Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: A Week of Indulgence
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About a week had passed.
During that time, my life... well, how should I put it?
It felt like I'd become the protagonist in some ero-manga or adult game.
"Haa... haa..."
The moment I got home from work, she pounced on me at the front door.
When I tried to do the dishes after dinner, she ambushed me.
Even when I headed to the bathroom, she kidnapped me right in front of it and had her way.
Hell, even in my sleep, tentacles slipped under the covers, bound me, and forced it out of me.
I'd lost count of how many times I'd tangled with Empress Ap-hos, nonstop.
Was I like a college couple hooked on sex? A newlywed pair in their passionate honeymoon phase? Nah, this was closer to beasts in heat rutting away.
The weird part was, even after getting milked day and night, I didn't feel tired at all.
Any normal guy would've withered up in less than three days.
But me? If anything, my skin was getting better day by day, my eyes brighter and more alive.
Well, I had a pretty good guess why.
I was giving less than I was receiving.
"Ngh... ahh!"
Today was no different.
It was my day off, so I'd been simmering a big pot of kimchi jjigae loaded with pork belly when suddenly a massive shadow loomed over my back.
"Hold still."
Empress Ap-hos, back in her true form as the two-meter empress, snatched my waist.
My upper body slammed onto the counter, pants yanked down to my ankles in an instant.
"W-wait a sec! The stew's gonna boil over... ngh!"
Resistance was pointless.
Her hand seized my cock roughly.
Like milking a cow, she started squeezing wildly.
Squelch, squelch, squelch—
"Ah, aa... ugh!"
Her strokes were rough yet relentless.
What started as a handjob soon switched to her mouth, and I clung to the counter's edge, helpless as she wrung me dry.
And of course, we didn't stop there.
Even I, who'd been flailing about the stew at first, couldn't beat my instincts in the end.
This time, Empress Ap-hos leaned against the counter, taking me in.
"Huff— haa—"
"That's it, good boy. Shake it harder, Min-woo."
I gripped the counter tight and thrust like a beast, matching her rhythm.
Splash, splash—
The wet sounds filled the cramped kitchen.
"Hnnng..."
Empress Ap-hos looked down at me with a sultry smile.
She bent down and claimed my lips.
"Mm!?"
Her tongue ravaged my mouth, shoving thick saliva deep into my throat.
Gulp, gulp.
Sweet, musky, a melting ecstasy that fried my brain.
Her spit absorbed through my mouth, her juices through my glans—flooding into me from above and below.
The sensation of her filling me up was far sharper than anything leaving me.
Bliss from my body brimming with her essence overtook me completely.
"Pha..."
Our lips parted, a long silver thread dangling between.
Empress Ap-hos gazed at my hazy, unfocused eyes and smiled in satisfaction.
"So cute. The way you try so hard is adorable."
She nibbled my earlobe and whispered.
With that laugh, I came again—god knows how many times today.
—
"Cough, cough."
When I snapped out of it after our romp, the kitchen was thick with acrid smoke.
The pot on the gas stove had burned black, a charred lump now.
"Ah... my pork kimchi jjigae..."
I stared at it in despair. My legs wobbled; standing was a chore.
Meanwhile, Empress Ap-hos had shrunk back to her ten-year-old girl form, perched on a dining chair, humming and swinging her legs.
"Min-woo, it smells burnt. Air it out."
"Whose fault is that..."
I grumbled as I opened the windows.
"Can't help it when you're so delicious."
"That's... not a compliment, is it?"
I flopped into the chair across from her.
Her heat still lingered inside me, making my groin throb.
Empress Ap-hos propped her chin on her hand, staring right at me.
"What? Something on my face?"
"Nah. Just."
She narrowed her eyes and grinned.
"Thinking about seconds."
"Eek!? N-no! Absolutely not! I'm tapped out—my hips won't even move!"
I recoiled in horror.
She burst into giggles, clearly amused.
"Kidding. You burned dinner, so we'll order something else."
She snapped her fingers, gesturing to open a delivery app.
I sighed in relief and grabbed my phone.
"What do you want? Korean? Pizza? Chicken?"
"Hmm... chicken. That 'Ppurinkle' stuff from last time. That was good."
An A-rank Aberration that devoured people, and her taste ran to powdery sweet chicken.
I chuckled but ordered four chickens without complaint.
"Hey, Min-woo."
As I spaced out after ordering, she spoke up out of nowhere.
"Yeah?"
"You've gotten prettier lately?"
"...Pardon?"
I couldn't believe my ears. Prettier? Me, a drab guy nearing thirty?
"For real. Skin's whiter, bit more fat, softer jawline."
