3. Probation Day 1 - 2: A Date with Dana
The coffee shop door had barely swung shut behind me when I spotted Dana walking my way. Bathed in the clear morning sunlight, a woman beautiful enough to pass for a celebrity was coming straight toward me. No—Dana had been an idol, after all. A genuine celebrity was walking toward me. And she was smiling.
There weren't many pedestrians about, but every single one of them stole at least one glance at her. With a woman like that coming to meet me, my shoulders tensed without my meaning them to. More than anything, unlike all those men who could only stare at her, I could actually touch Dana—and I knew exactly what was underneath her clothes.
"Why are you standing way over here, Mr. Juhan?"
"Just because. You heading to your new place now?"
Dana came right up to me and stopped with her face mere inches from mine. I stood 176cm to her 168cm, but the thick soles of her sneakers put her only slightly shorter than me. With our eyes locked at almost-touching distance, I caught myself glancing up at the sky for no reason at all.
"No. The packing will take a while yet, and there'll be time to unpack once everything's moved, so we can take our time heading in."
"Ah, right. So what now?"
"Would you like to go on a date with me?"
"Huh??!!"
"You don't want to??"
"Ah... no, I mean—I'd love to."
I blurted the answer out, flustered, and took a step back. Dana held her smile and checked her phone.
"Wonderful! A date with me it is, then. But hold on just a moment—there's something I need to take care of first. She said she'd be here any minute and—oh! There she is now."
Dana waved toward the road. Following her gaze, I saw a red Mini with black accents turning off the street toward the officetel.
Watching it approach, Dana pointed at the entrance to the building's underground parking garage.
- Honk!
The Mini gave a short blast of its horn as it passed us and turned into the garage. I caught a glimpse of the driver—a strikingly beautiful woman. As I stood watching the barrier rise and the little car descend below, Dana hooked her arm through mine and steered me along.
"Now, let's go get your probation started."
"Huh??"
Dana led me back into the officetel and into the elevator, where she pressed B4. The basement was nothing but parking, and since I didn't own a car, it was somewhere I'd never once set foot.
While I, a basement first-timer, trailed along gawking at my surroundings, Dana moved with easy familiarity. We passed down a narrow corridor, she pushed open a steel door, and we stepped out into the garage. Just beyond it, the red Mini I'd seen moments before sat parked with its engine running beside a blue Audi SQN5.
As Dana and I approached, the driver's door swung open and a young woman with long straight hair climbed out. She wore a black leather jacket over a white tee, with a leather skirt below.
The skirt was miniskirt-short, and her velvet boots rose past her knees. She looked to be about 160cm tall. Between boot top and skirt hem stretched a band of bare skin.
As the woman came over, Dana said,
"Jinkyeong! I told you to be here on time."
"This is on time for me. If you're going to drag me in on a weekend, cut me some slack. Hello there~ Mr. Juhan."
Heavy makeup on top of everything made her look somehow fierce. She fired back her reply to Dana, then dipped her head to me in greeting.
"Oh! Yes, hello."
I bowed my head in return.
- Smack~!
Dana stepped in close and delivered a stinging slap to the woman's ass with her open palm.
"Working for free, are you? While pocketing full weekend pay? And you're supposed to introduce yourself. Oh? Going commando?"
"Ahh!! That hurts, you bitch! It's a thong!! And I was about to say so—you butted in."
Rubbing the ass Dana had just slapped, the woman turned to me and said,
"I'm Han Jinkyeong, a nurse with the C-At Medical Center Annex, here to administer your O-2020."
"The Annex is the facility dedicated exclusively to O-Class personnel."
Dana added the explanation to Jinkyeong's introduction. The C-At Medical Center was famous for its VIP-focused medical business—a hospital known for charging the wealthy a premium while extending medical benefits to those who couldn't afford them. Whatever else it was, I knew it as the finest medical facility in the Empire.
If this Annex was dedicated to O-Class, then it was probably no ordinary place either.
"The C-At Medical Center belongs to Bakdalhoe too?"
At my reaction, Jinkyeong tilted her head.
"You didn't know? It's hardly a big secret that the C-At Medical Foundation runs on BD Group money."
"I see... Wait! Then is the C-At Wellness Center connected too?"
"Of course."
Her words gave me a faint inkling of how I might have come to be scouted by BD Group. I'd had my health checkup last year at the C-At Wellness Center. The place offered steep discounts for people working at small and midsize companies, so my whole office had gone in as a group.
Back then I'd simply been delighted to get an expensive checkup on the cheap. I had no idea what methods they'd used, but it was exactly the kind of thread that could tie me to Bakdalhoe. And as I mulled over the C-At Medical Foundation, a news story from my childhood flashed vividly back to me.
A scandal that had begun with one famous celebrity's military service fraud and spread through the entertainment world, the sports world, and on into politics and business. The whole Empire had been thrown into chaos by the massive draft-evasion case, which ended with the head of the Military Manpower Administration bowing his head in a public apology to the nation. Afterward, as one of the measures to root out service fraud, came the news that the Administration—backed by the C-At Medical Center—would now conduct its examinations thoroughly, with the latest equipment and methods.
If only men can become Omniscients, then every man in the Empire has to take the conscription physical—there's no surer method than exploiting that. But then they should have found me ten years ago...
