Daily Life
"Oppa, it's time to wake up!"
"Ugh..."
Letting out the same groan as every other morning, I dragged myself up and shuffled into the master bathroom. Of course, I had my phone gripped in one hand. Sitting on the toilet and scrolling through the day's news on my phone was my unchanging morning routine. The man currently carrying out that routine was me—Lee Gyu-min. I was thirty-six years old this year. I'd lived so fiercely that I hadn't even noticed how quickly the years had slipped by. Because of that drive, I now worked as a researcher at a defense contractor everyone recognized by name alone.
Ever since I was young I'd been obsessed with electronics, and that passion had shaped my college major, leading me to graduate in electronic engineering. After relentlessly stacking up my credentials, I was fortunate enough to land a position at my current company.
After finishing my business, I followed the savory smell of food into the kitchen. There I found my wife, Lim Yu-jin, busy preparing breakfast. She was thirty-two this year. We were four years apart—an age gap we hadn't even bothered checking for compatibility.
Yu-jin was now a full-time housewife, but until a few years ago she had been an accountant at a mid-sized pharmaceutical firm. There were multiple reasons she had left her job besides our marriage, and I had always been fine with her decision. The salary and benefits I received far exceeded what I'd once imagined, so even if she didn't bring in income, I could comfortably support our household alone. Even before we got married, I had often told her she could quit whenever she wanted.
When she first became a full-time housewife, she struggled to adjust. After years of structured work life, the sudden abundance of free time and lack of daily schedule had left her drifting. Still, humans are creatures of adaptation. Before long she found genuine interest in homemaking and caring for the family, settling into her new role perfectly.
I walked to the dining table, pulled out a chair, and openly admired the sight of my wife from behind as she cooked. She was wearing a white pajama set with a checkered pattern. She had always loved the color white. As a result, household items in her favorite shade were scattered all over our home.
"What's for breakfast today?"
"Bean sprout soup and grilled mackerel."
"Bean sprout soup? Any particular reason?"
"You came home after drinking last night, Oppa."
"Here's the mackerel. I'll bring the soup over in a second."
I watched the grilled mackerel for a moment, then let my gaze drift back to my wife's retreating figure as she went to ladle the soup. Yu-jin had never liked clothes that clung to her body. Yet no matter how loose the garment, her figure made everything look tight. The evidence was right in front of me.
Overall, she possessed the kind of slender frame people called "model-like" these days. Though her back view didn't reveal it, her breasts were a full C-cup. Whenever I helped with laundry and saw her bras, I noticed D-cup sizes too, so they probably swelled larger during her period.
Below her chest was a waist so narrow it made the phrase "ant waist" feel like an understatement. The contrast between the soft fullness above and below it only made that tiny waist more striking. And then there was the main event—her greatest pride, her buttocks.
Her ass was perfect, as if it had received a divine blessing. She had never worked out to achieve it; it was simply how she was built. There wasn't the slightest sag, and both the upper and lower curves were deliciously full, like one seamless, heavy mass of jelly. Thanks to that glorious sight, I was practically drooling while staring at the way her pajama pants stretched over her round behind.
"What is it, Oppa? Why are you zoning out like that?"
"Huh? Oh, I was just staring at our Yu-jin's duck butt, haha."
I grinned like a pervert as I kept my eyes on her backside. She hated the term "duck butt." Something about how embarrassed she used to feel in her school uniform when her rear stood out. Yu-jin shot me a quick glance, set the soup down, and disappeared into the dressing room to fetch my work clothes without another word.
I finished eating quickly, changed into the outfit she had coordinated for me, and prepared to head out the front door.
"Oppa, have a good day at work today too."
"Yeah. I'll see you later."
After leaving our newly built thirty-two-pyeong apartment—the same one we'd lived in since our newlywed days—I climbed into the three-pointed-star sedan in the parking lot and joined the usual commute.
As always, the roads were crawling.
"Traffic's bad again today~"
I paired my phone to the Bluetooth, turned on some music, and stared blankly at the red light.
My relationship with my wife was good. In a word, we were a normal married couple. But not every household was the same. Around us were couples with rocky marriages, and there had even been a recent divorce in our circle.
When I read news articles about such cases, over half the reasons were personality differences or financial problems. But the cases that truly caught my attention were the ones where couples divorced because their marital intimacy had broken down. The number of divorces caused by so-called sexless marriages was steadily rising.
Even I could admit that a married couple not having sex was a real problem. Fortunately, things between Yu-jin and me had never reached that point. When I thought about our relationship, it was true we were still close like newlyweds. We matched well in personality and shared similar tastes in food, so there was nothing to complain about there.
The term "sexless" usually meant a complete absence of sexual relations, which didn't apply to us. We still slept together. But compared to our newlywed days, the frequency had definitely dropped. Only now did I realize it had been over a month since our last time. Normally I didn't dwell on it, so it hadn't felt important.
Have there been any fights between me and Yu-jin lately?
No matter how much I thought about it, our relationship was still good. The only issue was that my defense contractor was in a booming market, so work kept pouring in. As a researcher I couldn't cut corners, which meant overtime every single day. I usually didn't get home until after ten at night. My stamina wasn't what it used to be, so I'd collapse into sleep the moment I hit the bed.
That had naturally reduced the time we spent talking, and intimacy had faded along with it.
"Hmm..."
After arriving at the office and before diving into real work, I stood in the employee lounge, pulled an espresso from the coffee machine, and lost myself in thought while I drank it.
Come to think of it, I was almost always the one who suggested we have sex. I'd always had a high sex drive. When I looked at my wife's body—so hot it felt like it could melt my eyes—there was no way I could hold back. Yet paradoxically, despite that incredible figure, Yu-jin was actually quite reserved when it came to anything sexual.
Her family background played a big part. Both her parents were teachers, and as the eldest of three children raised strictly in such a conservative household, she had grown up in an environment where those topics were never approached openly.
And as I'd already realized, the constant overtime and exhaustion meant my need for sleep kept overpowering my desire. I hadn't been initiating lately, which had reduced our frequency even further.
Still, I loved my wife. I wanted to have sex with her every day. But maybe the physical exhaustion was only part of it. Perhaps after so many years together we had simply grown too familiar—seeing each other as family rather than as lovers. I knew that if it got any worse, we would become one of those sexless couples.
I absolutely refused to let that happen.
But if my own efforts couldn't change Yu-jin's passive attitude toward sex, the problem would only grow. Watching my five-year senior in the same department go through a divorce for exactly that reason had only made my anxiety worse.
No. Becoming a sexless couple is not an option. Absolutely not.
Is there any way to get Yu-jin to be more proactive about sex?
I finished my coffee and returned to the office. As it happened, the very senior who had recently divorced was just arriving for work. His name was Lee Chul-min. Because we were university alumni—he was my senior—we had become close quickly.
When he saw me, he pulled out a cigarette.
"Gyu-min, smoke break?"
"Yes, Senior. Let's go."
The two of us headed up to the company rooftop together.