Alone with Madam on an Uninhabited Island
"Ugh…"
How much time had passed? I woke clutching my spinning head. A strange headache left my vision blurred, and the moment I reached up to rub my eyelids—
Ding!
A clear, bell-like chime rang out of nowhere. Then an unidentified interface materialized before my eyes, its surface lined with neat, orderly text.
Greetings, User.
Welcome to Hierarchy Submission Training.
This dimension is a special virtual space prepared for educational purposes.
All acts performed here will be perceived by the parent in question as a dream.
Therefore, User, please exercise a teacher's rights without restraint.
Education may proceed freely for up to 144 hours, and may also be terminated at any time at User's discretion.
We wish you a thoroughly enjoyable and thrilling session.
This concludes the basic tutorial.
"……"
I was speechless. What the hell was happening to me? A hologram popping out of thin air was one thing—but this wasn't even the studio apartment I'd fallen asleep in.
Golden sand. Sapphire waves glittering like gemstones. Dense stands of palm trees. A tropical uninhabited island unfurled before me in vivid, living detail, and every bit of it left me stunned.
Was I dreaming? I pinched both cheeks hard. Nothing changed. Which meant all of this was real.
…Insane. This isn't a dream? This?
My mind went blank, bleached white with shock. I was still trembling in a full-blown panic when a flash of light burst across my vision and another message appeared.
As previously stated, this training session may be ended or exited at any time at User's discretion.
Furthermore, no sadistic act performed here will bring any disadvantage upon User.
Please make free and fearless use of this application.
"……"
Somehow the words seemed designed to prod at my ugliest desires. As my breathing settled, a damp, creeping curiosity began to lift its head in a corner of my mind.
…For real? For real? I can train that Han Gyeowool however I want? With no price to pay?
I doubted it again and again. The situation was simply too hard to accept. I was still slapping my own cheeks, locked in a fight with reason, when a familiar voice called from behind me.
"Teacher Kang? It is you, isn't it?"
Slightly husky, sharp. The subtle sensuality and sticky coquetry laced through it were all too familiar. I flinched hard enough to shake my shoulders, then turned my head with a creaking, reluctant motion.
"…L-Lia's mother?"
Yes. Standing there—really standing there—was Han Gyeowool.
"Hah. You're all right too, Teacher Kang. That's something, at least."
She was dressed in her usual sexy sleeveless office look. The high heels must have been a nightmare on sand, because she was carrying them in one hand. I stared at her with vacant eyes. That proud black bob. Those vivid red lips. The porcelain skin that stood in such contrast. And that voluptuous figure she was so proud of—every inch of her was the Han Gyeowool I knew.
"……"
When I stayed frozen and said nothing, her expression twisted. Left alone she could look so cool and sexy—but her true nature was a viper that killed with her tongue.
"Hey. Teacher Kang. Are you going to keep acting like an idiot even now? Can't you see this is an emergency? We need to make a distress signal, now!"
Her scolding snapped me back to myself. Apparently she believed they had been shipwrecked. Only then did the contents of the messages start to click into place one by one. The parent summoned here clearly perceived this place as reality. And once it was all over, she would write the whole thing off as a dream.
The moment that sank in, a massive rush of catharsis raced down my spine. I didn't understand the exact mechanism, but this was an extraordinary windfall—no question. I could toy with that damned woman as much as I liked and bear none of the consequences. I wasn't foolish enough to let a gift from the heavens slip away.
That didn't mean I could just start slapping her face and delivering "true education" on the spot, though. The character profile had clearly listed those parameters.
Right. Education status.
Respect. Fear. Obedience. Affection.
Four categories of character progress—remarkably similar to the affection systems in any game. If I went in swinging with mindless revenge, her Fear would spike to absurd levels and she'd break in no time. Of course I wanted to see Han Gyeowool's face trembling in terror at least once. She was a woman whose pride soared as high as her looks and her fortune. But more than a face frozen in fear, I wanted to see her truly submit—fawning over me in earnest. That rude, insolent woman trembling with humiliation while she played the coquette for me? Just imagining it was enough to make my lower half feel ready to burst.
I swallowed hard, and she shot me a look of pure contempt. It was the gaze of someone who didn't register me as a man at all.
"Ha. Teacher Kang. Can you not hear me? I said make a distress signal already. If a rescue team sails right past us, are you going to take responsibility?"
