Date
For the past month, I'd spent more than half my time living inside Gates.
Mostly the Orc Gate, though I'd ducked into the Ogre Gate a couple of times. It was all for the new drug. With the succubus gone, we could harvest ogre brains without any trouble, and we'd taken another solid step toward a preventive and therapeutic medicine for dementia.
A full month of slaughtering orcs had yielded results of its own. The biggest one was realizing that lust and swordsmanship simply did not mix. Common sense, really—trying to keep an erection while trading blows was absurd. You needed every scrap of focus just to dodge the blades flying at your head; let your mind wander and you were dead. Feeling pure battle-lust might have been a different story, but I was no battle maniac.
The Imperial Guard swordsmanship laced with sexual desire—better known as Lust Blade—had to be treated like a finishing move. Two seconds to stoke the lust, another two to fire the sword aura: four full seconds. In real combat that was useless. Magic, on the other hand, paired with lust like a dream. Even during pre-Gate training I'd felt it, but in actual fights it was even better. Raise the lust and cast, and mana gathered faster and thicker, almost as if it were eager to obey. With front-liners buying time, I could put out real damage.
Thanks to that, Suyeon had started practicing the front line herself now and then—holding orcs in place with telekinesis. Her tanking wasn't bad; she could freeze three orcs at once. That already put her above a half-baked C-class Keeper. Telekinesis really was ridiculous. Almost broken, honestly. I was growing fast myself—magic, swordsmanship, lust—but sometimes it still felt like I was losing to that single power.
And today—just now, in fact—the real fruit of all that training finally dropped.
"Did you see that, Keira? You saw it just now, right?"
"Yeah, I saw it. It's done."
"Hell yeah! We did it! We finally did it!"
I'd just launched one of the lowest-tier white magics—Fire Arrow—straight at the orc Elena was holding. One second to raise the lust, one second to finish the spell. Cutting the cast time in half wasn't even the whole story. The arrow punched clean through the orc's skull, accuracy and power both far beyond a normal Fire Arrow.
"Congratulations, Jungmin. You really worked hard."
"You had it worse, Elena. Breathing orc breath every single day."
From the middle of training onward we'd split up the way we had last time. Suyeon and I already had our coordination down, so we started using live orcs as test dummies for new techniques and to grind proficiency on the old ones. Garam or Elena would pin an orc; Suyeon and I would fire off experimental skills or spam the ones we already knew.
"I'm fine. You had it harder—mana, magic power, and... down there..."
Elena's gaze flicked to my cock. Her face colored a little. After everything we'd done together she still got shy so easily. In the middle of the act she was fearless, but before and after she could barely meet my eyes.
"Don't worry about it, Elena. Jungmin's cock only gets harder the more he uses it. Just think about going outside and enjoying yourselves."
"What kind of thing are you saying in broad daylight?!"
"So what? It's true."
"No—I'm suffering too, okay?"
All that lust-channeling—erection, soft, erection, soft—had left my cock aching constantly these days. Even without the training it would have been sore; four or five climaxes a day for nearly a solid week will do that.
"...So... you need treatment again?"
"Of course I do! Without you, Elena, I don't even know what would've happened."
The only reason my cock could survive this kind of abuse was Elena. A holy knight—specifically a holy knight of love and compassion—had a side effect built into her sacred magic: outstanding healing and reinforcement for the genitals. I was pretty sure it boosted stamina too. Without her, could I have kept this harem running? Absolutely not. I'd have collapsed trying to keep up with their appetites, or they'd have started fighting each other over unsatisfied lust.
"...Ahem. Then..."
Clank, clank. Elena suddenly started stripping off her armor. Even the thick padded underlayer couldn't hide the way her breasts bounced free. She was about to peel that off too when I stopped her.
"Hold on. We're not doing it right now. We're leaving, so we'll do it outside!"
"Ah... I did it again..."
Elena hurriedly put the armor back on. Even while blushing she still had these sudden surges pretty often. She never used to be like that—Keira's influence, maybe?
"It's fine, Elena. I always want you too. Still, we should keep work and play a little more separate. Keira's right here."
"I don't mind. We did it last time, didn't we?"
"That was an emergency!"
I'd received Elena's treatment inside a Gate once before. My cock had been burning so badly I hadn't had a choice. The problem was the method itself: she didn't just cast magic. To boost the healing she combined it with a titjob and a blowjob. I loved every second, but it wasn't something you did in front of an audience. That time had been a crisis, so we'd done it even with Keira standing right there—but normally both of us preferred privacy.
Wait... was that still true?
"...I'll be more careful from now on. So are we leaving the Gate now?"
"We are."
I'd gotten the lust-boosted Fire Arrow under two seconds. Training goal achieved. After a full month of nonstop grinding, it was time for a break.
"Finally getting out of here."
"You worked hard too, Keira. Without your teaching I never would've raised my magic proficiency this fast."
"You're still nowhere near good enough."
"I know. I'll need a lot more help. So this time I'll play however you want. Let's go on a date."
Keira's mysterious eyes fixed on me. Nothing seemed to change on the surface, but by now I could read the quiet question in them.
"A date...? The bed's enough for me."
I'd expected that. I also knew it wasn't the whole truth.
"We're going to Shinyongsan."
"Shinyongsan?!"
