The Trojan Horse (2)

“Whoops, you caught me~.”

I wonder what gave it away?

The Innate Vital Energy I was draining? The killing intent I’d hidden with lust?

When he was fucking me from behind like that, he couldn’t see the Um-mun on my lower stomach.

Thanks to that, I got to suck it all up, nice and sweet.

Should I try seducing them in the cat pose next time? So they can’t see the Um-mun?

Maybe it was the aftereffect of having his Innate Vital Energy drained so suddenly, but the Chinese man staggered back, one leg wobbling.

His dick, still hard and dangling, was pathetically dribbling semen. What a waste.

Anyway, this was my chance.

Smack!

A straight punch landed right in his face.

Is he going down?

Oh! He’s not down!

Impressive that he didn’t fall.

I had no intention of letting this chance slip by.

I followed up with a roundhouse kick. As the Chinese man staggered and dodged, I used my kicking foot as a pivot and spun into another roundhouse.

Crack-!

It slammed into his side. I thought I felt a rib crack.

The Chinese man muttered something under his breath—probably a curse—and gathered magic throughout his body.

Soon, his muscles began to glow like obsidian—

‘Nashan.’

Flash!

“Kuaargh!”

Before he could fully transform, I summoned the lightning spirit and struck him with a thunderbolt.

While he writhed from the shock, I manifested my horns and wings.

I spread my wings wide, activating their passive skill, ‘Intimidation’, to its fullest. My body was already strengthened by ‘Body Enhancement’—its level boosted by the effect of my horns.

On top of that, I wreathed myself in the fire and lightning granted by ‘One Soul, Two Minds, Two Bodies’, linking me to my Elemental Mage side.

“…!”

I rushed him, moving quickly so he couldn’t scream and alert his subordinates.

“Such loyal subordinates.”

Boom! Crackle—

“Leaving their boss all alone to have his fun.”

Whoosh— Fwoosh—!

If he dodged my fist, I’d strike him with my wings.

If he dodged my wings, the spirits would strike him.

“Kuaargh! $%&~!”

I could faintly make out the word ‘ppangtzu’ here and there.

“Stop.”

He flinched, but didn’t stop.

What? There’s no way ‘Devil’s Whisper’ is this ineffective.

He ducked under my kick and formed a blade with his hand, which then extended like a sharp obsidian knife.

“Stop.”

Ah, now he hesitates.

Thwack!

I brought my leg down in an axe kick, smashing my heel into his head, which had frozen below.

At the same time, flames leaped onto him, and fine currents of electricity danced across his skin.

“Hwaaaah-! $#^&^%-!!”

Damn, he’s tough.

I had no choice but to release my transformation.

“???”

His eyes widened at the sight of me instantly turning into a man.

In that moment, a death beam struck him between the eyes.

His eyes rolled back in his head, but he didn’t seem dead yet, so I fired another death beam.

This time, it hit his still-erect dick.

His dick, still dripping semen, took the death beam like a lightning rod.

Thump.

And just like that, he was dead.

….

It seemed no one was coming up despite the commotion.

First, I transformed back into Seo A-gyeol.

It wasn’t just because two naked men together would look strange—though that was part of it—but because Lee Han-gyeol was supposed to be in a prison cell right now.

Of course, the person lying on the bed under my robe was that Chinese woman from earlier.

The guard had simply fallen under my suggestion after a few of my ‘whispers’.

After leaving the cell, I’d been thinking of looking around a bit in Seo A-gyeol’s body, but then I heard the boss had arrived and came to meet him right away.

To be precise, I’d planted the suggestion that ‘I am a woman to be offered to the boss,’ but hey, we met, didn’t we?

[Magic Power: 1265+1024]
[Essense: 73326/251861]
[Innate Vital Energy: 1000+662/1000]

Truthfully, I didn’t get to drain much Innate Vital Energy. Maybe about 130?

If he hadn’t noticed, I would have quietly drained more, but he caught on right away. A shame.

