The Sweet Taste of Lies!
Jin Eunbyeol opened her eyes and stared at her own body, now entangled with cold mechanical devices. For starters, she had no sensation below the waist.
“Uuuu…”
Tears spilled down her cheeks. All she had done was touch the antique box her father gave her as a birthday present. From that moment, it felt as if she had been shoved into the passenger seat while someone else seized the steering wheel and took control of her life.
Soon Jin Eunbyeol realized there was someone standing beyond the transparent acrylic wall.
“...Wang Jayeon?”
At her cracked voice, the male student pressed his face close to the transparent window. It was Wang Jayeon.
While the wheel had been stolen from her, Jin Eunbyeol could do nothing of her own will. Yet her affection for Wang Jayeon had been genuinely sincere. That was exactly the problem.
Jin Eunbyeol, bearer of the Prophecy concept, knew all too well why Wang Jayeon had come.
“...D-don’t…”
“You already know what I’m about to say, don’t you? Let’s break up.”
“Why… why…”
“They say you’ll never walk again. Why should I have to look after a girl like that? And when I remember the crushing sense of defeat and humiliation I suffered because of you against Ha Namjin—”
Wang Jayeon spat out those brutally cold words and spun on his heel. No matter how much time passed, he never returned, and Jin Eunbyeol could only shed dry, tearless sobs.
Step. Step. Step.
Some time later, the sound of a man’s footsteps echoed again. Had Wang Jayeon come back? No. It was someone else.
“You really got wrecked, huh? Well, you were always the weakest among us. Kkuk kuk kuk—. I’ve been dying to say that line, and thanks to you I finally got the chance.”
The man pressed his face against the acrylic panel of the special hospital room where Jin Eunbyeol lay. She flinched at his eyes—entirely scarlet, with no visible whites.
“Y-you…”
“Eunbyeol, long time no see. What’s with that face? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“H-how… are you… You should be… deeeaaad…”
“No time for chit-chat, so I’ll get to the point. Do you know where Seo Gaeul is? I have a debt to collect from her. A very large debt. An extremely—”
“……”
Jin Eunbyeol clamped her mouth shut. The man narrowed his blood-red eyes and chuckled, “Heh heh heh—”
“Playing hard to get, are we?”
Crash!
The reinforced glass shattered. The man’s hand plunged toward Jin Eunbyeol’s bandaged chest.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. I have zero interest in your flat chest. What people nowadays call concept stones aren’t actually exclusive to monsters.”
Crack. Crunch.
“Guh… guuuuh…”
Something unbearably cold and chilling pierced her bones and seized her heart. As the icy hand of death made Jin Eunbyeol weep helplessly—
“Is anyone there?”
Click.
The lights in the special detention center flickered on, revealing a figure. The man who had just tried to kill her had vanished without a trace, leaving Jin Eunbyeol utterly confused.
Her chest, which should have been impaled, was completely unharmed.
‘Dream? Reality?’
It didn’t feel like a dream at all. The proof was the lingering icy touch that still clung to her chest like frost.
After all, the government itself would lose all meaning in less than a year. Everyone was getting worked up over pointless nonsense.
“Don’t they have any fun variety shows?”
━Ing-ing-ya-ing.
“You say it comes on after a few clicks?”
━Kyu-ing.
It was the first day of my suspension. I was savoring sweet, honey-like free time at home. After running around like a madman for the past few days, taking one day off was perfectly reasonable, wasn’t it?
Plus, my Leap and Emotion concepts had both leveled up during the fight with Jin Eunbyeol, so it was time to celebrate! Both had reached Grade 3.
As far as I knew, a Grade 3 concept went beyond simply affecting the user. It overflowed from the vessel and could influence others, like water spilling from a full cup and soaking the floor. The USB I threw that shot forward with a burst of Leap and pierced the Devil’s chest was a perfect example.
Emotion at Level 3 was incredibly useful too. I could now see things that had been invisible before.
Name:Cotton Candy Cloud Ing-ing
Possessed Concepts:Expand to view details ☜
《???》 — Your Emotion level is too low to view this.
《Cloud Lv.1》 — Fluffy like clouds floating in the sky.
《Rock Lv.1》 — Can harden like a roadside pebble.
《Leaf Lv.1》 — Can sprout like new grass in a lawn.
《Sand Lv.1》 — Can scatter like beach sand.
