I'd Rather Have an S-Rank Gate (1)
I'd Rather Have an S-Rank Gate (1)
In truth, Sia had planned to spend the entire day resting.
She had literally run herself ragged all over Seoul the day before while dismantling the bombs.
On top of that, she'd been forced to carry Alice on her back.
Even Sia, with her S-rank Innate Talent, had been utterly exhausted.
So she had made a firm resolution.
No matter what anyone said, she would not leave her bed.
She would truly do nothing but rest all day.
...At least, that had been the plan until she saw a certain news report.
'I collapsed yesterday without even massaging my calves, so today I'd rest properly... Hm?'
—Freeze.
"Yujin Reveals He Loves One of Yoo Sia, Alice, and Ninomiya......?"
A breaking-news article Reporter Park had churned out in ten minutes, fueled by excitement.
Yujin had feelings for one of the three women around him.
Sia's eyes widened.
'C-could it be me!!!?'
At the same moment, memories flashed through her mind.
He'd said that he showed only me his sincere side, whether he was working out or doing anything else.
I'd even carried Yujin back to the dormitory and done his housework for him.
Wasn't that more than enough for a man to fall for a second-generation chaebol heiress?
And there was more...
When I tried to seduce him, he had even hypnotized me and told me not to do that with anyone except someone I liked.
As if that weren't enough, he had signed with Cheonhwa instead of the United States.
He had treated Dad with all the courtesy of a prospective son-in-law addressing his father-in-law.
'Had he done all of that because he'd fallen for me!?'
—Thump, thump.
Her heart raced at the shocking realization.
It pounded hard enough to hurt, but Sia's expression was far from displeased.
Her face glowed with excitement.
The corners of her lips curled into a grin without her realizing it.
Her head and toes bobbed rhythmically.
The mere thought that Yujin liked her made Sia feel as though she were flying...
'Honestly. Yujin really did have an eye for quality... ah....'
—Fondle. Flat.
'...I heard men liked them big.'
Her blissful daze was short-lived.
Sia swiftly snapped back to reality.
As a bonus, she displayed self-awareness befitting a second-generation chaebol heiress.
'Right. If he liked me, he would have given in when I seduced him. He wasn't impotent, so why would he have held back...?'
—Grind.
'Then which bitch was it?'
The grinding of teeth followed.
It was the sound of a girl in love transforming into an obsessive woman blinded by jealousy.
'That vixen? Or Aika Ninomiya? Both were plausible....'
Once she excluded herself, only two choices remained.
Unfortunately, both had qualities that could make Yujin fall for them.
Alice was his comrade from Pine-Needle Snow. They'd filmed an advertisement together and survived the crisis inside a Gate side by side.
On top of that, she was a white woman, which men supposedly went crazy for.
She had more than enough going for her to attract Yujin.
Aika? They were already living together. What more needed to be said?
Living under the same roof could make feelings bloom even where none had existed.
And, above all...
—Fondle. Flat.
'And both of them were disgustingly huge.'
Their chests towered far above the Korean average.
Exactly the sort of thing idiots who didn't understand that size wasn't everything went wild for.
Sia's expression grew steadily more venomous.
'It didn't particularly matter if Yujin liked one of them... No. It did matter. How could a Korean tolerate this?'
Her thoughts grew just as venomous as her expression.
Alice was British, and Aika was Japanese.
Neither was quite suitable for Yujin, who was virtually guaranteed to become the next S-rank. Obviously.
As a Korean, I had to take responsibility and stop them.
'Not that I liked Yujin or anything. But since the article had already come out, I had no choice, right?'
Besides, the stage had already been set.
What if Yujin confessed to someone else now—to Aika or Alice?
My dignity would be in tatters.
Ah, so even a second-generation chaebol heiress couldn't overcome a physical disadvantage.
Well, one was a Westerner and the other had a figure beyond anything seen in Asia. It couldn't be helped.
You lost, but you fought well, Yoo Sia!
Everyone would act as though Yujin had rejected me.
No. Absolutely not.
At the very least, the public had to believe I had won.
Sia sprang indignantly to her feet.
—Ring. Click.
[Cadet Yoo Sia. What was the matter...?]
"Chairwoman, please issue me a leave pass. Don't ask why. I need it right now."
[.......]
Demanding leave so boldly over the phone was another matter entirely.
The Chairwoman, still groaning from her hangover, clicked her tongue.
