Are You a Virgin?

His name was Jeon Seok-woo. Jeon Yu-rim's own older brother. The fact that that monster had shown up here told me I didn't have much time left. He'd meddle. He'd try to take control.

Jeon Yu-rim's face was bright with triumph. The two of them were talking, and their eyes kept pinning me where I stood. I wanted to hold on to some dignity, but my eyes kept rounding into something meek and harmless anyway. I was trying to turn into a docile little lamb. Which said everything about what kind of monster that bastard Jeon Seok-woo was.

Once the conversation ended, Jeon Yu-rim's mouth twisted into a sneer.

"Hey!"

When Jeon Seok-woo called for me, the temporary shelter boomed with it. Everyone turned at once, and their eyes had already gone soft too. One look at the outside of him and they'd finished reading the danger: a frame that had to be six-foot-three, and full-body irezumi any sane person would cross the street to avoid. A land mine, no matter who was looking.

"I'm counting to three. Get over here."

Jeon Seok-woo, summoning me. The air felt different — compressed, then compressed again. Was I supposed to walk up to him like this? Was I about to fold?

But I don't break that easily. I'd already faced aliens scarier than him. I was a man with a record of tearing into the back of a neck. I decided to ignore the bastard.

I had reason enough. He couldn't walk. A little, maybe — but nothing nimble enough to actually threaten me. The exhaustion hidden under that grotesque exterior: I'd only seen it once I looked at him differently. A giant of a man who thought of himself as the pinnacle of masculinity, and something not human had wrecked his ass. How shocking was that? For the record, aliens don't bother with lube. Horrifying, isn't it.

Could he even walk? For a brief second he looked pitiful. Now I almost wanted to praise him — applaud, even. If it had been me, I'd be dead. I wouldn't have been able to live with a reality where I'd lost my manhood.

I was sure of the guess. His posture gave it away: the optimal position for not putting any more damage on a ruptured sphincter. He was lying on his side.

"One. Two."

"...Pfft."

The sight was so ridiculous I looked straight at him and laughed.

"...You... laughing...?"

Yeah. I understood. A man raped up the ass and left on the edge of death — relieved just to still be breathing, and with no strength left to hold his sphincter shut.

"Ordering people around. You come here. Can you even make it?"

The eyes that had been watching my standoff with Jeon Seok-woo with interest locked onto me. They seemed to be getting a hit of dopamine off a choice and an answer they hadn't expected. I decided to give them a little more of a show.

"Don't strain yourself. Rest. If you don't recover, you'll spend the rest of your life smearing shit on the walls."

Jeon Seok-woo started registering the people around him. Of course he'd be ashamed. Everyone here knew an alien had raped him, and it wasn't a fact he could deny. The more he'd flaunted his strength, the more Jeon Seok-woo was the one who most wanted this reality gone. If he had any sense at all, the conversation had already told him that I, Park Woong-sung, was the kind of bastard who'd drag his shame into the open.

"You... son of a bitch... wait till I heal."

"Huh? Heal? You giving birth or something?"

"...You fuck!"

My win. The trophy was the shock plastered across Jeon Yu-rim's face. That expression was nice.

The ajumma asked, unease showing.

"Woong-sung... he looks dangerous. Are you sure you'll be all right?"

"I'm fine. It'll be a long while before he's dangerous enough to matter."

When Jeon Yu-rim smacked her brother's shoulder, he convulsed like he'd been electrocuted. He'd been clenched so hard the knots had settled through his whole body. I'd provoked him badly, so I needed to fix my Regression before he recovered...

For a few days, it stayed quiet.

But it wasn't Jeon Seok-woo who broke the silence. It was that Talkative Middle-Aged Woman — the one who'd eavesdropped on the soldiers' conversation not long ago.

"Ajumma, want to give it a try tonight?"

"It's embarrassing, but... all right."

"Oh my, oh my, look at you two. What are you saying you're going to do?"

Was this woman insane? And why the hell were her ears that good? I had no idea how much of my conversation with the ajumma she'd overheard, or from where. She'd at least caught that we were angling for sex.

"Wait. Is it actually true? ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠That if you have sex, you can turn back time?"

She was asking because she wanted to know. That part seemed right. Her volume was something else — wholesale-market barker loud.

For fuck's sake. Even the soldiers were glancing our way. Jeon Yu-rim watched the whole mess with a huge, blooming smile. Still, we'd only come off as weirdos. It wasn't going to turn into a real problem. These weren't people I'd ever see again. I tried to treat it as nothing.

I didn't know this moment was about to roll downhill and turn into a snowball.

It happened a few days later.

