124. My Buff is a Drug
What came next was a predictable story.
To the general public, Awakened were objects of envy. To the government, they were beings who required a certain degree of oppression.
They were far stronger than ordinary people and rose through the ranks with ease, but in exchange, their human rights were applied rather loosely.
The day an Awakened killed an ordinary person, they were forced into a choice between two fates.
Rot for an eternity in a prison where no light ever reached, or have a device implanted in their body—one that could subdue them at any moment, or even kill them if necessary—and obey the state's every command.
At least where Awakened were concerned, even being young was no exception.
The only things that could conceal or hush up such a crime were money and power.
The moment Yoon Eun-ha's bodyguards caught Ahn Se-rin at the scene of the murder, her fate was as good as sealed.
But Yoon Eun-ha took an interest in her abilities. By accepting her as a personal attendant, the crime was buried, and Ahn Se-rin was able to receive training and cultivate her power under the patronage of the Yoon Jun family.
"C-Can I really... eat all of this here?"
Every delicacy imaginable, and she could eat her fill until her stomach was full.
"Hot water just... pouring out like this...."
A showerhead that sprayed wonderfully hot water the moment you turned it on.
"So fluffy."
A warm, cozy bed.
To Ahn Se-rin, everything was new and wondrous.
At first, Ahn Se-rin thought of Yoon Eun-ha as merely a sparkling, pretty older sister. But as she grew older, she came to understand everything.
I was saved.
If Lady Eun-ha hadn't taken an interest in me, I would have died alone, forgotten in some back alley.
Or I would have kept killing and ended up executed.
Ahn Se-rin believed that her transformation from a gutter brat in the slums—one who could have died at any moment without surprise—into an Awakened envied by countless others was entirely thanks to Yoon Eun-ha.
And so, Ahn Se-rin resolved.
From that point on, her life existed for Yoon Eun-ha. Even if it meant dying in her place, she would protect her lady at her side.
Now, that precious person was directing a gaze as cold as a sheet of ice straight at her.
For Ahn Se-rin, it was a moment more terrifying and dreadful than any she had ever known.
"That's right, Se-rin. I pardoned your sins and pulled you up from that hell to make you my closest confidant."
"I consider it a debt I could never repay in a lifetime."
"And yet... what is this?"
The atmosphere Yoon Eun-ha exuded, the coldly subdued voice, the utterly frigid gaze—all of it stabbed mercilessly at Ahn Se-rin.
"Of course, I understand. After enduring something like that, it's only natural you'd hate the very existence of men."
Yes, my lady.
I hate men.
In all honesty, I don't even want to exchange words with them....
"But... is it truly the kind of thing you absolutely cannot endure? Do you really find it impossible to bear without openly displaying hostility?"
My lady, I...
Ahn Se-rin wanted to make excuses.
But she had no grounds for an excuse, and not a single one came to mind.
"I clearly gave you a warning once before. I told you to restrain yourself, since he might become a colleague."
"I apologize, my lady."
"I thought you were someone who knew how to separate public from private...."
"My thinking was shallow. I will act with more caution."
"To think you'd drive away that kind of talent because you couldn't hide a personal displeasure."
"...."
"You said you'd even give your life for me. Was that truly the limit of your resolve?"
"No. My oath is...!"
"If this continues, I'll have to question whether you even have the qualifications to be a bodyguard."
To Ahn Se-rin, those words were nothing short of a bolt from the blue.
It felt like lightning struck inside her skull.
As if it were imprinted on her very genes, her knees dropped to the floor of their own accord.
"M-My lady, are you... perhaps..."
"I am not merely reprimanding you. Either way, half the world is male. Over twenty percent of Awakened are male, too. If you can't even endure that much without abhorring them, how could you possibly perform your duties as my escort—someone who must protect me in any situation?"
"P-Please... grant me a chance to make amends. I beg you...."
As Ahn Se-rin knelt and pleaded, Yoon Eun-ha let out a soft, derisive laugh, as if savoring a sense of superiority.
"Very well, Se-rin. Get up. Anyone can make a mistake. I'm not so heartless a person that I can't tolerate a single error."
Yoon Eun-ha's expression returned to the way she usually looked at her.
A smile that felt gentle, unhurried, even benevolent.
What a relief. I've been forgiven....
At Yoon Eun-ha's command, Ahn Se-rin rose to her feet. A sense of relief spread through her mind.
