127. My Buff is a Drug
August 7 (Tue), 7:12 AM
Park Yuri's Room
"Hah...!"
Park Yuri jolted awake.
Her body felt strangely light.
Sunlight was already spilling through the window.
Had she overslept?
Her heart thumping, she checked the time on her terminal and let out a sigh of relief.
She'd actually woken up earlier than usual.
'Ah.......'
The moment the relief hit, last night's memories came flooding back.
Waking up to find Choi Hye-yong in her room, groping her chest.
Before she could even process it, they'd gone all the way.
— Then, um, this time... say... you love me.
— Say my name, too.
Even that shit.
"Aaaagh—!"
She let out a shriek and scrubbed her face with both hands.
'Th-That was a dream! It had to be a dream!?'
Desperately, she fumbled to confirm the facts.
'Right, he came inside me.'
The second she recalled that, she registered how slick everything was down there.
Hands trembling, she reached into her underwear to check.
'Nothing. No semen or anything!'
Another sigh of relief.
But the relief didn't last long before other feelings swallowed it whole.
'I, I must be losing my mind.'
Even if it was a dream, why the hell had she made him say that?
Cute, pretty, lovable.
Maybe wanting to hear those words was understandable. Sure.
But why had she been so desperate to hear "I love you" from Choi Hye-yong, of all people?
'What is wrong with you? That playboy is definitely screwing other girls too!'
Bingo.
Just from what she'd seen with her own eyes, his relationship with Lanfang was not exactly casual.
'That guy's horny as hell...'
She'd never been that interested in men, and now one wrong decision — giving him her body — and she'd fallen this far.
He was shameless beyond belief, yet she couldn't quite bring herself to hate him.
Watching him run his mouth normally made her want to punch his face in, but somehow she held back her strength.
Park Yuri was starting to realize why.
Because if she actually decked him, he might not do anything with her next time...
His first impression wasn't charming at all, but once you'd slept with him, you inevitably wanted more.
That heart-pounding, shivery sensation — the one that felt like it vibrated through every cell — her instincts told her she'd never feel that from anyone else.
If even she, who'd always thought she preferred girls, was like this, what must it be like for other girls?
The Pleasure Enhancement Buff he created with his Buff Custom had that much power.
Maybe he knew it instinctively, because Hye-yong usually didn't crank that buff up too high.
But for the short-tempered Park Yuri, he'd always set it strong — with every intention of pickling her in pleasure.
The most intense, the most frequent, the longest stretches of high-powered Pleasure Enhancement Buffs and sex — that was Park Yuri!
And the side effects were kicking in now.
'Fuck. This is humiliating.'
She hated him.
She hated that bastard for making her feel like this.
'What a piece of shit.'
Park Yuri got up irritably, grabbed the sheets, and shoved them into the washing machine.
She'd have to wash them, hang them out, and then head to class today.
-
August 7 (Tue), 4:10 PM
Inside the Hotel
"Haaah......."
In the silent hotel room.
The sound of Ahn Se-rin's sigh echoed.
If there was a right time to talk about something, it'd be over dinner.
Dinner time was approaching.
So she had to make contact.
To apologize. To change his mind.......
She wouldn't have even made a reservation if she didn't know she couldn't drag this out any longer.
Obviously, she had zero desire to share a meal with that man, Choi Hye-yong.
She loathed the idea to death, but she had to endure it.
Recovering even a sliver of the young lady's trust mattered far more than her own feelings.
In the end, Ahn Se-rin contacted Hye-yong.
[ Ahn Se-rin : This is my first time contacting you. I'm Ahn Se-rin, serving as Lady Eun-ha's personal guard.
[ Ahn Se-rin : Do you have a moment? ]
-
BWEE-REE-REE-REEK!
BWEE-REE-REE-REEK!
"Ah, I forgot to set it to Manner Mode."
Sitting beside the resting Kwon Jin-ah, Hye-yong set down the apple he was peeling and checked his terminal.
[ Ahn Se-rin : This is my first time contacting you. I'm Ahn Se-rin, serving as Lady Eun-ha's personal guard.
[ Ahn Se-rin : Do you have a moment? ]
The instant he saw it, a grin crept onto his face.
'Ha, what's this? Got chewed out by her lady and now she's coming to grovel, huh?'
This sounded incredibly promising.
First order of business: leave her on read.
Stringing these things along always worked best.
'Looks like she got my messenger ID from Han Chae-hyun.'
Hye-yong switched his terminal to silent mode and slipped it back into his pocket.
Then he resumed peeling the apple.
