A Cowardly Method, but There's No Other Way (2)
He'd bought everything he needed. It was time to head back.
No telling how long this will keep working... but I'll push it as far as I can.
Up through B-Rank, he was confident he could train them—aphrodisiacs, and every underhanded trick he had. From A-Rank on, the way ahead went dark. A-Ranks were the first who deserved to be called high-ranking hunters, possessed of power and ability worthy of the name. Only a single step above B-Rank, and still the gulf was enormous. He couldn't even begin to imagine training people like that. Not as he was now. And with nothing to his name but Lustful Touch, one blow from an A-Rank hunter would kill him on the spot and leave not a trace behind.
Turn it over all I like. There's still no answer.
Even so, he had no intention of giving up. Thrashing around and doing something—anything—had to be worth more than sitting still and waiting to die. With that thought, he climbed out of the underground black market. His mind was a tangle, but what he needed now was to finish the business right in front of him.
Back above ground, he returned to the crowded commercial heart of the city. Since he was already out, he meant to pick up groceries and a few other necessities before heading home.
Keep this up and I feel exactly like I've become a housewife...
A wife earning the money while her husband kept the house wasn't unheard of. It also wasn't so common that you tripped over it in the street.
Tsk. And what does it matter? I don't even have a month left.
Thoughts like that always dragged what remained of his life up with them. If he wanted any more time in the scant month he had, he had to train a woman. So far everything was still moving according to plan, but a plan could twist or stall without warning, and Arang was always uneasy. He hated that unease. Perhaps he simply hated every kind of pressure that cinched tight around his heart.
...I should just head back.
Before he could sink any deeper, Arang scrubbed the thought clean away. Keep at it, and all he'd do was feel worse. He'd bought everything he needed and was just about to leave the spot when—
Thud!
He collided with someone who'd been looking the other way. It didn't feel like hitting a person so much as a wall of steel. He went straight over backward, sat down hard, and spilled every last thing out of his bags.
"Ugh..."
The pain left no doubt that he hadn't bumped into an ordinary person. Brow furrowed, he looked ahead, and a woman stood there. She fidgeted with her fingers, shifting restlessly, and it was immediately plain she had no idea what to do. She wore a tank top and short shorts, and the lean muscle on her gave off a vivid impression of health.
"A-are you all right...? I-I-I'm sorry!"
After a long, hesitant dither, she bowed to Arang again and again.
"...I'm fine."
He got to his feet at once and started gathering his things. Ordinarily his mood would have soured, but the person in front of him was who she was, and so it didn't.
An S-Rank hero...
The woman before his eyes was an S-Rank hero.
The Steel Empress...
Her hero name was the Steel Empress. Her real name was Choi Seon-ah. She possessed one of the most powerful bodies in Korea—few heroes in the country could even be counted alongside her.
Didn't think I'd run into her here.
He hadn't planned on meeting an S-Rank hero at all.
The lifespan I'd gain from training her... fifty years?
The estimate that surfaced in his head startled him. Fifty years. Half a century. Train the woman in front of him, and for a good long while he wouldn't have to fear dying of his terminal condition.
The problem is, I have no way to train her right now.
Without a single point of contact, training was impossible. And she had a body every bit as overwhelming as the name Steel Empress suggested. As he was, his ability wouldn't so much as graze her.
"Ah, um, th-that is... I'm sorry, but..."
Even while he turned it over, she kept fretting, unable to settle on one thing or the other. Watching her, Arang decided to use the moment.
"Aigoo... I think I threw my back out."
It didn't hurt, but he put on the act and patted his lower back.
"Eep...! A-are you all right? I'm really, really sorry!!! M-maybe I should go to the hospital with you...!"
She apologized as if she'd lost her mind. Arang looked at her for a moment, then spoke.
"Forget the hospital. Could you just give me your number? If something turns out to be wrong, I'll call and bill you for the medical fees."
On an ordinary woman, a line like that wouldn't have had a prayer. It only worked because she was Choi Seon-ah.
"Ah, o-okay...!"
Her social graces were poor, and her experience of the world itself was remarkably thin. She was timid besides, with a touch of social phobia. He used that—not a demand so rude as to be outrageous, but a request with just a little justification behind it. Asking for her number.
This much makes a point of contact.
He could meet her on the excuse of the hospital bill, or skip the bill entirely, get a meal out of her, and talk. It was only a little. Even so, all he had to do was keep moving forward.
