The Bomb

Despair, resolve, excitement, humiliation, alienation, desire for submission—

“Again.”

Despair, resolve, excitement, humiliation, alienation, desire for submission, anxiety, fear, desire for degradation—

“Again.”

Despair, self-loathing, helplessness, excitement, humiliation, alienation, desire for submission, anxiety, fear, desire for degradation—

“Wait, just a moment.”

“Hmm~? Should we go a little longer?”

“Please, please—! Hk, sob.”

Despair, self-loathing, resignation, excitement, humiliation, alienation, desire for submission, anxiety, fear, desire for degradation, confusion, bewilderment—

“Please, I’ll tell you everything, just please, make it stop.”

“Tsk—what a shame. It feels like something’s missing.”

“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything. So please, please, it hurts so much.”

As I sat up, his taut, swollen dick slid out from under me. The glans, coated in a sticky film of various fluids, was still standing rigidly at attention.

“You mean this?”

I gave the tightly swollen head a sharp flick.

“Hngh, heuk, hhh, please…”

It was just a light flick, but the sight of his hips trembling violently was hilarious.

“And, what’s inside my ass… Hk, hah, haahk, sorry, hnnngh—sorry, please, stop, ah, I’m so sorry, really, please, please! Aaaargh—!”

It felt like something was missing, so I made him pass out one more time.

He shuddered as if having a seizure when he saw my hand approaching to jolt him with electricity, but what could he possibly do?

Not a single drop of semen came out of the man anymore. No matter how I tormented his prostate or squeezed his glans, not one drop.

In the end, the act of ejaculation was nothing more than opening a door to his Innate Vital Energy at the moment of orgasm.

And now, I wondered if that door was so damaged it would even close properly. Even if it did, I suspected it would still leak.

…Should I open it one more time?

Having had my fill of pleasure from his lower half, I was now leisurely savoring the thrilling sensations that popped and fizzed within the flood.

The glistening thing looked like a sugar-coated piece of candy…

Haup.

Parting the damp fluids, my tongue made contact with his dick, and through it, I could feel his heartbeat. A little fast, isn’t it? But I could feel it.

Thump, thump, thump, thump—

Slowly, I lapped up the sticky liquid with my tongue. Most of it was tasteless, but there was a faint scent of chestnut blossoms, like a dressing.

Gulp—

An unusual throbbing from his cock.

He was cumming. Though there was no semen.

But what followed was a surge of warmth—his Innate Vital Energy, the amount of which had now dwindled not just gradually, but quite significantly.

It didn’t have much of a taste… Not that it was bad, just that there was no taste at all. It was only warm.

The door closed again—

“Get up.”

“Heuk!”

Let’s see…

Despair, resignation, alienation, desire for submission, anxiety, fear—

Hmm, much cleaner now. The list has gotten a lot shorter. Though I did have to take a much larger share of the pie.

But still, something, something was…

!!

Aha, the lust-related emotions are gone.

No wonder something felt off. I knew something was missing… Aha, hmm, I see… So that’s how it is…

As if reading my expression, or perhaps sensing the displeased twitch of my tail, the man began to plead.

“Please… If I… if I turn off my mental barrier, will you forgive me?”

“Is that what you call it? A mental barrier? Hmm, it was tricky. Of course, that’s the whole reason I came this far—”

I pressed down lightly on the neck of the man lying limply before me.

“You still haven’t turned it off? Fine. Let’s see what happens if—”

“I’ll turn it off! I’ll turn it off! I will! Please!”

In that instant, click, the man’s eyes went slack.

His unfocused gaze drifted aimlessly before locking onto my face.

Suddenly, his eyes snapped into focus, and my face was the only thing reflected in them.

And then, the flames of carnal desire began to burn madly.

Shall we see?

Desire for submission, desire for degradation, desire for exhibition, desire for self-affirmation—

It’s a little ambiguous to call it just lust—

Ah, right, I drained him down to the very root of his balls, didn’t I? Well, then. I suppose that’s possible.