But it was soon overshadowed by a new worry.
"You made the mess, so you clean it up. The one who caused the trouble must resolve it. This incident is undeniably your fault, yes? I won't tell you what method to use in particular."
Ahn Se-rin flinched.
"Change that man's mind. You'll likely need time to prepare yourself as well... I'll give you three days. For those three days, I won't need your protection."
Yoon Eun-ha turned on her heel and strode leisurely out through the exit.
Left alone, Ahn Se-rin clenched both fists tight once again.
Anger surged up; she barely managed to suppress the urge to grind her teeth.
Harboring any further ill will toward that man would do her no good.
Now, the only way to regain even a sliver of her lady's trust was to find Choi Hye-yong, apologize, and change his mind.
'To have to do something I hate... for the sake of something I hate.'
Ahn Se-rin thought back over her impressions of Choi Hye-yong.
An impression utterly devoid of any gravity or substance.
The sleazy look he'd aimed at her and her lady from their very first meeting.
Normally, she didn't treat someone with such immediate hostility just because they were male.
If she treated every man in the world that way, how would she even function in daily life?
The reason she'd despised Hye-yong so intensely was that he had openly directed a gaze at her and her lady that was unmistakably sexual—one that practically screamed he wanted to violate them.
'It's so repulsive it makes my skin crawl.'
If she had been the only target of that gaze, she might have managed to endure it somehow.
But she could not bear having her lady looked at with such eyes. So from the very start, determined not to give him even a sliver of an opening, she had unleashed her inner revulsion without holding back.
In a way, you could say she had achieved her objective....
The result was disastrous.
From this moment on, Ahn Se-rin had to go apologize to Choi Hye-yong, a man she found utterly loathsome.
'If she says she won't ask about the method... that means use whatever method it takes.'
She guessed it was Yoon Eun-ha's way of being considerate—by not explicitly ordering her to bow her head and apologize.
But Ahn Se-rin was worried about something else.
'What if that idle, lowlife bastard demands something outrageous.'
Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't worry about such a thing. But with Choi Hye-yong—the man who'd shown that side of himself from the very beginning—it seemed entirely plausible.
'Three days, huh.'
She knew it was best to make contact as quickly as possible.
But no matter how much she'd sworn to devote everything to Yoon Eun-ha, she still needed time to mentally prepare herself for the task ahead.
August 7th (Tue), 2:32 AM
Choi Hye-yong's Room
'Park Yuri. She's probably asleep by now, right?'
Inner World intrusion was only possible when the target was asleep or unconscious.
Hye-yong lay on his bed and cast the Inner World Intrusion Buff on Park Yuri.
'Oh. It's applying.'
Just as Mina had said, it was possible even at a distance now.
It felt like receiving a convenience patch.
'The real question is whether I can dive in.'
No point in agonizing over it—just had to try.
'Alright, here goes! ...Ah, it's not working.'
He'd planned to enter her Inner World and have his way with Park Yuri to his heart's content, but he couldn't connect.
The reason came to him instinctively.
'Park Yuri. She's not asleep yet.'
Tsk tsk. The model student should be in bed early.
For our friend Yuri, still awake at this hour, a special punishment was in order!
Hye-yong entertained such idle thoughts as he waited for Park Yuri to fall asleep.
If Park Yuri had known this, she probably would have shuddered with pure horror.
After about twenty minutes, he was able to enter Park Yuri's Inner World.
'Wow, I actually got in. And Park Yuri's seed shouldn't even be that large yet.'
If it was possible to this extent, he might genuinely be able to use this in all sorts of ways.
Honestly, he'd already achieved his objective just by getting in, but since he was here, he decided to have a round with Park Yuri too.
Hye-yong slowly surveyed the room.
'Oh... Is this Park Yuri's room?'
He seemed to recall once tailing her secretly and debating whether to pounce when she entered the dorms, but he'd never actually carried it out. So this was his first time inside Park Yuri's room.
There were dolls, and the color scheme showed some deliberate care. It was more feminine than he'd expected.
If anything, Na Hee-yeon's room layout was on the sloppy side. Maybe it was because Na Hee-yeon had originally planned to drop out.
Anyway, the room layout wasn't what mattered.
Hye-yong examined Park Yuri, asleep atop the bed.
"Hooo...."
