Chapter 1: Founding a Guild (1)

Shit. How did he know?

Was I too aggressive?

Ugh… I’m originally a guy… Han-gyeol, you’re a guy. Did you really have to be so forward that you’d get caught? What’s wrong with me lately? Even if my trait is Succubus, does it make sense to be this swept away by it? This is ridiculous—

No, he hasn’t found me out yet.

First, I need to steel myself.

“What… what do you mean by that?”

“Honestly, at first, I just thought, ‘Wow, she’s still so energetic even after being… assaulted. That’s a relief.’”

Tsk, so that was the problem?

Next time, do a better job acting, Han-gyeol. Who tries to forget being forcibly assaulted by having more sex?

Huh? But wait, he didn’t think it was weird at first either and jumped right in, didn’t he?

“And more importantly—”

“Is it wrong that I wanted to forget? I pretended to be cheerful on purpose to forget what happened. Is that wrong?”

I channeled my emotions and went on the offensive.

“Well… of course, you can do that. Ah, please, hear me out first.”

He stopped me as I tried to interrupt.

“More than anything, the state of Ahn Ji-seok, the man who was assaulting you, was strange. No matter how hard he hit his head, a B-rank Awakener wouldn’t stay unconscious for that long. And even when I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck, he was completely limp, with no resistance at all.”

He seemed to ponder for a moment before continuing.

“I can accept that he might have passed out, but for a B-rank to have absolutely no resistance… I just can’t understand it.”

Ah. He noticed that. How sharp.

That leaves me with nothing to say. What should I do? Subdue him with Body Enhancement? No, that’s not it…

As the silence stretched on, Park Se-hyuk spoke again.

“Well, whatever the case, it’s true that Ahn Ji-seok tried to assault you, so I don’t really care that you took his magic power. In fact, you did a good thing. What I want is—”

He met my eyes.

Unlike before, when his gaze wavered just from looking at my face, his eyes were now clear and calm—

No, wait.

The longer I look, the more they’re wavering. A lot, actually.

“I want you to be honest with me.”

Ugh. So cringey.

For a moment, the thought ‘Why should I?’ crossed my mind, but it felt wrong to lie to someone who had come to me out of concern.

And it didn’t seem like he was saying that stealing magic power through sex was wrong.

It seems people on this side of the world are a bit more lenient about such things.

It might not be a bad idea to have at least one person who knows I need to acquire Essense.

Besides, he doesn’t even know that this body is a transformation, right?

Rather than getting caught covering a lie with another lie, it’s better to keep the most important lie hidden and tell the truth about the rest.

Of course, I’ll need some insurance…

“You’re right. My trait is Succubus. I gain Essense through sex and use that Essense to power my skills.”

“Ah… Then Ahn Ji-seok—”

“I can take other things, too. Ahn Ji-seok couldn’t resist because I took that from him.”

I’ll save the details about Innate Vital Energy for later.

But I can see his shoulders slumping. Is he disappointed that his suspicion turned out to be true?

“I didn’t take that from you, so don’t worry. As long as that isn’t taken, just giving Essense isn’t a big deal.”

His shoulders slumped even further.

“…Are you disappointed?”

“No? Ah, no, honestly, I am a little disappointed.”

“About what?”

“Well, I… I really thought you were feeling awful about it. Not that it’s a bad thing you weren’t struggling, but…”

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

“And I thought something terrible had happened to you, Seo A-gyeol…”

“For that, too, I’m sorry.”

Se-hyuk is a lot more soft-hearted than I thought.

I slowly approached him.

“But it’s true that something happened to me, and it’s not like I didn’t feel awful at all. I just… exaggerated some parts.”

Before I knew it, we were so close our noses could touch.

“I’m sorry about that. But to be honest—”

I met Park Se-hyuk’s trembling eyes.

“Did you do that purely for my sake? Was it purely for me… that you were so earnest, so intense?”

“That’s—”

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. In fact, it was good. That’s why I’m telling you all this. Yes, honestly, I was grateful for your concern.”

I pulled my body back, moving away from him.

“And the sex with you was good, too. I wanted to do it one more time with you, Se-hyuk—to replenish my Essense as a succubus and to express my gratitude… I’m sorry. No matter what, I still deceived you.”

With a smile, I got out of the bed. Then I turned to leave—

Thump.

My wrist was caught, and my body couldn’t move any further.

“I… It’s not that I don’t want to…”

*

[Essense: 726/10,736]
[Targets under Mark of Subjugation: Yoo Yi-jun, Park Se-hyuk]

“You have good instincts.”

“About what?”

“Figuring out that I drain magic power through sex.”

But you didn’t figure out about the ‘Mark of Subjugation’…

I needed insurance, so I had no choice.

“Ah, that.”

The innocent Park Se-hyuk scratched his head.

“Actually, it’s relatively common for Transformation-type Awakeners. For example, someone who transforms into a tree might gather water to gain magic power or mana.”

“Ah… I see.”

So it was a common thing for Transformation-types. Compared to water… Essense and Innate Vital Energy must be on a much higher tier.

“And I have one more question.”

“What is it?”

“You’re more soft-hearted than I expected. Since you’re a werewolf, I thought you’d be a bit more… savage? Ferocious? No, anyway, something along those lines.”

I snuggled into his embrace.

“Your body is like a beast’s—”

Then I grabbed that place, which was still hard despite him having just come. A heavy weight filled my hand.

“—and this is like a beast’s, and you were a total beast when we did it. Not that it was a bad thing, but I thought your personality would be more… beast-like.”

Oops, it got even harder.

“…That’s probably because of ‘Polarization.’”

“Polarization?”

“It’s a pretty important concept for Transformation-types. The personality before transforming can be different from the personality that’s suitable for the transformed state. Take me, for example. A ferocious personality is inherent to werewolves, and it’s also more suitable for them, right?”

