NT Runner 14 - Yeong - Accept Advice

When Sebek sauntered his way back into the warehouse Yeong was standing flat agains the wall next to the door. As the Orc was about to pass he subtly planted the phone back in his back pocket. The Orc turned suddenly, not at the sleight of hand but instead at Yeong very suddenly making his presence known directly beside him. Once Sebek was done being startled he returned Yeong's phone. The call had ended.
“What did you two talk about?” Yeong requested. He was not suspicious yet, but felt very close if the answer he got was unsatisfying.

Sebek awkwardly avoided Yeong's penetrating gaze and said. “She asked me to keep that part just between us.”

Yeong's face twisted up in confusion. “What could she have possibly said to you that you could not tell me about? Was it about me?”

Sebek shrugged, a  little annoyed. “If I'm not supposed to say, I'm not really supposed to say that, either. But you can probably infer that much so yeah, it was about you and no, I'm not gonna tell you anything else.” Yeong considered pressing further, but Sebek's tone was firm and the Orc did not seem like he was going to budge.

Yeong gritted his teeth and looked down at his own phone. He lifted the screen so only he could see and as if by sheer force of desire, a message from an unknown source appeared in a non-standard message format on the screen.

[Hello.] He gave Sebek one last harsh stare.
“Fine.” Yeong retreated into his own private tent and returned to the message.

[Hi.]

[Well well. Best decision you could've made.] Sebek claimed.

[Prove it] Speaking with this figure was more a matter of pride than anything else. Sebek spoke privately with his Halmeoni, so he was going to speak to Sebek's mentor, as well and just like with Sebek and Kara, Yeong was not going to spill a word of their interaction.

[I met them in Demonkine. Your Halmeoni, the Hero... His eventual partner. I saved them more times than I can count. I advised the Hero in particular over his problems. Why can't I do the same for yours?]

[Tell me something about The Hero.]

[He was a human from Cheshire before he eventually got tricked into his role as Coda by... Well, I guess it would be your mentor.]

[What? What do you mean tricked?] The story, as far as Yeong knew, had The Hero as a Human man that partnered with Kara and accepted his transition into a Fox to take on the role of Coda and expand the Species to what it eventually became in the modern day. That was according to Kara herself.

[Hm. Yeah, she would leave that part out. The Hero never accepted what happened to him. He was transformed over time without his knowledge. Kara tricked him and lured him and lead him on the whole way and it was only thanks to my guidance that he defied her and won out against the old Coda.] The bragging tone could be read so easily through the text by Yeong. Another message began below.

[You see... Your mentor doesn't really tolerate weakness.] Yeong nodded. It sounded like her.

[The Hero? He was very, very weak. Weak against her. So her plan was to turn our brave Hero into a girl that would easily fall under her sway and join her Coven with Coda. That was all it ever was.]

[Until... You stopped it from happening?]

[He gained my respect. I would've liked a girl too, but since he defied me I taught him how to better act as a man instead.]

[What does any of this have to do with me?]

[Probably nothing.] Sebek admitted.

[So long as you haven't shown her weakness you're fine.] Yeong put the phone down and rested his head in his hand. His heart was beating quickly. It pinged again. He brought it back up.

[You showed weakness, didn't you?] Yeong remembered the frustration in Kara's voice as she heard that he backed down. Her unsubtle hinting that he was submissive and there was no way around it. As it was explained by another party, it really did begin to sound a lot like she was preying on him.

[I did.] He admitted.

[She spoke privately with Sebek and he wont tell me what they talked about.]

[Let's use our heads for a second. It was about you.]

[Obviously.]

[It came after the talk you had with her where she figured out about your weakness?]

[Yes.]

[The only reason she'd have to talk to the kid is to ask for his help. I bet she was sizing him up as someone who could 'look after you.' Act as a handler and a partner.]

[The hell does that mean?]