“Can you tell me everything now? I think you might be a little more… honest.”

“Yes… Ask me… anything.”

Good. Nicely groomed.

This is exhausting work.

*

“Sorry, am I a little late?”

“What happened?”

I explained the situation to Yoo Ha-jin, relaying the information I’d obtained while interrogating(?) the man from the back alley.

The core of that information was—

“My brother, you mean my eldest brother tried to drug you, A-gyeol?”

“Well, it seems that was his plan to eliminate me from the succession battle.”

“How absurd—”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

“Oh my, what’s wrong with this person?”

It was the second son’s aide, his hands and feet bound and a gag in his mouth. They’d tied him up well.

Thwack!

“Shut up.”

“No, it’s fine. Let’s untie him and see what he has to say. We caught him to hear him out, after all.”

Once freed, the aide blurted out,

“Our, our young master, the second son, was also drugged like that!”

“Is that so? But, to be honest, I suspected as much. From the moment I found out the eldest was trying to drug me… My goodness, to think he’d lace the entire alley with drugs just to get to me…”

“Exactly! That eldest son, that madman who would drug his own brother, must never become the guild master! That, that vile man, never!”

“But isn’t the eldest son’s approval rating the highest? Ha-jin here has the old guard behind him, but your side has already lost all its support, haven’t you?”

“That’s—”

“From the sound of it, you haven’t even been able to formally raise the issue. Do you have any proof? If I haven’t heard about it… well, I haven’t been active here at Yua Dokjon for long. Ha-jin, have you heard anything?”

“Only in passing, through gossip rags… But they disappeared right away, so I don’t remember anything major.”

“See? Of course, I have proof, but if your side sees me and claims a succubus did something, it’ll just become a nuisance.”

And it was true that I had done something.

And while the information was specific, the most crucial details were bound by a contract, so I couldn’t hear them. It’s not like a major guild would handle things carelessly…

“I heard one of the eldest’s men talking. They said they were the ones who provided the drugs.”

“If you put it that way, haah… they’ll just say the second son is trying to pin the blame for his drug use on his brother. And when did you hear this? Surely not at the Oasis, right? How would you explain sneaking in there?”

“Dammit, but to just let this go.”

When did we get so close that he’s acting this familiar with us? This is the guy who got caught spying on us and was held captive.

“Well, shall we form an alliance? If we throw this out there as a joint accusation from both brothers, it should at least buy us some time.”

“Buy time? Ha! It’ll certainly do that much. You bitch—”

Thwack!

“Watch your mouth.”

“I’m touched, Ha-jin.”

“Keuk. Anyway, what I was trying to say is… you can’t trust a man who would drug his own brothers to become guild master. Anyone who’s ever entered a gate with someone knows this, right? The trustworthiness of your comrades is more important than anything.”

I turned my head to look at Yoo Ha-jin.

“He’s right. It might… actually be effective. If I contact the elders and arrange a large meeting to reveal this, who knows what might happen. How would a man who drugs his own brothers treat the people under him?”

Alright, let’s say things go well and people stop trusting the eldest son.

What then?

First son: Turned his brother into a drug addict.
Second son: Is that drug addict.
Third son: Is fooling around with a succubus.

…

This is a total, um…

Man, their father would weep.

Or maybe not? Is it the father’s fault for failing to raise his children properly?

In any case, I couldn’t just stand by and let him get away with trying to turn me into a drug addict.

Sure, thanks to my skills, the drug had little effect on me, but who knows what tricks a person with that much animosity might pull later?

I had no choice but to toss the bomb and hope he gets screwed.

…If things get messy, I should probably avoid transforming for a while.

*

And so, the bomb went off.

It detonated amidst a sea of flashing cameras and a wall of reporters.

Whether that bomb would destroy the first son, the second and third, or all of them, who could say?

Watching the situation unfold as Lee Han-gyeol (I planned to lay low as Seo A-gyeol for a while…) was amusing.

