Ch.26Catharsis 2

My heart races wildly.

I tried to suppress the pounding sound while clutching my chest.

But my body, seemingly preferring to obey Jaehee rather than me, began to thrash even more violently.

The idol girl casually enters behind the counter.

Taking advantage of my breathlessness, she carefully examines the display shelf.

She pulls out a crumpled note and compares the names of alcohols written on it.

The note was quietly labeled “Bucket List.”

“Unni, what’s the strongest drink you have here?”

“…”

I don’t answer her question.

I’m barely supporting myself with my hands on the table.

Seeing my condition, Jaehee shrugs and selects the bottle with the highest alcohol content.

It’s Bacardi 151, 75.5% alcohol.

She holds the bottle and stares at me intently.

“Are you still trying to resist? What if I release my scent more strongly here—”

Her soft hair brushes against her shoulders.

A seductive aroma rises from her hair, stimulating my nose.

Thanks to that, the bridge of my nose turns peach-red.

It’s okay…

I can still endure this.

I haven’t just been intoxicated by her pheromones this whole time.

I’ve been using Angelic Hand to resist in my own way.

Thanks to my leveled-up skill, I can maintain some semblance of sobriety.

But…

It’s merely resistance.

How could I completely block an A-rank hunter’s ability…

“You’re holding up quite well? Usually people collapse in front of me and try to lick my feet…”

She ostentatiously shakes her hair.

Visible red mist begins to float in the air.

The intense color makes my throat burn involuntarily.

If I breathe that in, I might really collapse.

I staggered, trying somehow to escape from behind the counter.

But it was useless.

Jaehee blocks my path with dance-like, graceful movements.

Then she asks with a sly smile.

“Suffering?”

I can’t understand Jaehee’s behavior at all.

Is this something a celebrity who appears on TV should be doing?

She’s reckless, like someone with no tomorrow.

“Haven’t you changed your mind yet?”

“…”

She pinches my apron string with her well-manicured nails.

“What matters more—some fine, or your life right now, unni?”

“My life…?”

Can pheromones really kill someone beyond just causing excitement?

When I ask, she extends her palm as if inflating a balloon.

“My pheromones usually just give you a sensual feeling, but when I maximize the concentration, they can make your heart explode.”

Jaehee speaks as if she’s burst someone’s heart before.

Her words completely trampled the plan I had been carefully maintaining while suppressing my excitement.

So there’s nothing I can do after all…

I let out a big sigh in resignation.

“Fine… I’ll do it.”

“Really? Thank you so much.”

With a shameless smile, she hands me the Bacardi.

I barely manage to take the bottle with trembling hands.

“I looked it up, and that alcohol is 75.5 proof. I’d like you to make a cocktail with it.”

I nodded, barely supporting myself against the bottle on the table.

Satisfied with my response, the idol girl gracefully returned to her seat.

“Now, begin.”

Jaehee held up her phone.

“It would be easier to make if you removed the pheromones.”

“That won’t do. If you become clearheaded, you might run away. Stay excited like that.”

The idol girl chuckles and remains firm.

Then she starts talking to her phone as if speaking to someone.

“Hello fans! Today is my last broadcast. To commemorate, I’ve come to Moment, the hottest bar in Sindorim these days—”

She points her phone camera at me.

The screen captures a bartender breathing heavily with a completely stretched white shirt.

“This is my closest bartender unni, Siho! She’s going to make a super delicious cocktail for Jaehee today.”

The idol girl brazenly continues her live broadcast.

A minor idol openly filming herself drinking alcohol.

Strange.

Is this something someone would do in their right mind?

“Why does unni look like that, you ask? Ah— she says she just came from being with her boyfriend.”

She whispers to her phone with a broad smile.

“Isn’t it touching? She gave up her happy time with him just for me…”

I couldn’t respond to her dirty joke.

The bar was still filled with pink mist.

“How nice. Being able to date someone you like. Right?”

She fell into her own delusions, knowing nothing about me.

It’s quite ridiculous.

I exhaled deeply.

I can see pink air escaping from my mouth.

Have I already inhaled a lot of pheromones without realizing it?

Get it together.

I place a liquor glass on the table, eyes wide open.

Let me show this kid the bitter taste of adulthood.

The “strong cocktail” she so desperately wanted.

I place clear, angular ice in the glass.

Then I stir lightly with a bar spoon to chill the glass.

Next, 2 ounces (60ml) of golden rum.

1 ounce of Amaretto with its sweet almond aroma.

And 1 ounce of tangy lime juice sprinkled on top.

Gently stir everything with a spoon.

Finally, I light a prepared cinnamon stick.

I place the hazy smoke from the cinnamon over the cocktail’s surface.

Complete.

<Catharsis>

Grade: ★★★☆ (Epic)

Effect: Removes all status ailments. In exchange, makes the consumer drunk.