“Right.”

“But my original personality was, as you put it, on the ‘gentle’ side… though maybe not this gentle.”

“Really?”

“…Yes. Anyway, if that personality were maintained after transforming, it would be a disadvantage for me as a werewolf, wouldn’t it?”

“That makes sense.”

“So, my gentle personality is concentrated in my pre-transformation self, and the ferocious personality is concentrated in my post-transformation self. It’s called ‘Polarization’ because the two personalities become more and more extreme.”

“…Isn’t that just a split personality?”

“Well, you could see it that way. But different bodies are better suited to different personalities. More importantly, if the two personalities aren’t ‘polarized’ but instead become ‘integrated,’ the dissonance between the pre- and post-transformation states—or more accurately, the mixing of the two personalities or personas—can cause a lot of problems.”

“What kind of problems…?”

“Well, using me as an example again, my werewolf’s ferocious nature might emerge even when I’m human. Or I might try to maintain one personality but end up wavering between ‘gentleness’ and ‘ferocity.’”

“Wavering, you mean…”

“I might try to maintain my original gentle personality but struggle with sudden bursts of ‘ferocity.’ Or, when I need to be ferocious, my ‘gentleness’ might suddenly emerge and get in the way.”

This is exactly…

“That’s why the degree of ‘Polarization’ can create a huge difference in performance, even among those at the same level.”

…Then for me…

This body is a succubus. The personality best suited for a succubus is probably…

If you can even call it a ‘personality.’

This ‘personality’ is the default setting for the succubus body, and it fills me with immense guilt every time.

Ugh… no wonder. Every time I feel pleasure, a discomfort in the back of my mind prevents me from fully enjoying it—

What am I even thinking?

In any case, the way my lewdness surges up makes me constantly wonder if it’s because I’m a succubus or if I was always like this.

Even if I assume I’m lewd because I’m a succubus, I can’t tell if it’s because I want to gain as much Essense as possible, or if I just like getting fucked and enjoy the semen…

It’s gotten so bad that even when I’m not transformed, I’m constantly checking to see if I’m getting hard looking at men while I’m Lee Han-gyeol.

To solve this, and to move forward,

I have to achieve ‘Polarization.’

Right now, the dissonance between my pre- and post-transformation selves is holding me back (way too tightly).

But from his explanation, the solution is to completely separate the two, concentrating each personality into its respective form until I no longer feel any dissonance.

I’ve even had a similar thought before.

The thought that I’d be freer if I abandoned the ‘something’ that makes me a man after I transform.

Of course, I cursed myself and erased that thought the moment it appeared.

In the end, is the answer to just ‘let go’ of my succubus self? But that’s—

“That must be tough for you.”

“Huh?”

“Well… since your trait is Succubus, you know… you might not always want to do it, and it would probably be hard to join a guild.”

“Ah… I haven’t really had a time I didn’t want to—no, that’s not it. If I didn’t want to, I could just do what I did to Ahn Ji-seok. But you’re right… with a trait like this, it’s very difficult to join a guild.”

A guild… A guild?

“Ah, should I just make one myself?”

“A guild?”

Park Se-hyuk’s eyes went wide.

“Yeah. Just an unofficial one.”

“Why?”

“I have a main job, so it’s hard for me to do things on a regular schedule. In that case, I might as well make my own guild and decide whether or not to raid a gate whenever I have free time.”

“Uh… would people join a guild like that?”

“Of course, no normal person would. The only ones who’d come would be people who desire me.”

There are a few key elements to a proper life as an Awakener.

The most important among them is a guild.

It starts simply. Since it’s hard to clear a gate alone, people team up.

Of course, in that case, the relationship between those people has to be very strong. Getting backstabbed in another world is dangerous, so numerous systems were created to reinforce these relationships, which eventually became guilds.

Wealth and honor, ambition and the drive to improve, mentors and mentees…

Guilds, interwoven with such values, have become the most powerful groups leading society in today’s age of gates.

However, in the criminal underworld, where all sorts of crimes and criminals—especially unregistered Awakeners—run rampant, those important values are bound to get twisted.

Because these are people who lack the sense of responsibility that normal people ought to have (unregistered Awakeners haven’t even fulfilled the minimum responsibility of registering), the guilds they form are held together by more powerful factors.

No, they must be.

For example, overwhelming profits from crime, or the pleasure of committing crimes itself…

“…The factor that draws people to my guild would probably be lust for me? Desire? Something like that.”

That’s even better. In that case, I can suck out their Innate Vital Energy with a clear conscience.

(Of course, I didn’t mention Innate Vital Energy when I explained, just glossed over it. He probably has a vague idea, but saying the word out loud is a bit much.)

“It’s good for me because I get to clear gates. It’s good for the criminals because they get to be with me. And it’s even better for me because, as a succubus, I can drain more from them. And since the criminals will gradually get weaker, it’s good for society, too.”

This was the conclusion I’d reached after wondering how I could absorb Innate Vital Energy without it weighing on my conscience.

Of course, it’s not like I have to absorb Innate Vital Energy the way I need Essense to convert into mana, but—

The efficiency is one thing, but the spirits just love it so much.

Guild Master Jin Harin herself said that the blood or souls of enemies were fine.

The Innate Vital Energy of criminals should be the same.

But it’s hard to go around hunting down only criminals one by one, so it’s better to create a trap that makes the criminals come to me.

Besides, it’s a trap that only catches those who feel lust for me, right? Even if they get caught, they’ll achieve their goal, so they won’t have any complaints.

The completion of a world where no one gets hurt—

Well, someone might get hurt, but anyway, it’s a satisfying world.

It’s a good idea, even if I do say so myself. What do you think?

“…Do we really have to create a guild?”