Leisure Time (9)
I sat in the living room, watching the woman who had once been Professor Han Hui-ju. She was alone in the house while Oppa was out early in the morning, claiming he had things to do. I wondered if she even realized what she had become.
The last traces of human intellect, dignity, and pride had vanished long ago from my fellow kin. She clung desperately to my feet, begging for the small blue vial Oppa had left behind.
“How truly pathetic.”
I let out a long sigh and glared down at her with open contempt. Yet she no longer cared about anyone’s gaze.
“…Fine. Since this will be the last time anyway, take as much as you want.”
I opened the glass bottle and poured the blue liquid onto the floor in a steady stream.
Without a shred of shame, she lowered her face to the small puddle and began licking it up like a dog drinking water. If I felt even the slightest pity at the sight, that would be a lie.
Those of our kind who devolve into inferior beings are to be disposed of. The method doesn’t matter. In her case, because her body still looked relatively intact, she had been remade into a slave. She couldn’t foresee what awaited her and simply reveled in this moment’s ecstasy, licking the floor.
This would be the last moment she could think and move of her own free will—the final instant of autonomy she had been born with.
“Shall we begin, then?”
I stretched and spoke loudly, but she paid me no attention, still licking the drug from the floor. Leaving her like that, I slipped out of Lee Chae-yun’s shell.
The moment I left her body, the light faded from her eyes and she collapsed limply onto the bed.
I’ll finish quickly and come back, so just stay like that for a bit.
Having been inside a human body, my vision felt lower than usual. Han Hui-ju’s form, which had seemed similar in size just moments ago, now looked dozens of times larger.
I ignored the massive, liquid-like creature writhing in front of me and crawled toward Han Hui-ju’s ear, where her face was pressed against the floor.
The process of remodeling someone into a slave is slightly more complicated than turning humans into our slaves. A human brain is simple; for someone like me, specialized in brainwashing, it’s easy. But even though the brain of one of our own has degenerated into an inferior state, the fact that one of us is parasitizing it makes the structure far more complex.
In short, turning a human into a slave is like mass-producing them in a factory—simple and straightforward. Remodeling one of our own, however, is more like delicate, meticulous handcrafting.
It’s annoying, but I’m the only one who can do this…
Even without a mouth, I let out a sigh. The moment she lowered her head to lick up the drug, I seized the opportunity and swiftly slipped into her narrow ear canal.
Only then did Hui-ju notice my intrusion. Her body twisted violently as she let out a moan and collapsed onto her side.
I felt her body tremble slightly, but otherwise encountered no major resistance as I reached the brain where my kin was parasitizing.
As expected, the parasite had failed to properly fuse with the human brain. It had simply latched onto it and evolved into a failure that merely sucked up the pleasure chemicals the brain produced.
From here on, I had to move quickly.
The human body was already under considerable strain from having both me and another of our kind inside it. If I dragged things out any longer, the body would have all its nutrients stolen by us, and it would die before any remodeling could take place.
I quickly spread my body wide, enveloping both Han Hui-ju’s brain and the parasite clinging to it.
The method of creating a slave is simple, yet difficult. All I need to do is absorb the defective kin and convert it into my own nutrients. The difficulty lies in the fact that even an underdeveloped parasite will put up fierce resistance. If I’m not careful, I could end up being the one consumed…
…What?
Why? There was no resistance. Or rather, there was resistance, but it felt strangely easy to suppress. It was as if I had grown stronger.
The parasite vanished into me far more easily than expected, along with control of Han Hui-ju’s body.
My vision returned, and memories that were not Lee Chae-yun’s but Han Hui-ju’s began rising within me.
“Ah, aah. It feels strange hearing a different voice.”
I braced my core and sat up, touching my throat lightly as I tested my voice with a quiet murmur.
It wasn’t the voice of Lee Chae-yun that I had used while pretending to be human, but another woman’s voice. My field of vision was also slightly higher than before.
“…And they’re ridiculously big.”
I cupped the breasts that were noticeably larger than my own and gave them a squeeze, feeling a twinge of jealousy.
Right now, I was not in my original body. I was controlling Han Hui-ju’s body. Since I had absorbed the parasite that originally controlled this vessel and made it my own, it was as if I had gained an extra body.
