For a while, Iris wrestled with the self of Johannes’s friend, then, after resolving to act as a Hero, she looked down at her own body.
Now, a different worry popped up.
She’d rolled around with Abellus yesterday—or rather, until dawn today—so was it really okay to go fooling around with Johannes right away?
Never mind the physical part—wasn’t sleeping with two men in one day a bit too promiscuous?
‘Well, so what? Who’s going to know that I was with two men in one day? In a way, I’m lucky. I get to enjoy two handsome, well-built men in a single day.’
At first, she’d just meant to contact him to make plans.
But who knew Johannes would say she could come over right now?
With their schedules matching, there was no need to delay.
After all, there’s that saying about striking while the iron’s hot.
Just imagining doing this and that with Johannes made Iris’s face turn beet red.
She slapped her cheeks to shake off the lewd thoughts clouding her mind.
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’ll just go and see how things go—maybe I’ll try seducing him, maybe I won’t.’
Unlike Laika or Abellus, who seemed like they’d fall for her at the mere touch of her hand, Johannes’s reaction was a bit ambiguous.
He never made the first move like Laika, nor did he spout blatantly sexual comments like Abellus.
He might have agreed to the movie date just because he wanted to get closer as friends—or maybe he was just bored.
Resolving not to rush, Iris carefully crafted her message.
“Should I come over now, then?”
“Yeah. I’ll be waiting.”
“Send me your address, hehe.”
“Ah! The address is…”
When she checked the address, Iris’s eyes widened slightly.
Johannes’s house was near where she used to live.
She knew they were in the same neighborhood, but she hadn’t realized he lived just a five-minute walk away.
If she exaggerated a bit, she could say it was close enough to touch if she tripped and fell.
No wonder he went to the bakery every day like clockwork and suggested morning walks together—they lived so close.
‘See you in a bit!’ Iris replied, then started getting ready to go out.
Rummaging through her underwear drawer and wondering which one would be best, she let out a self-conscious laugh.
‘Hmm, I’m determined and all, but will history really be made with Johannes today? We weren’t even anything, so if I suddenly try to seduce him, will he really go for it…?’
Yet strangely, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d fall for her seduction easily.
Maybe it was because she’d recently conquered Villains in quick succession—no matter how much she tried to stay humble, an uncontrollable confidence bubbled up inside her.
Johannes had someone he’d been in love with for a long time.
And he’d never actually said that woman was Iris.
But then again, he didn’t seem to dislike Iris either.
Unrequited love is just that, but maybe if she tempted him physically, he’d give in.
It was a little awkward to think about having sex with a friend, but to be honest, they’d only become friends recently.
With men and women, if the mood’s right, they can become more than friends at any time.
After putting on sexy underwear, she dressed herself in the prettiest clothes she could find and spritzed on perfume before leaving the house.
As she walked from the annex to the garage, she ran into Teresa coming through the main gate.
Teresa must have been coming back from the Exorcism Shop—she was wearing colorful clothes and a veil adorned with cubic gems.
When Teresa lifted her veil and smiled warmly at Iris, Iris grinned back.
“Iris, it’s been a while.”
“Theresa-sunbae! You must be coming back from the shop.”
Iris hopped up in excitement, and Teresa’s smile grew even gentler.
With her hands behind her back, Teresa asked,
“Yes, I had an appointment with a customer… And you? Where are you headed?”
“I’m going to a friend’s house.”
“I see.”
Seeing Teresa put Iris at ease.
Sometimes, thinking that the peace of Gyodam City depended on her alone made her chest feel tight and suffocating.
But every time she realized she had a senior Hero who’d help in a crisis, her burden felt a little lighter.
Giggling to herself, Iris remembered she’d planned to use her skill if she ran into Theresa-sunbae.
When she used <Wondrous Perception> to scan a bag, she could see right through it.
But what would happen if she tried it on a person, not an object?
If she could only see internal organs, like when she’d used it on a bag, that would be a huge letdown.
She wasn’t a physician—what use was seeing someone’s insides?
