The Sweltering Reunion
July’s city was oppressive even at night.
The asphalt gave off heat-haze that rose without pause, by day and by night alike, and the air itself was soaked through with damp humidity, tightening around people’s chests until breathing felt laborious.
In the middle of downtown, a nondescript bar was hosting a class reunion, and it only made the summer’s stickiness and heat burn all the more fiercely.
“Do we really have to go?”
Taehyun broke the silence first. Seojin shook her head with a smile, though the heavier makeup she wore today looked strangely unfamiliar on her.
“Your friend invited us. You said he was your closest friend.”
“He is, but... won’t you be tired?”
“I’m fine. It’ll be good for a change of pace.”
Seojin’s voice was calm, but there was something thorny hidden beneath it. Those four words—a change of pace—felt like they were poking at the problem between husband and wife.
“That’s a dress I haven’t seen before.”
“Right? It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
Taehyun answered with a laugh. The black dress Seojin wore traced the lines of her body beautifully. At the sight of that exquisite figure, he swallowed hard.
His wife was still beautiful. Pretty, even. No—if anything, she had only become more luscious with time.
But why the hell...
And yet his lower body lay dead as a corpse.
Taehyun’s ruined manhood had become the problem at the center of their marriage, and the result of that problem was a sexless life that had stretched on for more than a year.
It had gone on that long, and the bed—a piece of furniture that should have been for lovers—had been reduced to little more than a place to sleep.
The cause of it all had been the erectile dysfunction that had struck him without warning one day. Secretly, without Seojin knowing, he had gone from one urology clinic to another and even to a traditional medicine doctor, trying to fix it.
He had endured consultation rooms thick with the smell of disinfectant and herbal medicine, and he had forced down every food people swore was good for virility.
“Stress is the root of all illness. You should quit smoking first.”
After hearing that, Taehyun had harshly quit smoking six months ago in hopes of restoring his relationship with Seojin.
Even while working at the company, he missed the cigarettes he used to enjoy.
And even in those very rare moments when he did succeed, he still failed to meet his wife’s expectations, and collapsed beneath the pressure he placed on himself.
Seojin, too, fought a desperate battle with herself every morning in front of the mirror at her dressing table.
What’s wrong with me...?
In the mirror stood a woman who was still beautiful, still feminine, still full of charm. But Taehyun’s indifferent gaze and the troubles of their marriage had worn away at her pride.
They loved each other, but they were both afraid that the problems between them would turn the whole future ahead of them into a dry, barren desert.
Do I need to try harder... or am I simply not attractive enough as a woman?
Seojin kept blaming herself, wearing herself down from the inside out. And with those worries clinging to them, time passed until today’s reunion arrived.
The dress Seojin wore emphasized her curves without ever becoming vulgar, wrapping around her body in a soft, elegant embrace.
Like the feather robe worn by a celestial maiden, it made her presence stand out all the more clearly. The restaurant where they arrived for the reunion glittered brilliantly, and beneath the soft halogen lighting, Seojin looked absolutely stunning.
Was she always this pretty...?
Taehyun marveled inwardly, and for a moment a surge of pride filled him. The instant they entered the restaurant, he felt the many male gazes pouring toward Seojin.
Pride swelled in him—but it quickly curdled into unease.
As they neared the reserved private room, familiar voices drifted out to meet them.
“Hey, Park Taehyun! Over here!”
It was Yunsu, waving from afar.
He had been Taehyun’s closest friend back in school, and one of those envied figures who had never lacked for women even in those days. Tall and broad-shouldered with a boisterous, handsome face, he had always drawn the envy of the boys around him.
Even now, he looked like he was doing well, showing off a gleaming watch on his wrist.
Taehyun could feel Yunsu’s eyes sweeping over Seojin, measuring her in a single glance.
“Wow... you really hit the jackpot.”
Yunsu got to his feet and held out a hand to Seojin.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Jeong Yunsu. You could say I’m Taehyun’s dick-swinging childhood friend.”
“Hello. I’m Han Seojin.”
Seojin smiled and took his hand. Even as they shook, Taehyun could feel Yunsu’s eyes brazenly raking down her body. And instead of letting go after a polite moment, he held her hand longer than courtesy required.
Seojin kept her smile in place, but the stranger’s boldness made her body stiffen almost imperceptibly. Beneath that shameless handshake and lingering gaze, though, she strangely felt a chill run down her spine.
Watching the smooth, sly exchange, Taehyun felt heat and irritation rise up from deep in his gut.
“Enough. Seojin’s uncomfortable.”
He forced a laugh and slipped an arm around Seojin’s shoulders. But she avoided his touch in front of everyone’s eyes and sat down in her chair.
The reunion grew livelier as the night went on. Bottles emptied one by one, and the table gradually became drunk on alcohol and raised voices.
The conversation drifted from everyday talk into bold, secretive subjects about money and women.
“Hey, you guys hear the rumor? About what’s becoming popular at XX these days?”
