Sex Partner, Real Girlfriend

The weekdays before the Balance Game's time limit ran out.

Naturally, those weekdays were spent with Ajeong.

Was it anxiety over the possibility of re-enlisting? The need to spend as much time together as possible in case dating got banned and things between us fell apart? Neither. My every single day was already built around plans with her.

"Woohyun, we're playing LoL today, right?"

"Mm..."

"Come oooon~~ We have to hit Emerald 1 today!"

"You already climbed that far?"

"Diamond's right around the corner! We push to Emerald 1 today, then one-trick our way into Diamond over the weekend!"

"Haha... alright, fine."

"We're doing it?!"

Squish, squish—

Ajeong kneaded my ass with a wicked little smile, like she was issuing a threat.

"Mm..."

Skinship like this barely registered anymore, so it didn't have much effect.

Squeeze—

"..! Hey—!"

"Heheheh.. you're playing, right?"

"Be careful. People walk by here all the time."

"This noona already checked everything, okay!"

Sunday and Monday mornings. The aftereffects of our consecutive sessions only lasted a single day. From Tuesday onward, when we met again, she acted like nothing had happened — and if anything, her skinship only got bolder.

Which brought us to the present situation. Today alone, there wasn't a single part of my body her hands hadn't already claimed.

"Anyway, we're playing, right?!"

I'd planned to play with her from the start, but at this point I wanted to mess with her all the way to the end.

"..."

"Aww, whyyy~~ You just go home and rest! I'm the one trying to hang out with you even after work!"

"So you're the one doing me a favor by hanging out?"

"Obviously!"

"Then you can cut back a little. Thanks for everything so far."

"Grrrr..!"

She made a show of clenching her fist right in front of my most precious area, waving it around as a threat.

"Ajeong, this is yours to use — you should treat it carefully."

"..."

"Pfft."

For the first time all day, Ajeong — who'd been in a great mood and busy teasing me nonstop — actually looked flustered.

A peaceful daily life. Now with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a side of Rift dates with a LoL addict.

Just as planned, we climbed side by side to Emerald 1 and arrived at Saturday.

After finishing our workout, on the way home, I opened KokoaTalk.

About an hour left until the Balance Game's time limit fully expired at 3 PM. I'd deliberately set our gaming session with Ajeong for three o'clock. If the Balance Game ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠result was good, we could play in high spirits. If it wasn't, a Rift date with her would let me forget reality for a while. That was the plan.

To sum up the situation: my choice had been the latter — the two-year dating ban. My relationship with Ajeong was one where neither of us had confessed, yet we acted like we were already dating. Depending on how the Balance Game operators judged that, my fate for the next two years — or possibly the rest of my life — would change.

The worst-case scenario was them deciding this ambiguous relationship counted as dating. That could automatically force me to re-enlist, or they might forcibly drive a wedge between Ajeong and me to enforce the ban. People with the power to rewrite the world could easily manufacture something just between the two of us.

It won't be like that...

"Fuck, please..."

Everything I'd just imagined was only the worst-case assumption. Ten seconds left. Check my fate through KokoaTalk, then hop on Discord and game with Ajeong.

"Please..."

5

4

3

2

1

I'd already endured a long six days of waiting. I didn't even need to hear a KokoaTalk notification — I just sat in the chat room and waited.

"...What."

Contrary to expectations, no message of any kind came from KokoaTalk.

"Did it just... apply on its own?"

"..."

A rather anticlimactic result. The only thing filling the quiet room was the sound of Ajeong's Discord call.

"Woohyuna, hurry up and open LoL!"

"Got it~"

Of course, Ajeong had no idea I'd just been standing at a crossroads of fate. A future where I shaved my head and re-enlisted. A future where, after finally becoming handsome, I couldn't even maintain this quasi-relationship and went back to being a total virgin. At the very least, it seemed I'd managed to dodge those worst-case futures.

"Ajeong, want to come over to my place tomorrow?"

"Mmm..."

Huh?

An unexpected reaction. Had the two-year dating ban somehow made her start disliking me?

"Why? Got other plans?"

"...I was going to play LoL with you tomorrow too."

"Huh?"

"You got back from the gym late today so we started late, so we have to play tomorrow too!"

"Ah..."

Nothing to worry about. She was just a LoL addict.

"Mm~ alright, noted."

"Heheh.. are you sulking?"

"Nope~ It's just inevitable that Ajeong likes me more than LoL."

"I do not!!!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Of course not..!"

"Then if I told you to quit LoL, could you?"

"Wha..?"

"Delete your LoL account."

"..."

"Or delete Jung Woohyun."

"If I delete Woohyun, does that mean you die...?"

"Are you prepared to delete me?"

"Hehe.. just kidding! Obviously I'd delete LoL! Save our Woohyun!"

"Unexpected."

"You didn't trust me!? Still, I'm glad you didn't actually make me choose something that extreme... You really like Balance Games, huh? You asked me about them last time too."

"Ah~... yeah."

"Heheh.. I'll think up a few Balance Games before we meet tomorrow!"

"Huh? No, you really don't have to!"

I genuinely did not want to play Balance Games in my free time either.

"Nooo~ We can go to a PC bang or something! Meeting Woohyun is better than LoL!"

"That's not what I meant.."

"Anyway, hurry up and log in!"

Apparently she'd taken my invitation to come over as a yes. Before I could correct her, her prodding dropped me straight into the Rift.

