Ch.30Catharsis 6

“…”

The sound of a lighter flicking echoes across the table.

It’s a habit Jeksa often did in her office.

Eventually, the sound grows fainter.

Then it disappears completely.

Instead, the table chair moves.

“Seems like no one’s here.”

Her heels strike the concrete floor.

As those sounds fade, my heart once again loses hope.

Jaehee then explores my body more boldly.

Her fingers dig between my bra.

She continuously kneads my firm breasts.

As if surrendering to that hot sensation, my breasts soften.

The idol girl breathes heavily, savoring the feeling.

Perhaps intoxicated by the pleasure, she moves her body and accidentally kicks a lime with her foot.

Jeksa’s footsteps stop, catching that momentary sound.

Soon, her footsteps grow louder as they approach the counter.

That’s it.

Finally…

“—!”

That’s when it happened.

The moment the inn’s entrance door violently shook.

And the moment my last shred of hope completely crumbled.

Jeksa stands frozen, staring toward the door.

In that instant, Jaehee pulls me deeper into the shadows.

“Is this the place?”

A voice I recognize from my memories.

And I know who he is.

The man Jaehee feared.

He brought two people, a man and a woman, into the store with him.

“This scent—. It’s definitely our Jaehee’s.”

The middle-aged councilor deeply inhales the aroma permeating the store.

Then he shivers in ecstasy.

“Sorry, but it seems we’re closed for the day.”

Jeksa says coldly to them.

“Is that so? No matter. I don’t particularly have business in such a cheap bar anyway.”

The councilor loosens his tie with feigned nonchalance.

“Then what brings you to the bar? Even bringing such fierce rankers with you.”

“I’m looking for someone. About half a head shorter than you, younger, more fragrant…”

“Haven’t seen her.”

The killer cuts him off, seemingly disgusted by the man’s explicit description.

“That can’t be. This smell is definitely Jaehee’s. Can’t you sense it even though you’re right in the midst of that smoke?”

That’s right.

Come to think of it, Jeksa must clearly smell this crazy fragrance right in the middle of it…

Why is she the only one unaffected?

“Is there such a thing? I don’t really notice anything.”

Jeksa calmly lights her lighter.

Then she puts a straight cigarette between her lips.

The councilor boldly enters the store.

But he soon hesitates at the intense fragrance emanating from the counter area.

Instead, he calls out in a kind voice.

“Jaehee— It’s Councilor. I’ve come to get you. It must have been hard since Chairman Lee died?”

When he asks as if coaxing a small animal, Jaehee curls up her body.

She was trembling.

“At this concentration, Jaehee must be in a very good mood. The more excited she gets, the sweeter her peach scent becomes.”

The councilor wears an ecstatic expression as if reminiscing about memories with her.

Then he orders the hunters to investigate behind the counter.

“Councilor, at this concentration, we can’t enter either.”

The male and female rankers refuse in calm voices.

They exude composure and professionalism.

“Come on, and you call yourselves rankers…”

The councilor clicks his tongue as if finding them pathetic.

Instead, he asks Jeksa, who stands there blankly.

“Would you check behind the counter for me? I think she might be hiding under there.”

“Me?”

“I’ll give you a suitable reward if you find Jaehee.”

The councilor stands on his tiptoes, desperately trying to peek behind the counter.

But Jeksa snorts at his proposal as if finding it ridiculous.

Apparently, the councilor doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.

Her, an executive of Ilshim whom the Association is so vigilantly watching.

Jeksa places her cigarette butt on the counter.

Then she leisurely peeks her head in the direction he mentioned.

“…?”

Soon a dark shadow falls over Jaehee and me.

At last, I could face Jeksa whom I had missed so much.

I plead with my lips.

“Save me.”

Jeksa’s eyebrows furrow involuntarily at the sight.

Me lying there with my uniform completely undone.

The girl pressing against me with her skirt half removed.

Even the sight of her thin hands working their way inside my underwear.

The scene seems quite disconcerting even to Jeksa, a killer.

When Jaehee meets Jeksa’s red eyes, she hides her face with my hair.

Then she presses her body closer to mine, shyly concealing her exposed breasts.

I feel the sensation of flesh pressing against flesh.

I curl my legs like someone caught watching adult videos by their older sister.

Despite clearly being the victim.

Jeksa responds by calmly relaxing her expression.

Then she raises her head to look at the councilor.

“Well, is she there?”

The councilor asks with confident eyes.

But the answer from the killer was completely different from his expectation.

“No, there’s nothing.”

The councilor furrows his brow at her composed face.

Then he completely loosens his already loose tie.

“This won’t do. I’ll check for myself.”

The councilor strides into the store corridor.

Then Jeksa asks him with drowsy red eyes.

