At my words, Cheongwol looked down at her own chest and froze solid.
Her eyes twitched faintly.
She acted just like someone whose mind had gone completely blank.
It felt like even she couldn't comprehend her body's reactions.
As if she refused to admit that she was a pervert who enjoyed being degraded and humiliated.
But no matter what nonsense came out of her mouth, her body was brutally honest.
That honest reaction from her body had saved me, too.
If she weren't a masochist, I'd really be in deep shit.
And seeing that honest response made courage well up inside me.
After all, a certain level of humiliation was probably an instinctive pleasure for her.
"Ah... ah..."
Cheongwol slowly opened her mouth, then let out a piercing scream as she thrashed wildly.
"Kyaaah!!"
It was a pure, unmasked scream.
Right now, it wasn't the Life-Pursuing Ghost Cheongwol laid bare before me—it was just the woman Cheongwol.
Her arms strained against the ropes, twisting them with creaks, while her long, toned legs flailed helplessly.
With her eyes squeezed shut, she kept trying to lower her elbows to cover her chest, but it didn't work as her heart willed.
Watching her, I snapped back to my senses.
If she channeled her internal energy, it was all over.
"Let me go!! I said let me go!!"
I approached Cheongwol as she screamed and grabbed her flailing arms.
At that single motion, her resistance visibly weakened.
"Let go...! Hurry!! Ugh...!"
Her voice trembled between pleading and shame.
This was the time to soothe her.
"Just accept it now."
I gripped her arms a little tighter.
Her furrowed eyes cracked open slightly at the touch.
"What... what... ugh...! Just untie me quick—"
"—You're a pervert. Just like me."
Cheongwol's mouth clamped shut. Her body went rigid as stone.
I could tell every muscle in her was tensed up.
The skin that was usually so soft was now taut with tension.
She needed to accept that fact.
It would make things easier going forward.
I whispered to her stiff form.
"I'm not saying you have to admit you're a pervert in front of everyone. Just in front of me. Like now, when it's only the two of us."
"Ah... ahn..."
Her face flushed red.
The blush spreading over her pale skin revealed the turbulent storm of emotions inside her.
Maybe I was in a similar state, watching it.
"I'm... I'm not a pervert..."
A trembling voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you? Here, you're not Emei Sect's Cheongwol, got it?"
"Haa... eung..."
"I'm telling you to be honest. The way you keep coming back to me... you are a pervert."
"...No... no...!"
"Besides, I like you more like this than as Emei Sect's Cheongwol."
"...Eung..."
"For real. I'm serious."
Fuck, I mean it.
Emei Sect's Cheongwol is a murderer.
...But honestly, both versions scare the shit out of me.
The eyes glaring at me flicked away briefly, then returned.
Just like her eyes betrayed her mouth's protests of denial.
That sight sparked my sadism in an instant.
I wanted to see her even more humiliated.
...Should I say it? Nah.
It'd be a gamble with my life... but damn, I want to say it.
It'd feel so fucking satisfying...
As I soothed her like that and her resistance finally ebbed from her body, I glanced at her chest again and whispered.
"...Your nipples are cute."
"Eut!!"
Cheongwol's body stiffened once more.
The ropes screamed again.
"No...! No... I'm..."
Cheongwol whispered like she was making excuses.
"I'm... I'm not a pervert... This is just... because it's cold... because it's chafing..."
Even that excuse was the reaction I wanted.
"Tell it however it makes you comfortable."
I turned to grab the next tool.
And the moment I turned, I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them.
This stimulation is insane.
The roughest thrill I've felt since dropping into this Central Plains.
Was Cheongwol feeling it too?
...Anyway, I took a deep breath inside.
I'd spat those words to subdue her because she kept singing "no, I hate it" from her mouth.
Now it was time to get my head straight again.
This was real tightrope walking.
I wanted to abandon all restraint and do everything to her...
But then there'd be no tomorrow.
For real. So I had to snap out of it like this.
They say real sadists are like that.
You have to control your desires during play.
Ignore the masochist's safeword and act on impulse, and you'll end up in prison.
...I'm not going to prison—I'm headed to hell—so I had to focus and regain my senses.
But damn.
Why is my stamina draining so fast?
I didn't know tying up one person would be this hard...
"...Hoo."
Gotta climb some mountains later. My endurance sucks.
Handling one person was no joke.
****
...Me, a pervert?
Cheongwol couldn't collect her thoughts at those words.
She'd lived as a nun for a good ten years now.
When it came to matters of chastity, she prided herself on being purer and more virtuous than anyone.