Ah. That sharp, brazen attitude. Even dropped in the middle of the wild, she didn't consider herself the weaker party for a second. The thought of thoroughly breaking in this arrogant female already had my heart pounding. First I needed to settle this exhausting hierarchy. She needed a clear lesson in who was the one in need here.
"If you're so capable… why don't you do it yourself?"
"…What?"
"I said do it yourself. Distress signal, whatever. You can handle it on your own, can't you?"
For an instant her eyes flickered cold. What radiated from them wasn't so much shock as pure disdain. But I wasn't my usual self either. Here, I had no reason whatsoever to bow to her. No—if anything, I was the one holding the upper hand. Did she know how to hunt? How to start a fire? Beyond cursing and complaining, she couldn't do a damn thing. I, on the other hand, had plenty: the survival rations and tool kit issued as standard equipment. Probably unlocked from the start precisely so I could throw my weight around like this.
I gave her a thin smile and made my declaration.
"While we're on the subject, let's just split up. I don't feel like listening to your nagging in a situation like this, and I don't have the confidence to drag around a freeloading deadweight who only eats the food. From now on we each fend for ourselves. Okay?"
The moment I gathered my things without a second thought and made to leave, she threatened me in a chilly voice—the exact brand of intimidation I always heard at the kindergarten.
"Teacher Kang. Think you can handle the fallout? Making an enemy of me won't do you any favors."
Yes. Her power was formidable. In Seoul, at least, there wasn't a kindergarten director who could afford to ignore her. As COO of Daeseong Dairy and the youngest daughter of Daeseong Group's chairman, she had a stranglehold on the meal programs of most kindergartens across the capital. The group also poured sponsorship money into early childhood education by the truckload, so directors had no choice but to crawl whenever she appeared.
But so what? What of it? This wasn't Seoul, and it wasn't a kindergarten. Here, her threats carried no weight at all. For the first time, I let out a laugh in her face. The thrill of the transgression ran cold down my spine.
"Heh. Do whatever you want. I'm not scared in the slightest."
"You… you've really lost it, haven't you?"
Her gaze had moved past contempt into something close to hatred. Those ice-cold eyes bored straight through mine. A woman who had spent her entire life ordering people around. The lofty pride she'd stacked up since childhood wasn't going to crack easily. But that was fine. Time was on my side. Let's see how long Her Majesty the Queen could hold out. That, too, would be a delicious form of revenge.
With a short, mocking smile, I turned on my heel without a shred of regret. I could feel her burning stare on my back.
For all my talk of parting ways, I set up my own camp not far away at all. Marine debris littered the beach—styrofoam, netting, and other useful materials. I wove them together roughly and soon had a broad little nest ready. Once it was finished, it felt surprisingly comfortable.
"Whew. Still got it."
Who would have thought the survival skills I'd learned at school in Canada as a kid would come in handy like this. In fact, those years abroad were exactly why I'd been hired at First International Kindergarten in the first place. Fluent English and French were perfect for charming the rich housewives. But there was a reason the salary was so high. First International Kindergarten was the exclusive preserve of chaebol families—and beyond Han Gyeowool, the place was crawling with every kind of nightmare parent. They treated teachers like servants and filed complaints the second anything displeased them. Getting hauled into the director's office for earfuls of lectures was my daily routine. Honestly, if it weren't for the money I would have quit on the spot. They paid on par with a major corporation, so I just gritted my teeth and endured. It was no place a human being should work.
"…That damn money is the real enemy."
Yes. Money was the enemy. Thinking about it brought the irritation flooding back—the fundamental reason I always had to play the underdog. And before long that irritation turned toward Han Gyeowool. A woman who had never fretted over money a day in her life suddenly felt all the more galling for it.
"Tsk. Let's see her scramble for once."
A thin, crooked smile on my face, I pulled the survival rations from my pack. Biscuits and canned goods filled it to the brim; I wasn't going to starve. After a simple meal of fruit cocktail, I decided to check the other educational tools for a change of mood.
A slender wooden switch. Something about its design felt distinctly suggestive—clearly made for purposes other than ordinary corporal punishment.
"…Well. It is called the Thrilling Switch, after all."
I gave my own palm an experimental smack. Strangely, there was almost no pain. The switch clung to the flesh with a wet, satisfying crack and delivered a peculiar kind of stimulation—a bizarre sensation words couldn't quite capture.
"Hmm. So I'm supposed to use this to thoroughly train that tight little body of hers, is that it?"
Crack! Crack!
I kept swinging for a long while, hooked on that addictive feel. A savage smile had already spread across my lips.