Chapter 33
The evening after I taught Cha Eun-joo how to handle a man's dick.
In the quiet hospital room, having satisfied my sexual urges for the first time in a while, I was resting in a more relaxed frame of mind.
‘Now that getting discharged is all that’s left, it won’t be long now.’
Since we had even gone as far as irrumatio, there was no reason we couldn’t have sex. If I took her on a date, just the two of us, at the right time and led her to a motel, she’d come around on her own.
That was also why I had given Cha Eun-joo a wish voucher. I called it a wish, but with Cha Eun-joo as she was now, she was bound to make one that ultimately benefited me.
She might ask for a date, a meal together, or more hypnosis training. …Perhaps she might even make a genuinely lewd request if she got a little bolder.
‘Either way, it’s good for me, so I don’t particularly care.’
Still, I had thought about how I would respond depending on the content of her wish. For example, if she made a wish as trivial as asking me to buy her a meal, I would treat it as though she hadn’t used it and let her keep it for later.
That way, Cha Eun-joo would naturally make wishes that grew increasingly lewd or brought her closer to me.
I couldn’t be one hundred percent certain, but I trusted her.
‘I wonder if she’s home by now.’
Judging by how hurriedly she had left, she probably went straight home without stopping anywhere else. Maybe she was even replaying what had happened earlier in her head while masturbating.
I hoped so. That way, she’d gradually come to think only of me, both consciously and unconsciously.
Of course, it was only an imagining of how nice it would be if things turned out that way. It wouldn’t particularly matter even if it didn’t happen in reality. It wasn’t as though pursuing Cha Eun-joo would be difficult at this point.
It was about time I started pursuing the other heroines as well. Except for Choi Mari, creating opportunities to be alone with them wouldn’t be as easy as it had been with Cha Eun-joo, but if I waited patiently, an opportunity would come on its own.
-Rattle.
“D-d-d-dinner…. I-I-I brought it….”
…Yeah, just like this.
“Thanks, Isabel. You’re always working so hard.”
“N-no…. I-it’s only natural that I do it, so…. B-but where is Cha Eun-joo…?”
“I sent her home earlier. I didn’t think making her sleep on the hospital cot for two days straight would be good for her.”
“Hk…!! I-I-I see……”
The moment she heard that Cha Eun-joo was gone, Kim Isabel grew even more tense.
She was already afraid of men, and now she was alone with a man in a cramped space, so naturally, that fear would only grow stronger.
That probably wouldn’t change even with all my limbs except my right arm bound. In Kim Isabel’s eyes, I probably looked like nothing more than a monster with its limbs tied down.
‘Actually, it was a little easier to talk when Cha Eun-joo was here.’
You only realize how precious someone is after they’re gone. I regretted ever thinking that Cha Eun-joo might get in the way of pursuing Kim Isabel, even if only a little.
At least because she had been there, I had been able to talk with Kim Isabel until this afternoon, and earlier, we had even been able to have a meal together with Han Sora joining us.
If I asked Kim Isabel now whether she wanted to eat with me, she would probably flee with a deathly pale face. Of course, I couldn’t see her expression because of her veil.
“Like I told you before, if you aren’t used to it, you don’t have to feel obligated to look after me just because I’m assigned to you. I already know that you aren’t used to men, Isabel.”
“N-no…. S-since I injured Lee Seonho, I-I think it’s only proper that I look after his wounds until the end….”
“You don’t have to feel that guilty. I wasn’t injured specifically because of you. I was just weak, so I took the hit with my body.”
“……”
Kim Isabel silently turned her head away, as though avoiding my gaze, without answering me.
What expression could she be making behind that veil? Was she feeling guilty because, despite treating me, she had instead made me uncomfortable, or was it affection for me because I was showing her a side different from the men she had seen until now?
Since I couldn’t read her expression, it was a little difficult to act boldly. It would be nice if I could at least see the shape of her mouth.
I knew from my prior knowledge that she was beautiful, but since coming to this world, I had never seen Kim Isabel’s bare face. Not counting the brief glimpse I had caught of her mouth while we were eating earlier.
‘Coming on too strongly would only backfire.’
It was already a miracle that a man who wasn’t even the protagonist had built a connection with Kim Isabel. If I made a mistake here and drove her away, all my efforts would go down the drain.
For now, the most important thing was to keep showing her that I was a ‘harmless man’ unlike other men.
…For example, even if a woman happened to seduce me, I could show her what a gentleman I was by not rashly pouncing on her.
“P-please enjoy your meal….”
“…Isabel.”
“Y-yes?!”
“…Sorry, did I startle you?”
“N-no…. M-more importantly, is there anything you need…?”
“It’s nothing in particular. I was just wondering whether you would consider trying to treat your androphobia.”
“……”
Since she hadn’t refused outright, I could take it as a positive response for now. It was in her nature to reject any kindness from a man outright.
It must have been an important issue for Kim Isabel, since even a proposal from the ‘man’ she feared was enough to draw her attention.
If it weren’t for the symptoms of her ‘androphobia’ in the first place, Kim Isabel would already have been more than qualified to become this generation’s Saintess.