"...Tsk. Go on, then."
'Yujin was excellent in every other respect, but he was the greatest fool under heaven when it came to matters like this. Unless he had hypnotized himself into becoming dense, there was no way he'd do something so stupid.'
Still, the Chairwoman had no choice but to grant permission.
Her policy normally forbade leave without a reason, but...
Sia would be a headache if she decided to force the issue.
Her Sixth Sense told her that refusing would cause an uproar.
Most of all, even she—a sixty-year-old with no romantic experience whatsoever—thought Yujin's interview had been too much.
[I won't complain if you smack that Yujin brat across the back a few times.]
"Thank you, Chairwoman."
Leave secured. Success in only twenty seconds.
Sia's fingers immediately flew across her phone.
She wanted to check whether any rivals besides herself were making a move.
'Leave pass, done. Now that vixen and Aika....'
—Peek.
'Good. She was just posting on Outstar, and Aika could not move without losing face. Perfect.'
After checking, she found that neither seemed ready to move immediately.
If she acted now, she could take the lead alone.
A smile spread across Sia's lips.
'He said he'd go to the amusement park with Haru after finishing his business, right?'
—Ring.
[Miss? What is it?]
"Keep your voice down. Where's Yujin right now?"
[I'm driving him to the amusement park.]
"Stall him until I get there. And send a car to the front of the Academy immediately."
[Yes. ...Ahem. Seo Yujin? The traffic seems rather heavy because it's the weekend. I'll take another route.]
Target locked.
All that remained was to change quickly and rush over.
She changed into her usual clothes and ran.
She had to reach Yujin before anyone else.
She reached the amusement park in less than ten minutes.
—Murmur, murmur.
"Good heavens. Wasn't that Yoo Sia from the Cheonhwa Clan?"
"Could she be the one Seo Yujin liked?"
"She came to an amusement park dressed like that? Even if it is an Artifact worth hundreds of millions of won, isn't she embarrassed...?"
Every eye turned toward her when she appeared.
Sia felt a little embarrassed, but she thrust out her chest instead.
A bold smile rested on her lips.
'I was the girlfriend who had come here for a date with Yujin. Clothes like this were perfectly....'
—Hesitate, hesitate.
'Not that this was a date or anything. But I needed the other idiots to see it that way. Yes. It could not be helped.'
Her earlobes still turned bright red, but that could not be helped either.
Thanks to her preparations, Sia met Yujin the moment he arrived.
—Grab.
"......!!!!? S-S-S-Sia...."
She wrapped her whole body around his arm as if deliberately putting on a show for everyone.
Her meager breasts flattened against him.
Yujin was too flustered to finish speaking.
Sia cheered inwardly.
It was unbearably cute that Yujin became so embarrassed merely because her chest touched him.
'Hehe. Just as I thought, he couldn't handle it. How cute.'
"......."
'Dad was embarrassed?'
One person was deeply impressed by the sight.
It was Haru.
"Haru, you said you wanted to see the panda, right? Come with me."
"S-Sia. Could you let go of my arm...?"
"Quiet, idiot. I'm only doing this because you did something stupid, so consider it an honor...."
"......."
Her father's face had turned red from the physical contact.
...Until now, he'd hardly reacted even when I clung tightly to him.
Yet Flatty made him this embarrassed?
Her chest was only one rice cake larger than my sister's at best.
[Hey, doll bitch. Did you know? Men supposedly like women with big tits like yours.]
[Huh? Why is that?]
[Isn't it obvious? You need big tits if you don't want your baby to starve to death. It's a survival instinct.]
[I don't think that's....]
[You shut up. Anyway, doll bitch, draw all those filthy male stares away from me. I don't care if you get dragged off and have anything done to you. Hah.]
'...Did Dad like Flatty?'
Love was the only explanation she could imagine.
Men liked large breasts.
Wasn't that a truth her sister had taught her?
Yet he was that embarrassed by something so flat.
It could only mean that he loved Sia regardless of size.
Haru had accidentally arrived at the truth.
Her large eyes sparkled.
'Flatty as Mom? That might be okay.'
Sia was a rich, impressive person who could even enter the amusement park with the panda for free.
She grumbled but treated Haru well and even bought her chicken—a kind Flatty.
She seemed like a perfectly acceptable candidate for Haru's mother.
'The problem was the baby....'
