All the Better
"Master... nnh..."
On the floor, Junhyuk was still working his hips.
Inyoung lay pinned beneath him, her breasts jolting with every thrust, and yet she twisted her head to stare up at me on the sofa with nothing but desperate need. She didn't spare a thought for her boyfriend's cock, driving uselessly inside her.
Time to head out.
I rose from the sofa, lifted my right hand, and flicked my fingers.
Snap.
Junhyuk's thrusting and Inyoung's ragged moans stopped dead, as if time itself had frozen. The focus drained from both their eyes at once, leaving them dull and clouded.
I picked up the shirt and pants I'd tossed into a corner of the living room and pulled them on.
Should've had them dress me.
Buttoning up, I spoke to the two of them where they stood locked in place, my voice flat.
"I'm stepping out for a bit. Play nice while I'm gone."
"...Yes, Master."
Inyoung answered in a vacant voice.
Junhyuk couldn't even manage a reply. His jaw just trembled.
I walked to the entryway and slipped on my shoes. Hand on the knob, I glanced back.
Just as I'd suggested, Inyoung had pulled Junhyuk in by the nape and pressed her mouth to his. His arms were wrapped around her waist.
Good. Good.
Creak. Clack.
The front door shut, and the heavy lock echoed down the hall.
A cool breeze pushed in through the gap in the stairwell window.
It was nothing like the air inside, sticky with sweat and the raw smell of semen. I drew a deep breath and headed down the stairs.
S.A.T.O New Seoul Headquarters.
The all-glass tower rose high enough to look down on the buildings around it. No chance of getting lost.
Hell of a place.
Barricades stood across the front of the main gate, and at the checkpoint beside them two guards in body armor waited with rifles slung.
With a public notice already out, I'd expected a crowd. The people coming and going could be counted on one hand.
"ID, please."
One of the guards held out a hand, face blank.
I took my resident ID from my pocket and handed it over. He scanned it on a terminal, then ran a metal detector down my front and back.
Beep.
"You're clear. Analysis Division registration window, right side of the lobby."
"Thank you."
Past the revolving door, cool air-conditioning met a wide marble lobby.
I followed the signs to the Analysis Division window, pulled a slip from the number dispenser, and took one of the Awakened guide pamphlets set out beside it.
I sat in the waiting area and opened the pamphlet. The rank system was laid out in a simple chart.
Official ranks for human Awakened ran from F to SS.
Below that, a separate box cut off by a thick red line caught my eye.
The mark for the beastkin cartels, and for the ones out of the core. I folded the pamphlet and shoved it into my pocket.
I stood and stepped into Booth 1.
A male examiner in a white lab coat sat inside, and a female assistant holding a tablet pointed me to the inner seat from beside the door.
Well now. Those buttons are earning their pay.
"Hello. Have a seat."
The assistant smiled, bright and easy, and the examiner gave a small nod.
"Hello."
I perched on the chair across from them.
The examiner flipped through the paperwork, then looked up.
"All right, Mr. Kim Dohyun. First, please describe your ability."
"I can stop a target for ten seconds."
The answer I'd prepared came out without a hitch.
No reason to volunteer that it's hypnosis. Passing it off as a stasis-type leaves fewer loose ends.
"I see."
He pushed his glasses up, interest showing.
"When you say stop—physical restraint, or a block on consciousness?"
"The body locks up completely. ...Their thoughts seem to stop, too."
"Any limit on range, or on the number of targets?"
"Yes. I have to be fairly close. I'm not sure about the number."
"All right. Does it take everyone, no exceptions?"
"Yes."
I answered at once. I hadn't failed yet.
"And the duration—the same for everyone?"
The examiner's eyes sharpened.
The way he kept digging threw me for a second.
He's prying too hard.
I let the silence sit. Pinning myself to a clean answer and regretting it later was the last thing I wanted.
"...I'm not certain."
"Understood. Then let's confirm that first."
He picked up the intercom on the desk and spoke a few short words into it.
Before long the door opened and a line of men and women filed in. Builds and ages were all over the place, from a young-looking woman to a middle-aged man built like a mountain.
