An Unbridled Colt (2)
"This is you, isn't it? An S-class hero bitch just throwing her body around however she damn well pleases?"
Every word out of Psycho Kino's mouth drove into her chest like a blade. Her heart slammed against her ribs. Her pupils trembled.
But she caught herself. What did it mean to be an S-class hero? Raw strength and power mattered, yes—but so did the mind. She locked her expression down, looked at him as if none of this were worth a second of her time, and spoke.
"You actually think this is me? You scrape up some random photo and start spouting this garbage? Even if I were inclined to let it slide, you've crossed a line."
"Oh? So it's not you. Then you won't mind if I leak this to the press."
"Of course you can't!"
Psycho Kino's mouth curled.
"Why not? She's not anyone you care about, is she?"
"I don't care who that woman is! How is leaking someone else's naked body to the press even remotely acceptable?!"
"...God. You're no fun at all. You think this photo is the only evidence I've got?"
He clicked his tongue, then turned and started walking away down the corridor.
"Whatever. If it isn't you, I'll do what I want with this picture. That shouldn't bother you, right?"
She said nothing.
"But if you do want to stop it from getting out... come find me by this weekend."
White Rabbit couldn't get a word out. She could only glare at his back as if she meant to kill him where he stood.
The instant he was gone, her legs gave out and she crumpled to the floor.
"I-I have to tell Jun."
She had to get this to Lee Jun as fast as possible. Forcing herself up on shaking legs, she fled the Hero Association, cut across the sky, and landed at home.
"Jun!!"
"Why do you look like that? Did something happen?"
Lee Jun tilted his head as Choi Min-seo burst through the door. He'd been sitting in front of his laptop—using his abilities, from the look of it, to hunt for another netorase partner.
"P-Psycho Kino has my photos."
"He has photos of you. So what? Did he decide to become your fan?"
"That's not it. He has the photos Oh Chun-dong took of me!"
Lee Jun's eyes went wide. His jaw clenched.
How the hell does that bastard have those photos? I wiped every image off his computer and his phone. I know I did.
"Psychometry!"
That was when it hit him—the nature of Oh Chun-dong's skill. Because Psychometry read the memories of anything touched by hand, Chun-dong preferred physical media. Letters over texts. Paper over calls.
"This is my fault. I let my guard down. Nobody uses letters anymore."
He ground his teeth, furious with himself. The moment he started taking the blame, Choi Min-seo pulled him into her arms and insisted the mistake was hers.
They put their heads together and tried to think their way out.
The simplest option was denial. If Psycho Kino leaked the photos, they would say the woman wasn't her. They'd never seen her. They knew nothing. But that approach had a ceiling, and they both knew it. This was the information age. The second those pictures hit the press, people would tear them apart pixel by pixel, lining the woman in the photos up against White Rabbit until the match was undeniable. A hero's uniform clung so tightly that every curve of the body was already public knowledge. It would not take long.
"What if we just take care of Psycho Kino?"
"Physically, or socially?"
"I don't have enough on him to get him locked up right now. So handling it physically is the cleanest way."
Lee Jun's eyes glinted, sharp and cold. Choi Min-seo, with that stubborn sense of justice of hers, recoiled from the idea of "taking care" of anyone. Lee Jun did not. If she hadn't stopped him with Oh Chun-dong, he would have wrecked the man so thoroughly he would never have walked again.
Watching her hesitate, he let out a long breath.
"Fine. We save that for an absolute last resort."
"...Thank you."
It frustrated him a little. No—honestly, it frustrated him a great deal. But what was he supposed to do? He was the one who had fallen in love with a woman like this.
They shelved the option of personally destroying Psycho Kino and started hunting for something else.
"Isn't there another way? The best outcome would be getting him to just give up."
"Mmm. I don't know."
They turned over a dozen ideas. None of them had any real meat. One plan had Lee Jun hacking every news network in the country and erasing anything connected to the photos—and in truth, that was the strongest option they had. It still wasn't enough. Psycho Kino had physical prints, not just files. If he had paper, he could still put it in a newspaper.
"He said he wouldn't leak them until the weekend. Let's wait a little longer."
"Yeah. That's probably best. My head's killing me."
The worrying had caught up with her. She clutched her skull, went to the kitchen, and downed a glass of water in three long swallows. Only after she'd drained it dry did she look at Lee Jun like a person who might actually live through this.
"By the way. Before I got here... you were looking for netorase candidates, weren't you?"
"Yeah. You're starting to have a hard time holding back, aren't you?"
Whenever Choi Min-seo used her powers, her body burned. There was only so much Lee Jun could do to satisfy that heat, and she was clearly reaching the edge of what she could stand.
"...Yeah. There's no reason we have to just endure it, right?"
Something seemed to occur to him. His eyes narrowed, and he tapped his fingers against the table, thinking.
"Jun? What do you mean? Did you think of something?"
