Side Effect: Puppetization
Puppetization
The side effect that had taken hold of Snow White felt distinctly different from the ones that had afflicted Astra.
Every side effect Astra had suffered so far—her chest swelling, milk leaking from her breasts, the loss of her voice—had carried a strong sense of something going wrong with the body itself.
The milk was the closest thing to an exception, I guess.
Even then, the superhuman power draining out along with the milk had been attached as a secondary effect. The shocking loss of power only kicked in if that state dragged on too long. The main side effect that time had still been Milk Flood—something that acted on the flesh.
But this…
"W-what is this…!!"
The moment I ordered her to stay still, Snow White froze. No matter how hard she strained, her body refused to move an inch. Exactly as the description of Puppetization had promised—she had become a marionette that obeyed my every command.
What the hell is this…
Having the information land in my head had been jarring enough. Watching the effect play out right in front of me left me utterly speechless.
I might have an ability, but outside of my buff cooking I was still an ordinary civilian. Snow White was a promising C-class hero. The gulf in raw power between us should have been enormous—and yet a single side effect had reduced her to standing there, completely unable to so much as twitch at a word from me.
"Siwoo. Is this… Seol's side effect?"
"Yes."
Faced with the absurd scene, Astra pieced it together at once. She had already been wondering, deep down, why no side effect had shown itself after Snow White received the buff.
"A side effect?"
"Yes. My ability comes with side effects. When I use it on myself, they're mild enough, but…"
I glanced sideways at Snow White, letting the look say the rest—that the phenomenon gripping her right now was one of those side effects.
"You're telling me this is… just a side effect of an ability? This effect is on the level of something a B-rank—no, an A-rank—villain would use."
"You don't have to believe me, but it's real."
Snow White looked even more rattled than when she had first heard about my ability. Astra, standing beside her, was fighting to keep her composure, but she was just as shaken.
Fair enough. An ability that could control people was both vanishingly rare and terrifyingly dangerous. Even as a mere side effect, something like that appearing would put any hero on edge—they existed to protect people, after all.
The most infamous control ability out there belonged to one of the worst villains of all: the Puppet Master, who strung people up with threads and worked them like marionettes. Seeing an effect that close to that was bound to set anyone off.
"As you can see, my ability comes with side effects like this, so I can't exactly use it carelessly. Think about what Seol just said—imagine putting this ability to work for high-ranking heroes."
What Snow White wanted was for me to support outstanding heroes with my cooking. But that would also mean those same towering figures might end up suffering every kind of side effect imaginable. Instead of strengthening the Hero Association's forces, I might well end up weakening them.
"And even beyond that, if I reveal my ability too freely, there's a real chance the villains find out about it too."
"That's…"
Maybe it was because she herself had nearly died at a villain's hands this time. Snow White managed to rein in her excitement and began turning my words over with real seriousness.
Suppose everything went perfectly and, just as she wanted, I openly declared my ability and started supporting heroes full-time. Who would the villains that already found heroes a nuisance target first?
It's true this whole mess made me want to help them a little…
Watching them throw their lives on the line for other people without hesitation had stirred something in me—I did want to give them a push from behind. But I was still just an ordinary citizen. I had no desire to take on that kind of risk.
Call me selfish if you want. Wanting to stay safe is a desire everyone has.
"…Alright."
Hearing me out, Snow White's expression twisted through several complicated shades before she let out a long breath and nodded.
"I get it. I'm sorry for going off about revealing your ability without thinking about your situation at all."
"…You're accepting this a lot more readily than I expected."
The sudden apology last time, and now this—her about-faces were fast. The temperature of her whole demeanor seemed to flip on a dime. I had braced myself for more persuasion, or at least an argument that coming clean would still be better.
"Seol's always been like that. She gets worked up easily, but she cools down just as fast…"
"Yuna, be quiet. Anyway… from the way you're talking, you want to keep your ability hidden. And yet you still ran all the way out there with it to save me and Yuna."
Well… she wasn't wrong.
Charging into a villain attack site with freshly baked cookies—buff cooking—in hand to save Astra was exactly the kind of thing that contradicted every careful argument I had just made.
"I had so much I wanted to ask that I skipped the most important part. Thank you. Because of you, I survived… and we were able to save Yuna."
Once her head had cooled, maybe she finally registered just how deep a debt she owed me. Snow White's face turned serious as she offered the apology.
"…So. Now that I've calmed down—could you maybe undo this?"
She was delivering her thanks while her body was still locked up like a doll, which made for a faintly ridiculous picture.
"You can move freely."
"Ugh… it's gone. That really is a nasty feeling."
Convinced she had fully settled down, I released the command that had frozen her body. Snow White shuddered hard and hurriedly checked herself over from head to toe.
"You saved my life. Keeping on about what you should and shouldn't do after that would be like drowning and then demanding someone's bag. So… yeah. Do whatever you want."
"Oh…"
Much like Astra before her, Snow White thanked me and told me to keep the ability hidden if that was what I wanted. Watching her, I felt a sharp jab of conscience.
Honestly…
With the side effect being Puppetization of all things, I had already been thinking that if she ever tried to expose the secret, I could just take control of her and force her mouth shut.
"The thing that worries me most is someone hiding an ability like that and using it for villains or crime. But you wouldn't do that."
"…"
My conscience… my conscience was screaming…!
"So how long does this side effect last?"
