Chapter 1
Translator: IPO
Chapter 1
“Welcome.”
Using the tired and bored voice of the convenience store part-timer as background noise, I headed toward the refrigerator.
Oh dear, it’s that time when every customer who comes by starts to feel annoying to a night-shift worker worn out by fatigue.
I did come pretty late.
But well, that’s what convenience stores are for.
And I’m not exactly in a position where I can wander around in broad daylight either.
Anyway, what should I eat today.
It’s not that I dislike carbonated drinks, but the way carbonation prickles at the mouth and throat is a bit too stimulating.
Succubi are generally sensitive in their bodily senses, even to trivial things, so they easily end up feeling “good.”
Especially since I am a Succubus Empress, my senses are far sharper than that, so even choosing a drink required deliberation.
No, it’s not that drinking carbonation makes me feel “good,” but when I’m trying to quietly appreciate the night sky, feeling that kind of stimulation tends to ruin my mood quite a bit.
‘Should I just go with something that goes down smoothly?’
I considered an electrolyte drink, but these days even electrolyte drinks are pretty high in sweetness….
Then a new product caught my eye.
[(New!) Strawberry-Flavored Protein Drink]
Oh.
The level of sweetness in protein drinks is just about right.
They’re called chocolate flavor or strawberry flavor, but when you actually drink them, they’re not overwhelmingly sweet like real chocolate milk.
And they go down smoothly, kind of like yogurt.
Hmm, yeah, yogurt.
That’s good. Yeah.
I took all the strawberry-flavored protein drinks from the fresh food shelf.
And it’s a 2+1 deal. Today’s lucky.
I also grabbed one snack that would go well with it.
A snack with shrimp drawn on the package.
For some reason, it feels nostalgic.
I used to eat this often even before I had this body—will it taste the same?
When I went to the register with my arms full, the part-timer didn’t even meet my eyes and mechanically lowered his head while scanning the barcodes.
“Yes, the total comes to 7,200 won…”
Hearing the exhausted voice of the part-timer, who still wore a face full of fatigue, I almost ended up feeling the same exhaustion myself.
Oh dear, he must be really worn out.
“Hunter Pay payment. Is that possible?”
“Ah, yes… ah, you’re a Hunter. For Hunter Pay, please place your fingerprint here… ah.”
Only then did the part-timer seem to meet my gaze, and he froze on the spot.
And then I felt the energy.
Its foundation was admiration, goodwill, curiosity, affection, and violent impulse. The color of that impulse was the scarlet of lust.
Ah, this again.
I had no intention of eating a meal….
“Are you okay?”
“…Ah. Yes, yes!”
Perhaps snapping back to his senses at my voice, the part-timer replied with a face as if all his fatigue had vanished.
For a Succubus, energy is fundamentally obtained through physical contact.
More precisely, it is typically obtained through sexual intercourse, but the way I absorb energy isn’t limited to that. Favor, popularity, love, reverence, admiration, joy— even intense emotions including hatred—can all be absorbed as energy.
Because of this, if I were to walk around openly exposing my face, I would literally end the day stuffed to the point of bursting.
Even if someone loves chicken, could they eat chicken three times a day, 365 days a year?
If you eat like that, you’re bound to get indigestion.
It gets greasy too.
Energy is exactly like that chicken to me.
Something that could come flooding in nonstop, 365 days a year.
After all, even I have to admit that this face and body have reached what could boldly be called the pinnacle of aestheticism.
“H-here. Here it is…”
Just look now.
This poor part-timer is having his energy drained just from seeing my face covered by a veil over my mouth.
It looks like the focus and reason are gradually fading from his eyes….
At this rate, even though he’s a night-shift worker, he might die of exhaustion.
Before that happens, I snapped my fingers and forcibly cut off the flow of energy coming into me, and only then did the part-timer manage to cling to his drifting consciousness with great effort.
“Ah, what, what’s wrong with me. I-I’m sorry.”
However, perhaps due to the aftereffects, a thin line of blood flowed from his nose.
A drop of blood fell and ended up on my hand as I was about to pay.
“I-I’m sor—”
“Here.”
At some point, I had already taken out a handkerchief and held it out to him.
A handkerchief is essential when going out for a Succubus, so I always carry several—this worked out well.
“No need to refuse. I have plenty.”
“……Y-yes….”
It might be unnecessary meddling, but since it seems he got a nosebleed because of me, shouldn’t I at least give him something like this?
It wasn’t intentional, but I had already taken energy from a student who was struggling enough just working a night shift.