"B-Boss. I can peel an apple myself......."
Kwon Jin-ah kept stealing glances at him, clearly feeling pressured.
But he wasn't missing this for anything.
'No way I'm letting the visiting-someone-in-the-hospital-and-peeling-fruit event slip by.'
Something Hye-yong had always wanted to do.
'Gotta cut them into cute little bunnies, too.'
After arranging apple slices shaped like rabbits — complete with tiny peel-made eyes — Hye-yong handed the plate to Kwon Jin-ah.
She looked at them and let out a small gasp of admiration.
"Oh... Boss, you're really good at cutting fruit."
"This much is pretty average."
Kwon Jin-ah would go her whole life without ever learning that Hye-yong had received a Fruit Peeling Proficiency buff up to level 15.
'The Boss peeled this apple for me himself.'
Kwon Jin-ah smiled faintly.
"Thank you for the food."
Crunch—.
Crunch—.
'She's eating it well.'
It wasn't even a proper meal, but watching her enjoy it filled him with an odd sense of pride.
"How's your body?"
"Ah, the feeling's coming back. In about two days, there shouldn't be any issues at all."
When a Virus invaded through reality manipulation, once the inner world withdrew, usually "the event itself" would get rolled back. Dead people came back to life, and memories vanished.
Even physical positions shifted — exactly like a game rollback.
But the Virus host, and anyone heavily influenced by Hye-yong, got their body back while retaining their memories.
In Kwon Jin-ah's case, the possession seemed to have caused mental impairment.
Meaning, her mind perceived her limbs as severed, so sensation had vanished and she occasionally felt phantom limb pain.
He didn't fully get it, but that's what it sounded like when Kwon Jin-ah explained it.
Seong Yu-ran appeared completely fine — maybe because she'd been encroached upon rather than fully possessed.
So Seong Yu-ran had been diligently massaging Jin-ah's arms and legs while staying by her side. But today she had other business and couldn't make it, so Hye-yong had been summoned by Seong Yu-ran to fill in.
"Seong Yu-ran's been massaging your limbs this whole time?"
"Yes, I'm truly grateful, but... honestly, it's a bit overwhelming."
"Overwhelming? I was just about to do it for you."
"Huh?"
Hye-yong lifted the blanket covering Kwon Jin-ah's legs.
Baggy hospital pants came into view.
He sat down beside her and rolled up the pant leg, exposing her bare leg.
"B-Boss!?"
"You never know. A massage like this might help the sensation return faster."
"I-I can do it myself! It's not like I can't move!"
Seeing Kwon Jin-ah's utter embarrassment, Hye-yong gave her a sly grin.
"Nah, this happened while you were helping me with my work. The least I can do is show a little sincerity."
It'd been a while since he used the Massage Proficiency Buff.
Full cost, level 21.
With this, maybe her sensation really would return to some degree.
"Here goes~."
"Eep......!!"
Kwon Jin-ah collapsed flat against the bed as if she didn't want to witness any of it.
Hye-yong began massaging her pale white legs.
"Ma'am, you're carrying a lot of tension in these muscles."
The performance of a full-cost proficiency buff was undeniable.
He could intuitively feel exactly where to press and massage to relieve fatigue and make it feel good.
Knead. Knead. Knead!
"Eek!?"
"You feel that pressing down?"
"Y-Yes. Just now. A jolt!"
"Looks like the sensation's almost fully back."
"I suppose so......."
Kwon Jin-ah tilted her head.
Was it?
Just a minute ago it had been a bit vague...
But strangely, the instant Hye-yong touched her, she'd felt a prickling sensation welling up — like the feeling was bubbling back to life.
'Is this just my imagination?'
But her very next thought made her realize that wasn't it at all.
Knead. Knead. Knead!
"H-hyeeeek!? Mmph."
Kwon Jin-ah clamped both hands over her mouth.
The bizarre moan that slipped out bypassed her brain's control — almost like a spinal reflex.
'W-What is this feeling!?'
Whether Kwon Jin-ah was thrown off by this first-ever sensation or not, Hye-yong's touch kept stimulating her, here and there.
"Damn, you're seriously stiff. You feeling under the weather or something?"
It wasn't that she was unwell.
The muscle stiffness had everything to do with her usual routine.
'That would be because I haven't taken a single break from training.......'
Right now, Kwon Jin-ah's strongest desire was to get stronger as fast as possible and break free from things like aberrations.
So she pushed herself, swinging her sword, overworking and conditioning her body day after day.
And thanks to Hye-yong's Growth Buffs, even a little training made her skills skyrocket, so the thrill of getting stronger was undeniably there.
