Farewell

Luia's hand brushed against my sex.

Two free hands.

Wrapped around me like a serpent until our bodies were nearly one, Luia used every part of herself to work me over. Her tongue flicked at the nape of my neck; her fingers tugged at my piercings with a sadistic edge I had never seen from her before.

"Mmm~ The way you twitch, Unnie. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠love it so much."

I had thought we barely had any real contact until now. Luia's mind, it seemed, had been somewhere else entirely. She touched me the way a lover would—without a shred of hesitation. Ordinary caresses laced with just enough sadism to feel like a drug, her hands lighting every nerve on fire.

A body already worn thin from the whole day. My soul felt like it was melting inside flesh that grew more limp by the second. All that spilled from my heat-dazed mouth were muffled moans.

"Nngh…. Hnngh…."

Unable even to cry out, I felt it again and again. Every time her fingers found my clit, a sharp jolt of pleasure surged up with the desperate urge to piss. Leave me alone for even a moment and I felt certain I would wet myself.

The only mercy, if it could be called that, was that I had taken in almost no water—there was simply nothing left to release.

"Unnie. Did you come?"

"Hnn… nngh."

Luia's whisper brushed my trembling ear. Why she was tormenting me like this… I could not begin to understand. Simply because of how I looked? Simply because she found me cute? That alone was enough for her to drive me this far.

"Nngh… ngh… hnnngh."

I wanted to stop her, to make her quit. But with my legs already offered up, both wrists locked in cuffs, and a gag filling my mouth, I had no freedom left for that. All I could do was surrender my body until Luia was satisfied.

"Hnngh…. Nngh."

Whether blessing or curse, the end was in sight. Consciousness flickered out and back in, over and over. My body was far too exhausted to hold onto awareness.

"Oh my~ Unnie. Ah~ I see. You're reaching your limit, aren't you?"

Sensing my state, Luia pressed a kiss to the gag. In that tiny space where her lips met mine, her saliva trickled in little by little. Was she trying to give me just enough moisture to drag the torment out longer?

It did not seem so. Even as I bit down on the spit-slick gag, her fingers only moved faster—rubbing my clit up and down as if delivering the final blow.

"Nngh…!! Ngh!"

"Oh my~ Don't. What if the other unnies wake up?"

By the time warm tears spilled from the corners of my eyes, I had come again. This one was too violent. Limit. Limit. Limit. My head snapped back; all I could do was spasm. Luia kept thrusting and thrusting until my mind went blank. The flesh inside me had grown so loose I could no longer clench at all.

Right on the edge of blacking out—

"Nnghnnngh!"

—as the moan tore free, Luia clamped a hand over my mouth. I had already been struggling to breathe; that single touch made my eyes slide shut as if I had inhaled anesthetic.

Ah—.

Suspended somewhere between agony and bliss, I heard the seductive whisper once more at my ear.

And with that, I passed out cold.

How long had I slept?

A throbbing jaw joint. Shoulders that creaked with every shift. And the constant stimulation of the spores. Nothing about the environment was comfortable, yet whether it was thanks to Luia's ravishing the night before or simply the absolute limit of a body worked to exhaustion all day… by the time I came to, everyone else was already awake.

I had slept straight through without waking once.

"Hnngh…."

"You're up?"

When I opened my eyes, Luia was watching me from beside me with her usual clear expression.

"Nngh."

My body trembled at her greeting. Was it the lingering aftertaste of the night before? My pierced nipples quivered for no good reason. Even now I could not move an inch. If Luia decided to, she could shove me straight back into that pit of climax.

But the eyes of our cellmates must have weighed on her. She looked away first. Then, one by one, she left her final words with each of the women who had woken.

"Jaehee Unnie, thanks to you I adapted so easily at first. Especially when Minhee—the former inmate—was making things hard, the way you helped and looked out for me… I won't forget it."

"…Luia. Don't talk like we're saying goodbye forever. We'll see each other again, right? Whether it's here or outside."

