Elise

"…My arm."

Morning had come.

More precisely, the chandelier on the ceiling blazed to life in a dazzling glare.

I checked whether my right arm was still among the living.

No sensation. It had clearly necrotized.

A natural outcome, really—spending the entire night in a hard chair with my hand locked in the grip of the witch sprawled across the bed.

"Mmm…"

A spill of red hair stirred on the mattress.

Elise cracked her eyes open, dazed. She stared blankly at the ceiling, then spotted me and furrowed her brow.

"What the hell. Why are you still here?"

…Wow. Look at this personality.

Last night she'd threatened me into holding her hand until she fell asleep, and the second she opened her eyes she was telling me to get out.

So this was what they meant by discarding the hunting dog once the rabbits were caught.

"You told me to leave? I'm actually leaving, then?"

I clutched my tingling arm and shot to my feet.

I wanted out of this insane witch's den in the next second, if not sooner.

But my footsteps froze before I could take three of them.

"Wait."

Her voice came from behind me.

I turned to find Elise peering into the mirror on the nightstand. She tapped her own cheek with a fingertip.

"…What's wrong with my skin?"

The complexion that had always been dry and rough from the heat of her mana surges was now smooth and dewy, like a freshly peeled egg. It even carried a faint, healthy glow.

Of course it does. I spent the whole night running moisture-pack duty with my Soothe skill.

The product of grinding down my own life force.

Elise's gaze slid from the mirror to me. The irritation from a moment ago was gone, replaced by something greedy.

"Hey. You're pretty high-performance, huh?"

"Thank you for the compliment."

"You pass. I'm keeping you. No returns."

…I'm screwed.

Full-time, twenty-four-hour slave status: confirmed.

Ding-dong—

Then a bell rang—whether it was salvation or despair, I couldn't tell.

The meal slot at the bottom of the door slid open, and a room-service cart rolled in along its rails.

"Breakfast, Inmate Zero-Zero-One."

The silver cloche lifted to reveal a tenderloin steak still trailing steam and a bowl of truffle soup.

"…"

I swallowed hard.

A stomach that had been surviving on discarded convenience-store lunch boxes lurched violently.

This was a prison? Don't make me laugh.

It was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hundred times better than the goshiwon I lived in.

I was the one serving a sentence out there under a mountain of debt. This woman was clearly on a hotel staycation.

Elise stabbed the meat with her fork, chewed once, then spat it out with a ptew.

"Salty."

Clang!

She hurled the plate to the floor. Perfectly good meat hit the marble and stayed there.

"Did they change chefs? Why does it taste like this?"

Sparks bloomed at her fingertips.

At this rate the chef wasn't getting fired—he was getting cremated.

"H-hey, Inmate! Why would you waste perfectly good meat like that?!"

I lunged on instinct to salvage the steak from the floor.

To a man in debt, meat was sacred.

"Don't eat that. It's dirty."

"If I pick it up within three seconds, it's fine."

"Are you a beggar?"

Elise looked at me like I was pathetic. She shoved the remaining appetizer bread and salad from the cart in my direction.

"Eat that. You've got to earn your keep."

"…Thank you."

I stuffed the bread into my mouth in a frantic rush.

It was humiliating.

But the bread was delicious. Damn it—so delicious I thought I might cry.

Elise swirled the grape juice in her wineglass and watched me, the way someone might watch a stray mutt they'd picked up off the street while it ate.

"Hey. Air conditioner."

"It's Kang Jinsoo."

"I don't need your name. You're just an air conditioner."

She defined my identity with absolute finality.

"From now on, you don't leave without my permission. You handle the bathroom here too."

"Excuse me? Where's the bathroom in here…"

"There."

She pointed at a bathroom walled entirely in clear glass.

Blinds? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠There were none.

Whatever you did inside was on full, shameless display from the outside.

"…You want me to go in there? While you're watching, Inmate?"

"Nothing to see. An F-rank covering up? Please."

Shame flooded through me.

I wanted to file a complaint with the human rights commission, but this place was an extraterritorial zone.

"And tell the Director. The temperature control unit for my room has been replaced—with you."

"The Director…"

The moment that word left my mouth, the intercom mounted on the wall chimed.

Seo Jisu's cold voice.

Elise's expression crumpled in an instant.

"Tch. Interloper."

"I-I've been summoned, so I'll be going! I do have to file my work report!"

I scrambled up with a chunk of bread still clenched in my teeth.

Any longer in here and I was going to lose every last scrap of human dignity.

"Go on, then."

Elise flopped back onto the bed and waved a hand.

"Be late and I'll burn you."

Her goodbye was as murderous as ever.

I fled the penthouse like a man escaping with his life. Only when I heard the steel door slam shut behind me did I finally drag in the breath I'd been holding.

"Haa… I made it."

Inside the elevator bound for the Director's office, the face in the mirror was a disaster.

Hair like a bird's nest, hollow eyes, clothes that reeked of mixed rose perfume and scorch.

Anyone looking would have sworn I'd spent the night being thoroughly worked over.

