Star Instructor Liliana! (3)

"Lucy. Are you okay?"

"... Mm."

Rumi had finished her visit to Lee Ho-yeon's sickbed and headed straight for Lucy's dorm. Lucy's building was closer — she could have stopped there first — but she'd needed to go out anyway to buy porridge and medicine, so she'd seen Ho-yeon first.

Rumi pulled the porridge from the plastic bag and set it on the desk.

"I bought porridge and medicine, so make sure you eat... I froze an ice pack in the freezer, too. I'll swap it out for you later."

"Thanks. Rumi...."

When the heart collapses, the body follows. Lucy learned the truth of those words today. She'd been perfectly healthy, and then a full-body ache had crashed over her overnight. The headache had lingered from last night straight through to now, and whenever she thought of Ho-yeon and Rumi, her chest drew tight. That was why she'd done her best not to take Rumi's calls, and why she hadn't answered Ho-yeon either... but seeing Rumi skip the academy just to come nurse her, Lucy felt like she might cry.

"Rumi, the academy...."

"It's fine. It doesn't even count toward our grades. I'll stay with you the whole time."

Rumi squeezed Lucy's hand. She'd wanted so badly to talk about Ho-yeon today, but looking at Lucy's condition, she decided the serious conversation would have to wait. You couldn't have a talk that needed that much thinking when you were sick. Lucy's body came first.

But that consideration was poison to Lucy. If Rumi had just brought it up, it might have been better. Seeing her sister like this only made Lucy's head hurt worse. Unlike Rumi, who always put her first, Lucy had gotten involved with the person her little sister liked — and here she was, jealous over it. She looked pathetic even to herself.

"Lucy...."

Rumi gripped the hand of her sister — whose eyes were squeezed shut — and pulled it against her own chest.

"Don't.... You'll catch it too."

"If I take it from you, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠maybe you'll get better? Heh."

Rumi smiled as she fussed over the listless Lucy, trying to cheer her up, and Lucy only suffered more watching her. And so the twins each held different thoughts about the same man, and out of consideration for each other, neither spoke them aloud.

Friday afternoon. I signed out a leave pass to burn the last weekday — Friday night. But I didn't have any plans, so I headed for the most convenient destination: the dorms. The dorms were an important place, after all. Two heroines lived there.

Passing the men's dorm without much thought, I remembered my one and only male friend.

Wonder what Kim Young-han is up to.

I wasn't even hoping for a guy-to-guy get-well visit. It'd just be nice to bump into him on the way. I didn't run into him all the way to my door, so I guess it wasn't meant to be.

Beep—

The familiar unlock chimed, the door swung open, and I was greeted by an empty dorm.

"Hello?"

The thought that nobody was home had barely formed when black mana began wrapping around my entire body. It had approached with extreme stealth.

"Wh-what. What is this!"

I didn't even have time to get a word out before I was rolled up like a silkworm in its cocoon. Ropes of mana had bound me tight.

I let my guard down...! Why didn't Combat Sense activate?

Tension surged through me in an instant. I'd been relying on nothing but Combat Sense in a dorm I thought was safe, and I'd been ambushed. But the familiar voice that followed — and the vision that soon returned — dissolved my anxiety. The mana covering everything except my arms and legs slowly faded, and the first thing I saw in the brightening field of view was Liliana's face.

"Alright, alright. Long time no see~!"

"Liliana, you... Scarlet, and... Nam Da-eun?"

Unexpected faces were standing in the inner room of the dorm. Liliana I could understand, but Scarlet and Nam Da-eun staring at me was a bit much.

"Hey, what the hell is this... Haa. Let me go already. And where's Da-hee?"

"I put her to sleep. This isn't exactly a sight a child should see...."

"No, what are you even planning to do."

Of course, the mana binding my limbs wasn't unfamiliar. This uneasy feeling. It reminded me of Liliana's rampage from before — the time she'd jumped me the moment the survival exam ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ended. No, back then we hadn't seen each other for a week. Why was she like this now? She looked perfectly normal.

"You need to become teaching material for sex education."

I stared at Liliana with eyes full of questions, and she just smiled and nodded.

"...?"

"Come here, Da-eun."

At Liliana's words, Nam Da-eun, who'd been hiding behind her, shuffled hesitantly toward me. Sex education. I finally understood what that word meant.

"Hey, hey. Don't. Don't do this."

My mana circuits were still recovering, so I couldn't resist Liliana's binding mana. Last time Liliana had suddenly gotten stronger and the contract hadn't worked. This time I was the one who'd gotten weaker — and Liliana's power hadn't dropped at all.

Hell's Contract.

These bastards were seriously the worst.

"Why. You like it too."

One look at Liliana's eyes told me everything. There was no hope for her. Once she got like that, there was no stopping her.

"No, hey. Scarlet! Scarlet! Stop her! You can't go along with this too!"

I shouted at Scarlet, who was watching from behind. She was my next hope. At the very least, Scarlet had to listen to me. The contract explicitly stated she had to follow my orders.

"... I'm sorry."

"No, you have to follow my orders!"

"Don't you remember? Because of that bet, Scarlet takes my orders first."

"You fucking—"

Right. Because of that stupid bet about when she'd betray us, I'd handed her over as Liliana's toy. So Scarlet's primary command authority belonged to Liliana, not me.

"Alright, take his pants off."

"Yes."

"Don't just say 'yes.' Hey. Nam Da-eun. No, Da-eun. Snap out of it."

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. This was diverging from the Nam Da-eun route I'd planned. I'd been going for the path of getting close with her sister after her cruel revenge — and now suddenly sex? This wasn't right, was it?

But Nam Da-eun's next words made me hesitate.

"... Do you not like this kind of thing? I practiced because you said you liked it...."

"...."

