## Chapter 81 – Operation: Subdue the Continental-Style Pyrotechnic Girl (2)
***
– *Pshoo*—
Having successfully made contact with Firecracker, Chaeryeong firmly grasped her arm, then stepped into a secluded corner of the airport, clapping her hands to swap places with her doppelganger.
“Eek?!”
Much larger and wider than a regular taxi that could fit maybe four or five people, it was a van taxi that could probably seat around eight.
Usually, you’d have to book one in advance when using the airport, but sometimes you could get lucky and snag a large taxi that had a last-minute cancellation over the phone.
“T-This isn’t just a small sedan… it’s a van…!”
Firecracker looked around the surprisingly luxurious and comfortable interior of the vehicle with a sense of wonder. For some reason, Jiwoo and Siyoon, who had said they’d be waiting inside, were nowhere to be seen.
“Yes. I made a reservation with the taxi driver in advance and asked them to wait for us.”
Firecracker sat very demurely in the vehicle seat, waiting for the car to start.
“Alright! Could you please get going?”
“Yes! Let’s get going!”
At Chaeryeong’s request to depart, the taxi driver readily started driving the vehicle.
Usually, it’s older men or seniors who work as taxi drivers, but the voice of the driver behind the wheel of this large taxi sounded like that of a young girl.
‘W-What is this…? Is the driver a young woman…?’
For a moment, Firecracker seemed to suspect the driver’s identity, craning her neck to peek at the driver’s seat.
‘W-Well, these days, young women do… t-this kind of work a lot, I guess…’
She was just curious about seeing a female taxi driver, which wasn’t very common, but she was too timid to even ask, afraid to even remove her gloves or roll up her sleeves.
– *Vroom*—
“Speeding enforcement zone ahead in 200 meters.”
The van quickly started moving forward with the sound of the engine, and the cheerful guidance of the navigation system announcing the route echoed in her ears.
‘Jiwoo… can she even drive…?’
Behind the wheel, driving down the road, was none other than Jiwoo.
The reason the driver’s voice sounded like that of a young girl was because she really was driving this van as a driver.
‘That’s beside the point… where is Master? Is he hiding…?’
Chaeryeong cautiously tried to find Siyoon, who she thought might be hiding somewhere, but she couldn’t turn her head because she was conscious of Firecracker’s gaze.
‘Surely Master’s ability… only works when his bare skin directly touches Master’s hand, right? That means… he must be within reach of Ruilin’s body…?’
As Chaeryeong had anticipated, Siyoon was sitting behind Ruilin’s seat.
‘I… can’t breathe.’
To be exact, he was squatting behind the seat Ruilin was sitting in, covered in a black cloth, barely looking at the rearview mirror in front of the driver’s seat, waiting for the right moment.
Firecracker’s ability was the most dangerous ‘bomb transformation’ he had encountered among ability users so far.
She turns everything she touches into a bomb, regardless of what it is, so it was important to seal her ability quickly before she even realized it.
Aware of this, Siyoon was even more carefully looking for an opportunity.
‘I need to send a signal to Chaeryeong somehow… Ah!’
Siyoon held his breath and thought hard about something, then quietly started manipulating the Corruption System under the cloth as if he had figured out what to do.
[ Applying Body Control to Target: ‘SLAVE 03’ Chaeryeong. ]
‘If I can’t move… I can just move Chaeryeong as I please.’
If Chaeryeong didn’t know how to move, he could just control her. Even after becoming a Slave, it was always possible to control her body and mind at will.
‘W-What’s going on? My body is suddenly moving on its own…?’
Chaeryeong turned her head in surprise as her hand suddenly started moving against her will, but Chaeryeong’s hand, which Siyoon was controlling, moved regardless.
‘Could it be… Master…?’
Thanks to being connected to Siyoon through the brand, Chaeryeong soon sensed that it was Siyoon’s ability and accepted the movement as it was.
Chaeryeong’s hand naturally grasped Firecracker’s arm. Chaeryeong started talking to her in accordance with the movement.
“I noticed you weren’t wearing gloves earlier… are you okay?”
From the time they were at the cafe a few minutes ago, she hadn’t been wearing the gloves she usually wore, and was just sipping her coffee with her bare hands.
“A-Ah…! T-That’s… okay…! A-Anyway, if I c-can’t eat…, I’ll get hungry and w-won’t have any strength….”
– *Grumble*…
‘Was there such a restriction…?’
An unexpected fact about Firecracker’s ability that even Chaeryeong didn’t know.
If she doesn’t get enough energy through meals, it becomes difficult to use her ability, ‘bomb transformation’.
Moreover, there was the rumbling sound that just came from inside the car.
That means…, it had been quite a long time since Firecracker had a proper meal.
“You haven’t had a proper meal this whole time? Then how about the coffee…?”
