Capture
What came from that hateful monster's mouth was the curse laid upon Seona.
Yurin seized hold of a mind that felt ready to shatter at any moment. The succubi who had been watching from the Gate behind her began to move, and she settled into a fighting stance.
Succubi — the same species as Miel. Yet they looked back and forth between her and Miel with open hostility. They did not seem to be on Miel's side. If anything, they felt closer to enemies.
While she was still weighing the situation, Miel shouted.
"I think we should deal with those things behind me first, then talk!"
Yurin had no idea what she would do if the monsters behind her and Miel attacked her together. One thing was certain, though — they did not appear to be allies. Trusting her instincts, Yurin activated her acceleration ability, kicked off the ground, and swung her blade toward the monsters. Even so, she kept a portion of her senses trained on the presence behind her, braced for the chance that Miel might strike.
Yurin's ambush shot forward like a bullet. The succubi failed to respond properly to the sudden acceleration. They paid for it with their necks. In a single instant, thin red lines were drawn across two throats, and a heavy sound thudded against the earth.
Watching it, Miel thought,
She's so much stronger than before… strong enough now that I couldn't even be her match.
But she was not worried. Seona's life hung on her — Yurin would not do anything reckless. Or so she believed.
Yurin glanced once at the two headless monsters collapsed at her feet, then turned away as if they no longer interested her. The Gate was still open — closing it came first. Years of hunter life had drilled combat knowledge and Gate experience deep into her bones; she felt no particular difficulty. The moment the Gate sealed, the fog nearby began to lift.
At the same time, she looked toward Miel and Seona. In Yurin's eyes, Miel's movements had gone still, as if she were in agony.
An overwhelming pressure had begun to crush Miel's entire body. Ever since the fog cleared, her flesh had been failing her. The fog had been a substance that, for demons like her, took a form similar to the air of the Demon Realm — even mixed with Earth's atmosphere, it had helped her adapt to some degree. Now that it was gone, her condition was deteriorating at a terrifying speed.
She could not put proper strength into her limbs. She was reduced to the state of a dying elderly demon, or a child. In the end her grip failed, and she had no choice but to drop Seona onto the ground. The impact that ran through Seona's body transmitted itself straight into Miel's own. Combined with her rapidly collapsing condition, the shock knocked her unconscious.
Seona, too, lay motionless.
Yurin looked down at the two of them, loaded both into her car, and drove off somewhere. The corner of her mouth had curled upward, as if something amusing had just fallen into her lap.
Yurin had never forgotten the ninety-eight days of humiliation Miel had inflicted on her.
When the Gate first opened and she saw that hateful monster, she had almost believed she was hallucinating or dreaming. The idea that Miel — the creature who had tormented her in every nightmare — was standing right in front of her had been impossible to accept. And then the shocking revelation from Miel's own mouth, that something like a curse had been placed on Seona, had filled her with rage. Even so, she could not kill her. She had considered endless torture — beating Miel to the brink of death and healing her again and again until her own lust was satisfied — but the risk of harming Seona had been too great.
Once, Yurin would not have cared if Seona got hurt. But the devotion Seona had shown her when they were dragged into the Demon Realm had been enough to rewrite Yurin's entire sense of value. That was why, when they tried to leave the Gate, she had not forced Seona out against her will — the danger of injury had been real. She had tried to persuade her with words, to escape together. Instead she had fallen for Miel's scheme, and only she herself had made it out of the Gate. That had been roughly a year ago.
Driving now, Yurin kept replaying the moment she was first dragged into the Demon Realm. Fury kept surging up, but she mastered it. The thought that it was finally her turn to repay everything transformed that rage into sadism. She looked at Seona, asleep in the passenger seat with the seatbelt fastened, and felt her heart ease a little. Then she checked the rearview mirror for Miel. In the corner of the glass, Yurin's own sadistic expression was reflected with perfect clarity.
Miel's whole body felt heavy, but a cold liquid slamming hard against her face dragged her out of sleep. Seona felt it too and woke. Both of them tried to move — and found their throats constricted.
