Prayers of the Devout
Helena, Celine, and I carried the bodies of the agents who had died fighting the parasites, our expressions growing heavier with every load.
We laid the corpses side by side inside a building where not a soul stirred, the night still clinging to the sky, and draped cloth over each of their faces.
Three B-rank agents and three A-rank agents—dead. That was the price of killing a single mid-tier Knight and one low-grade Rook.
Just as we'd predicted, the parasites had lured us here and set their trap. The ambushing Rook had picked off an A-rank agent covering us from long range, then launched a second assault on those of us who had brought down the Knight.
The result of that battle lay sprawled across the floor—six agents and two parasite corpses.
I looked down at them, my heart a tangle of conflicting feelings. Every time we fought the parasites, someone got hurt. Someone died. I'd lived through that obvious outcome dozens of times, and with each one my emotions wore down a little more—yet somehow, this scene alone refused to become familiar.
"Like I keep saying... every last one of those parasite bastards needs to die."
Celine, waiting for HQ's cleanup crew to arrive, leaned against the wall and muttered coldly around the gum she was chewing.
Helena leaned against the wall beside her, lighting a cigarette. They didn't exchange many words, but neither seemed awkward in the other's company—apparently they knew each other, or at least knew of each other.
Unlike them, I had nothing to do but keep watch nearby, staying alert in case the parasites launched another attack.
"Whew... well, it has to be done."
Helena—a walking archetype of Western beauty, with blonde hair spilling down to her waist and pale blue eyes—exhaled a plume of smoke toward Celine and me. Perhaps because she favored light, agile movements like Celine did, her jet-black suit clung to her body, putting the voluptuous curves and generous chest that seemed unique to Western women on full display.
To put it crudely, Helena looked like she'd walked straight out of a Western adult film—but no matter how you described her, the fact remained that she was beautiful.
"...Yeah. We should."
Celine spat her gum neatly into its wrapper and agreed. She was referring to the procedure agents were required to complete after every parasite engagement.
Verification. After a battle, we asked each other a fixed set of questions, checking for signs that a parasite had manipulated our memories or personalities. A high-tier or top-tier Rook might manage a flawless rewrite, but anything below that rank couldn't perfectly reconstruct a human's memories and personality—some trace of wrongness always remained. That flaw was what the screening exploited. It wasn't foolproof, and it had gaps, but it worked. And right now, having just fought a Rook, it was more necessary than ever.
"What is the definition of a parasite, and your thoughts on them?"
At Helena's question, Celine and I phrased our answers a little differently, but on the essential point we agreed: they were beings that had to be killed.
"What is the definition of a human, and your thoughts on them?"
This time Celine asked, and Helena and I answered along the same lines. No dissonance. No contradiction in the words themselves.
We worked through the rest of the manual, question after question, and mercifully, no one said anything that raised an alarm. A sigh of relief escaped me before I could stop it. Having witnessed, more than once, that horrific sight of a person's very existence twisting apart, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with dying as a parasite's puppet, used and discarded.
"Whew... looks like we're all clear... Anyway."
Helena blew her last mouthful of smoke into the empty air and let her eyes slide sideways. Her face had softened into a strange, bright glow—excitement, euphoria, as if she were picturing someone. For an instant, I had the fleeting impression that something about her had slipped its rails. But an impression is only an impression, and it raised no question in my mind.
"So when are you two going to go serve Hyun-ok?"
Hyun-ok. The moment Helena spoke that sacred name—our great and one-and-only being, the exalted one to whom even my soul must be offered—something deep in my chest and my spirit shuddered violently. Merely hearing the name of that revered being made my lower body grow damp, and my brain steeped in dopamine as though soaked in pure bliss.
"I'm already trembling with anticipation, my body shaking with excitement... I want to be held in the great Hyun-ok's arms as soon as possible. I want to relieve that precious being's torment with my own body... Ahh, Hyun-ok! For you I would offer my life—no, my very soul! Quickly... quickly! I want to stand before you and give you my body, my soul, my everything!"
Helena, hugging herself and pouring out that feverish heat, grew more and more worked up until, at the end, she was crying out like a fanatic. Her eyes had gone somewhere distant and deranged, and she clasped her face in her hands, trembling with rapture like someone welcoming a god. It was a far cry from her usual self—and yet I felt no wrongness in it at all. Because her reaction was the most natural thing in the world. Anyone who pictured Hyun-ok would react that way. Anyone would say those words. It was as obvious as breathing, as self-evident as common sense itself.
"Keep it down, will you? What if some uncivilized thing that doesn't know of Her existence overhears? The cleanup crew from HQ will be here any minute."
