The Fanatic Virus
I let out a low groan. “Ugh… so Senior Dohyeon really was a fanatic too. If I’d thought about it for even a second, it would’ve been obvious. What kind of woman would go completely insane and broadcast herself sucking dick on camera at the very school she attends?”
On Go-eun’s phone screen, a woman wearing a mask was live-streaming herself masturbating. Even though her lower face was covered, those familiar eyes told me it was Senior Dohyeon. She had actually taken the Succubus Ko Yunsol’s mocking suggestion—“Why don’t you try doing adult broadcasts?”—and run with it. Her entire body glistened with slippery lotion as she writhed her hips, letting out lewd moans. I couldn’t bear to watch any longer and turned my eyes away from the phone Go-eun held out to me.
“What? Why are you acting like that? You like this stuff, don’t you?”
“I’m seriously starting to wonder what the hell my image is in your head. And never mind whether I like it or not—this is a café. A public place, you idiot.”
I yanked the single earbud out of my ear and rubbed both hands down my face like I was washing it. Thankfully we were tucked away in a corner and no one seemed to have noticed yet, but what the actual fuck was this?
“Fine, fine, I’ll turn it off~”
Go-eun took a long slurp of her coffee and slipped the phone back into her pocket. I watched her while sipping my iced tea. This place was a quiet little café near the one-room rental district, and she had dragged me here after washing up and leaving her studio apartment. And in this not-very-spacious café, in a corner no less, she had been happily watching her senior’s masturbation video.
Maybe I shouldn’t have come out…
When I glanced over, Go-eun was humming a little tune while drinking her strawberry smoothie. The atmosphere felt exactly like always, yet somehow different at the same time. Was this because of her fanatic transformation?
“Oh, right. Have you heard the rumors about Senior Dohyeon? She broke up with her boyfriend. And after that live broadcast, she hasn’t shown up at school at all. I heard she even got questioned by the police… The stream I was just watching was a live one from early this morning. Guess it didn’t cause too big of a problem.”
I stirred the ice in my cup with the straw and shot her a sideways glance. Go-eun tapped her phone screen with her finger, the corners of her mouth curved in a faint smile. That smile was exactly why I’d been feeling so on edge ever since we left her place. It was the subtle little smile Choi Go-eun always made when she was cooking up some scheme or when her competitive spirit had been ignited. After twenty years of knowing her since we were kids, I could spot that tiny change immediately.
Whenever she smiled like that, it always ended with the adults scolding us. That’s why I’d been wary of her behavior from the start. I had no idea what she might do…
“But since when were you so interested in other people’s gossip? You’re not even that close with Senior Dohyeon.”
“Yeah, I’m not close with her at all. We’ve never even talked or met before? I only just heard the rumors a second ago.”
……Wait a minute. How did the conversation suddenly revolve around “Senior Dohyeon”?
A strange sense of unease washed over me. I frowned at the subtle dissonance I felt from the end of the sentence Go-eun had just spoken. As far as I knew, Choi Go-eun and Na Dohyeon had nothing in common—not their age, personality, department, or even their elective courses. So how did Go-eun know so much about Senior Dohyeon?
Of course, the live broadcast incident had turned Senior Dohyeon into a minor celebrity. But for Go-eun to be the one bringing up gossip about someone she had no connection to?
“What do you mean you ‘only just heard’?”
I immediately voiced the question that had popped into my head.
“I was thinking about it while I was washing up earlier. There have to be other fanatics besides me, right? So while I was wondering who they were and how many there were, I asked my friends about that live broadcast incident from a month ago. They told me everything—who the main character was, what she’s been up to lately, the whole thing~”
Watching Go-eun answer so cheerfully and smoothly, I suddenly felt the terrifying power of the female information network. She had only taken thirty to forty minutes to wash up. In that short time, she had learned everything about Senior Dohyeon…?
“…Wait, why would you even need that information?”
“You really don’t know anything, do you…”
“I never thought I’d live to hear you say that to me.”
I sighed at Go-eun, who was arrogantly flicking her straw up and down with a smirk.
