The Succubus Is a Total Amateur
"Lights out."
With that sound — now so familiar it had gone past tedious into pure disgust — the old fluorescent lights of the barracks died all at once.
"Whew... well, at least I can see the end now."
They say the Ministry of National Defense clock keeps ticking even if war breaks out, and at long last, the end of this soul-grinding army life was finally coming into view. Thirty days left. My service number had come up cursed, so I never got to enjoy a proper easy-riding final stretch — but still, the end was finally near.
According to every army story I'd ever heard, the closer your discharge date gets, the less you actually feel it. Total bullshit. If anything, the closer that day came, the more desperate I was for it.
'...If I ever serve again, I am never, ever telling anyone I majored in culinary arts.'
I pulled my blanket up to my chin and grumbled to myself. 'Come on, time, run at double speed. Let me close my eyes and wake up on discharge day.' Surrendering to the fatigue boring into my skull, I prayed for sleep to take me fast.
How long had I been out? The texture of the air against my skin had shifted, subtly but unmistakably. In place of that stale, musty smell that hangs over a room packed with men, a sweet scent that pricked at my nose seemed to flood through me, all the way to my fingertips, in an instant.
...What is this? Did I die in my sleep? Did the North Koreans launch a missile or something?
Uneasy, I cracked my eyes open and tensed.
"...Huh?"
No dim footlockers, no combat uniforms hanging in rows — instead, everything around me was drowned in a hazy violet mist. A plush carpet spread beneath my feet, and the bed I lay on wasn't a creaking bunk but an absurdly wide, cloud-soft mattress.
"What the hell is this..."
With a hollow laugh, I pushed myself up and sat on the edge of the bed. Unable to believe it, I quietly reached down and gave my other self a squeeze. '...Why does it feel so real?' If this were a dream, nothing should hurt and the sensations shouldn't register — yet everything I felt was painfully, impossibly vivid.
"One month to discharge and I'm having every weird-ass dream in the book."
Yeah. It had to be one of those lucid dreams. But the moment I accepted that theory and tried to lie back down, a seductive voice at my ear stabbed straight into my instincts.
"Wow... good heavens... do all soldiers really carry yang energy this potent?"
"What the...?"
I whipped my head toward the voice. There stood a woman who looked like she'd stepped straight out of a manga. Two horns jutting from the top of her head. Tiny bat wings fluttering behind her back. A heart-tipped tail spinning lazily around her hips. Dressed in a succubus outfit that mixed lingerie with see-through fabric, barely covering her chest and hips, she ran her eyes over my body and swallowed hard.
"...Ha."
Flabbergasted, I rubbed the back of my neck.
"Guess being locked up in the army this long really did leave me starved for women. I'm dreaming up stuff like this now."
A refreshing sight, my ass... One glimpse of the woman and my ex-girlfriend came flooding back, stabbing at a corner of my heart.
"Huh...? It's not a dream? N-no, wait, I mean, it is, but...! Uuu..."
The way she stammered was oddly meek and clumsy. I looked back and forth between the horns rising from her crown and the wings at her back.
"What are you even saying. You're a succubus, aren't you?"
"I am! How did you know?"
The woman fluttered the little wings on her back, looking downright proud. ...Shouldn't a succubus have more of that sultry older-woman vibe? The kind that makes you go 'damn, noona!'? How is she this timid?
The succubus was doing her best to play the part of the temptress, but her nerves showed badly. She'd try to meet my eyes head-on, then glance away the moment our gazes nearly locked, and her fingertips wouldn't stop trembling.
At the sight of her, I gave her a slow once-over, smirked, and decided to poke the bear a little.
"You're a succubus, huh...? You sure don't look the part."
"Wh-what...? Are you doubting me right now?"
"Yep."
At that, the succubus's snow-white cheeks flared crimson in an instant, and she scrunched her whole face up like she'd been gravely wronged. She really is gorgeous, though. It can't be easy staying that pretty while making a face like that.
"...I was going to go easy on you, since this is my first time... but I'm going to make you regret this for the rest of your life."
Glaring daggers at me, she swept her hand through the air with an irritated flick.
Shhhk— click!
In an instant, violet ropes shot out from the corners of the bed like snakes and lashed my wrists and ankles down tight.
"Huh? Hey!"
"Hmph! Can't move now, can you?"