It was Jaehyeok who opened that line of discussion. He downed the beer in his glass in one shot and then spoke up.
“What, swapping?”
Jaehyeok’s wife laughed and smacked his shoulder, but the table’s mood had already been whipped into a fever by the alcohol.
Taehyun and Seojin, seated nearby, could only manage awkward smiles. Seojin kept her gaze averted, staring at the drink in her glass.
Whether the topic itself made her uncomfortable or not, her expression had gone dark.
“Oh... of course you’d know about it right away. But from what I hear, it’s cleaner than you’d think. Couples agree to it and everything.”
Taehyun’s ears rang with the conversation. He was busy trying to keep his expression under control while also watching Seojin’s reaction.
“I still don’t get it. Giving your wife to another man—doesn’t that make you insane?” one of the alumni said with a scowl.
Yunsu, who was sitting nearby, let out a snort and cut in.
“Hey, who said anything about giving her away? You’re enjoying it together. If you’ve been doing the exact same thing with your wife for ten, twenty years, wouldn’t you get bored?”
“Even if you do, you just endure it, idiot.”
“That’s exactly why sexless marriages happen. Because there’s no new stimulation. Right, Seojin?”
Yunsu’s gaze was blatantly fixed on Seojin as he spoke. She flinched and lifted her head.
“Pardon? What is?”
“You only live once, so you should experience a little new stimulation now and then. That’s how you keep the spark alive. You ever get curious about that kind of thing too, sister-in-law?”
The atmosphere turned icy all at once. Taehyun’s face flushed red. Seojin, only then, gripped Taehyun’s hand tightly—but her fingers were shaking, and they were cold.
“Hey, that’s a bit much.”
“That’s... way beyond anything we could talk about.”
Seojin’s voice was firm, but it trembled at the end. The other alumni hurried to change the subject, but the phrase new stimulation had already spread like poison through the two of them.
As the drinking dragged on, Taehyun began to feel stifled and headed for the restroom.
While he was relieving himself at a urinal, Yunsu came up beside him.
“Hey, lighten up a little.”
“You crazy bastard...”
“No, seriously. Tell me the truth. Are you really okay? I mean, with your marriage.”
Yunsu’s voice echoed through the restroom.
“...Yeah, I’m fine. Why the hell are you asking about everything?”
“Seojin’s really top-tier as a woman, you know that? Don’t you feel like it’s a waste to keep someone like her next to a guy like you? The things you can’t give her, other men would be desperate to fill up for her.”
Yunsu grinned. In that smile, a blatant possessiveness toward Seojin and contempt for Taehyun were mixed together.
“What the hell are you talking about, you bastard!”
Taehyun’s voice snapped out sharply.
“Don’t get worked up. I’m just saying, if you ever start thinking about it, tell me. I know a good place.”
After finishing up, Yunsu pulled his phone from his pocket. Then he tapped the screen a few times and shoved it in front of Taehyun’s eyes.
“W-what... is this...?”
Taehyun’s pupils shook. Under lighting that looked like a motel room, several men and women were tangled together on the screen. It was shot with no filter, and the expressions on their faces were plainly visible.
It felt like his breath had been cut off.
Disgust churned in his stomach. But at the same time, he felt his lower abdomen grow heavy, and he despised himself for it.
On the screen, women were screaming under the hands of strange men.
And in that instant, the woman on the screen’s face overlapped with Seojin’s.
“Think about it. You only live once.”
Yunsu gave his shoulder a light pat.
And just before leaving the restroom, he tossed one last casual remark over his shoulder.
“Someone like Seojin would be insanely popular.”
The door shut, and only silence remained in the restroom.
The inferiority he had buried in some corner of his heart surged up all at once.
Left alone, he exhaled raggedly.
The man in the mirror looked miserable—furious and aroused at the same time, in a way that made him feel utterly wretched.
When he returned to the table, he saw Seojin smiling as she talked with another alumnus’s wife. Her smile, the one he had seen his whole life, looked strangely unfamiliar today.
On the ride home, they took a taxi. Seojin was asleep beside him, drunk and sprawled against the seat.
Taehyun sat there blankly, watching the night lights reflected on the river.
His eyes were on the scenery, but his mind was full of the images Yunsu had shown him.
Taehyun looked at Seojin, asleep and tipsy beside him.
She really is pretty...
But then the unsettling gazes of the men from tonight rose in his memory, and with them came Yunsu’s words.
The things you can’t give her, other men would be desperate to fill up for her.
Damn it... what the hell is that supposed to mean...
But along with those words, a thought he should never have entertained began to surface in his mind.
What if... Seojin...?
As soon as he imagined an unfamiliar man looking at Seojin and reaching out to her, his lower abdomen gave a sudden, heavy throb.
Taehyun jolted in panic, shut his eyes, and leaned his head back against the headrest.
You crazy bastard...
The insult circled in his mouth over and over. But once the image had taken hold, it would not vanish so easily.