Common Sense Collapses! The Long-Awaited Prologue Ends!
Today had been a lot.
I'd fucked Teacher Hye-yeon until dawn, then first thing in the morning I'd run into an invisible exhibitionist who claimed to be an esper. That short little bitch with the speech impediment had a habit of flying off the handle — she'd straight-up attacked the Class President — and on top of that I'd learned Harin's secret, and the fact that I apparently had five masochistic girlfriends.
Sitting blankly on the bed, trying to sort through the day's events, there were still plenty of parts that didn't make sense even as I said them out loud. The only reason I was managing to accept any of it at all was the sense of wrongness that had washed over me the moment I'd recognized what Euna had said. And now that I knew superpowers were real, I had no choice but to somehow come to terms with it.
Seriously — what the hell kind of day was this?
One of the two I'd already met, or one of the three still unintroduced, had to be the one who'd stolen my memories and left my body like this.
So far I'd only met Euna from that side, and she hadn't seemed like a bad girl. Same went for Harin — I didn't want to suspect either of them. Especially Harin. She'd apparently hypnotized or brainwashed me more than a few times, and yet I still didn't want to doubt her, because her everyday attitude was so utterly devoted. But letting her off the suspect list for that alone was way too emotional.
"What the hell am I supposed to do about this…"
I waited for Harin, who'd suddenly gone out, inside the empty one-room apartment.
It had been about five minutes since she left.
She'd said something had come up, put on makeup and clothes that weren't like her usual style, and just walked out. When I'd asked where she was going she hadn't answered, and she wasn't picking up her phone — just left a message saying she'd be back by dawn.
What the hell is she doing out there without me…
I wanted to follow her, but if I got caught it would be a total disaster.
I'd only just managed to crack her mind-reading. Getting busted on the same day would make the whole thing worthless.
I hoped nothing was wrong…
"………?"
That worry was broken by a strange set of footsteps.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, fretting over both Euna — the invisible exhibitionist I'd met that morning — and my girlfriend Harin, I suddenly heard footsteps and my whole body went rigid. I wondered if it was the neighbor, but as far as I knew the place next door was empty. Then I thought maybe Harin was already back — but that was weird too, because someone was suddenly knocking on the door.
What?
I held my breath.
After everything that morning, my nerves were shot.
Wondering if I was about to get mixed up in something weird, I stopped by the kitchen on the way to the front door to check where the kitchen knife was, then raised my voice.
"Who is it~?"
And three seconds.
After a strange pause, the other person answered.
"Ah, Juwon! It's me~!! Open the door!"
"?"
…What. It really was Harin.
I'd tensed up for nothing.
"Is the door lock broken or something~? Why don't you just open it and come in yourself instead of calling people?!"
"No~! I've got stuff in both hands right now! It's heaaavy~! Hiiing!"
"Just put it down and press the door lock… ah."
Didn't she know that? Maybe she was carrying something breakable.
She's back pretty fast. Did she go to the mart or something?
But even accounting for that, it was too quick — and there wasn't a mart right nearby…
…?
I felt like the protagonist of some fairy tale.
The kind where your mother tells you not to open the door and you open it anyway and get screwed… so I looked through the peephole.
Can't see for shit, as usual.
"Hellooo~? Juwon~? I said it's heaaavy~! Hing!"
It really was Harin.
The angle meant I couldn't see what she was holding in both hands, but there was no room for doubt. My eyes were bad enough already, and through a peephole — if it hadn't been Harin out there I wouldn't even have been able to tell the gender.
—Click.
"What were you doing out at this hour?"
"………………"
"…What?"
I opened the door and just stood there, and Harin stared blankly at my face.
"Hia… ah… hua… ha……"
She kept exhaling and inhaling like she'd been drinking, her face flushed red. Her shoulders were pulled tight in a tense posture, and the way she kept staring at me was weird. She'd said it was heavy, but when I actually took the box it wasn't that heavy at all…
"Something on my face?"
"Nothing… just, you're so handsome…"
"What kind of bullshit is that. You left after one round before you went out and now you want more pussy already?"
