Balance Game. Pretty Decent Game, Huh?

Rather than genuinely deliberating over which option to pick, it felt more like I'd already decided and was just rationalizing it after the fact.

The second I laid eyes on these choices, my gut reaction was that I wanted the first one — Nullify Desired Option Once — right then and there.

And once I knew that picking the latter wouldn't erase any of the penalties I'd already racked up, the first option only pulled harder.

The penalties I'd accumulated so far: a ban on masturbation, and a two-year ban on dating.

The first one was manageable enough, and the second would just disappear if I toughed it out for two ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠years.

If I kept playing through the twentieth Balance Game, that left nine more rounds ahead of me. Just as many as I'd already done. Looking at it that way, one free nullification ought to cover me, right?

I'd hold onto it as long as I could, then burn it on whatever penalty turned out worse than a two-year dating ban.

"...This is the right call, isn't it?"

In the end, the final answer was to keep playing the Balance Game.

Even after settling on it, the decision was so huge that the doubts kept circling back.

I typed it out, deleted it, typed it again, deleted it again.

...

I pulled the trigger.

At this rate I was going to sit there second-guessing myself for the entire time limit, so I decided to commit to my choice and just go for it.

The moment I locked it in, a new message popped up.

Nothing much to the content, really. Just confirmation that my choice had gone through.

It was thanking me more than necessary, but fretting over it wasn't going to get me any answers, so I let it go.

"Hoo..."

I'd made a pretty big decision, and yet somehow it just felt like a round where I'd walked away with a solid reward.

If the Balance Game had been planned out through the twentieth round all along, then this was basically a freebie — a game where I got compensated for free and moved on.

Yeah. Let's look on the bright side.

I couldn't exactly finish the Balance Game still carrying penalties, could I? Ideally, the remaining nine rounds would all be good things or one-off penalties, and I could keep the nullification ticket in reserve.

Soft, even breathing beside me.

Ajeong was still asleep. My own tension finally bled out, and I climbed onto the bed, pulled her into my arms, and drifted off.

"...Woohyun."

"Woohyun!"

I must have slept deeper than I thought. The sound of someone calling my name pulled my eyes open, and Ajeong was shaking me.

"...Sleep well?"

"Mmnh... yeah! It's already evening."

"Already...? We should get home."

"What if we just stayed one more night?"

She'd pulled the same thing last week, and I still remembered how exhausting the trip to the gym had been afterward.

"Hmm... we've got the gym tomorrow, and you've got work, so we should head home tonight."

"Yeah, maybe..."

"I'll walk you. We're seeing each other again tomorrow anyway."

"I know... let me get ready."

She looked a little dejected, but she seemed to understand.

Ajeong packed the clothes and things she'd brought into her bag. I threw on some clothes myself and finished getting ready to leave.

Click—

"Let's go."

"Okay. Hold my hand."

I took her hand without missing a beat and headed out of the building.

"The weekend's already over..."

"Tell me about it. When are you quitting that job?"

"I'm supposed to stay until they find a replacement, but the boss cut me some slack — just two more weeks!"

"Nice. Once you quit, we can hang out more often."

"Yeah!"

We left my building and started walking toward Ajeong's place. The second we stepped out through the front entrance, a familiar strawberry scent hit me.

She's smoking that Vita-stick again, huh.

The owner of that scent was, of course, Jin Hayun. As we passed the wall beside the building, I glanced over — and sure enough, she was standing in her usual spot, puffing on her Vita-stick.

"Oh!"

She looked like she was about to call out to me, all bright and eager, then froze mid-motion. Probably because she'd spotted Ajeong next to me. I just gave her a light smile and kept walking.

"Our places are too close..."

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"It means the walk home is too short."

"Then let's take it slow."

"Hehe..."

On a normal day, the distance wouldn't have taken twenty minutes. But between chatting with Ajeong, stopping now and then, and trading comments about whatever we passed along the way, more than thirty minutes slipped by.

"We're already here..."

"Yeah. Go get some rest."

"Okay! See you tomorrow."

"Go on in~"

"..."

By all rights, this was the moment Ajeong should have gone inside — but she just stood there, still looking at me. Her gaze stayed locked on one spot the whole time, staring up at me without moving.

Peck—

"Hehe... you're so late."

Peck. Peck.

"Alright, go inside already. Someone's gonna see."

"Aww..."

"Don't 'aww' me. Get going."

"Hmph! If you keep this up..."

"If I keep this up?"

"No kissing for you today!"

"...Got it. Now go inside."

"You're gonna regret it! ...See you tomorrow!"

Even across that short stretch of hallway before she vanished from sight, Ajeong looked back over her shoulder more than five times.

No kissing today, huh...

As far as things worth regretting went, there were only about four hours left in the day, and we'd just said goodbye. Whether she was being ridiculous or just didn't actually want a kissing ban herself, the whole thing was so cute that a smile slipped out on its own.

On the way back home—

Bzzzt—

My phone vibrated. I checked the screen.

"Ah."

Seeing the name I'd actually changed it to light up on the screen made me a little embarrassed.

