The Sea of Silence (3)

"Leave the ones who look strong alive. We need information."

She nodded, and a smile bloomed across her face. I had never seen her look that bright.

Steel rang. Ryu Su-gyeong flicked her blade in a casual arc, and enemies who should have been formidable crumpled where they stood, bleeding out as if they had never been a threat at all.

"I'll help too!"

Flames roared to life across Cheon Yu-ha's body.

"No big attacks. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠We'll lose the evidence."

"Got it. Flame Claw."

A massive claw of fire erupted over the back of her hand, roaring as it took shape.

"Kyaaaaang!"

She howled like a beast and tore through them. Fire burst from every wound she opened.

"Gaaah! Fire!"

"I'm cooking! I'm melting!"

Most of the enemies were marine-type monsters. Water-attribute beasts were usually good at putting fire out — but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the reverse was just as true. Once the flames actually caught, they suffered far worse than ordinary creatures and dropped out of the fight almost immediately.

The battle was over in a blink. I never even got a chance to lift a finger, and nobody on our side was hurt.

We pushed inside and found someone still breathing. A monster with a human head and the body of a crustacean.

"That person..."

Nam Eun-bi stared at the creature, her face stricken.

"What's wrong?"

"I know him. We worked together a few times when I first joined. His name was Jeong Yeong-ok."

"What?"

I stepped up in front of him.

A hush of power slid through my vision as I tore his information apart, piece by piece.

"Jeong Yeong-ok."

"Kh...! Who the hell are you?"

"We're Heroes from the Hero Association. We already know everything — that your Sea of Silence has betrayed humanity and is about to pull something catastrophic."

"Heh heh heh. You're already too late. We've finished most of the preparations. Even if I die here, my soul will dwell in eternal bliss at Lord Pontus's side."

Her pupils blew wide.

"You're out of your mind. Who is Pontus?"

"The Absolute Demon God. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠incarnation of desire that will devour this world. Those who stand with him taste a pleasure that shatters the limits of desire itself. Those who stand against him will find themselves on the opposite side of desire."

There it was. The information I had wanted. The mastermind. The one who had turned people against their own species. All I had to do now was find their location, call in Selectio, and this whole incident would be over. They had no idea Selectio was even hunting them. I could spend the rest of my life in peace, drowning in wine and women.

"Okay. Got it. Where's your headquarters?"

"Heh heh heh. Right here."

"Here? A little shabby for a headquarters, don't you think? Servants of a demon god that's supposed to swallow the world, and you still went down this easy."

"The East Sea. This entire ocean is our headquarters. Even now, hundreds of millions of our brethren have this place surrounded."

"Wow. That's a fun little lie."

"Whether it's a lie or not, you can check for yourself."

I stomped on his head.

"Insolent little shit."

"What do we do now?"

Cheon Yu-ha asked.

"We expose what they've done. There'll be more evidence deeper in."

We descended to a lower floor.

"Please, save us!"

"Over here! They're feeding people to the monsters!"

"The drug! Give me the drug! It makes you so happy!"

An enormous iron cage stood before us, packed wall to wall with people.

"What the hell is this?"

The scene was so grotesque I lost my words.

"Human trafficking? Organ trafficking? No. Worse. They're using people as sacrifices — and as raw material."

A Hero sat down at a desk in front of a computer and started copying files, hands shaking.

"One of the main ingredients in the drugs was human organs."

"The brain, specifically."

"There are politicians involved too. Korea, Japan, Russia, China — they've planted their people in every country connected to these waters."

"How did they never get caught?"

"All I can say is it's impressive. There are twenty more facilities just like this one."

I captured every ledger and research record on my phone as well.

"We'll get you out of there."

The cage door rattled. That was when it happened.

"Glurk! Help... me! Glurk!"

One of the people trapped inside burst apart. Their body tore itself into a merfolk, sharp claws and scales sliding into place, red eyes locking onto the people around them as they slashed wildly.

"Graaaah! Meat! Meat!"

"I think I have a pretty good idea where those merfolk soldiers have been coming from."

Soldiers. Food. Medicine. All of it had been coming out of this place.

"What do we do with them?"

Turning them loose on society would be like scattering thousands of ticking bombs into the streets. For all we knew, the Sea of Silence had planned for exactly that.

"Seonghun."

"Yes?"

"Let's free them from this cycle of suffering."

