The Yujin Doll
Late at night.
While Seong Yujin was busy tearing into Pakssi TV's Park Soon-cheol, the members of Pobitz returned to the dorm and wound down for the day.
Ordinary idols would have collapsed onto their beds, drained to the bone after grinding through a brutal schedule. These women were not ordinary idols. Every one of them could wield mana, and their baseline physical abilities put most people to shame. A schedule like this was never going to leave them wiped out.
Each of them spent the remaining hours in her own way—washing up, or indulging in the dramas and games you could only enjoy in District 6700, soaking in the convenience of it all.
"A message from Master," Yuria said. "He says he'll be back late, toward dawn."
In other words: go to your rooms and sleep. Don't wait up.
Elena, bare beneath a single white robe and lounging on the sofa, swirled her wineglass and looked over at Yuria.
"Yujin said that? Then why did he only message you?"
"Simple. Because Master trusts me the most."
"You didn't pester him into it?"
"…That is mildly insulting. I am Master's maid. I do not pester him."
The temperature in the room dropped fast. Ju Seo-hyeon gave a small shiver, and Mi-ryeong—who had been fiddling with a tablet—slid herself between them, wrapping her arms around Yuria from behind like she was tackling her into a hug.
"Okay, okay, no fighting. You know Seobang-nim will get mad if he finds out, right?"
"We weren't fighting."
"We were not fighting."
"Sure, sure. Whatever you say. Seo-hyeon unnie, say something too. You know how it goes. Seobang-nim would just decide it's everyone's fault and punish all of us together."
Punishment.
At that single word, Ju Seo-hyeon's fists clenched tight.
"Punishment… I am not doing the naked handstand squat while sucking on that bastard's thing again. All of you, calm down. You don't want that either."
Every pair of eyes swung toward Ju Seo-hyeon. Mi-ryeong clapped a hand over her mouth in shock.
"Whoa. You actually got that one? I was thinking more like a blindfold with my arms tied while Seobang-nim teases me…"
"I was imagining a naked walk, more or less…"
"……"
Elena pressed her lips shut.
Punishment.
She had never actually been punished by Seong Yujin. The thought that she was falling behind the other women here soured her mood, and she drained her wine in steady gulps.
And just like that, Pobitz's talk show began—far too ripe and filthy to ever pass for an idol girl group's late-night chat. At the center of every story, of course, sat one man.
"So. Seo-hyeon unnie wears a chastity belt for Seobang-nim, right?"
"For that bastard? N-no! He ordered me to wear it. I don't have a choice!"
"Come on. Last time I caught you polishing the chastity belt. You looked just like Gollum with the Ring… wait, do you know Gollum?"
"Of course I know. It's famous on Earth, how would I not—no, that's not the point. The belt gets dirty. I was just cleaning it."
"I'd wear a chastity belt for Seobang-nim any day. Right, everyone?"
Yuria nodded without a second's hesitation.
"Yes. If Master wishes it, I will wear a chastity belt without complaint. And I have worn one before."
"Yuria unnie? Seriously?"
"Yes. I made a mistake once. As punishment, I wore a chastity belt for roughly half a day."
"Oh. So it was part of play. What about Elena unnie?"
"A chastity belt. Hardly shocking. I've heard of noble young ladies who wear them."
"So you wouldn't mind putting one on?"
"…Well. If Yujin asked, I see no reason to refuse."
"Wow. Elena unnie's a noble down to the bone, but she's surprisingly soft on Seobang-nim."
"Quiet, fox."
"Ack! Don't pull my tail!"
They were still noisily dissecting the subject of chastity belts when it happened.
Kiiiiiiing.
A sharp, keening noise cut through the dorm. Every mouth shut at once. Yuria's shadow rippled. Mi-ryeong's fox ears twitched upright. Ju Seo-hyeon pulled mana into her body, and Elena set her wineglass carefully on the table.
Elena looked at Mi-ryeong.
"Fox. Your barrier?"
"Yes. An intruder. They're right outside the dorm. Doing something at the front door right now. Looks like they're prepping an ambush… hmm. Where did they come from?"
"Venus Entertainment, most likely. Master made quite a scene earlier… if anyone at Venus has decent instincts, they'd already be suspicious of him. If they had truly committed to an attack, though, they would have struck by now."
Yuria opened her palm toward her shadow. A dagger surged up out of the dark, and she took it as naturally as breathing.
"I'll handle it."
"And do what, exactly?"
"Subdue them and learn who they are. Or would you rather take the lead, Lady Elena?"
Before Elena could answer, Ju Seo-hyeon stepped forward. Swords floated in the air around her, hanging weightless.
"I'll do it. I've barely drawn a blade lately—I was starting to worry my skills were going rusty. Just pin down whoever's outside the door, right?"
Elena rose from her seat.
"No. We don't subdue them. If we take them down, this gets messier. And they aren't certain of Yujin's identity. If they were… they would already be bringing real force. In a situation like this, proving Yujin's alibi is the smarter play. That way nothing annoying follows."
