True Education Specialist
True Education Specialist
The object the Chairwoman brought out.
Winterer and I recoiled the moment we saw it.
Because...
"Are you insane, you perverted Rice Cake!?"
"I’d rather die than wear that!!"
"Hear me out. It may look somewhat...."
"Somewhat, my ass. Anyone can see that’s a dog collar!!"
What she was holding was a dog collar.
Given the circumstances, she clearly intended to put it on Winterer.
Its function did not matter. It looked exactly like a dog collar.
She wanted us to put that on a person and lead her around?
And on a scrawny girl like Winterer?
The journalists would have a field day.
Debating my sexual preferences alone would produce endless views.
"That would be social suicide. Absolutely not...."
"She only needs to wear it inside a Gate. You won’t even have to carry it around outside."
"Go on. I’m listening."
My alarm lasted only a moment.
I regained my composure.
Only awakeners could enter a Gate, and this time it'd probably be limited to Cheonhwa Clan members.
No one would complain if I put a leash on a ticking time bomb.
Nobody would deliberately destroy the reputation of their own people, much less their entire clan.
"This Rice Cake changes his tune the moment it isn’t his problem...."
"......."
Winterer’s glare stung, but my safety came first.
The Chairwoman chuckled.
"Let me explain. I made this around thirty years ago when I was trying to find a way to use villains...."
She began her explanation.
Roughly thirty years earlier, when it became widely accepted that villains could not be rehabilitated.
The Chairwoman had just become Association President and found herself thinking:
There were far too few awakeners.
Could they at least borrow the strength of villains?
"There are far more awakeners now, but manpower was desperately scarce then. To give you an idea...."
"I’m not interested in ancient history. Please get to the point."
"You rotten brat. Anyway, I captured a monster—the creature now known as a Basilisk."
The Chairwoman had brought a monster out of a Gate.
A Basilisk, whose gaze could briefly paralyze an awakener’s mana.
It would be one thing if she had brought out a cute, harmless creature.
Instead, she captured a formidable monster found only in S-rank Gates?
A Basilisk was more than twenty meters long. How had she managed it?
The Chairwoman once again seemed terrifyingly impressive.
"I handed it to Yoo Jeongcheol, the Cheonhwa Clan Head who operated the Cheonhwa Research Institute at the time, and he made this."
Perhaps sensing the awe in my gaze, the Chairwoman chuckled and swung the dog collar.
She added that it had been designed for villains and that the scarcity of material had forced them to make it this shape.
That explanation was reasonable enough.
The scarcity of special materials was why Sia’s equipment exposed so much skin as well.
"So it can paralyze mana like a Basilisk?"
"Exactly. Channel mana through the leash and the wearer’s mana locks up for about three seconds."
I finally understood the Chairwoman’s plan.
After entering the Gate, we would put the collar on Winterer and remove her Mana-Sealing Restraint.
Then clear the Gate as usual.
If Winterer attempted anything, the awakener holding the leash would immediately suppress and restrain her.
That method could control the ticking time bomb.
It was exactly the sort of solution the Chairwoman would devise.
"Suppressing a villain still required an awakener of nearly equal strength, so the item was useless and ended up in storage."
"That won’t matter this time. Cheonhwa has plenty of A-rank awakeners."
"Correct. Now, then...."
Once the long explanation ended, our gazes returned to Winterer.
Her eyes darted desperately from side to side.
"Wait, you Rice Cakes. You’re dressing it up with fancy words, but you want to put a dog collar on me and drag me around. Are you the villains here?"
"......."
"What was it? You think I won’t tell all those Rice Cakes who demanded my release? You think you’ll survive the scandal?"
"......."
"Korea’s strongest villain—the mighty Winterer—wearing a dog collar...."
"......."
"......You really are Rice Cakes."
Sorry, Winterer.
We still had to do what was necessary.
* * *
We decided to test whether the dog collar still worked.
It was thirty years old, after all.
There was no guarantee that it remained functional.
