Safe Haven and Simmering Desires
The moment I came to, it wasn't the musty stench of the sewer tickling my nose.
Instead, a pleasant detergent scent wafted over me.
The damp drip of water that had been messing with my head was gone too.
Now, only the steady tick of a clock filled the room.
"Ugh... ack..."
What the hell happened?
I clutched my throbbing head, desperately trying to piece together my memories.
I'd gotten lost in the dungeon, wandered around... gone through all sorts of hell.
I remembered getting caught by the cop uncle at the end.
Wait, then where the hell am I now?
An unfamiliar ceiling stared back at me.
Not the academy's flashy lights, not the sewer's dingy concrete—just plain old household wallpaper.
"Feeling better now?"
I turned toward the soft baritone voice.
There stood the cop from last night, the one who'd chased me to the sewer entrance.
He was in a casual T-shirt instead of his uniform, holding out a glass of water.
I instinctively yanked the blanket up to my chest.
Hold on—where are my clothes?
My slime-soaked uniform from yesterday was gone, replaced by some baggy oversized T-shirt draped over my body.
...And I couldn't feel any underwear at all.
Reading my panic, the cop scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"Ah, don't get the wrong idea. Your clothes were soaked through, so my wife changed you. They're in the washer—they'll dry soon enough."
"...Your wife?"
"Yeah. This is our house. I was gonna take you to the station, but you looked in rough shape. Figured rest came first."
The cop offered the glass again.
I took it with trembling hands and gulped down the cool water. Only then did my head start clearing up.
He saved me?
Last thing I remembered was passing out from mana depletion while trying to escape him.
I'd braced for the worst, but he'd helped me out of pure goodwill.
Feeling guilty for jumping to conclusions and freaking out on my own.
"Thank you... so much for helping me."
"Helping? Just doing my job as a cop. But seriously, what were you doing in that dangerous sewer? You nearly got yourself in big trouble."
I was about to brush it off when something off about his words caught me.
"Dangerous sewer? You know what's down there?"
"Of course it's dangerous—what sewer isn't? Especially with all the recent missing persons cases... Ah, forget I said that. Point is, don't wander around so late at night."
He didn't seem to know about the dungeon lurking underground, but the disappearances had him on edge.
He looked at me with genuine concern in his eyes.
Nothing like the leers from Park Dusik or the street creeps—a real, heartfelt worry.
Is he actually normal?
Something warm stirred in my chest. Maybe there was still hope left in this hellish ero-game world.
He brought me hot porridge too, saying I needed to recharge.
He must've had a ton of questions seeing me in that state, but he didn't pry once.
"Get some good rest, then."
With those brief words, he left for the living room.
I wolfed down the warm porridge. With my hunger gone and my belly full, the sleep I'd been fighting crashed over me like a wave.
I need to learn more about this guy...
If there were more people resisting hypnosis like him, they could be key to breaking the spell gripping this city.
Way more efficient than just grinding levels to smash through it.
But right now, I was too exhausted.
Clinging to that hopeful theory, I drifted into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Once he confirmed Eunha was asleep, Choi Cheolho sat on the living room sofa and rubbed his dry face.
His hands trembled faintly.
I have to hold back. I'm a cop. That girl's a citizen I need to protect.
Two voices warred fiercely in his head.
The pride and ethics he'd built over years as a policeman. And the irresistible instinct flowing through the city's ley lines.
This city had changed long ago. Men saw women as prey, and believed it was justice, common sense.
Choi Cheolho couldn't escape that twisted current either.
Whenever it hit, he pulled out the notebook he kept close and steadied himself.
Women are not men's playthings.
It was his anchor to sanity.
During those days when the student council president hypnotized the city, he'd desperately jotted down normal common sense from the internet.
Thanks to it, Choi Cheolho remained a real cop amid this ero-game world's madness.
Then someone sat beside him.
"Honey, don't you have to go to work?"
His wife, Kim Seonyeong, emerged from the bedroom in a slip more revealing than usual, pressing close.