As for Essense, his dick slipped out mid-cumshot, and then I burned through a ton of it using Body Enhancement and spamming death beams, so my net gain was less than 2000.

Such a waste, such a waste.

He was a pretty strong Awakener, too.

By the way, close-quarters combat against an Enhancement-type Awakener of the same rank, or even one slightly below, is definitely tough.

I won by taking advantage of his confusion to strike him with an electric current that restricted his movements. Then, I used ‘Devil’s Whisper’ to place a weak hypnotic suggestion on him, preventing him from reacting properly. Finally, I quickly reverted my transformation and ended it by firing a death beam of highly condensed lightning energy into his face.

It was difficult to finish the fight as Seo A-gyeol the succubus, so in the end, I had to resort to becoming Lee Han-gyeol the Elemental Mage.

It was a bit of a cheat, in a way.

…But who cares? I just have to kill the only witness to shut them up.

Anyway, about ‘Devil’s Whisper’… does it barely work if the target can’t understand the language?

Do I have to use the global common language, English, when using ‘Devil’s Whisper’ on foreigners? What a pain.

“Hmm~.”

In any case, the clean victory had me humming to myself.

“Anything worth taking?”

I glanced around and something caught my eye.

A feather.

No matter how I looked at it, it was one of Yu-hwa’s feathers.

…She was captured!

If she was captured, it was highly likely that the rest of the team, who were trying to heal the victims and get them out, were also caught.

Did they kill them?

No, probably not.

Judging by the fact that they went to the trouble of bringing this feather here, they probably intended to use our team’s safety as a bargaining chip to negotiate with us.

Right, they did say they wanted to negotiate. They’d want to bring as much as possible to the bargaining table.

…I need to find them, fast.

First, cleanup. I laid the naked Chinese man’s corpse on the bed and covered it with a blanket.

You just blew a few satisfying loads and fell asleep exhausted. Got it?

Rummaging through the desk, I found a stack of documents written in Chinese and a few rather expensive-looking magic stones.

No need to take them now. Carrying them would just be cumbersome. I can always come back for them later.

I put the ragged clothes back on. The texture of the fabric felt coarse against my bare skin.

These were the clothes the Chinese woman had been wearing earlier. I’d asked her to trade them for my robe.

A lot of the women here were wearing them. Of course, the way those women were treated… it was hard to watch.

Well, what do you expect? It’s a human trafficking den; of course there’s going to be prostitution.

Some men had approached me when they saw my clothes, but they backed off when the person guiding me said I was an offering for the boss.

…Can I go out like this? I feel like men are just going to swarm me again.

Even these coarse, rough rags couldn’t completely hide my figure.

It wasn’t for nothing that those men flocked to me earlier.

…A game of tag, 1 vs. 100?

I mean, I could just drain the Innate Vital Energy from anyone who gets caught, without a second thought for their life… but more than anything, that would take time.

Checking on my teammates’ condition comes first.

Draining Innate Vital Energy can wait.

I searched the wardrobe, pulled out a rather luxurious-looking robe, and put it on. I’ll just say the boss took a liking to me and gave it to me.

Click.

I opened the door and stepped out. No one was there. Such deep loyalty. You’d think someone would be eavesdropping.

Works out for me, though.

I hope the first person I run into is Korean. The suggestion skill seems much less effective on the Chinese.

I walked on and saw a guard standing up ahead, with the Chinese man who’d guided me earlier chatting beside him.

He looked bewildered when he saw my robe.

Why do you think your boss gave me his robe?

…I mean, I killed him and took it, but someone who doesn’t know my power level might just assume the boss was smitten with me and gave it as a gift.

What kind of boss gets killed by a prostitute?

And that’s what I was counting on.

“Korean, I bring.”

The Chinese guide said in a flustered, broken Korean, and soon brought over a Korean man.

Probably… an E-rank Awakener.

“I heard you needed a guide… Ahaha…. Nice to meet you.”

He kept glancing at my robe.

Before following the guide, I used body language to tell the guard that his boss was sleeping.

Since I was the last person to see him, I could be identified as the culprit when the body is discovered.