Of course, I've no idea when my trait will start taking hold on an S-Rank...
Heroes didn't end at S-Rank. They went as high as SSS-Rank, and above that they were classed in grades beyond the standard scale. Considering that the highest hero rank in Korea was SS-Rank, the country wasn't a hero superpower so much as a middle power just short of the advanced tier. However far technology advanced, what defeated the gifted was someone more gifted still. In an age when heroes had become national strength, that was only natural.
"H-here, I saved the number..."
Choi Seon-ah entered it into the phone Arang had handed her, then passed it back. He took it, looked at her—still utterly at a loss—and smiled, speaking gently.
"It's all right. I'll stop by the hospital and contact you afterward."
"Y-yes. Yes..."
Arang kept up the bad back until he was out of her sight. It wasn't long before he had vanished from her view entirely.
"Hoo... Still, an unexpected haul."
Himself again at once, Arang let out a long sigh and smiled. Simply having a way to contact an S-Rank hero was satisfying enough. Training her and forcing her submission was another matter entirely, but he didn't need to chew on that right now. For the moment, his goal was Yuyeong.
I hope tomorrow comes quickly.
How far could the aphrodisiac break her down? He didn't like resorting to drugs, but there was no help for it. What wouldn't a man do to stay alive? Before death, a human being shrank without limit. However great the power one held, die, and it was all over.
Left to pass the time alone, he found the next evening upon him. At home he tapped away at his laptop, finishing off the last of the paperwork.
Finally done...
The moment the work was finished, Arang stretched long and hard, then shut the laptop. Not long after, the chirp of a passcode came from the entryway, and the door opened.
"......"
"Welcome home."
Arang looked at Yuyeong as she came in and asked. She said nothing. Face blank, she went straight to her room. Watching her go in and lock the door, he let an odd look cross his face.
Is it because she's embarrassed? Or else...
Was she sinking into self-loathing over what had happened? Asking a Sidekick she'd barely met for a massage—she seemed to have let that much pass. The day before yesterday had been different. She'd asked for a massage, and then, without meaning to, soaked herself in her own fluids, squirted, and climaxed. And when he struck her backside, she'd climaxed once more on pure reflex.
She asked for a massage and came without realizing it. Of course she'd be ashamed. Of course she'd hate herself for it.
Shin Yuyeong looked cold and composed, but in truth she was more fragile than anyone, a woman thick with shame. She hardly had a delicate sensibility to begin with, and yet her embarrassment ran deep.
...Not sure I'll get to use her today.
A reaction like that left him wondering whether the massage would happen at all. If she was too ashamed and refused them from now on, the whole thing would snarl badly. He didn't even have the strength to force her. He'd be left with no choice but to meet his death on a terminal clock.
He considered offering a prayer, but the one who had made this world was that lewd, strange goddess. Nothing would come of praying, so he decided not to bother. For now, this was a moment he had to leave to luck.
They finished dinner without exchanging a single word, and they didn't speak again until it was time for bed. Night came, and Arang and Yuyeong slept in their separate rooms.
"......"
But when dawn arrived, someone entered the room where Arang lay fast asleep. He'd noticed the moment they came in and woken at once, but he gave no sign of it. He simply kept his eyes closed, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Um, Arang...?"
He waited quietly, and a voice reached him. Not known to him for long, but already somewhat familiar—a woman's voice. Judging that the moment had come at last, Arang opened his eyes as if nothing were amiss.
"Y-Yuyeong? What brings you here at night..."
He stirred as though he hadn't known a thing, sat up, and asked. She was in a loose white T-shirt and dolphin shorts, and with the shirt hanging over them she almost looked as if she wore nothing below at all.
...Honestly, that turned him on a little.
"...I-I'm sorry to come at dawn, but... my body's aching, so would it be all right if I asked you for a massage?"
He could feel her voice trembling, if only faintly. She was clearly very tense. Arang looked at her and smiled.
"Of course. Anytime is fine, so please don't hesitate to say so."
"......"
She'd woken him at dawn past the point of decency, and still he answered gently, as if it were perfectly all right.
"Let's go straight to the massage room. I'll get ready and come along."
"Yes..."
He sent her on ahead, then climbed out of bed and gathered what he needed from the box in a corner of the room. Tonight might be the chance. Right now, while she had not a shred of resistance to the aphrodisiac, he had to break her.