Harem Bus Driver (3)

Fuck, this goddamn defense mechanism.

A curse, straight from the depths of my soul.

I barely managed to swallow it down, pulling her closer.

“Uh, it’s a bit… you know, out here. Should we go to the bedroom?”

*

Base Camp, Area A of Gate 71.

The building was a stack of connected shipping containers. On its highest floor was the team leader’s bedroom.

One wall of the bedroom was a large window, offering a view that looked down upon the base camp and the alien world beyond. The very act of ‘looking down’ on something seemed to grant a subtle sense of power.

And right now—

Schlurp, slurp.

I gently stroked the head of the woman kneeling on the floor before my bed, diligently sucking my cock.

She licked me as if savoring a piece of candy that was exquisitely sweet but fragile—very gently, yet at the same time, greedily.

When my cock filled her mouth, her tongue rolled over it like a marble. When it slipped out, she would let out a breath she’d been holding before capturing it again with her lips, her tongue tracing circles around the tip.

This was different from what Yu-hwa had done for me that one time.

After a long moment of this intense stimulation, a coordinated assault of her mouth and hand, she moved on to my balls.

While her hand continued to gently squeeze my shaft, she took my balls into her mouth one by one, licking them with a wet, sticky tongue.

“Hnngh…”

Hearing my groan, she looked up at me.

She gripped the base of my cock and let it swing back and forth, tapping it against her own cheek.

She gave me a slight smile, her eyes still locked with mine as she pushed my cock back into her mouth.

Then her gaze drifted downward again.

The thought that my cock was inside the mouth of the woman who had been talking and laughing with me just moments before… and she was going at it so earnestly, almost diligently—

“You’re good at this…”

Her head paused.

She looked up, pulling my cock from her mouth with a wet pop.

“…Am I?”

“Yes.”

“So, just with my mouth today?”

“…”

“Just kidding.”

I was momentarily flustered. Just with her mouth… the stimulation was something else… no, never mind.

She stood up and began to undress.

Her clothes had hidden a figure that, while not on Seo A-gyeol’s level, was still quite curvaceous. A tattoo of a pink rose with black thorns was visible on her pale skin.

She perched on the edge of the bed and watched me for a moment before lying down on her stomach, getting into position from behind. Then, she suddenly drew her legs together and sat up.

“But before we do this, can you make me a promise?”

“What is it?”

“That you won’t abandon us during this mission.”

“…What?”

What was she talking about?

“I’m just saying… just in case. Sometimes… people get left behind if they’re deemed no longer necessary.”

A thought suddenly struck me. So this was the real reason.

“Of course, I don’t think anything that serious will happen on this mission, but still.”

“Has someone… left you behind before?”

“There was a time, on a guild mission, when we had to escape quickly. The gate was beyond my capabilities, and I fell behind. Luckily, I managed to get out on my own.”

She swept her hair back.

“Of course, everyone was happy to see me when I made it out. They said they were sorry they hadn’t noticed I was missing. But I saw it. The moment they saw me emerge from the gate, I saw the look of panic in their eyes.”

“Why would you even go into a gate that was beyond your capabilities in the first place…?”

“…”

Her silence brought a certain piece of common knowledge to mind.

What kind of Awakeners could join an expedition into a gate that was far above their own rank and capabilities?

Healers.

Of course, they tried to match ranks to some extent, but a healer’s rank was usually determined less by ‘how strong they are’ and more by ‘what they can do.’

They weren’t needed for direct combat, and if a situation ever arose where a healer had to fight, the team was already screwed.

In any case, a healer joining a high-rank gate expedition was like a healer in an RPG taking on a boss far above their own stats.

So, in that game, which healer would be the most popular?

The one with the highest stats? The one with the best control?

No.

It was the healer with a girl’s voice.

(Not that it guaranteed they were actually a girl.)

If their abilities were more or less the same, people would choose the healer whose pretty voice they could listen to while playing. It was a simple preference.

The same applied to Awakeners.

All else being equal, when picking a healer, they chose the good-looking ones.

After all, what they could do was fundamentally similar, and healers were basically just tagging along on the expedition without much risk of getting hurt.

Of course, for truly dangerous gates, they wouldn’t care about looks and would just take the most skilled healer. But it was the same in games, too.

Think it’s strange? That’s just how the world works.

People are far more faithful to their desires than you might think.

And in a game, you can just log off. You don’t know each other’s faces, so the interaction never goes beyond their voice.

But what about a gate expedition?

You have to spend time in a space completely cut off from the outside world, with no internet. And given that healers lack combat prowess, they are in a situation where their lives are literally in the hands of their teammates.

The bottom line was that good-looking healers, regardless of gender, received a disproportionately high share of the rewards after a gate expedition.

A much higher share than a healer would get compared to a damage dealer in a game.

But this reality didn’t just apply to healers.

The Expedition guild’s missions were high-risk. Usually, if a guild owned a gate, their main objective was ‘management,’ not ‘exploration.’

While ‘management’ was certainly less dangerous than ‘exploration,’ the constant tension of not knowing what might happen was stressful. And when you spend all that time cut off from the world without internet—

They would bring people into some gates who weren’t combatants, but weren’t healers either.