Around Miel's neck: a steel collar linked to a steel chain. Around Seona's: a cute little collar of the kind large dogs might wear. The ends of both collars were fixed to opposite walls.
The master bedroom of Yurin's house connected to a single bathroom — the place she had always carried Seona into to wash her after taking her. Simply putting Miel in a space like that was enough to make rage boil up, but Yurin swallowed the anger into something almost pleasant, picturing the entertaining scene she was about to stage.
Seona sat against the wall facing the bathroom door, a long leash trailing from her neck, her expression blank with incomprehension at the situation she found herself in.
Yurin had done this for one reason only. She still remembered how Seona's brainwashing had broken, just before they left the Gate, because of something she herself had done. That memory — humiliating and heartbreaking in equal measure — had been far too vivid to forget. Even a year later it stood before her eyes as if it were happening again.
The plan began with this: she would undo the brainwashing on Seona with her own hands. And she would keep that bitch away from her — separate them completely. Even if the brainwashing broke, if Seona went back to that creature's side, she would only be brainwashed again. Kind Seona would almost certainly pity even that succubus. Yurin had no other choice.
It was not unlike how she herself had once been chained to a wall by both wrists when she was first dragged into the Demon Realm. The difference was that this bitch, unlike Yurin back then, would receive none of Seona's devotion. They faced each other across a single door. If Yurin simply shut the bathroom door, that creature would not even be able to see Seona's face — would not be able to confirm anything, no matter how freely Yurin took her.
That was the thought running through Yurin's mind. And yet she considered herself rather merciful. At the very least, she was willing to let Miel hear the sounds of her and Seona having sex. She did not want to share Seona's pleasured face or those sounds at all — but as a special act of mercy, she would allow Miel to hear the sounds of their lovemaking. It would also serve to drive home, deep in Miel's heart, that Seona belonged to her.
Seona, still under the brainwashing, would resist and claim she hated it as she was taken — but if Yurin steeped her in drugs the way she once had, until even her heart surrendered, she would surely return to that blissful expression. Recalling the way Seona had felt everything so intensely while drugged made Yurin feel good herself. If both of them felt good, what else was that but love?
With that thought, she spoke to the newly awakened Seona.
"Seona… you've had it hard, haven't you?"
"Who are you…?"
Seona was already feeling the choke of the collar around her throat. Looking at the woman who had spoken to her, she could not place who she was.
"That bitch put a brainwashing on you, so you don't remember. I'll undo it soon… Seona."
Yurin pointed behind her. Seona's eyes found Miel. Her face went pale as she stared. How twisted — a steel collar and chain fixed her to the wall.
"Unnie!! You crazy bitch — let my unnie go! Aaaah!"
Seona thrashed wildly, screaming curses at the woman who had imprisoned them.
"Seona…"
The sight hit Yurin like a physical blow. Whether the brainwashing had sunk that deep, Seona was calling Miel unnie. She did not properly remember Yurin at all. And the devotion that should have been pouring onto her—
Somewhere in Yurin's mind, an old trauma stirred. It was exactly like the first time she had entered the Demon Realm. Herself chained to a wall. Seona devoted to her. And Miel toying with them both. Now every piece of that picture had been reversed.
"Hah… hah… hah…"
Her breath locked up, then tore out of her in ragged gasps. It felt as if she could no longer control her own lungs. Everything was wrong. She knew, intellectually, that Seona was under a brainwashing — but her heart could not accept what she was seeing. Seona's love had always been hers.
Feeling the pain in her chest, she moved toward the bathroom door in a fury. Then, with a cold, twisted expression and the faintest lift at the corner of her mouth, she looked at Miel.
Miel already knew what was about to happen.
"Ah— no, stop! Seona's mind is unstable right now — if you touch her the wrong way, she'll break!"
"She was already broken the moment you brainwashed her! I'm going to put Seona back the way she was. No — only I can do it!"
Yurin, fully inflamed, slammed the bathroom door shut with a voice thick with rage. Then she started toward Seona.
Seona watched her approach, breathing hard, trembling with dread and fear. Hot tears began to spill from her eyes without her willing them. She might have been a virgin — but she already had a terrible sense of what was about to be done to her.