"…One round. Y-yeah, I did? Ugh, me too~! Even though we do it every day I still get so greedy~?"
Every day, huh. Strictly speaking, Harin wasn't the greedy type. She almost never used her pussy herself — she preferred the service side, with that weird sexual preference of hers. The only times Harin clamped down with her pussy were when she was really pent up or when she needed affection.
Maybe I shouldn't pick fights over every little thing like this.
…More than that — what was this?
"What's this? You just left and you're already back with this — where the hell did you get it?"
"This? I had packages left at the convenience store out front, so I just went to pick them up."
"Yeah? For that, your makeup was pretty heavy… clothes look a little different too… weren't you wearing heels when you left?"
"Huh? It's the same?"
No. I didn't think so.
It had definitely been heels.
And that soft fluffy outfit she'd been wearing had somehow turned into leopard print…
"Huu~! It's so cooold~! The wind outside is crazy. I seriously don't get what girls who walk around half-naked in this weather are thinking. Devoting yourself to a man or exposing yourself as a hobby is fine, but they forget the basic fact that you need a healthy body to please a man — me, my hobby is the kind of heat that burns your brain right out—"
The parts I would have noticed immediately if my eyes were better gradually came into focus.
The way she slammed the door shut unlike usual. The rude way she kicked off her shoes. And above all — words that should never have come out of Harin's mouth, the girl who was devotion itself given form, kept spilling out, and a nasty feeling made me shudder.
"Harin, are you drunk?"
"……………"
"Hey, Harin. Chae Harin."
"…………Me?"
"Who else would be Harin here. Did you have a drink or something?"
"I'm not drunk. Look, my steps are fine, right?"
So she was doing this sober. Something felt off, so I went into the bedroom — and she got up to match me and this time closed the bedroom door. I usually left it open because of my eyes, but today something was wrong.
"Did you always have clothes like that?"
"These?"
Looking again, the leopard-print coat she was wearing looked like a luxury brand. Same for what she had on underneath, and she was wearing way more accessories than Harin ever would. Excessively flashy — the bag she'd brought with the box, the watch on her wrist, all looked like things a commoner like me could work a lifetime and never touch.
I didn't have the knowledge to recognize luxury goods, or a life connected to them, or the leisure to notice that kind of thing… so why?
"I didn't expect you'd actually recognize them… well, I'm a girl too, so I've got one or two of these things~!"
"Yeah, but…"
She was making excuses, but my mouth wouldn't stop opening and closing.
I wanted to ask Are you really Harin? right then — but I couldn't, afraid I'd hurt her if I was wrong.
"More importantly, Master~! Look at this!"
"…What master?"
"Ah, just a new title for a second♡ Fresh, right?"
"Something's seriously wrong with you."
"Never mind that! Master~! This, this!"
She opened the box she'd brought — not even a size that needed all that fuss — and revealed the contents. I'd narrowed my eyes, ready to bolt in case a weapon came out, but what jumped out of my dark vision was, in a certain sense, something I couldn't understand at all.
…Dildos.
Jiggling, wobbling jelly-form…
"What the hell is this."
"Can't you tell by looking? Master's eyes are bad, right? Here, look properly."
"No, don't shove that shit in my face, you fucking—!!"
While I asked myself over and over whether this was absolutely not Harin, multicolored jelly dildos were shoved at me and I could make out the words written on the surfaces.
Dog. Pig. Monkey. Horse. Cat. All kinds of animal names written on them.
…They were shaped like human ones, so why?
"These are anal vibes I made this time — let's use them later. They're super interesting, you know? If you use them you can see some fun stuff."
Made this time… she'd said she picked them up as packages, and that didn't add up.
"On me?"
"Of course on me~! They're clearly for women just by looking~!"
"Then you?"
"…Yeah."
The answer was late.
It was a "yeah" loaded with implication.
"They just look like regular vibes… we've already got a few at home, so why bother…?"
"Totally wrong!"
"…Ugh?!"
I got shoved.
By that Harin… me…?
