Death Mother Fund
Tears.
Coming from the woman once known as the Witch of Wall Street, they struck him as something far more special.
Looks like she's really about to cum.
From the pleasure, that is.
I was so aroused I wanted to ravage her right then and there.
"Why are you crying?"
"You, you.... Look what you've done!"
"Speak Korean."
But I had to hold back.
Until I made her completely mine.
Looks like the first step is done, at least.
Whether she liked it or not, I would make sure she could never forget me. Planting a powerful first impression was crucial. Then I would leave her alone for a while—until my presence had swollen large inside her.
"Do you have any idea what you've done to me?"
"What happened to you?"
"Th-that's...."
I soothed her just enough. Deceiving the market's pulse was the most basic tactic when running an operation.
That's how you get the retail investors to swarm.
I might be an illicit stock manipulator in the markets, but in romance I was no better than a retail trader myself. Her psychology was completely predictable.
Trauma.
Not long ago, that first date had lodged itself in Rachel's heart as a massive shock.
"You start trembling the moment you see a man?"
"It's because of you!"
"Even now?"
"?!"
"Wow, you're shaking. I thought it was from feeling good."
That must have been it. The effect had been better than expected—almost rewarding.
She must hate me enough to want me dead, but she still can't kill me.
I was the source of her trauma. She would have to thrash and struggle against me somehow if she ever wanted to overcome it.
Drip. Drip.
Even from eyes cold enough to form a film of ice, tears could still fall. Thankfully no actual icicles formed.
"Do you hate me that much?"
"Why would I like you?"
"I like you, though."
"Psychopath! Idiot!"
She hated me. She looked like she needed to pour out every curse she had just to feel better. I decided to take them all. The same way I allowed retail traders to book a little profit in the market.
In the end they'll take a massive loss anyway.
To me, that is.
After a full round of tears and dual-language swearing, the knot in her chest finally loosened. At the same time a thought flickered—had I pushed her emotions too hard?
"Anyway, I... I hate you."
"I keep telling you I like you."
"Please don't involve yourself with me anymore."
"Are you sulking?"
Her tone softened a little. She no longer looked like anything more than a petulant girl her age.
She's actually hoping for something, isn't she?
I had been her first man. I had stolen her lips. I had done far worse. If the memory had been purely bad, she would have cursed me out and walked away. A little attachment remained.
Smack!
Just in case there had been a misunderstanding. Because she had turned her head away, the angle for kissing her cheek was perfect.
"I'm trying to have a serious conversation here!!"
"So am I."
"Then why...."
"Why what?"
I soothed her. Only then did she seem willing to speak a little of her true feelings.
Drip. Drip.
Tears of a different meaning from before. The wound in her heart had been carved quite deep.
I wish I'd been a little more unhinged.
It was a shame my soft heart kept me from being truly cruel.
"It's because you're so attractive, Rachel."
"After doing something that terrible to me."
"Exactly. That's why."
"What kind of psycho logic is that...."
A little of her reason was returning. I offered her a different interpretation of that night.
Half of it is pure sophistry.
This had never been the realm of reason to begin with. The mere possibility of a happy ending—something she never expected—was enough of a prod. The rest was about setting the mood.
"You're so attractive I just wanted to take you."
"What kind of sex-offender talk is that...."
"But I couldn't, could I?"
"!!"
It felt like the start of a bull market. I stroked Rachel's head as she flinched reflexively at the sudden switch to casual speech. I created a comfortable atmosphere and dissolved her hostility. For Rachel, it was impossible to adapt.
"You said... you didn't like it because I had so little experience."
"Because you were a virgin."
"Ugh."
"I'm sorry. I wasn't delicate enough."
I pulled her into a firm embrace. Into the ear of the bewildered Rachel, reeling from the sudden change, I whispered:
"I was so worked up and then I couldn't finish."
"Wh-what?"
"If I'd taken you, you would have demanded I take responsibility, right?"
"Well, of course responsibility would...."
I knew this fucking bitch would be like this.
With her cheeks flushed red she launched into conservative talk. If I had actually fucked her she would have chased after me like a madwoman. I knew that personality of hers. So I thoroughly toyed with both her body and her heart—right up to the line where I never had to take responsibility.
"So that's why you took it out on me?!"
"Well, yeah."
"I-I'm speechless...."
"Would it have been better if I'd just worked off the lust?"
"?!!"
Even a light embrace made her flinch. The trauma really had taken root deep in her heart.
I almost want to send her to a psych ward.
But that would be a waste of talent. I wanted to train her properly into a woman who knew only cock and stocks.
"If that's the case, then explain it."
"If I explain, will you understand?"
"If it was because of sexual desire, there might be room for some consideration. I won't forgive you, though."
