A Calculated Move
January 1st.
Ye-rin's arm, which had been reaching toward me, faltered and dropped.
"…What. Way to kill the mood."
I hesitated for a moment.
Part of me wanted to just let it go — but it had been stuck in my throat since earlier.
"Su-yeon."
Ye-rin's expression shifted slightly.
"Su-yeon?"
"The healer who came in last year. The one who used to run with Jae-hyuk. I heard she's been missing for about a month. She went out on a party with some Yongmun people and never came back."
"…First I'm hearing of it."
Every trace of playfulness drained from Ye-rin's voice.
"Missing? Was it reported officially?"
"No. Even Jae-hyuk seemed like he'd only heard it as a rumor. He doesn't know exactly what happened. Just… that she never came back."
"That bastard Choi Jae-hyuk — why the hell wouldn't he report something like that…"
"You know what kind of guy Jae-hyuk is, Ye-rin… He probably just didn't want to."
Ye-rin bit her lip.
For a moment she looked like she was thinking hard.
"Ha-jun. This… might not just be about Su-yeon."
"What do you mean?"
"There's been a weird rumor going around about Yongmun lately. That people who go out on parties with them and never come back aren't just one or two. At first I figured they were just accidents, but it's been happening too often. And for something that was supposed to be monsters, no bodies turn up — just mana stones and gear getting recovered, from what I hear."
"…You're saying Yongmun kidnapped them?"
"I don't know. But if that's what this is."
Ye-rin spoke slowly.
"Then it's been going on for a long time already. Why would those bastards even need foreign party members in the first place?"
No way. Actual kidnapping?
I'd had the same suspicion at first, but even for Yongmun — as reckless as they were — luring other guild members out just to abduct them…
Guilds weren't criminal organizations. As little as I trusted the Chinese, I still didn't think they'd go around doing something like that.
"That's not all."
Ye-rin continued.
"Not long ago, the Yakumo Guild Master came to see me in person."
"Satoshi came all the way here?"
"Yeah. He arrived so quietly and left without much of a conversation that you probably never even noticed. He started talking about some Korea-Japan guild alliance or whatever… but the real reason he came was this. His girlfriend went missing near Korn. The problem is, Yongmun guild members were spotted in the area."
"Misaki's missing too…?"
"Yeah… I've never seen Satoshi that restless before. That stone-faced bastard."
Ye-rin's brow furrowed.
"And then he asked me. Whether anything similar had happened in Baekho. At the time I didn't have anything to go on, so I told him no… but hearing what you just said."
Su-yeon. And now Misaki.
Both of them tangled up with Yongmun.
"…So there really is something going on."
"There has to be, or Satoshi wouldn't have moved personally. That man never sticks his neck out unless he's sure. He's probably been making the rounds of the other guilds, checking."
Ye-rin let out a sigh.
"But the strange part is, even then, he never said a word about what he was actually planning to do. Just told me to contact him if anything like that came up, and then he—"
That was when it happened.
— Bang, bang, bang
The office door was pounded in a frantic rush.
Before Ye-rin could even answer, the door burst open.
A Baekho guild member stumbled in, gasping for breath.
"Guild Master! Urgent report!"
"If you're going to throw the door open like that, why bother knocking. What is it."
"Ah — sorry. The Japanese guild, Yakumo…"
The guild member caught his ragged breath.
"They just filed a Verdict! The notice went up across the entire Royal Capital — it's posted on the boards too."
A Verdict.
This world's version of a trial — settling disputes that the law couldn't touch through pure violence.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Ye-rin rose from her seat as she asked.
"…Don't tell me the target is Yongmun."
"How did you know?"
The air in the office went still.
"The petitioner is the Yakumo Guild Master, Satoshi. The claim—"
The guild member swallowed hard.
"Is the kidnapping and murder of the missing Yakumo guild member Misaki by Yongmun. Date is two weeks from now."
At those words, Ye-rin's face hardened.
"A Verdict over kidnapping and murder claims… Of all times, when we're already drowning in new recruits—"
She cut herself off mid-sentence and turned her head toward the guild member who'd brought the report.
"Who's the champion?"
"Sakuragi Yuko."
As the guild member answered and handed Ye-rin a paper with the posted contents, I spoke up.
"Satoshi's an Awakened now, so he can't enter himself — that's why he put up a champion. But Sakuragi… I've heard that name somewhere…"
"Yakumo's swordswoman. You've definitely heard of her, Ha-jun."
Ye-rin passed the paper to me.
"Remember the Black Wolf swarm raid two years ago? When the monster horde poured out of eastern Korn and the guilds had to form a coalition to hold them."