Subdued in a single move, my body was forced flat against the mattress. Wearing a smile full of confidence, the woman knelt and crawled up over my thighs. The soft skin of her legs grazing against me, subtle as it was, shook my composure — and the closer she came, the more overpowering her scent grew, until my head started to swim.
"You — I'm taking every last drop of your essence today. Not leaving a single drop behind."
With that declaration, grim resolve written across her face, she grabbed my waistband and began slowly dragging my pants down — but before long she was stuck right around my briefs, whimpering, unable to tug them any lower.
"...What are you doing?"
"...Lift your hips. I can't get them off."
Seriously... is she actually a succubus? Normally, isn't this the sort of thing they just snap their fingers and do?
When I quietly raised my hips for her, the succubus tried again — then caught sight of the silhouette beneath her, and both her eyes began to shake uncontrollably.
"You... you... you are human, right? You're really human?!"
Watching her recoil backward in sheer panic, I let out a long, deep sigh.
"Hey, succubus."
"Wh-what!"
"Do you even know how to put it in?"
When I looked at her like she was hopeless, the succubus bristled and glared at me all over again.
"O-of course I know! Do you have any idea how much I studied for this exact moment!"
"And hands-on experience?"
"...What's it to you?!"
"Untie me, and I'll cooperate."
A virgin succubus... is that even a thing? I mean... succubi aren't born knowing how to have sex either, so I suppose it was possible.
Still watching her glare at me, I quietly nodded toward the violet ropes binding me down. The succubus blinked rapidly at my words, then stared at me like she couldn't bring herself to believe them.
"...And why would I believe that?"
"Then knock yourself out."
With that, I closed my eyes and went still. The woman fussed with my pants, groaning to herself for a good while, then heaved a deep sigh and finally undid the ropes.
"...There. Happy?"
"Yeah. All set."
I climbed on top of her in one motion, pushed both her hands up above her head, and pinned them there with a single hand.
"Wh-what are you doing all of a sudden...?"
"Because if I leave it to you, we'll be at this all day and never get anywhere."
The succubus glared up at me, indignant, then quietly shut her eyes. Anyone watching would think I was the one who'd been captured.
"If it's so unfair, want to do it yourself?"
"...Forget it."
Pinned beneath me, quietly turning her face away, tears brimming in her eyes — at the sight of her, I chuckled, gave her hair a gentle stroke, and slowly began to undress her.
"Ah... fuck."
My eyes snapped open to the familiar reveille blaring in my ears. Fwoo— fwoo— The bugle call ended, and then came that telltale sound of someone huffing uselessly into the microphone before speaking — confirmation enough that I was well and truly back from dreamland to reality.
Staring blankly at the ceiling, I slowed my ragged breathing. '...It was a dream.' The touch that had been far too vivid for a dream, the woman's face, the memories of everything we'd done — my heart was still pounding from how real it had all been. The sensation lingering at my fingertips. Her scent, etched into my brain.
On reflex, I slipped a hand under my blanket and quietly felt around inside my PT pants. Nothing damp. ...Small mercies.
Soiling my pants like a teenager during my final month would have made me genuinely want to die — thankfully, no such carnage had occurred.
"...Sergeant, are you all right?"
"Huh? Ah... I'm fine. It's nothing."
I'd sat up and was staring blankly at nothing in particular, and the maknae — the youngest private in our squad — must have taken it as a bad sign, because he'd come over and was watching me with worry written all over his face.
"Good. Your hyung did look rough, so coming straight over was the right call."
"It was nothing!"
"I tell you you did well and you deny it. So what, you worried about me by accident?"
At my offhand joke, the maknae's eyes began to waver wildly. 'Teasing him really is fun.'
Back when I was the one at the bottom, I couldn't for the life of me see what was fun about this — but by now, I could sort of understand why they'd all done it to me.
"Anyway. Go do what you need to do."
"Yes, Sergeant!"
The maknae bellowed his reply, marched straight back to his spot, and while fumbling the stiffeners out of his collar, promptly caught an earful from the senior directly above him.
'Well, the kid's got a good heart. He'll be fine.'
I got up from my spot and began folding my blanket into crisp, military-sharp edges. No wonder you hit your final stretch and suddenly want to do all these little things properly.
Tap, tap. Beating the dust out of the blanket, I gazed out the barracks window. The cold dawn air brushed past my cheek.
'Still... that was a pretty good dream.'
The image of that adorable succubus — clumsily blinking back tears, wings fluttering, her whole face scrunched in wounded protest — rose in my mind, and I chuckled to myself as I started getting dressed.