Somehow, it all felt so distant, like it had nothing to do with me…

“What are you looking at?”

“Ah, Han-yul. Long time no see. It’s an article about the Yua Dokjon succession battle.”

“Ah, that? It’s a total shitshow, isn’t it? Are they insane? How can you offer drugs to your own brother?”

The bomb had been meticulously detonated through the combined efforts of the second and third sons.

Since Ha-jin’s backing came from the guild’s elders, it was easy to make the bomb bigger using things like the connections of people brought in through preferential treatment for former officials, or the personal accounts of retired Awakeners (with added lessons on camaraderie, brotherly love, and trust).

“I know… They’re real bastards.”

“But how do you think our Guild Master will choose a successor?”

“Our Guild Master? From Elemental?”

“Yeah. I’d hate for things to get messy like that. The Guild Master’s generation is starting to retire, aren’t they?”

“…I don’t think she’s planning on retiring.”

She was still flying around the Spirit World, full of vigor. Honestly, I was starting to think she wasn’t even human anymore…

“…You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

“There’s talk that we’re going to start choosing a successor soon. Everyone’s been talking about it lately.”

“Really? So suddenly? Why?”

“Why do you think? It’s because of that shitshow of a succession battle over at Yua Dokjon. Besides, our Guild Master doesn’t handle much of the guild’s administrative work anyway, right? There’s even talk that stepping down would be more beneficial for her.”

…Is that so?

“You really haven’t heard? That’s strange… I thought for sure you would have.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because you’re a rising star.”

“Huh? Me? Since when?”

“Stop pretending you don’t know! …You really don’t know anything?”

“N-no. I told you, I’ve been a little busy lately.”

Busy turning the Yua Dokjon succession battle into a shitshow… But I didn’t expect the fallout to reach all the way here.

“Ah, you’re A-rank, right? Government certified.”

“That’s right.”

“Then maybe they haven’t come for you yet?”

“Who’s coming?”

“A few people have been coming around to measure the Awakeners’ combat power. From what I hear, they’re starting with government-certified B-ranks.”

“All government-certified B-ranks?”

“Yeah. That’s why it’s been so noisy. Anyway, an A-rank came to see me. Since I’m a government-certified B-rank… I guess someone one rank higher comes to evaluate you.”

—For A-rank and above, the evaluation process becomes much stricter. It’s outside the government-certified standards that provide a baseline, so to evaluate an A-rank, the evaluator must also be A-rank or higher.

That’s what the staff member told me when I reached A-rank.

Are people who are really one rank higher coming to see us?

“So, does that mean S-ranks will come for me?”

“Nah, no way. You know how busy they are.”

“I guess you’re right. Then maybe some of the top A-ranks will come… Do you happen to know what they measure?”

“For me, they just looked at my elemental control. But I heard it’s different for everyone. That’s why everyone’s saying Elemental is finally getting serious.”

“What about the Vice Guild Master? We have a Vice Guild Master, don’t we?”

At my words, Han-yul jumped in surprise. He glanced around nervously before whispering quietly.

“…You can’t say that out loud.”

“Why not?”

“Why do you think? What does it mean when they make a big fuss and screen everyone like this? It means they’re not happy with the Vice Guild Master.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. There are a lot of bad rumors, you know? About the Vice Guild Master’s son, too.”

Right, that bastard Jung Ji-hoon.

An adult whose hobbies included bullying, drugs, and orgies.

I’d have to find a day to deal with him, too.

“Anyway, that’s why everyone’s in an uproar. People are saying this could be their chance, and all that.”

“Aha…”

“If you get a chance, cut me in for a little something, alright?”

“…? Sure. If a chance ever comes, that is.”

*

The chance came sooner than I thought. A lot sooner.

“See, they came, I mean, she came, didn’t she? Hello.”

“Hello. I see you were with Han-yul. You’re Lee Han-gyeol, correct?”

“Ah, yes. It’s been a while, Secretary.”

The Guild Master’s secretary had come to find me.