"I remember. We were still weak back then — took a lot of casualties."
"The one who held the collapsing eastern defense line was Sakuragi Yuko. She cut straight into the heart of the swarm alone and carved open a path. Bought the rear units enough time to pull out. And the important part is she did all that without even being an Awakened."
She fell silent for a moment, then slowly nodded as she went on.
"…Now I get it. I can see the picture Satoshi's painting."
I looked down at the name written on the paper.
Sakuragi Yuko. Verdict champion.
Under Verdict rules, Awakened were barred from participating — partly because there were so few of them among ability users, and partly because it simply wasn't fair. So Satoshi had played the strongest card he could still put on the table.
But why did it have to be today.
"I get that Satoshi is confident enough Yongmun is the culprit to file a Verdict. But why post the notice today of all days. Japan has to be just as swamped with new recruits."
"Because it had to be today."
Ye-rin answered with her arms crossed.
"That's what makes it easiest to turn public opinion to his side."
"…Turn public opinion to his side?"
"Think about it."
Ye-rin raised one finger.
"Satoshi came to us a few days ago. Asking if anything similar had happened. That's the first move. If something had happened on our end, we'd naturally fall in line with what he was saying. If nothing had, we'd still start wondering whether Yongmun was involved somehow. Either way, Satoshi doesn't lose."
"…Yeah, that tracks."
Ye-rin raised a second finger.
"And while he was at it, he let it slip that Misaki had gone missing. At the time I thought he was just here confirming victims, but looking at it now — no. He already had the Verdict in mind, and he was pre-selling the justification to the other guilds so that when he suddenly dropped one today, everyone would go, 'Ah, the Misaki thing,' and immediately understand."
"He laid the groundwork in advance."
"Third."
Ye-rin raised her last finger.
"And right when the other guilds start getting restless — today. January 1st. The day new recruits who know absolutely nothing about this world come through the dimensional gate."
"…"
"He shoves the Verdict news in those blank-slate kids' faces on day one. So that the very first major story they hear after crossing over is that Yongmun has been going around kidnapping people — loud and chaotic. Planting a perception of Yongmun in the heads of everyone who's going to live here from the very first day."
I was briefly at a loss for words.
If Ye-rin was right, Satoshi was deliberately poisoning public opinion against Yongmun — hard enough to make enemies of them for good.
Most ability users were already used to the entrenched power structure between guilds, and they knew you didn't casually mess with Yongmun. So even when ugly rumors circulated, everyone tended to keep quiet about it.
People going missing to monsters was something that could easily happen, and there was nothing to gain from running around claiming Yongmun was kidnapping people.
But the hundreds of new recruits pouring in today were different.
They had no such calculations. In those blank-slate minds, Yongmun was likely to be branded from the start as a trash organization that kidnapped people.
"The new recruits will probably be running around excitedly asking what a Verdict even is. And that's not all."
Ye-rin's gaze dropped to the paper with the posted contents.
"The two weeks means something too. Under Verdict rules, you only need a minimum of one week. But Satoshi deliberately set the date for two weeks out."
"Right — why give them extra time?"
She tapped the paper with a fingertip.
"He's deliberately leaving enough time for the news to spread thoroughly. And… if Misaki is still alive, send her back quietly. You could also read it as leaving room for negotiation — that he'd call the whole thing off."
She cast her gaze out the window.
"He didn't say it out loud… but those two weeks are the message. A weirdly roundabout way of speaking, just like a Japanese person."
"…Yongmun's going to have a hell of a headache."
"They're probably losing their minds right about now. A Verdict isn't nothing. You post a notice across the entire Royal Capital and hold it in a public venue. If Sakuragi Yuko kills Yongmun's champion in front of a crowd of ability users… that would be an enormous humiliation for them."
The board was starting to come into focus.
Refuse, and the refusal itself was a loss — swallowing the entire compensation package whole, and effectively confessing to the kidnapping.
Accept, and the opponent was Sakuragi Yuko.
Satoshi had sealed off every escape route and dragged them up onto the ring.
He'd built the justification, played his card, and even calculated the timing.
This wasn't something he'd thrown out in a rage.
It was a move he'd planned carefully, step by step.
"That's Satoshi for you."
Regarding the kidnapping and murder of the missing Yakumo guild member Misaki by Yongmun—
I stared for a long time at the name Misaki written on the paper.
Su-yeon's face kept overlapping on top of it.
Whether Misaki was still alive.
What had happened to Su-yeon.
My head was spinning.
"…Uh, Guild Master?"
The guild member who'd delivered the news was still standing there, reading the room.