Status:《Extremely Hungry》 — Ing-ing-ya-ing
“Ing-ing, you crazy bastard! You’ve got a ridiculous number of concepts!”
━Grrrr…!
All of them were concepts the little slime had absorbed on its own. It looked like a cotton candy cloud but had the appetite of a black hole!
“You’re hungry again? You ate less than an hour ago!”
━Ing.
“Actually, same here. Let’s go all out and feast today!”
After an extravagant convenience-store shopping spree, a question suddenly popped into my head on the way back.
“By the way, why is your full name ‘Cotton Candy Cloud Ing-ing’? Wasn’t your name just ‘Ing-ing’?”
━Ing-ing-ya-ing.
“Seo Gaeul added it?”
That woman had arbitrarily given my emergency food supply an extra name. Was this some kind of joint custody arrangement?
“I really should go check on Seo Gaeul and Yu Yeoleum.”
I hadn’t visited them for roughly three days. When I imagined what might have happened to the two women I’d locked inside the Princess’s Room during that time, even I—who felt no fear even in front of the Devil—couldn’t help but feel tense.
But first, snack time!
Kimchi ramen bowl, string cheese, and chicken drumsticks from the convenience store!
Slurp, slurp—.
Chomp, chomp—.
“Kyaa, this is the life!”
━Kyu-ing.
These were delicacies you could never enjoy in a ruined world. TV, working electricity, washing machines, fans—I had to enjoy them all while I still could. In other words, I was living on limited-time happiness.
“For the next few months, at least!”
Time to go see Seo Gaeul and Yu Yeoleum.
I headed back to school. The guard uncle in charge of Dae-migung access spotted me and greeted me warmly.
“Namjin, aren’t you suspended?”
“If you rest for one day, you have to train for ten to get your edge back.”
“True enough. Still, letting a suspended student inside might get me in trouble… What to do… Ah, just don’t get caught by anyone else!”
This was why you had to build up good karma with your usual behavior. Thanks to the flexible guard uncle, I slipped into Dae-migung without much difficulty.
“The layout changed a bit in just a few days?”
Dae-migung was, as its name suggested, a labyrinthine structure where it was easy to lose your way. Its layout and terrain shifted at irregular intervals, making research and exploration difficult.
【This way to the Princess’s Room…!】
Of course, I had the Emotion concept, so reaching the room where I’d imprisoned Seo Gaeul and Yu Yeoleum was no problem.
Slide—.
The moment the door opened, Seo Gaeul’s eyes widened like full moons from where she lay on the bed.
“You fucking son of a bitch!”
Aww, music to my ears. She must have been starving for days, yet she still had the energy to curse. What about Yu Yeoleum?
Yu Yeoleum was clinging to the wall, openly wary of me.
“Don’t come near me.”
Her modest demeanor was quite charming. I’ve always liked well-behaved girls like that.
Boing—.
Right then, Ing-ing popped out of my bag and latched onto Yu Yeoleum like a cicada onto a dead tree!
━Kyu-ing.
“M-monster! Get off!”
Yu Yeoleum flailed in panic. Ziiiing—.
A laser shot from her eyes.
“What?”
I was genuinely surprised. How had she charged up light in this pitch-black room? It seemed the glowing stones embedded in the ceiling had acted as a light source.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—after firing the laser, Yu Yeoleum wobbled like a mosquito that had been sprayed with bug killer and collapsed with a thud.
“Ing-ing, come here. She doesn’t like monsters.”
Swish—.
I peeled Ing-ing off Yu Yeoleum’s body. Then I took out the snacks and drinks I’d brought in my bag and spread them across the floor.
“Huk! Food! Give it here!”
Seo Gaeul, who had been grumbling, lunged forward. Yu Yeoleum snatched a strawberry milk and sucked on the straw greedily.
# # #
After their simple meal, once they had regained some composure, Seo Gaeul asked me,
“What took you so long?”
“I fought Jin Eunbyeol. If I could upload this to MeTube, it would easily break ten million views. Watch it.”
I showed them the video saved on my phone. It was a nicely edited clip of my battle against Main Jin Eunbyeol.
“Jin Eunbyeol was a monster like this…? I always thought something was off about her, but a Main…?”
“A Main, huh…”
Both Yu Yeoleum and Seo Gaeul stared intently at the monster on the screen. Occasionally they glanced at each other, and I sensed a very suspicious current between them. Like they were sharing a secret I didn’t know about?
“Did anything happen while I was gone?”
