April 20, 2034 | 7:00 PM | Tokyo, Japan

  Inside Mook’s private room within Saito’s mansion.

  “What are you lying there looking at... Master-Mook?” Rina’s honeyed voice, laced with a heavy dose of sarcasm, whispered right into his ear.

  “Gulp!”

  Mook jumped so hard he nearly fell off the bed. He had been thoroughly enjoying the sight of Natsuki and Hana changing clothes after their shower, completely forgetting that the ‘Tigress’ known as Rina was lying right there, guarding him.

  By now, both Natsuki and Hana no longer felt any shyness about undressing in front of Mook. Between their assigned duties and the time they had spent together, intimacy had grown. Even though they hadn't shared a deep physical relationship yet, Mook’s immense wealth led the two girls to occasionally flirt with and entice him, hoping to snatch a fragment of affection away from Rina. Many times, Mook had to restrain Rina to keep her from grabbing a knife and stabbing someone to death.

  “Come here...” Mook quickly rolled over to hug Rina from behind, showering her neck with kisses in hopes of using the fire of passion to extinguish the fire of jealousy.

  “Don’t try to cover it up!” Rina made a huffing, pouting sound, attempting to push the young man’s chest away. But in the end, she fell victim to Mook’s ultimate move: the ‘Teddy Bear Hug.’ He wrapped his arms around her tightly until she couldn't move, then pressed a deep, overwhelming kiss onto her lips until Rina finally began to soften.

  “Rina... Master Mook.” Hana moved up to sit on the bed beside them, holding out her smartphone to show them a certain post while they were having their sweet moment. She intentionally squeezed in to find an opening to get close, hoping that one day Rina would soften her heart and agree to share Mook with them.

  Mook pulled his lips away to look at the screen, while Rina rolled over to glare at Hana, seeing right through her. Mook had to tighten his embrace on Rina even more to prevent her from throwing a fit.

  “Do you think this social media firestorm is Master Saito’s doing?” Hana asked.

  “Something like this... normally, if it were just random netizens stirring things up themselves, it would never gain this much momentum. At best, it would have been mass-reported and deleted long ago. But to go global viral with likes and shares that never drop? That takes serious money... which means it’s definitely Master Saito’s handiwork,” Mook replied dismissively, before giving the jealous girl several hard kisses on the cheek until they were nearly bruised.

  The trend currently burning up the internet was titled: ‘Celebrity Scholar Nack Sparked Outrage with Bold Post: Lustful Women Ruin the World.’

  “There’s a live broadcast, too,” Natsuki walked in to join them, dressed in provocative black lace lingerie. In her hand, she held a sleek, silver remote. With a playful wink at Mook, she pressed a button, activating a massive, ultra-thin screen mounted on the wall. The display flickered to life, bathing the dimly lit room in the clinical glow of a television studio.

  “You! I only let you stay here out of pity!” Rina tried to struggle to get up and deal with the ‘Seductress’ once and for all, but Mook, being much stronger, held her fast.

  “Take it easy... You were the one who agreed to let them stay, remember?” Mook reminded her gently.

  Rina let out a small, frustrated huff and finally stopped struggling in his arms. She leaned her back against his chest, clearly still annoyed, but she chose to stay quiet and stay within his embrace.

  Deep down, Rina wanted to kick Natsuki and Hana out of her love nest more than anything. But knowing they both carried massive debts just like she once did, Rina’s heart softened. However, it had turned into a ‘Farmer and the Viper’ situation when the two girls sought every opportunity to seduce Mook and steal his love. Fortunately, Mook was steadfast and unwavering, so nothing serious enough to break Rina’s patience had happened yet.

  Seeing Rina ‘subdued,’ the two girls smiled and lay down on either side of Mook and Rina to watch the live broadcast on the phone together. They began to act more behaved, knowing Rina’s patience was wearing thin, and they still felt a sense of gratitude for Rina’s mercy in letting them stay.

  ***

  In the television program, the channel logo displayed: "Hot Current, Cold Snap."

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  “Hello, viewers!” Ake, the young host in a crisp suit, announced. “This evening, we bring you the most explosive topic in social media history... The renowned Celebrity Scholar, Nack, who recently sparked global outrage with a bold post claiming: Lustful Women Ruin the World.”

  Ake turned to bow to the guests on both sides. “Hello, Mr. Nack. And hello, Ms. Nisa.”

  ‘Nack,’ a plump man with thick glasses, looked dignified yet radiated high self-confidence. He gave a wide, jovial smile in his expensive casual wear. “Hello.”