[Means she doesn't trust you to not buckle to the next Sebek that comes along with bad intentions. Whatever her mission is, it's more important than you. Maybe she's right, you know?]

[She is not. I wont buckle. I am fine. All that happened was; I saw Sebek with a girl I liked and I didn't confront him or try to challenge him.]

[Oh, that's 'all.'] The sarcasm bled through the text and made Yeong recoil, because he could read the truth in it. His own coping.

[ You know he's gonna work his way through your group, right? Every single girl and guy. They'll all eventually fall for him over you. Hell, even your mentor Kara is on her way to being swayed by him. You're screwed and you can't even stand up for yourself or challenge him.]

Yeong frowned deeply. [All of them?]

[Probably. Did you know about the last group?]

[It came up.]

[You know, then. It's over.]

[You are supposed to be giving me advice.] Yeong complained.

[You want my genuine advice?]

[Yes.]

[You sure?]

[Yes!]

[You can't compete with him. But you don't want him working his way thought the group, right?]

[Correct.]

[You need someone strong behind you. Someone like me to help you challenge the kid.] Malik claimed.

[Sorry? That does not make any sense.] Yeong was close to closing the phone out completely after that piece of advice.

[It makes perfect sense. What do you want?]

Yeong chewed on his bottom lip. [Him to not work his way through the group and all the girls.]

[Can YOU stop him? Or are you just going to be unable to challenge him over and over again?]

[I do not know.]

[That means no, by the way.]

[So what? What do you expect me to do? What are you going to do to help me?]

[I'm going to act as your strength. I'll become your ability to challenge him and all you need to do for that to work is to submit to me instead of him. You accept your powerlessness and allow me to become the power that allows you to fight him properly.] He continued on.

[Submit to you? Over the phone?] He was skeptical He did not even know that it would work, let alone if it was appropriate.

[Do you want this solution or not?] Malik asked.

Yeong considered his options. It sounded grim, regardless and if he thought about it rationally, submitting to one Orc over the phone with no chance of contact was going to be far more favorable to possibly submitting to another in real life. If he went a step further and believed in Malik, it was the best case scenario to be able to challenge said Orc in real life.

[I do.]

* *

Sherri gave Yeong one look and then winked suggestively. “Your Body Language is awfully interesting today.” She claimed.

“W-what are you talking about?” Yeong asked nervously.

“You really think I wouldn't notice?” Her eyes moved down to his waist knowingly, then back up to lock with his eyes. Yeong's cheeks flushed bright red. Sherri shrugged.
“I'm not one to get mixed up in your private life. God knows mine's a bit of a mess. That being said, I'm not gonna pretend that it doesn't make your language a bit more interesting.”

“How is it more interesting?” Yeong could not wrap his head around it. The only thing, as far as he knew, that changed significantly was the plug in his rear. He had worn it at the request of his new Mentor and was assigned to keep it in for as long as was possible without question for 'training purposes.'

Sherri thought about the question. “I see... Confusion, submission, but also resolve. A dynamic shift in the way you're living your life from the last time I saw you. It's big.”

“Doesn't feel big.”

“You may not feel it in the moment, but you made a huge decision and it shows.” She advised seriously.

“Don't get me wrong. I dig it. This stuff? Dis function and strange dynamics? It's like music to me.”

“Are we going to get this session started?” Yeong asked, trying to change the subject.

“Yeah... I don't want to be here all day.” Dri groaned.
“I need to get back to check on Lad.”

“Mhmm.” Sherri nodded to both of them in a sing-song tone.

“Uhm... Sherri?” yeong asked hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“Do you know how to set the camera stuff up on a phone?”

* *

Yeong set the camera up on a tripod he borrowed from Sherri. She apparently had a lot of spares in case one broke. Max and her made a lot of videos.
“Th-there.” He uttered to himself. Most tents were noise-canceling and light canceling, so he did not have to worry too much about privacy when he was back at the warehouse. That was the point of them, after all.
“Connect.” He spoke out loud as he pressed the call button from that same unknown number. As it went through and he finally heard Malik's gruff voice, Yeong squinted at the screen and thought he saw text pop up.