I was at a loss for words. The usually expressionless face looking at me was wavering, just slightly. It was only a single sentence, but Nam Da-eun's words carried a mana that was hard to refuse. This was Nam Da-eun. The tragic heroine who massacred an entire guild and killed herself to protect ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her little sister's purity. And that woman had practiced sex for my sake.

Status window.

... Yeah, this isn't going to work.

I checked the status window and made my call. It was too late to do anything about it now. Things had already veered a hundred and eighty degrees from my plan, and refusing at this point wouldn't fix a thing. The moment I'd been tied up, refusing had stopped being an option. If I turned cold here and Liliana's and Nam Da-eun's affection dropped, the one who took the loss would be me.

A shitty world where only the protagonist loses out. I was a little resentful of Liliana and Scarlet, but... ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠now that it had come to this, I had no choice but to see it through. Then again, when had anything ever gone according to my plan? It had always been a shitshow.

I looked Nam Da-eun in the eyes. They were the eyes of someone afraid I might reject her. If the Nam Da-eun until now had been someone who hadn't gotten her feelings back, the Nam Da-eun standing in front of me looked like a woman — a real one. On top of that, a girl who was always expressionless and never showed interest in anyone had practiced sex for my sake... it was hard to refuse. Getting turned on in a situation like this was just a male's inevitable instinct.

"No.... I like it."

"Thank goodness...."

At my words of permission, Nam Da-eun let out a sigh of relief, and Liliana, standing behind her, started egging her on.

"There, there, I told you not to worry. Just pull his pants down yourself."

"... Liliana, you and I are going to have a talk later."

"Huh? Master. What are you talking about?"

Liliana blinked at me with a look of pure innocence, but like hell that was going to get her off the hook.

"Playing cute now isn't going to do you any good."

I'd deal with that insane succubus later. Right now, it was Nam Da-eun. She fidgeted, then lifted her hands and pulled my pants down. It was obvious she'd never done anything like this before. That pervert succubus had probably egged her on, claiming she was teaching her what I liked.

Having gotten my pants off, Nam Da-eun swallowed hard at the sight of my underwear. I wasn't fully hard yet, but just having a woman's face that close was enough to make my cock swell, bit by bit. Nam Da-eun's reaction was unmistakably that of a virgin seeing a man for the first time. A girl who'd never done this before was staring at my underwear. How was I supposed to not get turned on?

"If you pull them down like that, his cock will come out. Just do it the way I told you."

"...."

I decided to stay quiet even as Liliana kept chattering away. If I said something weird, Nam Da-eun might feel pressured. Nam Da-eun pulled down my underwear with trembling hands. My cock sprang free with a soft fwip and appeared right in front of her face. Her eyes went wide.

"Th-th-this is...."

"Yeah. Just like I taught you. You know how, right?"

Liliana stroked the back of a stammering, flustered Nam Da-eun. Anyone watching would think she was a coach tending to an Olympic athlete.

"... Okay."

Bolstered by Liliana's encouragement, Nam Da-eun wrapped her hand around my cock. The cold touch of her fingers made it even harder. She leaned in closer and pressed her lips to the head.

Smooch.

"... Thank you for the meal."

She took it into her mouth.

"Kh...."

Her slightly parted lips closed around my cock. Schuuck— The movement of her lips and tongue was familiar. It was just like Liliana's fellatio. Bound in chains of mana, my body twitched, and I arrived at a single realization.

Lim Sol had been like this, and now Nam Da-eun too. Geniuses were good at dirty things as well.

Thud— thud— thud—

A great altar stood inside a darkened building. Among the believers in drab-colored robes, their heads bowed, a single man stood. It was Maestro, the boss of Pandemic.

"Ahh... soon our Apostle shall descend. The Apostle who shall become our lantern, the flame of our hope...."

Step. Step.

His prayer finished, Maestro walked out of the magic circle — a crimson array encircling a hundred believers.

"Your noble sacrifice shall make our Pandemic shine all the brighter."

The believers, whose eyes held no life, only listened with their heads still bowed.

"Begin."

At Maestro's command, the believers poured out their mana. They threw every last drop of the mana in their bodies into driving the magic circle.

The circle answered. It began to glow a deep red, and the believers standing upon it collapsed one by one.

Thud—

Thud—

When all one hundred believers had fallen, black flames roared to life and consumed their corpses.

A moment later, a bizarre sound arrived — as if Hell itself had been given a voice. It was the screaming of the believers' souls as they were imprisoned in Hell for eternity.

Crrrk—

The ashes of the believers, burned so thoroughly that not even bone remained, clumped together and began to shape themselves into something vicious. A strange creature that was part human and part horse.

"The Apostle appears. Show your respect, all of you."

The Pandemic officers standing outside the magic circle drew up their mana. There was no telling when an Apostle of Hell might turn on them and tear Pandemic apart.

Clip-clop. Clack-clack.

The sound of a beast walking. The smoke peeled away, and the suspicious creature approached Maestro. A being out of myth, human from the waist up and horse from the waist down. It was Centaur.

Centaur regarded the humans who had suddenly appeared before him with open wariness. The voice resonated directly inside their skulls, low and echoing.

"O Apostle. In order to spread the flames of Hell throughout the human world... we have summoned you."

Maestro swept a hand through the air. The officers around him let their mana settle and bowed their heads — a gesture that they meant no hostility. The summoning had succeeded. They had called forth an Apostle they could actually talk to. If it was a creature of Hell, craving humans was only natural. As long as communication was possible, Maestro could easily control it with his own abilities. And so he smiled and stepped toward Centaur.

But contrary to Maestro's expectations, Centaur frowned as if this whole affair were a nuisance.

"Haa...."

Dangling from Centaur's clothes was a mercenary badge stamped with a single letter. F.