The Secret Exposed
Chaeyeon looked like she’d made the biggest decision of her life. With a solemn expression, she focused blue mana into her right leg.
Crackle—
The snapping current violently whipped the hem of her school uniform skirt.
I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact I knew was coming.
Thump!
A dull thud rang out, and a sharp, tingling pain exploded from my buttocks straight into my brain.
“Graaaah!”
It was the shock meant to disrupt my Mana Circuit.
Since she’d struck my butt with real force, it was only natural that I could no longer control the flow of mana properly. My directionless power scattered wildly in every direction.
What should have happened next was the scattered mana reforming so Jinny could be resummoned.
But things went completely differently from the plan.
Whoosh—
Instead of reigniting from the shattered mana, Jinny’s body dissolved into golden particles that spread out in a wide cloud.
“Hey… you idiots…”
She began to scatter into the empty air and vanish.
“If you kick… too hard… how am I supposed to hold… on…”
Jinny’s resentful final words echoed like a fading ghost.
An eerie silence settled over the forest.
The summon had been canceled.
The spider silk still bound me tightly, and in front of me stood only Chaeyeon—frozen with her leg raised—and empty space.
“Huh…?”
Chaeyeon’s eyes widened in clear panic.
I hadn’t expected her to hit me that hard either, but I could never have imagined things would spiral even further out of control.
While we all stood there stunned into silence, the quiet was shattered by Arachne’s roar. She had nearly freed herself from the spiderweb restraints.
Kieeeeeek—!
The situation had gone from bad to worst.
Consumed by rage, Arachne approached with her eight legs bent at grotesque angles. The purple patterns on her back writhed hideously as they drank in the surrounding mana, thickening the air until it felt suffocating.
“Hey…! What now?”
Arachne was closing in fast. She looked furious; sizzling venom dripped from her mouth, melting the ground wherever it landed.
As if mocking me for losing my power, she took aim with another bundle of sticky spider silk.
“You stay right there. I’ll handle this.”
Chaeyeon looked fed up as she adjusted the mana in her right leg, sending sparks of electricity dancing across it.
Crackle—
“Stop, Chaeyeon!”
I barely managed to halt her before she could charge forward.
“Look at the people trapped in those cocoons… They’re students from our school.”
Chaeyeon hesitated at my words, adjusting her stance. She scanned the cocoons hanging between the trees.
“They’re still alive.”
Faces could be seen through the dense threads, eyes closed as if sleeping, yet their mana was steadily being drained along the connected webs straight into Arachne.
“A precise strike in a narrow range…”
She muttered it quietly while glancing at me.
“Good eye. If you hadn’t stopped me, it would’ve been a disaster.”
The Chaeyeon I knew fought with kicks that usually came with wide-area damage. If she had attacked these densely packed mana webs indiscriminately, the trapped students would have been in serious danger.
Kieeeeeek—!
Arachne let out another ominous cry and continued clearing her own webs as she advanced.
“But I can’t use my power right now…?”
Chaeyeon looked at me, clearly asking for a solution.
Still pinned down by the spider silk, I squirmed and answered.
“We have to summon Jinny again! Start from the beginning!”
“Then summon her already! That monster is right on top of us!”
I wish I could, Chaeyeon.
But I can’t.
“I can’t do it alone! My hands are completely tied—I can’t even reach my butt!”
I was wrapped so tightly I couldn’t move a single limb.
In that desperate moment, one idea surfaced.
Ah, crap.
This was definitely not ideal.
But no matter how hard I racked my brain, there was no other option.
I had to make the most humiliating decision of my entire life.
It was beyond embarrassing.
“Chaeyeon… you… you’re going to have to do it.”
“What? Do what?”
“…Rub my butt.”
“What…?”
Her usual proud demeanor had completely vanished. Chaeyeon stared at me with a face twisted by disgust and utter bewilderment.
Even then, Arachne’s massive front leg drew closer and closer.
“How exactly do I…?”
“I’ll focus my power, so just rub it gently.”
When Arachne’s front leg smashed the tree right beside us and swung wildly, Chaeyeon squeezed her eyes shut.
“Hurry! If you don’t, we’ll both end up as cocoons!”
“Ugh, fine! I don’t even care anymore!”
With trembling hands, Chaeyeon reached through the webs and began vigorously rubbing my exposed butt.
“Come out! Come out right now!”
The touch—mixed with anger and shame—made hot mana surge from deep inside my buttocks.
Hiiiiiss—!
In a burst of brilliant blue smoke, Jinny popped out once again.
“Whoa~! That rubbing technique has some serious skill behind it!”
The revived Jinny winked at Chaeyeon.
“Ew! I really, really hate this!!”
Chaeyeon shrieked, yanked her hand away, and stumbled back three steps while covering her face.
She must have been incredibly embarrassed.
Yeah, Chaeyeon.
You must have found it disgusting and humiliating,
but just imagine how it feels for me to have you rubbing my butt.
“All right, Arachne. I’ll be the one to finish you off!”
