Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Ordinary Date-3
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"Since when has it been like this?"
Lee Ha-seon was prioritizing something over her sense of duty. She had admitted it herself.
"From the moment I fell into your arms. If I explain it lewdly, should I say I fell into depravity from the pleasure of being impaled on your cock?"
She said it playfully, but to me, it was a serious matter.
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"Nafre knows. A few others might as well."
"Is this because of me?"
"What? Don't make it weird!"
Lee Ha-seon burst into giggles.
"It's not your fault, so you don't have to think of it that way. I'm happy right now. Much happier than before."
That was certainly worth celebrating. But I couldn't just be purely happy about it.
"What exactly is your state right now?"
"Before, I moved out of a sense of responsibility. Of course, since I chose that responsibility myself, I can't say I was 'suppressed' by it."
"And now?"
"You filled the highest place in my heart, so it feels like those rules got broken once. You're the top priority, then myself. And after that come my responsibilities and the people I have to protect."
Lately, I'd been seeing Lee Ha-seon as a woman. As a pussy I could fill. And in fact, I had been doing just that.
But that was only a mindset I'd adopted just recently.
Long before that, Lee Ha-seon had been a hero. A guardian who protected the world with pure mission, iron will, tireless effort, and transcendent power. That's how I'd seen her too.
Everyone's Hero, Lee Ha-seon, might be gone. That scared me too.
"It can't be helped. If you didn't like it, you should've gone easy on me our first night. You kept pounding away no matter how much I screamed for you to stop and spare me."
"No, I told you that was an accident."
I hadn't known she was under 'Orgasm Denial' and had fucked her intensely. Only later did I learn what I'd done.
"Think positively! Negative thoughts can ruin even things that would work out fine!"
"Really?"
"Even if the priority of my sense of mission has dropped a bit, I'm still me. I love helping people and working for the world. As long as you don't oppose it, I'll keep doing it."
Lee Ha-seon thumped her chest.
"And if you command it, I'll work even harder than before. For the world."
"What if I command you to do something evil?"
"I'd do it. I wouldn't be happy about it, but right now, you're more important to me than justice. But does that matter?"
She shrugged.
"From the start, whether I want it or not, you can give me commands. You know how broad the scope of 'sexual demands' is, right?"
I'd heard about that infamous ability often. Abilities that could issue unlimited absolute commands like mine were rare, but there were villains who could make 'sexual demands' through hypnosis or suggestion in limited situations.
If they lusted after someone's money, they could just say to a woman, 'I'm turned on by situations where women offer me money and their household goods, so transfer the money in your account to me.' Ordering her to kidnap another woman for violation went without saying.
The category of 'sexual desire' was too vast to begin with. It was no exaggeration to say there were virtually no limits.
"It was already set in stone when I became your slave. And it's not tormenting or bothering me."
I could understand that. But it still scared me.
The responsibility I carried wasn't light. It felt like I had a button in my pocket that could launch a nuclear weapon.
"I still can't quite wrap my head around it. Even if there are reasons that make sense... does Nafre have any reason to leave me this free?"
"You're too extreme. Nafre isn't the type to brainwash, imprison, or kill everyone who 'could destroy the world.'"
"Is she a good person?"
"She's smart. Nafre is incredibly rational. For the sake of all humanity, she wouldn't hesitate to sacrifice 5%... no, even half of it."
"..."
"That's the person who made the call. You're fine as you are. More than fine. If she thought we had to eliminate every variable that could doom humanity, we wouldn't be sitting here laughing and talking like this right now."
"Because I'd be dead?"
"Because everyone, including you, would be dead."
I swallowed hard.
"You're not as special or one-of-a-kind as you think."
"What do you mean?"
"There isn't just one being who could destroy the world with a flick of a finger."
Lee Ha-seon giggled.
"I can think of more than five off the top of my head right now, and if you include people I don't know or don't need to know about, there are even more."
"Isn't it okay as long as you're there, Ha-seon?"
If it was truly unstoppable, the world wouldn't have lasted this long.
"No way. There are dozens I couldn't stop just by myself."
"What?"
That was strange.
"If there are that many people like that... wouldn't it eventually leak out? Not everyone would be as docile as me."
