The Aftermath
The patients left in the wake of the terrorist attack were being treated at the academy's medical facilities.
Baek A-young, who belonged to the academy herself, had left the infirmary to help with the treatments.
"Okay... it doesn't hurt, does it?"
"Nngh... it hurts. It hurts..."
"Understood. I'll treat you now."
"Nngh... it hurts so much."
"S-Saint— I mean, Nurse. You need to let go of the patient's arm..."
The medical team had frozen at the sight of Baek A-young gripping the patient's wound directly as she worked, and one of them finally spoke up.
"Ah— ahh. I'm so sorry. Are you all right?"
"I-I'm fine. Hhk."
Baek A-young herself had startled, ducking her head to apologize to the patient. The patient was in filthy, blinding pain, but they couldn't bring themselves to swear at that apologetic face, so they swallowed their tears and endured it.
The treatment was finished, after a fashion — but Baek A-young was in no condition to take the next patient.
"Um, Nurse. If you're not feeling well, you really ought to rest..."
"...I'm sorry. I'll head out first today."
The medical team had taken one look at her and suggested she stop. Baek A-young knew perfectly well that forcing herself to stay would only make her a burden. She left the medical building and started toward the infirmary.
Her steps dragged. Plenty of people recognized her as she passed the recovery site and called out greetings, but she wasn't in any state to return them, so she offered nothing more than a faint smile. Fortunately the infirmary sat right next door, so she didn't run into too many people.
She climbed to the third-floor quarters with lifeless steps and let herself fall onto the bed, which still carried the lingering scent of a man and a woman.
"Haa..."
Baek A-young stretched a hand toward the ceiling and sank into thought. Last night felt like a dream. She had been with Lee Ho-yeon many times, but last night had been a truly long, searing night. And yet she couldn't understand why she felt this lingering hollowness, this quiet sense of being left behind.
They had been that kind of relationship from the start. Baek A-young was the victim, forced into it because he had dirt on her, and Lee Ho-yeon was a piece-of-shit perpetrator. If she reported him to the police right now, he wouldn't even be able to show his face in public. No — he wouldn't be walking around at all. He would rot in prison for the rest of his life. That was how powerful the Saint image she had built truly was.
Of course, Baek A-young enjoyed that kind of play herself, so she had no intention of reporting him. She just... she just wanted this relationship to go on.
But she couldn't shake the shock of last night. After everything they had done, the line he had drawn between them. Lee Ho-yeon still saw her as an outlet for his lust. She had wanted that too, so there was nothing wrong with it... and yet her chest felt strangely empty.
"Why... why? Nngh..."
Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, traced the line of her ears, and fell. She knew the reason. She simply didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to acknowledge the feeling, and she didn't want to understand it. Blaming herself for being this stupid didn't change a thing.
"I like him... I've fallen for him."
Something had gone wrong. The world had changed since she met Lee Ho-yeon. She no longer got aroused in the middle of a treatment. When a man whose life hung by a thread looked at her with lust-filled eyes, she no longer had to mind her posture so he wouldn't notice her wet panties. The days of touching herself to fantasies of being raped by a faceless stranger were gone. The material she used to get herself off was now fixed on one man, and one man only.
It was only after that line had been drawn so clearly that she finally recognized the feeling for what it was.
"I love you. I love you so much. Darling."
Baek A-young didn't wipe the tears away. No matter how she turned it over, love could not sprout from a relationship between a rapist and his victim. That kind of love story did not exist in her common sense, and she was the only crazy bitch in the world who called her rapist darling. She was the only one feeling this way. To Lee Ho-yeon, she was nothing more than a game. A tool.
Her breath caught and her throat tightened, but she didn't let a single sob escape. Because this feeling was greed. Because it was a feeling she must never, ever let show. She simply resolved to hold onto this relationship for as long as she possibly could. That was the limit of what Baek A-young could think of right now.
Scarlet had reported that she was investigating me, then gone off to investigate Elise. By her own account she was one of the Iris Guild's top stealth operatives, so there was no chance Elise would catch her.
"Then again, if that's what counts as top-tier stealth, Mana Sensitivity really is broken."
I'd even awakened it, so my detection had become something else entirely. At this level, I probably didn't need to worry about sneak attacks.
"Mmph, what'd you shay?"
"Nothing. Eat up."
Scarlet and I had bet on whether she'd entertain thoughts of betrayal before the day was out, and Liliana had won, which meant dinner tonight was fried chicken. I tore into a piece — it was infused with mana, and ridiculously good — and tapped away at my smartwatch.
I'd originally planned to meet Su-rin noona at least once during the festival, but with the fallout from the attack, the student council president would be buried.
No reply.
She used to answer my messages almost immediately no matter how busy she was. The silence meant she really was slammed.
"..."
Had they all come down with workaholism at once? A-young should at least have had time to send a text.
"Guess she's busy too."
It would be weirder if she were always sitting around waiting to answer me. Sometimes people had things going on.
...She's not sulking, is she?
Well. I had been pretty cold to her.
I'll make it up to her next time I see her.
It was about time I properly locked down at least one of them. I didn't know who'd be first, but it would probably be Baek A-young or Rumi.
I finished the chicken, then stripped off my cadet uniform and hung it up.
"Hm?"
Something was in the pocket. I pulled it out — a little red lucky pouch. Nothing inside, and even the equipment status window confirmed it was an ordinary pouch.
"Trash. Oh, right."
The pouch had jogged something loose. The Demon King. I needed to ask Liliana if she knew anything about him. I tossed the pouch at the trash can, swished it, and walked into Liliana's room, where she was getting ready to stream.
"Liliana. You got a minute?"
"I'm about to go live. What?"
"Do you know who the Demon King is?"
"Huh? The Demon King? You mean the Demon King of Hell?"