Celine shot Helena a glare, her narrow fox-eyes pulled wide open in warning. But she, too, had clearly fallen in step with Helena's thoughts—she couldn't quite hide the faint tremor of excitement running through her crossed arms.
Uncivilized things. Parasite, human, animal, god—it didn't matter what they were. Everything except Hyun-ok was primitive, insignificant, beneath notice. The three of us here were bound to conceal Hyun-ok's existence from the world utterly, and to protect Her with our very lives from the wretched things that dared threaten Her. All while also performing the noble duty of devoted service to our one true god, Hyun-ok, with the bodies of women made to receive a man.
The three of us were living onaholes created solely for Hyun-ok, serving dolls, faithful believers who would stake our lives on fulfilling Her every word. For the first time in my life, I felt genuine gratitude for having been born a woman, and down to the marrow of my bones I gave thanks for the hymen that existed to be offered to Her.
"Besides, that worn-out whore cunt of yours couldn't make Hyun-ok feel a thing anyway."
"Better than that cramped little hole of yours, at least."
As the two of them growled at each other, I stood caught between them, utterly at a loss. Part of me couldn't understand why comrades who were supposed to devote themselves to Hyun-ok until death would carry on like this.
"I'm jealous of you, getting to offer Hyun-ok your first time. Why couldn't I have kept mine for Her? Mine's a life of maddening regret."
When Helena's gaze slid over to me, I smiled bitterly—but inwardly, I was rejoicing. I didn't show it, but I, too, ached to be used as Hyun-ok's onahole as soon as possible. And in the end, my dream was to fulfill my purpose by becoming a shield of flesh to protect Her the moment She was ever in danger.
"Shh. Quiet, both of you. I think the agents from HQ are here."
Just as Celine said, I sensed movement entering the building. We, who bore the duty of hiding Hyun-ok's existence from the organization, sealed our mouths as one, as if we'd rehearsed it. We said nothing, but if it came to that, all three of us would discard the organization without a second thought for Her sake. Until then, though—to keep feeding Her useful information—we would, regrettably, have to remain with the organization a while longer. At least, until Hyun-ok's girlfriend gave the order.
Feeling the fullness of my reason for being—a life that now existed for Hyun-ok—I also considered myself fortunate in one respect. No one here had been controlled by a parasite. No one lived a life that wasn't their own, their memories, ideology, and values rewritten while their identity and everything they were was toyed with. None of us had experienced that hideous form of death—alive, yet not alive. I felt relief, and with it a sincere, renewed gratitude that I turned over in my mind again and again.
We were uncorrupted. Our identities, our memories, our values—still whole. And with our sanity intact, we would serve Hyun-ok for the rest of our lives. That was our purpose, and the entirety of our existence.
"Ahh... Hyun-ok."
Picturing Her somewhere out there beyond the building's walls, I drowned in rapture.
After parting with Seong-ha, I made my way home, shuffling through the park's nighttime streets. It was the same solitary walk as always, and yet now that I was no longer alone, it somehow felt a little lonelier.
It hadn't even been that long. How had Seong-ha... how had that monster's presence come to occupy this much space in my heart already? I couldn't tell whether I should be happy about that or not, and I walked on, tangled in the complicated feeling—until a commotion somewhere nearby stopped me mid-step, and I turned my head.
Padepadepade!
Even at night, it looked for a moment like a sandstorm was bearing down on me—someone sprinting at full speed in my direction.
"H-Hyun-ok——!! W-wait! Please, just—just a moment!!"
A familiar voice, and a face growing clearer with every closing meter. It was Arin.
Startled by the completely unexpected encounter, I froze, torn—should I run or not? Even if Seong-ha was an exception, Arin was an unmistakable monster that ate people. I'd somehow survived my last meeting with her, but there was no guarantee lightning wouldn't strike twice. Before I could bolt, though, Arin closed the distance at a distinctly inhuman speed and was suddenly kneeling in front of me, clutching the hem of my pants.
"Please! Don't go! I'm begging you!! WAAAAAAHH——!! Do you have any idea how hard it was to find you?!"
Until just days ago, this woman had carried herself with a cool, untouchable beauty and the icy aura of an apex predator. Now she was a grotesque wreck, clinging to me and wailing some incomprehensible plea. I had no idea how she'd even found me, but the sight of her on her knees, wrapped around my leg, was drawing stares from the few other people in the park.
"N-no, um... c-could you calm down first, please?"
The stares made me panic, and I hurriedly grabbed at her, trying to pull her to her feet—but she only kept sobbing and wailing.
"WAAAAAAHH——!! Thank you, thank you so, so much for being alive! WAAAAAHHH——!!"
What on earth happened to this person... no, to this monster? Watching Arin still kneeling there, clinging to me, I couldn't help the question rising in my mind.