Chapter 4
**Line 1:** `CHAPTER_TITLE: High-Risk Customer, Re-Contract Hold Notice`
**Line 2 onwards:**
When I woke up, the first thing that came to mind wasn't yesterday's dream content, nor Subin's face. "......Ah, so it's Day 7 now." I muttered, barely lifting my eyelids. Normally, something like 'what should I do today' would come first, but for a jobless NEET, the first thing to flash through my mind upon waking was the start of the Succubus Company evaluation period. That meant I'd completely flipped my life's direction toward the dream world. I stared blankly at the ceiling. Dark stains lingered like splotches in the corner of the ceiling. Between the moist wallpaper, a tiny gap, and the loud cheap fluorescent lights. The same ceiling from the 'real room' I'd summoned as a prank in yesterday's lucid dream. "......Yesterday's that thing, it was actually logged, right." Subin had said. — When viewed from above, the background changed to your house looks heavily logged. — 'Customer's unconscious deep entry.' If that was meant as a compliment, fine, but the reality was a sticky label that said 'No. 1 Recovery Priority High-Risk Customer' attached to it. I pulled the blanket aside and sat up. I rolled my shoulders once, then bent and straightened my waist slightly. Even after yesterday's intense entanglement, my body was fine. "Dreams... really are convenient." No trace remained on my body, but far too many things stayed in my head. Subin's smiling face, the moment her eyes flickered, and the Administrator Succubus's rigid words in the meeting room. — High-Risk Observation Target. — Conditional Hold on Full Contract. — Human Time: 7 Days. "Hah..." I sighed and stepped out into the hallway. *** The kitchen smelled of doenjangjjigae. The morning news blared on the TV. Subway commutes, conglomerates, youth unemployment, those words crawled across the bottom of the screen like subtitles. I sat at the table. Mom set a bowl of rice in front of me and gave me a quick glance. "You were tossing and turning again last night." "I did." "You went to the bathroom at least ten times." "......I don't know what you're talking about." When you move in a dream, the body sometimes reacts in reality too. Maybe I went to drink water or use the bathroom, but I had no memory of it. Mom scooped the broth for a moment, then set the spoon down. "Jitae." "Yeah." "You seem distracted lately." "Distracted?" "Before, you'd just zone out. But now, you really look like you've been somewhere." Her words were oddly precise. Instead of answering, I tore a piece of kimchi and placed it on my rice. "During the day I'm a person, but at night it's like some office worker who goes to work somewhere else. Just no salary." "......If only the salary came through, it'd be perfect." I muttered quietly. Mom took it as a joke and gave a bitter smile. "Even in a dream, if you earn something decent, Mom would be less worried." "It's evaluation period right now in the dream." "What do you mean?" "No. Eat your rice." If I told Mom I was being evaluated by the Administrator Succubus in the dream, she'd immediately suggest I take more psych meds. Even while eating, my mind stayed glued to the number '7'. Today was Day 1. Mistake and immediate separation. Full contract termination. Subin recovery. The rice grains felt stuck in my throat. *** I went back to my room and turned on the laptop. I opened and closed the resume folder. I opened a job site, then just refreshed out of habit. [Application Completed] Next to it, several lines of red text read 'Rejected'. "Rejected in reality, candidates rejected in dreams too." I looked at the monitor and let out a dry laugh. That laugh vanished quickly. I closed the browser and opened a random portal search with no thought. My fingers automatically typed the words. [Lucid Dream Side Effects] [Does Using Lucid Dream Too Much Cause Mental Illness?] [Why Keep Having the Same Nightmare] As I scrolled, the posts I'd read yesterday came back into view. — Excessive use of lucid dreams can blur real-world senses. — If the boundary between dream and reality collapses, sleep disorders and anxiety disorders may worsen. — Repeated dreams of fixating on a specific person warrant psychiatric consultation. "I've already been to the psychiatrist." I muttered toward the monitor. I'd already taken a whole handful of pills. There was no need to remind me of my current state. Still, I kept scrolling. — Using lucid dreams every day to play with my girlfriend, then spilling the tea about ruined real-life relationships. Comments poured below. [But you have a girlfriend...] [Since there's no one in reality, you make one in the dream] [Didn't you make a contract with the succubus? lol] I almost laughed at those comments, but I stopped myself. "......Ah, so it's real." I thought I was the only one, but apparently humans were half-joking, half-serious about 'succubus contract' talk. Of course, people like me with an actual full-time succubus customer didn't exist. Probably. I scrolled for a long time, then one post caught my eye. — The biggest problem with lucid dreams is the moment you start thinking you 'create' the dream. It was short, but that one sentence lingered oddly. 