"You know him?!"
She knew? Liliana really was a useful succubus after all.
"Of course I know. Why are you asking about the Demon King, though?"
"Just curious. Tell me what you know."
"I don't know that much... The Demon King is the ruler of Hell, and the strongest being there. Someone like me doesn't exactly have a pile of intel."
"Wow. Way to kill the mood."
That was the problem with her — always right on the edge of being useful. I wished she'd just pick a lane. She got my hopes up for nothing.
"Who even asked you to ask?! I have a stream. Get out."
"Got it. Knock 'em dead."
I wasn't about to get in the way of her work. I left the room and stood there trying to figure out what to do with myself. The cadets had been ordered not to leave the dorms today on account of the danger.
"Should've kept Scarlet around to kill time."
I'd sent her off too early. Elise would be home anyway.
"Liliana's mother might know something."
Once the stream was over, I should take another look at Hell's Contract too. I stretched out and fiddled with my smartwatch, killing time. I was allowed to slack off every now and then. I worked my ass off enough as it was.
I was lying on the sofa watching something stupid when a notification chimed. The sender was Su-rin noona.
"...?"
What the hell was she talking about all of a sudden?
"I'll take my leave, then, Miss Elise. It was a pleasure."
"Yes. Thank you for your work."
Once the elderly mana massage therapist had left the room, Elise gathered her underthings.
Not this one either.
She had lost count of how many this made. The number of people she had seen had already passed several dozen and was racing toward fifty. Getting massaged several times a day, she was starting to feel like her body had gone strange.
"Haa..."
And still, after all those sessions, she had not felt it again — that sensation. Elise pulled on her top and stepped out of her room.
"...Sebas Chan."
"Yes, miss."
Sebas Chan had seen the therapist out and was waiting outside her door.
"Not this one either."
"Understood. I will find another."
"...Are there even any left?"
They had already contacted every well-regarded female massage therapist worth the name. The only reason an elderly one had come today was that there was no one left among the younger practitioners who met the required standard.
"I will go through the list once more."
"Don't. There's no point bringing me someone without the skill."
"But if we don't..."
If it wasn't a woman, the only option left was a man. That was what Sebas Chan was trying to say.
"Forget it. Let's just stop looking. It's too much trouble for everyone."
Every therapist who met Elise had to be bound by a non-disclosure restriction, which meant they walked away with a considerable fee. It wasn't a great deal of money for the Iris Guild — but it wasn't one or two people. It was dozens, and the sum had grown enormous.
"But..."
"I'll handle it myself. Don't worry about it."
She still hadn't told a single person that she had already received a mana massage from Lee Ho-yeon. This entire operation had been set in motion by one remark from Elise — that she thought a mana massage might help.
If it's going to be like this, I might as well just go to Lee Ho-yeon.
"Come to think of it, what's going on with Scarlet?"
She had assigned Scarlet to investigate Lee Ho-yeon, but she couldn't shake a strange, lingering unease. It wasn't that she doubted Scarlet's ability. It was just a feeling.
"We received word just now, as it happens. She has confirmed that Lee Ho-yeon is involved with the woman in his household, and she intends to approach with caution. Obtaining footage is no simple matter, so it seems a sound judgment."
"Mm... I didn't expect results right away. I'm going to rest for a bit."
"Yes, miss."
Sebas Chan lived in the house immediately beside the mansion, so that he could arrive at once if anything happened. Elise walked back to her room as if nothing were out of the ordinary. The moment she confirmed he had gone into the neighboring house, she shut the window and raised a barrier.
Guess I'll have to use my imagination again today.
The material simply wasn't coming together. There was nothing else for it. Elise pulled off her top and burrowed under the covers, and she could already feel the inside of her panties growing damp.
"Nngh... nnh. Lee Ho-yeon..."
She frowned, calling up the memory of the survival exam. Elise had no sexual experience whatsoever. The truth was she had been too busy working to have the time. The first thing she had ever encountered was Lee Ho-yeon's sex, and it had been far too early a stimulus for her. Curiosity had driven her to that kind of media afterward, little by little — but nothing in it could overwrite the shock he had given her.
Above all, that enormous thing, and the faces of Baek A-young and Rumi looking like they were feeling so good, had never left her mind. Those hadn't been performances. They hadn't been faked. Those were faces of genuine, unguarded pleasure. A child who should have started with baby food had gotten a taste of fried chicken, and now baby food would never be enough.
Elise touched her clitoris with a fingertip, and Baek A-young's pleasure-drunk face rose behind her eyes.
"Nngh..."
Her body jerked, and she came.
"Haa. Haa..."
Once wasn't enough. She reached for the memory of Lee Ho-yeon's massage — her whole body going hot, her blood racing, her heart pounding, a bright shiver running down her spine. It was only after she had learned what masturbation was that she understood that sensation for what it had been.
It had been arousal.
Getting aroused from Lee Ho-yeon's massage... am I a pervert?
Even as the thought crossed her mind, she couldn't stop her fingers.
"Ho-yeon... nngh..."
She replayed the feeling of the massage and pictured Lee Ho-yeon's cock pushing into Rumi.
"Hoyeon, it feels so good. So good. Aahh..."
Rumi's pleasure-soaked moans seemed to breathe against her ear. Elise panted, fingers working through the slick heat of her dripping pussy.
"Ho-Ho-yeon... me too... nh."
Calling his name while she touched herself made it feel as though she were actually there, and the climax that followed was so much cleaner, so much sharper. That was something she had discovered in the middle of doing this.
"Nh, ah... Ho-yeon. Haah."
Elise lost herself in it for a long time.
And Scarlet, flattened against the ceiling of Elise's room, thought:
I might actually get a reward for this...!
Quietly, the corner of Scarlet's mouth curled up.