Even among Emei Sect's nuns, she took pride in her own purity.
Before meeting Han Seojin, the only man who'd ever touched her body was her late father.
She'd faced lustful gazes from men but ignored them all.
When those men called her lofty.
Whispered that she was noble.
Spread rumors that she was untouchable...
Deep down, Cheongwol had believed it too, it seemed.
That those words might be true.
That she was pure.
That lust was a desire she'd already transcended.
"Haa... haa..."
...And yet, me—a pervert?
That one phrase shook her to her core.
It felt like a deeply rooted tree being yanked out in front of Han Seojin.
Cheongwol wanted to scream that it was wrong... but a tiny voice inside her was gnawing away.
...Do you really hate this sensation?
And that voice was enough to freeze her body solid.
Her ragged breaths wouldn't settle.
Meanwhile, Han Seojin was calm and composed.
"As I said, I don't want to get tangled with murim folk... so I don't really want to do this with you either."
"Me too... if it weren't for this heart demon—"
"—But every time you act this pretty... you're so cute, it makes me want to do more."
"..."
"Shall we go a bit further? Arms are done... on to the next."
Her heart fluttered at those words.
The emotional whiplash always made it hard to keep her wits.
A mind endlessly humiliated... met with returning warmth.
That warmth tormented her more.
Was it on purpose?
...Even her nipples felt more constricted.
Han Seojin brought the next rope.
Cheongwol could finally grasp one thing for sure.
Han Seojin scared her.
She had no idea what he'd do next, what emotion he'd stir—it made her heart race.
Not the fear of losing her life.
Just overwhelming tension.
And yet, the kind of fear that made escape impossible.
The kind where she wondered what emotion would come after conquering that fear... what praise would follow...
Hard to put into words. It just was.
"...Fold one leg."
Han Seojin commanded.
Zzzt, her chest buzzed.
A tingling prickled her lower abdomen.
Cheongwol shook her head in the end.
"...N-no."
Maybe because he'd called her a pervert. She wanted to resist even more.
She wanted to prove she wasn't some vulgar thing.
"Hurry up, Cheongwol. I already told you it'd get intense."
Cheongwol shook her head again.
Then, Han Seojin's voice turned cold.
"...Should I pinch your nipple to make you move?"
"Ah...!"
At the threat, her heart pounded wildly.
Her nipples still stood out, advertising their position for pinching.
Cheongwol wanted to draw his gaze away from there, even a little.
She looked up at Han Seojin, and he loomed over her, overwhelming...
...At that, Cheongwol trembled as she folded up one leg.
Her skirt hem rode up precariously, worrying her that her privates might show.
That small inner voice asked again.
Right now—does it feel good, or bad?
...Cheongwol couldn't answer.
"Good girl."
Han Seojin's cold expression melted in an instant, offering warm praise.
"Ah... eung..."
...That praise, paired with the shame, didn't hit her as overwhelming rejection... but as a chilling thrill.
The sensation of skirting the forbidden line that was taboo for her made her heart quiver.
Han Seojin grabbed the knee she'd lifted forward.
She felt the rope wrapping around that leg. Soon, it would be fixed in that pose.
"D-don't keep touching my leg."
"Have to touch it to tie it. If I could, I'd bite it."
"Eut..."
The more her body was restrained, the more Cheongwol felt an illusory comfort creeping in.
Resisting and shaking made it hurt and tighten...
But yielding, relaxing her body, distributed her weight across the ropes, making her feel almost afloat in comfort.
No resistance meant no pain, and obedience brought praise.
With one leg bent forward at a right angle... Han Seojin's hand gripped her knee.
"...Huh?"
Then he slowly began to spread that leg.
The force in his hands grew rougher.
"Wh-what are you...!"
"Don't tense up."
"Hwik... heu... no... I hate it—"
"—Don't. Tense. Up."
"Eo... euk..."
Cheongwol released the tension in her leg without knowing why.
Everything was moving too fast.
Han Seojin slowly spread her leg accordingly.
Of course, she didn't want to comply.
But she feared the retaliation more than resisting.
He stopped only after her knee pointed sideways, fully exposing between her legs.
Her skirt hem barely veiled her privates.
Meanwhile, her thigh gleamed bare through the parted robes.
Han Seojin tied the rope from her arms to that leg, securing the pose.
In the end, Cheongwol was fixed with her armpits exposed, one leg folded up and splayed sideways.
Her whole body throbbed like a heartbeat.
She couldn't tell if the ropes pressing in amplified it.
"Hngh!"
Once the binding was done, Han Seojin trailed his fingertip up her bare thigh.