-Whoooosh... pssshhh.
"Hm. Its effect is intact, and the mana requirement matches my expectations."
Winterer raised her mana to full strength.
The Chairwoman watched and intervened at the appropriate moment.
Winterer’s mana dispersed with a deflating hiss.
The device still worked perfectly.
The problem was,
"This is such Rice Cake bullshit...."
-Tremble tremble.
To an observer, this was an adult woman placing a leash on a scrawny girl.
Any human-rights group that saw it would immediately scream bloody murder.
Winterer's expression soured, naturally.
I also found the sight uncomfortable.
Was this really acceptable?
"Haru, you try next. If your sister begins using her power, channel mana into the hand holding the leash. Can you do that?"
"Yeah. Puppy play with Sis. Hehe."
"......."
The scene looked even stranger once Haru held the leash.
Winterer apparently agreed, because she looked toward me.
Hey, Rice Cake. I could tolerate Seol Hayeon, but this was my little sister. Was this really right?
Sorry. This was how things had turned out.
If you were sorry, then stop them. What would you do if Haru learned something strange?
Did she think I could stop those two?
Tch. Useless Rice Cake.
That exchange took place entirely through our expressions.
"All right, Sis. Paw."
"...You Rice Cake. Is that any way to speak to your big sister?"
"Sis is a puppy right now. Hurry."
"......This is such Rice Cake bullshit."
—Plop.
"Good girl."
"Ughk. Grrk."
Winterer’s cheeks grew steadily redder.
The way she ground her teeth made her humiliation obvious.
Surely the Chairwoman had seen enough by now.
-Snatch.
"Haru. That’s enough."
"Ueeeh."
"Yujin, we should test it at least three more times...."
"Chairwoman, stop. We confirmed it works. Anything more would simply be tormenting her."
I quickly intervened.
Winterer was still a person.
We should not damage her dignity any further.
Winterer almost seemed moved by my defense...
"Rice Cake. You."
"No. You should perform the final test."
"My stats are too low. I probably can’t do it...."
"I heard your mana control is exceptional. It may work, so try once."
"......."
She had almost been touched.
Then she saw the leash in my hand, and the feeling shattered.
Her gaze turned murderous.
"I knew it, you perverted Rice Cake. The reason you waited until the end was...!!"
"That’s not it. Haah. Let’s finish quickly. I won’t do anything strange like Haru, so don’t worry."
There was nothing I could do to avoid it.
I could only finish the test as quickly as possible.
Our eyes met.
-Tremble tremble.
"Grrrk... You pervert. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you for this!!"
"......."
Winterer glared as though she wanted me dead.
She was looking slightly upward, with one hand wedged between her thighs.
Her outfit looked almost like underwear.
The leash completed the image.
...The scene looked deeply indecent.
It appeared as though I'd threatened her into some twisted role-play.
That was not my preference.
Winterer was also unusually petite.
Her youthful appearance made it easy to misunderstand her age.
Given when the Awakener Proliferation Plan had occurred, she was unquestionably older than me, but...
the sight still looked terrible.
As a normal person, I felt instinctive revulsion.
"I’m uncomfortable too, so let’s end it quickly. Chairwoman, please intervene if it looks dangerous."
"Mm. Understood."
I quickly gathered mana in my hand.
I wanted to finish the experiment and release Winterer from the humiliation.
And then...
-Whoooosh... fizzle.
"Haah~ This feels like complete Rice Cake bullshit."
"Huh?"
Winterer’s surging mana dispersed easily under my mana.
Exactly as it had under Haru’s and the Chairwoman’s.
My thoughts became tangled.
'I had suppressed her? With these stats? That made no sense.'
Winterer had once been called Korea’s strongest villain.
Wannabe Villain or not, her power could not be dismissed.
Among awakeners, she would rank at the very top of A-rank.
Yet I had suppressed her?
Even with a dog collar made from a Basilisk, it made no sense.
It just didn't add up.