'Mistake.' That's exactly what yesterday's me had done. Changed the background, shook Subin's expression, twisted the flow. — Ah, I can make this scenario. The strange thrill I'd felt then. And right after, the Succubus Company audit. "......Yeah. Starting today, no more of that." I closed the laptop and collapsed onto the bed. *** Until sunset I fought to keep my eyes open on purpose. If I accidentally napped and the dream connected, I'd end up arriving at work early. Instead, I played meaningless videos on my phone. Eat shows, game streams, gossip. At some point the screen blurred. "...No." I forced myself up. I got off the bed, deliberately stepped on the floor, and stood there. "Today I won't practice lucid dreams. No hand-checking. No 'this is a dream'." Saying it out loud made it feel a little more serious. Good. Today I'd just sleep naturally. Just normal dreams. Like a regular customer. ......But that would mean I hadn't made a contract with the succubus in the first place. I turned off the light and lay down. The room quickly darkened. I closed my eyes. 'Today I won't do lucid dreams.' I shouldn't have thought that thought, but it filled my entire head. — Lucid Dream. — 7 Days. — High-Risk. — Subin. As my consciousness slowly sank, the last face left was always the same one. Pink hair. Black horns. prettier when she was slightly serious than when she smiled. "......That's the problem." While I muttered that, the boundary between dream and reality blurred again. *** The moment I opened my eyes, I knew. It was 'that side' again today. The air was different. The weight was different. Even breathing felt different. That the air in the dream felt sharper than reality was evidence that it was already badly broken. Once I fully woke, my vision slowly cleared. The first thing I saw was the edge of a white table. When I lifted my head a little more, there was a long table, chairs around it, flat lights on the ceiling, and meaningless diagrams on the wall. "......Hah, here again today." The meeting room. The same space where I'd first seen the Administrator Succubus yesterday. "You're awake." Subin, sitting with her butt on the edge of the table, said. She was in her work suit today too. Black blouse with a neat neckline, skirt hugging her waist, heels naturally bent along her legs. Much less revealing than her usual lingerie, yet it strangely looked more erotic. "You decided on a concept, huh, only in front of me wearing company clothes." "No, it's really the company outfit." Subin shrugged. "I have a meeting today, that's why." "What meeting." "'High-Risk Customer Management Protocol Day 1'?" It didn't sound like a joke. "Hey. Is that the meeting title or the report title?" "Both." Subin chuckled. That was when I felt the air shift slightly behind me. I turned instinctively. Black hair. Red eyes. White shirt and dark gray jacket. The same Administrator Succubus from yesterday. Her expression hadn't changed a single degree. "Customer status re-verification." she said. "Human 'Jitae', High-Risk Observation Target. Day 1 of 7." Several transparent panels floated in the air. Inside them were rows of numbers and graphs. 'Lucid Dream Intervention Index' 'Succubus Dependency' 'Synchronization Risk' 'Recovery Priority' My name was at the top. "Wow, proper monitoring." "That's the job of the department that monitors." Subin muttered quietly. The Administrator ignored me and gestured like flipping through documents. "Today's notification items re-verified." Her voice was machine-like and steady. "One. The customer's full contract is currently in conditional hold. Two. If the lucid dream intervention index stays below the set threshold for 7 days in human time, the full contract will be maintained. Three. If it exceeds the threshold, immediate separation will be enforced." "Separation means..." "Full contract termination and random connection or connection restriction. Random connection in current state has a 63.4% chance of mental collapse." The same number as yesterday. "No other options?" "None at this time." The Administrator said without hesitation. "Additional notice today." She floated another panel. "During the customer's intervention actions, the following items are considered lucid dream interventions." Lines of items appeared on the panel. — Background change attempts — Light, sound, sense environment adjustments — Succubus appearance change imagination — Induced un-designed emotional responses from the succubus — Flow (scenario) forced modification "......Hey, it's almost like not even breathing is allowed." "'Breathing is allowed' is written." Subin glanced at the panel and said. She added a playful remark, but the tension beneath it wasn't hidden. The Administrator looked straight at me. "Conversely, the following are not considered interventions." — Verbal responses to the succubus's direction up to a certain level — Natural emotional expression (laughter, anger, tears, etc.) — Physical reactions (heart rate increase, breathing changes, etc.) "In simple terms." The Administrator added. "Today it's 'reactions are allowed, direction is forbidden'." "Ah, so I'm the reaction department now?" "Yes. Until yesterday you were