Because people are far more faithful to their desires than you might think.

Couldn’t a C-rank be considered a combatant?

Sure, in a gate meant for C-ranks.

Her… proficiency came to mind.

“Fine… I promise. I picked a place where nothing dangerous should happen in the first place.”

“…Thank you.”

“But, is this why you did all that?”

“That… I’m sorry. I didn’t think this place was dangerous, but I couldn’t help feeling anxious. …Here’s a condom. I found them in the storage room.”

…I’d seen them too. Whole boxes of them. Anyway.

She tore open the wrapper and rolled it onto me.

Seeing that, a sudden surge of resentment flared up inside me.

Why was I feeling this way?

Was it the sense of betrayal, realizing a team member who had seemed so loyal didn’t actually trust me?

Was it the displeasure of being treated like someone who had to be seduced just to get a straight answer?

Or was it simply… lust?

Caught in a swirl of emotions I couldn’t name, I spoke with deliberate playfulness.

“But you’re the one who needs this from me. Why should I be the one to wear a condom?”

I had seen it.

Next to the boxes of condoms, there were just as many boxes of birth control pills.

Yeah. I was a little pissed off, and I was also turned on.

“…You think so? Sorry if that upset you. Do whatever you want. There are pills here, too.”

She lay back down on the bed, once again assuming the position.

Her crevice, exposed.

Something glistening within.

I slid a finger inside and stirred it around.

“You could have just asked for that promise when we were all having dinner earlier. I would have given it to you.”

“…I’m sorry about that.”

“Forget it.”

I pulled off the condom and pushed myself inside her.

*

The sight of her wiping herself between her legs with a towel was starkly explicit.

“It’ll keep… coming out. Don’t worry, I’ll take a pill.”

“…”

“And don’t worry, the others won’t be like this.”

She gathered her clothes and got dressed, pausing just before she left the room.

“It’s not like I didn’t have other intentions when I suggested we drink… but that wasn’t the main reason. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Sleep well, Team Leader.”

I watched her close the door behind her, then lay back on the bed and shut my eyes.

*

The next day, we continued clearing out Area C.

The method was simple: eight Enhancement-types worked in pairs, clearing snow in four directions. When they spotted a monster, I would take it out with a fire arrow from my central position.

As the work was winding down, one of them approached me.

“Um… Ms. Ji-yeon?”

Kim Ji-yeon. The youngest of the eight. Same age as me.

“Yes.”

“What’s the matter? I thought I said to stick to your pairs.”

“We’re almost done anyway.”

“Still—”

“Team Leader.”

“Yes.”

“Did something happen with Yoo-jin last night?”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t play dumb. Just because you have a high rank doesn’t mean you can intimidate people like that.”

“…What?”

“Last night. You met with her one-on-one and—”

“No, what did Yoo-jin tell you?”

“I know even if Yoo-jin didn’t say anything. She came back when everyone else was asleep, looking so miserable—”

“Aaaah!”

A snow mole bit Kim Ji-yeon’s partner and started to drag her under the snow—

Before it could, a fire punch, carried by my arrow, struck it, killing it instantly.

“Ah, for fuck’s sake. I told you to hold your positions.”

Shouldn’t you be more careful when you have a low rank?

I ran over and checked her condition. It looked like only her leg was injured.

Thankfully, the rest of her was fine.

Damn snow mole. It hid itself well over there.

“Ugh, I think my leg is broken.”

“Then let’s get a stretcher—”

“Luckily, I have self-healing, ugh—!”

“Whoa…? You can set your own bones like that? Well, since the bone is set and you have self-healing, let’s just apply some disinfectant. Medical supplies, get me some disinfectant.”

“Oh, I left it behind.”

I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Then while you’re going to get the medicine, bring a stretcher too, just in case. I think there’s one in each area, so you can grab one from B. Where’s the disinfectant?”

“I think I left it in A… I’m sorry.”

I took a deep breath and let it out.

“It’s going to take some time. Can she wait that long? I seem to remember the snow mole’s saliva has something in it, so we should hurry. Or should one of us carry her back to base camp?”

“The bleeding needs to stop first, and moving around too much during self-healing is difficult…”

“I’ll go.” “Me too.”

Lee Yoo-jin and Oh Ha-yeon volunteered.

“We both have ‘Homeostasis,’ so we can take off our heavy clothes and get there and back quickly. Team Leader, you handle any monsters that approach from here.”

“Alright. I’m counting on you.”

Lee Yoo-jin and Oh Ha-yeon took off running toward the base camp.

The rest of us got back to work.

Fortunately, we were nearly finished, so Kim Ji-yeon, now without a partner, tended to the injured woman.

“I’m sorry, unni…”

Kim Ji-yeon was biting her lower lip hard.

What do you have to be sorry for…

But there was no need to make our relationship any worse, so I just said, “Let’s clear up this misunderstanding back at base camp.”

“…”

The fact that the two of them didn’t return, even after more than enough time had passed, was a problem for later.