The tragedy was that it hadn't been in any adult sense of the word—just a desperate thrashing for survival.

Ding—

The doors opened and a wave of cold air hit me square in the face.

If Elise's room was a midsummer desert, this place was midwinter Siberia.

Did this prison not believe in middle ground?

"Come in."

The voice reached me before I could even knock.

I swallowed hard and opened the door.

At the center of the vast office, behind a massive ebony desk, she sat.

The sovereign of the Abyss—Director Seo Jisu.

Silver hair cut sharp at the chin, intellectual glasses. Those blue eyes were ice, with not a trace of emotion to be found.

"Sit."

She jerked her chin. I perched awkwardly on the leather chair. It was so plush it was uncomfortable.

"How was the first night?"

She flipped through documents as she asked, utterly indifferent.

The question sounded impure, but I answered as blandly as I could manage.

"Warm. Extremely so."

"You survived. Congratulations."

"Thank you. Though, thanks to that, the feeling in my arm is dead."

Seo Jisu let out a short snort of laughter. She pushed her glasses up and got to the point.

"Administrator Kang Jinsoo. I've confirmed your ability. An F-rank suppressing an S-rank surge… If academia got wind of this, you'd be hauled off as a lab specimen on the spot."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Which is why we need to sign a formal contract."

She slid a thick envelope across the desk. On the face of it was written Exclusive Administrator Employment Contract.

"Didn't I already sign one when I was hired?"

"That was temporary. This is a 'Special Assignment' contract. Read it."

I opened the envelope and skimmed the pages.

Tiny print everywhere. But what my eyes locked onto were the numbers.

Base hourly rate of five hundred thousand won. Hazard pay, night differential, life-risk allowance, performance bonuses…

All told, the annual salary ran into the billions.

Insane. With this, paying off the debt is just a matter of time.

I fought down the urge to grin like an idiot and flipped to the last page.

And my hand stopped.

"…Five billion?"

My voice cracked.

Five billion. Even winning the lottery jackpot twice wouldn't cover it after taxes.

And a waiver of bodily rights?

"Director, this is far too unfair…"

"Your debt runs about a hundred million, doesn't it?"

Seo Jisu cut me off and spun her monitor around.

My bank statements, loan records, even a list of loan sharks were up on the screen.

"The sharks have been pricing out your organs. Kidney for thirty million, liver for fifty… Sell everything and you still wouldn't hit a hundred million."

"…"

"Work here and I'll clear that debt for you. I'll handle the loan sharks too. All you have to do is breathe and keep Elise happy. Well? Better than getting disassembled out there, isn't it?"

No room to argue.

She was right. Outside was hell, and this place was… a prison that paid extremely well.

I'd never had a choice to begin with.

"…I'll do it."

"A wise decision."

Seo Jisu held out a fountain pen.

With a trembling hand, I wrote my name on the signature line.

Scratch, scratch. The nib scraping across the paper sounded like my life being carved in two.

"Good. From this moment, you belong to the Abyss."

She smiled in satisfaction and tossed me a keycard.

Gold-edged, stamped with the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠word MASTER.

"A master key. It'll get you into every sector of the facility. Except my bedroom."

"I had no intention of going there."

"That was a joke. You're no fun."

She did not look like she was joking in the slightest.

"Your primary duty from now on is exclusive mark on Inmate Zero-Zero-One, Elise. Stay glued to her twenty-four hours a day so she doesn't go berserk. Hold her hand, hold her, and if necessary…"

Her gaze raked over me with a peculiar glint.

"Using your body is part of the job."

"That's sexual harassment."

"It's included in the life-risk allowance."

I had nothing. Capitalism was this terrifying.

"You're dismissed. It's lunchtime. Staff cafeteria is on Basement Level Two."

"Yes, understood."

I bowed and turned to go.

The moment my hand found the doorknob, Seo Jisu's voice came from behind me.

"Ah. Almost forgot. Administrator Kang Jinsoo."

"Yes?"

"Zero-Zero-One is extremely fickle. Burning people who displease her is a hobby. But you're expensive merchandise, so try not to die too easily."

She adjusted her glasses and added one more thing.

"If you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠die, that five billion gets billed to your family."

A chill ran down my spine.

A threat that dragged my family into it.

This woman was a monster in a completely different way from Elise.

"…I'll keep that in mind."

I fled the Director's office the way I'd fled the penthouse.

Standing in the corridor, I let out a long breath.

In front of me, a fire-breathing witch.

Behind me, an ice-cold Director blackmailing me with debt.

Beep.

I checked my phone and a dry laugh slipped out.

Six zeroes.

With this, I could cover the interest that was due right now. Mom's hospital bills too.

"Ha. Life really is spectacular."

I clenched my fist tight.

I'd stamped a slave contract. There was no going back.

To survive, I had to bring that insane witch over to my side.

No—at the very least, I had to tame her enough that she wouldn't burn me alive.

Growl.

The second the tension left my body, my stomach clock went off.

That scrap of bread from Elise's room hadn't come close.

"Food first. Even a ghost that dies full looks better for it."

I pressed the elevator button.