She would never forgive me. She muttered it with her head whipped away, yet she looked a little more relaxed. Venting her emotions had worked. In that case I wanted to vent something of my own, clean and clear.
"Then may I ask right now?"
"What?"
"If you don't want to get jumped."
"!!"
I gave her a good-natured smile. She was not the kind of woman who would fail to understand what I meant. She simply found it hard to accept.
Ziiip—!
I pulled down my zipper and thrust it in front of her face; she froze for an entirely different reason.
"W-waah!"
I let her say hello to it again after so long.
Destination.
It was the very first store Food Market had ever opened.
A pork-belly place, huh.
It had also been the mainstay of Hales Food. I had taken what I learned there and used it after going independent. But it had not been smooth. Running a restaurant was never easy to begin with.
The former boss was the obsessive type....
I had been obstructed. Hales Food opened a store nearby and issued an open declaration of war. The result was defeat. The distribution network and systems they had built over more than a decade were an unscalable wall. Paradoxically, that became the catalyst for business diversification. The new franchises won victory after victory and secured their places.
But Hales Food never evolved.
They still treated pork-belly restaurants as their core business. They depended on them for most of their revenue. The company's cash cow. If I could bring that down, I could drive their finances into ruin in an instant.
Gulp. Gulp.
Rachel in the passenger seat kept draining the plastic bottle of water. Her throat must have been desperately dry.
"It still feels like there's jelly stuck in my throat."
"Why? Did you choke?"
"It's because of you!"
There was another reason. The protein she had consumed had not suited her palate at all.
There are kids who can't even get any, and she's being picky. Rude.
She kept dry-heaving. And every so often she glared at me.
"If you keep staring like that."
"Got a problem?"
"Not really, but I might get turned on again."
"!!"
That made Rachel meek at once. The moment I rested my hand on her thigh she became perfectly demure.
Good girl.
Show a woman a man's taste once and she starts listening. As expected, women have to be taught with cock.
"If you do that all the time, how am I supposed to live with the discomfort?"
"I'm not usually like this."
"You seem like a psycho even normally."
"...."
Minor side effects came with the territory. There were still many walls left for her and me to climb.
Anyway.
We arrived at the pork-belly place. At the intersection of the food alley, two pork restaurants stood side by side.
『Pork House』
『Jeju Pig House』
These were nothing like the izakayas people ducked into for a light drink. This was full-scale dining. Even a slightly out-of-the-way location would have been fine. In terms of commercial district it was B-grade or lower—not a particularly good spot.
If two places are sitting side by side there, it can't be coincidence.
The owner's hard work was visible. Food Market's Jeju Pig House was barely staying afloat.
"Did you come here to eat?"
"Ah, did I not tell you?"
"Nothing."
"I'm doing consulting for the business."
"Consulting?"
Even that survival was thanks to changing the store concept. Back then Jeju black pork had ridden the public airwaves into a boom.
People's spending power had risen too.
They wanted to eat something tastier! Meeting that consumer need had been the secret to the company's survival. But trends never last. In the end it had been crushed by Pork House's solid operations.
"You do a surprisingly wide range of work."
"I'm not some hothouse flower."
"Wh-what did you just say?!"
Looks like I hit the berserk button. She carried an extremely high level of pride.
It'll be a good experience for her.
But her direction had been limited to financial economics. Learning about the real economy would do her good.
Screech—!
I parked. The moment we stepped into Jeju Pig House, the manager was waiting.
"You've arrived? I've prepared everything you asked for!"
Yoo Cheong-seong, manager of Jeju Pig House Branch No. 1. Through a prior call I had requested several items.
Tip Cut
Jowl
Head Meat
Tenderloin Tip
Sirloin Cap
Pig's Head
They were the various cuts of the pig. Only these were rare varieties you almost never saw on the open market.
"What are you planning to do with scrap meat like this...."
"I asked for them because I have a use, obviously."
"Ah, yes!"
Even a manager who had sold meat his whole life had reason to be surprised. You almost never arranged them this neatly.
They usually go into blood-sausage soup or pressed meat.
But people ate them widely. The accessory meats that came off a pig's head had no problem with flavor itself.
"What is all this?"
"Why? Is the princess too delicate to look at them?"
"That is not what I meant!"
Outwardly they could look unappealing. That was why they were roughly chopped and thrown into blood-sausage soup and pressed meat.
Which is exactly why they're cheap.
Even when big chunks of meat went in, the price stayed low. I planned to sell them as grilling cuts. A rare experience she would never normally have. I had chosen the business item partly to tease the delicately raised Rachel.
"Is that even allowed?"
"The taste is fine, I keep telling you."
"Are the lives of ordinary Koreans so wretched that they eat waste like this?"
"...."
It could simply have been pure culture shock.