The More I See Him, the Stranger He Gets
The more I looked at him, the stranger he seemed. The countless dolls hanging on the walls writhed in agony even though Bin Chi-seung hadn't done anything to them. I couldn't tell why. But it was easy to guess that it was one of his abilities.
"Collection number 1,219. The hero has once again cleansed society today. Hehehehe—"
Watching Bin Chi-seung's shoulders shake with mad glee, it really looked like he believed that with all his heart and was genuinely happy about it. Not satisfied with what he'd done earlier, he approached one of the clearly female dolls hanging on the wall and began masturbating again.
"Huff, huff— You fucking bitch, why did you look at me with those eyes? That's why you're in this state now."
'Ugh, seriously…'
Once again, disgust boiled up from deep inside me. But more than that, I focused on trying to gauge the level of his power.
'Ugh… No good. I can't sense anything.'
Since I was only watching a recording of past events rather than experiencing it directly, I couldn't get a read on his true capabilities. Then the screen blacked out, and darkness filled my mind.
You can move directly to the Great Villain.
When the Mimicry activation time expires, you will return to the location where Mimicry was activated.
'Whoa?! I don't even need to go find him myself? That's amazing!'
It neatly solved one of the inconveniences I'd been feeling all this time.
"Hmm… Why do you look so surprised?"
"Huh? Oh. The Mimicry skill got upgraded and gained a new function—"
I explained that I could now designate a Great Villain and instantly move to the location of a bad guy. Yeonhee was greatly shocked by my explanation and said we should go catch him right away.
"Not right now… There's not much time left, so it's going to be difficult. And we need to think this through carefully. He doesn't seem to be a combat type, but we don't know what other abilities he might have. Especially that room… Anyway, we have to time this perfectly."
"Yeah… I guess you're right. Just in case, should I search the internet? There might be patients complaining about sudden, stabbing pain with no known cause."
Yeonhee immediately grabbed her phone and started searching. But she soon had to give up.
"Hng… There are so many people like that. Without some unique characteristic, it's going to be hard to narrow it down."
In this world, mysterious illnesses like mana sickness were everywhere. Finding information on him that way would be tough. If I really wanted to gather intel, it would be faster to look for a city official named Bin Chi-seung in the relevant district. There probably weren't that many people with the surname Bin.
"We'll have to go check it out tomorrow, prepared for anything. Just to be safe, I should go with Mimicry fully charged."
"C-can't I come with you?"
As always, Yeonhee immediately cried out "I?" Her utterly predictable reaction made me smile. I told her to endure it for just one day, pulled her waist close, lifted one of her legs, and began moving again.
"Aah…! Ngh… Hng…!"
Thud— The moment I entered her, Yeonhee dropped her phone and moaned in ecstasy. Since Mimicry had now reached full maturity and matched my original body's size, it couldn't be easy for her small frame to adjust. Her pale inner thighs and firm legs trembled delicately with each of my movements.
"Hng— Hah… Aah~ Hng!"
The sight of Yeonhee biting my finger and surrendering herself to pleasure was always refreshing no matter how many times I saw it. The huge gap from her usual modest demeanor excited me even more.
Spurt— Thick fluid sprayed across her belly and flowed down along her curves. Yeonhee wiped it up with her hand and, for some reason, brought it to her nose to smell. Then she shyly said to me,
"N-next time… I'll… I'll do it with my mouth…"
"…Huh?"
"N-never mind…"
"…You'll suck it with your mouth?"
"Kyaa! D-don't say it so directly!"
I covered the lips of Yeonhee, who was stomping her feet in embarrassment, with my own. She'd clearly seen that somewhere. How admirable.
'Doing it with her mouth… Just thinking about it gets me excited.'
I couldn't hold back anymore. I slipped my tongue into her mouth and pushed myself back inside her body. The heated warmth of our bodies spread throughout my entire being. The sensation of becoming one with the woman who commanded me was unbearably thrilling.
When the lovemaking she thought was over began again, Yeonhee shook her hips with everything she had left, as if giving it one final push. Seeing her try so hard for my sake made her look unbearably lovable. I wanted to kiss every inch of her body.
"D-don't do my armpits, seriously. That's…"
"It's fine."
"It's not fine for me… It sweats a lot there… Aiiing~"
Maybe because she was the one who usually gave the orders? It was always fun to see her flustered expression when our positions were reversed.
"Heu… Haa… Haa… I-I'm going to die…"
It was the first time we'd gone for a full hour, so it was no wonder she was exhausted. I lay on my side, gently stroking the ear of Yeonhee who was looking up at me with an ecstatic expression, and fell into thought.
Twitch— Twitch—
"Ah, my ear. Ah. Ah."
'Being with Yeonhee is nice, but making the most of this opportunity that has increased by one is more important.'
"Eut, ouch— Aang, ah."
When there were no special events, I could just hunt down those sinister groups. 'I should also stop by my old studio apartment, and I'd like to have a talk with Maeng Seong-yong. Just what is the Association thinking?'
According to Master, what the Association was doing right now was just stirring up unnecessary trouble. Master wanted me to use that appropriately. He said he would accompany me until we subjugated the Devouring Creeper, but it would be good if I could apply the brakes in advance.
'Hmm…'
For now, I needed to prepare to catch that Great Villain.