  ‘Nisa,’ an internationally renowned activist and social advocate in her middle years, looked remarkably youthful and elegant in a modern blue silk dress. She returned the greeting with a gentle smile, though her eyes shone with sharp intelligence. “Hello.”

  The studio was arranged in a sharp, modern semi-circle. Ake sat at a central glass podium, while the two guests were positioned in plush armchairs facing each other—a setup that looked more like a battlefield for wits than a simple talk show.

  “Starting with you, Mr. Nack. What made you decide to post a message that shook the entire world like this?” Ake opened the topic.

  “Well... I’ve studied the rate of human development from a scientific perspective,” Nack spoke in a clear, sharp voice. “And I found that before the ‘beauty and handsomeness’ trend boomed, our science grew exponentially. But in this era—an era where handsome guys dance suggestively on stage and pretty girls show off their backsides to music—the development rate has dropped shockingly!”

  “And how are they related?” the host asked.

  “They are related! In the past, intelligence was a sexual attractant. If you were smart or did cool research, girls would scream for you. But what about today? If someone does something beneficial for the world, people just say ‘thanks.’ But for those pretty faces on stage, they scream until they lose their minds. In that case, who would want to be smart, Mr. Ake?”

  “Hmm...” Ake nodded blankly, looking as if he were processing that strange logic. “It sounds nonsensical, yet strangely meaningful... a very high level of personal philosophy. Now, let’s hear Ms. Nisa’s side. What is your opinion on this?”

  Nisa shifted slightly with grace. She wore a slight smirk, her eyes filled with mercy... the kind of mercy one has when looking at a child throwing a mindless tantrum.

  “First of all... I must thank you, Mr. Nack, for taking your precious time away from your three degrees to sit and analyze other people's preferences for this long,” Nisa’s voice was soft yet cutting. “But what I feel sorry for—on behalf of the institutions you graduated from—is that you cannot distinguish between the ‘instinctive appreciation of beauty’ and ‘depravity.’”

  “You claim science is regressing because women are only interested in handsome men. But I see it differently. Isn't science meant to serve human needs? Labeling women who appreciate handsomeness as 'lustful' while viewing men who want beautiful wives as normal is outdated logic that insults the female gender!”

  Nisa turned to look at the camera with determined eyes. “The drive to be near beauty is what makes humans create new technologies. Anyone who tells you that your happiness is depravity... that person is the one who is pitiable, for their heart must be too dark to see the aesthetic beauty of this world!”

  “That was sharp, Ms. Nisa!” Ake exclaimed in admiration before turning back to Nack. “Anything to argue?”

  “But it wastes human development time! Spending all day scrolling through men!” Nack stubbornly pushed back.

  “That is the freedom to manage one's own life,” Nisa emphasized each word. “If a woman wants to spend her rest time looking at things that make her happy so she can return to work and build the world the next day, what’s wrong with that? Or does Mr. Nack want a world where everyone is stressed, sitting and reading textbooks until they die without ever smiling at beauty... would that world really be worth living in?”

  “Oh! Rights this, freedom that!” Nack barked in annoyance. “What about what’s right? If everyone just uses their rights to do whatever they want and only likes nonsense, won’t society fall into chaos!”

  “Mr. Nack,” Nisa remained polite, “a chaotic society is a society that forces others to think like themselves. I still stand by my word: a woman’s preference for handsome men, her choice to pay for idols, or her imagination about whoever she wants—these are fundamental rights that no one can take away. As long as it isn’t illegal and doesn't bother your wallet... you have no right to point fingers and tell anyone what they should like!”

  Nack wore a look of disdain. “Is that so? But what I see every day is women having food on the table because they use their beauty to lure money out of men's pockets. What if men like us choose not to pick or pay for you? What if we want to use our own rights to like something else instead!”

  “Heh...” Nisa shook her head lightly. “If one day men choose not to like women, that is your right. Like I said, everyone has the freedom to like or not like anything. And finally... women today can stand on their own without needing to wait for a man like you to pay for them!”

  As Nisa finished her sentence, the entire studio burst into a synchronized round of applause. Nack sat there, his face turning pale, unable to argue further. Ake then cut to a commercial break to let both sides rest.

  ***

  During the break, in the studio hallway.

  Nack sat looking at a portable brainwave gaming device named ‘GREM’ in his hand, wearing a triumphant smirk. He whispered to himself softly.

  “Women are really as stupid as Mr. Saito said... Hahaha!”

  His roar of laughter echoed down the hallway in sheer satisfaction before Nack stood up and walked back into the studio, putting on a sad face like a loser. He left Ake, who happened to be walking by and witnessed it, staring after him in utter confusion...

  'Trap' looks like, don't you?