dogeza.
Thud!
“Eek! Uhh…! S-sorry! Be— I mean, Jinjin-nim!!”
“Heh, still hasn’t learned her lesson. If you keep ignoring my words from now on, things are going to get really unpleasant for you…”
“U-understood, Jinjin-nim… Haah… haah… Ah… it feels… so good… Please… step on me harder… uck…”
“Is this bitch insane?!”
Realizing she had quite the masochistic streak, Pungjin continued stomping on Shura’s head, thoroughly educating her.
Listen up—these types need to be trained right from the start. I learned that lesson well from my master Miwol… Ah! Damn it, I’m still calling that bitch “master”…
Recalling his memories with Miwol sent a slight shiver down his spine.
So that’s what it felt like when that Miwol bitch treated me this way… Exactly like how I’m treating Shura right now… Aah… what is this… this rush… So this is why she did it to me!!
Without even realizing it, Pungjin had come to understand Miwol a little better.
Hyerim, seeing this cruel and terrifying new side of him for the first time, was genuinely startled.
I thought he was just a good-natured pushover… Guess I’ll have to be more careful around him from now on.
“Since you clearly haven’t learned your place yet, you will remain exactly like that until I tell you to stand. Execute!”
“Yes… understood… haah… haah…”
“Hey! You’re supposed to repeat the command back to me!”
“Repeat… command…? What is… uuu…”
Pungjin once again gave Shura a thorough Korean military-style education. Even though back in his army days he had been a special-attention soldier who caused nothing but trouble for his seniors and juniors, he now taught her with absolute authority.
“Execute!”
“Execute! Aang… so good… haah…”
In the end, Pungjin—having successfully transplanted Korean military culture into the Murim world—puffed out his chest with pride and led Hyerim into the bedroom.
Ah… this pushover is finally showing his true colors… What do I do? Just give in? Or play a little hard to get?
Hyerim followed him, her mind spinning with all sorts of strange fantasies.
“So… what are you actually planning to do from now on?”
Contrary to her expectations, Pungjin began discussing their next steps in a calm voice. Hyerim’s tension drained away and she answered casually.
“Hmm… I was thinking of pretending nothing happened, returning to the village, and once my father recovers, heading back to the city to continue my apprentice priestess duties.”
“Yeah, that sounds best. Telling the villagers we killed the succubus or that the forest is now monster-free would just cause more headaches.”
Once the succubus lost her power, the goblins’ enslavement magic seemed to break. They had all vanished.
Of course they ran. They had been forcibly bound and used like slaves, after all—just as Pungjin himself had fled from Miwol. The thought left a strange taste in his mouth.
“Still, we should at least let the villagers know so they can thank you, Jinjin-nim. You eliminated the succubus and drove away the monsters. The village chief is gone now, so they might not be able to reward you immediately, but we should at least get a promise of future compensation.”
Both of them carefully avoided mentioning the village chief directly.
“Hmm… yeah. Just burying it does feel a bit unfair to me.”
There was no longer any need to keep playing the good-natured pushover. He had already killed a person and now owned a succubus as his slave. What was left to fear?
“But we’ll need evidence that we defeated the succubus and chased off the goblins, or they won’t believe us. We don’t have anything to show…”
“That’s true. They won’t take our word for it. Oh, wait—there’s that mage’s staff. Maybe showing them that would work?”
“It might… but only the chief knew about the mage. I’m not sure they’ll believe us if we suddenly produce it. The goblin stuff would be easiest to explain…”
“And there were quite a few goblin heads and arms stored in the warehouse out back!”
“Why the hell did you keep those in the warehouse?!”
Pungjin stared in horror at the grotesque goblin body parts and demanded an answer from Shura.
Still panting in her dogeza position, Shura replied.
“Th-that’s because some of the goblins didn’t respond well to the slave magic… I used them as examples, killed them, and kept the parts to intimidate the rest… Aah… Jinjin-nim… please torment me more… I beg you…”
“Shut your mouth, you bitch! How dare you give orders to your master!”
