Taming Chiharu
The air in the room had chilled to an icy stillness. Chiharu huddled on the bed, her face buried in a pillow soaked with tears. Her gaze locked onto the dildo towering on her desk like a monument to depravity—the former emblem of her reason and order now defiled. It was the humiliating portent he had left in her room that morning. Tonight, that thing would violate her body. And its master would claim everything she had.
Despair gnawed at her soul.
Knock, knock.
At that moment, a polite rap echoed through the room—a deliberate approach, unlike the brazen intrusion of that morning. Jinwoo entered without waiting for her reply. His hands were empty, but his mere presence dominated the space.
"You should get up."
He looked down at her sprawled on the bed. Chiharu glared back, her eyes a storm of contempt and terror.
"I'll grant you one final chance."
Jinwoo stood by the window, gazing out as he continued. "One of those things stalking your family has appeared nearby. Hunt it down with that bow and strength you take such pride in."
A flicker of doubt crossed Chiharu's eyes at his words.
"If you win, I swear it. I'll remove every Yinmun seal from you, your mother, and your sister. I'll vanish from your lives, clean as a dream."
Freedom.
That single word reignited the dying ember in Chiharu's heart. Her mother's shattered gaze. Her sister's mad smile. Her oblivious father's face. A chance to undo it all—in one shot. But the offer felt too sweet, like poison. Suspicion crept in: another ploy to toy with her.
"But if you lose..."
He turned slowly, fixing her with a stare devoid of mercy.
"You'll abandon all resistance and submit to my dominion. And tonight, you'll undergo the 'purification rite' your sister described—accepting it all with your body."
It was a devil's wager. Yet it was also her only lifeline. Chiharu rose slowly. Hatred blazed in her eyes once more, sharp with renewed resolve. She couldn't match his magic or mind games. But a physical hunt? That was her domain.
"Fine. I accept your bet."
Her voice no longer dripped with despair. It was cold, honed like a blade.
She slid off the bed and seized her compound bow from the wall without hesitation. The familiar weight and the cool, firm grip seeped from her palm straight to her heart. Her muddled mind cleared in an instant.
For a flash, memories of her archery club days flooded her: the taut strain of the bowstring, the absolute focus as she held her breath and sighted the bullseye, the coach's encouragement, and the erupting cheers when the arrow struck dead center with a satisfying thunk! Back then, her will and effort yielded clear results. It was the sensation this man had stolen from her amid the violation.
Chiharu hesitated no longer. She went to her closet, shedding her loose loungewear for a skin-tight black sports outfit—battle garb optimized solely for the hunt, unhindered by anything extraneous. She inspected each arrow in her quiver: feathers intact, tips sharp. Her movements were mechanical from years of practice, yet laced with grim resolve for her family's fate.
Preparation complete, she was transformed. The tearful girl cowering on the bed had vanished, replaced by a cold predator with prey in sight. She turned to Jinwoo, her voice a black panther's hiss.
"Lead the way. I'll show you your end."
The taxi's backseat was frigid as ice. Familiar scenery blurred past the window, but Chiharu saw nothing. Clutching her bow, she ignored Jinwoo beside her. Hatred boiled within, yet anxiety clenched her heart. What if... I lose? She shook her head to banish the omen.
"Afraid?"
Jinwoo's low voice shattered the silence.
"Don't make me laugh."
Chiharu snapped back. "My strength—the one I trust—is far greater than a fraud like you."
"Is that so? Let's see how far that confidence takes you."
Jinwoo chuckled mockingly, turning to the window. His nonchalance amplified her unease.
They arrived at a deserted riverbank on the city's outskirts. Damp earth and fishy water stung her nose. Jinwoo nodded silently toward the overgrown thicket beyond the bank. Chiharu crept forward, peering through the branches.
And froze.
There, a green-skinned kappa from legend crouched, its back armored in a hard shell. But this was no fairy tale. The kappa straddled a living woman, ripping her clothes, raping her as she lay mute in horror, gnawing her shoulder flesh with its teeth. Wet copulation sounds mingled with the gruesome tear of meat.
"Without me, it would have struck your family in a month."
Jinwoo's cold voice from behind snapped her back. "Now prove it. With your will and your bow—can you protect them from that?"
Chiharu nocked a trembling arrow. Rage and fear pounded her heart. She held her breath, summoning years of honed focus to aim at the kappa's head.
Shwick!
The arrow flew true—but an instant before impact, it struck an invisible mucous membrane and plummeted harmlessly. The kappa finally noticed them, tossing its prey aside with a ghastly grin and turning this way.
"No way...!"
Chiharu fired again in panic, but the result was the same. Recognizing her as a new toy, the kappa charged on all fours with terrifying speed. Yet Chiharu stood firm. Fleeing meant the end.
"Die!"
She loosed arrows wildly at its torso, legs, every chink. Dozens flew, all deflected by the slime shield. At last, her quiver held one final shot. She staked everything on the kappa's famed weak spot: the dish atop its head.
Twang!
The last arrow carried her full will—and pierced the sticky barrier to shatter the dish!
Crash!
The kappa shrieked and staggered. Victory surged through her. But only for a moment. Far from weakening, the dishless kappa flew into feral rage and lunged.
"No!"
She instinctively raised her bow to block, but the overwhelming force snapped it with a crack before her eyes—her sole weapon, her last pride.
The kappa's claw grazed her shoulder, shredding cloth. Her foot sank in mud; she tumbled. It closed in above her. Fetid stench assaulted her. She crawled and thrashed in the muck, but the power gap was insurmountable. Dragged by the heels, she was flung onto the mud.
The kappa's lecherous eyes and filthy hands groped her. As she resisted, its slimy, cold grip seized her ponytail roughly.
"Ngh...!"
Scalp-searing pain yanked her head back. Her neat ponytail became a handle of humiliation in the monster's fist. Pinned in place, she watched its greedy face loom closer.
Rape imminent, her mind flashed to her family: broken mother Aki, corrupted sister Koharu, smiling father Tatsuhiro oblivious. Her strength, her will—powerless to protect. If even she were defiled, it was over.
From despair's abyss, she finally admitted defeat. Tears streaming, she cast aside her last pride and begged the man watching from afar.
"Mage...!"
It was no mere cry. A full declaration of surrender, kneeling to his dominion and power.
"...Please... help me...!"