Hoping it would be a useful skill, she silently invoked <Wondrous Perception>, and a moment later, an unexpected sight appeared before Iris’s eyes.
‘…What? I can see Teresa-sunbae transformed as Eagle Woman. What is this?’
For a brief moment, an image of Teresa disguised as Eagle Woman overlapped her form, then vanished.
Iris’s dazed expression quickly turned pale.
She realized Abellus had known she was a Hero all along.
‘Unbelievable. Abellus knew my true identity and pretended not to? I was going in and out of Abellus’s Laboratory, even had sex with him, and didn’t know?’
The shock made her head spin.
She’d thought she was fooling Abellus—but it was the other way around; he’d been deceiving her.
She thought he was acting polite because he saw her as a civilian, but it wasn’t that.
He’d known she was the Hero from the Potion Transport Truck Incident and shamelessly acted like he didn’t know.
Looking back, there were so many suspicious things.
When Laika barged in, Abellus stopped him from talking too much about the Ring.
When Iris overheard their conversation from under the desk, Abellus didn’t offer a single excuse—because he already knew her identity.
If he thought she was just an ordinary person, he would’ve at least made up an excuse, but instead, he just glossed over it.
Suddenly, she remembered something Abellus had said, all worked up during sex.
“Ha, you’re amazing. I knew you weren’t ordinary.”
“Hnn…”
“I’ve wanted to do this from the start. Seeing you crying under me drives me crazy.”
‘I thought it was just meaningless pillow talk, but he said that because he knew who I really was.’
She shuddered from a sudden chill.
But that wasn’t the only feeling.
Just as she’d been strangely excited at the taboo of sleeping with a Villain, Abellus must have felt the same way.
Realizing that made a slow heat rise in her lower belly.
She knew it wasn’t a normal thought, but she couldn’t help her arousal.
They were only supposed to cross paths as Hero and Villain, but now they’d even mixed bodies—no wonder her head was a mess.
Just recalling Abellus driving her wild last night made her mouth water.
Unconsciously licking her upper lip, she suddenly tilted her head as another thought dawned on her.
‘Wait, then why did he give me the necklace? There’s no way he’d give it to me out of pure intentions, especially if he knew about the power sealed within. He knew about the Ring, so how could he be clueless about this necklace? That doesn’t make sense. It’s hard to believe it was really his mother’s keepsake…’
If Abellus knew her true identity, there was no way he’d give her the necklace as a simple gift.
From all indications, he probably knew about the power it held.
Unless—it was a fake. Wait, maybe he actually gave me a Fake Necklace.
‘Maybe the reason nothing happened when I looked in the mirror wasn’t because my Awakening was delayed, but because the necklace was a Fake Necklace from the start.’
Why hadn’t she thought of that before?
Abellus would have realized the Ring was a fake as soon as he examined it.
To avoid being tricked like Laika, he could have put the real necklace on the Statue of the Knight’s neck and given Iris a Fake Necklace instead.
That would explain why he casually gave her the necklace when she was standing in front of the Statue of the Knight, without a hint of suspicion.
‘Wait. If it’s a Fake Necklace, why can’t I take it off?’
A sense of foreboding made Iris’s face go grave.
She felt the blood drain from her feet.
When she’d undressed for a shower, she couldn’t remove the necklace.
She’d brushed it off, thinking it was just a Relic that couldn’t be taken off, like a chastity belt.
But what if that wasn’t it?
She bit her lip anxiously, and Teresa’s voice pulled her from her thoughts.
“Iris, Iris?”
“Oh, yes. Sunbae-nim, what is it?”
Iris, face freshly washed, made eye contact.
Teresa looked at her with concern and patted her shoulder.
“You’ve seemed busy lately—your head must be spinning. I just stopped by for a quick bite. I need to eat before heading back to the shop. If you’re hungry, you can join… Oh, right, you said you’re visiting a friend’s house. I suppose you’ll eat there?”
“Yes, I think so.”
Iris forced a bright smile as she answered.
She didn’t want to trouble Teresa by showing any sign of her distress.
Teresa looked at her face for a moment, then shrugged and opened her mouth.