So every morning she woke up with muscle pain, but she told herself it was bearable and kept piling on the fatigue.
Awakened or not, accumulated fatigue always takes its toll.
The duration and intensity of her training were on a completely different scale from a regular person's.
Training like that nonstop, every single day — it was guaranteed to twist your muscles into knots.
'Normally, a massage would hurt!'
When Seong Yu-ran massaged her, she hadn't felt any sensation like that at all.
She'd assumed the feeling was just slowly coming back on its own over time.
So what the hell was this feeling now?
Knead. Knead. Knead!
"Hnngh, mmph."
Kwon Jin-ah's face flushed as she clamped her mouth even tighter.
A sensation utterly impossible to put into words!
If she had to try, it felt like her knotted muscles were gently melting away.
Everywhere Hye-yong's hands touched, a pleasant heat crept up and coiled around her whole body.
She was clearly tense, yet all the strength drained out of her.
At this rate, she felt like she'd lose control of her own body entirely.
'She's twitching like crazy. Does it hurt?'
Hye-yong, still not grasping the power of a full-cost buff applied to massage, asked Kwon Jin-ah.
"Does it hurt?"
"Mmph, n-no. It's more like......."
"More like?"
"It feels... good."
"Yeah? Guess I'm doing this right, then."
He was just glad her sensation seemed to be coming back.
The buff was working.
Hye-yong had no clue what sensations Kwon Jin-ah was actually experiencing. All he could think about was that the buff was restoring her feeling.
'Right, I decided to encourage her before. Perfect timing.'
Doing it while massaging her would probably make it more effective.
Hye-yong organized his words in his head.
"Kwon Jin-ah."
"Y-Yeahh."
"You seriously worked hard during that extermination. Honestly, this time, we would've failed without you."
Ah, I was useful to the Boss.
Elation washed over her.......
A huge part of why she'd been gritting her teeth and training so relentlessly was because she wanted Hye-yong's acknowledgment.
Having her efforts rewarded was a far greater pleasure than she'd ever expected.
Hearing Hye-yong acknowledge her effort and suffering filled Kwon Jin-ah with an immense sense of fulfillment.
But only for a moment.
Slowly.
"Hht."
She flinched at the gentle hand stroking down her leg.
Knead. Knead. Knead....
"Eek...!"
The sensation of being massaged — pressed and pressed — made her whole body twist up.
"I'm seriously lucky you became my subordinate. Before Ian left, he even said so. That you were a fine swordswoman."
"Knew my judgment wasn't wrong."
"It's a little awkward for me to say this to you, but I'm relying on you. Kwon Jin-ah."
Knead. Knead....
'Ahhhhhgh.'
This situation.
Getting lavished with praise by the person she most craved acknowledgment from, all while being continuously dominated by a bizarre, unprecedented pleasure she'd never felt before!
It was mind-melting.
Her head was going blank.
She didn't want to think about anything.
Her brain literally felt like it was dissolving.
'No! This isn't my body!'
Right now, the pleasure Kwon Jin-ah was feeling was heavily weighted toward the "unfamiliar."
To painlessly and pleasurably massage legs knotted and aching from relentless training — legs plagued by muscle pain from pent-up fatigue — would require a truly ultimate level of technique.
It was debatable whether even a single person in the world could pull that off.
But Hye-yong, with his Buff Custom, could create a "Massage Proficiency Increase" buff up to level 21 — a preposterous ability no one else possessed.
Not only did he acquire ultimate technique, but the system's correction also boosted the power of the massage itself.
And that forcibly revived Kwon Jin-ah's sensation, vividly.
The act of forcefully resurrecting feeling in a leg that had gone numb, then gently kneading out every tightly tangled muscle — it delivered a pleasure dozens, even hundreds of times more concentrated than sinking her body into a hot bath after brutal physical labor.
"Our organization is viewing your contributions positively, too. Thanks to you, a lot of the stink-eyes I was getting have disappeared... Knowing you're my subordinate is incredibly reassuring."
Aaah, stop praising me!
Stop the massage already!
I feel like my head's going to go weird......!
Trapped in endless praise and unceasing touch, Kwon Jin-ah was losing her mind.
"This side seems mostly loosened up. Now I should work on the other leg, right? The one that's still all knotted."
No.
If he touched that leg — the one still so completely stiff...!!
Knead....
"Haaa-aaaaagh!!"
A moan barely distinguishable from a scream rang through the hospital room.
"Hey now, even if it hurts, try to hold it in a little."
Hye-yong was completely clueless at times like this.