07. It's Mine.
07. It's Mine.
"What... did you say...?"
Jack stuttered at the mind-numbing remark.
"You heard it perfectly, so why bother asking again? I've always wondered. Why do humans keep repeating pointless questions like that?"
"...No matter how much we're slaves... how can you say something like that!"
"See? You heard it all."
He vented his belatedly surging anger almost like a shout, but Bari was utterly indifferent.
Her cold, glaring red eyes seemed to say, 'What are you gonna do about it if a loser like you gets mad?'
"And there's a problem with your wording. 'No matter how much ~' is something only someone with at least minimal rights guaranteed could say, right? Bark when told to bark, lie down when told to lie down. Hell, you slaves have to die when told to die. So that kind of talk doesn't suit you."
"Bari-ssi! Stop... just stop... Jack, you go inside too."
"Luna! Aren't you mad? No matter how much we're... no matter if we're slaves... this is too much!"
Of course Luna agreed.
No, beyond agreeing, she was the most upset.
How could she feel good when someone was openly calling her a Sperm Receptacle and such?
But she knew her place well.
No matter what anyone said, and no matter how bad she felt, she was a slave, and slaves had no rights whatsoever.
Yuina treated her well, but that was because she saw Luna as her pet, not as an equal by any means.
She even tagged 'for a human' onto her husband Ryu Si-hwan, which showed exactly how she viewed humans.
"I said stop it!"
"Is it defective? I can't see it having a slave's mindset at all."
"This!"
"Jack!"
"Hey, stop it!"
Jack was getting more and more excited,
and Bari was provoking him.
Unable to watch, Luna and the other two slaves tried to intervene, but it was already too late.
The commotion had gotten quite loud, so a new slave was walking over.
For her, who should be serving in the dining hall right now, to come over meant the noise had been that loud.
Luna's heart sank.
"What the hell happened?"
The approaching slave was Rina.
Slightly younger than Luna, she had passed 15 years and 11 months. With just a week until adulthood, she was often mentioned alongside Luna as a set.
"I heard everything."
Whether trying to downplay the severity or whispering on purpose, she glanced at Bari and Jack, who anyone could see were the cause.
"But... this person...!"
"Jack! I said stop."
"Yeah. If you're slaves, accept your fate like slaves should."
"You...!"
"Why are you getting mad? I was just warning you out of concern. What's so uncomfortable about it?"
"No, you...!"
"It's confirmed that Master will buy Luna-ssi soon, and he'll buy the rest of the female slaves as he has the leeway. And naturally, slaves owned by Master shouldn't be touched recklessly by you all owned by the Yu Family. Even if the female slaves are made to serve Yuina-ssi as is."
She drew a cold line.
Jack gradually shrank back from her perfectly logical words and the gaze that made goosebumps rise on his skin as his body flushed red.
"I was just giving precautions to the newly arrived slaves, and reacting this sensitively is ridiculous. Did you even get proper training?"
Jack felt wronged.
And frustrated.
Even if Bari was right, the language she used was way too vulgar.
Sperm Receptacle in this world.
It was a decadent term he'd never heard even in his harsh slave life.
Even as an outsider, he felt this insulted and ashamed to even lift his face—how must Luna feel?
He had to get angry.
That was the right thing.
But as an uneducated slave, Jack struggled to find the right words to retort.
'Daring to treat Luna... like that!'
Still, he had to do something.
After finally reuniting with Luna... if he backed down now, she might really end up as a 'Sperm Receptacle' in some horrific way.
'Not that... absolutely not...!'
He knew it was impossible.
The constraints of being a slave weren't light.
But he couldn't back down. Couldn't just let it slide.
He shouldn't.
Fortunately, Yuina was known among slaves for being surprisingly affectionate despite appearances, and she was fairly warm toward them (especially the female slaves).
So maybe it was possible?
If she found out this woman had referred to Luna with that horrific term 'Sperm Receptacle,' maybe she'd take some action?
Such hopeful delusions swirled in his head.
"Y-you insulted Luna!"
"Jack! I said stop! What are you all doing? Take Jack inside quick!"
"Yeah. Let's go!"
Even as two men grabbed his arms and dragged him toward the room, Jack stiffly resisted.
His obsession with Luna reignited fiercely.
"Hey, lower your voice! I said everyone can hear!"
Rina was still whispering as low as possible.
"I didn't insult Luna-ssi. I just described her life insulted by fate. Is there a more accurate word to explain a female slave's life?"
"What sophistry!!"
She wasn't admitting any fault at all.
Jack screamed in disgust and rising fury.
The more he did, the more Bari's lips curled coldly upward, but Jack, half out of his mind, didn't notice.
In the end...
"Why is it so noisy?"
The mansion's owner appeared.
She must have stopped in the middle of dinner, as her displeasure was plain on her face.
"Bari, what's going on?"
And Sihwan appeared right behind her.