“If they’re fellow fanatics, they’re my competition. I investigated them for strategic analysis! Of course, now that I know my competitor is just holed up in her room masturbating all day, I don’t really need to worry about her anymore…”
“…I have no idea what you’re even fighting against…”
“Anyway! If my rival stays locked in her room like that, it’s a huge win for me. I’ll rack up achievements quickly and get promoted to Saintess soon. And when that happens… we can have some incest sex, okay?♡”
“…I genuinely don’t even know what to say anymore…”
I rubbed my throbbing forehead at her insane choice of words. Go-eun grinned at me. As if trying to catch my full attention, she gently moved her pale hand—and casually pushed her cup off the edge of the table.
A tremendous splat echoed as the pale pink strawberry smoothie spilled across the floor, filling the air with a sweet-and-sour scent. Before I could even react, a young woman came rushing over.
“Are you alright, miss? You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
“…Ah, I’m so sorry… The cup didn’t break so no one’s hurt, but the floor… If you just give me a rag, I’ll clean it up myself! I’m really, really sorry, ma’am!”
“No, no, it’s fine! I’ll clean it up, so could you two please move to another seat for just a moment?”
“…Yes, thank you!”
The woman wearing an apron and a cap looked like the owner of this small café. As Go-eun and I bowed to her and moved to a new table, Go-eun suddenly leaned close to my ear. Her voice was quiet, yet carried a hot breath.
“…The owner of this place is pretty, isn’t she?”
“Huh?”
After her short question, Go-eun didn’t even wait for my answer. She stopped walking, turned around, and headed back. The café owner was diligently mopping up the stain on the floor with a large mop she had brought from the storage room.
“Oh, miss? Did you forget something…?”
“No. I just wanted to tell you something, ma’am.”
“Yes? What is—?”
“Eit♡”
For a brief moment, a bright jade-colored light glowed from Go-eun’s palm. She pressed that small hand against the café owner’s lower belly, right above her apron. Then—
The jade light burned through the apron and clothes, searing the woman’s skin.
“───Ehh?♡”
Smoke rose. The light pouring from Go-eun’s palm scorched the fabric and burned the woman’s flesh. A sizzling sound accompanied the heat, and the café owner jerked as if struck by lightning. Her eyes rolled back, every muscle in her body tensed into a rigid stance, and fluid began dripping from between her legs.
How long had it been? Roughly ten seconds. By the time the thin, hazy smoke—like cigarette smoke—had completely dissipated, Go-eun pulled her hand away and flexed her fingers, opening and closing her fist.
“…Physical side is done for now… Time to carve the teaching into her soul!”
I approached Go-eun, who was wiping sweat from her forehead with a satisfied expression. The café was quiet with no other customers, but I still lowered my voice cautiously.
“…Hey. What the hell did you just do…?”
“Hm? What do you mean? I’m evangelizing to humans, obviously. Haven’t you seen it before?”
Where Go-eun had removed her hand, there were blackened scraps of cloth and a hole burned through them. The owner’s exposed navel and the area below it now bore the word “Fanatic” branded into her skin like a mark burned by a branding iron of light. And above all, the woman stood there blankly with her eyes rolled back, showing only the whites—like a person whose soul had left her body.
Haven’t seen it before? Of course I hadn’t. And “evangelizing”? So when Dasom had mentioned “evangelism” before, this was what she meant…
“Anyway, it’ll be over soon, so just keep watch for me. Now then… ‘Poor soul who has imprisoned herself, receive your Master’s teaching.’”
……..
Go-eun’s jade eyes flashed as she recited the solemn incantation, her previously playful demeanor completely gone. The characters engraved on the café owner’s lower belly glowed, and the dazed woman silently stuck out her tongue. Thick saliva dripped from the tongue that emerged between her widely opened lips. It fell onto her chest, staining her shirt, but the woman didn’t even flinch. Go-eun smiled while looking at the doll-like owner, then turned to me and lifted the hem of her own shirt.
The exact same “Fanatic” characters that were on the owner’s belly now glowed on hers.
“See? The mark on the belly is the ‘Mark of the Flesh.’ It means she has offered her body to you. And the one on the tongue… like this… is the ‘Mark of the Soul.’ It means she has offered her spirit to you.”