Cheongwol couldn't hold back a moan-like sound.
Her hips twitched like a startled rabbit.
Head bowed in shame, then Han Seojin commanded.
"Want to look at me?"
Cheongwol had no strength left to defy him.
Her mind felt already broken by the intense humiliation.
Maybe submission to him had become familiar.
And once a dynamic took root, overturning it was impossibly hard.
She slowly looked up at Han Seojin.
Legs spread—he had every right to her gaze.
From the start, obedience brought praise; defiance, only punishment.
Unless she was a fool, following him made sense.
"...Ah."
Their eyes met, and Cheongwol realized what she'd craved that market day.
She'd just wanted to lock eyes like this.
That electric tingle shook her chest more intensely than ever.
She must have wanted confirmation they weren't total strangers.
Looking into his eyes now...
...They felt more intimately connected.
...Somehow, she felt like his possession...
"...No."
"...Hm? No what."
"..."
"Don't know, but you did good."
"Ah..."
"Must've been embarrassing... but you did well. So pretty."
Praise when vulnerable pierced straight to her heart.
When self-esteem was solid, praise or scorn meant nothing.
But in this wretched moment, even small praise echoed hugely.
The praise felt so overwhelming she squeezed her eyes shut.
To her, her body burned too hot.
"You're so beautiful."
"Heu... eut..."
Cheongwol wanted to believe she wasn't a pervert.
But if she had to admit one thing... she could accept that.
She didn't hate Han Seojin's gaze finding her attractive.
His praise for her legs sounded genuinely pleasing.
She wouldn't mind a bit more.
...Or was that proof she was a pervert?
It was strange. She'd never enjoyed a man's praise like this.
"...H-how much longer... do I have to stay like this?"
Cheongwol asked with effort.
Han Seojin replied.
"Hm? We're just getting started?"
"...What?"
The moment her eyes opened, his hands settled over her head.
"Ah... eut! Wh-what?"
Then darkness came.
Cheongwol shook her head side to side, but the darkness remained.
"Leather blindfold."
Han Seojin whispered right in front of her.
"Bound so prettily—I need time to appreciate it."
Appreciate?
Her heart, which she'd thought couldn't race harder, pounded.
Even a prostitute wouldn't do this.
But Han Seojin continued nonchalantly.
"Your body's like a work of art."
He began circling her slowly.
Cheongwol sensed his position with every word, every spot he eyed.
"Breasts are pretty. Nipples cute too."
"St-stop...!"
"Thighs so firm... ah, is that the string of your underwear?"
"Stop it...!"
"Especially your armpits—so pretty, Cheongwol. Why keep them so pristine if you're not showing them?"
Each body part he named sent a zzzt of stimulation there.
Eyes covered, the sensations felt excruciatingly sharp.
"No... st-stop... y-you'll regret it when this ends?"
"...Gonna kiss your armpit."
"N-no!!"
Cheongwol shrank to hide her armpit.
But tucking left exposed the right more starkly, and hiding right bared the left.
Her folded elbows twitched like big cat ears.
She couldn't do either.
"Know what?"
Han Seojin asked.
"...The human body is amazing... you stop noticing where something's touching."
"...Haa... haa..."
Her rough breaths dragged on, pooling saliva in her mouth.
Cheongwol kept swallowing it.
"Gives an illusion of safety. But exposed parts... you feel vulnerable, so they get hypersensitive. Yeah, like your arms now."
"Eut."
That weird sensation again.
Her arms prickled as if his gaze had physical weight.
Without sight, her other senses sharpened intensely.
"...Thigh."
Something crawled up her bare thigh.
She couldn't tell if it was imagination or his fingertip.
She just shuddered.
"Armpit."
Like chills from fever, that word sensitized her skin.
No touch, but the reaction came anyway.
"Nape."
Oso-so, goosebumps rose up her neck.
Her body reacted to his words nonstop.
Her body, but without control.
Felt like her dominion was stolen.
"...Even your lips."
"Eut...!!
"...See, exposed spots get way more sensitive."
Finally unable to endure, Cheongwol whispered for help.
Pride fully cast aside.
The bizarre sensations overwhelmed her with confusion and bewilderment.
"...Ah... eut... Sh-Shopkeeper... m-my body feels weird..."
But Han Seojin ignored her again.
"Even more amazing? The harder you try not to notice, the more you do. Wanna test?"
He'd been circling her—now he stopped in front.
She could feel it.
Her face suddenly warmed.
Body hypersensitive, like in a ticklish spot, he said.
"...I'm gonna touch one of the spots I mentioned. Guess which?"