Tomorrow was Sunday — the day the tenth Balance Game would open. The ninth one from last week had only just finished today. Ajeong was preparing Balance Games for me. I just wanted it all to stop...

Saturday, 10 PM.

I finally wrapped up a Rift date that had stretched past six hours. The result: we'd settled into Diamond 4. If the promotion had failed, we might have been pulling an all-nighter.

"Haaa..."

A sigh to shake off the exhaustion.

"Whew..."

And this one was pure relief.

The ninth Balance Game seemed to have passed without incident. No calls from the Military Manpower Administration, either. Things with Ajeong had gotten a little ambiguous, but this was the best possible outcome.

More importantly — if I could maintain this ambiguous relationship for at least another month? And if, even after that much time, Ajeong still had zero complaints? That would mean she already considered us dating, and there'd be no problem at all. We weren't officially dating, but there was a woman who thought of me as her boyfriend. And that, essentially, was dating.

"Now this is sex."

Just hold out for two years.

Ding-dong—!

"Who is it?"

I was in the middle of congratulating myself for handling a dangerous situation reasonably well when the doorbell suddenly rang. Past ten at night — nobody should be showing up at this hour.

"Jin Hayun?"

Only one person came to mind. Even if we were close, dropping by this late without so much as a text wasn't okay. Planning to give her a sharp word about it, I skipped checking the intercom and opened the door right away.

Click—

"Hey, at this hour—"

"Hehe... hi?"

"Uh.. what's goi—"

"Can I come in?"

"Of course! Come on in."

"Hup—!"

My guest flopped onto my bed like she owned the place.

"Ajeong, what are you doing here this late?"

"Just~ Did you open the door because you knew it was me?"

"...Yeah~ Who else would show up at this hour."

"I see~ Well, since we're hanging out tomorrow anyway, I figured we might as well sleep together tonight!"

She'd brought two whole bags — I'd wondered what she'd packed so much of, but apparently she'd even prepared tomorrow's clothes.

"You're staying over?"

"Yep! Is that not okay?"

"It's not that. I mean, I'm happy about it, but."

"Then whyyy~~ I came to pick up what I left with you!"

"What you left with me?"

"You said it was mine, so treat it carefully. Hand it over."

"Ah..."

Right. I was Ajeong's sex partner.

"Kyaa—! Woohyun's being rough!"

"Mmm... ah."

Sunday morning, after a happy night. The moment I opened my eyes, a naked beauty filled my vision.

Tap. Tap—

"Mmph.. Woohyuna, what are you doing..."

"You awake?"

At my touch, Ajeong woke up and immediately burrowed into my arms.

"What should we do today?"

"Mmm... PC bang?"

"More gaming?"

"..."

"Isn't there something else you want to do?"

"I don't know what we're supposed to do.."

"Huh?"

"This is my first time, so I don't know what kind of date would be good..!"

"Ah..."

Come to think of it, same for me. Where were you supposed to go with a real girlfriend, and what were you supposed to do?

A movie theater? We could just watch at home. A PC bang? We could each game from our own places. A café? I didn't particularly want to go to my workplace on a day off. A trip? ...

"Want to go on a trip?"

"Where??"

"Mm... the beach?"

"Huk.. I love that!"

We'd decided on a trip, but picking a date was tricky.

"When should we go? I work Saturdays, so it's a bit awkward."

"Mmm... then let's do a day trip next Sunday!"

"Let's do that."

The Balance Game was still on my mind, but things would work out somehow. And since only bad options had been coming up lately, I was holding out hope that it might start handing out good ones again for a while.

"Once I quit my job, let's go somewhere farther! How about it?"

"You're quitting the gym??"

"Yeah! I want to go home with you after we finish working out too!"

"Ah~"

I'd always felt bad leaving Ajeong alone at the gym, so this worked out well.

"And then— right into LoL!"

"..."

"Hehe.. just kidding. I'm going back to school next year, so I want to rest up beforehand!"

"Ah~ right. Starting next year we can go to school together too."

"I love that so much!"

Smack! Smack!

Ajeong suddenly started raining kisses on me.

"Why all of a sudd—"

"Smack! Smack! Just because!"

A playful barrage of kisses. The time her lips lingered grew longer and longer, and something sticky started to enter the mix.

"Pwahh..."

"This isn't a kiss anymore."

"What's that supposed to mean! Mwah.."

Skinship that started as a joke. Honestly, I'd known it would end up like this.

Click—

She pulled the curtains shut, then killed the lights too. The saying that college students living alone start going at it the moment their eyes meet? Completely true.

"Uwaaa... Woohyun's a beast..."

"You're the one who jumped me first."

"I didn't want it to go this far..."

Ajeong was sprawled across the bed, barely functional. It was already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠almost noon, so I decided to throw together a simple meal. Nothing fancy was going to appear, of course.

"Woohyuna... what are you doing?"

"Boiling ramen~"

"How many~~?"

"Two~"

"..."

"I'm about to put in one more~"

"..."

"Once I finish what I'm doing, I'm boiling two more~"

"I get it already!"

We polished off a full four packs of ramen without any trouble.

"Hwaaa... I'm so full.."

Having burned through that much stamina, her body was craving nutrients again — Ajeong crawled back onto the bed looking drowsy. For someone who always projected such a perfect image, this was apparently what she was like when she got comfortable at home.

Smack—!

"Ow!"

I gave her twitching ass a solid swat as she climbed onto the bed.

"Ugh..."

KokoaTalk—!

12:00 PM.

A notification sound invaded the peaceful daily life I was sharing with Ajeong.