The Information Binding
The information from the deleted Save Points has been bound!
“Information… bound?”
I had never seen a message like that on the status window before. Was there some kind of codex or collection system I had never known about? I poked and prodded at every corner of the interface, but nothing new turned up. After all the grinding and tinkering I had already done with the thing, there was hardly any room left for a surprise feature to hide.
And nothing about me seemed to have changed, either. My body was the same. The bleak night Alleyway around me was the same.
“Doesn’t look like anything’s different… Maybe it’s nothing.”
Grrrk.
An ominous rumble rolled up from my stomach. The memory was hazy—it had been ages—but coming back to this moment brought it flooding in: what I had been doing the night I first met the status window.
“Right… I was on my way to the Convenience Store for a late-night snack.”
I was hungry. My college Studio Apartment was close by. I had been glued to my computer, gotten hungry, and stepped out for food—and that was the night the status window found me.
I had decided to live a new life. Might as well grab a convenience-store lunch box and eat properly. A full stomach first, then everything else—that was my plan for making the best of a life without Save Points. I picked up my pace toward the Convenience Store.
“Welcome.”
What should I even eat here?
This was the first meal since returning to the original Save Point. Part of me wanted a real sit-down dinner, but—
My Bank Balance: 39,820 won
“Yeah, that’s not happening.”
I let out a small sigh and pulled a lunch box from the nearest shelf. If you were at a convenience store, you got a convenience-store lunch box. Having almost no money left was depressing, but there was nothing to be done about it. A guy in his early twenties fresh out of the military was never going to be rolling in cash.
Still, I wasn’t panicking over money. I already knew exactly how the next few years of cash flow were going to go. The second I got back to the Studio Apartment, I would crack open the lunch box and open an overseas stock account. After that, park money in a handful of sure-fire risers, wait a few months, and…
“From here on out, money won’t be a problem…”
Ever since I got the Save Points, I had never once worried about cash. If that counted as a perk, sure, it was a perk. But somewhere along the way I had realized something: past a certain number, money stopped being all that interesting. Honestly—when you could rewind time whenever you wanted, what was money supposed to mean?
What drew me in weren’t easy paydays. They were the women who weren’t easy to conquer. It felt like routing a dating sim, and that was fun.
“That’ll be 3,500 won.”
Behind the Convenience Store counter, a yellow-haired girl rang me up. Her name was Song Ha-yeong—twenty-three, night-shift part-timer. Decent-looking, and close enough to my place that she had been the first woman I ever tried to route. By now, even that was just data from a deleted Save Point.
That her ribs were sensitive. That she looked fierce but was actually an Egen-nyeo. None of it meant anything anymore.
“Would you like a bag?”
“Ah—yes, please.”
A brief exchange of glances as she handed over the bag. I knew that face flushed and gasping. I knew how her tongue lolled out when she got worked up. I knew the heat of her body when her temperature spiked so high it felt like she might melt. But she didn’t know me.
Past connections were better left in the past. I gave a small smile, took the lunch box, and stepped outside.
“Thank you. Sell lots.”
What is this? Something had been off for a while now.
My body was heating up on its own, and places no one had touched kept twitching. It felt like I was masturbating without laying a finger on myself, and all I could do was twist and squirm behind the Convenience Store counter.
“Is my period coming?”
Even so, you couldn’t exactly touch yourself in the middle of a shift. I forced out a long breath and tried to talk my body down. The second this shift ends, I’m going home and stuffing something in—just finish the shift, go home, and—
Jingle.
“Welcome.”
I was losing my mind wanting something between my legs right now. I could feel the wetness soaking through my panties, the slickness between my thighs every time I shifted. But even like this, I still had to serve customers. If someone walked in and caught me getting myself off, they’d think I was a complete freak.
Leave. Please just leave.
I needed this customer gone so I could be alone. Luckily, this Convenience Store barely got anyone in the small hours—it was a dream shift that way. Once this guy left, I’d have plenty of time to calm down. Somehow I just had to finish the shift, get home, and do something. I was genuinely about to lose it.
I scanned the barcode on the lunch box he had brought up.
“That’ll be 3,500 won.”
I still had no idea why my body was doing this. Desire always ran hotter on my period, but never like this—never this sudden. And the important part: it wasn’t even that time of the month.
It felt like someone was training me. Like this body wasn’t even mine…
“Would you like a bag?”
“Ah—yes, please.”
