The World of Singing Idols -2-
-Kung!!
"E-Eek!?"
Seorin Mai, leader of Stella Heart—the world's No. 1 idol group, bearing the title of Master Idol—let out a faint scream through trembling lips, her face contorted with fear as tears streamed down her cheeks.
There was a simple reason why someone who was the object of everyone's envy and admiration, and who was always loved by all, had become as pitiful as a terrified little animal.
"Finally caught you."
It was the woman before her, pinning Seorin Mai against the wall so she couldn't move. The woman's imposing presence was enough to overwhelm even Mai, a woman who was no stranger to attention.
Exotic brown skin, platinum-blond hair, and a height that surpassed even Mai's. Her build suggested strength rather than the softness people expected of a woman.
And above all—
"Hmm..."
The glacially cold, utterly emotionless gaze in those golden eyes as they stared at Seorin Mai.
Yes. That was the gaze of a predator looking at its prey. It made clear that the figure before her was no ordinary woman.
Overwhelmed, Seorin Mai had screamed in terror.
'How did things end up like this...?'
A month ago, after pouring her heart into releasing a new album with the other group members, Seorin Mai had begun her usual break, spending her days relaxing at home.
Today, she had finally gone to the convenience store nearby to buy Tangerine Milk, the drink she loved and Nopon's beloved national beverage. She had been humming happily as she returned home.
But when she got back, there was an intruder inside—a stranger whom even the owner of the house, Seorin Mai, had never seen.
The moment she stepped into the living room, the woman before her had shoved her against the wall and subdued her. That was how things stood now.
The situation had come so suddenly that Mai's mind had gone blank. She hadn't even thought to resist, much less scream for help from the neighbors.
Not that it would have mattered.
"Face... acceptable. Figure... acceptable..."
Whether Seorin Mai was terrified or not, the woman—Baldurin—examined her with an impassive gaze, appraising her appearance and even checking her body as though she were an object.
Because before Seorin Mai was the target of this mission, she was a prize to be presented to Baldurin's great and beloved father—and husband.
"Puppy... attention!!"
After examining her thoroughly, Baldurin decided that Seorin Mai passed inspection.
"Rejoice, female Prodium. Though your kind is a lowly race unworthy of survival, by the mercy of the great Omega-nim—one of the great humans and my father—you will have the honor of becoming his plaything and bearer of his children."
"Ah... uh... What?"
Having lived a fairly ordinary life, Seorin Mai couldn't understand what the woman was saying.
But just after Baldurin had spoken of the ominous and terrible future awaiting her—
-Sseuk
Baldurin's face—so breathtakingly beautiful that even Mai, a top idol and a contender for the title of the most beautiful woman in the world, might have been captivated by it—moved closer to Mai's.
And then—
"Chup"
"!?!?!?"
Their lips met.
The sudden kiss left Mai stunned. She froze, unable to react.
Mai had ordinary, conventional tastes. The unexpected kiss had shocked her so badly that she couldn't move.
But that moment decided her fate.
"Chureup... Hmm. Unlike the warriors of Amazoneia, your lips are quite soft."
Amazoneia was a race composed entirely of women, whose home planet was Amazanne, a place where men were forbidden to enter.
Moreover, thanks to their powerful physiques, the Amazoneia were always full of energy. It was commonplace for them to satisfy one another's desires.
That was why Baldurin remained remarkably unfazed even after kissing Mai.
But Mai, who had suddenly found herself on the receiving end of that kiss, was not so composed.
It wasn't simply that she was flustered by the kiss.
"Ah... ah...!?"
The moment their lips parted, Mai's body went limp and she collapsed to the floor, landing hard.
At the same time, her body began to tremble abnormally. Her eyes lost focus, her gaze drifting toward empty space, and sweat began pouring from her in such quantities that it soaked her clothes.
Her mouth hung open, unable to close, and incoherent moans kept slipping from her lips.
Her reaction was clearly abnormal.
Nothing that could happen from a kiss—unless poison had been involved.
But—
"Hmm. It's working well."
What had entered Seorin Mai's body was far deadlier than any poison.
It was the military implant Omega had given Baldurin: the [Second-Class Citizen Military Quecto Machine Production Implant].
The Quecto Machines produced inside it had entered Mai's body through Baldurin's saliva, delivered by the kiss.
A Quecto Machine was an ultra-small machine measuring one quectometer—more than ten billion times smaller than a quark, the basic unit of matter smaller than an atom.
It was a product of human technology whose very existence was impossible under the laws of physics as they were currently understood. So unimaginably small that it was less a machine than a quantum swarm.
In the early days of transcendence, humanity had used these microscopic machines to manipulate matter at the atomic level and even twist physical phenomena themselves.
But later, with the emergence of Cosmic Computational Engineering—a more versatile and convenient technology—the use of Quecto Machines had all but died out, except in research.
Now, the technology survived only through military applications for 2nd Class Citizens.
Yet, despite that inglorious history—
"Ah, ah, ah...!!!"
Its power was truly extraordinary. A mere Prodium with technology at the level of the twenty-first century had no hope of resisting it.
Omega had learned that while analyzing Yulia V Republica, whom he treated like a pet and called "puppy," and the crew members of the so-called Human Alliance Expeditionary Fleet.