She hopped onto the table, grabbed my chin, and turned my head this way and that.
"Don't you check the mirror? Haven't even needed to shave lately."
"Oh..."
Come to think of it, yeah.
I never grew much facial hair anyway, but it had been a full week without a single peach fuzz.
I'd chalked it up to less stress.
Now that I thought about it, the foreman had asked a few days back, "Kang, you dating someone? Face looks plumper."
She cackled and pinched my cheek.
"Eek."
"Fine by me. More fun to hold."
Her hand trailed from my cheek to my neck, then along my collarbone.
Cheeks puffed in a pout, I shivered. Electric pleasure sparked wherever she touched.
"Human society's so weird, don't you think?"
She said abruptly.
"How so?"
"Human lives are worthless anyway, but females get protected and loved like it's natural. Especially here—guys go to the army and such, wasting years of their lives, and no one bats an eye."
"Well... can't say you're wrong."
I scratched my cheek and replied.
Just look at Magical Girls. Hunters and soldiers dragged to gates and dungeons get crushed by trucks or whatever, it's a one-line news blip. But a Magical Girl chips a nail? Whole nation frets.
"Why do you think that is?"
Her eyes sparkled as she asked.
Like a teacher quizzing a student.
"Uh... um..."
I was stumped.
Why? Isn't that just how it is?
Men protect women; it's natural...
"B-back in the old days, men were stronger... hunted, farmed... so they got respect..."
"And?"
"Now... machines do it all, so not much need for brute strength...?"
I stammered, and Empress Ap-hos burst out laughing, "Pffft."
Like an adult watching a kindergartener's silly answer.
"Cute response. Half right."
She leaned on the table, staring intently.
"True. Back when you lot grubbed in the dirt with farming and such, musclebound males ruled. Labor was survival."
Her finger tapped the air.
"But now? Info, empathy, charm are the real capital over raw strength. And with awakenings and magic unbound by the body, even more so."
"Ah... yeah."
"Magical Girls are perfect examples. Twig-armed girls crumpling buildings with a flick. Physical power's been meaningless against irrational miracles for ages."
I got the gist.
I'd heard something once: unlike agrarian days, modern parents prefer daughters over sons? Some hypothesis with a fancy name—instinctively favoring girls or whatever.
"So even monsters sizing up 'fit' don't bother with rough, disposable male shells."
"Monsters too...?"
"Yep. Check the Mimic research paper from your Human Monster Ecology Society."
Empress Ap-hos giggled like it was hilarious.
"Over 90% of Mimics infiltrating human society impersonate females. Why do you think?"
"That's..."
"Makes hunters hesitate a second before pulling the trigger. Some idiots even try to protect them and get eaten."
Her eyes gleamed cold and sharp with intellect.
"Monsters know it instinctively too. In this society, wearing a female shell beats a male one for survival hands down."
Her gaze swept over me.
Kang Min-woo, masked in a corpse field, rolling through hazards, treated like cannon fodder who could die any second.
"Min-woo. Didn't you feel it? Three years ago, when your family died. If you'd been a delicate beauty... would the world have shut up with 'tough luck'? Would someone have raged for you?"
"..."
Ridiculous what-if, but undeniable. If I'd been a pretty young girl... at least I wouldn't have been the 'gold-digging scum'.
Because I was this dull, worthless guy, my screams were just noise.
And that irrational, transcendent power called 'Magical Girl' only manifested in women...
"No need to look far. Even I'm a kind of mimic right now... so."
She leaned over the table and took my hand.
"Living as a male in this era is exhausting and inefficient. Especially for fragile, sensitive types like you."
Her fingers stroked my hand softly.
"Don't you ever wish you were female instead? If I weren't injured, I wouldn't let you out—keep you locked in here, pamper you all day."
Not just comfort.
This was... a proposal. A temptation.
The devil's whisper of a better, safer, more loved life.
"Feed you, dress you pretty, shower you in love."
Her hand pressed the scar on my neck from a week ago.
"Eh, gotta be reborn for that."
I deflected with a joke—the mood was getting spooky.
"Next life, I'll be a girl and marry you, Empress Ap-hos. How's that?"
Her lips twisted oddly upward.
"Well..."
Her voice dropped low.
"You wouldn't even need to die... there are ways."
"Huh?"
Ding-dong—!
Perfect timing, the doorbell.
Empress Ap-hos grinned and switched back to her ten-year-old face.
"Chicken's here! Min-woo, get the door!"
"Y-yeah! Coming!"
I scrambled into my pants and bolted to the entrance.
I felt her stare boring into my back.
'There are ways.'
The words echoed, but I shook my head and went to grab the chicken.