During the three days I had been absent, I had assumed Yu Yeoleum and Seo Gaeul would have fought like cats and dogs. Yet their relationship didn’t seem nearly as bad as I expected. When I asked if something had happened, both girls shook their heads.
Nothing happened?
“You’re lying.”
Sniff sniff—.
I leaned in and smelled Yu Yeoleum. A sweet scent. The smell of lies.
“D-don’t come closer.”
When I took one step toward her, Yu Yeoleum took one step back. But she quickly hit the wall and found herself cornered. I pounced on her immediately.
“Come here!”
“Ah! I said don’t—!!!”
Yu Yeoleum let out a sharp scream like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. It was the first time I’d ever heard her make such a loud noise, but I had already grabbed her and licked the nape of her neck.
Lick.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeek!!!”
“Whoa! This taste—”
An intensely sweet flavor exploded across my tongue. Candy! Yes, it was candy!
Why did Yu Yeoleum taste like candy?!
Name:Yu Yeoleum
Possessed Concepts:Expand to view details ☜
《Light Lv.4》 — Can shine like a supernova facing death.
《Photosynthesis Lv.2》 — Possesses photosynthesis ability like a withered tree.
《Chastity Lv.2》 — Is modest and chaste like a princess from a story.
《X-ray Lv.2》 — Can see through targets like a precision medical scanner.
《Candy Lv.2》 — Is sweet like a first love during puberty.
Status:《Extreme Humiliation》 — Wants to bite her tongue and die. However, she vows to exact thorough revenge before she does.
Whoa? There’s a concept I’ve never seen before. Candy, no less!
It might not be on the level of ketchup, but candy was still an incredibly valuable future resource. That was why Candy Maker Choi Changsik was a VIP even more important than the president!
But how on earth did she acquire the Candy concept? I was dying to know what had happened during the three days I was gone. She probably wouldn’t tell me easily, though.
Swish—.
I pulled out the Whip of Love.
“Since all of you lied to me, it’s time for your punishment, isn’t it?”
Fear flashed in Seo Gaeul’s eyes. Only for a moment—
“Yu Yeoleum! Now! Do it now!”
At Seo Gaeul’s shout, Yu Yeoleum grabbed me from behind. A revolt? I had expected it to happen eventually, but today of all days?
Squeeze—!
I thought I could shake her off easily, but the soft, squishy sensation pressing against my back was so unfamiliar and seductive that it stole my focus for a second.
Squish, squish—.
“Gaaah! What the hell is this attack?! My body’s heating up!”
Seizing the opening, Seo Gaeul stepped in front of me and began stretching. Mostly her ankles.
“Gaeul, I thought we had become lovers who truly cared for each other.”
“Fuck off! No, I’ll be the one to fuck you up! Haaah—!!!!”
Swish—!
I leaped powerfully into the air right before her kick could land. Thanks to that, Seo Gaeul’s kick struck Yu Yeoleum’s groin instead.
Thud—!
“...Ughhh…!”
Yu Yeoleum slowly crumpled forward. What a mess!
“Did you two seriously think you could defeat me—a Grade 3 Awakened—with your clumsy teamwork and lack of real combat experience? As punishment for your defeat, Seo Gaeul, you get the tickle torture!”
From what I’d heard from Baek Yeoul, Seo Gaeul was supposedly weak to tickling. Judging by how her face turned ash-gray, it must have been true.
“I-I surrender!”
“Surrenders are only accepted after fifteen minutes.”
Swish—.
I reached toward Seo Gaeul’s side. She spasmed like a fox hit by an arrow.
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk, okay?! There was a monster!”
“...Hey! Seo Gaeul…!”
Yu Yeoleum, clutching her groin while sprawled on the floor, shouted. But Seo Gaeul had already cracked and spilled everything.
“There was something in this labyrinth that looked just like the monster you showed us on your phone! According to Yu Yeoleum, its eyes were a deep, vivid red!”
If it resembled Jin Eunbyeol, was it also a Main? A Main with completely blood-red eyes. So something like that was roaming around Dae-migung.
It would be wise to investigate, just in case.
“Since you told the truth, you deserve a reward, right? It’s tickle time!”
“Ha Namjin you son of a biiiiiiiiitch!!!!!!”
“However, if Seo Gaeul can endure my tickling for fifteen minutes, I’ll grant each of you one wish. Anything except asking to be released.”
For a moment, the flow of air in the room completely changed.