Traces
The evening of the day the pregnancy activity had taken place.
Hong Si-an, the Special Escort Officer who had sat in as witness for Dan-woo's pregnancy activity, let out a long, heavy sigh. It wasn't the kind of sigh that came from a face still flushed with the memory of taking his cock in her mouth. It was worry — worry about what was coming next.
"I'm so nervous I could die."
She swallowed a herbal sedative and tried to settle her nerves. Time passed regardless, and soon it was time to go where she'd been summoned.
"My feet feel like lead... like lead..."
The shield-shaped emblem hanging at the top of the building she entered after stepping out of her car glittered under the lights. That emblem, seeming to brim with the will to protect, was one every woman in Korea knew — the mark of the Ministry of Male Protection. The building Si-an had walked into was the Ministry of Male Protection headquarters itself.
"Hahh..."
Arriving before the double doors at the far end of the fourth floor, Si-an let out a long breath. After composing herself, she knocked on the heavy dark-brown hardwood doors.
"Hong Si-an, Special Escort Officer."
"Come in."
She swallowed hard at the voice from within. Following the double doors as they swung open of their own accord, she stepped inside to find three women seated at a circular table with an open center. Their gazes nearly made her legs give out, but she held herself together and stood before them.
"We've been waiting for you, Special Escort Officer Hong Si-an. Please, have a seat."
At a single gesture from the woman in the center, one of the chairs surrounding the round table slid into motion. It came to rest precisely behind her. She flinched, offered her thanks, and sat. At least now her legs couldn't buckle out from under her — but her tension only grew. Being told to sit meant this conversation wasn't going to be over quickly.
"Don't be so tense. We didn't call you here to eat you alive."
The woman seated in the middle smiled, covering her mouth with an elegant gesture. Her hair was rolled into a rounded bun at the nape, like a dumpling knot, and her appearance was so youthful she could have passed for a child without anyone batting an eye. A nameplate sat before her.
"We simply wanted to hear what you have to say."
As she said it, the look Ga-yul fixed on Si-an was that of a beast with prey already in its sights. It was a gaze that made one believe no one — no one at all — could stand tall in front of her.
So this is an S-Class hunter...!
There were three S-Class hunters in all of Korea. She was one of them. Almost nothing was known about her power. The only publicly acknowledged fact was that she could move objects at will. Whether it was telekinesis or invisible hands, nobody knew.
"You attended a male named Yoon Dan-woo's pregnancy activity as a witness today, correct?"
"Y-yes! That's right!"
"Good. We called you here because we want to know everything that happened during that pregnancy activity."
Ga-yul licked her lips with a glistening red tongue, and a chill ran down Si-an's spine.
"Th-the things that happened during the pregnancy activity... you mean?"
"Yes. Your objective account, as the witness who was present. Every last detail... without omission."
Si-an had no choice but to nod. At the same time, she found herself wishing it was Ga-yul's ability pinning her in place. Because if it wasn't, that meant those eyes alone were enough to keep her from moving a muscle.
"And so, with a total of three ejaculations completed, the pregnancy activity itself came to an end. From there—"
"Hold on!"
Si-an had been recounting everything in sequence, starting from the moment they'd first met at the gym. From about the midpoint her nerves had eased a little, and she'd been able to speak with relative ease. Not that recalling the situation had gotten her sexually worked up or anything. In any case, just as she was smoothly approaching the end, one of the two women who hadn't said a word until then opened her mouth.
She had black curly hair that fell to her shoulders, wore transparent goggles, and had a plump figure. If Dan-woo had seen her, he would have described that body as thick and stacked. The nameplate in front of her read:
"He really ejaculated three times in a row?"
"Y-yes. Each one took longer than the last, but he never took a break."
Hee-rin let out a breath that was almost a gasp of admiration. Then she began scribbling something on the tablet in front of her with a stylus.
"Once she gets like that, she won't surface for a while, so pay her no mind."
The woman with the gentlest manner of speaking among the three spoke up. Atop her long, purely white hair — not a single other color mixed in — a pair of fox ears stood upright. She was a beauty possessed of a complexion so exquisite it could enchant even other women. A nameplate sat before her as well, and she was the only one of the three Si-an had actually seen before.
"So what happened after that? The way you phrased it — that the pregnancy activity itself was over — I take it there's more."
At Ga-yul's question, Si-an tensed up all over again and began speaking slowly, her voice gone stiff. She recounted how she had come to take Dan-woo's cock in her mouth, and suck on it.
"It's finally over!"
Only after leaving the Ministry of Male Protection headquarters and climbing into her car did Si-an stretch her arms wide. But her mood immediately sank.
"Dan-woo's exclusive witness...? And I have to report every time a pregnancy activity ends?"
Whenever any male's pregnancy activity concluded, the escort officer who had attended as witness filed a report with her superiors. But Si-an's situation was nothing like the usual procedure. She now had to report directly to the three people she'd just spoken with. Since they couldn't convene every time, it would be via video call.
"It felt good when you were sucking on it, you crazy bitch!"
No amount of lamenting would change the fact that she'd become a direct-report witness. She'd already been notified that her assignment had been transferred from the Support Escort Unit to the Direct Escort Unit. Resigning herself to at least snag whatever leftovers she could at the next pregnancy activity, she was steeling her resolve when a message arrived.
"Who is it?"
She checked — it was Dan-woo, the very center of today's events. They'd exchanged numbers after the pregnancy activity ended.