Information: By witnessing the tragedy and pain of others, one relieves accumulated depression and anxiety.

Drink this and get drunk.

You’ll be able to laugh happily watching your friends struggle with your drunken antics.

“Here’s your Catharsis.”

I hand over the cocktail, clutching my stretched collar.

It looks like a golden lake covered in dawn mist.

Jaehee stares intently at the beautiful scene contained in the glass.

“What’s the name of this drink?”

“Catharsis…”

Hearing my answer, the corners of Jaehee’s mouth curl up.

She laughs out loud, apparently pleased with the cocktail’s name.

“Doesn’t it perfectly match our situation right now?”

But I couldn’t laugh like her.

I just wondered if this girl had hit her head while dancing too much.

“Then I’ll drink it while watching the tragedy that’s befallen you.”

Jaehee hums as she grips the glass.

Then she drinks with confidence.

I secretly chuckled at her boldness.

Because…

“—!”

Jaehee splutters and spits out the drink.

In a manner unbelievably vulgar for an idol.

The table is covered with the Catharsis she spat out.

Drooling, Jaehee looks dazed as if she’s been hit hard on the head.

It’s inevitable.

Even mixed with other alcohols, Catharsis has an alcohol content over 50%.

What would happen if a young girl downed it in one go?

It’s a miracle she didn’t burn her throat.

I started grinning with a reddened face.

It’s satisfying to see her completely distorted after maintaining her act all this time.

“It seems the catharsis was felt by me, not you?”

Jaehee hangs her head low.

Her face is hidden by her long hair.

But one thing is certain.

Her face is too distorted to show.

Only then did I start to worry about having laughed just now.

Am I unnecessarily escalating the situation by provoking her?

Jaehee didn’t say anything.

Instead, she turned off the broadcast button she had been excitedly using.

The idol girl abruptly stands up.

Then she leaps onto the counter.

Jumping over the table in one bound, she suddenly grabs my collar.

Jaehee’s face was no longer that of an idol dancer.

“Why is this drink so strong?”

Her voice deepened as if she’d smoked a carton of cigarettes.

Her eyes grew fierce, as if she might burn me with a cigarette right now.

“Well… you asked for the strongest one…”

I mumbled, trying to avoid her gaze.

In response, Jaehee grabs my chin and forces me to look at her.

“But it’s too strong… The taste is nothing like what I expected.”

She mumbles.

The girl’s face is bright red, suggesting some alcohol did make it down her throat.

I’m getting dizzy with her clinging to me.

I tried to push Jaehee away somehow.

But I couldn’t.

Suddenly, she held me firmly and lifted her face.

“Wait a minute…”

The life disappeared from Jaehee’s black pupils.

Her cold pupils, like a deep abyss, stare at me intently.

“This soap scent. It’s the same as Lady Anna’s?”

Those words cooled my heated body.

It feels like all the blood in my body is sinking to my feet.

“You, what’s your relationship with Lady Anna?”

Jaehee’s eyes flash at the mention of Anna, as if under a spell.

As if she’ll kill me if I don’t answer immediately.

“There’s no… relationship.”

Jaehee gives a subtle smile.

It’s not a smile because she finds the situation amusing.

Nor is it a smile of trust because she believes what I said.

It’s a smile of pleasure… imagining how to kill the person in front of her.

“No relationship, you say?”

She asks, looking at my sweat-soaked white shirt.

But I couldn’t answer that question.

I just cross my arms, bothered by the bra visible through my white shirt.

I truly don’t know anything about her.

The only connection is that I saved her when she was being chased by a ranker…

Though I do feel awkward about sleeping together yesterday.

But since we really just slept, that also counts as no relationship.

While I’m thinking this, Jaehee puts her arms between my armpits.

Then she hugs me tightly and starts pushing me backward.

I was eventually pushed against the shelf and hit it hard.

Limes on the shelf fall to the floor.

“Don’t lie. Tell me everything you know about Lady Anna, everything—”

Jaehee starts emitting very thick and sticky pheromones while holding me.

She buries her nose in my collarbone and takes a deep breath.

The idol girl’s warm breath caresses my chest.

I shuddered all over from a stimulation I’d never felt before.

That maddening stimulation changed my body.

A plaintive moan escapes me, something I’d never done since being possessed.

But that’s just the beginning.

Drool drips from my mouth.

My body feels so wet and hazy that I can’t even notice it.

My legs give out and I collapse to the floor.

She follows me, bending her knees, and lies down with me on the counter floor.

Her long hair fills the floor.

“You’re an idol… if I die, how will you continue your activities…”

I barely managed to mumble.

But Jaehee doesn’t care.

She just buries her face in my chest and takes a deep breath.

As if licking the lingering scent of Anna on my body.

“It’s okay.”

The red-faced girl opens her eyes narrowly, as if drugged.

And with my sweat moistening her lips, she says,

“I’m planning to die today anyway.”