"Hongyeomrang... do you mean what I think you mean?"

"Let's end it in one stroke. I don't think there's any hope left for them."

Tears welled in her eyes as she said it, her voice thick with grief. Cheon Yu-ha's crimson hair rose and flared as if it had caught fire.

I swept the cage with the Eye of Truth. Every last one of them was already mutating.

"Well. I have a different idea."

"What?"

Hongyeomrang Cheon Yu-ha looked at me with her flame-fox tails and ears already manifested.

"What if I could restore them to their original state?"

"You could? How?"

I grinned and leaned in toward her ear.

"You haven't forgotten, have you? That I'm one of the finest doctors in all of Korea?"

"Haaah♡"

Her flame-fox ears flickered wildly, then snuffed out like a candle.

"M-my ears are sensitive!"

"Ah. I forgot."

Like hell I forgot. I had done it on purpose. I wanted to see that exact face.

I took in the crowd with the Eye of Truth — well over a hundred people — and stepped into the cage.

"Gwararak!"

A human-turned-merfolk lunged at me. Steel flashed at my side. Ryu Su-gyeong's sword moved once, and the creature hit the floor without ever getting the chance to resist.

"Excuse me. I'll be conducting examinations. Anyone in pain, or anyone with severe withdrawal, please come over here."

"The Stigma of Desire. This isn't some simple biological mutation drug. It's higher-dimensional magic that drags the ugliest parts of the soul into the open and turns people into monsters of their own making."

"What? How do you know that?"

The moment I stepped closer to Cheon Yu-ha, she instinctively covered her ears.

"I'm the Golden Cock Director! Don't you dare ignore me!"

"N-no! I wasn't ignoring you... I'm sorry."

I caught one of the women who was farthest gone on the drug and laid her down in front of me.

"I'm going to examine you. Take your clothes off."

I dropped my own pants and pressed myself to her body the way a doctor would a stethoscope.

"Whaaat?! Wh-why?!"

"I'm an Ability User. This is how my treatment works. If you refuse, I'll treat someone else first."

"No! Please look at me first!"

Thank god. I had picked her first because she was the prettiest one.

I examined her with my cock, dragging it from her breasts down across her belly all the way into her pubic hair. Her hair was soft. The precum smeared across my glans mixed with her own juices and soaked those stiff little curls until they went limp and silky, like pasta left too long in the water.

"Hmmm."

The truth was I was just playing with my dick while I waited for the Eye of Truth to finish a more detailed scan of her condition. But in this world, a man's cock carried an anesthetic effect — and it was absolutely essential for keeping a patient calm.

I slipped a finger into her pussy and stirred.

"Haah!"

"How long has it been since you last had sex?"

"Whaat?"

"Please answer seriously. How long has it been since you last had sex?"

"I..."

She dropped her voice, embarrassed.

"I've never had sex. I've been single my whole life."

"What? A face like yours and you've never had sex? What's your name again?"

"Ji Yeong-in."

"Ji Yeong-in. You've really never had sex?"

"Yes."

"Never had sex. So you're a complete virgin."

I couldn't hold back.

There was still time.

"I treat my patients with my cock."

"Whaat?"

"What? You don't want to be treated?"

"N-no. Suddenly I really, really want treatment."

"Heh."

I pushed into Ji Yeong-in in one stroke.

"Haaang♡"

I started thrusting.

I read the information the Eye of Truth had pulled while I fucked her.

"First of all, the more contaminated someone is by the Stigma of Desire, the more unexplained tattoos and wounds appear on their body. That's what happens when the soul's desires claw their way out and take form in living flesh."

"That's amazing. You figured all that out just from putting it in?"

"That's not all. Their eye color changes too. A shift in eye color is the final warning sign — once the irises turn, you can expect a full transformation within the hour."

"That's incredible! How did you figure all of this out?!"

"Heh. Yu-ha, if you come to my hospital later, I'll give you an extra-long examination. Just for you."

"Th-that's embarrassing!"

"Hahaha."

I took my time with Ji Yeong-in's pussy and waited for the Eye of Truth to bring back something more detailed.

"Haaah. Warm, tight, soaking wet pussy. This is it. A virgin's pussy. The thing I love most in this entire world... virgin pussy."

Steel hit the floor.

Su-gyeong noona, who had been standing beside me so quietly she might as well have been invisible, had dropped her sword.

