First Time

There was no hair down there.

This body had already seemed hairless except for the hair on my head and my eyebrows, but checking it myself made it certain.

"Oh..."

My pussy was clenched so tightly the slit down the middle was barely even visible.

So this was that famous tightly-closed, line-thin pussy.

I pushed myself up a little and looked down at it more closely. When I gently ran a finger along it, a soft, warm sensation traveled to my fingertip. I tugged the left lip slightly, then did the same on the right. The faintly swollen folds slipped between my fingers.

...Shall I try spreading the middle too?

I hooked my fingers into the tightly shut slit and slowly pulled it open to either side. The pressed-together lips parted, revealing a glimpse ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of what lay inside. When I dragged a fingertip down around the entrance — already glistening with slick — sticky fluid clung to my finger.

"Nnh..."

A tiny opening revealed itself between the pink inner flesh.

So this is a real pussy...

I tried to carefully push a single finger inside, but the entrance clenched hard and resisted. The moment I applied a little more force, a sharp sting bloomed from that spot and spread through my whole body.

"...Ah!"

I yanked my finger out in a startled panic.

...Looks like the inside isn't ready to take a finger at all yet.

I slowly spread the tightly closed slit again, and at the top I could see a small but firmly protruding clit. It was a little bigger than the pea-sized one people usually picture.

—So this is a bit on the large side of average, maybe?

The idle thought vanished from my head just as quickly. That wasn't what mattered right now.

I slowly traced circles around my clit, and my slick-coated finger glided smoothly over it. With every tiny scrape of my fingerprint through that smooth motion, heat gathered in my lower belly. I forced apart the lips that kept trying to close.

"Aungh...♡"

At first it just tickled... but something's starting to build...

A little harder.

A little faster.

I stroked my clit from top to bottom with my thumb and index finger, then rubbed it in circles again. Every time I pinched it lightly between my fingers and let go, a moan slipped out that I couldn't hold back.

"Hngh...♡"

My hips started rocking, little by little. My breathing grew ragged.

"Hik...♡ Haa...♡"

I couldn't stop my fingers. I could feel it through my fingertips — the little nub growing harder, more sensitive, by the second.

It felt good.

No — it feels good.

It feels so good.

I can't hold it...♡

Meanwhile, more wetness kept spilling out, soaking my pussy completely. I kept rubbing with my hips slightly lifted, and the pleasure surged up from below my belly and slammed through my entire body. My legs fell open on their own. My toes curled. My breath came so fast it felt like it might cut off. My hips kept thrusting upward.

I pinched my clit hard between my thumb and index finger—

"Nnh...? Nngh♡ Ah...♡! Hwaaaaahn♡♡♡!!!"

In that instant, my whole body shuddered violently.

My clit convulsed under my fingers, my pussy clenched hard, and at the same time a clear stream of fluid sprayed out with force. The clear liquid ran down my thighs and splattered across the blanket.

"Hwaa...♡ Hngh...♡ Nnnngh...♡"

Once. Twice. Three times.

My body convulsed in short bursts, over and over. With every spasm, another jet shot from my pussy and soaked the bed. My hips jerked. My legs trembled.

I lay there for a long time with my fingers still, while the remaining fluid slowly trickled down the insides of my thighs.

...How much time had passed?

My breathing finally settled. I stared at the ceiling, completely limp.

So this is masturbation.

Even after my mind came back, I couldn't move a single finger for a while. The strength had gone out of my limbs, and my head was so empty that nothing at all would come to mind. Even the horrific scene I'd witnessed just a few hours ago wouldn't surface — not right now.

I stared blankly at the ceiling.

"...That was good."

Maybe it was the tension leaving my body. A heavy, pleasant lethargy sank through me. If I closed my eyes like this, I felt like I could sleep straight through the rest of the day.

The problem was... the one bed I had was a wreck. The sheets beneath my thighs were soaked. Every time I shifted even a little, the wet blanket clung to my skin with an unpleasant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sound.

I lifted my head and surveyed the wreckage.

"Ah, fuck."

I'm probably going to have to keep using this room. What am I supposed to do...?

I waited a moment, just in case a miracle happened and the bedding swapped itself out for a fresh set. Naturally, nothing of the sort occurred.

In the end, I shoved the wet blanket aside and climbed off the bed. My legs wouldn't take my weight properly, and I staggered from the very first step.

"How does one round of masturbation wreck a person like this...?"

Isn't this new body's performance a little too high? Sensitivity, I guess, not performance. I still don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing...

After I finished showering, I folded the wet bedding as small as I could and shoved it into a corner of the room. Nobody was going to come in, but I felt like I had to anyway. Once I'd changed into fresh clothes, yeah. Now I finally felt like I looked like a person again.

A knock sounded at the door the moment I finished getting dressed.

I reflexively glanced at the corner of the bed.

They didn't hear me, did they?

No way. I don't know how good the soundproofing is, but I couldn't have been moaning loud enough for it to leak into the hallway. ...Probably.

"It's me."

It was the woman who'd been counting heads again.

Ah. I should at least ask her name this time.

"We're going to discuss what to do going forward in the lounge. Would you mind coming out, if that's all right?"