Anyway, something must have been up, so I answered right away.

I preferred talking to Ajeong over a boring walk home myself. About fifteen minutes of that later, I was nearly at my building.

"I'm here."

"Already?!"

"Yeah, it normally takes about this long. We just took forever earlier."

"Mmnh... we really walked super slow."

"Right? I'll KokoaTalk you later~"

"Okay!"

I hung up and picked up my pace again.

Huh?

I'd half expected it, but there it was again — that strawberry scent. Jin Hayun was still standing in the alley in front of the building.

"You still haven't gone inside?"

Forty minutes walking Ajeong home, fifteen minutes coming back. That meant she'd been outside for roughly an hour. Or maybe she'd gone in, come back out, and lit up again. Who knew.

"Oh... you player."

"What are you even talking about?"

I walked over and said hi, and she hit me with something completely out of left field.

"Oppa has way too many girls."

"Out of nowhere?"

"The person who came out of your place earlier — that was the one who came to the café that time, right?"

"Yeah. You recognized her?"

"Girlfriend?"

"Hmm... something like that."

In practice, that was exactly what we were — but I myself could never say it with absolute certainty.

Ah.

The thought crossed my mind that using a question ticket to pin down the exact criteria for that might not be a bad idea.

"Whoa... then what about me?"

"Huh?"

"Am I something like that too?"

"No. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Not even close."

"Eh... why not..!!"

"Was that the vibe we had?"

"...Don't you remember barging into my place and forcing me to suck on you?!"

"Hey. Hey."

Hayun suddenly started spouting something wildly explicit. Panicked, I hurried over and clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Ah, spit."

Hayun licked my palm like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Today's just a normal flavor..."

"What, so it usually tastes good enough to keep sucking on?"

I had no intention of revealing my ability, so I played dumb for now. That said, looking at it objectively, Hayun was the one who'd seen the most of my power — and in the sketchiest way possible — so it was going to be hard to talk my way out of this.

"How did you do that?"

Sure enough, she was curious. Up until now she'd seemed to be quietly pretending not to notice, but for some reason she was suddenly pressing the issue.

"It's a secret."

"A secret, huuuh..."

"Yep."

"Then when can we do it again?"

"..."

Using the ability itself wasn't a big problem, but somehow it felt like I was committing a crime.

"Does that unnie from earlier know about it??"

"Well. Yeah."

"Hmm... can you just do it for me today? Just today?"

"Just today?"

"Because of that unnie and everything... keeping it going would be a problem, so... today's the absolute last time!"

"..."

I thought over Hayun's proposal for a moment. Based on everything I'd seen of Jin Hayun's personality, she didn't seem like the type to go around blabbing about my ability or blackmailing me with it.

But keeping a relationship like this going...

Doesn't seem that bad, honestly.

Thinking about it, it didn't seem all that terrible — but if Ajeong ever found out, it'd be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a real mess, so holding back was the smarter move. And since we'd keep running into each other at the part-time job, having Hayun be the one to call it quits first would be better all around.

"...Fine."

After mulling it over, I accepted Hayun's offer.

"Oh yeah!"

"Right now?"

"Yep!"

She latched on immediately and steered me toward the building.

"Were you waiting out here just for this?"

"Busted..."

I'd half suspected it, but she really had spent a full hour waiting in that alley.

Ding—

Beep-beep-beep—

We got off the elevator, arrived at Hayun's place, and walked in like it was the most natural thing in the world. This was already my third visit — looking at it that way, maybe I couldn't just flat-out reject the "are we basically boyfriend and girlfriend" question after all.

"How are we doing it today?"

"Huh?"

"Do I lie down again?"

"Yeah."

Thud—

The moment I sat on the inner side of the bed, Hayun flopped face-down across my lap like it was second nature, resting her face on my legs.

I was about to use the flavor-change ability the way I always did — then decided that since this was the last time, I'd make it last a little longer.

Both hands...? No, just go full-body.

Having one hand sucked on for too long would get uncomfortable, so I'd been thinking of using both — and then just applied it to my entire body instead.

I was a living chocolate bar now.

"Here."

"Haaahm— mmph..."

I held out a finger, and she opened wide and took it deep into her mouth.

"Mmph..."

"Taste good?"

"Yeees..."

Once I'd given her my finger, there wasn't much else for me to do. I idly turned my head and scanned the whole apartment.

Same as last time — nothing particularly special about the room. For someone with Hayun's image, it was surprisingly tidy, and beyond that there really wasn't much to look at.

Eventually my eyes were drawn, inevitably, to the sight of Hayun I'd been trying not to stare at.

"Mmph.. elelele..."

"What are you doing."

"It tastes better if I eat it like this."

Sucking, rubbing with her tongue, going absolutely wild. She seemed to be enjoying herself, crossing her feet and kicking at the bed.

"..."

Every time she did, Hayun's hips swayed a little.

Maybe it was because I'd gotten used to physical affection with Ajeong. Looking at that self-assured little ass of hers, the urge to give it a good, clean smack just rose up on its own.