Magic Analysis

As if answering the question in my head, a system window bloomed in front of my eyes.

"Whoa..."

This is huge.

"What's with the 'whoa'? Just order some chicken already."

Liliana stuck out her lower lip and stared at the television.

This was no time for fried chicken. Our Liliana had just become a heroine. That deserved a celebration.

"Liliana~"

I let my voice go soft and sat down beside her. How do you soothe a succubus? Sex, obviously. In a world that had succubi, that was just the natural order of things.

"What's with you? Aren't we eating chicken? I'm hungry."

"Pre-meal exercise is essential. Otherwise you won't digest properly."

"What pre-meal workout? We never even— nngh!"

I answered her sulking little tantrum with a kiss. The girl who'd been snapping at me seconds ago melted the instant our lips met, her tongue sliding against mine, filthy wet sounds spilling from her throat as she sucked.

"Haa... Liliana. You're the best, you know that? I couldn't stop thinking about you. It was driving me crazy."

"...Liar. Master, you were off playing with other girls."

"Yeah, but your body is still the best."

That much was true. That uniquely yielding succubus softness, the way she fucked like she'd been built for wringing a man dry — that was Liliana's specialty and no one else's.

I pushed her down onto the couch, stripped off her sweats, and kept kissing her while my hands found her chest.

"Haah... liar... I'm not falling for that... nh."

"I'm not lying. Here. Feel."

I caught her wrist and pressed her palm against the hard line straining my pants.

"...I know you get hard for anyone."

"You're different."

"Trying to kiss your way out of— mmph..."

Our tongues tangled as we peeled the rest of our clothes off. In seconds we were bare, and the warm, plush heat of Liliana's naked skin sank into me.

"Mmh... haah... hhk...!"

I kept kissing her, one hand working a nipple, the other circling her clit. True to her nature as a filthy little succubus, her whole body answered at once, her weight melting into mine.

"You like that? You're even wetter than before. You're going to soak the couch."

"I-I'm sorryyy..."

"This won't do."

I slipped my hand inside her panties. Her soaked pussy sucked at my fingers like it had been waiting for them. She was more than ready.

"You've been hoping I'd do this since earlier, haven't you?"

"N-no I haven't."

Liliana looked away from me, eyes fixed on the floor. I stood up from the couch and brought my cock to her face.

"Suck it. Time for a lesson."

"Yeees... slurp..."

She always loses to my cock in the end, so why bother throwing a tantrum?

Her mouth was still working when I pushed into that already-slick pussy in one stroke.

"Liliana. Your attitude toward your Master has been way out of line."

"I-I'm sor— hhk. Aaaahn...!"

I snapped my hips up and went after every one of her weak spots. The scorching hunger of a succubus wrapped around my shaft, and we kept going late into the night until we finally fell asleep.

Good morning~ ding-ding-ding, good morning~ ba-ba-ba ba-ba ba-ba-ba-ba, good morning~

"Ah, shit. What kind of alarm is this?"

I smacked my smartwatch until the noise died. What time had I even fallen asleep? The memory was a blur. I knocked the last of the fog out of my head with a glass of cold water and stretched.

I'd spent the entire night disciplining Liliana for getting mouthy with her Master. Just how long was it going to take that girl to grow up?

Hmm. So Liliana's Affection went up too.

Put simply, it felt like any woman whose Affection crossed a certain threshold got folded into the heroine roster. I'd more or less figured that much out, but...

So how many am I supposed to seduce?

It had vanished without telling me the one thing that actually mattered. Did I just have to seduce as many as possible? In game terms, it might be like unlocking extra achievements. I didn't know for sure yet, so I might as well seduce every woman I could get my hands on.

I splashed water on my face until I felt human again, then finished a shower. Today was a proper class day for the first time in a while. Normally they gave us independent study before exams, but the emergency closure had thrown the schedule off, so lectures were back on.

Today's lineup was Magic Analysis and Modern Hunter Studies. Magic Analysis covered magic circles and barrier inversion. Modern Hunter Studies was the required civics course for anyone planning to survive as a hunter in the present day — dungeons, monster research, the works. Both were brutal, memorization-heavy subjects. The lecture halls would be drowning in cadet sighs.

I already knew all of it, so I figured I'd just go and enjoy myself.

I pulled on my cadet uniform and headed out. On my smartwatch, I checked the listing I'd put up yesterday — a first edition of The Falcon's Tower.

"Even here they don't believe me."

Why were people so suspicious? Not that suspicion was a bad thing, exactly. It was just annoying.

I pulled the first edition of The Falcon's Tower out of my bag and photographed it from every angle, making sure to capture the publication date and the signature inside. Then I cancelled the listing and put it back up for auction. That ought to be enough to convince them.

"Yo. Long time no see."

A man's voice came from beside me.

"Hm? Oh. Kim Young-han?"

"What's with that reaction? You look like you just saw a ghost."

"No, I just... it's been a while."

Where has this guy even been? Still, it was good to see him.

"Eh, I've just been busy. Not as busy as you, I'm sure."

"Well, I mean..."

I did have the most chaotic life of any cadet here. Getting dragged into an incident every other day wasn't exactly easy — and it had made me pretty famous. People whispered when I walked by. Whether they were praising me or cursing me, I had no idea.

We traded small talk on the way to the first-year lecture building.

"Demon terrorist attacks have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been exploding lately. Feels like something really ugly is coming."

"Yeah. It does."

Pandemic — the villains from the original story — were about to start throwing their weight around. Another terrorist attack would hit the academy after midterms. Until then, I intended to enjoy the peace.