"How long?"
"An effect this strong can't go on forever. It didn't stay active the whole time I was being treated, right? It only kicked in the moment I ran into you. How long does it last?"
Owing me her life had clearly left her with a measure of trust, but being a marionette that obeyed my orders still sat badly with her. Snow White asked when the side effect would wear off, but…
"It doesn't."
"What do you mean, it doesn't?"
"There's no duration. It just stays on."
"…???"
I calmly corrected her misunderstanding. I had wondered myself whether the side effects labeled "no limit" would really persist for days on end—but seeing it still active even after she had been fully healed with the Hero Association's latest equipment, it seemed they simply continued until they were deliberately released.
"Huh…? Stop joking around."
"I'm serious."
"So what, I just have to keep doing whatever you order me to from now on?"
"I'd say that's actually on the milder end."
"Milder? Ah. Right—you said Yuna got a buff too."
Snow White looked at Astra as if she couldn't believe it. Astra scratched her cheek and laid out the side effects she had endured.
"The ones I went through were a side effect that made my chest keep growing without any limit, one that made milk flow while my superhuman power drained out at the same time, and one that left me completely mute."
"What kind of—wait. Hold on. Then those things I asked about earlier…?"
"Compared to what Astra went through, this one's powerful, sure—but I wouldn't call it lethal."
A puppet that followed my orders, yes—but if I simply never gave any orders, she would be no different from before.
"No. No way. There has to be a way to release it. If what you're saying is true, why does Yuna look completely fine right now?"
"There's a separate release condition. Satisfy that, and it does lift."
"Ugh. Scaring me for nothing. Then undo this first. It feels disgusting just knowing it's there."
Having her body move against her will must have been a thoroughly awful experience. Snow White shuddered again and held out her hand, asking me to release it—but, well…
"…Siwoo. Don't tell me… for Seol too…?"
"W-well. Yes. Same kind of feeling again…"
"What? Why are you two suddenly talking without me?"
"Um. Seol?"
"And why did you go from talking fine to dropping your voice like that…"
"Please don't take this the wrong way, alright? This is my ability, but I have no control over the side effects. The release conditions show up on their own too…"
The side effect that had manifested on Snow White. Its release condition was……
Release Condition: Reach sexual climax 3 times by the chef's hands.
Additional Condition: Instances in which the chef sexually climaxes and ejaculates through the Puppetization target also count toward the total.
Either I had to bring Snow White to climax myself, or she had to make me finish—three times in total.
"…Huh?"
I told her the release condition quietly but clearly. Snow White locked up on the spot. Then her face went scarlet and she exploded.
"What kind of insane setup is that?! You're messing with me, right? There's no way a weird ability like that even exists!"
She was denying reality outright and lashing out. Fair enough—when a man suddenly announces that the only way to fix your side effect is to do filthy things with him, believing it on the spot would be the stranger reaction.
But Astra, who had been listening quietly beside us, spoke up in my defense.
"It's true, Seol. When I had my side effects released, the conditions were pretty similar."
"Similar conditions… Y-Yuna, don't tell me you…?"
"…"
As if confirming exactly what Seol was imagining, Astra gave a quiet nod. The look Snow White had been giving me—one that had held a fair amount of trust until a moment ago—turned into something closer to staring at a piece of filth.
I avoided her eyes and muttered under my breath.
"…There wasn't any other choice."
"You're both insane!"
Suddenly confronted with the intimate details of her close friend's sex life, Snow White freaked out and started yelling. Already thoroughly accustomed to this whole sequence of events, Astra and I simply watched her with lukewarm expressions.
Fortunately, she still had a choice.
"You don't actually have to release it if you don't want to, Seol."
"…What?"
"Think about it. The side effect has been active this whole time, ever since the fight with that villain—and nothing went wrong until you ran into me."
This was different from Astra's side effects, which would cause real problems—or at least disrupt daily life—if they weren't lifted quickly. As long as I never gave an order… no, as long as she simply never crossed paths with me, Snow White's side effect might as well not exist.
"……"
Snow White's face settled into a thoughtful frown. Then she turned her gaze not to me, but to Astra, and asked,
"Yuna. You… you did it, right?"
"Hm? Y-yeah… I did."
No—saying it like that made it sound as if we had gone all the way. We still hadn't actually had sex. A little unfair, honestly.
Snow White stood there turning it over for a long moment, glancing back and forth between me and Astra. Then something resolved itself in her expression, and she stepped toward me.
"I've decided. Release it."
"Uh. Really?"
I hadn't expected her to decide that fast. It wasn't urgent, so I figured she would at least put it off until later.
"No. Just thinking that someone else could take control of me whenever they want is already more than I can stand. And…"
"And?"
"…No. Never mind. But if we do all that and it doesn't come off—!"
Why was she saying that while sneaking little glances at Astra? I had no idea what had made her settle on this so quickly, but…
"Well. Alright then."
I had already been thinking that if Snow White and Astra came by today, I might have to release Seol's side effect on the spot.
And.
Something I could never say out loud to either of them.
If I'm being completely honest… I was looking forward to it a little.
I swallowed dryly as I looked at the white-haired beauty whose snow-pale skin had flushed the color of ripe cherries.
After Astra, she would be the second. Under the pretext of releasing a side effect, I was about to get my hands on an absolute knockout who, until now, had never had anything to do with my life at all.