My deduction was cut short by Jinkyeong's voice.
"Well then, time for your injection. Hop in the passenger seat of my car~"
"Yes? Yes, of course."
I climbed into the passenger seat of the red Mini and looked around. Unlike its sleek exterior, the cabin was a little messy, with things scattered here and there. Jinkyeong pulled a small cooler box and a flat, square silver case out of the back seat, then got in behind the wheel. Dana took the seat behind me.
"It's cramped enough in here—least you could do is clean up after yourself."
Dana grumbled as she cleared the stuff off the seat. Jinkyeong didn't dignify that with so much as a reply, just set the cooler box and silver case between the two front seats. Then she fished a travel-sized hand sanitizer from the driver's door pocket and disinfected her hands.
"As you've probably gathered from listening in, the O-2020 that will awaken your ability takes just a single dose—and it's irreversible. Beyond that, there's nothing in particular to be careful about. It goes in your left arm, right? Could you come a little closer?"
As she spoke, Jinkyeong opened the silver case. Inside were three slim syringes wrapped in plastic and a small container of alcohol swabs. She lifted one of the swabs out. I worked my left arm free of my jacket sleeve, rolled it up past the shoulder, and leaned toward the driver's seat.
While Jinkyeong swabbed down the injection site, I asked the question I'd been debating whether to voice.
"So, um... when do the, er, sexual enhancements start to show?"
"You can consider the drug's effects immediate. The changes you'll actually feel, though, will take about a day to appear. The enlargement progresses over roughly a month. Dana will be right there keeping a close eye on everything, so there's no need to worry."
I nodded and glanced back to find Dana gripping the back of the passenger seat, leaning forward with her neck craned, watching from between the two front seats. When her eyes met mine, she gave me a little smile.
Jinkyeong set the used swab aside in the case, opened the cooler box, and took out a small metal cylinder. From it she produced a small vial of clear liquid. Holding it in one hand, she drew a syringe from the silver case, pierced the vial, and drew the drug up into the barrel.
Then she took my left hand lightly in hers and pressed the needle to my shoulder.
"Little pinch~"
- Push.
"All done. Don't rub it—just hold gentle pressure."
The injection was over in an instant, like a routine vaccination. It hadn't even hurt that much. Jinkyeong recapped the used syringe and slipped it back into its plastic wrapper.
"Okay."
I was pressing the injection site with my right hand when Dana spoke up.
"Hurry up and file the report."
"I'll get to it without the nagging, thank you. Take this, and hand me the tablet."
Jinkyeong closed up the cooler box and silver case and passed them to the back seat. Dana set them down, then pulled the tablet from the pocket on the back of the driver's seat and handed it over.
Tablet in hand, Jinkyeong logged into the C-At Medical Center app—its seed-shaped logo front and center—and began typing away at speed. Midway through, she glanced at the label on the vial still in her hand.
"Done. Check it."
"Good work, Jinkyeong~."
- Beep... beep... beep...
Hearing that Jinkyeong was finished, Dana immediately dialed someone.
"Yes, this is Park Dana with Support Headquarters Team 2. Prospective Omniscient Choi Juhan has received his injection. Please confirm."
Catching me watching her, Dana flashed a small smile and carried on with the call.
"Yes. Yes, understood. We'll proceed as scheduled. Yes~. You have a good one~"
Ending the call, Dana turned to me.
"It's done. You're officially a probationary Omniscient now, Mr. Juhan. Think of it as being a probationary employee of BD Group—though of course, as O-Class, you're in a different league from the regular staff. Quite a few of the restricted functions should have unlocked. Care to check your phone?"
I was reaching for my phone when Jinkyeong's voice stopped me mid-motion.
"Um~ Mr. Juhan, I'm terribly sorry, but could you finish the rest in Dana's car? I have another appointment. Really, really sorry~"
Jinkyeong pressed her palms together as she apologized, and I nodded. Dana's voice rang out at once.
"Oh please, you're off to have fun while pretending to be busy!"
Jinkyeong raised her voice, refusing to be outdone.
"If it weren't for this, I'd already be out having a blast!! Ah! My apologies, Mr. Juhan—it's not that I mind being assigned to you. I just had plans, and then this extra shift came up... Ah, not that plans come before work, of course, but..."
For all her fierce first impression, seeing her flustered like this was somehow endearing. I said with a smile,
"I'm sorry you had to work a weekend because of me. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of it. Let's get going, Dana."
"The honor was all mine, truly. I look forward to seeing you again."
Even seated, Jinkyeong bowed her head toward me as deeply as she could manage. I returned a slight nod, opened the door, and stepped out. Dana followed a beat later, not without a parting shot.
"Don't play so hard you wear yourself out. Pace yourself~"
Jinkyeong hollered back, giving as good as she got.
"Don't you worry about me—my pussy's nice and tight. It can take it~"
The moment we were clear, Jinkyeong waved and pulled straight out of the parking garage. Dana waved the receding car off, then fished a remote out of her pocket and pressed it.
- Beep.
The blue Audi SQN5 parked behind me chirped in response. The unexpected sound startled me into stumbling a few steps away. Dana hurried over, took my arm in both hands, and said,
"Oh my! Did I startle you? I'm sorry."
"No, no. It's fine. It's fine."
"I'll explain the rest once we're in the car."
"Uh, yeah."