Go-eun opened her mouth. On her crimson tongue, another “Fanatic” character glowed with jade light.
“Right now, the owner only has the Mark of the Flesh, so she’s become like a doll. Once I carve the Mark of the Soul onto her tongue too, the new café owner will be reborn as your fanatic~ Of course, if you had your semen, you could corrupt her in a single shot… but you can’t cum inside us, can you?”
“…Well, that’s true, but…”
“Anyway! This is the role of us fanatics. Find beautiful women and turn them into the Master’s followers. This is called evangelism… You really didn’t know about this until now? Haven’t the other fanatics brought any women to you?”
“……”
I shook my head. Dasom had gone completely silent since that day, and Senior Dohyeon had become a supernova on an adult broadcast platform. Still, I was pretty sure Dasom had mentioned “evangelism” before… so this was what she meant?
“…Well then, doesn’t that mean I’m the one in the lead now? Yes!”
“…So what exactly are you fighting against?”
Go-eun clenched her fist in childish excitement, then let out a small laugh. She grabbed the café owner’s tongue with one hand and stuck out her own tongue, speaking to me in a slurred, drooling voice… Something like…
“Heh, ho hoan hee! Hihe ih hungyahoh hoh hahenghihihah!”
“Whatever. Just watch. This woman will be complete soon.”
“Ooh!”
“Ha, damn. You really get me.”
I gave a thumbs-up to Go-eun and we high-fived. I scratched my itchy cheek. I might not be good at a lot of things, but I was pretty decent at reading lips… Wait, that wasn’t the point.
“Hey, wait—complete? What are you going to do with her tongue… Whoa…”
Go-eun couldn’t answer my question. She pressed her tongue against the doll-like café owner’s outstretched one. Thick strands of saliva dripped between their joined tongues. I covered my mouth. It was… hard to describe, but somehow… a little arousing…
Chiiiik…
A thin wisp of smoke rose from their pressed tongues as well. Maybe because they were already wet with saliva, there was less smoke than before. When the smoke finally disappeared completely, Go-eun pulled her tongue back and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.
“Slurp… She must have drunk coffee earlier. I can taste it.”
“…I really didn’t need to know that.”
With that random nonsense, Go-eun wiped her mouth while giving me another thumbs-up with her other hand. I narrowed my eyes at the same stupid line I had heard far too many times and glared at her. That’s when I heard movement.
The café owner, who had been standing rigidly at attention, began twisting her body and stumbling backward. She hung her head low. Go-eun approached the woman, who was letting out deep moans from her throat and clutching her head as if dizzy.
“…Ma’am, are you awake now? Then please answer my question first. Do you have a boyfriend, a husband, or anyone you like?”
“…I have a husband. But that man doesn’t matter anymore.”
The café owner slowly raised her head. Her eyes were now dyed jade. Her breathing was ragged, her cheeks flushed bright red. The owner looked at me with those jade eyes, then dropped to her knees with a thud.
“…From now on, I swear to serve Master for the rest of my life…♡ Thanks to you, I realized how miserable it is to live while locking myself away… The Master who led me with desire is truly the great being who has descended upon this land…!”
……..
I looked down at the café owner, who was bowing deeply to me with an ecstatic expression. Go-eun, smiling beside me, rested her head against my shoulder as we both watched the scene.
“How does it feel? You’ve gained another new fanatic.”
“Yeah. It’s fucking overwhelming.”
I felt an indescribable, complex emotion. I was so overwhelmed I thought I might die.
“I-I’m sorry! Master!! Did I make you uncomfortable…?”
“…Now it’s overwhelming in a completely different way.”
The café owner, clinging to my feet, pressed her chest against my leg. Damn, those are huge.
“…A-anyway! If you just give the order, I’ll turn all my friends around me into fanatics too! You saw how good I am at this! So please seriously consider promoting me to Saintess~♡”
“Y-yes? Promote you to Saintess…! This may be presumptuous, but… could I possibly… too? Ah, I have a younger sister! And a niece who just graduated high school this year!”
……..
The two fanatics clung to my arm and leg respectively. Ah… being surrounded by women really does feel good, but at the same time it feels awful… This is seriously exhausting…