Day 121 Post-Impact
The morning after combat was always strange.
Sarnav stood on the observation deck, watching the settlement come alive below. People moved through their routines - work details, training, the daily business of survival - unaware of how close they'd come to disaster. The Purifier attack would have killed dozens, maybe hundreds. Instead, eighteen extremists were dead and six more were spilling secrets in Elena's interrogation rooms.
Victory should have felt better than this.
"You're brooding."
His mother's voice came from behind him. He turned to find Mythili approaching, two cups of tea in her hands. She wore simple clothes - a fitted blouse and loose pants - but carried herself with the same quiet dignity she always had. At forty-three, she remained striking, the silver in her black hair catching the morning light.
"I'm thinking," he corrected.
"Same thing, with you." She handed him a cup and stood beside him at the railing, close enough that he could smell her familiar perfume. "I heard about the operation. Wei Ming briefed the civilian council this morning."
"We had to act. They were planning to hit us within days."
"I know. I'm not questioning the decision." She sipped her tea, her dark eyes fixed on the horizon. "I'm questioning whether my son is okay after leading a military strike that killed almost twenty people."
The concern in her voice was genuine, achingly maternal. This was the woman who had held him through childhood nightmares, who had somehow kept their family together through his father's long absences, who had survived the apocalypse through sheer determination to protect him.
"I didn't kill them directly," he said. "Elena's team, Zara's soldiers..."
"You gave the orders. That's the same thing, and you know it." She turned to face him fully. "I'm not saying you were wrong. Those people would have murdered everyone here. But taking lives changes a person, Sarnav. Even when it's justified."
"How do you know?"
Something flickered in her expression - old pain, quickly buried. "Your father wasn't always a researcher. Before you were born, he did things for the government that he never talked about. I saw what it cost him." She reached out, her hand resting briefly on his arm. The touch was warm, grounding. "I don't want to see the same shadows in your eyes."
"I'm handling it."
"Are you?" Her gaze was penetrating, seeing through the walls he kept around himself. "Because from where I'm standing, you're carrying the weight of a thousand lives on your shoulders, fighting threats on multiple fronts, and barely sleeping. That's not handling it. That's surviving until you break."
He didn't have a response to that. She wasn't wrong.
"I have people who help me," he finally said. "The network. My... wives." The word still felt strange to say to his mother, even after all these months.
"I know." Something complicated moved behind her eyes - acceptance warring with something else, something she kept carefully hidden. "I see how they look at you. How you look at them. The way you all move together, like you're connected by invisible threads."
"The bond network. It lets us share thoughts, feelings. Coordinate without words."
"I understand the mechanics." Her voice was quiet. "What I'm trying to understand is how my son became the center of something like this. How the boy I raised became a man with eleven wives and the weight of survival on his shoulders."
"I'm still the same person, Mom."
"Are you?" She studied his face with an intensity that made him uncomfortable. "Sometimes I look at you and I see glimpses of who you used to be. My Sarnav. But then you shift into this... leader, this commander, this figure that everyone looks to for salvation. And I wonder which one is real."
"Both. Neither." He sighed. "I don't know anymore."
She was quiet for a long moment. When she spoke again, her voice was softer. "Your father used to say the same thing. When he came back from his assignments, he'd stand in our bedroom and stare at the mirror like he was trying to remember who he was supposed to be."
"What did you do?"
"I reminded him." She reached up, her hand hovering near his face before she caught herself and pulled back. The aborted gesture hung between them, loaded with meaning neither of them acknowledged. "I reminded him that underneath everything else, he was still the man I loved. Still human. Still worthy of coming home."
The moment stretched, electric with something unspoken. Then Mythili stepped back, her expression smoothing into something more neutral.
"Take care of yourself, Sarnav. For all of us." She squeezed his arm once more, her touch lingering perhaps a heartbeat longer than necessary, then walked away, leaving him alone with the morning light and questions he couldn't answer.
Minji's domain was controlled chaos.
Multiple monitors displayed streams of data, surveillance feeds, communication intercepts. Her gaming setup had evolved into a full command and control station, her VR abilities allowing her to interface with systems in ways that shouldn't have been possible.
She sat in the center of it all, purple twin-tails bouncing as she worked, wearing an oversized gaming jersey that kept slipping off one shoulder. Her headset was on, and she was muttering to herself in a mix of Korean and gaming slang.
"No, that's a garbage packet... filter that... okay, that's better..." She noticed him in the doorway and her face lit up. "Oppa! Finally! I've been waiting forever."
"It's been two hours since the briefing."
"Like I said. Forever." She spun her chair to face him, legs tucked under her in a way that made the jersey ride up dangerously high on her thighs. "I upgraded the surveillance network. We'll have three times the coverage on the entity's position now. Also cracked two more Purifier communication channels. You're welcome."
"Impressive."
"I know, right? I'm basically carrying this team." She grinned, competitive and playful. "But that's not why you're here."
"It's not?"
"Nope." She stood, crossing to him with a sway in her hips that was entirely deliberate. "You're here because it's been way too long since we had any quality time, and I can feel through the bond that you're all stressed and broody. Which means you need someone to help you relax."
"Minji..."
"Don't 'Minji' me, Oppa." She pressed against him, her 33DD chest soft through the thin jersey. "I've been patient. Super patient. Like, raid-boss-on-farm-mode patient. But patience has limits, and mine ran out approximately three days ago."