I was asleep when my body suddenly rose, weightless. An out-of-body experience? A poltergeist? I opened my eyes on questions like that — and of all things, Jeon Seok-woo was hoisting me up. Insane recovery. I hadn't thought he'd bounce back this fast.

"Eek!"

Or maybe revenge had shoved him past his limit.

"Thought you'd stay safe forever, didn't you?"

Right as he was about to slam me into the floor—

"Hey! What do you think you're doing, throwing violence around however you please!"

The ajumma stepped in. Even she looked a little afraid. It was probably the first time she'd seen someone lift a person like a pillow.

Jeon Seok-woo stared hard at her, then set me down. For a second I wondered why this piece of shit had made that choice—

"An orphan brat with no mother, and there's a bitch here playing mom for him."

With that, he suddenly grabbed the ajumma by the hair.

"Agh!"

And slapped her across the face.

The moment she went down, a curse tore out of my mouth.

"Jeon Seok-woo, you son of a bitch!"

Something like a thread snapped in my head, and I blacked out.

"Oppa!!! Oppa!!! What do we do!!!"

Jeon Yu-rim's scream dragged me back. I'd lost consciousness, and yet I was standing on my own two feet. People were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠staring at me with their mouths hanging open.

Blood was streaming from my nose. I realized Jeon Seok-woo was floating in the air. I had done this.

"...Huh?"

It didn't take long to understand the power. It was a sense I could control, the way I moved a finger. A psychic ability. Something like telekinesis.

"S-save me...!"

Jeon Seok-woo was there with tears in his eyes, begging to be spared. Then he went further.

"Please spare me......"

He was speaking to me with respect.

"I'm truly sorry......"

I wiped the nosebleed and set him down. For a moment I considered killing him, but somehow he felt pathetic. Nothing more than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a thing that wasn't even worth killing.

That act, though, was what started the Talkative Middle-Aged Woman's fit of madness. She scrambled over, dropped to her knees, and fired a question at me in that same booming voice.

"Y-you! Can you really turn back time!!!!???"

I couldn't, not yet. But the ability still existed in me, so of course I answered yes.

"Yes."

Madness flickered, just for an instant, through eyes that had been ordinary.

"The condition is sex, isn't it!!!?"

"...It is, yeah."

My Regression hadn't come back. It existed — and the blockage was still there, same as before.

The Talkative Middle-Aged Woman's madness was enough to flip the fear of the terrified crowd in the shelter into madness in a single breath. In the end, I'd struck the spark for a scene of frenzy.

The soldiers controlling the temporary shelter? They were people too. In the end, madness took them just the same. I'd lifted a man into the air like a god, right before their eyes. It must have felt like finding one thread of light at the bottom of an abyss.

Some man asked.

Fuck. I'm not gay.

The Talkative Middle-Aged Woman stepped forward and started taking control, as if she'd been my spokesperson all along.

The smile she wore wasn't a human one. It crawled over my skin. She'd completely lost her mind.

"That couldn't possibly be, right...?"

She suddenly started taking off her clothes. I'd expected the ordinary body of a woman in her fifties, but she was surprisingly voluptuous. A little belly, sure.

"Now let us cast off every worldly thing! Men are no exception. Our chosen one mustn't be the only one embarrassed, must he? Strip! All of you!"

Everyone gathered in the temporary shelter suddenly started stripping. Even the soldiers threw aside their firearms and body armor and joined in. Men and women alike ended up naked as peeled eggs.

But there was one person who hadn't taken anything off.

"Have you all lost your minds? That's a god? No!! He's just Park Woong-sung!! Snap out of it!"

The noisy scene went quiet all at once, like someone had hit mute. The silence was enough to raise goosebumps.

The Talkative Middle-Aged Woman spoke first.

"My thinking was shortsighted."

Jeon Yu-rim lit up, glad her words had gotten through.

"Right? What do we do about that monster, fast. How does he lift a person without even using his hands — it's not even magic..."

Then the Talkative Middle-Aged Woman cut her off.

Terrifying words.

"That offering is not us. It was already prepared! I'm telling you — it was set aside in advance!"

The Talkative Middle-Aged Woman pointed at Jeon Yu-rim.

"This offering, still wearing her clothes alone, as if someone had already put a mark on her."

Naked, the Talkative Middle-Aged Woman walked toward Jeon Yu-rim. Something about the sight looked dangerous, for reasons I couldn't name. Jeon Yu-rim seemed to be in real danger, and I wondered what the hell Jeon Seok-woo was doing. If it was his little sister, he was supposed to be viciously protective of her. But Jeon Seok-woo was half gone. He clutched his head and just kept repeating please spare me.

In the end the Talkative Middle-Aged Woman reached Jeon Yu-rim, pulled her into an embrace, and shoved those eyes — wet with seeping discharge — up close to ask.