Of course, I am the culprit, but being identified as such would be a huge pain. So I’m trying to delay the discovery for as long as possible.

The guard nodded. You got that? I’m leaving.

I followed the guide.

“First off… do you know where your quarters are?”

“My quarters?”

“Ah, did the Director… tell you anything separately?”

“No, not really.”

“I see… Then where should I take you….”

He seems to think I’m going to be living here.

Sorry, but I’m interested in something else.

“By the way, where are the gates here? Tell me.”

“I can… tell you. There are three gates leading to China, and one to Korea-”

He went on to explain.

This place was a trade route connecting three regions in China, and its main industry was human trafficking.

All three gates were well-hidden, making them optimal for secretly transporting ‘goods’.

Therefore, they had spent a great deal to clear out the monsters, and this place, the headquarters, was where they managed both the monster extermination and the trafficking.

The gate to Korea was managed by a separate organization that wasn’t directly involved in the trafficking, but cooperated by blocking access from the Korean side.

“I belong to that organization.”

“I see. But didn’t you say some people were captured today?”

“That’s right. They said it seems like another gate opened somewhere else. The first two who massacred their way in are in prison, and the group that was caught later will be used to negotiate with those two. Those two are so strong they basically walked into prison willingly, so they want to use the hostages to make them leave.”

“Oh… Just make them leave?”

“They said they’d try to appease them if possible… but will that work? They’re probably just hoping for them to turn a blind eye.”

“Turn a blind eye, you say….”

“You know, keeping it a secret, that kind of thing.”

“In any case, the rest of the group is alive, right?”

“Yes. They said their lives aren’t in danger. They can’t risk those two going berserk if they kill them… They’re probably keeping them asleep.”

“Asleep?”

“Yes. They said they put a potion in a humidifier to make them sleep, since it would be a pain if they resisted.”

“I see. Okay. Can you tell me where your gate is?”

“Our gate? You mean here, or on the Korean side?”

“Both.”

“I can’t tell you-”

“Tell me.”

“I’ll… I’ll tell you. Follow me.”

I followed him as he walked, looking somewhat dazed (which was natural, since I was continuously placing him under suggestion).

“By the way.”

“Yes. I’ll… tell you.”

“Have you ever… felt any pangs of conscience while assisting with the human trafficking?”

“Conscience? I feel it sometimes… but not that much.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes. The pay is pretty good for the work… and in the case of the women, if you’re lucky, you can get a taste before they’re sold off.”

“I see. I get it. Good. That’s great. Then… is there anyone here who does feel pangs of conscience about this?”

“Well, there are some people who look down on it. Bunch of softies. If they had a conscience, they shouldn’t have come to a place like this in the first place. In my opinion, it’s all hypocrisy, all of it.”

“I suppose you’re right. Ah, is that it over there?”

“Yes. We’re almost there.”

“Then, could I step outside for a moment? The Director told me to go out and buy anything I needed.”

“Ah… right. The Director did say that. I’ll pass it on.”

A guard watching the gate came out, but that was it. He glanced at my robe and let me out without a word.

“Do you need someone to carry your things?”

“I’m fine.”

…Is it really okay for it to be this easy?

I stepped outside and looked around. This place also seemed to be an abandoned factory.

It’s hard for a gate to go unregistered if it opens anywhere other than a place like an abandoned factory…

There were guards here, too. I used ‘Devil’s Whisper’ to plant another suggestion. It worked again.

“These guys are sloppy…”

I asked a guard for the address. With empty eyes and a blank face, he obediently told me.

“Thank you~.”

And just like that, I had the address. Through my conversation with the guide, I’d also learned about the overall situation and their current status.

[Sub-trait: Telepathy
-Skill (A): Telepathy Transmission (Lv.1)
-Skill (P): Telepathy Reception (Lv.1)
-Skill (A): Block Telepathy Reception (Lv.1)]

‘Can you hear my voice? Tell everyone to gather at the address I gave you.’

So, what’s next?

Invasion.