Elena snapped her fingers. She burned a fraction of her lifespan to cast an illusion. A perfect Seong Yujin took shape in front of her.
Yuria's brow furrowed as she looked at the fake.
"…A doll wearing Master's face. Unpleasant. Lady Elena, do you play with dolls of Master in your free time as well?"
"A ridiculous notion. I outgrew doll play long ago. A glass of wine is a better use of that time."
Ding-dong!
The doorbell rang.
"So. Are we doing this my way?"
"I'm with Elena unnie."
"…Lady Elena's reasoning is sound. Master would not want a direct confrontation either."
Every gaze turned to Ju Seo-hyeon. She let the tension drain from her shoulders.
"…If we can settle it cleanly, that's fine by me."
Snap.
Elena flicked her fingers again.
The illusion of Seong Yujin walked toward the front door.
He opened it with irritation thick in his voice.
"What is it?"
The man outside flinched at the sudden appearance of Seong Yujin.
"Uh—I, I heard this was Pobitz's dorm… c-could I maybe get just one autograph?"
"No. Pobitz is resting. Leave. Immediately. If I catch you lurking nearby or causing trouble, I will call the police."
"I-I'm sorry!"
The man fled as if his life depended on it.
Fake Seong Yujin shut the front door and walked back into the living room.
"Will this be all right? There could be a scandal. A producer being at his idols' dorm this late looks strange."
"A scandal of that size is something Lilith Entertainment can contain. They're a major agency—they can't be completely incompetent."
Mi-ryeong left Yuria and Elena's serious exchange behind and drifted over to the doll Yujin. She reached out, stroking his hair, then his face, his arms, his shoulders—testing every surface.
"Wow. The outside really is identical to Seobang-nim. I wonder if the inside matches too?"
"W-wait!"
Ju Seo-hyeon cried out in horror and tried to stop her—but Mi-ryeong had already used magic to shred the doll's clothes clean off. Elena and Yuria's eyes swung toward the bare illusion as well.
"…Even the genitals match Master's exactly."
"Ahem. I built it from memory. Of course they do."
"There's an outfit I've been dying to put on Seobang-nim… can I try it? I actually like doll play quite a bit."
Before anyone could stop her, Mi-ryeong moved fast. From somewhere she produced a micro bikini and dressed the Yujin doll in it.
"Pfft. Looking at him like this, he really does seem like a pervert. Doll, get on the floor."
The Yujin doll dropped to its hands and knees.
Mi-ryeong's eyes sparkled with pure interest.
"Unnies, how about some doll play?"
"…If Mi-ryeong insists… I suppose I have no choice. I happen to have a butler's uniform. I'll try it on him."
"…Mm. I'll play along as well. My father had a formal Valdert family dress uniform he wore in life… I think it would suit Yujin rather well."
"Seo-hyeon unnie, you join too. Don't think you're slipping out of this alone. Wasn't there anything you've always wanted to make Seobang-nim do?"
"S-something I wanted to make him do…"
Ju Seo-hyeon couldn't bring herself to refuse outright. Everything Seong Yujin had put her through over the months rose up in her mind at once.
"Th-then… a naked handstand…"
The Yujin doll stripped on the spot and kicked up into a handstand. It obeyed without a single complaint, doing exactly what the women ordered.
Doll play, pure and simple. At first they stuck to relatively reasonable demands. Then the laughter started, and the requests got stranger and stranger.
Hours later, in the small hours of the morning, Seong Yujin walked into the dorm—and froze.
"Hhk—what the hell is this?!"
In the middle of the living room stood a perfect copy of himself, dressed head to toe in the kind of black leather reserved for SM play, balanced on its hands and swaying its hips. Worse still was what the doll was saying.
"I wuv you, Mi-ryeong. I wuv you, Yuria. I wuv you, Elena. I wuv you, Ju Seo-hyeon."
"Is that a monster?!"
Startled, Seong Yujin summoned a sword from his inventory.
The King of the Demonic Heavens cackles with laughter.
The Lord of the Firmament snorts in amusement.
The notification windows pulled Seong Yujin back to cold clarity.
"Elena. This is Elena's work. No—not just Elena. The rest of them went along with it too."
Clothes of every kind lay scattered around the doll Yujin. They had clearly been playing dress-up.
Are the members all asleep? Damn it. They're exhausted—I'm not dragging them out of bed for this… I'll hand out punishments when I have time. Leaving the thing here was deliberate. They wanted me to see it.
In short, they were mocking him.
He wasn't angry.
He could play along with their pranks.
But Seong Yujin was not the kind of man who simply took a hit and walked away.
All four of them on a naked night walk, maybe. If I bring this up as leverage, even Elena won't be able to refuse. And the ringleaders this time… Mi-ryeong or Elena. Or both. The doll was Elena's illusion, that much is clear…
Getting the full story wouldn't be hard.
All he had to do was corner Yuria.
One kiss and she would spill everything.
She'd talk even without the kiss, honestly.
Seong Yujin headed for Yuria's room.