"──These are insanely good! Even I think they're the invention of the century! Fufu, you absolutely have to use them! The kind where a woman's life plummets into the abyss in an instant, where you learn just how worthless human dignity is — a festival of shame and disgrace?! Watching the human mask fall off and someone crash down into a beast is really~! Really, really really, the best~!"
And her way of speaking seemed to have changed too…
No. Let's call it confirmed.
Even if I was a complete idiot, with this many hints…!
"You fucking bitch?"
"Ah… excuse me."
"Hey, wait — where are you going! Who the fuck are you, you twin bitch!!"
My already bad eyes and the dark room had me irritated, and the mysterious bitch claiming to be Harin got up again, shrugged back into her coat, and headed for the entrance. I reached out to grab her, but even though it was a room I always used I messed up my footing and missed.
"What are you talking about? I'm Harin. Ha. Rin."
"Is this for real?!"
"Kyaa!"
I lunged toward the sound but just went thud! and fell without catching her. Only having my right arm usable was a big risk. The room was this small and somehow she was dodging every which way — amazing — and eventually the bedroom door opened and she bolted toward the front door.
"Who are you! Are you an esper too?!"
"It's me. Your girlfriend."
"Bullshit, my girlfriend is Harin!"
"It's me. The girlfriend born for you — your external self-esteem unit."
"Who the fuck are you! Why are you doing this with Harin's face?! And what the hell is this!"
"I'm your girlfriend."
"What kind of bullshit is that?! Turn on the light and show your face! Who the hell dares to pretend to be my girlfriend…?!"
"I am, your girlfriend."
"You fucking bitch!"
Somehow I got out of the bedroom, yanked the kitchen knife from the kitchen by the front door, and threw it.
Ting!
"…That's dangerous."
I'd thrown it well enough that the blade stuck in the front door with a sound, but it hadn't hit her, and she answered in a completely leisurely voice.
"Pulling a blade out of nowhere… seeing blood isn't my hobby. That sort of thing is more that girl's… no, that would be a digression too. It's been so long since we met that my mouth's gotten loose. When I heard Harin had suddenly taken you away I was so anxious I thought I'd die, but I can finally breathe easy."
……………
…Euna's group?
"Sorry for the late-night intrusion. I was worried my beloved Master might be going through something terrible, so I came to check the situation myself. But Euna really is a problem. That habit of getting excited and lunging to bite — it might be good to fix that someday. I even hired a detective and have people watching at all times, and yet she made direct contact… thanks to that the plan's completely fallen apart."
So she really was Euna's ally…
A woman with striking blonde hair glimpsed through the darkness… a foreigner?
"Wait — you, are you… the one Euna mentioned…!"
"Yes. I'd love nothing more than to tell you everything about that, but given the situation I can't stay long — my apologies in advance. I, Euna, and the others are all trapped in suspicion and can't move freely, so I barely managed to find a gap to come see you."
A gap?
For all that talk there wasn't much important information, but she seemed to notice and cut straight to the point.
"Master. Those vibes over there are a gift. If you ever want to meet us while avoiding Harin's eyes, please use them. With those, you can subdue her."
"…With vibes like that?"
"Yes. Not just Harin — the other girls too. Today I only wanted to quietly show you how to use them. This is my first time acting, and I got so excited I got caught right away… but please, please, I hope you'll trust me."
Even though I'd gotten excited and thrown a kitchen knife, her tone held no anger at all. Instead she pulled the knife out of the door, casually set it on the shoe rack, and spoke pitifully. Same as with Euna — she knew me well, and her way of speaking was full of longing.
What do I do. I can't even get mad.
The heat had clearly risen all the way to my throat — and then it just drained away.
"I adore you. My one and only Master in the whole world."
With those words the door closed and she fled.
"Hey…! Ah, fuck, seriously!"
…What the hell was that.
In the end all that was left were the anal vibes the unidentified blonde had left behind…
I never imagined someone could copy Harin's face exactly. Starting from this meeting tonight, I felt like every last scrap of common sense I had left was collapsing.