Still, he looks like he’s dreaming.
“Is the payment finished?”
“Ah….”
The part-timer was staring at me quietly with a gaze dripping with regret.
Well, it’s obvious what he’s thinking.
Asking for my phone number, or whether I live nearby, and so on.
Before he could say anything else, I grabbed the bag with the drinks and snacks and left the convenience store.
“Take care.”
“Ah, g-goodbye….”
When I raised my hand, the drop of the part-timer’s blood that had been there was already gone.
“Hmm, I guess I can’t come here anymore.”
3:38 a.m.
It’s late, but for me, it’s the most active and energetic time.
I headed toward a place with a good view of the night sky.
Fortunately, perhaps because of the hour, there were hardly any people around at this late time.
Maybe because there’s an awareness that monsters or goblins hiding in back alleys or sewers could jump out under the cover of darkness at extremely late hours, nights have become eerily deserted compared to the past.
‘I heard that in the early days of the Rift, that kind of thing happened a lot? Monsters leaking out of Gates would hide in city sewers, back alleys, or abandoned buildings, form their own ecosystems, and attack passersby….’
Even though buildings like convenience stores have electric field fences so that if a monster approaches, an alarm immediately goes to a private security company made up of Awakened individuals—and Awakened personnel who’ve taken on public security duties regularly patrol— it’s still said that civilians wandering around at 3 or 4 a.m. is not recommended.
Even so, even in the dead of night, I couldn’t remove the veil covering my face.
If I happened to run into someone, the moment they saw my bare face, they’d fall under forced enchantment.
After walking a bit, I saw what looked like a small back mountain of the neighborhood—more like a hill than a mountain.
At the top of the hill was a pavilion where local residents out for a walk could rest.
Normally, even at dawn, there would have been middle-aged women or elderly people exercising around the pavilion, but perhaps because the world has changed so much, there was no one to be seen now.
They say there could be goblins living hidden in the back mountain, or that you might get shaken down for a toll while passing by, so they absolutely avoid early-morning or nighttime walks.
“That works out for me. I get to have this nice place all to myself.”
I took a sip of the strawberry-flavored protein drink.
Mm, just right.
The subtle thickness unique to protein, and the gentle sweetness of strawberry.
A drink any Succubus would probably like.
Why do we like it?
Well, because it tastes good.
I sat perched on the pavilion, sipping the drink and swinging my legs.
Earphones overstimulate my ears too much, so I decided to listen to music through my smartwatch speaker instead.
Since it’s on a random playlist, the song that came up was some meditation music whose title I didn’t know.
Thankfully, it wasn’t intense metal rock mixed with electric guitar.
“Ah, it’s coming.”
4:04 a.m.
The sky opens.
Not metaphorically—the night sky truly splits apart, and today again, new light and darkness.
And things that fell from somewhere other than this world take root on Earth.
The government calls this phenomenon [Night Sea].
Based on the Night Sea phenomenon, they issue Gate forecasts for the area, and if there are dangerous zones, they carry out evacuations or warnings, and even accept commission requests for Hunters.
“It’s beautiful.”
Because of this phenomenon, someone might be put in trouble, and someone else might have to wake up in the middle of the night to enter safety zone control duty… but the sky opening into the Night Sea was a rather beautiful and rare sight to me.
“So pretty….”
As I looked at the night sky, an entranced light unconsciously filled my eyes.
For a Succubus—and for me—beauty is the most abstract yet most important instinct, and at the same time, a tool for survival.
To put it simply, beauty is like a hunting tool to a Succubus.
With their appearance, body, sex appeal that attracts the opposite sex, and innate beauty, Succubi enchant others and absorb their energy to continue living.
So it’s not strange for a Succubus’s unconscious to possess an aestheticist instinct.
It’s an unconscious act based on instinct, and it’s natural to maintain one’s beauty and to be sensitive to beauty that comes from being different from others.
Lewdness, lust, enchantment, temptation, obscenity, erotic desire, heat.
I always suppress these as much as possible with reason.
And so… I liked looking at the night sky, the star-engraved Night Sea.
They say the true nature of stars is that they are no different from the sun—stellar bodies—but to me, I liked those stars that descended with a gentle sparkle on nights fallen like fine winter frost.
If another Succubus or an Incubus saw this… no, if anyone with even a little knowledge of the Demon Races saw me, they might call it nonsense.
A Succubus who craves others’ energy and life, who values physical relationships and lust above all else, satisfying desire by looking at the night sky?
