The Oral Cavity, the Tonsils, a Crow and Fellatio, and the Crevice of the Mouth-Pussy

It was a corpse.

The kind I'd seen until I was sick of it back in my rock-bottom days came tumbling down, limp and lifeless, onto the tea table.

She lay crumpled and slack. Her skin had gone ghost-pale, and her black hair, drained of all vitality, gave off an artificial sheen like a cheap wig.

The tea time that had been so warm and lively only moments ago now bloomed in a shade of red.

"Is it her?"

"………."

No answer came. I quietly ran my fingers over the body. The wretched corpse, a fresh crimson line scored across its throat, greeted me with its eyes open. Those drowsy, heavy-lidded eyes that used to make me sleepy just to look at — the eyes of the girl who'd once asked me for the map — had now settled into an unblinking sleep, the kind no one ever wakes from.

"…Suni?"

There was no reply. This was the sort of world where I half expected her to bolt upright coughing at any moment, but nothing of the kind happened.

It was a corpse.

"This is the mastermind you two had in mind, isn't it?"

"…Yes."

"And yet she's dead?"

That one cold remark chilled my head on the spot. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Freyja wore a sour expression, and Aphrodite looked for all the world like she'd called it from the very beginning — which pissed me the hell off. That fucking goddess was, without a doubt, dead certain that Seongyeon was the culprit.

"There's no way she could just die…."

"What are you talking about? All humans die eventually. Even the mightiest hunter, the moment he lets his guard down, is nothing more than walking meat. You know that as well as anyone, don't you?"

"That's not what I mean—!"

I explained the skill Suni possessed. I told them everything, hiding nothing — the ability that automatically moved her somewhere safe whenever her life was in danger. Both goddesses made puzzled faces at the same time.

"Where have I heard of that skill before?"

"Doesn't it sound like one of Loki's?"

"Right. She does have a skill like that. It must have been the one stolen from the dwarves. So that's what she was given."

"Then why did she die, then?" she countered, flipping the question right back on me.

"I'm asking because I don't know! You're Tower Lords — isn't there some other way for you to look it up!?"

"There's that temper of yours. Just wait a moment."

Aphrodite bore down on her own forehead once more. Whether she was sending a signal to the tower or feeling something out in its depths, she concentrated hard — and soon a system window rose into the air.

"You can see the corpse in front of us, can't you? Where did she die?"

The archive system's reply came back fast.

"Then play back the footage of how she died."

The system window flickered itself off and on, off and on. The brows of Aphrodite and Freyja knitted together in unison.

"What?"

"Hold on — what is this!?"

Suddenly, both goddesses' complexions had changed. I was no longer the only one growing anxious. I was on edge over Suni's death; they were bristling at the system's sudden misbehavior.

"Don't tell me the password leaked!?"

"There's no way!"

She cried out again. "Administrator Aphrodite! I hereby request access to the archive! Tell me about the person who died on Floor 47!"

"Whaaat~!?"

Their screams overlapped.

The tower was a divine authority made manifest, and the Tower of Lust was, in practical terms, a supercomputer owned personally by Aphrodite. And someone had dared to touch it?

"Y-you have got to be kidding me! Fine, then — Floor 47! Tell me how many people came and went today!!"

"Th-three people?"

"Wait — that doesn't add up!"

Both goddesses shrieked. Freyja especially — who ought to have stood by as a spectator on the grounds that none of this was her business — cried out in open bewilderment.

"The only people who reached Floor 50 today were those two! And yet counting those two plus the victim makes three — that's impossible, isn't it!?"

"Hold on. So those were the only ones on Floor 47 today? Did you hurt her, by any chance!?"

"Then why would I be the one looking for her?"

When I flatly denied it, she dabbed at a cold sweat.

"Or what, then! Are you saying she killed herself!?"

"The wound tells you that much at a glance. It's not an angle she could have managed on herself."

"Then it's confirmed — there's an intruder besides the three. And if the system still refuses to tell us, that means someone truly did lay hands on my authority!?"

"Hold on, Aphrodite, dear! Did you perhaps pick a fight with another god!?"

"Impossible! I haven't left this tower so much as a step — I've been here hunting for my hero-husband!"

"Then what the hell is it!?" As Freyja floundered in confusion, the system window appeared once more.

"Huh!? If it transferred four times from Floor 46 to 47, then four people should have gone in!!"

The system window vanished. Silence fell. The gazes of me and the two goddesses wheeled around in a slow, suspicious circle.

Here we were with a corpse sitting on the table — what on earth were we even doing?

"N-no, no way, wait, I'm dizzy — I'm so dizzy right now. What is this? Someone, some blasphemous bastard, has laid hands on my tower…?"

Her hand stretched out toward me.

"This won't do. Now is hardly the time to be discussing rewards. I-I will deal with the tower myself! You go down to the surface, this instant!"

"Just a moment! We still have things to—"

"—Not on this end, not right now! I have to tear this tower apart! Repair the archive, take back my authority — there's so much to do! I don't have a single second to waste on you!"

"Then what am I supposed to do!? You have to explain what's going on, or I can't possibly accept this!"

