Succumbing to Nightmares
“Monsters Disqualified… Yeah. Here you are again, Kwon Jitae.”
The voice hit me the instant I opened my eyes, as familiar as someone else’s doorbell password or the irritated-but-comforting chime of a washing machine finishing its cycle. And the owner of that voice was perched right on top of me, tonight too. Pink hair slowly cascading down to tickle the hollow of my chest. Two tiny horns poking out just above it, and behind them, half-lidded eyes gazing down at me. “Another dream, huh.”
I lay there staring up at the woman above me and muttered. There was no other explanation. Not with my resume—29, high-school graduate, unemployed, kangaroo tribe. Daytime was all “Mom, watch me,” nighttime was all “Succubus, watch me.” By now I was a human who’d dropped out of the universe, not just society. “Yep. A top-tier, meticulously managed dream reserved exclusively for premium clients.” The woman smiled faintly, and a breathy edge mixed into the end of the sentence, making my ear twitch strangely. She braced her arms on either side of me, leaning her upper body forward slightly. That put 90 percent of my field of vision on her face. The remaining 10 percent was just her hair and horns. “So, shall we do the self-introduction again today?” “…Don’t you do that every time? I feel like I’ve heard it at least once a month.” “But manners are manners, right? First impression, first greeting, first… you know.” She deliberately trailed off and laughed. That laugh was the problem. No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t a “work” smile—it was the kind you make when you’re joking around. “I’m 666 years old, species: succubus.” “Six… what?” “Six hundred sixty-six. Not three-sixty-eight, but six six six.” She deliberately split the numbers while staring straight into my eyes from right on top of me. “You’re exactly the right age, aren’t you.” “What’s so ‘exactly’ about it? In human years you’d already have osteoporosis.” “Excuse me? By our standards, this is prime.” She wrinkled her nose and glanced down at herself. …That word “prime” made me hesitate to argue back. “Humans are such number-obsessed freaks. Every time they hear 666 they start looking all weird.” “It is a weird number, after all. The one horror movies always use.” “So it’s good. Marketing’s solid.” This demon was way too proud to admit she was a demon. “Then what’s my name?” I asked. Honestly, that was the strangest part. A weird detail I’d never seen in any other demon world. “Forgot again?” “You come in for overtime every single day, yet you still don’t forget a client’s name, but you do fresh self-intros every time. Your service spirit is way over the top.” “It’s in the company’s call-center script. The system’s programmed that way.” She muttered with a hint of irritation, then added a smile back onto her expression. “Alright, let’s pretend it’s our first meeting again. I am—” She straightened a little from on top of me. I felt her thighs tense. Her arms stayed braced on either side, and her hair fell over my face, casting shadows. “Im Subin.” “…Wow, that’s such a Korean name. Too neighborly, isn’t it?” “Why? Don’t like it?” “Succubus names are supposed to be at least something like Lilith or Lilitu. Subin just sounds like Insta vibes.” “Times have changed, Jitae. Even demons are localizing now.” She shrugged. “And Im Subin sounds pretty. It could be an apartment sales consultant, or a cafe part-timer, or even an insurance agent.” “Insurance agent? Why are you suddenly saying that?” “You still have to pay your essence tonight, don’t you? In our company it’s the same as insurance.” “Your company’s terrifying.” I sighed. A 666-year-old succubus named Im Subin. Too realistic for someone who shows up every night in my dreams and stares me down. “But honestly, is your company even real?” “It is. Punching in, writing reports, getting performance pressure, checking with the boss, even after-work drinks.” “Did the demon world really turn into this…?” “That’s why I’m here doing overtime.” She said it with a grin and leaned her upper body down again. Her hair brushed the nape of my neck. The distance between us shrank until only our breaths were close. “So, shall we get to work?” “Before we start, can I ask one more thing?” “What now.” “If you’re a succubus, there should be higher-class clients than me, right? Like a third-generation chaebol, a genius scientist, a hunter.” “There are. But those guys are super competitive.” She was smiling, yet her tone carried a hint of bitterness. “You’re like a slot with zero competition.” “What are you even talking about right now.” “Good thing I can’t be taken. I need a stable client too.” Now she was calling me a “client.” Even a demon had fallen for capitalism. “So you came to my dream tonight?” “Yep. Came to fill my quota again. And…” She poked my chest with one finger. “Honestly, you’re good company.” “…” It was hard to deny. Even if I was an extra, when a woman showed up every night and looked at me with those eyes, how could I say it wasn’t good. “Oh, you admit it? Your face is adorable.” “Don’t say that.” “Why? Because it’s adorable. If I’m 666, you’re basically still in kindergarten. In a same-age couple you’d be the most legendary.” “Don’t suddenly switch to love talk.” “But this relationship is basically like newlyweds. Same face every night, starting the day.” “Newlyweds call it overtime?” “Our newlyweds work at a succubus company. The Essence Collection Team.” She said it and lowered her body again. Her hair fell beside my face. The distance was no longer just breath—it was breathing together. “Alright, let’s start. Today’s report title is… um.” She pretended to think, eyes rolling up, then looked back down at me. “『Human Male, Repeated Usage Test: Day 30 Results』 How does that sound?” “Stop it, seriously.” *** She didn’t move first. Arms braced on either side, body hovering, she just stared into my eyes. The rhythm of our breathing stretched on strangely long. “Jitae.” “What.” “Your eyes have changed a little since the first time I saw you.” “Is there even a life where you get eye-diagnoses from dream girls.” “It’s true. Before it was completely ‘I don’t know anything.’” She picked up my hands and brought them to her waist. The heat coming from the back of my hands was strangely warm. “Lately… your eyes are the ones that know more.” “Know