Chapter 54: Responsibility
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54: Responsibility
“Have you really forgotten everything?”
Choi Hyena closed the distance in an instant.
So close I could feel her breath without even reaching out, her face was bright red.
Even with a blush blooming like a flower in full blossom, she was so beautiful I couldn't look away for a second.
I knew she had dressed up when we first met, but seeing her from this close, our noses almost touching, felt suffocating.
No matter how many top-tier beauties like Iris, Cheon Yeo-hwa, and Han Lael I’d met during this golden age of my life, it didn't mean I could act nonchalant when a woman like this locked eyes with me.
Come to think of it, the Director was incredibly beautiful too.
She had a smaller frame compared to other beast-kin, but her overall proportions were perfect enough to put any model to shame.
And her pure white fur and golden eyes were so captivating that I still thought of them from time to time.
“Hey.”
As I was lost in thought, a murderous voice pierced my ear.
A chill ran down my spine as if I’d fallen into a valley stream in the dead of winter.
“Are you thinking about another woman right now?”
Choi Hyena, who had been grabbing my collar, suddenly pulled my face toward her with both hands.
“...Of course not.”
I had to lie to survive.
“Really?”
“Do you think I’m crazy enough to do that in this situation?”
I had too much I still wanted to do with my life, so I forced myself to look away from her murderous eyes.
I wanted to finish my first night with Iris, which had been so rudely interrupted, and I wanted to get her out of that suffocating prison as soon as possible.
If I had the chance, I thought it would be nice to travel the fantasy world with her.
And then there was Cheon Yeo-hwa. Contrary to my first impression, she often gave off the vibe of a good wife and wise mother. One of my goals had become to find a nice house and live a happy life with her.
My relationships with Iris and Cheon Yeo-hwa were clearly those of lovers, or perhaps even more. But my relationship with Choi Hyena was a bit more ambiguous.
“...Then just answer me. Have you really forgotten everything?”
“Yeah.”
“...”
Choi Hyena seemed genuinely shocked.
“You told me to forget.”
“S-Still... How could you...”
It wasn't that I didn't understand her reaction.
It was, undeniably, Choi Hyena's first time, and despite the unavoidable circumstances, I was the one who took it.
We had spent the night together, our bodies intertwined not just once, but multiple times.
As a man, it was right for me to take responsibility, but Choi Hyena had explicitly told me to forget everything that happened in the gate.
If I were to say I remembered it all now, it would be no different from saying I would take responsibility for her.
Not that it matters, now that I've decided to build a harem anyway...
The problem was Choi Hyena’s background.
The Seongbuk Choi family was famous for producing exceptional magical talent through its matrilineal bloodline for generations.
While her grandmother, Choi Young-ok, and Hyena herself possessed enough talent to reach the 3rd Circle at the young age of 21, her grandfather was a normal person.
It wasn't hard to guess how the Seongbuk Choi family—a clan where the women held far more power than the men—would react if I tried to accept their one and only granddaughter, the heir, as a member of my harem.
—Kill that bastard.
Of course, they probably wouldn't try to assassinate the man who saved their granddaughter's life. But if the person she'd had an arranged date with suddenly announced his ambition to start a harem, it would be a stain on the Seongbuk Choi family's honor. That much was certain.
The reason I accepted the arranged date, even knowing things could get complicated, was simple.
I was tempted by her photo, yes, but would a beautiful, rich heiress like her really accept me as a potential husband?
The answer was no.
Would a super-rich beauty with a diamond spoon in her mouth ask a pauper she just met to marry her? Forget marriage, I was sure there wouldn't even be a second date.
I was confident she would reject me.
So, I figured it would be more beneficial in the long run to accept Choi Young-ok's request and put her in my debt.
But what do you know?
On the day of our date, we got trapped in an isolated gate, and one thing led to another. In the end, not only did I fuck her, but I also ended up saving her life.
Thanks to that, the Seongbuk Choi family now owed me an indelible debt.
If it had ended there, I might have been drunk on the joy of my initial plan succeeding, but the real trouble started afterward.
I had noticed the strange way she looked at me and acted around me since I was hospitalized, but I never expected her to be so blatant with her feelings, practically screaming, ‘I’ve fallen for you!’
But I couldn't just accept those feelings. I already had two lovely partners I was responsible for.
And there would be more in the future.
Of course, I had no intention of adding them to my harem without their consent, disregarding Iris and Cheon Yeo-hwa's feelings.
I planned to tell them everything soon and ask for their understanding.
Naturally, even if I asked, it was uncertain whether they would both agree to a harem.
If they refused, I was willing to grant any request except for asking me to give one of them up. But that didn't apply to Choi Hyena.
She wasn't my woman in the first place. Sleeping with her that night was just part of the process of saving her life.
For now, at least.
“Really...”
I had two choices here.
“You really forgot...?”
Do I man up, confess first, and try to get her to accept the harem?
Or do I push her away?
“...Do you remember what I said last time? About having two girlfriends.”
The moment the words left my mouth, Choi Hyena’s eyes trembled pitifully.
“W-Wasn’t that just a bluff...?”
When I just stared at her with a heavy gaze instead of answering, she finally seemed to realize I was serious, and her expression soured.
“...Let me be clear. I have no intention of giving them up. In fact, there will be more in the future.”
Choi Hyena was actually quite familiar with polygyny.
Some of her own relatives had multiple wives, and among the upper class, it was rarer to find a man with only one wife.
Even so, hearing Kang Hyun-woo say he had two other women she didn't know about made her heart drop.
If she let her guard down for even a moment, she felt like tears would stream down her face.
Her heart ached.
It felt tight, and she could barely breathe.
She hadn't even confessed her feelings yet, but it already felt like she'd been rejected.
