07. It's Mine.
07. It's Mine.
+++
Jack, who had passed out from the shock, woke up three days later.
Even though Yu Ina, who had performed the eunuch-style execution(?), had taken measures, she had only done enough to keep him from dying, so immense pain and exhaustion struck him even after he woke up.
"Ugh... ugh...."
An empty room.
They couldn't even assign a caregiver? It seemed such luxuries weren't allowed for a slave who had committed a crime and received punishment.
He lay there in a daze for a while, then suddenly snapped to attention with an "Ah!" and lifted the blanket and his pants to check his lower body.
His precious male part had clearly burst from defying his master... Could it possibly have been a dream?
A faint sliver of hope.
It had been too agonizing to possibly be a dream, but the distant despair drove him to escape into denial.
"..."
But that lasted only a moment.
His penis was visibly and unmistakably gone.
And it wasn't just like regular castration where only the balls were removed? No, even the essential rod was gone.
Hope crashing down with a wajangchang.
His lips went completely dry.
"That's too much... I didn't do anything wrong...!"
Anyone could see the doll was the one at fault.
Hadn't he spewed horrific things like calling a girl who had just come of age a Sperm Receptacle?!
That was the wrongdoing—how could pointing it out be the crime?
He felt utterly wronged.
Seething rage condensed in his chest.
A feeling so natural as a human.
But so impure as a slave.
Even looking at the grotesquely mangled area, he was still burning with anger. And that was precisely the cause of his wound....
Dalak.
As he quietly stewed in his rage, someone opened the door and entered.
It was a fellow slave dispatched as Sihwan's slave.
"You... you're awake!"
"Yeah...."
He was carrying a basket of cold water with a towel draped over it, so it seemed he had been nursing him.
So they hadn't really tried to kill me after all.
A strange sense of gratitude.
Of course, the anger hadn't faded.
"I really thought you were a goner."
"...What happened to Luna?"
At Jack's question, the man's face twisted as he sat on the chair by the bed.
"Still on about Luna? You haven't come to your senses?"
Then he soaked a towel in water and tossed it at Jack's face.
Pak—water splashed everywhere.
"Give it up, man."
"..."
Jack bit his lip and wiped the water from the tossed towel.
His face was full of dissatisfaction.
"And just so you know, don't even think about talking back to the master again. This time you'll really die."
Quite a lot had happened during the three days Jack was unconscious.
First, since this was a major incident where a breeding-capable male slave had lost his sexual function, it was reported to Yu Ina's home family by her, and the family immediately issued a warning measure.
It was called a "warning," but it was effectively declaring that Sihwan and Yu Ina had full say over his life or death, putting Jack's fate completely in the couple's hands.
Additionally, the 'couple rule' among slaves was pinpointed as the main cause of this insubordination incident, sparking discussions of sanctions on couple rules once again.
"C-couple rule is getting banned?"
"It's not confirmed, but it's looking that way."
"N-no... why...?"
"...You crazy bastard, you asking because you don't know?"
"..."
Jack hung his head.
Even he wasn't that stupid.
If you delved deep, he had a ton to say, even thinking he'd done almost nothing wrong, but on the surface, summing up the incident: 'One male slave caused insubordination because of the female slave he liked.'
From the master's perspective handling slaves, it was an outrageous affair, and banning things like the 'couple rule' as retaliation and prevention was a predictable next step.
"I heard the home family guys are trash-talking you hard."
"...Fuck."
They had reason to curse.
They had been considerate among slaves, letting only those who liked each other have sex, but now they might be forced into orgies again—who wouldn't curse?
"And since Luna came up, during the time you were out, the master bought her."
"...What? The master... you mean... that man...?"
"Yeah."
"..."
The home family, already informed about the Gurell through Yu Ina, had been positively evaluating Sihwan's business, so they could propose a favorable plan regarding his slave purchase. Of course, it also served as compensation for Jack's insubordination. Since a slave sent by the home family had caused trouble, they had to take some responsibility.