“…So, what should I do with it now?”
The parasite that had been interfering with the remodeling was gone, and I had confirmed the body moved normally. It was time to proceed with the modification as planned.
Oppa’s plan had been to see if I could create a slave from this body that could think and move on its own, like the one I had made for Seo-rin. In truth, that was quite difficult. Seo-rin had been possible because there was an intact brain serving as the core. If I—the one currently acting as the brain in Han Hui-ju’s body—were to leave, this body would become nothing more than a puppet with its strings cut, just like Lee Chae-yun’s body lying on the bed with vacant eyes staring at the ceiling.
So I had mixed Oppa’s plan with my own.
“…Uht♡”
From my main body, which had grown larger after absorbing both the parasite and another human brain, I created a separate fragment that lacked its own ego and sent it out through the ear.
“…And now this…”
I took the finger-sized version of myself and pushed it into Lee Chae-yun’s ear. Seeing the body twitch, it seemed to have succeeded.
“Come on, stand up.”
The other me rose at my command. Since it was a small fragment without independent intelligence, it wouldn’t even be able to move unless I gave it orders.
“It’s my first time splitting like this, but it seems to have worked out better than I expected. Now that the basic framework is in place, I’ll add some flesh to it.”
Using this body to extend tentacles still felt unfamiliar, but I quickly produced one and connected it to the other me inside Lee Chae-yun’s body.
While linked to myself, I used the personality of Han Hui-ju that I had absorbed, along with the personality of the very first human I had consumed—Lee Chae-yun—as a base to craft a new personality. I mixed in Han Hui-ju’s flaws, Lee Chae-yun’s strengths, and various other elements, then implanted this newly created personality into my fragment. I also engraved our species’ fundamental duties and absolute obedience toward us.
The personality I had just created was similar to a new human one, but since it would be placed inside Han Hui-ju’s body, it would naturally lean closer to her original character. Since I didn’t know what kind of person she truly was and had only imagined it based on the information in her memories, even I—the creator—had no idea what kind of being would be born.
Strength gradually returned to Lee Chae-yun’s previously limp eyes, and emotion began to fill her expression.
“…Uh…”
“Ah, it worked. Would you like to say your own name?”
“…Uh.”
What? A failure?
“Mother!”
“Kyaa! You startled me…”
She suddenly sprang up and pulled me into a hug. The new Han Hui-ju seemed to recognize me as her creator and treated that existence as her ‘parent.’ Watching her rub her face against my chest and smile like a child throwing a tantrum left me with a strange feeling.
“Uh, it seems to have worked…! Then shall we switch bodies?”
I couldn’t stay in this body forever. Besides, I was more comfortable in my original Lee Chae-yun form.
“Yes! Mother!”
She answered with pure innocence as the fragment crawled out of Lee Chae-yun’s body. I left Han Hui-ju’s body as well and returned to my original form.
Now that the fragment had entered Han Hui-ju’s body, the newly created slave should be complete…
“Is it done now, Mother? What should we play?”
Looking at her behavior, she didn’t seem like a slave at all. Was it a failure after all? And this noisy, energetic attitude—was it the influence of my own personality? For some reason, the way she spoke in that childish, excited tone reminded me of how I usually acted when talking to Oppa.
…Well, since I based it on both my personality and Han Hui-ju’s, that’s only natural…
“I can tell what Mother is thinking, but I can speak like this too, you know? Hehe…”
She stared at my expression, noticed my displeasure, and instantly shifted from that childlike voice to the elegant tone of a refined lady.
“…I’ll call it a success.”
“Thank you, Mother.♡”
Even her smile and posture were seductive. Was this what they called the composure of an adult woman…?
While I was having this one-sided conversation with the being I had created, I heard the sound of the front door’s lock turning and someone entering.
“I’m home.”
“Welcome back.”
“….♡”
The moment I got up from the bed to greet Oppa as he entered and greeted me, I felt a chill run down my spine from behind. When I turned around—
There stood Hui-ju, smiling sweetly.
“Oh, what? You’re already finished?”
“We’ve met before, but allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Han Hui-ju.♡”
“Your way of speaking really is exactly like Professor Hui-ju.”
“Well, I am a professor. Hehe♡”
…It must be my imagination, right?