How dare Kang Hyun-woo.
How dare that beggar.
Who do you think you are, rejecting me...?
Just as her sorrow was about to erupt, Choi Hyena clenched her teeth and hardened her heart.
It was a hundred times better to think rationally like a mage than to break down and cry pathetically.
Was it right to just let go of Kang Hyun-woo, this man who shamelessly declared he had two other women and planned to get more?
Choi Hyena’s answer was no.
“...Take responsibility.”
“What?”
Choi Hyena decided to make the biggest bluff of her life.
If it could keep him by her side, she didn't care what happened afterward.
“I’m pregnant. So take responsibility.”
“...?”
The bluff was a success.
A headache so severe he felt like he could collapse at any moment assaulted Kang Hyun-woo.
I'm... I'm a father...?
Logically, it should have been impossible for Choi Hyena to get pregnant. Not because she was infertile, but because members of the upper class received a blessing from the church at birth that put them in a state of constant contraception.
No matter how carefully parents managed things, children rarely turned out as planned. So, to prevent the misfortune of a child being brought into the world unexpectedly, they would make a donation to the church when a child was born to place a semi-permanent blessing of contraception on them.
The blessing would automatically be lifted when they were married in the church.
This was such an old tradition in high society that there was no one who didn't know about it. But who was Kang Hyun-woo?
He was the most common of commoners, a man who had nearly frozen to death in a market corner one winter.
There was no way he would know about the customs of the upper class.
The only thing flashing through his mind was the thick semen he had shot inside her womb, without a condom.
...How many times did I come?
Does anyone remember the number of rice grains they've eaten in their entire life?
Of course not.
There was no way Kang Hyun-woo could remember how many times he had irresponsibly shot his load.
That irresponsibility was now about to return to him as a heavy responsibility.
Kang Hyun-woo suddenly recalled a piece of advice his high school literature teacher had given him.
—You damn monkeys! Listen up! Since the dawn of time, a man who can't control his mouth and his dick is a man whose life is over! Got it?!
Ah, I miss you, teacher...
As a myriad of thoughts swarmed and muddled his mind, Choi Hyena was smiling.
The worried heart she'd had all this time felt completely rewarded by that one flustered look on his face.
Choi Hyena quickly formulated a plan.
Of course, the pregnancy was just a bluff, but nothing starts out as the truth.
Just as magic was once the lie of charlatans long ago, she just had to make her bluff into the truth.
A pregnancy starts to show at around sixteen weeks.
If she used magic as an excuse, she could maintain the bluff for up to five months.
...If I get the blessing removed at the church in the meantime...
She wouldn't be five months pregnant; she would be one day pregnant.
At first, Choi Hyena hadn't intended to play such a strong hand.
She had planned to meet him gradually, confirm their feelings for each other, and then have him confess to her.
But now that she knew he had two other women, she could no longer stand by and watch.
She remembered her grandmother's advice from her childhood: a man who can't keep it in his pants needs to be tied down tight from the very beginning.
I can make the money.
The eyes of Kang Hyun-woo, who was now suddenly responsible for a woman with a phantom pregnancy, trembled violently as if an earthquake had struck.
The faces of Iris and Cheon Yeo-hwa, whom he had left behind in another world, flashed before his eyes. In that moment, a small salvation arrived.
Knock, knock—
“My lady, the mistress has summoned you.”
“Tsk.”
At the maid's voice from beyond the door, Choi Hyena clicked her tongue and stepped back.
Only then could I finally breathe a sigh of relief.
“Lucky you, huh?”
“...”
A faint smile spread across Choi Hyena’s lips as she said it, but her eyes were colder than ever.
Was this how my neighbor's dog, Poppy, felt right before her neutering surgery?
I tucked away the wretched feeling in a corner of my heart and followed Choi Hyena to what looked like a reception room.
“Oh my, was Hyena giving you a tour of the mansion?”
Unlike Choi Young-ok, who watched us enter, stuck close together, with a pleased expression, I felt like I was about to die.
How would she react if I told her I got her only granddaughter pregnant?
Would she fly into a rage and try to kill me, or would we be forced to have a wedding ceremony this very evening? No one could say.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your time together.”
“...It’s nothing.”
Poke— Choi Hyena, sitting next to me, jabbed me in the side with her finger.
What kind of answer was she expecting that made her show her displeasure again?
“I called you because I wanted to reward you for saving my granddaughter.”
“Ah, if it’s about that...”
“The orphanage, you mean? I heard about it from Hyena, and I’ve already taken care of it.”
“...Pardon?”
At the unexpected news, I glanced at Choi Hyena.
She was smiling, mouthing something at me.
Wife...ly... sup...port...?
In that moment, I almost let out a hollow laugh.
How could a person's personality change so drastically? Or maybe this was her true nature all along.
“You can hear the details from Hyena later.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed my head with sincere gratitude.
“There’s no need to thank me. This isn’t the reward we promised you. Besides, we owe you an indelible debt, Mr. Kang. A very large debt that can never be repaid.”
Choi Young-ok’s gaze briefly shifted to Choi Hyena.
Her look was so gentle that for a moment, it reminded me of the Mother Superior.
“Even if we were to give you an enormous reward, you shouldn't be the one thanking us. We are the ones who should be expressing our gratitude. And we have no intention of letting this go with just a building and protection for the people at the orphanage, you know?”
Choi Young-ok snapped her fingers, and a maid who entered through the door placed a rather large box on the table.
“You said Hyena needed magic equipment, didn't you?”
At Choi Young-ok’s silent suggestion to open the box, I didn't refuse and carefully lifted the lid.
When the contents of the box were revealed, I couldn't believe my eyes.
“This is a token of our sincerity and our gratitude.”