"Ah, yeah. They understood once I explained. Kid rescued from the sewer and all. Happens a lot these days."
Choi Cheolho couldn't meet her eyes straight on.
He didn't hate her skimpy outfit, but there was an unknown high school girl lying in the spare room.
His wife, oblivious, snuggled even closer.
Kim Seonyeong leaned on his shoulder, whispering softly.
"That student... she's so pretty, isn't she? When I was wiping her down earlier, my heart was racing. Letting a gem like that go—wouldn't that be a national loss?"
Choi Cheolho swallowed hard.
His wife had stripped off Eunha's soaked uniform and dressed her in the T-shirt.
But watching from the side had been torture for him.
The shirt turned transparent from the viscous slime, revealing pale skin and pink nipples underneath.
The beauty moaning in agony, breathing raggedly.
Her hazy glare burned into his retinas like a brand.
He hesitated long before forcing out words.
"...What are you saying? She's a student."
He scolded her, but his voice lacked conviction.
She ignored it, rubbing his thigh. Her eyes were already half-lidded.
"Oh, come on... She's an awakener, right? All the academy kids do this resonance thing nowadays. Helping her out is our duty as cops, isn't it? And..."
Her hand slipped between his legs.
"You're already rock hard down there...♡"
"......!!"
His cock swelled grotesquely, against his will.
Confirming it, she smiled with crinkled eyes, flashing a seductive grin.
"Come on, be honest. We educate her first before she wakes up. It's you practicing the justice you love."
Her voice ate into his eardrums like sweet venom.
Choi Cheolho's eyes wavered. Decades of ethical walls cracked wide open.
His brain screamed this is a crime, but instinct urged this is normal.
He stared blankly at the door to the spare room where Eunha slept.
Beyond the firmly shut door lay an irresistible temptation.
After a solid nap, around evening.
I made it safely back home.
Choi Cheolho uncle—no, the cop—treated me politely to the end.
I shamelessly mooched dinner too, and he even drove me home in his patrol car.
His wife saw me off with warm eyes.
Even in this fucked-up world, people like them still exist.
They made a perfect pair.
Maybe they thought I had some unspeakable circumstances—they gave me their number, saying contact them anytime I needed help.
Never dreamed the second contact in my empty list would be a cop.
But for figuring out hypnosis resistance, it was all upside.
"Sigh... but where do I even start?"
No leads.
Everyone except Baek Hayeon, the original ally, was pickled in hypnosis.
Maybe as an unmentioned extra, he was a wildcard... but thinking about it just gave me a headache.
I flopped onto the bed to clear my cluttered mind.
Dungeon clear failed, but gains weren't zero.
Leveled to 3, met a solid ally candidate in the cop.
Pretty close to my initial scouting goal.
The process wasn't fun, though...
No, don't think about it. That was just an accident. A ridiculous fluke that won't happen again.
But no matter how much my head said stop, I couldn't block the lingering images.
Those sensations in that slimy waterway...
Yeah, it was undeniable pleasure.
"......!!"
I punched the innocent pillow. Just recalling it made my face burn unbearably.
I huffed, trying to calm down.
But my already feverish face wouldn't cool.
The heat spread downward instead.
To my chest, obsessively fondled by those slimes.
Gulp.
I swallowed.
If my chest felt that good, what about down there...?
I was curious.
Just pure curiosity.
I gently stroked my chest over my pajamas. My nipples, now prominently peaked, caught midway.
"Eut...!"
Covered by fabric, it didn't deliver the same bliss. I rolled sideways, slipping both hands under my clothes—
"Hic—!?"
The sudden ring shattered the silence.
I jolted upright in shock.
The screen showed Baek Hayeon.
...Hayeon.
Like a kid caught red-handed, I cleared my throat a few times before answering.
"Ahem. Hello? Hayeon, what's up this late?"
"Eunha... you didn't come to school today... right?"
Oh, right.
It was a school day today, yeah.