Perhaps because the Prodium had once been severely affected by humanity's mind-control technology during the Great War, they had used meme technology to imprint hostility toward humanity upon their descendants, granting them powerful resistance to mental attacks.
That barrier was so complex and twisted that, assuming there was no equipment and only the mind itself could be manipulated, even Omega—a human—would need a full three minutes to dismantle it completely and freely control the mind.
But there were far too many Prodium. That approach was horrendously inefficient.
So Omega had chosen a more effective method.
He had implanted Baldurin with a Quecto Machine producer: an extremely cost-effective device that could physically reconstruct a target's brain and the very nature of their existence from within.
He planned to use it to modify and brainwash the Prodium, laying the foundation for his conquest of Terakanta.
The first target was, of course, Seorin Mai, leader of the top idol group with the greatest influence in a world obsessed with idols.
"Ah... humanity... obey... ah, ah..."
The Quecto Machines that had entered Seorin Mai's body began to reconstruct her very existence.
They preserved only the appearance, along with certain physical and mental characteristics, that would please Omega, as well as the traits that allowed her to remain a Prodium and avoid legal complications. Everything else was altered from the subatomic level up, beyond even the level of DNA.
"Ah, ah, ah... Omega... Master...-nim?... Ah, ah... obey... revere... worship... ah, ah..."
-Jeureureuk
As the very foundations of Seorin Mai's existence were twisted, she felt no pain. Instead, she became deeply immersed in the pleasure caused by the Quecto Machines as they worked through her brain, imprinting loyalty to Omega and humanity.
She began trembling, overwhelmed by repeated waves of pleasure.
Amid the ecstasy of her very existence being brought under someone else's control, Seorin Mai's lips stumbled over the information the Quecto Machines were engraving at the subatomic level.
Fluid soaked through her jeans, then gradually began pooling on the floor.
And at last—
-Ttuk
"......"
Several dozen seconds after the Quecto Machines entered her body, the reconstruction was complete. Seorin Mai's head drooped limply, like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
-Sseuk
Then she rose to her feet as if she had come to her senses.
Her bangs were disheveled from the trembling and the excessive sweat, making her expression difficult to see.
Watching her—
"Tell me. What are you?"
Baldurin asked a simple question about the very nature of her existence.
At once—
-Seureong!!
-Bbuwook!!
Without a moment's hesitation, Seorin Mai lifted her hoodie up over her chest.
She then roughly removed her undergarments and tore apart her jeans and underwear with a force no delicate hand should have been able to muster.
Her figure was fuller than Baldurin's, and her exposed skin was flushed. She stood there in a thoroughly compromising display.
For an idol—especially a top idol—it was already an utterly indecent sight. But Seorin Mai did not stop there.
-Jjwaak
With one hand, she pulled aside her clothing to expose herself further to Baldurin, leaving no doubt that she had never allowed anyone to touch her before.
And—
-Cheok!!
"Puppy!! Glory to the great humans and to my beloved Master, Omega-nim! Destruction to the foolish Prodium!!"
While swearing loyalty to humanity and Omega and spewing hatred and hostility toward her own kind, she raised her other hand above her head.
Then, as though she had stepped straight out of a manual, she struck a perfect salute without a hint of hesitation.
The salute was both indecent and solemn.
Yes. It was the Security Division's indecent salute.
"Your humble, worthless servant, a breeding tool for the great Omega-nim, greets Baldurin-nim, the noble 2nd Class Citizen of exalted lineage!!"
Maintaining her salute, Seorin Mai greeted Baldurin while lowering her own worth as a woman to the extreme and elevating the woman before her beyond measure.
Even as she delivered that shameless greeting, her body did not waver in the slightest.
She held her pose like a statue and maintained the salute to the very end.
Her whole body was drenched in sweat, her eyes were unfocused with a joy close to madness at the thought that she now belonged to Omega, and her lips and clothing were visibly damp. Even so, her posture never once faltered.
-Ssik
At the sight of her shameless display—one that somehow carried an unsettling menace to ordinary eyes—Baldurin smiled with satisfaction.
Then she approached Seorin Mai and—
"Puppy... attention!!"
-Chap!!
She struck Mai's backside with her palm.
Even through the jeans, Mai's figure rippled from the impact.
"Eek!! Thank you!!"
Despite the unmistakably humiliating act, Seorin Mai felt no displeasure. Instead, she was delighted.
Now that she had been reconstructed as Omega's plaything, a slap from Omega or one of his close associates was not punishment. It was a reward.
"Excellent, new recruit! Keep improving yourself for Father!"
"Yes!! I'll become an even more shameless and obedient servant for Master Omega-nim!!"
Nodding at the new recruit's fine display of obedience, Baldurin stopped treating Seorin Mai as an enemy Prodium and began treating her as Omega's property.
"Good. Then I'll give you the opportunity to serve Father as part of his great plan."
"It's an honor!! I'll devote myself to serving Master, even if it wears me down completely!!"
"Excellent dedication! Then..."
Praising Seorin Mai's eagerness—there was no trace left of the refined top idol, and every word she spoke was now lewd and vulgar—Baldurin thought of the next targets.
"New recruit. Contact the other Prodium in your group, Stella Heart. Turn them into human servants for Father, just like you."
"Puppy!! I'll do it immediately!!"
The seeds of destruction had begun to spread.