Her eyes went round exactly the way she'd said. Outside of sex, that kind of reaction from her was rare—which meant she was genuinely happy.
"...Have a good time."
And the happier Keira looked, the more Elena's expression dimmed just a little.
"Your turn's next, Elena. I'll take you somewhere great!"
"...Okay!"
Only then did Elena manage a brighter smile. I could have made it brighter still, but that would have left Keira looking glum instead. For now I had to settle for this. Elena would understand. Timing mattered with these things. Her head got it; her heart just ached a little.
Hah... harems were hard work. But I wasn't giving up. Even if my body had to split into three, this was the dream.
Yongsan was home to Korea's largest electronics market. The internet boom, the rise of online shopping, and the merchants' own aggressive hawking and price-gouging had nearly killed the place. Half of it had actually gone under. Overall sales were nowhere near their glory days. The half that survived owed its life to the new crowd that had gathered in Shinyongsan.
Shinyongsan Artisan Street. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that every Keeper in Korea with crafting skills had congregated here. Once the crafters arrived, equipment companies desperate to collaborate poured in after them, followed by the distributors who supplied the raw materials. Where people gathered, every major food franchise naturally opened a branch. Just like that, Shinyongsan became the mecca of Keeper gear. The spillover was big enough to revive the dying electronics market; throngs of people came for equipment, for tourism, and above all to catch a glimpse of Ttanttani.
The crafters had started clustering here because of the crew based in Shinyongsan—the simply named Shinyongsan Crew. Its leader was the famous Kim Mujin, owner of the Gate that produced Earth's finest metal: Ttanttani. Halfway down Artisan Street stood a sculpture made of the stuff, the only place ordinary people could ever see real Ttanttani with their own eyes. A solid one-kilogram chunk the size of a forearm, estimated value around ten billion won—roughly ten times the price of mithril. Not that the price tag meant anything. Money alone couldn't buy it.
"So that's Ttanttani."
Keira peered through a pair of binoculars. I raised my own and studied the sculpture of Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, forged from the metal. Even from a distance it looked magnificent. The street itself was packed solid with people who'd come just to see Ttanttani; trying to get close was impossible. Years ago I'd been dumb enough to shove through that crowd for a better look. I had zero desire to do it again with Keira beside me. If she'd been wearing her perception-blocking robe I might have considered it, but today the robe was off.
Instead she wore a white off-shoulder blouse that left her collarbones bare and a navy skirt. The mysterious blue hair suited the outfit perfectly. Heels, and makeup she almost never bothered with. No need to say it out loud: today Keira was devastatingly beautiful. The usual effortless look was one thing; when she actually decided to dress up, you couldn't look away. Dragging a Keira like that through a mob? Absolutely not. Honestly I didn't even want other people standing near her. Even now most of the café was sneaking glances our way; if we waded into that crowd I'd probably end up filing sexual-harassment charges against dozens of people and still feel shortchanged.
"Looks pretty solid, right? The name's tacky, though."
Keeper Kim Mujin was a guy in his fifties. The name felt exactly like something a middle-aged man would invent.
"Just as I thought—it's Adamantium."
"Adamantium?"
"The best material humans can work with. Hard, light, better mana efficiency than mithril. Famous as the Devil's Metal."
"Sounds way cooler than Ttanttani."
I wanted to rename it on the spot. If only I had the rights. But first-discoverer naming was the iron rule of the world.
"Why 'Devil's Metal,' though?"
"Because it's the only metal that can stand comparison with Orichalcum, the God's Metal."
Oh—Orichalcum. Now that was a cool name. Thinking foreign words automatically sounded better might be a little colonial, but still... Ttanttani? Come on. Just call it the Devil's Metal already.
"It's strange, though. The Keepers with crafting skills should know it's Adamantium. Why is it still Ttanttani?"
"That... is probably adult circumstances."
"Adult circumstances?"
"Nobody wants to piss off Kim Mujin. He has a monopoly on the supply."
Keira nodded in understanding, drained the last of her iced americano, and set the cup on the table.
"Let's go somewhere else. I've seen enough Adamantium."
"Sure."
From where I sat, Keira looked mildly bored. I'd expected her to light up at the sight of Ttanttani; I hadn't counted on her already knowing it was Adamantium. The next stop would be better. A place she couldn't possibly dislike.
"It's getting a little hot. Should I tie my hair up?"
"Huh? Whatever's comfortable."
Early summer. The kind of weather just before everyone turned on the air conditioning. That long blue hair had to be warm.
"I heard guys like this kind of thing. What about you, Jungmin?"
"Hm?"
Keira lightly clamped a hair tie between her lips and lifted both hands, gathering the blue cascade behind her neck. The sudden clean line of her throat made my breath catch.
"Hhk..."
And I wasn't the only one. Every single person in the café—men and women alike—sucked in a sharp breath at the same moment.
"How is it?"
Keira finished the ponytail and gave it a little shake. Swish, swish. I couldn't tear my eyes from the way the bound hair swayed left and right.
"...Stop! From now on, never tie your hair up outside."
"...Why?"
"Just don't. And put the sunglasses and mask on. Now!"
"...?"
Keira gave me a puzzled look but still loosened her hair, slipped on the sunglasses, and pulled up the mask. Every gaze in the café locked onto me. I understood. They all wanted to kill me. Too bad. I couldn't take any more of this.
Keira was mine.
Only I got to look at her!