Episode 1. ...What? Why are all the lights off?
Episode 1. ...What? Why are all the lights off?
"Ian-nim... Ah! A little deeper... Yes, right there! Ah-heuk♥"
Inside a shabby house located in the back alleys of the market in the Roswell Territory.
On top of a creaking, worn-out treatment bed, a woman's sultry groans, accompanied by rough breathing, echoed stickily.
"Haah... Ian-nim... It feels so good...♥"
If someone were to eavesdrop from outside or burst through the door, it was a suggestive situation and atmosphere that ten out of ten people would definitely misunderstand.
However, even in that strange atmosphere, I focused solely on my work with a dry expression.
"Haven't I told you repeatedly? You usually tighten your corset way too much, so everything from your quadratus lumborum to your erector spinae has completely clumped up on purpose, hasn't it?"
"I-Is that so?"
"If you had left it like this just a little longer, it would have been a serious problem."
"Haang...! B-But it hurts so much... Eut! There, it's too tingly there♥!"
"It's originally supposed to feel like you're tearing the clumped fascia apart for it to be effective. Now, take a deep breath. Inhale, and spit it out with a 'hoo'."
As my fingertips dug deep along her spinal line, the woman's waist arched tautly, and a moan burst out.
I let out a short, low sigh.
'Ha... This is exhausting.'
It has already been a month since I possessed the body of this blind healer named 'Ian'.
A month ago, I would never forget that shitty feeling when I first opened my eyes for the rest of my life.
'...What is this? Why are all the lights turned off?'
At first, I thought I had simply returned to my studio apartment after working overtime and fallen asleep.
But no matter how wide I opened my eyes, even when I forced my eyelids open with my fingers, my vision was nothing but pitch-black darkness.
'Fuck, why is it so dark!'
Something was strange.
It wasn't just because of the unfamiliar scent of herbs in the room or the rough, unfamiliar linen fabric touching my body.
Having been trained to read the room in modern society, I realized this wasn't a simple power outage and quickly felt around my body.
".......!!"
The moment I caressed my face with my palms like that, my body stiffened.
It wasn't my face and body.
A high-bridged nose and a distinctly different bone structure...
It was a facial structure close to that of a Westerner.
Moreover, the noise coming from beyond the open window was the deciding blow.
-Did you hear the price of mana stones went up again?
-I heard Princess Silvia-nim's order of knights subjugated an ogre colony yesterday.
It was clearly a bizarre language I was hearing for the first time, not Korean, but my brain was translating it so naturally.
Only then did I have no choice but to accept reality.
That I had definitely possessed someone or moved to another dimension.
'No, fuck... If you're going to make me possess someone, you should at least give me a guy with decent eyesight and a healthy body!'
I rolled around on the bed like a beast, letting out silent screams.
Originally, I was a healthy young man of South Korea with 2.0 vision in both eyes, boasting dynamic visual acuity that could rival a Mongolian.
'But to be trapped in darkness overnight...'
A terrible helplessness where I couldn't even see the shape of my hand waving in front of my eyes.
Fear had surged up my throat.
But.
Is it true that humans are creatures of adaptation?
After a few days of running wild like crazy, I clenched my teeth to survive.
'For now, let's hold on somehow. There must be a reason why I was possessed into this kind of body.'
Fortunately, the occupation of this body was a 'physical therapist', which perfectly matched my occupation before the possession.
Therefore, instead of not being able to see, I pushed my hearing and touch to the limit.
-Did you hear that? I heard Princess Angela-nim is planning a rebellion this time.
-W-What are you talking about! If you talk about that carelessly, you'll really get into big trouble!
With my vision blocked, surprisingly, my other senses became insanely sensitive.
As a result of synthesizing the information gathered through the secret conversations that the nobles who came as customers babbled carelessly in front of me, I was able to be certain of what world I had fallen into.
『Trapped in the Princesses' Secret Sanctuary』
A legendary romance harem fantasy novel where a vigorous, overpowered male protagonist heals the bodies and minds of princesses and ends up conquering even their beds.