"Good work. Report any further Verdict-related information the moment it comes in. You can go for now."
"Yes, ma'am."
As the guild member started to leave, Ye-rin added one more thing.
"Ah — until I call for someone, nobody knocks on this door. Tell them we're in an important meeting."
An important meeting? Was there something about the Verdict she needed to discuss?
Something about the atmosphere felt off for that, though.
The guild member looked back and forth between me and Ye-rin, then closed the door quietly with an expression that said he understood perfectly.
Once his footsteps faded, Ye-rin walked over herself and locked the door.
— Click
The sound of the lock engaging rang out unusually loud.
"…An important meeting? Is this about the Verdict?"
"No. A different kind of meeting."
Ye-rin turned and slowly approached.
Without thinking, I took half a step back toward the desk.
Ye-rin watched that reaction with clear amusement, closing the distance one leisurely step at a time.
"What's wrong?"
Ye-rin narrowed her eyes and smiled.
"Am I going to eat you or something?"
"…No."
"The Verdict's two weeks away anyway…"
Ye-rin reached out and hooked a finger over the waistband of my pants like a claw.
Neither pulling nor letting go.
"Right now is meeting time. The Guild Master wants a meeting… and Ha-jun isn't going to cooperate?"
"…What's this meeting about."
"Who knows."
Ye-rin gave her finger a slight tug, and I was pulled forward a step.
"Come here. Let's talk up close."
I couldn't win against this woman.
Ye-rin lifted my chin with a fingertip.
Eyes sparkling with mischief looked up at me.
"Ha-jun."
"…What."
"Someone who worked hard since dawn deserves a reward. Don't you think?"
The faint scent rising from Ye-rin's hair scrambled through my head.
Enough that the Verdict and Su-yeon and everything else briefly went hazy.
"No… that… shouldn't we think about this a little more… Don't we need to tell Satoshi about Su-yeon too?"
"That can wait until later. Right now…"
Ye-rin let the sentence trail off as she tugged again on the finger hooked in my waistband.
Ah. So this was starting again.
Not that I particularly minded.
I knew perfectly well that refusing was meaningless anyway.
It always had been — resistance was pointless.
Ye-rin laid her palm against my chest and slowly swept it down along the grain of my body.
"My puppy worked hard today, so I'll do it with my hand."
Her body was already pressed flush against my side, rubbing lightly against me.
A soft hand slowly traveled down my body, and her fingers slipped inside my pants.
"…You're really going to do this?"
"What are you talking about — you don't want to come?"
As if no answer was needed, the moment her hand yanked down my waistband, cold air brushed against bare skin.
She wrapped her soft palm around my cock, which was already standing hard.
"No — hah… Ye-rin."
"Shh. Just stay still ♥"
Ye-rin whispered against my ear, then dipped her head slightly and spat onto my cock.
— Ptoo
The instant her sticky saliva landed on me, her hand rubbed over it quickly, wrapping me in a slick sensation.
"Hngh…"
Then Ye-rin began moving her hand up and down my cock with a skillful, playful touch.
As if she were handling a favorite toy — gently rubbing the tip with her thumb while her palm stroked softly along the base.
— Squish, squish
The wet, messy sound of my cock, coated in her spit, filled the quiet room.
I clenched my teeth, but my hips twitched on their own.
Ye-rin seemed to savor every single reaction, sometimes squeezing slowly, sometimes stroking up fast as she worked her hand.
If we were going to do this, I might as well go for it properly.
It wasn't something I'd normally say out loud, but for some reason today I wanted to try.
A hand alone just wasn't enough.
"…Ye-rin."
"Hmm?"
I gathered my courage and asked in a trembling voice.
"That… today… couldn't I put it in? We've never even—"
In that instant, Ye-rin's hand stopped.
Mischief bloomed thickly around her eyes as she looked at me, and a smile still hung at the corner of her lips.
It was the look of someone teasing me for bringing that up again.
"No ♥"
Her voice was soft and sweet.
"Why…?"
Ye-rin slowly squeezed up along my length again as she whispered into my ear.
"Not yet, Ha-jun. The whole 'I can't get pregnant' thing is still just a guess. If I get pregnant, is Guild Master Ha-jun going to take over? Besides, you like it best when I do it like this for you anyway ♥ I like this better too."
Her hand gradually sped up.
She wrapped her whole palm around me, sliding from top to bottom, gently adjusting the pressure.
And every so often she dripped more spit, making her hand even slicker.
— Squish, squish, squish
The sounds in the room rang out more and more clearly.
"Hngh… Ye-rin, seriously…"
"So cute ♥"
Ye-rin licked my neck with her tongue as her hand moved even faster.