"Heh... hehehe..."
An unexpected greeting from an unexpected person. The direct reports and everything else had already vanished from her mind. All that remained was gratitude for becoming his exclusive.
"Who are you texting?"
"Hmm? Si-an noona. I just sent her a thanks for today."
Se-a's arms, wrapped around me as I lay in bed, tightened. I was in a back-hug, so I couldn't see her face, but I knew exactly why.
Jealousy.
Se-a hadn't wanted the pregnancy activity in the first place. She'd only reluctantly suggested it, making up excuses, because the law restricted monopolizing a male. So she'd already been in a bad mood — and hearing that I was texting Si-an, whom I'd only met today, made it worse.
"Noona, want to do it today?"
"Huh? Do what?"
She asked back as if she had no idea what I meant by the sudden question.
"What do you think? How many things do couples do at night?"
I put extra emphasis on the word couples.
Understanding what I meant, Se-a let out a little laugh.
"It's fine. You pushed yourself so hard today. As your girlfriend, I should be the one holding back."
Emphasizing that we were a couple had paid off. The two sisters from today's pregnancy activity, and Si-an. Recognizing the difference between them and herself, Se-a's mood instantly improved.
"Still, I am a little curious. Shall we check if our boyfriend is doing all right?"
I pushed away Se-a's hand as it crept downward.
"Ahaha! Stop it! If you keep that up, he'll feel more like your boyfriend than I do!"
"Is our boyfriend doing well? Is he here? Or here?"
Se-a kept reaching, and I kept blocking her. We were fooling around like that when, at some point, her movements stopped. Wondering what was going on, I turned my head to find her looking downward with a serious expression.
"What's wrong?"
"Dan-woo."
She lifted her lowered eyes and looked at me. I could see myself reflected in those yellow irises.
"I'll do better. So..."
Her eyebrows twitched slightly as she finished.
"Don't throw me away, okay?"
She must have been terribly insecure. It was absurd, and yet, in a way, it felt good. It meant she loved me that much. Gazing into her wavering eyes, I slowly leaned in.
"Mmh... aum... mmph..."
Our tongues didn't intertwine, but we nipped and caught at each other's lips. After the brief kiss, we looked at each other again.
"If you've got time to say things like that, just kiss me."
"...Hehe. I love you, Dan-woo!"
"I love you t— mmph..."
Se-a kissed me before I could even finish answering. Holding back a laugh that threatened to escape, I cupped her white hair. Letting the silk-soft strands slip through my fingers, we shared a lingering kiss.
In the thick of it, as I stroked the nape of her neck, something strange crept into the sensation. Not from her neck — from my own hand. A peculiar feeling, as if something were draining out of me, and yet it was warm. I broke the kiss.
"What's wrong?"
Se-a asked as I stared blankly at my hand. Looking at the hand that had been stroking her neck, there was almost nothing different from usual. I had the impression of yellow particles floating around, but it was probably just dust.
"Nah, it's nothing."
"Really...?"
Se-a didn't make much of it either, and we moved on.
"Oh, right! You had a scratch on the back of your neck."
"A scratch?"
Se-a sat up in bed and turned her back to me. She swept her half-tied short hair to either side, exposing her neck. I sat up as well and checked, but there wasn't a single mark.
"There's nothing there. Where is it supposed to be?"
"Huh? That can't be right. I scratched it in the shower today."
She told me to look carefully, but nothing was nothing. So I pressed my mouth to her neck and sucked. If there was no wound, I'd just make one.
A hickey counts as a mark too!
I'd wanted to try this once. Carving proof onto her body that she was my woman. But something ugly or permanent was out of the question, so a hickey seemed just right.
"Why are you sucking on my neck...? Mmh..."
"Pwah! I'm trying to leave a hickey. But it's not coming out well..."
"A h-hickey? What's that?"
This world didn't have the concept of a hickey? Well... that made sense. Men weren't sexually assertive here, so of course there wouldn't be such a thing. A woman leaving a mark on a man's body was even more unthinkable. Even if it happened, not enough people would do it to warrant a name.
"A hickey is a mark that forms when you suck hard like this."
"Why would you put one on?"
"Uh, possessiveness? Like, this woman is mine — that kind of thing?"
Hearing the explanation, Se-a grinned from ear to ear and eagerly offered me her neck. The short ponytail formed by her half-up hair brushed against my nose as it swayed from side to side.
"It's my first time, so go easy on me if it doesn't come out well?"
"Your first... so noona's taking another one of Dan-woo's firsts?"
"I'm taking one of yours too, you know. Have you ever had a hickey before?"
"Never! Hehe."
I wrapped my arms around her and sucked on her neck. This way, that way. After countless attempts, I finally managed to leave a hickey about the size of a fingertip.
Smaller than I expected.
And it wasn't as pretty as I'd imagined, either. For something born from a kiss, I'd thought it would look at least a little like lips. It didn't.
"Did it work?"
"Yeah! But it's kind of... yeah. Cover it with your hair."
I swept her hair back into place and combed it through with my fingers.
"Can I show it off? I want to brag to the escort officers I know."
"It's not that you can't, but it's really not pretty. It's just a bruise. A total bruise."
"If Dan-woo put it on me, I love it no matter what!"
That was a pretty dangerous way of thinking. Blindly affirming everything I did wasn't a good thing. I decided to work through that issue slowly, over time — and the two of us whiled away the hours until it was time to go live.