Five of them lined up in front of me.
"Please use your ability on them. They're our agents, so don't hold back."
The examiner said it as he picked up a stopwatch.
A CCTV camera hung in the corner of the ceiling. No snapping my fingers at that. A different signal, then.
"Begin."
He pressed the button.
Beep.
I rose slowly, drawing all five gazes onto me.
"Here we go."
I brought my palms together.
Smack!
The clap cracked through the booth.
"You two wake right now. The rest wake in ten seconds."
I let it out like a whisper.
The examiner's eyes and the assistant's clouded for an instant, then cleared at once. Neither of them seemed to realize they'd just been under.
The agents stood blank, eyes unfocused.
The examiner looked down at the stopwatch and counted.
"Six... seven... eight..."
...Huh?
The eyes of the big man on the far right trembled, faint, and the moment we passed eight seconds they snapped back into focus.
He blinked a few times and looked around.
He broke it?
Beep.
"Ten seconds."
When the stopwatch chimed, life returned to the other four pairs of eyes as well.
The assistant stepped up to them with her tablet.
"How was it? Couldn't move?"
"I just... went blank for a second, I think."
"Same here. I don't remember the middle of it."
She nodded and typed something in fast.
"Thank you. That'll be all."
The five agents left the booth. Once the door shut, the examiner and the assistant put their heads together and started whispering.
I stood with my arms folded, staring at the spot where the big man had been.
I thought no one could break it until I let them go.
He woke two whole seconds early.
There's some condition to this.
"Mr. Kim Dohyun?"
The examiner's voice snapped my head up.
"It feels closer to a pause than a binding. None of them remember anything from the middle."
"..."
Unbothered, he took the assistant's tablet and went on as he looked it over.
"And Agent 5 woke at 8.1 seconds. The sample's too small to say for certain, but the duration seems to vary a little from person to person."
"...I see."
I nodded as if it meant nothing, but a thin sweat had broken along my spine. Good thing I hadn't laid the ability bare.
The examiner leaned back and stroked his chin. He looked like he was turning it over, then brought the stamp on the desk down hard on the paperwork.
"Congratulations. C-rank. You can pick up your registration card at the lobby window."
"Thank you."
I stood and bowed my head.
"Take care~"
The assistant opened the door to see me out. The buttons on her shirt were still earning every bit of it.
C-rank.
Not high enough to stand out. Not low enough to be brushed off. Just right.
I went back to the lobby window, waited a moment, and a clerk held out a card.
NAME:Kim Dohyun
OFFICIAL RANK:C (Stasis-Type)
I ran a finger over the smooth face of the card.
As something to put in another person's hand, nothing beat it.
"Mr. Kim Dohyun, shall I help you apply for the Executive Division Team 3 field-agent posting?"
The clerk asked it pleasantly, eyes on the monitor.
"Yes. Please."
"Fill out the application on this terminal, and once you're done, just get a physical at the infirmary in the back."
I entered my details as directed and submitted the form.
By the time I'd finished the physical and come back out, about thirty minutes had passed.
That was when one side of the lobby started to murmur.
"Oh—Team 3."
"Whoa..."
The people standing scattered around stepped aside as if they'd agreed on it.
Five or six figures in black combat suits were crossing the lobby.
Even as they walked, their footsteps barely sounded.
They looked fresh off a job. Dark red stains had dried stiff across the suits.
At the very front of them—
A woman came on with her eyes fixed straight ahead, paying the stares around her no mind at all.
Straight black hair. Red eyes. A sword at her hip.
That face from TV.
Kang Hayeon.
Prettier in person than on a screen.
Hayeon brushed past me. The smell of iron and a cold draft touched my cheek.
In that instant, those red eyes swept over my face.
Our eyes met.
Did she just look at me?
Hayeon walked on into the lobby without breaking stride.
Watching her back, I thought of the big man who'd broken the hypnosis in eight seconds.
What about her?
Could I hold her for five?
Too much I still don't know to move on a guess.
All the better.
If it were too easy, it wouldn't be any fun.