"...Do we even need to find a way out of this?"
"I don't follow."
"Even if your photos get leaked... we could just retire from being heroes, couldn't we?"
"Retire?"
"Yeah. Given everything we've done, retiring wouldn't be strange at all. If the photos get out, we retire and take it easy. It's not like we're heroes because we need the money."
He was right. The two of them had left an enormous mark on South Korea. Choi Min-seo was White Rabbit, an S-class hero everyone in the country could name, and Lee Jun, working from the shadows, had been no less remarkable. Aside from other S-class heroes, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who had accomplished as much. And because of that, they were already more than secure. They had enough to live comfortably for three generations.
"Look. I'm not saying we quit being heroes this second. I'm saying this might not be something we need to tear ourselves apart over."
"So what are you saying we should do?"
"Why don't we just enjoy it?"
"Enjoy it? This?"
"Yeah. We don't have to worry about what comes after. If we get caught, we have a way out. If we don't, we keep living like this."
Even after he laid it out, Choi Min-seo bit her lip, still uneasy. She had never once imagined a version of herself that wasn't a hero. Lee Jun, who loved her and knew her better than anyone, quietly crossed the room and folded her into his arms.
"I know how heavy that title sits on your shoulders. Your favorite saying is 'with great power comes great responsibility,' right?"
With great power comes great responsibility. A hero had said it a long time ago, and Choi Min-seo had carried those words in her chest ever since.
"You've done enough. It's okay to lighten that load a little."
"I-Is that really true? Would that be okay?"
"Of course it would."
Persuaded at last, she nodded.
Enjoy this. Drown in the pleasure. And if they got caught, throw it all away, retire, and disappear. The moment she made that decision, her head felt startlingly clear.
"I might really come off the reins, Jun. I might start serving other men as my Master. For real."
"...If that's what you want."
"Hehe. Thank you."
They looked at each other, then slowly pressed their lips together.
They had agreed to let the reins go. They still needed a floor of safety underneath them.
Chasing pleasure was one thing. There was no telling what Psycho Kino might do. No matter how good the heat felt, the love between them came first, and neither of them could stand the thought of a world where they couldn't reach each other—or had to let go.
They went back to the alchemist Kang In-gyeong, added a new function to their mental-attack-warded artifact bracelets, and purchased another one. The added option was simple: an alert, the instant either of them was in danger.
"Now we'll know if either of us is in trouble."
"Yeah. Thank you, Jun. You did this because you were worried about me, didn't you?"
She understood exactly why he'd added that function. They had agreed to chase pleasure together—but she was the one meeting other men. She was the one who would be exposed. The bracelet was his way of preparing for the thing he couldn't see coming.
"Hehe. Then I'll add one more thing."
"Add?"
"Yeah. Let's decide on a keyword. If it ever gets to be too much for you, you say the word—and everything stops. The pleasure, all of it. Just... stops."
"...Then let's use this."
"That's our keyword."
Psycho Kino sat in his office, staring at the photographs of White Rabbit. The room occupied the top floor of a building he owned—his private office, high above everyone else.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Psycho Kino, sir. You have a visitor."
"Who?"
"White Rabbit."
His secretary's voice came through the door. So it's finally happening. His mouth stretched into a slow, ugly grin.
"Send her in."
"Yes, sir."
The secretary opened the door. Behind her stood White Rabbit in her usual uniform.
"You can go."
"Yes, sir."
She answered in a clipped tone and left them alone. Psycho Kino rolled his gaze over White Rabbit's body, taking his time. No matter how often he looked, that figure was mouthwatering. He had met and held more women than he could count. None of them compared to the one standing in front of him.
"So. Back then, you said it didn't really matter to you. Didn't you?"
She said nothing. He pressed harder.
"I said talk. Otherwise these go to the press right now. I happen to be on very good terms with a few outlets..."
"I'm sorry."
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please... please don't leak the photos."
She bowed her head. Psycho Kino's grin climbed until it nearly reached his ears.
"You don't think a little bow is going to cut it, do you? The spot where you hit me still aches, you bitch."
He pointed at his own face—the place White Rabbit had struck him once before. She began peeling off her uniform, piece by piece, until she stood completely naked except for the mask.
"The mask too."
"...Yes."
In the end, she took that off as well.
So she really is the insane masochist slut from the photos.
Stripped of every last scrap of her uniform, White Rabbit was identical to the woman in the pictures. Naked, she dropped to her knees on the floor and folded herself into a full prostration, forehead to the ground, and began to beg.
"I'll do anything. Please—just don't leak the photos."
"That so? Even if I told you to become a bitch?"
"Yes! I'll do anything! Woof! Woof-woof!"
At a single word from him she was already crawling across the floor, mimicking a dog.
"Kyahaha! And this bitch is an S-class hero?!"
Hearing Psycho Kino's laughter, slick arousal dripped from her cunt in thick, glistening drops.