co-directing, starting today please comply with the customer role." The tone was robotic, but the content oddly felt unpleasant. I took a breath and asked. "During these 7 days, if I don't intervene even once and behave quietly." The Administrator answered. "The full contract will be maintained. Risk level re-assessment." "And Subin?" "Recovery hold." Just two words. A direct translation would be 'they won't drag her away right now.' I looked at Subin. She was silently staring at me. Her gaze was far more complex than yesterday. The Administrator added last. "End of today's guidance. That's all." She turned as if she had no more words. "Continue business as usual. However, from today onward for 7 days, real-time monitoring will be conducted from above." "Feels like I'm being molested." "This is legal surveillance." The Administrator said bluntly. Then she walked toward the meeting room door. Before opening the door, her silhouette gradually blurred. The door itself, the doorknob, both faded, and disappeared in the light. *** Only me and Subin remained in the meeting room. The lights dimmed slightly. "......Wow." I leaned back deep in the chair and exhaled. "This is seriously fucked up." "I get the swearing." Subin said flatly. "Swearing comes out of my side too." "You too?" "I heard it once more before this meeting." She tapped the table. "'When this customer transitions to uncontrollable high-risk, full-time succubus entity responsibility review'." "Responsibility review...?" "Basically, 'she might get cut'." She smiled bitterly. "I was a succubus who was always serious about overtime. I almost got a red line on my performance review because I met one human." "Hey, it's because of me that your performance review is falling?" "It was already falling?" Subin shrugged. "You know how the background changed to your house yesterday? The team leader sighed three times when she saw it." "Why three times?" "One was 'deep entry', one was 'I hate writing reports', and the last was 'that guy's emotions are mixed in again'." "Is 'that guy' me or you?" "Both." Subin moved to the chair next to me and sat with a thump. Even in company clothes, she crossed her legs casually. That was still very succubus-like. "Anyway, today you must absolutely do nothing." She looked straight at me. "Don't touch the background, don't change the lights, don't change the music, don't imagine my face as someone else." "I wasn't planning to do that anyway." I said seriously. "I tried it once yesterday and learned it's crossing a line." "But you did it once." "I called it an experiment." "You're a researcher with the worst instincts." Subin flicked my forehead with her finger. Then she added in a lower voice. "Still... thank you for not changing it." "Why thank me for something that was supposed to happen." "Because it's not supposed to happen in this world." She said without averting her eyes. "It's really there, on our side. Humans wake up in lucid dreams and daily change succubus faces." "Wow, that's... a bit extreme." "One day celebrity face, next day ex-girlfriend face, next day virtual character face. If it repeats a few times, we get the label in the company." Subin lifted the corner of her mouth. "'Disposable succubus for door-to-door sales'." "......That's seriously extreme." "Yeah. So I'm currently wearing that same label you have." She exhaled once and stood up. "Well then, shall we go to work, Customer?" "What business today?" "Same as always." Subin waved her hand and the meeting room began to blur. "Except—" The floor vanished, the chairs and table melted, and a new room enveloped us. "Today you are absolutely not the director." *** I blinked and I was already lying on the bed. The familiar room. Soft lighting. Music flowing from somewhere. The 'basic room' the Succubus Company had prepared, which I'd always seen in dreams. And above me— "Today I really will do everything myself." Subin was on top. Her clothes weren't the work suit from the meeting room. She had already changed back into her succubus outfit. Lace slip, thigh-high stockings up to the middle of her thighs, choker around her neck. "Jitae." "Yeah." "It's real. Today don't do anything. Just react as I tell you." "......Reactions are allowed, as the audit said earlier." "Yeah, reaction department." Subin chuckled. "For these 7 days, you're a horny reaction-type NPC." "Don't call me NPC, asshole." "Then what? A monster with lots of dialogue?" "Both feel bad." "Then let's compromise with 'main conquest target customer'." Even while tossing out that joke, her fingertips moved more carefully. The path of touching, distance adjustment, direction of gaze. It seemed she had a clear standard in her head: 'Don't cross this line today'. I deliberately did absolutely nothing. The things from the lucid dream post-review— background changes, light shaking, succubus face changes— I forcefully pushed them out of my mind. Instead, I focused only on what was in front of me. Subin's expression, eye movements, the habit of organizing right when her breathing quickened. Watching her, a thought suddenly came to me. 