what.” “What I’m trying to do, how far I can go, where I’ll stop.” She kept talking and let out a soft sigh. “So you can now tell when I’m about to run.” “…I don’t plan to run.” “That makes it even worse.” She said it, then smiled. The end of the smile trembled a little too unstably. “You’re a rare type for our company, you know.” “What do you call me at the company.” “Premium client. And a dangerous one.” “Can we even be called that together?” “By company standards, yes. You pay a lot, you take a lot.” She bit her upper lip. A small fang peeked out. “Honestly, I’m a little scared too.” “A succubus telling a human she’s scared?” “Because I could get eaten in reverse.” She said it, then lowered her face close to mine. The distance between our eyes was absurdly near. “Today you seem more active.” “I wasn’t the only one getting taken before.” “True. At first it was me taking you.” Her eyes half-closed. “At first I was the one eating you.” The second the words left her mouth, she deliberately took a long, slow breath. The friction of air near her ear sounded strangely clear. “Lately I get confused sometimes.” “About what.” “Who’s addicted to whom.” I couldn’t answer. Instead my hand slid a little farther down toward her waist. Her body trembled slightly in response. “See? Even now.” She brought her lips to my ear and whispered. “You know this is a dream now, right.” “I do.” “Even knowing, you keep looking at me.” The words hit my chest strangely. A dream ends when you wake up. But this dream kept looping even after waking. “You searched for lucid dream techniques, didn’t you?” She said it mockingly. “Lucid Dream Beginner’s Guide, Beginner’s Lucid Dream Training Method, How to Stay Awake in a Dream… I read all of them.” “…How did you know that.” “Because I’m inside your head, Jitae. ‘Eating dreams’ isn’t just sucking out feelings.” She tapped her finger against my temple. “If you study too much, we hate it.” “Why.” “Because the dream becomes your will.” She let out a tiny sigh. “It’s already too late though.” *** It really was. Until recently I had always been the one being taken. She came first, laughed first, touched first, ended first. I was just the extra who went along with the flow. But after practicing lucid dreams, the power struggle changed. I started the conversation, started the touching, started refusing to look away first. “So what did the company say?” I asked. “About what.” “You’ve dropped in performance.” She didn’t answer, just stared at my face for a long time. During that expressionless stretch, our breathing sounded awkward. “…A little.” In the end that was all she said. “A lot more than a little.” “Then what did they say.” “From above? ‘Don’t cling too hard to one human.’ She said.” She laughed mockingly. “‘There are plenty of other clients, so diversify your sales.’ That was our team leader.” “Wow, the word ‘sales’ really stings.” “Right? I thought the same.” She nodded. “So lately I’m torn. Should I keep going to the company or switch to freelance.” “Freelance succubus? What’s that.” “Personal shop. Find one fixed client and only work at that house.” You’re basically doing that right now. I swallowed the words. “But there are conditions for that.” She stared at me and said. “That human has to be completely addicted to me.” “…Isn’t half of it already done?” “Half isn’t enough. Completely.” She stressed the word. “It lingers even in daylight, appears when you close your eyes, your body moves on its own without anything.” “That’s… isn’t that just love.” “In our company it’s called addiction.” She said it calmly. “You can call it whatever.” *** At that moment I had a strange thought for just a second. Daytime I still thought of this succubus, waiting for night, believing this dream was more real than reality. “Why the face.” She asked. “I had a slightly dangerous thought just now.” “Can’t help it in this situation.” “True. You know that too.” She said it and suddenly pressed her forehead against mine with a light tap. Just enough to sting. “It hurts.” “That much should leave a mark.” She was smiling, yet there was a strange bitterness mixed into it. “Jitae.” “What now.” “You really can’t fall for me.” “It’s the most out-of-place line in our entire conversation.” “I’m being serious.” She exhaled. “The moment we realize who’s eating whom, we both get disqualified.” The word landed. “Disqualified?” “Yeah. In our company it’s called ‘Succubus Disqualification’.” The second she spoke the word, her eyes dimmed. All the laughter and teasing were gone from her face. “What is it.” “……Being fired from the company.” She answered very shortly. “Seizing night authority. Stripping client access rights. Banning dream entry. In other words…” She trailed off, then gave a light laugh. “You won’t be able to meet me anymore.” It was strange. Demons weren’t supposed to say something like that to humans, yet the voice felt softer than expected. “That’s why tonight I really have to bring in my quota.” She leaned her body down again. Her hair fell beside my face. “Prepare yourself, Kwon Jitae.” “…For what.” “Your name is going to be in today’s report a lot.” The second the words left, the dream started tilting back toward the succubus’s pace. I knew it, yet I let my body go with it. Knowing it was a dream. And vaguely feeling that it might drag us both somewhere. *** Just before the dream ended, she whispered softly into my ear. “Jitae, tonight… I’m taking a lot more.” “How much.” “Enough not to get Succubus Disqualified.” It wasn’t a straightforward answer. The words somehow overlapped with the “hold on until the end of the month” line you hear in reality. I closed my eyes and thought the last thing. — Yeah, I’ve already dropped out in daylight and at night, so maybe the whole point of this relationship is the two of us clinging to each other. And the moment I thought that, the dream went completely dark. *** When I opened my eyes, the ceiling of my old room stared down at me. Mold stains, cracked wallpaper, creaking fluorescent lights. Reality was still a high-school-dropout NEET. The succubus who had been eating me just moments ago was nowhere to be found. Yet somehow the weight from a minute ago still sat heavy in the center of my chest. I stared at the ceiling with a face that couldn’t smile or cry. “……Still, I showed up for work.” Tonight’s overtime was booked again. Clearly.