"Hnn. Our Ha-jun should try holding out today ♥"
— Squish, squish, squish
With her chest pressed against mine, she swept the lips that had been licking my neck up to my ear and started sucking on it.
"Ha-jun, does it feel good? Look at you already drooling precum ♥"
"Hah… Ye-rin…"
It couldn't have been even five minutes.
My hips bucked on their own and my legs started trembling.
I clenched my teeth, but in the end I couldn't hold out.
"Ye-rin… I…!"
Ye-rin spoke in a whisper as she moved her hand harder, faster.
"That's it, my puppy, come — come for me ♥"
With those words urging me on, her hand kept climbing in speed — and in that moment,
"Ah… ahhk…!"
— Spurt… spurt…
I shuddered and came in her hand.
Cum pumped out in thick pulses, overflowing between her fingers.
Ye-rin never let go until the end, slowly stroking as if wringing out every last drop.
"Good boy, my puppy ♥"
She rested her chin on my heaving chest and smiled with half-lidded eyes, looking at me like I was something precious.
"Didn't even last five minutes again ♥"
There was a faint note of mockery in her tone, but her voice was so tender.
"Our Ha-jun is hopelessly fast, you know that? ♥ Can't even last five minutes with just a hand… it's really cute. How do you come that fast?"
Ye-rin playfully showed me the cum on her hand as she laughed.
"Want me to make you come in under three minutes next time? ♥"
My face burned so hot I turned my head slightly — and Ye-rin pressed a loud kiss to my cheek as she whispered.
"I love you, my puppy ♥"
At those words, my whole body felt like it was melting.
As the days went by, she was getting more and more skilled with her hands — the time it took me to come kept getting shorter every time.
Even if we ever did go all the way, I doubted I'd last any longer than this.
The warmth of her hand wrapping softly around me, the precise rhythm of her grip sliding up and down, the things she whispered into my ear.
All of it was proof of how thoroughly she understood me.
Just as the thought of wanting more crossed my mind, Ye-rin gently pushed her body away with a small smile, walked over to the table, pulled out a small handkerchief, and came back to me.
Then she knelt in front of my cock — still half-hard — so close her face was almost touching it, and carefully began wiping me clean with the handkerchief.
As the mixture of her spit and my cum was gently wiped away, her warm breath brushed against my sensitive tip, and her long hair fell lightly across my thighs, tickling them.
Looking down at her from above, she was beautiful enough to make my mind go blank.
"I love you too, Ye-rin."
Ye-rin set the handkerchief down, climbed back up over me, and brought her face so close our noses nearly brushed.
Her silver hair fell over my face, filling my nose with her distinctive sweet scent.
"I know. Our Ha-jun is a good boy."
She smiled playfully and pressed a light kiss to my lips.
She never had sex with me.
Even after four years as lovers — not even once.
Drawing the line was always her job.
Pregnancy this, no condoms that, Guild Master this.
The reasons changed every time.
At first I just accepted it.
It wasn't even certain whether pregnancy was truly impossible in this world, and I understood Ye-rin being careful.
But it had been four years.
In those four years — not even once.
And it wasn't like Ye-rin had no sex drive.
She found me constantly and worked off her desire through my mouth.
Because of that, I sometimes felt a strange way about it.
Not like I was holding her — more like she was handling me.
You like it best when I do it like this for you anyway.
Every time I heard those words, I nodded.
Because I did like it. Truly.
But sometimes the line blurred — whether I nodded because I really felt that way, or because I was supposed to.
Of course Ye-rin loved me.
Every time we finished, she tenderly cleaned me up, whispered that she loved me, and stroked my hair and called me a good boy.
Yeah. That was enough, right.
Wanting anything more in this miserable world was a joke.
It was a long while later that we left the office.
After that, Ye-rin finished sorting out the Verdict response and the new recruit placements, and I helped with the rosters beside her.
By the time the work was done, the sun was already sinking.
The team assignments decided in the office had gone to the admin team, been reorganized, and finally posted — so only now were the team lists hanging in a long row in the distance.
New recruits crowded in front of them, checking their teams and team leaders.
For the next three months, these would be the teams that would eat, sleep, and train together in five-person rooms — living like family.
I was no exception.
I'd have to share a room with my four new recruits for those three months too.
At first Ye-rin had said I didn't have to, that I could just sleep in her room — but I'd refused.
Partly for fairness compared to the other teams… and partly because I figured it'd be physically exhausting.
I was walking along with those thoughts when, at a corner of the hallway, I ran into someone.
"…Teacher."
It was Lee Seo-yoon.