Park Yuri slept as peacefully as could be, completely unaware that he was standing right in front of her.
She didn't tie her hair up when she slept; it was completely down.
He'd assumed tied-up hair was her default, since she even came out of the shower with it up, but with her hair down she was pretty cute in her own way.
'Do I seriously have a sleeping-people fetish? Why does she look like such an angel when she's asleep?'
Of course, just because she looked like an angel didn't mean he wasn't going to do anything.
He briefly considered doing a sleeping-girl facefuck like that first time with Lanfang, but that was only fun in the moment with no real payoff—at this point, there was zero merit to it.
Sleeping-girl stuff had its own appeal, but Park Yuri was definitely way better when she was awake.
After seeing Ahn Se-rin's openly contemptuous attitude and having his mood soured a bit, he wanted to heal tonight with Park Yuri—who was cute and lovable even when she was grumbling just as much.
He'd also been in the mood to hear some thick, juicy curses for the first time in a while.
'Well then, shall we get started?'
As if it made no difference to him whether Park Yuri woke up or not, Hye-yong abruptly yanked the blanket aside.
"Mmn."
Park Yuri reacted immediately, but he deliberately paid it no mind.
As soon as the blanket was off, a baggy t-shirt came into view. The size was so large it went all the way down to her hips.
'So she's not the type who sleeps naked.'
A little disappointing, but whatever—he could just take it off.
Straddling Park Yuri's waist as she slept soundly, Hye-yong considered his options.
'Hmm. What should I start with?'
As always, the safest bet was the chest.
He yanked the boxy tee upward, exposing her upper body.
A nicely gropable pair of breasts, slightly larger than Seo Ha-yoon's, instantly met his eyes.
'Hah. The outline definitely hinted at no bra.'
He cupped them in both hands and kneaded them thoroughly. Eyes closed like a sommelier savoring wine, he appraised the texture.
'Mm. I really do love this feeling.'
Squish, squish!
As he kept fondling them, Park Yuri let out a moan and turned over.
"Mmn...."
Then her eyes opened.
"Oh."
Her gaze locked directly onto Hye-yong, who was still enthusiastically groping her chest.
"Huh?"
"You awake?"
Even as he greeted her, Hye-yong kept right on fondling Park Yuri's breasts.
Park Yuri stared at Hye-yong, blinking four times in rapid succession, then quickly assessed the situation in her own way and let out a piercing shriek.
"HYAAAAH!! W-Wha, what the hell!!"
Startled out of her wits, Park Yuri slipped out from under Hye-yong and backed herself against the wall. Then she thrust a trembling arm at him, jabbing her finger in accusation.
"Y-You, y-you-you-you, y-you, what the hell!!"
"Hey, Yuri."
"Fuck you, 'hey' my ass! H-How the hell did you get my room code?! Th-This is home invasion!! I'm reporting you, I'm gonna report you, I said I'm reporting you!"
"Come on. We're in the dorms; it's hardly home invasion. And I don't even know your room code."
"Then how the fuck are you in here?!"
"How do you think I'm in here?"
How... was he here?
At those words, Park Yuri tried to think.
'Park Yuri. Calm down. First, let's calm down.'
Think rationally.
How the hell was that bastard in here?
She'd never even told him her room location!
'Did he stalk me and secretly steal a look at the code?'
It was possible, but unlikely.
The Choi Hye-yong she knew was trash, sure, but he wasn't this kind of creepy.
If he'd stalked her and found out the code, he wouldn't have suddenly shown up in the middle of the night like this. The moment he learned the code, he would've barged in proudly and raped her on the spot.
'No. If he'd tailed me from close enough to see the code, I would've definitely noticed.'
Her practical judgment said as much.
It made no sense for him to know the room's location but not the code.
So how had Choi Hye-yong gotten in here?
"I-Is this... a dream?"
"That's right, Yuri. You're dreaming about me right now."
It was distinctly different from a dream, but from Park Yuri's perspective, she had no way to distinguish between a dream and the Inner World.
Only Hye-yong knew this place was not a dream.
Park Yuri would have no choice but to suspect it and yet still conclude it was a dream.
Why? Because deliberately entering someone's dream was, realistically, an impossible story.
The ability to manipulate dreams was not officially known to exist anywhere in the entire world.
Which meant he could screw her senseless here and feign total ignorance, and Park Yuri would have no choice but to merely harbor suspicions.