A golden aura exploded around Jinny like a storm.
She lightly stepped across the air and clenched her fists.
Sensing the threat, Arachne fired dozens of strands of spider silk, but Jinny unleashed lightning-fast jabs into empty space.
Small dimensional gates opened in front of her fists, and the golden fists that burst out shredded every incoming web to pieces.
“You dare make me angry?”
When Jinny swung her leg in a wide arc, a massive dimensional gate opened beneath Arachne.
A golden foot surged upward and kicked the spider monster squarely under the jaw.
Arachne’s enormous body floated into the air.
“Pathetic little bug!”
Spiders are arachnids, not insects… but whatever. Just keep hitting her, Jinny.
Jinny swung her arms and legs in a dazzling flurry, like shadowboxing in midair.
With every motion, dozens of dimensional gates flickered around Arachne from every angle.
Countless fists and feet exploded through the portals, pummeling the spider’s entire body.
Boomboomboomboom—!
The whole forest shook.
Finally Jinny drew her right fist all the way back and threw a devastating punch.
A golden fist the size of a truck burst through a dimensional gate and slammed straight into Arachne’s face.
KABOOOOOM—!
With an explosion that seemed to swallow the entire forest, the spider monster vanished into a wisp of black smoke without even a scream.
The webs binding me lost their power source and crumbled into ash.
Once the chaotic energy around us settled, the students freed from the cocoons began to regain consciousness one by one.
“Huh… I was definitely…”
“I was in the gym storage room…? Why am I here now?”
“What happened to us…?”
Chaeyeon and I did our best to act casual while checking on them.
Fortunately, none of them had serious injuries beyond a bit of drained mana.
Chaeyeon brushed spider-silk remnants off her clothes and muttered under her breath.
“That thing you made me do earlier… You’re taking it to the grave.”
“Obviously. I want to extend my social lifespan too.”
We told the students to return to school as quietly as possible, then started walking leisurely along the forest path.
The sense of accomplishment was just washing over me when—
Ding-dong-dang-dong—
The bell from the main building announcing the start of fifth period rang like a bolt from the blue.
“…?!”
Chaeyeon and I locked eyes.
Our brief moment of ease instantly turned to pure terror.
Gaon High’s tardiness penalty points were far scarier than Arachne’s venom.
“It’s fifth period! Run!!”
Screaming, we launched into a desperate sprint toward the school.
My butt ached from forcing out mana, and my legs burned from yesterday’s squats.
But none of that mattered in the face of Gaon High’s infamous demerit system.
I pumped my legs with everything I had, trying to keep up with Chaeyeon’s lightning speed.
***
Right before the classroom door closed, I managed to slide into my seat at the last possible second.
But the sigh of relief was short-lived.
“Ouch…”
The moment my butt touched the chair, the pain from Chaeyeon’s kick flared back to life.
Fifth period was Introduction to Mana Studies.
It would have been interesting on any other day, but right now every minute felt like an hour.
“Baek Gangjin, what’s with that posture? Got hemorrhoids or something?”
Deokgu, sitting beside me, whispered.
I answered while breaking out in a cold sweat.
“Shut up… I’m tasting hell right now.”
I spent the entire class barely perched on the edge of my seat.
As a result my legs started cramping, and every time I stood up to answer a question…
“Ow!”
A groan would slip out, earning strange looks from the entire class.
After what felt like an eternity, the longest fifth period in the world finally ended and the break bell rang.
I couldn’t take it anymore and hobbled toward the infirmary in an awkward half-crouch.
Luckily the school nurse was away at a seminar.
I carefully drew the curtains, lay face-down on the bed, and pulled my pants down just enough to check the pain.
“Hey… Jinny, come out.”
I reached one hand behind me and started rubbing my butt.
The unavoidable ritual to summon her.
In response to my touch, blue smoke began to rise in soft puffs near my buttocks.
Right at that moment—
Whoosh—!
The infirmary curtain was yanked open with force.
“Um, since the nurse isn’t here, do you know where she—”
It was Jang Bora, the vice class president.
She never finished the sentence.
An unbelievable scene was unfolding right before her eyes.
Me lying face-down with the blanket flipped aside, desperately rubbing my own butt,
and the bizarre, mystical process of a golden-haired beautiful spirit girl popping out in a cloud of blue smoke where my hand touched.
Thud—
The thick book in Bora’s hand dropped to the floor.
She stood frozen, mouth open, completely stunned.
“Oh, if it isn’t the vice president? Hello there?”
Jinny floated in the air, waving cheerfully.
“Did you come to watch the butt-rubbing show?”
I frantically yanked the blanket over myself, but it was already too late. Everything had been exposed.
“Gangjin… you… were just rubbing your butt…”
Bora stood there blankly, replaying the scene in her mind.
The number of people who knew the secret of my pale buttocks was steadily growing.
It wouldn’t be long before the whole school called me the S-class Butt Man.
I closed my eyes tightly and nodded.
I want to die.