The slaves' faces, including Luna's, stiffened.
Things had gone south after all.
Luna pressed against the wall with deep worry, pulled Rina's sleeve to have her stand beside her, and Bari returned her glowing red eyes to normal.
"I was just giving precautions, but this one is overreacting too much."
"Precautions?"
"That's not it!!"
Jack, full of pent-up grievance, shook off the two slaves and knelt before Yuina and Sihwan.
"Miss! Master! Please hear me out!"
"Speak."
Jack explained the situation in his clumsy way.
He'd been happily reuniting with Luna after so long when Bari suddenly showed up and, in warning them not to touch Luna and the female slaves, used terms like 'Sperm Receptacle.'
He stuttered midway but got the point across somehow.
"What. That's all it was?"
"..."
Sihwan's reaction was indifferent, but Yuina frowned.
"They're all slaves of our family—since when did you get the authority for that?"
"Master likes virgins."
A blunt, out-of-left-field answer.
But he got the gist.
"That's your business. It doesn't give grounds to interfere with our family's rights."
Jack felt relieved.
With the mansion's owner putting Bari in her place instead of his own pathetic speech, it was more satisfying than he could ask.
Hope bloomed that he might protect Luna if things went well.
But...
It wouldn't end there.
"So what. She can give warnings."
"Does this look like just giving a warning?"
"Even if not, they're coming as my slaves anyway? And Bari's like my secretary. She speaks for me, so she can give the new slaves a talking-to. I was gonna leave management to her anyway."
"...True. You're not the type to handle management yourself."
"Yeah, that's it."
"But even so, it's a problem. Why act like you've already got Luna? And telling them not to touch the other female slaves because you'll buy them? Isn't that thinking too much from your own perspective?"
"Then is it right for slaves to hook up with each other regardless of the family's plans?"
"What nonsense. I never said that."
"You didn't say it directly, but it's no different in effect. Bari was advising the livestock not to forget their place and hook up with each other."
"Hah. What brilliant logic."
"Even going a hundred steps back, if acting like Luna and the female slaves are already yours is wrong, her advice itself isn't. Preventing slaves from playing love games with each other is basic policy, right? A slave's loyalty and love should always be directed at their owner."
"..."
Yuina sighed.
Sihwan was annoyingly good at sophistry, so winning with words was tough.
'What, what? That makes sense?'
At the resigned sigh, Jack's heart dropped.
Even Yuina, whom he'd trusted...
It was so obviously Bari's fault to anyone... and things were going this way?
Fresh injustice surged, and resentment toward his new owner, Sihwan, swelled.
He felt like an idiot for ever admiring the guy even briefly without knowing his true nature(?).
Grip.
His clenched fists trembled.
As things progressed, unbearable rage welled up.
"H-how can you say that..."
Maybe that's why—he blurted out his thoughts unasked.
"What?"
All eyes turned to him instantly.
Even feeling a deep sense of crisis in one corner of his mind, he kept talking.
"You... expressed Luna... like that..."
"Jack...!"
"With such a horrific term... Luna...!"
His voice lacked strength, but he clearly conveyed what he was thinking and wanted to say.
"What is this? You're saying Bari's in the wrong now?"
Sihwan frowned.
Already a huge minus for being a male slave, and now disrespecting Bari without knowing his place?
It went beyond anger to sheer absurdity.
"See, that's exactly why they say no hooking up between each other."
Amid that, Yuina nodded as if convinced.
"I get your feelings, but know your place and the timing. A slave daring to bare teeth at their owner?"
A slave was just a slave.
No matter how unfair, absolute loyalty was required.
Jack surely knew that.
But love for Luna was making him cross that line.
"Yeah. That doll insulted my precious Luna. So? What business is it of yours?"
"That's..."
"Whether that doll insults Luna, or my husband rapes her, that's for me to get pissed about—not you to worry over."
At the coldly drawn line, Jack felt emptiness along with extreme rage.
Not his business?
So he should just sit still while Luna suffered such an insult?
Just endure his beloved woman being violated because she's a slave??
What the hell was Luna, some object????
"Jack! Apologize quick!"
Meanwhile, Luna, stuck to the wall, broke out in cold sweat and urgently told him to beg forgiveness.
The incident had happened, so punishment was unavoidable, but she hoped Jack wouldn't get severely disciplined.
The other slaves chimed in with her.
But Jack wouldn't budge.
Instead, like a stubborn mule, he defiantly lifted his head, demanding what he'd done wrong.
His eyes burned with rage.
'Even as slaves...! There's a limit to enduring!'
"Wow. Look at that glare. Seems like it didn't get any education, huh?"
Sihwan's incredulous remark made Yuina's expression turn even icier.
From now on, Bari's actions were irrelevant.
That was in the past; what mattered now was this insolent slave's insolence.
Daring to look up at his sky-like master and miss with those eyes. Was he sane?
"Eyes down?"