Firecracker left her right hand, which was being held by Chaeryeong, as it was, and put her left hand into her skirt pocket, taking something out to show Chaeryeong.
“T-This is?”
What Firecracker took out was none other than a coupon from the cafe brand where they had been drinking coffee earlier.
It was a coupon that allowed you to get a free Americano or Cafe Latte every time you drank five drinks at any branch of that brand’s cafe.
“I-I didn’t have any m-money to take a taxi to the airport…, so I p-picked this up… in front of the cafe…! Heehee….”
She had spent all her money on the taxi fare to the airport, which she had come to with a glimmer of hope, and was starving because she had no money, when she happened to pick up a coffee coupon with five stamps on it.
Unlike Chaeryeong, who at least had a few ten-thousand-won bills to spare, Firecracker had spent all her money on a single taxi fare.
‘Is it now…!’
As Firecracker was showing the coffee coupon with a gloomy expression, Firecracker’s hand, which had come out of her sleeve guided by Chaeryeong’s hand, was caught on Siyoon’s radar.
– *Slide*…
At the same time as Siyoon’s hand carefully came out from under the cloth and touched Firecracker’s hand, Chaeryeong gave Firecracker a few ten-thousand-won bills, sensing the situation.
“I don’t have much money left either… but keep it just in case.”
“T-Thank you…! Y-You’re really… Trickster-nim…!”
She must have felt a different, foreign sensation than Chaeryeong’s soft hand, but she didn’t seem to notice because Chaeryeong gave her the bills at the same time, and she just stared blankly at the bills.
‘Did it work…?’
[ Status: Brand Stage 1 (Assimilation 0%) ]
‘Nice…!’
Fortunately, the Corruption System displayed Firecracker’s brand status, confirming that she had definitely fallen for Siyoon’s ability.
‘I was worried it wouldn’t work because it only touched her very lightly… I’m glad.’
Siyoon had been worried that the brand might not be imprinted because only the back of Firecracker’s hand had been touched very lightly.
‘For now… should I just let her sleep until we get to the hideout?’
[ Applying Ability Nullification to Target: ‘Firecracker’ Hong Ruilin. ]
[ Applying Body Control to Target: ‘Firecracker’ Hong Ruilin. ]
‘So her real name is Ruilin…? Is she Chinese?’
Siyoon was amazed to see Firecracker’s real name, ‘Hong Ruilin’, and nullified her ability while applying body control at the same time.
“T-Trickster… nim… I… I’m suddenly sleepy…”
Ruilin suddenly started dozing off, leaning on Chaeryeong’s shoulder and falling asleep, probably because Siyoon had put her to sleep through body control.
“Koo-ooo….”
“Suddenly asleep…?”
Chaeryeong was bewildered to see Ruilin, who had suddenly fallen asleep as if she had taken a sleeping pill.
“Unless you pour cold water on her and shake her hard to wake her up… she’ll sleep for more than 6 hours.”
Behind Ruilin’s seat, who was sound asleep to the point where someone could have carried her away without her knowing, Siyoon finally took a deep breath and lifted the black cloth he was covering himself with, sitting in the seat.
“As expected, Master… you were behind us!”
Chaeryeong, who had only vaguely guessed at Siyoon through the feeling she got through the brand, couldn’t help but wiggle her ears and wag her tail as she saw him.
“Things went a little easier than I thought, so we didn’t even need Doha to come… should I contact her now?”
“It’s okay! I’ve already contacted her again.”
The work ended much faster and easier than Siyoon had expected. Fortunately, Jiwoo had contacted Doha in advance.
“By the way, Jiwoo knows how to drive? I was surprised when she said she would drive at first.”
“Nyaa! I was surprised too. Jiwoo driving!”
Chaeryeong and Siyoon seemed to be quite puzzled, as if they couldn’t imagine Jiwoo driving.
“W-Well… I have a driver’s license too. It’s been over 2 years since I got it, though.”
Jiwoo’s sulky face was reflected in the rearview mirror. Siyoon and Chaeryeong gave her a thumbs up and praised her.
And so, the precarious and secretive operation to subdue the continental-style pyrotechnic girl came to an end, and the vehicle carrying Siyoon and his females headed back to the hideout.
***
Time passed, and after arriving at the hideout, ‘Firecracker’ Hong Ruilin was fast asleep in Chaeryeong’s room.
“Heunyaaam… euuu….”
She had been sleeping continuously due to Siyoon’s body control until after sunset, and now she was finally waking up a bit, tossing and turning.
“Something’s weird…”
Ruilin felt something different from when she usually woke up, and frowned uncomfortably, complaining in a languid voice.
“W-What… what is this…?! W-Why are my clothes…?!”
The reason why Ruilin, who was so timid, was unconsciously complaining because something felt so strange.
She was just covering herself with a blanket on the bed, but her clothes had been taken off, and she was only wearing her underwear.
