The Dialectic of Master and Slave - Chapter 15
The space between her legs couldn’t help but feel stiff. Touching it several more times out of curiosity, the slime stirred as if surprised. Jaha startled and removed her hand. Even if it was a creature without attack power, it didn’t seem good to needlessly provoke something inside the body. It might do something strange if angered.
Jaha’s fingers slowly moved up past the entrance. Knowledge of where to touch for pleasure existed. But it had never been put into practice. Though curious, it was needlessly embarrassing, and not desperate either. Reading e****c novels or comics was enough.
A place never touched except when washing.
Due to a feeling that was either tension or guilt, fingers trembled thinly.
Finally, her fingertips touched the most sensitive protrusion. An organ that exists solely for pleasure with no other purpose. Rolling it as if caressing, breathing became irregular and gradually a strange feeling arose.
It was when fingers were playing unconsciously, chasing that peculiar sensation. Through her foggy mind, a question suddenly arose.
What am I doing right now?
Am I trying to pleasure myself?
In this humiliating situation?
Being toyed with by a creature that isn’t even human, yet feeling want rather than shame!
It felt like nothing but giving up on being human. Living purely by instinct, that’s being a beast, how can that be human?
Wrapped in shock, Jaha immediately removed her hand. Just because no one treated her as human didn’t mean she wanted to fall below human.
In this world, what kept her human was solely her own acknowledgment. Neither system nor people saw Jaha as human. If even she gave up, there would be no one left to affirm Yoo Jaha as human.
Knowing oneself was the final fortress, Jaha could not collapse.
Gritting her teeth, Jaha got up from the spot. It was because cold water seemed like it would cool down the heat.
The place where slaves washed was utterly poor. They washed near a well-like water drawing place, and without any partitions or covering cloths, anyone passing by could see – it was structured that way. Though no one particularly watched slaves washing with interest, regardless of whether anyone looked or not, it was a matter of feeling.
To make matters worse, there was no distinction between men and women. With good luck, there might only be women, but one could end up alone among men. At such times, not knowing where to place her gaze, Jaha would leave after only looking at the ground. Though there was an atmosphere of not minding each other’s nakedness, it was still uncomfortable being the opposite s*x. Especially when there were relatively more men than women, fear arose even while knowing nothing would happen.
A sudden yearning washed over Jaha – the simple luxury of sinking into a warm bath, unhurried and unwatched. Such basic comforts from Earth now felt like distant treasures, their absence sharp enough to sting her eyes to the brink of tears.
Before coming to this world, she lived taking given things for granted, but if she were to return to Earth, it would be impossible not to be truly grateful.
Just being able to wash without freezing, eat decent food, wear nice clothes, sleep under actual soft blankets—it was enough to make me tear up. Hell, even just getting rid of the whole class system would be worth celebrating.
Day after day, Jaha felt it deep in her bones – just how precious those basic ideas of freedom and equality really were, the stuff modern human rights were built on. Once she makes it back to Earth, she would probably never touch another novel with that class system garbage again.
Arriving at the washing place, fortunately there were only one woman and two men. Taking courage from the fact there was another woman besides herself, Jaha undressed.
The soap piece fell to the floor while she was carefully washing with her legs tightly closed, fearing the slime inside private areas might be seen.
Jaha quickly bent down to pick it up before others could see. She didn’t want others to discover the soap’s existence. They might ask for one too, or interrogate how it was made. Rather than endure such troubles when they might harbor ill feelings about a slave being unnecessarily particular, it was better to use it secretly. With barely any bubbles, there was no worry of others discovering if held hidden in hand and rubbed gently on skin.
After hiding the soap piece in hand and straightening up, the slime squirmed inside. Simultaneously realizing her mistake, Jaha’s hair stood on end.
The soap wasn’t the problem. Something that needed to be hidden even more might have been discovered.
Heart pounding, Jaha scanned the area with a rigid expression, praying no one had been watching – only to lock eyes with one of the men. A chill raced across her skin.
