First Delusion - Idol Hunting (4)

The numbers ticked down, slow and steady.

"It seriously wants us to wait out five minutes?"

Sea studied the device. Aside from pressing down and locking Yuna's waist to the floor, nothing about it changed in the slightest.

Seoyun reached out carefully.

"Hold on. Let me try."

She slid her hand under the device and pulled. It didn't move.

"Nothing?"

"Not even a millimeter."

Sea added her strength from the side. The result was the same.

"Why is this thing so solid?"

"Just wait," Yuna said. "What if we poke at it and something else activates?"

At that, both pairs of hands froze at once. It was entirely plausible.

Sea pulled her hands away from the device.

"Fine. Five minutes will fly by."

Pinned at the waist, Yuna let out a sigh. "It's not flying by from down here."

"Relax."

"Does this look relaxing to you?"

"At least you don't have to move."

"Why don't you get caught sometime."

"No thanks."

Seoyun watched the two of them and snorted a laugh. The tension that had been stretched taut just moments ago eased, if only a little. At least this trap didn't look dangerous. A device that did nothing but eat time — if that was all it was, they could count themselves lucky.

The three of them waited.

Time crawled far more slowly than it should have. In the narrow tunnel, there was no way to even change position properly.

Sea grumbled.

"This is such a dirty way to take someone down."

"Less dirty than you missing that pink bear back there."

"How was I supposed to spot something that tiny?"

"Which is why you look properly from now on."

"Yuna stepped on a word, though."

"Who could've seen that coming?"

"Both of you, quiet." Seoyun cut in. "It's almost done."

Three pairs of eyes locked onto the numbers.

Beep.

Clunk.

The device pinning Yuna's waist rose slowly upward. Once it had withdrawn completely into the ceiling, even the opening it left behind sealed shut, leaving the ceiling perfectly flat — as if nothing had ever been there at all.

Yuna tested her body, cautious. Forward. Back. This time, it moved.

"I'm free."

Sea let out a breath of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠relief. "So it really was just five minutes."

Yuna loosened up her body, still grumbling. "What's so fun about pinning a person face-down for five minutes?"

"It's still better than being sent back to the start, isn't it?" Seoyun said.

"That part I'll grant."

Sea nodded. "Even if you get caught, five minutes and you can keep going."

"Still, don't get caught on purpose," Seoyun said at once.

"I know."

The three of them set off again. This time they watched more than the color of the floor — they checked the words as well. Bunhong, the Korean word for pink. Pingkeu, its phonetic spelling. PINK. Every variation and close cousin got combed through, one by one.

Once they'd learned the rule, everything went far more smoothly.

"Here."

Yuna pointed ahead. Hidden among the black lettering was yet another word — bunhongsaek, the full Korean for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the color.

The three of them moved around the spot. Nothing happened.

"There it is." Sea grinned. "Now I get it."

A little farther on, a tiny pink star sticker clung to the wall. They skirted wide of it and passed. Another success.

The trap that had been nothing but terrifying minutes ago was starting to feel like a puzzle. Their pace quickened, little by little.

"I can see the end," Seoyun said.

Far ahead, the tunnel's ceiling rose higher. Past that point, they would be able to stand upright again.

"Finally." Sea picked up speed.

"Go slow."

"I checked — it's clear."

"Still—"

Clunk.

Sea froze mid-motion.

…

Yuna and Seoyun stopped at the same instant. Sea slowly looked down beneath her right hand. Black lettering. PINK.

"Ah." Sea shut her eyes. "There was English too, huh."

Clunk. The familiar sound came from the ceiling above.

"Sea!"

Thud.

The device came down. This time it was Sea's waist locked hard against the floor.

"Oh, come on!" Sea shoved at the floor with her arms. It didn't budge an inch.

From behind her, Yuna gave an awkward laugh. "What was it you said earlier?"

"Don't."

"'Now I get it,' was it?"

"I said don't."

Beep. Numbers appeared on the device.

All three of them stared at it in unison. Seoyun sighed. "Same as before."

Sea checked the numbers too — then, the tension draining out of her, let her arms fall slack against the floor.

"Well, it could be worse."

"How?"

"I'm not getting sent back to the start, am I?" Sea turned her head to the side. "I'll just rest here a bit."

Yuna laughed. "Actually resting?"

"Can't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠move anyway, so why not."

Seoyun looked toward the front. The end of the tunnel wasn't far now. "Then we'll go check ahead."

Sea blinked. "Can't you stay with me?"

"It's right there."

"Even so," Yuna said. "We'll just peek at the exit and come straight back."

Sea weighed it for a moment, then nodded. "Hurry back."

"We will."

Seoyun and Yuna moved carefully forward. A few meters — and then they were out of the low tunnel, the two of them straightening up at last.

"Wow..." Yuna stretched her back. "I feel alive again."

Seoyun checked their surroundings first. It was a wide-open space. As before, nothing resembling a trap leapt out at them.

"Sea." Seoyun spoke into the phone. "This place looks safe."

Sea's voice came through. "Then I'll head over the second I'm loose."

"We'll just scout a little farther ahead."

"Don't go far."

"We won't."

Seoyun and Yuna began checking the area.

Sea was left alone.

"Ahh..." Sea tried propping her chin on the floor and gave up. The position just wouldn't work. "This is genuinely uncomfortable."

Still, she wasn't afraid. Yuna had been caught in the exact same device and released without a single thing happening to her. All Sea had to do was wait a few minutes. Seoyun's and Yuna's conversation still drifted through the phone.