I was certain. She had flinched the instant I said I loved virgin pussy. A Murim master who would not drop her blade even if her head came off did not make mistakes like that.

"Nngh! Noona! What's going on? You dropped your sword?"

Ryu Su-gyeong scooped the blade back up, straightened — and her grip failed again. The sword clattered to the floor a second time. The moment I called her Noona in that filthy voice, her soul looked like it had left her body.

"Uh, uh? Uhhhhh?!"

"What? Noona! Ngh — I think I'm gonna cum."

"Uh... uhhh! Y-yes! N-noona will protect you. Do whatever you wish, Seonghun..."

Oh, fuck.

That face.

Holy shit. That adorable expression could have made a man finish without even being hard. I was already inside someone and I was so turned on my cock felt like it was going to split. She made me want to thrust into something else while I was already thrusting. Su-gyeong noona really was special.

"I'm cumming!"

"Yes! Seonghun! Noona is watching over you."

An enormous pulse of semen poured into Ji Yeong-in. Because Su-gyeong noona was watching — in a manner of speaking — I came even harder than usual.

I turned my head. Su-gyeong noona's eyes were open. She was facing the sound of me having sex with the warm, contented look of someone gazing at a beloved child.

"Noona."

I took Ryu Su-gyeong's hand. It was trembling with a mixture of tension and happiness.

"I... came."

"Nnnngh♡ Seonghun. Haaah♡ You did so well. You came so, so well."

She patted my back in small, devoted strokes. The hand that touched the person she loved shook like a frightened kitten. That was how much every single point of contact with me cost her — a challenge, a leap, something that took real courage.

Five hundred years as a virgin. Yeah. Her tolerance for men was going to be pretty low.

She had been fearless when I was just a client. The moment things turned personal, she wilted on the spot.

"Seonghun did so well. So, so well...♡"

Even so, she never stopped praising me.

A dark stain was spreading through the crotch of Ryu Su-gyeong's snow-white qipao.

"You came so well. If only noona could see, too."

It would not be long now. I had a feeling I would be able to take her soon.

A wall of text crashed across my vision.

Just give me the important parts!

So it was a curse created by the Demon God Marison Pontus, the incarnation of desire. There were several ways to break it. A few of them would not even cost S-Points, and they were listed as simple, clean solutions.

Wait. This method—!

It looked like it had been tailor-made for me. Eye of Truth, you magnificent bastard. You do good work. If this thing were an employee and I were the boss, I would pay it more than myself.

I picked the fastest, most effective treatment on the list.

"A lesser desire is overwritten by a greater one. I like this. Hongyeomrang!"

"Yes?"

"I've figured out the treatment."

"What is it?"

"Look at this."

Several of the evil-god tattoos engraved on Ji Yeong-in's body faded away. The faint curse-color that had stained her eyes vanished completely.

"What just happened?"

"What do you think happened? Even a curse can't do a damn thing once it gets impaled on my cock."

"What?"

Hongyeomrang Cheon Yu-ha stared at my spent, drooping monster of a dick and poked it with her finger, looking genuinely fascinated.

"The one who created this curse is the incarnation of desire. So a greater desire can overwrite his lesser one. Think about it. What's the greatest possible fulfillment of desire a woman can experience?"

"Huh? What is it?"

I grinned at the red climbing through Hongyeomrang's face.

"What do you think it is? Are you seriously asking because you don't know a woman's greatest pleasure?"

"Y-yes. I mean... I don't know about that kind of thing! Why do you keep asking me embarrassing questions?!"

She says she doesn't even know what it is, but she already knows it's embarrassing? Heh heh heh.

Cheon Yu-ha lowered her eyes and pretended not to understand. I leaned in toward her ear while she sat there dripping with shyness.

"Obviously it's panting and gasping while she's stuffed full of cock. For a woman, that's heavenly bliss."

"Heut! Haaaah♡ Y-you can't say such filthy things so close to my ear♡"

Hongyeomrang covered her ears and moaned.

"A woman, you see, reaches the peak of happiness when she's impaled on a man's cock, screaming her head off like a sow in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heat as they make love together. Of course, it's the same for men. And if she's a virgin? She'll never forget it for the rest of her life."

Steel hit the floor again. Beside me, Su-gyeong's soul looked like it had vacated her body as she reached for the sword she had dropped, her hands shaking violently. The innocent reactions of these two women — their faces flushed like kettles about to boil over — only made me harder.