Combining Luna and Rina for 25,000 gold, and transferring ownership of the remaining 10 female slaves—who would continue attending Yu Ina—for 90,000 gold.
Thus, they provided a total of 115,000 gold interest-free loan, and separately paid 5,000 gold as business support funds.
For reference, 115,000 gold was an enormous sum that an Academy trainee would have to breathe idly for 320 years to save—even for the Yu Family, lending it interest-free was a massive amount. If it weren't for Jack, even Sihwan as Yu Ina's husband might not have gotten it interest-free?
Anyway, all the female slaves ended up in Sihwan's hands, and he had Luna and Rina open a small canteen inside the Academy to do business.
Of course, without Ha Yeon-seo's permission.
"Yeah. They're opening a canteen in the Academy to sell those fancy Gurell cigarettes or whatever. Don't even think of going there. You've been strictly ordered to stay put here for the time being."
"Urk...!"
Jack clenched his fist hard.
The blanket caught in his hand crumpled mercilessly.
His heart burning away.
He had wanted to protect her, but in the end, she was sold to that villain(?).
"I gotta go to work now, so rest up. And forget about her. I didn't say it, but love is a luxury for a slave like us."
He left those words and exited the room.
+++
Meanwhile, Sihwan was summoned to the Chief Instructor's office again today.
"You opened a canteen without my permission?"
A canteen set up in the Academy.
There was the Factory and the warehouse in its yard, but accessibility was too poor.
Buying a building in the city to sell from would take too much time.
So he had an idea.
Build a simple structure around the Academy classroom building and open a canteen!
The main product would be Gurell, but there were plenty of other things to sell.
"Yeah. You'd like that too."
"Ha. Which part?"
"You've got 5% stake in my Factory. Everything we're selling comes from there, so 5% of the sales go to you."
"..."
"Honestly, I can take it slow. But from your position, wouldn't you want it as fast as possible? I even gave you the land."
"Aha. You did it thinking of me?"
"Something like that."
"..."
It was so absurd he could only laugh.
"You did such a~ great job. Considering my situation I never even mentioned."
"We all help each other out."
"..."
"By the way, we need to hurry with the official entrance ceremony and start classes. That's when sales will really pick up, right?"
Even though the canteen had just opened, there were hardly any customers.
And for good reason: being inside the Academy, sales depended solely on internal personnel, with about 20 instructors and only 9 A-Class trainees attending for training.
That 9 even included Sihwan and Bari.
In other words, the potential customer base was extremely limited.
Plus, the main product Gurell was very expensive, so even instructors who appreciated it couldn't buy easily, and the Noblesse Instructors buying one or two packs each was the extent of it.
Thus, daily sales were about 90 gold.
Most of that came from the Noblesse Instructors who bought Gurell, and they wouldn't be back for a while.
"Well, yeah. That'll change soon. How many days left?"
Yeonseo just smiled.
"What does that matter? You hung a huge placard at the entrance, used some random building for the shop. Of course sales won't go up."
"You think?"
"..."
What was with this guy?
Did he not get the sarcasm, or was he ignoring it knowing full well?
"Actually, the canteen's a bit small right now?"
"Oh~ is it?"
"Yeah. Two slaves are running it, but it's way more rundown than I thought. So I was thinking of expanding it a bit?"
"I see. Without my permission again?"
"It's good for you too."
"..."
"Oh yeah! While we're at it, let's make the shop bigger and run buses from here."
Sihwan, struck by inspiration, kept talking, oblivious to Yeonseo's lips growing icily colder.
"A bunch of passersby will flood in soon, right? Prepping for that. There's lots of empty land—don't waste it on gardens, build a showroom there. Pull out cars by type and display them. Then run shuttle buses and taxis inside the Academy for trainees and instructors—that'll help when we do inter-city shuttles later too? The Academy becomes a landmark."
"Hmm~. You done talking?"
"Uh... more or less?"
Yeonseo let out a big sigh.
"Fine. I'll tell you what you need to do from now on."
"O. Summarizing with a plan? How nice."
She smiled coldly.
"First, demolish the canteen you built without my permission."