Sea smiled faintly.

"Don't go abandoning me back here."

Yuna's voice floated back through the phone. "Who said anything about abandoning you?"

"I don't know. You two might get giddy now that you're a pair again and just take off."

"Just wait quietly."

"Yes, yes."

Sea looked at the numbers.

Still a long way off. But she wasn't afraid — not after Yuna had gone first and taken the trap for the team. If it had been something she'd never seen before, she would have thrashed and fought to break free somehow. But she already knew how it ended. Five minutes. Endure that much, and the device let go on its own. If anything, she worried more about the two ahead of her walking into something worse.

"Seriously, don't go far," Sea called out loudly one more time.

"We heard you," came Yuna's answer, and only then did Sea finally go slack, collapsing fully against the floor. She no longer had a single doubt about the trap holding her.

Then—

Shff. A small sound came from behind her. Sea's eyes darted.

…?

She tried to turn her head. But the low ceiling, and the device clamped around her waist — there was no way to see properly behind her.

"Unnie?"

The two voices were still chattering on through the phone. Both of them were ahead of her. Then the sound just now—

Shff. Closer this time.

The playfulness drained out of Sea's face.

"...What was that?"

No answer.

She strained against her arms. Her waist didn't move at all. The device that had felt like nothing just moments ago suddenly felt like something else entirely.

"Seoyun unnie."

"What is it?"

"Come back for a second."

"Is something wrong?"

Sea craned her head around again, trying to see behind her. Nothing. "No, it's just..."

At that moment, a man's voice sounded from directly behind her.

"Mm."

Sea's face went rigid. He was too close.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"The real purpose of this trap? It's this."

…!

Sea thrashed. The device didn't so much as shiver.

"Unnie!"

Seoyun's voice burst from the phone. "Sea?"

Ingong laughed, low and quiet. "You pass, Sea."

With despair written across her face, Sea strained with everything she had to look back.

Flat against the tunnel floor, Sea was spilling animal moans into the dark.

"Haah... ngh, aahh...!"

Every touch of Ingong's hands set the nerves of her whole body shivering. There was no trace left of the dependable Sea who always looked after her members. Face smeared with tears and drool, she muffled her own mouth with one hand while her hips trembled in tiny, helpless shivers.

Through the phone, Seoyun's and Yuna's frantic voices rang out.

Sea managed to squeeze the words out by the skin of her teeth, but they were soon drowned beneath the rough snap of Ingong's hips, melting into broken, shattering cries.

And right at that moment—

Clunk— beep.

The timer's last seconds fell to 00:00, and the restraint pressing Sea's waist into the floor wound slowly upward. Her waist was bound no longer. With the device's hold undone, Sea had regained the perfect freedom to crawl out of the tunnel, to slip free, to run.

But—

"Huh...?"

Even with the device gone, far from pushing herself up off the floor and fleeing, Sea twisted her upper body back by pure reflex and wrapped her arms around Ingong's neck.

"Haah, I'm free... I'm free, and I can't run away...!"

She was the one who crashed her lips against his first, rough and greedy, drinking him in like an indulgence. Tongues tangled in a long, sticky kiss, and in Sea's head — ruled absolutely now by the Terminal's law — there was room for one thought only: she wanted more of this man.

Ingong chuckled and met her savage kiss in kind. Then he caught one of her freed legs, hoisted it high, hooked it over his hip, and drove into her harder, deeper, his whole weight behind it.

"Aaahh...! When you lift my leg like that... you go so much deeper, I can't—...!"

With one leg raised into the air and him plunging in from the side without mercy, the angle probed her insides far more maddeningly than before. Handed her chance to escape, she instead rocked her hips up to meet him, demanding deeper pleasure with her own body — the very picture of perfect corruption.

"Well, well. I give you a chance to run, and you come to me on your own, twisting your hips and falling apart."

Ingong put even more force into the roll of his hips.

"Haaahh...! Deeper, please...! Don't stop, aahh... I'm coming completely undone...!"

Nails scraping down the tunnel wall, Sea wailed as though shattering to pieces. Her reason, her sense of duty, the very title of idol — all of it broke apart in the waves of pleasure.

And at last—

Ingong's rhythm crested, and a hot rush burst forth, spilling into her deepest depths.

In the instant of his release, the Terminal's law, laid over the theme park, engraved itself into her completely. The last splinter of reason wedged in her mind snapped clean off, and Sea's world remade itself. Repulsion and shame were gone without a trace, and what filled the empty space was nothing but blind devotion and obedience toward her absolute master.

"Haah... haah..."

As Ingong drew slowly back, Sea lowered her raised leg softly to the floor and panted up at him with dazed, dewy eyes. Still quivering in the convulsive afterglow sweeping her body, she parted her trembling lips and murmured.

"...I could have run. But I came back of my own will, to receive Master's love. Sea did well, didn't she?"

There was no fear in her voice, no humiliation — nothing but pure, shining delight and affection.

"My body belongs to Master completely now... Anytime, whenever it pleases you, hold me again. Maid Sea, Master's for eternity, will always be standing by."

Ingong smiled in satisfaction and stroked a hand down her cheek.

And so the third maid was born — through a fall that was perfect, and utterly of her own will. She thought herself so very lucky to have been able to give her first time to her Master.

"Thank you for choosing me, Master."

She was the third girl to pass the interview.