—Stare.
'Yes. The baby would get hungry and cry and cry.'
The only thing Haru disliked was still Sia's chest.
For Haru, who'd grown up hungry, feeding a baby was an extremely serious matter.
What could come from something that flat seemed nowhere near enough.
Breast size did not actually determine milk production, but in any case.
Haru gave her father, Yujin, one final look and...
'Still, if Dad wanted her....'
—Grab. Squish.
'I could feed the baby instead. Even twins would be easy.'
———She came up with an idea that would have horrified Yujin if he'd heard it.
Her innocent desire to help her father had gone wildly astray because she lacked common sense.
'......? But how did someone make baby food? I squeezed my breasts, but no milk came out.'
—Squish, squish.
'Hmm. Should I ask Dad? I wanted to help, so how could I make it come out?'
Of course, someone could have corrected the misunderstanding instantly by explaining it to her.
Lactation required pregnancy, so it was impossible for her.
And breast size had nothing to do with milk production, so Sia alone would not leave a baby starving.
There was no need to worry.
That alone would have been enough for Haru to say, 'Okay, I was relieved,' and put the matter out of her mind, but...
"Hngh...!!!? S-Sia, stop Haru!!"
"Tsk. Haru, don't you want to see the panda?"
"Ah, the panda!!"
Yujin panicked at Haru's liquid-monster game, and Sia suddenly interrupted in displeasure.
That destroyed the last chance to correct Haru's misunderstanding.
The moment she heard the word panda, nothing else remained in Haru's head.
"I'm going to meet Mr. Panda and say, Nice to meet you!"
—Patter, patter.
Haru ran off with a bright, innocent smile.
'I'd ask my sister later how baby food was made. She knew everything.'
She carried a colossal time bomb inside her.
* * *
The panda Haru had wanted to see so badly
was even more impressive than I'd expected.
"Mr. Panda, nice to meet you."
[Uwooooooh~.]
"......!!! D-Dad. Mr. Panda bowed to me too!!"
"It's a mutant that came from a Gate. Its intelligence increased tremendously, so it can imitate human movements very well."
"Wooow. Flatty's smart! Mr. Panda's smart too!"
The panda was actually a type of monster that had emerged from a Gate.
It was only D-rank in raw strength, but Cheonhwa had captured it themselves because it was nonaggressive and cute.
No wonder Haru had wanted to see it.
The problem was...
—Squish.
'...Why wouldn't she let go of my arm? Sia wasn't normally like this.'
How could I pay attention to a mere panda when my beloved wife was clinging to me?
Without the hypnosis, I would already have gotten hard dozens of times. Seriously.
My burning cheeks showed no sign of cooling.
'I had even hypnotized her last time and told her not to act this way except with someone she liked, so why was she... Could she already like me—'
—Ding.
[The skill 'Complete Hypnosis' activates.]
'...There was no way. Then what was this?'
No matter how hard I thought, I couldn't understand why Sia was acting this way.
Was she trying to preserve her pride by presenting herself as the principal wife among the three?
No. Sia would have snorted and said, 'That pathetic rumor? Cheonhwa could overturn it in a single day.'
She wasn't the type to stake her pride on something like that in the first place.
Was it media manipulation? Did she want to display the relationship between Cheonhwa and me?
That was even less likely. The youngest daughter of a chaebol family had no reason to use her body for that.
'Then why in the world...?'
"Haru, is there somewhere else you want to go next?"
"The haunted house. I'm going to meet Mr. Ghost and say, Nice to meet you."
"Hmm. Perfect timing. Yujin, let's go."
"Uh, okay."
While I was lost in thought, my body moved against my will.
Sia held my arm so tightly that I couldn't protest and had no choice but to let her drag me along.
She did not stop until we were inside the haunted house.
—Step, step.
"Dad, if you get scared, you can hold me. Haru will protect you."
"...Haha. If I get scared, I'll count on you."
'Though Dad had caught real ghosts plenty of times.'
I felt no particular emotion.
A haunted house was child's play compared to a Gate.
As if something like this could scare me.
'I should use the darkness to figure out why she was acting this way....'
"Yujin? Come to think of it, there's something I want to ask."
"Hm? What?"
—Squeeeze. Whisper, whisper.
"———Which bitch is it, Aika or Alice?"
"Heeek."
I took it back.
Haru, Dad was scared. Hold me. No, save me.