That’s because I am a Succubus Empress.
I can siphon others’ energy without needing to mingle bodies or touch skin.
“Ah, is it over?”
The Night Sea phenomenon didn’t last long.
At most, five minutes.
But the harmony of stars engraved in the sky and the Rifts felt like looking at a massive work of art.
While gazing at it, I took another sip of the strawberry drink.
Before the gentle sweetness of the pink liquid faded, I put a shrimp snack into my mouth.
-CRUNCH CRUNCH
Mm, it tastes exactly the same as before.
But why does the chewing sound feel kind of softer somehow?
The texture itself is the same, though.
Looking at the ingredient label on the package, the shrimp ratio was a whopping 50 percent.
What was the shrimp content ratio back then?
I don’t remember well, but at most it must’ve been around 1 percent….
Did the Rift massively increase ecological resources?
Seems like one of the small advantages of the Rift.
“HAAAAA. Somehow, today feels a bit sluggish.”
Even though the Night Sea had ended, the starry sky was still beautiful.
If you stare at the light engraved in the starry sky for a long time, you suddenly get the feeling that eyes engraved in the darkness are looking down at you.
The beauty of the night sky has faded in color and light due to city neon signs and the lights illuminating the ground, but even so, the stars that shine purely are still there in the night sky.
When I look at the night sky, I feel that even artificial, brilliant light made by humans cannot block the engraving of the stars. And as I look at the stars, the stars look back down at me.
If you spend that time slowly and leisurely, you suddenly get the illusion that the night sky and your gaze meet, and a wordless inspiration and exchange continues.
A truly genius artist might receive inspiration from just this alone, but unfortunately, I simply like the personal beauty I feel—I don’t have any exceptional artistic sense.
So what am I, then?
I’m just a Succubus.
A Succubus who likes beautiful things.
Of course, the title Empress is attached at the end, but fundamentally, I’m a Succubus who loves beauty.
-BEEP!
“…”
Ah, I was just having a good time….
I got up at the loud noise coming directly from my wrist and ears.
“Haa, if it were someone else, I wouldn’t even answer.”
Slightly furrowing my brow, I answered the incoming call, and from somewhere, the sound of things collapsing and being destroyed came through the signal.
And then, a very urgent voice of someone who sounded familiar and oddly comforting.
[J-Jaehee-nim! Jaehee-nim! I’m truly sorry for making an emergency call in the middle of the night!]
“Yes, yes. It’s a nice night, Officer.”
[Nice night my—KYAAAH! D-don’t come this way!]
And someone’s scream.
The sounds of things breaking and being destroyed followed in succession.
After waiting quietly for about thirty seconds, that familiar yet somewhat airheaded voice was heard again.
[Huff, huff, huff… S-sorry, sorry, Jaehee-nim! The truth is, right now…]
“Is it because of the Night Sea?”
[Y-yes! An unexpected abnormal phenomenon and unidentified violent entities have been observed, and the Gimpo field unit is currently responding urgently!]
“Is it urgent enough to call me directly at four in the morning?”
[Huh? Y-yes? Th-that is…]
Even through the call, I could practically see the officer’s flustered, airheaded face.
He was probably thinking something like, ‘M-maybe it’s not serious enough to call Jaehee-nim. No, but the situation on site is really bad, and higher-ups told me to call Jaehee-nim right away. Ah, what do I do…’
I dislike everyone else in the government, but Officer Dan Ayeon isn’t bad—he’s fun to tease and cute.
“I’m joking. I’ll head there right away.”
[H-huuh! Th-thank you!]
At first, I was a bit annoyed that my alone time was interrupted, but I’ll be satisfied with teasing our cute officer a little.
After all, over there, something might be happening where someone could actually die.
I got up from the pavilion and brushed my hair back.
It’s a formal suit that covers my entire body, but there’s exactly one exposed area— the lower back where my wings emerge. Only a very small part of the pelvis is exposed, cut cleanly as if by a blade.
My wings.
For a Succubus, having wings is only natural.
They’re quite convenient.
Flying through the sky also feels pretty good.
Though it’s still a mystery why, when I spread the wings on my lower back, wings like a crown also pop out on my head.
What are those head wings, anyway?
You can’t even fly with them….
“I’m coming right away, Officer. Please hold on just a bit longer.”
[Y-yes! Th-thank you! Thank you so much again this time! And I’m sorry! Sorry and thank you again!]
Then… shall I go help that poor officer who’s getting squeezed from both above and below?