"Heheh. True. If re-incarceration gets rough before you get out, contact me through Waltz Production. I'll leave my info with them."

"Okay. Got it. And if you pretend not to know me and go 'Who are you?' I won't let it slide~"

"Aww~ I wouldn't do that."

Luia offered her thanks to Jaehee first. Next she called for Yejin.

"Yejin Unnie, thanks to you prison life was actually fun. Those moments of 'Wow, people like this really exist~'… and watching an extreme masochist like you, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠learned so much. And also…"

"Oh? You teasing me?"

"Huhu. No~ I was just about to say it. Really… thank you."

"Hm? For what?"

"Nayoon Unnie probably felt the same thing, right? Your words are rough, you swear a lot, your expressions are crude—but whenever a cellmate was in danger, you always stepped up. I know that."

"Ahem. Nope. This kid's got it all wrong."

"…Yejin Unnie, I don't know if you realize this~ but when you lie, your eyelashes tremble. Did you know?"

"Ah, I said no!"

"Sure~ Okay. Anyway, that's how I felt, and I wanted to say thank you for it. Truly."

"…Take care. I'll contact you once I'm out too. Don't ghost me."

"Huhu. Got it."

And next… unexpectedly, it was Seoa. I had assumed she would speak to me in the order we had met, but she called Seoa instead and made plans for later.

"After going through this, I have a feeling I'll end up re-incarcerated someday—though I don't know when. So, Seoa Unnie. Your sentence is long, after all. We'll meet again here eventually…. When that happens, take care of me."

"I don't know if we'll end up in the same cell, but I'll welcome you with a happy face. Congrats on your release, and see you again."

"Yeah!"

Last was my turn.

Luia gently stroked my cheek. As if reminding me of the night before, she also caressed my thigh, then spoke.

"Nayoon Unnie, do you remember what I said to you last night?"

I nodded at her question. There was no way to pretend I did not know something I knew. I remembered the words she had consistently whispered into my ear, so I carefully dipped my head.

"Yesterday I got a little drunk on your scent and made a small mistake. Still, it wasn't something I said with zero feeling behind it. If I get the chance, I will make it happen. Of course… well, I won't force it or anything…."

A faintly embarrassed look crossed Luia's face. Even in the dark cell it was obvious how flushed she had become; she swallowed hard, then took hold of my forearm.

"The time we spent together was short, but you showed me something close to my ideal. Delicate yet strong, and enduring more hardship than anyone… the ideal woman I always imagined, I guess? Anyway… someone I wanted to become, and also someone I wanted to possess."

"…."

"I'm just so sad that our time together is over. So, Unnie—see you next time. Definitely see you. Got it?"

"Nngh."

I nodded at her request. Unlike with the others, we had not made any concrete promise… yet I could tell she genuinely wanted to meet me again.

That final touch. Looking back, perhaps the act we shared on that last night—exchanging body heat—had been Luia's way of letting me rest comfortably. And of letting me feel good while she did it… of letting me get excited….

— Clang. Bang. Clang.

"That's it, then. See you later, Unnies~."

Not long after the final goodbyes ended, the sound of a guard's footsteps rang out. Then the cell door opened, and a man spoke.

"Cell 3. Everyone out."

It was Leviathan. And one more person. Asmode stood at his side.

"Luia Chambers. As of this moment, you, today's release subject, are released from inmate status. We will proceed to the tribunal to determine the restoration of your human rights. Follow me."

Asmode stood with her red hair streaming. She used honorifics toward Luia. Her usual haughty expression remained, yet it had loosened a fraction; she clicked her tongue at me and the others, called for Luia, and left.

Luia followed in her footsteps. Growing smaller and smaller, she reached the end of the corridor, looked back toward us, and waved once.

That was the final farewell.

But none of us answered her wave.

"Numbers."

Unlike Luia, who was leaving this place, we were still inmates. The order of the guard before us took priority over everything else.

"A522!"

"A688!"

"A691!"

"Nngh-eh-b-jib-eup-jeup-phup!"