I fought to keep my rough, hot breathing under wraps and snuck a look at the customer. Just this one. Almost there. Just get through this.
Then my eyes met his—a face that was somehow familiar. I had definitely seen him around. A young guy who showed up in rumpled clothes, bought a single meal’s worth of food, and vanished, like he had a Studio Apartment nearby. Until now he had been just another customer. Tonight he felt different.
A face I had seen often. Not a stranger. And still, something about him felt more familiar than it should have.
“Ah…”
He took the bagged lunch box and turned to leave.
“Thank you. Sell lots~”
I know that face. I know that face. No—not just the face. His body, his tastes, his personality, his habits—I know all of it. How he breathes when he’s worked up. How the tip of his cock digs all the way to my cervix when he grips my waist and thrusts. How loving his fingers feel when he carefully cups my ribs.
I know what kind of man he is. I know what kind of sex he has.
“What—what is this? What the hell is this?”
A flood of information poured into my head. I clutched my skull and sank to the floor right there. Pleasure I had never lived through came crashing in. Sex I had never had filled my mind to the brim. Every climax I had somehow forgotten rose up one after another, and the slick between my legs spilled over without restraint.
“Nngh… nh… nnh…”
I buried my face against the counter and sobbed for air. I felt like I could come just standing there. No—I already was. My head was white with climax and pleasure, but I clung to one thought: Why? Why was my body suddenly on fire? Why did looking at that man’s face summon memories that shouldn’t exist? Why did my body remember sex I had never done?
“This is wrong… this is so wrong…”
I gasped. I rubbed my wrist between my thighs; the juices I hadn’t even noticed pouring out smeared glossy across my skin. I couldn’t stay like this. Body and mind were both a wreck.
I couldn’t just sit here. I had to move. If I let that man get away now, I might never find him again.
“I have to… go after him. Right now.”
Beyond the glass Convenience Store door he had vanished through, I stared down the Alleyway.
Honestly? This Alleyway was a little scary.
It was where I first met the status window, sure—but it also looked like the kind of place where things went wrong. Living in a country with decent public safety was the only reason it wasn’t worse. If this were America, armed gang members hanging around wouldn’t have felt out of place.
Trash heaps everywhere. Outdoor AC units grinding away. Not a single human sound nearby. Put bluntly, if someone jumped me and robbed me here, there wouldn’t be a soul around to help.
“I should just get home and eat.”
All of this was hunger talking. Was now really the time for pathetic thoughts? I had a mountain of things to do. First, sort every stock ticker I could remember into a dated list and secure capital I could actually deploy. I had no cash on hand—did that mean debt-financed trading? Those stocks were going to rise; that much was certain.
Even while I was thinking all that, the bag with the lunch box rustled in my hand.
Song Ha-yeong's level has increased!
“Huh? What the hell?”
A status message I had never seen in my life. I stopped mid-stride in the Alleyway and poked at the floating text. There was no button to press—just a pure status readout.
Song Ha-yeong… the yellow-haired Convenience Store girl I had just run into. Why her, all of a sudden?
Lewdness Level 2
Lewdness? What the hell was Lewdness?
I was still standing there staring at the window when a voice carried from the far end of the Alleyway I had just walked through.
“Hah… hah… You! You there—wait… stop… nnh…”
Rough, hitching breaths. Someone who had sprinted hard and was still gasping—but the heat in those breaths was unmistakable. I turned. At the far end of the Alleyway, yellow-haired Song Ha-yeong stood panting, chest heaving.
“Me?”
Lunch box still in one hand, I pointed at myself. There was no reason for Song Ha-yeong to chase me out here. I had bought a lunch box at this hour, at this store, across plenty of repeated routes—but her following me like this was a first.
A clear irregular. The start of a route I had never seen.
“Hah… hah… Yeah. You… nngh…”
She pointed at me, then started walking closer—cheeks flushed deep, breath ragged, hair a mess. What on earth was she doing out here like this?
I had a mountain of things I didn’t understand. Even after eight years of looping, I had never seen this.
Song Ha-yeong grabbed my shoulder hard and shoved me back against the Alleyway wall. The grip was absurd—I had never known she could put out that kind of strength.
Then, in a low, almost growling voice, she said:
“Take your dick out!”
Her eyes locked on my face. Her lips trembled. Sweat slid down a strand of hair and beaded on her cheek. Something fierce—raw desire—was burning in her gaze.
I stared at her, flustered.
“What?”
“Hah, hah… This—hurry up and take your dick out!!!”