Waking Up from Dad & Mom's Nightmare

I was once again painfully aware that I was being held captive alone in a hotel room. The last person to drag me here had definitely been Hye-ji. On top of that, she'd left her own phone behind and taken mine. I wasn't sure if it had been planned or just an impulsive decision.

At that moment, Piece spoke to me.

'You could've just stayed gone this time.'

A strong sense of futility washed over me at the thought that I couldn't leave. I flopped down on the bed and started recalling exactly how I'd ended up trapped here while staring at the ceiling.

Right before Hye-ji completely lost consciousness, a blurry human figure began to appear in her mind.

"...! ...!"

The words weren't clear. All she could faintly make out was that someone was desperately shouting something. She slowly focused on the figure and the voice.

Then—

"Hye-ji! It's your father! Hye-ji, stand up!"

She recognized who it was. Kim Baekhong. Hye-ji's father.

Kim Baekhong was urgently shouting at the fallen Hye-ji.

"Your opponent is Kim Shinu! The Kim Shinu who killed your father!"

"D...Dad?"

"Stand up! Stand! Get up right now!"

Even though she knew it was fake, it was the image of someone precious to her. But she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was already exhausted. It felt like she would lose consciousness any second. There was no strength left in her body. For a moment she wondered if it might be easier to just give up.

"Stand up and kill Kim Shinu right now!!!"

"Shut the fuck up, you piece of shit!!!"

She snapped back to her senses immediately. She swung her fist with all her might at the illusion's face, and a slight stinging impact traveled through her hand.

'......Huh?'

When she regained her senses again, what came into view was Shinu rubbing his face. He looked utterly shocked, clearly not having expected the current situation at all.

"That spicy punch definitely belongs to Hye-ji."

It had happened at the perfect timing. Just as Shinu was about to reach out toward Hye-ji, she'd thrown her punch. Since he hadn't expected any attack whatsoever, Shinu had been caught completely off guard by the sudden ambush.

He still hadn't recovered and was staring with a dumbfounded expression. In response, Hye-ji stood up and activated her stun gun instead of answering.

- Crackle!

"......Is this really Hye-ji?"

As if to prove she was awake, Hye-ji was menacingly operating the stun gun. She rolled her shoulders like they were a bit stiff, tilted her head, and looked at Shinu. He'd been worried that someone else might have disguised themselves as her, but—

"It's me, you son of a bitch."

"Yeah, it's Hye-ji alright."

The moment he heard her answer, Shinu immediately accepted it. He let out a sigh of relief and spoke to her again.

"Are you alone?"

"Yeah, still single."

"No, what the fuck."

It was definitely Hye-ji. But the stun gun was so out of character for her image that it gave Shinu a sense of dissonance. Still, there was an even bigger question on his mind.

"How did you wake up?"

From Shinu's perspective, Hye-ji had taken a direct hit from the stun gun. A normal person would've definitely passed out. Hye-ji looked at the questioning Shinu and answered calmly.

"Dad told me to wake up in my dream."

"Fuck, you really are the general's daughter."

Anyway, the situation hadn't improved much. Shinu quickly tried to escape the scene. However—

- Tight squeeze.

"......I'm screwed."

Something was binding Shinu's arms and legs. It was a very familiar object. Elsia's white thorn vines.

"Elsia? Can you let me go?"

Shinu urgently looked around for Elsia, but she was nowhere to be seen, probably hiding carefully. To make matters worse, the butterflies Elsia had suddenly manifested were fluttering around and messing with his vision.

"I'll forgive you if you come out now. Come out quickly."

But Elsia's figure still didn't appear. Shinu let out a short sigh. Then he threw out some bait to make her pop out.

"If you come out, I'll dump all the money I've saved into Elf Coin."

"Yes! Here I am!"

Elsia had taken the bait and appeared in no time. Shinu spoke to her as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she stood there grinning from ear to ear, clearly overjoyed.

"I need to take out my phone, so can you come a little closer?"

"Yes! Of course! My husband finally believes what I say!"

Elsia quickly approached Shinu. Then—

- Bam!

"That hurts!"

"Let me go already, you idiot."

Shinu had moved his head and headbutted her. He'd controlled his strength and hit her gently, but Elsia kept rubbing her head like it really hurt. Even so, she didn't release him. Instead, she manifested even more thorn vines to restrain his body so he couldn't move at all.

"I absolutely won't let you go!"

"Mom..."

Just then, as if telling him to give up, Hye-ji was slowly walking toward Shinu. With pitch-black eyes fixed on him, she activated the stun gun in her hand once more.

