Conquest of the Three Mothers and Daughters - Taming Chiharu
"Mage-nim... please... help me...!"
Her final plea, laced with the last shreds of her pride, echoed across the muddy riverbank. In that instant, it was as if all sounds in the world had ceased.
The kappa gripping Chiharu's hair froze mid-motion. Jinwoo hadn't taken a single step. He merely flicked one finger toward the creature, as if bored.
With a pop!, the slimy membrane enveloping the kappa's body burst apart. Then, as if struck by an invisible giant hammer, the monster flew sideways without so much as a scream, crashing into the mud.
Overwhelming power. Chiharu stared blankly at the sight of the being she'd staked everything on failing to even scratch, now rolling like an insect at his mere gesture.
She lay prostrate in the muck, covered in the kappa's blood, mud, and some unidentifiable slime. Her body ached as if torn apart, but sharper still was the crushing sense of absolute defeat weighing on her soul.
Her will, years of honed skill, her resolve to protect her family... all of it was so pathetic and powerless before this vast gap in strength.
Like a young wolf pinned by the alpha's bite to the scruff, she felt an instinctive terror mingled with a strange calm.
I... can't win.
It wasn't mere resignation. It was the primal submission of a female imprinting on a male overwhelmingly superior to her.
Her hatred melted away, replaced by a budding emotion of awe and fear.
Now she understood why Koharu had followed him so blindly. She wasn't weak. She'd instinctively grasped this unassailable hierarchy of power before anyone else.
Jinwoo approached her slowly and looked down at her collapsed beside the shattered remnants of her bow.
"Rise."
At his command, Chiharu staggered to her feet like one entranced. She could no longer meet his gaze, keeping her head bowed.
"It isn't over yet. You must finish your defeat yourself."
He placed a sharp shard of her broken arrow in her hand and pointed to the kappa, still twitching in its death throes.
"Cut its breath short with your own hand."
She hesitated briefly, then understood his intent. This was a mercy kill—and a ritual to slay her former self.
As Jinwoo overlaid his hand on hers, faint mana rose from the arrow tip. Realizing she couldn't even finish it without his power, she drove the shard into the kappa's heart.
As the monster exhaled its last, Jinwoo issued the next order.
"Your wager's tribute. Extract its liver and gall bladder. Offer them to me."
Chiharu didn't waver. Bare-handed, choking back the fishy stench, she sliced open the kappa's belly. Even as slimy entrails and blood coated her hands, her mind felt oddly serene.
For a defeated female to offer the hunt's spoils to the victorious male was only natural.
With trembling hands, she presented the damp, dark-red organs to him reverently on her palms.
The air in the returning taxi was the polar opposite of the outbound trip. Chiharu was filthy with mud and blood from head to toe, yet her eyes were astonishingly calm and serene. The flames of hatred had extinguished entirely, replaced by the obedient gleam of a drenched puppy.
Her mind held only one thought: His side... is the safest place.
Then, without a word, Jinwoo took her hand. Large, warm, infused with irrefutable strength. Chiharu flinched but didn't pull away. Instead, she gripped it back unconsciously.
She felt guilty for soiling his hand with her filth, but she couldn't bear to let go of that warmth. Gazing out the window, she felt she could finally understand Koharu's feelings—and her mother's collapse the night before.
Before such overwhelming power, submission might be the wisest, perhaps even the most comfortable path.
As the taxi turned into their familiar neighborhood, she squeezed his hand lightly and whispered her first words infused with her own will.
"...Tonight, the 'exorcism' and 'purification rite' you promised... I look forward to them."
When the front door opened and Jinwoo and Chiharu entered, time in the living room—feigning evening tranquility—froze solid.
Tatsuhiro's newspaper halted mid-air. Aki nearly dropped her teacups from the kitchen. Koharu, gnawing her nails anxiously on the sofa, shot to her feet.
All eyes locked on Chiharu, who looked like she'd just returned from hell's threshold.
From head to toe, she was caked in mud, dark blood, and revolting unknown slime. Her shoulder clothing was ragged and blood-soaked, her neat ponytail a tangled mess of dirt.
She resembled a horrific accident survivor. But what shocked the three most was her eyes. The sharp, unyielding blaze of hatred was gone, replaced by a vacant resignation laced with an eerie, deep stability—a profound obedience.
"Chiharu! What in the world happened to you?!"
Tatsuhiro shouted first, rushing forward. Instinctively, he wanted to embrace his daughter, but her gruesome state and Jinwoo's shadowy presence halted him. Though not a physical barrier, it evoked the instinctive cowering of prey before an apex predator.