'This person also works as a salaryman while watching the company's eyes.' Night shift employee for the demon world. I was like the VIP customer she was assigned. "Jitae." "Yeah." "Be honest." "About what." "The background you set yesterday was fun, right." The question itself was odd. I hesitated a moment then answered honestly. "...It was fun." I added belatedly, swallowing hard. "I wasn't trying to change you, it was just the first time I felt like 'I can do something'." Subin closed her eyes for a second then opened them. "That's why it's dangerous." She said, lowering her head. "A human who can't do anything in reality, once they can do something in a dream— most of them can't pull away." "Oh, is that said to me." "Yeah. Exactly." She lifted the corner of her mouth. "But honestly, I—" Subin pressed her face against my nape and whispered. "The background you set yesterday, I liked it a little too..." "......Hey." "It's real. There's no rule that a succubus must always be the director." Her breath touched my nape. "But the problem is our side's rules." She whispered. "If we start trusting too much, above will judge 'this customer contracted with lucid dream, not the succubus'." "So that's why Succubus Disqualification." "Exactly." That word hit my ear again. "So today, you must never flip the board even once." "Got it." I wanted to keep that promise sincerely. I didn't want to see Subin disqualified. I didn't know exactly why it felt so bad. *** I wasn't sure how much time had passed. In dreams, time always feels different from reality. Minutes feel like hours, hours like seconds. The only clear thing was that I hadn't twisted the flow from my side today. Even if Subin got too close, even if my body reacted first, my mind kept repeating one sentence. — Can't intervene. — 7 Days. — Today is Day 1. "Hah..." At some point Subin exhaled long. She loosened the tension in her body slightly, rolled over, and lay beside me. The lighting stayed the same. Background, bed, music. Nothing changed. "Let's stop here today." "Already?" "Already what. You haven't felt it yet, it's been quite a while." Subin put her hand on her forehead. "......Harder than I thought, this." "What?" "Controlling while holding all the direction, just watching your reactions." She muttered while looking at the ceiling. "Normally, if you get flustered, I get flustered with you, if you start setting the board, I add a spoonful more. That's the most fun structure." "You have to do everything alone today?" "Yeah. Feels like a succubus play where I play alone." I chuckled. "Still didn't cross today's line, right?" "Probably?" She turned her body and looked at me. "Didn't change the background. Didn't touch the lights. Didn't change my face. Followed the flow exactly as I made it." "Yeah." "Then today should be fine." Subin said, lightly closing and opening her eyes. "If I do the same tomorrow, Day 2 will pass." "Then if I fill all 7 days, we go back to normal?" "In principle." "In principle?" "Yeah. In reality too. Just passing the re-contract review doesn't mean you'll be fully respected like before." That hit a little. Listening as a unemployed person, it felt like a more painful metaphor. "Still better than complete cut-off." I said. "Yeah. You're right." Subin stared at me for a moment then smiled very small. "As you said, failing by night is a bit over the line." That felt like she was echoing what I'd said yesterday. — My life is already disqualified. — But failing by night would be over the line too. My joke from back then felt strangely serious today. *** The dream started to blur slightly. The lights dimmed, the music faded, Subin's face slightly blurred. Right before it completely disappeared, she brought her face close to my ear and whispered. "Jitae." "Yeah." "Today... you held it well." "Is that a compliment?" "Yeah. Compliment." Subin smiled slightly. "So tomorrow, hold it just a little more." Before I could answer, the dream cut off with a thud. *** I woke up. It was the ceiling. This time my breathing wasn't as heavy. Less sweat, body not as strained. Instead, my heart beat strangely fast. I kicked the blanket aside and sat up, then checked my hand back out of habit. "......This is a dream." I muttered, then burst out laughing. "No. Not now." It was reality now. Endure today, go back to work at night. I took out a small note from the desk, picked up a pen, and roughly wrote. [7-Day Limit Plan] 1. Reduce lucid dream searches during the day 2. Reduce hand checks to 0 if possible 3. Before sleeping at night, ban 'this is a dream' 4. In dreams, only reactions, no direction 5. Ban imagining Subin's face as someone else (this is really banned) Next to the last line, I drew an extra small arrow. → I don't really want to change it Anyway, even I thought it was a bit stupid. A NEET setting up a dream management plan. Still, this was the only thing I could do to fight in this life by my own will. I stuck the note on the wall. "......Good. 7 Days." Today was Day 1. Succubus Company audit, High-Risk Customer, conditional full contract hold. And my resistance to prevent Subin's disqualification according to my rules. "Better get ready for work." I muttered that and forced the first day of reality to begin. Toward the insanely long, boring daytime leading to night.