“H-how…?”
“You experienced it once before, remember? Thanks to my mental buff, you temporarily became accustomed to men.”
“Y-yes….”
“There wasn’t much time then, so I forcibly applied the buff. But if you truly want to cure your phobia, Isabel, I can use it to help you. I could use the buff to temporarily suppress your fear of men, or, if you trained with me regularly, we could permanently alleviate your androphobia altogether.”
“…I-is… is something like that possible…?”
“Would you like to try it briefly, just as a test? If you’re interested, bring your head over to my right hand. Then I’ll give you the same buff I used on you in the dungeon.”
“……”
Kim Isabel stared intently at my outstretched right hand, deep in thought.
I couldn’t see her expression, but it wasn’t particularly difficult to imagine the face beneath the cloth. Even without seeing her expression, I could infer her emotions well enough from her movements and reactions.
If she brought her head to my hand like this, I would have an easier time beginning to train Kim Isabel…
“Th-thank you for the offer, but…. I-I’m sorry….”
“All right. If it’s difficult, don’t force yourself. I don’t particularly think it’s something you absolutely have to cure.”
“I-I’m not saying I distrust you, Lee Seonho. It’s just that I-I’m still a little uncomfortable approaching men on my own….”
“I know. I won’t force you to do anything, so don’t worry. All I’m saying is that I can help if you want it, Isabel. I’m not forcing you to cure it just because it makes you uncomfortable.”
“……Yes.”
It was disappointing, but it was important to act calm and unconcerned.
If I showed even a little impatience here, Kim Isabel’s wariness would increase. To build trust with someone whose psychological resistance toward men was so strong, I absolutely couldn’t rush things.
I had to proceed as slowly and calmly as possible, taking plenty of time and advancing one step at a time.
In any case, I was the man closest to Kim Isabel at this point. As long as I didn’t stumble by trying to move too quickly, there was no chance of losing her to another man.
“I’ll enjoy the meal. Thanks as always, Isabel.”
“Y-yes….”
-Rattle….
I also hadn’t asked whether she wanted to eat with me entirely for Kim Isabel’s sake.
Unless everyone was together as we had been earlier, having a meal alone with a man would undoubtedly be a burden for her.
I could take things slowly. Even if I couldn’t make any progress at all at the church, it wouldn’t particularly matter.
Once I entered the academy, various events would come up and bring us together anyway.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
Kim Isabel’s treatment sessions began three times a day, roughly thirty minutes to an hour after each meal.
Since the injuries I had suffered in the practical exam consisted of full-body muscle tears and compound fractures, healing them all required multiple infusions of holy power.
The treatment in the dungeon had only been emergency care meant to keep me alive. The priests who always accompanied Kim Isabel had told me that infusing too much holy power into an ordinary person’s body at once could be toxic as well, making multiple infusions essential.
Well, I wasn’t knowledgeable enough about holy power to say much about it, so I simply accepted it as one of those things.
‘Come to think of it, the evening treatment is a little late.’
Usually, after another priest came to clear away the meal cart, Kim Isabel would come in not long afterward for my treatment. At least, that was how it had been in the morning and at lunchtime, so I assumed the evening would be no different.
But more than an hour had passed since dinner was cleared away, and she still hadn’t come in, so perhaps she was busy with all sorts of other things.
…Or maybe there wasn’t normally an evening treatment, and I was simply mistaken.
‘I hope the senior priests aren’t already putting her to work even though she hasn’t enrolled yet.’
She wasn’t even affiliated with the Cheonmu Hunter Academy church, yet she had transferred there early solely because she was responsible for my treatment. Perhaps she was already being bullied by senior priests from the other years who belonged to the academy church.
I made a mental note to cause a scene later if that was happening. …That is, if anything like that actually happened.
‘Watching my smartphone all day is getting a little tiring.’
Still, since I had the opportunity, I felt it would be a shame to waste the time watching YouTube or something, so I was trying to use it efficiently in my own way.
Lately, what I mostly did on my phone was browse overseas adult-product sites for cosplay outfits and training tools that would suit Cha Eun-joo. Things like a collar for humans with a soft lining around the neck, or anal beads with an animal tail attached.
One of the best ways to train someone was to turn them into livestock. To make them physically understand that an undeniable gap existed between their human master and themselves, and that they must never recklessly rebel against their owner.
Someone might ask whether I was already preparing training this seriously, but honestly, I didn’t think it was far off. Once I had sex with Cha Eun-joo even once, given her personality, she would probably try to give me everything she had from then on.
‘Should I place the order in advance? It’ll probably arrive at home around the time I’m discharged.’
I had just paid for a shopping cart containing adult products and cosplay outfits for Cha Eun-joo and was quietly getting hard below the waist as I imagined what she would look like wearing them.
-Rattle.
“I-I’m late…. I-I’m sorry….”
Kim Isabel appeared well after the scheduled treatment time, opened the sliding door, and cautiously stepped inside.
…Without the other priests who usually accompanied her. All alone.