Sample
"Mmm~ mm~ huh?"
I came home feeling great after finally picking up a win as the winning pitcher for the first time in ages.
On the way back from the ballpark, I’d even signed a few autographs for fans.
It had been a while. My numbers had been so bad lately that I’d spent most of my time ducking fans rather than meeting them, so chances like that were rare.
And honestly, what would they have said if they’d seen me? I would’ve been lucky not to get cursed out.
But there was no reason for that today, so I’d gone up to them with confidence.
They all told me I’d done well and cheered me on. A few, drunk enough to lose their filter, even scolded me for almost blowing it again, but I just laughed it off and told them to keep believing in me.
Today was the kind of day where even the worst thing could feel good.
I’d been in such a good mood, and then—
"What the hell? Did I leave it on?"
When I got home and was just about to punch in my door code, I noticed a sliver of light leaking out from beneath the front door.
That meant the lights inside were on.
I wondered if I’d forgotten to turn them off when I left, but no.
There was no way.
Why not? Because I hadn’t turned them on in the first place.
I’d gotten up, gone straight to the bathroom, finished everything there, put on clothes, and left. There’d been no reason to switch on a light.
So what was this?
"A burglar?"
But that didn’t make sense either.
What kind of thief would leave the lights blazing while robbing a place?
If anything, they’d be turning them off.
My parents weren’t around, and my only younger sister lived with our grandmother while she went to school.
So it wasn’t family, either.
Which meant there shouldn’t be anyone coming to my place.
"Should I call the police?"
Something felt far too off for me to open the door carelessly.
I was standing there, wondering if I should really call for help, when—
Click.
Ring-ring-ring.
I heard the sound of the door lock being opened.
Before I knew it, I’d taken a step back, and in response the door swung open.
Then I saw a woman opening my front door with the expression of someone who’d just woken up, and I instinctively backed away another step.
"...Who are you?"
"Aaahhh. Come on in."
"What?"
What the hell?
I was definitely the owner of this place.
Well, okay, I was renting, but still—this was where I lived. So why was this woman acting like she owned the place, telling me to come in?
"I asked who you are."
"I came with Jumi."
"...Who’s that?"
At my words, the woman’s half-closed eyes flew open in surprise, and she shot the question right back at me.
Who the hell was Jumi?
That was when I heard a familiar voice from inside the apartment.
"It’s me~ Come in~"
"······"
So that ghost-like thing actually had a name?
And it was Jumi?
Wasn’t that a little too Korean-sounding?
Though, looking at the thing itself, it did kind of seem homegrown...
"Aren’t you coming in?"
"Ah, no. I’m coming in. I have to."
No matter how I looked at it, something was wrong.
I didn’t like the fact that I felt like a guest being granted permission to enter my own home.
"Now explain this. What the hell is going on?"
I demanded an answer from the so-called Jumi.
I needed to know what was behind this mess that had ruined my good mood in an instant.
"You said you wanted to see a sample."
"I said what?"
"What was it again? A sample?"
"Ah..."
Now I remembered.
Yesterday I’d said something about at least showing me a sample before we talked business.
"Yeah. So?"
"So I brought one. The sample."
"Huh? Brought wha—"
My head turned naturally, and my gaze landed on the woman still yawning away.
So she was the sample?
It had been something I’d said more out of frustration, because I felt like if things kept going like this, there’d be no future left to worry about. And maybe, if it really could help me, I’d even take a once-in-a-lifetime gamble.
But now that she was telling me she’d really brought one, I was pretty damn confused.
Still, I kept my composure and asked, as if none of this bothered me...
"Who exactly is this lady?"
"Miju."
"······"
"And what do you think lets the three of us have this conversation right now? Don’t you get it yet?"
"Ah..."
Right. I got it now.
She’d said there was another person besides me who could actually talk to that thing—Jumi, or whatever it was.
This woman named Miju was that person.
But Jumi. Miju. Miju. Jumi.
"The names are kind of..."
"Aaaah, it was annoying to call me by my actual name, so she just flipped it around and made it for me."
Of course. That sounded exactly like something Jumi would do.
What a lazy way to make a name.
It was going to get confusing.
No, wait. More importantly—
"So this lady. Miss Miju, was it? She’s the sample?"
"I’m telling you, yeah!"
"Miss Miju, do you know what’s going on?"
"Yep. She said I just needed to get a massage."
"A mas... sage?"
"Yep."
What the hell was this woman?
Some ghost had just told her to go get a massage from a stranger, and she’d obediently followed along?
Did that even sound remotely believable?
"Mmm. But Jun-young-nim, I’m sleepy. Can’t you hurry up?"
"What? No, but even so... wait. You know my name?"
"Yeah... but don’t you know me?"
"Who are you?"
"Ha... you really don’t know me? I’m actually pretty famous, you know."
"I have no idea, though."
She’d been going on about being famous, so I’d assumed she was some kind of celebrity.
Looking at her more closely, she did have a fairly pretty face.
And her body, well... it was better than I’d expected. One particular part, especially, stood out.
"Tch. I’ve got over a hundred thousand subscribers now, so people are finally starting to recognize me."
"...Subscribers? You’re a YouTuber?"
"Yep!"