[WhAt iS hE dOinG in HerE?] before it disappeared.

“Was that you?”

“No.” Malik offered frankly. He did not sound like he was lying, though Yeong would not know, regardless. It did not even sound like Malik was aware, however.

“Can you see me?”

“I can see you. Such a great setup! I'm proud of you.”

Yeong did not feel like he wanted the Orc's approval but when he received the compliment his lips curled up involuntarily. He reluctantly added.
“Thanks. What's this for, anyway? You can see me, so what.”

“Obedience exercises. Strip.” Yeong casually stripped down to the nude.
“Hm. You've trained quite a bit? Soma?”

“That's right.” Yeong said proudly.

“So you're used to submitting to training and you've already got a foundation for discipline.” Malik complimented. Yeong smiled a bit wider and nodded. Those were all good things.
“Mouth open.” Yeong complied.
“Wider.” Yeong swallowed and opened wider. He began to salivate.
“Tongue out. All the way. Pant for me.” Yeong began panting.
“Squat. Legs spread. Hands up.” Yeong complied again but after the fact he furrowed his brow and drew his tongue back in to comment. Then he realized/

“H-hey, you got me panting and begging like a d-”

“Don't break the pose!” Malik commanded forcefully. Yeong returned to the exact position.
“Good... I can work with this. Are you like him?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know what I mean. Is your thing fast training like The Hero?”

“No. I don't think so. I trained at a decent pace, faster than my Halmeoni's other students, but not significantly so to the point that it was considered a trait.” He bashfully added.
“I was just 'talented' according to her.”

“Hmm.” Malik sounded as though he was rubbing his chin. Yeong could hear the scraping of stubble with a nail.
“Do you know? You told me you were Turais. What do you do?”

“W-well... So far-” Yeong explained the entirety of what he had been able to do so far to Malik. The Orc listened patiently and once Yeong was done explaining he chimed in.

“This is good. Very good. I think we can use this.”

“We? What do you mean?”

“The kid explained video and this 'Net' thing to me. You can enter into any video and return. Easy.”

“Not easy! I can still get hurt and I need to reach my phone to escape, as far as I know. So I can not do any of that without risk. I am not even sure if I should. There... There is a voice other than yours that seems to think I shouldn't abuse it.”

“Other than mine?” Malik questioned.
“Interesting... So, the problem is you haven't been testing the limits of your powers. You only know that you can return with your phone because that's all you've tried. You just don't know.” Yeong found himself nodding along. Malik had a way of packaging his ideas in a  way that made it seem beneficial to both of them. It was effortless for him, as though he naturally wove those into every conversation. It happened with the plug, the camera and the training and now this exercise.
“And who knows what that voice is? Don't you think we should be testing them, as well? You probably just backed down and never tried again because that's what you're like.” He was grinning as he added.
“You know... Even if you can't return normally, you get that training is struggle right? Well, what better way to struggle than to get into a situation with a start point that you will always be able to revert back to in a pinch? Think about it.”

“That is-” Yeong nodded evenly.
“Accurate. I did not try fooling around with it after that initial time.” All of Malik's suggestions were reasonable and it did not seem fair to the group to allow his trauma to stop him from trying to go further with his powers over media.

“Someone is keeping YOUR power from you. No one explained this stuff to you so it's their fault, not yours. It is more dangerous to NOT experiment with it while you are safe with me. Consider what could happen next time without the full breadth of knowledge on how this works!” Malik insisted. Yeong thought back to the month he spent as a maid. The horror. If he had known an alternate method, he could have potentially escaped sooner. Instead, he was stuck. On the other hand, as much as he felt like it could benefit him, he could not shake the feeling that Malik was suggesting it only because it benefited him, as well.