The crackling sound sounded more ominous to Shinu than ever before.

"It's going to sting a bit, Shinu."

"...I don't think it's going to end with just a sting?"

Hye-ji didn't look like she had any intention of stopping. This was a real crisis. Right before Hye-ji thrust the stun gun forward, Elsia approached Shinu with a bright smile and said,

"Husband! If it hurts, please raise your hand!"

"Why raise my hand? Are you going to let me go?"

Looking closely, the way Elsia's bindings were arranged was precisely designed to allow Shinu to raise his hand. He'd held onto the faint hope that she might release him midway.

When Shinu looked at her with expectant eyes, Elsia spoke excitedly.

"That way it'll be easier to move you after you pass out later!"

"You fucking bitch."

With those words, Shinu's hopes melted away like snow. At the same time, Hye-ji thrust the stun gun forward.

- CRACKLECRACKLECRACKLE!!!!!

"KYAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

Shinu let out a bizarre scream and passed out. Even so, following Elsia's words, he had fainted with his hand raised high toward the sky.

Once Elsia's restraints loosened, Hye-ji caught Shinu as he started to collapse.

"Let's go. To the Room of Truth."

And so Hye-ji and Elsia dragged Shinu off to the hotel they'd already secured in advance. With strange, unreadable smiles on their faces as they licked their lips.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Even thinking about it now, it hurt like hell. At least it had been relatively gentle compared to Hye-ji's usual firepower, which was some small comfort.

'Are you a fucking kid? Is Garrosh your chicken or something?'

Hye-ji wasn't answering any more of my texts. She was probably busy blocking all the succubi trying to contact me through my phone.

Clinging to a sliver of hope, I decided to ask for help from the outside. Specifically, my mom, whose number I still had memorized.

I calmly dialed the familiar number on the unfamiliar phone and made the call. Unlike when I called from my own phone, Mom picked up right away.

- "Hello?"

"Mom. It's me, Shinu."

However—

- "You fucking Joseon bastard! I told you to stop with the voice phishing!"

"No, what the fuck."

Picking up the phone and giving a friendly response were two completely different things. Within seconds of starting the call, she clearly didn't believe me at all. At this rate it looked like Mom was about to hang up, so I hurriedly continued.

"I'm calling from Hye-ji's phone right now! Check the profile in her friend list!"

- "If you're lying, you're dead, you son of a bitch."

A moment later—

- "It's really you?"

"I told you! I said I was calling from Hye-ji's phone!"

But Mom's suspicion didn't stop there. If anything, her tone grew even harsher than before.

- "You Joseon bastard! You've kidnapped Hye-ji!"

"...Isn't it possible that I just have Hye-ji's phone?"

- "Don't give me that bullshit!"

Mom answered my words firmly. Before I could even refute her, she continued.

- "There's no way Shinu and Hye-ji are close enough to be swapping phones already!"

"What makes you so sure, Mom?"

She spoke with unshakable conviction. At this point I was starting to feel seriously wronged. Did she really think her son couldn't even manage to date someone?

'Shut your mouth.'

But Mom continued as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

- "That Shinu bastard doesn't even have the intelligence to notice when someone likes him!"

"......"

- "He's just a fucking idiot!!! Even Choco is smarter than him!!!"

'You fucking bitch.'

That one actually hurt pretty badly. It was hard to even argue against it. Because it was true.

But Mom's verbal abuse didn't stop there.

- "You motherless Joseon bastard! Let Hye-ji go right now!"

"That mother is my mother, you know."

- "I'll give you Shinu, so give Hye-ji back!"

"Don't start a prisoner exchange, for fuck's sake."

Mom was treating her own son way too harshly. Then she let out a deep sigh and spoke in a slightly resigned voice.

- "Let's say, for the sake of a hundred concessions, that you really are Shinu."

"Don't make concessions, just please believe me."

- "So where are you right now?"

For a moment, I was at a loss for words. But there was no other choice, so I decided to tell the truth.

"......Well... I'm at a hotel in the Healing Succubus Korea Branch."

At that moment, Mom let out a horrified shriek. I was startled too. It was the first time in my life I'd ever heard her sound so shocked.

- "You son of a bitch, you're taking Hye-ji to a whorehouse to sell her?!"

"It's not like that, fuck!!!"

- "I am definitely going to kill you! Say Xi Jinping, you bastard!!!"

Before I could even answer, Mom hung up. Hearing the disconnect tone, I just wanted to give up on everything.

At that moment—

"Shinu, have you been behaving yourself?"

"Husband! It's time for judgment!"

Hye-ji and Elsia entered the room.