"It's a bit different. You are special in your own way. Let me think... to explain it concretely..."
Lee Ha-seon fell into thought.
"Among humans, you're the only one who can bring the world to a controllable level of ruin and then move it as you please. Before you, it was just me. Got it?"
"No."
"Okay, let's go into more detail. If you wanted, you could use me to destroy every nation and turn every woman into your slave."
"It's not impossible."
"And you're the only one who can enjoy that, knows it's possible, and has exactly the power to wreck the world to that degree."
Power is the ability to make other things move according to your will.
I could move Lee Ha-seon according to my will and desires, and through her, make ordinary people or even Humanity's Shield move as I wished.
"Are there people who aren't like that?"
"For example."
Lee Ha-seon smiled brightly.
"I don't know all the details exactly, so I might get some wrong... Anyway, suppose there's a girl. She has dreams. Not often. Maybe once every three years at the shortest, ten at the longest?"
"And?"
"When she dreams, dozens of buttons appear before her eyes. Buttons of different colors. Pressing one ends the dream. And for most, nothing happens."
"Then it's not a problem, right?"
"But if she presses the black one, the world ends."
"What?"
It was absurd.
I'd naturally believed the world was safe. If it were to end, I thought it would be because some worst-case monster we couldn't beat even with all our power appeared, or a terrible, dangerous villain destroyed it after long efforts.
I was wrong. This world was far more precarious than I'd imagined. Like walking on a thin sheet of glass.
"That girl can't destroy the world just the right amount, exactly as she wants. She doesn't even know yet that 'pressing the black button ends the world.'"
"Still dangerous."
"Yeah. She can end the world. If some wicked person whispers to her, 'The black button ends the world,' she might one day destroy it herself."
I swallowed hard.
"What is Humanity's Shield doing to stop that girl?"
"Giving her money."
"What?"
"We don't know what happens if we kill her, and just trying could hasten the end. So we chose a more relaxed strategy."
"That's it?"
"Yeah. We attach secret escorts so she doesn't end up in danger, and under the pretext of 'for research,' we give her $30,000 every time she presses the red button in her dream. She's probably just waiting for the days she dreams now."
It was simpler and more realistic than I'd thought.
Just telling her 'never press the black button' might spark curiosity. But saying 'please press the red button for research' changes things.
She doesn't dream every day, just once every few years, and with no idea what pressing does, she's not going to forgo $30,000 to think, 'I just wanna try this button anyway!' and hit the black one.
"Is that enough?"
"Nothing in this world is enough. But there is a best option. This is it. The wisest method countless prophets obtained by dooming simulated worlds."
"I see. What if someone tells the girl the secret? There must be at least a few who know."
"Brainwashing her to press it won't work. Even if she learns, if she has no desire to end the world, nothing happens."
"Still dangerous."
"Eh. Even without such extreme situations, people can destroy the world. With enough anger, malice, persistence, and passion, anyone can."
"Is that how it is?"
"So you don't need to feel guilty enjoying things either. Getting crushed by responsibility isn't good. Though that's not my place to say!"
Lee Ha-seon giggled.
"I get it. I understand. Scary, right? That one wrong choice from you could bring the world crashing down."
"..."
In a way, Lee Ha-seon was my senior.
The power I had right now was just 'the ability to control Lee Ha-seon as I wish.' Lee Ha-seon could destroy the world on her own will. That's how strong she was.
"You have to enjoy it. Act like a normal person. That's how you gain empathy."
"Empathy?"
"Yeah. You, did you eat meat this morning?"
"I had chicken noodle soup."
"You don't feel pity for the chicken, right? You don't rage at its death or hold grudges against the people who killed it."
"Probably not."
"Right. We don't empathize with dirt, wind, microbes invisible to your eyes but visible to mine, or chickens, cows, pigs. So we can sacrifice them freely. A chicken dying is sad, sure, but we don't want to care that much."
"Yeah."
"Humans?"
Her gaze felt just a little eerie.
"You don't have to empathize with others. Plenty of people don't even think to."
"..."
"I'm not saying anything profound. It's hard to empathize with other races, other nations, different ideologies or thoughts, or just people far away physically. Hard to pity them too. But what happens if we start treating people that way?"
Lee Ha-seon gave a faint smile.