Then Jinwoo spoke, his voice soft yet dominating the entire room.
"Don't be alarmed, Father-in-law. Rejoice, rather."
He gently draped an arm around Chiharu's shoulders. She flinched at the touch but didn't pull away—instead leaning subtly into him. Aki caught the motion and swallowed hard.
"Today, Chiharu hunted another monster targeting your family—together with me. These wounds are proof of her brave fight, badges of honor."
Tatsuhiro and Aki were speechless at his explanation, merely exchanging confused glances. But Chiharu's response exceeded all expectations.
"It would have been impossible without the mage-nim's help."
Head bowed, she spoke softly. Her voice lacked its former thorns, brimming instead with respect and submission.
"Thanks to his praise and care, I returned safely with only these wounds."
She lifted her head, meeting her family's eyes—and Jinwoo's—directly. Her gaze was clear, devoid of hatred.
"And... tonight, as promised, I'll gladly receive my 'exorcism' and 'purification rite'."
Her shocking declaration froze the room solid. Aki paled, Tatsuhiro floundered in confusion. Only Koharu, sensing her sister's change first, gazed at her with joy-tinged jealousy.
Chiharu looked at her father, who fretted in ignorance. Once a mountain of strength to her—a successful man, loving family patriarch, worthy of respect. But today, she'd witnessed true male power.
The overwhelming might to crush a supernatural being like a bug with a gesture, wisdom piercing all veils, cunning to frame her defeat as "honor" before her family and elevate his authority.
Instinctively, she realized: her father was merely a strong male within human society's confines. This man transcended all laws—a true dominator.
The moment her lifelong skills and unbreakable will crumbled to dust at his whim, her world collapsed, birthing a new one. At its pinnacle stood this man. And beneath him, protected in obedience—that was her place. She no longer doubted it.
After his proclamation iced the air, Jinwoo said nothing more. He merely nodded toward the bathroom.
Aki and Koharu instantly understood the silent command. Aki steadied her crumbling heart and approached to support her daughter; Koharu, thrilled by her new role, seized Chiharu's other arm.
The everyday family bathroom now felt like a sacred altar for the impending rite. Jinwoo leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching as overseer. His mere presence filled the steamy enclosure with suffocating tension.
Aki's trembling hands raised the showerhead, wetting Chiharu's hair first. Warm water cascaded through dirt-clumped strands, dark blood staining the tiles. She couldn't bear to look straight at her daughter's wounds.
Stripping the torn clothes and washing her filthy naked form felt like knives to her heart.
Koharu's touches, by contrast, were bold and unhesitant. Wiping her sister's body, she examined each wound with reverent awe, like holy relics.
"Sis... did it hurt?"
Aki's shoulders jerked at Koharu's innocent question. Chiharu merely closed her eyes, accepting their hands in silence.
Aki finally broke, her voice choked with sobs.
"Chiharu... what... what happened? Why... why have you changed like this...?"
It was a mother's final cry. She couldn't comprehend or accept her once-unbreakable, stronger-than-her daughter turning meek as a lamb.
Chiharu slowly opened her eyes. Her wet gaze was bathtub-still, profound and serene. She looked at her mother, then her sister.
"I... saw the truth, Mother."
Her voice was astonishingly calm.
"Everything I believed in... years of honed skills, my unbreakable will... all worthless as dust before true power."
She caressed the gash on her shoulder from the kappa's claws.
"I couldn't beat that monster. When my last pride—my bow—snapped, and it grabbed my hair in the mud... I thought I was dead. Or worse."
Aki bit her lip; Koharu held her breath.
"That's when I realized. The mage-nim's power I hated and resisted... it's our only shield. Father... he's strong, but he can't protect us from things like that. He belongs to the human world."
With her wet hand, she gently took Koharu's.
"Koharu... now I get why you followed him. You were wiser than me. You knew instinctively—who our true Master is, the one who rules and protects us."
Koharu's eyes sparkled with joy. Aki fell silent; Chiharu's words pierced the painful reality she'd ignored.
The bath ended, and Chiharu rose from the tub, clean and unashamed of her nudity. Bowing toward Jinwoo at the threshold, it was submission beyond gratitude.
"Mage-nim... tonight, for the 'exorcism' and 'purification rite' you promised... I'm ready to offer all of myself."
No hesitation tinged her voice. Amid the bathroom steam, the rebellious wolf named Yamashita Chiharu died fully—and a obedient bitch, prepared to serve her new Master, was reborn.