The conversation carried us all the way to Class A. Since we were just walking-to-class friends, we peeled off toward our own people. Lucy and Rumi weren't there yet; their seats were empty. I took my usual spot behind them and pulled up the auction on my smartwatch again.

In less than thirty minutes, the bid had already climbed to eighty million won.

"Oh... they're eating it up."

Leave it to a Jang Yang-san book.

"Lee Ho-yeon, hi!"

"Hello, Ho-yeon."

"Yeah. Hey, hey."

Lucy and Rumi greeted me like it was the most natural thing in the world, then sat down in front of me... except they didn't. Rumi set her bag down in the seat beside mine.

"Uh, Rumi?"

"Yes, Ho-yeon?"

"You're sitting here?"

"Yes. I'm not very good at Magic Analysis, so... I was hoping I could learn from you."

"Mm. Sure, go ahead."

Rumi gave me a perfectly innocent smile and started pulling out her books.

She really was that pure. I'd assumed she had some other motive and should probably apologize to her in my head. Not everyone walked around hiding an agenda the way I did.

"...Then I'll sit here too. I missed last class, so I have no idea where we are."

Lucy claimed the empty seat on my left.

An awkward current seemed to run between the two of them.

Both Lucy's Affection and Rumi's had dropped after a few days without contact. Affection that shot up all at once needed constant maintenance, and I clearly hadn't been providing it.

But Lucy... she wasn't getting territorial because Rumi and I were close, was she? That didn't used to be her personality.

The scrape of the door cut through my thoughts as the Magic Analysis professor walked in.

"Good morning. Happy Monday, everyone."

He started handing out printouts before he'd even reached the podium.

"This is the notice for the midterm. You'll be tested on magic circles and barrier inversion, so read it carefully and prepare."

I skimmed the sheet and stuffed it in my bag. I'd look up some papers on it at home.

"So! The magic circle you see here can be expressed as this formula, in accordance with Boir's Law."

The lecture was genuinely, viciously difficult. Even I — and I'd read dozens of papers and gone through shelf after shelf of books on the subject — hit the occasional term I didn't recognize. I had no idea how the rest of the cadets were supposed to feel listening to this.

"H-Ho-yeon. What did he just say?"

"Boir's Law means that any magic circle with three or more strokes carries a mana acceleration. Think of it like a car that's already moving..."

I kept one ear on the lecture and walked Lucy and Rumi through the rest. I might not look it, but I had the theory down cold.

"Oh, wow... you're actually really smart?!"

"It's nothing."

Getting complimented by a pretty girl never got old, no matter how many times it happened.

"All right. Based on everything we've covered so far, we're going to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do a practical. Let's see... would two cadets like to come help me?"

Every head in the room dropped in perfect unison. Nobody wanted to meet the professor's eyes. I tipped my gaze down to my book and pretended to take notes. It wasn't that I lacked confidence — I just didn't want to stand out before midterms. Stick your neck out and you never knew what people would say. I could prove myself when the exam came around.

"Nobody wants to look at me, I see. In that case... Cadet Elise? Come on up."

This was why being a top student was miserable. Work hard and they didn't even take care of you — they just dragged you up for every little thing. It reminded me of that godawful military system where the slackers kept slacking and the ones who worked kept working, and I felt a flicker of PTSD coming on.

"And next... Cadet Lee Ho-yeon?"

"Pardon?"

I had my head down. I was fake-taking notes. How—

"I've been listening to you explain things to your friends. Your comprehension is excellent. I'm sure you'll do just fine."

He'd heard me. Damn it.

I stood up, because I didn't have a choice, and walked to the front of the lecture hall.

"Hey, Elise."

"Yeah. We meet again."

Heat rose in the eyes of the girl standing across from me. She was still hung up on losing the written exam. I'd thought she'd let it go — maybe being back in class had brought it all rushing back.

"The two of you will stand facing each other and draw a magic circle. The first to break the opponent's circle and manifest their own wins."

We faced each other. While the professor gave the rest of the class a longer explanation, I studied Elise.

To conquer her, I had to beat her grades first. Until I did, the route wouldn't even open. Making her jealous was the starting point of Elise's route — and luckily, she was already jealous. Not by much, but I had a weapon that could move her right now.

"Elise. Want to make a bet?"

"What?"

She looked at me like I'd started speaking a different language.

"A wager on who manifests their magic circle first. What do you say?"

"I'd rather not waste energy on something pointless."

True to form, Elise had no interest in anything she considered a waste of time. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I'd expected that, which was why I'd prepared a prize.

"You know Jang Yang-san's The Falcon's Tower, right? And you know a signed first edition just went up on the auction site?"

"...Of course I know. It's not like I'm the only one after it."

I'd figured this was her kind of thing. I flicked on my smartwatch and showed her my listing.

"What is this even— wait."

"If you win the bet, I'll give it to you."

Elise's eyes went wide twice — once when she realized I was the seller, and again when she heard I'd hand it over if she won.

"...Where on earth did you even get that?"

"Win and I'll tell you everything. So. Are we betting?"

"And if I lose, what are you going to ask for?"

"Grant me one wish."

"..."

"Don't look at me like I'm garbage. I'm not going to use it for anything weird. I want to put in a request with your guild."

Being stared at like a piece of trash was genuinely hurtful.

Elise was a genius at magic circle inversion — widely considered one of the best talents in the world. I, by comparison, had never shown a single ability related to inversion.

"I don't know what you're thinking... but fine. You're on."

Which was exactly why ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she accepted the bet with such confidence.

Got her.