I left the room.

"Come to think of it, what's your name?"

"I'm Han Seoyoon."

She slowed her pace and looked back at me.

"And you?"

"I'm... Kim Hanbyul."

I gave her the name that had come to me after a moment's thought. Not that it meant much. I'd just changed one character from the name I'd had as a man.

The survivors were already seated around the long conference table in the lounge, everyone except me. People who'd been scattered all over the place just that morning had now arranged the chairs neatly around a single empty seat, waiting for me.

"You can sit here."

Han Seoyoon pulled out a chair.

This is way too much pressure.

The surrounding conversation died down, and the man in the suit stood up and walked to the whiteboard. Instead of the usage rules, something new was written on it.

"We can't stay on the nineteenth floor forever. Food isn't scarce at the moment, but there's no guarantee it'll last indefinitely. We need to figure out the building's layout, and whether there's a way to escape from here."

"So you're saying we should send more people over there?"

A middle-aged woman cut in sharply.

"Even after watching how those three people died yesterday?"

"I'm not saying we force anyone to go. I'm saying we make a plan first so the same thing doesn't happen again."

"Where would we even go? The West Tower?"

The air in the lounge grew heavy the moment those words came out.

"The West Tower is not an option."

Han Seoyoon's voice was firm.

"Those people were being chased by something when they came back yesterday. Even if they died on the Skybridge because they broke a rule, we have no idea what they went through before that. It's too dangerous."

"Then we could use the elevator."

"Didn't they say even if you board it in the East Tower, you don't know where the doors will open?"

"So it's the stairs, then."

People's eyes flicked back and forth between the whiteboard and me. I hadn't said a word yet, and they'd already landed on the right answer. Well, if it works, it works.

"What about the East Tower's eighteenth floor?"

The young man who'd claimed to know web novels raised his hand.

"We just go down one floor via the emergency stairwell. If anything weird happens, we come right back up."

"There was a rule that if the same floor number appears twice, or if it reverses, you turn back, right?"

"Yes."

When I answered, the man in the suit wrote it on the whiteboard.

"How do we keep track of time? You said we can't trust our phone clocks."

The only things we could trust were the lounge wall clock and the announcements that played at set times.

The man in the suit thought for a moment, then spoke.

"We leave right after the noon announcement. And we come back within thirty minutes."

"Thirty minutes according to whose clock?"

Han Seoyoon shot back immediately.

"If the phones start running slow, the exploration team won't even know thirty minutes have passed."

The man in the suit closed his mouth.

A moment later, the Work-Clothes Man sitting at the end of the conference table raised his hand.

"We just leave one person in the lounge."

Everyone's eyes turned toward him.

"We station someone to watch the wall clock, and post people at intervals from the lounge to the emergency stairwell. Every five minutes, they shout that time has passed and relay it down the line."

"And if the voice doesn't carry through the middle?"

"We treat that as an anomaly too, and come back immediately."

The man in the suit nodded and copied it down.

"We'll use the phone stopwatches as well. Strictly as a backup."

"And when the wall clock hits twelve-thirty, we call them back no matter what."

Han Seoyoon added.

"If contact is lost even once, we abort the exploration immediately."

That was better than having no standard at all and just trusting the phones. Of course, if time itself started twisting, or if the voices got delivered to something else entirely, none of it would matter. But if you started accounting for possibilities like that, you wouldn't be able to take a single step outside your room, so it was a pointless hypothetical anyway.

"While exploring, we call out every floor number in the emergency stairwell out loud."

Han Seoyoon said.

"If the same number repeats or reverses, whoever notices it says so immediately. And we don't touch any occupied rooms or Unnumbered Doors, period."

"Don't prop the fire doors open."

"We shouldn't look out the windows carelessly, either."

"Leaving marks on the building would be pointless. They said those can get erased."

The man in the suit tapped the last item on the whiteboard.

"Let's have two people record everything we find, separately. In case one set of notes changes or disappears."

"What about photos?"

"We probably shouldn't photograph the windows or anything outside."

The moment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I offered an opinion for the first time, everyone nodded right away.

Tch. This isn't the kind of situation I was hoping for.

The exploration principles were added to the whiteboard one by one.

"We'll also need people to relay messages, separate from the exploration team."

"We'll need at least six people moving."

"Isn't sending that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠many people more dangerous?"

"One relay between the lounge and the emergency stairwell, and one stationed at the nineteenth-floor stairs. Every five minutes, the hallway relay checks the wall clock and passes the time along, then shuts the door again right after."

Opinions collided and got revised, over and over. At first it had been nothing more than a vague talk of sending someone, but as the whiteboard filled up, it at least started to look like an actual plan. Far safer than taking the elevator or crossing over to the West Tower.

Of course, I had absolutely no intention of going along.

Why would I?

"Then let's decide who's going."

The man in the suit set down the board marker.

My thinking didn't even last five seconds.

The lounge went quiet.

Twenty pairs of eyes locked onto me with perfect precision.

"...Me too?"

"The rules could change during the exploration, couldn't they?"

I had no argument against what the man in the suit had said.

Hold on.

Once you get power, aren't you supposed to sit in the safest place and order other people around??