Number roll call and the inmate's oath. Then breakfast as well. Whether Luia had left or not, the day given to us had only just begun.

"A713. Present your chest."

"Phnngh!"

Breakfast proceeded exactly as it had the day before. Until my cellmates finished eating, I had to keep jumping in place with clamps on my breasts. A day that began in pain. On top of that, the nipples Luia had toyed with were even more swollen and sensitive. Jumping over and over with thin clamps fastened to them made the strength drain from my legs. That was how much it hurt.

"All right. Today's training will proceed the same way as yesterday. Everyone follow."

And today's program was, astonishingly, identical to yesterday's. Ordinary training programs usually shared a theme but varied in detailed structure or play style; today's was completely the same as the previous day's.

We moved to the training room with the treadmills. Then cuffs were locked around every wrist, the piercings were connected to the wire lines on the treadmill heads, and we once again had to put on the high heels filled with millet grains.

The moment we were placed in that uncomfortable, painful situation, the order came down.

"Today you will again split and run fifty kilometers. Time allotted: three hours. However—your performance yesterday was excellent, so simply repeating the exact same method would not constitute real training, in this guard's judgment. If your final record exceeds yesterday's two hours seventeen minutes, every one of you will receive additional torture time equal to the overrun."

"…!"

"What? Think it's unfair?"

Harsher than yesterday. Yet no one could voice a complaint. We could have constructed any number of logical arguments against his words, but the risk of extra punishment or Demeanor Penalty Points for speaking up was simply too great. And I… with my mouth sealed by the gag, could not even form a complaint.

In the end, every last one of us had to answer.

"No, sir. We will do our best."

"Good. And if any bitch decides to 'cheer herself up' by making noise without permission to vocalize, that bitch will immediately have five hundred grams of magnetic force applied to her piercings. Only those ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠prepared for that should try it."

On top of everything, even the means of pumping ourselves up from yesterday were restricted, so the psychological pressure was worse. The moment we all stood atop the treadmills, we had to face the training time with hearts already scraped raw.

"Then begin."

The same neon-sign phrases as yesterday appeared before our eyes, and we slowly began to move our feet. We ran forward. Staring into empty air, we repeated the steps little by little.

What was at least better than yesterday: having already experienced it once, there was no fear of the unknown. And with Luia's release exempting us from a full day's worth of torture, nothing on our bodies was broken.

— Thud. Thud. Thud.

Everyone ran while dredging up the memory of the day before. Strictly speaking it was more a fast walk or race-walk, but using yesterday's experience as foundation we pushed at the maximum speed we could manage right now.

Split four ways, twelve kilometers each. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠We had no idea how much we had actually covered yesterday, but to keep from drowning in the huge number of fifty kilometers we brainwashed ourselves and ran and ran.

And so we ran for hours.

"Haa. Haa… ha… hoo… hhk!"

"Haa. Hoo— haa. Hoo— haa. Khh… haa. Haa."

"Ugh… ukh… haa. Kyaaugh… ♡ Ah… aah… hhk… hoo."

"Nngh♡ Phnngh… nngh!"

The torment of the spores. Blisters on the soles of our feet. The pain accumulating in our bodies with every step tried to halt our strides. Like the swampy mire we had sunk into yesterday, every kind of interference made our bodies heavier little by little, yet we ran and ran.

Our prison uniforms were soon stained with sweat. The treadmills were coated in fallen spit and slick.

"Kyaaaaah!! Khh… ugh…! Kyaugh…!"

Just moments earlier Seoa had slipped on the treadmill; with a fierce scream she corrected her posture. Her nipples were in tatters. Blood beaded in the open wounds and ran down her chest. Had it been anyone other than Seoa, it would not have been strange for the nipples to have torn clean off. Whether to call it fortunate, or to call the slip itself misfortune… even that judgment had blurred as we forced our heavy feet forward again.

And at the end of the long struggle, when we finally finished—

"Two hours forty-three minutes. Twenty-six minutes of additional torture time per person."

—we had to accept a result worse than yesterday's.