'Right, let's say that much is fine. I'm not the male protagonist anyway, nor am I a princess.'
But why am I so anxious?
Because in my memory of reading that novel five times, the name 'Ian' had never been mentioned even once.
Just an Extra A decorating the background of the world.
Since I had no information about the character and had even lost my sight, it was natural to be anxious.
'Of course, there was a story about a blind healer, but I've never heard the name Ian.'
While I was lost in past recollections, the noblewoman, who wiped away the sweat flowing down her spine, muttered in a languid voice.
"Haah... Haah... Ian-nim really has the Hand of God."
"We are all done. From now on, you must wear a corset that is one size larger. Otherwise, I might not be able to treat you with my fingers next time."
"Oh my, how scary. If it's Ian-nim, I would gladly entrust my body to you. Sometimes, those eyes that can't see anything seem to pierce through more things, which actually gives me goosebumps...?"
The noblewoman got up from the bed and began to put on her clothes.
Every time she moved, because I couldn't see, the sound of thin silk underwear brushing against bare skin and the friction of leather pulling the corset strings tight dug vividly into my sensitive ears like ASMR.
The nobles, whose defense mechanisms had collapsed against me, always scattered the rawest sounds and smells in front of me.
'They probably look down on me because I'm blind...'
Soon, the cheerful metallic sound of her placing a heavy pouch of gold coins on the wooden table tickled my ears.
"Then, see you at the next reservation."
Click-
The door closed, and I was left all alone in the old house.
Only then did I relax my tense shoulders and plop down on the chair.
'Haah... I'm exhausted to death.'
Today is exactly the hundredth person.
Holding on by massaging other people's clumped muscles solely to survive in this shitty darkness.
At the sudden rush of self-pity, I washed my dry face with both hands repeatedly.
"Puha—!"
If it were modern society, I would have run to do manual labor, but this is a world in a fantasy novel where even public security is not properly guaranteed.
And it's a market back alley where knife fights happen almost every day.
In a situation where even guys with intact limbs end up rolling on the street in an instant, a blind person who cannot see leaving this city was no different from suicide.
'In the end, to make a living in this world as a blind person, it means I have no choice but to maintain this business for the rest of my life while catering to the whims of the nobles.'
Every day felt like floundering in a dark swamp.
The grim reality of having to grow old and die while massaging the bodies of nobles who might run wild at any moment, trapped like this for life, choked me.
Not being able to see was not simply losing my sight; it was the same as being deprived of the initiative of my life.
'A blind extra living in a dark place hidden behind a brilliant world...'
It was at that very moment when I was pressing the corners of my tired eyes with two fingers while lamenting my fortune.
"........?!"
Suddenly, a terrible pain, as if scraping the optic nerve inside both eyeballs with a sharp awl, swept over me.
I kicked off the chair, fell, and rolled on the floor.
"F-Fuck! My eyes!!"
It felt like my eyeballs were going to burst.
No, the pain was so terrible that I wondered if my brain blood vessels were snapping, and even a scream didn't come out properly.
"Kkeuk, heok...! A-Ah...!!"
As I struggled like a beast, scratching the floor, a clear mechanical sound that seemed to block all the sounds of the world echoed in my ears.
Tring-!
The moment the pain reached its peak, a white light exploded into my vision, which had been pitch-black for a whole month.
And beyond my blurred vision, a blue semi-transparent hologram window floating in the air began to display letters clearly.
[You have achieved 'Savior in the Darkness'!]
[Condition: Complete treatment of 100 patients with vision blocked (100/100)]
[Congratulations on achieving the achievement.]
"Heok... Heok... What is, this..."
Panting heavily, I rubbed the corners of my eyes with trembling hands.
As the focus slowly adjusted, the wooden ceiling, the simple furniture, the money pouch placed on the table, and the cold sweat on my hands began to be clearly 'visible' like a lie.
And then, the system window mercilessly popped up the next message.
[Reward: Eyesight recovery and special skill 'Eye Opening' will be activated.]
[From now on, you will see through the target's condition and the flow of mana in their body.]
"Crazy..."