She grabbed his shirt and pulled him toward the corner of the room where a large futon was tucked away - her crash space for long coding sessions. "So here's the deal. You're going to sit down, I'm going to make you forget about entities and Purifiers and everything else, and then maybe I'll let you return the favor. Sound like a plan?"
He couldn't help but smile. Minji had a way of cutting through bullshit that was almost refreshing. "And if I say no?"
"Then I'll pout until you change your mind. I'm very good at pouting." She demonstrated, her lower lip sticking out in an exaggerated display that was somehow both ridiculous and adorable.
"Fine. You win."
"GG." Her grin turned wicked. "Now sit."
He sat on the futon, and she immediately straddled his lap, the jersey riding up to reveal she wasn't wearing anything underneath. Her bare pussy pressed against his pants, already warm and slightly damp.
"Surprise," she whispered against his ear. "I've been like this all day. Thinking about you. Getting wetter every time I felt you through the bond."
"That's dangerous. What if someone walked in?"
"Then they'd get a show." She rolled her hips, grinding against him. "Besides, the door locks. I'm not stupid, Oppa. Just horny."
She pulled the jersey over her head in one motion, revealing her body - athletic from years of neglecting sleep for gaming, her DD breasts bouncing free with dark pink nipples already hard. Her purple hair fell around her shoulders in messy waves.
"Like what you see?" She cupped her own breasts, pushing them together. "I've been told my character design is S-tier."
"You're ridiculous."
"You love it." She worked at his pants, freeing his hardening cock with practiced efficiency. "Ooh, someone's ready to play."
She stroked him slowly, her grip firm and knowing. "I've been thinking about this cock for days, Oppa. Dreaming about it. Woke up with my hand between my legs twice this week, wishing it was you."
"Show me how much you want it."
Her eyes lit up at the challenge. She slid off his lap and knelt between his legs, wrapping her lips around the head of his cock without hesitation. She took him deep immediately, her tongue working along his length as she bobbed her head.
"Fuck," he groaned. "You're good at that."
She pulled off just long enough to smirk. "I'm good at everything, Oppa. Haven't you noticed?" Then she took him deep again, her throat relaxing to let him slide even further.
She worked him with competitive intensity, like this was a game she was determined to win. Her hand found his balls, cupping and massaging while her mouth did devastating things to his cock. When she felt him getting close, she pulled off with a wet pop.
"Not yet. I want you inside me when you cum." She climbed back onto his lap, positioning herself over his slick cock. "Ready for the main event?"
"Always."
She sank down onto him in one smooth motion, taking him completely. They both groaned at the sensation - her tight walls clenching around him, his cock filling her completely.
"Oh fuck yes," she breathed. "This is what I needed. Right here, Oppa. Your cock deep inside me."
She started to move, riding him with the same intensity she brought to gaming - focused, determined, chasing the win. Her breasts bounced with each motion, and she grabbed his hands to place them there.
"Touch me. Play with my tits while I ride you."
He obliged, squeezing her breasts, rolling her nipples between his fingers. She moaned and increased her pace, her hips rolling in figure-eights that hit every angle perfectly.
"So good," she gasped. "Oppa, you feel so good. I'm already close. Fuck, I'm always so easy for you."
Through the bond, he felt her pleasure spiking rapidly. She was sensitive, responsive, and she'd been waiting too long for this.
"Cum for me," he said, thrusting up to meet her movements. "Show me what you've got."
"I'm - oh fuck - I'm gonna - OPPA!"
She came with a scream, her pussy clamping down on him in rhythmic waves. Her whole body shook with the force of it, and she collapsed against his chest, still trembling.
But she wasn't done. Even as the aftershocks rolled through her, she started moving again.
"Your turn," she panted. "I want to feel you cum inside me. Fill me up, Oppa. Give me everything."
The sensation of her still-spasming walls milking his cock was too much. He grabbed her hips and thrust up hard, burying himself as deep as possible as he came. She moaned at the feeling of his warmth spreading inside her.
"GG," she whispered against his neck when they both came down. "Oppa OP. Totally broken. Needs nerf."
He laughed despite himself. "You're insane."
"You love it." She kissed him softly, a contrast to the intensity of moments before. "Same time tomorrow?"
"We'll see."
"I'll take that as a yes." She snuggled against him, apparently content to stay exactly where she was. "Best respawn point ever."
[HARMONY POINTS: +800][BOND WITH PARK MINJI: DEEPENED][PARK MINJI: D+ → C ADVANCEMENT][VR ABILITY: ENHANCED]
[DAY 121]
[SARNAV: S-RANK (HARMONY SOVEREIGN - FIRST STAGE)][PROGRESS TO SECOND STAGE: 34%]
[WIFE CULTIVATION STATUS][1. NISHA - C+ | 2. ISHANI - C+ | 3. ANANYA - C][4. MINJI - C | 5. JADE - C | 6. SANA - B-][7. JIYEON - C | 8. SERENA - C+ | 9. ZARA - B-][10. ELENA - S | 11. YUKI - D]
[HARMONY SAFE ZONE: 1,352 SURVIVORS | 3 SECTORS][SEAL INTEGRITY: 91.8%]
[ENTITY STATUS: MONITORING - 2KM PERIMETER][DEADLINE: 19 DAYS REMAINING]
[WIVES BONDED: 11/32]