'No... she was deliberately pretending—this bitch!!?'
-Whip.
I realized the truth and examined her again.
The mana flickering over her entire body had disappeared, but...
Winterer’s hand remained wedged between her thighs.
A trace of energy too faint to notice at a glance gathered at her fingertips.
Finally, Winterer’s smile had stiffened slightly.
My intuition as the former S-rank No. 1 screamed a warning.
She had only pretended that her mana was suppressed.
While everyone was confused, she had secretly condensed mana at her fingertips without any of us noticing.
Using that...
Winterer intended to ambush me with it.
-Whip.
"......DIE!!!!!"
Had she noticed my eyes widen?
Winterer immediately thrust her hand at me.
Blue light coated her nails as she aimed for my throat.
I had no choice but to be struck by the unexpected ambush—or so she thought.
-Swish.
"......Huh?"
"......."
'She really was hopelessly uncoordinated.'
There was no chance the attack would hit me.
Winterer suffered from severe physical clumsiness.
I had no reason to stand still for an obvious telegraphed strike.
'And since I felt no killing intent... she had probably only wanted to rebel once.'
She apparently had no intention of actually killing me.
After so many humiliations, she had probably wanted to intimidate me, the easiest target available.
Like, I'm a dangerous person. So don't mess with me.
Her behavior was pure blue chihuahua.
"Wh-why did you dodge, you Rice Cake!? I'm the mighty Winterer, the strongest villain...!! A pathetic weakling like you cannot evade my attack."
A blue chihuahua in need of corrective education.
I silently stepped backward.
I showed no anger at her ambush.
Because...
-Stomp.
"D-don’t run away!! I’ll kill...."
"———Oh? Perfect. You’re both here."
"......!!!!!"
I already knew.
During the bathhouse incident, I had seen how hard the Chairwoman could spank Haru.
There was no reason for me to become angry.
The greatest of all time in corporal punishment would become angry for me.
"Daddy. Sis...."
"There’s nothing we can do, Haru."
Haru clung to me, apparently remembering the earlier incident.
We quietly turned away.
We mourned the coming tragedy in silence.
"Wait. Why are you Rice Cakes acting like...."
-Clank. Rip.
"......!!!!? Wh-why are you stripping me, you perverted Rice Cake!!"
"I believe I warned you that failure meant a hundred spanks. Have you already forgotten?"
"Th-that aside, why are you taking off my top!!"
"I said I'd strip you bare before spanking you. Yujin, turn around and watch as much as you please~."
"If-if-if you turn around, I’ll kill you!! I’ll kill...."
-SMAACK!!!!
"Kyaaaaughk!!!!?"
"That's one. Ninety-nine remain."
"A-at least remove the leash!! Being spanked while wearing this feels too much like Rice Cake bullshit...."
-SMAAAAAACK!!!!!
"Gruuurghk!!!"
"Three more for talking back."
"Th-that’s not fair...."
The sound of punishment echoed through the Chairwoman’s quarters for a long time.
A truly crisp smack— sound.
...The process was too gruesome to recount.
To state only the result of the tragedy:
"Hic... I-I won’t do it again...."
"Good."
Winterer received corrective education.
As expected of the Chairwoman. A true educator and a specialist in corrective education.
* * *
After Winterer’s corrective education ended,
I left the quarters almost immediately.
"Sis... Haru will blow on it for you. Hoo."
"Just put my clothes back on me...."
"No. Clothes hurt super bad right now. Speaking from experience."
Winterer was sprawled across the living-room floor in a state unfit to be seen. I could not remain there.
I fled immediately.
I said I was returning to class and would tell Alice and Sia about the field practicum on the way.
Then I returned to the lecture hall.
I intended to apologize to the two women who'd been dragged into field training because of me...
-Rumble.
"Yujin. Come sit here."
"The three of us need to have a long, serious talk."
"......Huh?"
What was this? The atmosphere demanded an apology before I could even confess what I had done wrong.