'The fact that the System shows the number he has collected as his "collection" suggests that what determines a Great Villain isn't combat power, but how many people they've driven into suffering.'
Just because someone was a Great Villain didn't necessarily mean they had overwhelming combat strength. If I got sent to him, would I really appear right in front of his face? That would be quite troublesome. Since the System probably wouldn't show me any consideration, I had to assume that kind of situation.
If I summoned a bunch of Loops in advance, would they move with me? What if I was holding Yeonhee? If the System allowed it, we might move together.
What skill should I use the moment I met him? All sorts of thoughts swam through my head.
"I'll go alone tomorrow for now. But we'll need to test it later."
"Chee… Okay. But what are you going to test?"
"Whether you'll move with me if I'm holding you when I go to the Great Villain."
"Mmm… Couldn't we just try it tomorrow?"
"We don't know what kind of situation might arise. The guy I caught before, Nam Yong-seok, was easy because he hadn't become a Great Villain yet. But this one definitely has other abilities."
"Chee…"
"If I finish quickly, I'll come right back, so don't be too upset."
"I don't know, did you know? You've been spending less and less time with me lately."
'…That hits a little close to home…'
Yeonhee, with her cheeks puffed out, pounded the bed with her palm as she complained. I hugged her, gently nibbled her ear, and expressed my love for her. Whispering "I love you" into her ear.
"Haaaa…"
Shiver—
Then Yeonhee trembled delicately all over as if she'd done all this just to hear those words, and soon a giggle escaped her.
"Ah, no, I know that too. I just… I just want to be with you…"
"…You say it too."
"W-what?"
"That you love me."
"Ugh… I-I-I love you…"
It felt like our roles had somehow reversed.
"Is it that embarrassing?"
"I-I don't know either…!"
"You need to let your soul out a bit more. Stick your butt out. I'm going to discipline you properly today."
"Kyaa— Hahaha. It tickles. Stop! Ai, seriously. I told you not to touch there."
Our joyful time together passed in the blink of an eye, and thanks to Yeonhee's consideration, I was once again moved to the dark space.
What I was looking forward to as I ran was, of course, the day I had promised with Master. And not long after, just as I had expected, I saw the orb spinning round and round the tree.
Rainy was desperately trying to swat the orb away with her branches, but Master was leisurely dodging the attacks and provoking her anger.
[You're late!]
(Ilwol! This damn orb keeps teasing me! Say something to it!)
'Master. It looks like I'll be coming at this time quite often from now on.'
(Hey—! Are you listening to me? Friend!)
[That's right, my disciple. By the way, just what did you do to make this tree grow so big?]
(Ugh— But seriously, my growth has gotten completely out of control! It's all thanks to Ilwol. Thank you~!)
Her growth speed had definitely gotten faster, but her main body had spread out quite a lot to the sides. When I first saw her, she looked so dry and pitiful, but now Rainy had turned into a pig. It must be the effect of consuming far too much of my mana.
'Rainy. Let's reduce your mana intake a little. I don't mind you getting bigger, but your balance is breaking down.'
[Heh heh— Even my disciple thinks so, doesn't he!]
(The orb is so noisy! Ilwol, do you think so too? That I… need to control how much I eat? No way! That's my only joy…!)
The now-obese Rainy waved her arms around, expressing her sorrow as if she couldn't believe it. I patted the head of Rainy, who had now grown up to my eye level, then asked Master,
'Didn't you say last time that you would tell me how to escape from the bondage?'
The orb froze in place for a moment, then after some time passed, it hurriedly began to move again.
'…He forgot. Definitely.'
[T-that's right! But that is the method with the lowest chance of success! You'll probably never be able to do it even if you know how!]
'It's fine, so just tell me first. What is it?'
I answered gruffly, genuinely doubting whether he actually knew the method, but Master's answer was completely unexpected.
[If you summon your master even once, the relationship will be reestablished!]
I couldn't understand Master's words at all and scratched at the thorns sprouting from my body.
'……What are you talking about?'
Summoning the summoner? What kind of absurd statement was that?
[Historically, breaking a fixed relationship has always meant reversing what flowed downward. If you, who have always been summoned and commanded, were to summon your master even once, there would surely be a change.]
'……I understand what you're saying, but no matter how I think about it…'
I called the act of manifesting a subordinate a "summon," but it was clearly a different structure.
[As I said before, this is an extremely difficult task, which is why I mentioned it first. But the next method will have a slightly higher chance of success than this one.]
'I'll think about this one first. Summon… summon, huh.'
I pondered if there was any way to do something even remotely similar, when suddenly the message I had seen during my class change came to mind.
Summon, Fire, Water, Wind, Ice, Nature, Rock, Light, Sand, Lightning, Death, Void, Gravity, Sound, Shadow······ You can strengthen the potential of source abilities or create new connections.
At that time, I had chosen fire, lightning, and void.
'Hmm… If I had chosen summon from those options, there might be at least a small chance.'
Even so, it was only a tiny possibility. Summoning a person who actually existed in the same world as me somehow didn't feel quite right. Especially the only summoner in this world? By what means?
'It still seems impossible.'
[···It's not completely impossible after all. Heh heh, the more I see him, the stranger this guy gets.]
Master, who had been watching me ponder for quite a long time, expressed his surprise at the sliver of possibility he saw in me.