“What time is it now?”

The councilor makes a dumbfounded expression at the sudden question.

Then, remembering the watch on his wrist, he lowers his head.

“It’s midnight?”

“The store is closed. So come back tomorrow or something.”

The councilor’s expression distorts upon hearing Jeksa’s words.

“Then who are you to be here? Are you the owner or something?”

“Well, since I already own 80% of this place, I guess that’s right.”

Jeksa smiles slightly.

Seeing that smile, the councilor falls into deep thought.

Eventually, he straightens his distorted face.

Because he understood her intention in refusing so indirectly about something that had nothing to do with her.

“Ah— I see.”

He smiles slightly like Jeksa.

“Women are so difficult.”

The councilor removes his thick watch.

And lightly tosses it on the table.

“It would be better to just be honest, but they always have to make things complicated.”

His sleazy voice becomes quite serious.

Like when he handled women in private rooms.

“Move.”

Jaehee hiccups in response to that voice.

Thanks to that, the intensified pheromones begin to gradually fade.

In contrast, Jeksa’s face remains serene.

Her red eyes stare fixedly at the councilor.

The councilor’s thick chin trembles at that eerie color.

Such a bizarre gaze was a first for him.

A face as if reptilian eyes were embedded in a woman’s body.

But as a councilor of the Association, he cannot back down either.

He raises his hand and signals to his security hunters.

It’s just one woman after all.

He thinks he handles women better than anyone.

But that arrogant thought will end today.

The two hunters approach Jeksa.

They wrinkle their noses at the unpleasant scent but soon focus on their opponent.

The man is a swordsman.

The woman is a spear master.

Both are rankers.

“I remember those red eyes. Rank 85, Jeksa, was it?”

The swordsman asks.

“Association rankers, huh. You make a good living following a councilor who lusts after minors.”

Jeksa mocks them with her arms crossed.

The woman with the spear cuts in as if to refute this.

“Is there still law left in this world?”

“Right, there isn’t. Thanks to that, people like me live too comfortably.”

Jeksa shrugs with a pleased expression.

The two rankers charge.

To subdue the disrespectful rank 85 ranker.

The swordsman’s blade aims for Jeksa’s head.

The spear warrior’s blade points toward her side.

But Jeksa doesn’t move.

She just stares straight at their approaching trajectories.

In that fleeting moment.

Someone drops from the ceiling and stomps on the sword.

Someone rises from the floor and grabs the spear.

“That’s right, I’m just a low-ranking ranker at 85th place.”

Jeksa puts her palm to her face.

Then she strongly grips her facial features.

She tears at the flesh.

Then a familiar face comes into view.

It’s the male dummy that Anna had sliced with a single stroke in the past.

From the beginning, Jeksa hadn’t come here in her original body.

“But what if all my dolls are rankers too?”

A delicate woman’s voice comes from the man’s face.

The atmosphere in the store grows chilling at that bizarre mismatch.

<Rogue, Eun Seokhyun>

Ranking: Former 61st.

Occupation: Association-affiliated killer.

<Tanker, Kang Daehyuk>

Ranking: Former 67th.

Occupation: Association-affiliated raid tanker.

<Boxer, Anton Choi>

Ranking: Former 68th.

Occupation: Association-affiliated boxing champion.

They all died in the war between Ilshim and the Association.

And now they had become Jeksa’s flesh dolls.

The reason she didn’t react to Jaehee’s pheromones.

That too was because she wasn’t Jeksa, but a human dummy.

The rankers’ faces completely distort.

Because they all know Jeksa’s dolls personally.

“Daehyuk…?”

The swordsman asks the dummy that emerged from the ground.

But the dummy gives no answer.

The same goes for the spear warrior woman.

She lifts the helmet she was wearing as if unable to believe the boxer before her eyes.

The two rankers are facing the corpses of their comrades, bizarrely woven from flesh.

“Oh my, it seems everyone knows each other.”

Seokhyun, who had been imitating Jeksa’s main body, says.

In fact, he knew them.

Because Ilshim and the Association had countless confrontations, they had investigated most Association-affiliated rankers.

And she had been collecting the corpses of all the Association rankers she killed.

“But it’s strange, if you were all comrades, where were you when they died?”

Seokhyun asks with a slight smile.

The rankers can’t give any answer.

They just look at Seokhyun with resentful eyes.

Even though he’s not Jeksa’s main body.

In response, Seokhyun says.

Very boldly.

“You probably abandoned them and fled from the war, right?”

The moment they hear those words, the rankers’ sanity snaps.

They charge at the dummies who have crossed the line.

Seokhyun gestures as if conducting an orchestra.

Then the flesh dolls all rush forward, twisting their bodies as if dancing.

Toward the comrades who abandoned them.