"Ah..."
I didn’t really watch YouTube much, so I had no idea.
Even if I did watch it, I only ever checked out the same few channels. I wasn’t the type to go wandering around looking at everything else.
And lately, because of that ghost—Jumi or whatever her name was—I’d been even more distant from it.
With that thing causing so much noise beside me, how was I supposed to hear or focus on anything else?
"So, let me get this straight. This famous person came here to get a massage?"
"I’m telling you, yes. Just hurry up already. I stayed up all night and I feel like I’m dying."
It was one surprise after another.
I couldn’t even guess what the hell was happening.
And that Jumi thing was grinning from ear to ear watching the two of us.
What exactly was so amusing about this?
"...Fine. All right. Let’s do it. Let’s get it over with. So what am I supposed to do?"
"Oh? You finally decided?"
"You bastard—what, you want me to leave?"
"Like that would be possible. Hehe."
She was clearly thrilled.
* * *
Miju came back from the bathroom.
She looked like she’d woken up a little, but her clothes had changed.
"Where the hell did you get a robe?"
"I prepared one."
I figured as much.
It wasn’t something you’d find in my house.
What kind of man living alone kept hotel robes lying around?
I’d rather just go naked.
"Miju, lie down here."
At Jumi’s words, Miju flopped facedown onto the bed.
Before she lay down, she’d seemed to fumble with something, but I was too busy listening to Miju to look closely.
"Your eyes might sting a little. Don’t open your mouth. Just bear with it."
Jumi placed her hands on both of my shoulders and said that, her expression turning serious almost immediately.
I tensed up without meaning to.
And then—
"Ugh!"
Shit. She’d said it might hurt a little, but this? This was a little? It felt like someone was stabbing me in the eyes with something sharp.
Groaning through pain I’d never felt before, I did my best not to speak.
That bastard had warned me, so I felt like I shouldn’t break the rule. I clenched my teeth and endured it with everything I had.
Thank God the pain didn’t even last a full minute.
It vanished in an instant, as if nothing had ever happened.
"All done~"
"Phew... haaah... fuck. What the hell was that?"
"You did well holding out."
"So is it over now?"
"For today, yes."
"For today? You mean I’ve got to do this crap again?"
"Of course."
"What?"
"This is just a sample, right? So I only did enough to match a sample."
"······"
If that was the sample, then how much pain was I supposed to go through for the full version?
Suddenly, I wanted to quit everything.
But then Jumi made her next move, and I forgot all my worries.
Flap.
Jumi grabbed Miju’s robe and yanked it up in one swift motion.
The robe lifted as easily as if it had only been draped there to begin with.
Miju’s snow-white back was laid bare.
And below that, there was nothing except a tiny pair of underwear that barely covered even half of her ass.
Before I knew it, my eyes had moved from her back to her hips, then down to the long white line of her legs.
Gulp.
"You said you hated this. Now that you’re actually seeing it, have you changed your mind?"
"······"
Yeah.
I hadn’t expected myself to react like this either.
But now that I was looking at her—wow.
Was it because it had been so long?
I couldn’t calm down.
Especially that ass. It was ridiculous.
* * *
"What are you doing? Get up there."
"Huh? Oh."
I climbed onto the bed awkwardly.
But was this really right?
I was still wearing the exact same outfit I’d had on at the stadium.
Meanwhile, Miju was basically wearing a pair of palm-sized panties and nothing else.
That looked a little...
"This is going to look really weird."
If someone saw this without context, wouldn’t it look like I was the one about to jump her?
"Quit babbling and get up here already!"
"Huh? I’m up here."
"Ah!"
Smack!
"I said get up here!"
Jumi slapped Miju’s exposed ass.
The overwhelming curve of it jiggled.
"Here?"
"Hurry up and sit down on it!"
"Uh... okay."
Was this really how it was done?
I wasn’t sure, but I followed the instructions.
As I carefully sat down on the soft mound beneath me, I felt the flesh that had been pressed flat tense slightly under my weight.
And my own body reacted in kind...
"I’m gonna burst. I’m really gonna burst."
Had it shown?
I pretended not to notice.
Noticing and pretending not to notice. Understanding and pretending not to understand.
Honestly, this wasn’t exactly something I could control, so what was I supposed to do about it?
It had been so long that I couldn’t even rein it in.
"We’re starting now, so focus."
Right.
I needed to focus.
But on what?
"Focus on the skin color in front of you. Then you’ll see there are other places that look different."
Skin color in front of me... man, that was pretty much all skin.
And yet, just then, places where the color really did seem to shift began appearing all over.
First the neck. Then just below the shoulders. The waist and sides were changing too, faintly.
"T-this..."
"This one will look a little weaker. Still, there’s no way it’d be a mess when it’s connected to me."
"So this is weak?"
This faint pinkish glow was supposed to be weak.
Then what would it look like normally?
"What are you doing?"
"Huh?"
"Press."
"Uh..."
Right.
She’d said I only had to press firmly on the spots that showed up in my vision.
Only now was everything starting to make sense.
I carefully brought both thumbs to the spot I could see on her neck.
Her skin was so soft...
"Press!"
Push.
"Eek!"
Ah...
This was okay, right?