At my words, Aphrodite clutched her head like it was about to split open before she finally managed to calm herself. Realizing she couldn't afford to pick a fight with me, she pulled herself together and got to the point.

"You heard me! Someone has laid hands on my authority!"

"What authority? And what happens if it's gone!?"

"This tower holds the memories of countless people, their souls, their skills and talents and who knows what else! But — whatever! Forget the complicated stuff; here's the bottom line! If the wrong thing gets tampered with, your country and everything around it could simply cease to exist! That's why I have to reclaim my authority this instant! Do you understand what I'm telling you!?"

Amid the commotion, Freyja added one remark of her own.

"From the look of things — Song Seongyeon's situation included — this body should serve as crucial evidence for whatever is happening here. The very moment the tower's authority is fully ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠restored, I will attempt to revive her."

"—Revive her?"

Was that the sort of thing gods could simply do?

"And what about the tower? You were spouting all that garbage about an invasion of the surface if it wasn't conquered within a few years."

"All of that is cancelled! No — I don't even know if it can be cancelled at this point! In any case, I have no time to spare for you or that Song Seongyeon woman or whoever she is!"

With that, she tossed me a piercing. This time, it was gold and white.

"That's a terminal linking you to me and Freyja, so keep it with you!"

"If anything happens, we will contact you, Hero~!"

Light coiled around my body. She meant to teleport me out.

"You will bring Suni back to life, won't you!? That's a promise!"

"You too! If anything happens on the surface, contact us right away! From today on, the two of us goddesses will be backing you up in full! Got it!?"

Reassuring words, sure — and stressful all the same. Seriously, what the hell. I'd have given a lot for someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to explain how my life had ended up like this.

In an instant, I arrived at the residential district. The sky that had been bright was dyed pitch black, and the scene from only moments ago felt like a distant lie.

I'm dizzy.

It had been evening when we set out, and we'd burned hours conquering the tower. Add to that the tea time with the goddesses….

It was the gray-black hours of dawn; even with the fiftieth floor's conquest blaring noisily from every speaker, the crowds were thin.

I'd put a call through to Ian the moment I hit the surface, but he hadn't picked up. I had no way of knowing whether he was still up in the tower with Lee Soyeon or already back at the guild.

Naturally, it was the same with my women. Seongyeon. Seres. Brigitta.

Hours had passed since I'd fucked them senseless and left them lying there. Had they still not come to?

……….

Something welled up in my throat.

"FUUUUUUCK!!!!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs. A couple passing by jumped at the sight of me and hurried on their way. I was standing in the middle of the street, but I couldn't have cared less.

"Ha — what the hell is with today!? How did everything go so wrong!?"

This was some next-level bullshit. I'd held it together well enough while the goddesses were watching, but now there was no containing it. The questions piled up inside me until it felt like I'd burst.

—We cleared the 50th floor, so I collect the reward and call it a day. Then why is there more!?

—How did things even turn out like this!?

—Why is Suni dead?

—She wasn't the mastermind after all??

—Where did I screw up?

—Then what about the Madam?

—And the map to the 100th floor?

—If they're goddesses, how the hell did their authority get hijacked?

—What happens to the tower conquest now?

—Who the hell is my enemy?

Thump! Thump! Thump!

My heart slammed against my ribs. If even one person had picked up the phone, it might have been easier to bear — but not a soul did. Fine, my women were sprawled out with their cunts spread open, but what in the world was Ian doing?

"Fuck!"

I set off at a march toward the motel to wake Seongyeon and the others, and on the way punted a trash can clean across the street. Even I knew it was a pathetic move, but I couldn't let the rage out anywhere else. Storming along on furious feet, I put a call in to the [Draftsman] guild as well. Wishful thinking — the faint hope that maybe that guild knew something.

"Yeah. Figured as much."

As if anyone was answering at this hour. I gathered my wits. It was still the dead of night.

Only one day had passed.

Only.

One day?

Screwing three women, meeting some poor girl fresh off her father's funeral, chasing Ian through a tower conquest, nailing a married woman I'd met for the first time that very day — and then meeting goddesses on top of it all. Every last bit of it happened within a single day!!!

Claaang!

This time I kicked a bottle lying along the curb flying. Even spitting it out loud — just what kind of circus-fantasy was this — my head kept spinning. In a normal story, you get one incident at a time. Wasn't that the rule? The plot? But fuck me, everything was snarled together like a ball of thread—!!

"Ah — haaah, this won't do. I should calm down a little. Maybe go breathe in the girls' scent for a while."

Even as I said it, my feet stopped.

Getting worked up over sex that probably wasn't happening would only make me angrier — should I just go back to the room? Wait for the sun to rise, head back to the guild, and explain everything that had gone down overnight then?

……….

I lit a cigarette and drew a long breath. At some point I'd come to a stop beneath a blood-red glow, one restless leg jiggling away. That was when someone stepped into the alley where I stood.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

This late at night, and closing in on me of all people — a hooker, maybe? I raised my head, eyes narrowed.

"…Master Changki?"

You've got to be kidding me.

The proprietress of this red-light district. Madam Olivia Crow.