Jeong Eun-ji's Humiliation (4)
The next day at lunch. Even though that whole commotion had happened yesterday, since Jeong Eun-ji hadn't actually taken her clothes off, everyone else's interest cooled off with shocking speed. On the surface, the afternoon passed in perfect peace as if nothing had ever happened.
But if you looked closely at the group of four—me, Lee Yu-ri, Choi Su-yeon, and Jeong Eun-ji—quite a few things had clearly changed.
"Water."
I spat out just that single word while eating. Both Lee Yu-ri and Choi Su-yeon looked up at me, confused. Of course, I wasn't talking to either of them.
"Hey."
I slid the water cup forward in front of Jeong Eun-ji and called her. She hadn't even realized I was talking to her at first. Only then did she look up with a blank stare.
"Me?"
"Water."
Jeong Eun-ji glanced at the cup in front of her, then at my face, and immediately exploded.
"What the hell? Why are you ordering me around for something like that? It wouldn't even matter if you got it yourself—"
"Water."
"Ugh..."
"Not doing it? Then I guess I'll just have to watch that video from yesterday again."
There was no way Jeong Eun-ji didn't know exactly which video I meant. Her face flushed crimson as she snatched the cup like she was trying to break it.
"Here! I'll get it, okay?!"
Making no effort to hide how furious she was, Jeong Eun-ji grabbed the cup and stormed off toward the water dispenser. Lee Yu-ri watched her go, then turned to me, unable to contain her curiosity.
"Seong-jin, what exactly did you do yesterday?"
"Hm? Why?"
"I mean... Eun-ji's suddenly doing whatever you tell her. Sorry if this sounds bad, but she really, really hates you. If it had been any other time and you'd told her to get water, she would've grabbed you by the collar and thrown a fit."
"It's no big deal. I saved her from total humiliation in front of everyone yesterday, so in return I made her promise to obey my every word for a month."
"......And she actually agreed to that?"
"What else could she do? Strip naked in front of all those people? She didn't have a choice."
Choi Su-yeon grinned wickedly as she watched Jeong Eun-ji returning with the water, her expression one of pure schadenfreude.
"Hehe, so all that arrogance finally turned her into a slave? It's hilarious seeing that foul-tempered senior like this."
"Hey. She's my friend. Watch your mouth."
"But it's true, isn't it?"
Lee Yu-ri and Choi Su-yeon were still bickering and keeping each other in check at every opportunity. In the middle of it, Jeong Eun-ji slammed the water cup down in front of me with a loud thud.
"There. Water. Happy now?"
"Yeah. It'd be nice if your attitude was a little softer, though."
"Fuck off."
Jeong Eun-ji still hadn't dropped her hostile attitude toward me. Deciding she needed more training, I lightly tapped the table.
"Eun-ji, come over here and sit down. What kind of way is that for a slave to talk to her master?"
"S-slave? Who are you calling a slave! I'm just putting up with you for a month and—"
"That's what we call a slave. And if a slave keeps snapping and throwing tantrums at her master, don't you think the master would get upset? And if the master gets really upset, can't you imagine what he might do?"
"Ugh... Fine, fine! And what's with that way of talking anyway? Are you my dad or something? It sounds disgusting, so stop it!"
"Attitude."
"......Understood... I'll restrain myself..."
Jeong Eun-ji trembled as she forced herself to obey. Choi Su-yeon, watching from the side, openly sneered.
"Senior Eun-ji, you really can't show any spirit, huh? Did he catch you with some kind of weakness? Normally you'd have already charged in swinging."
"Will you shut up? Keep running your mouth and I'll actually hit you."
"Oh, and stop growling and threatening Su-yeon like that."
At those words, Jeong Eun-ji's expression grew even more wronged.
"Why?! She has nothing to do with the bet! How I treat her is my business, isn't it?"
"It's my business. Anyway, from now on, with Su-yeon... you don't have to go as far as you do with me, but at least treat her the way you treat Yu-ri."
"......"
"You need to answer."
"I get it!!! You've all finished eating, so I can leave now, right!? I'm going!"
Jeong Eun-ji turned away like she couldn't stand the sight of me anymore and tried to leave the cafeteria first. I immediately stopped her.
"Stop."
"What now!"
"Throw away my tray before you go."
"......"
Afternoon PE period was self-study. Finally on her home turf, Jeong Eun-ji started pulling hurdles out of the equipment storage to relieve her stress. She was grunting, carrying one large hurdle under each arm toward the track, when the face she least wanted to see appeared again.
"What are you doing?"
Han Seong-jin. The culprit who had unbelievably beaten her in test scores and forced her into a one-month slave contract. Of course, she was the one who had set the stage for things to reach this point, so Jeong Eun-ji couldn't blame anyone but herself. She could only suffer in silence and pray that the month would pass quickly.
"Even if it's self-study, can you at least leave me alone during class time? I'm going to practice."
"That's cold. Do you think I only show up to order you around?"
"Yeah."
Jeong Eun-ji answered without even looking at him. But Han Seong-jin, who she expected to argue further, simply stayed quiet. He walked into the storage shed, came back out with hurdles tucked under both arms, and started helping.
"How far apart should these be spaced?"
"...What are you doing?"
"Helping you. Can't you tell by looking?"
"What?"
Jeong Eun-ji was so stunned and bewildered that she asked again. Helping her? Suddenly? For what reason? Convinced he had some ulterior motive, she grew even more wary and snatched one of the hurdles from under his arm.
"I don't need help, so just leave."
"I'm the one who gives orders, not you. And even if that wasn't the case, did you really think I'd just say 'yes ma'am' and walk away if you told me to?"
Jeong Eun-ji bit her lip and turned to face him. He was a head and a half taller than her with an overwhelming build. The forearms slightly exposed from carrying the hurdles looked powerful at a glance. Her eyes lingered for a moment on his solid physique before she quickly snapped back to her senses and kept her distance.
"Fine, whatever. You're so great. You want to help? Then put those over there on the white marks beside the track."
She had no idea what sudden whim had made Han Seong-jin come help her, but since it had come to this, she might as well get a little revenge. With that thought, Jeong Eun-ji pointed out where to place the hurdles and put him to work.
Once all the hurdles were in position, she stood at the starting line on the track, tapping her shoes against the ground as she prepared to begin practice. Then Han Seong-jin approached again.
"Want me to time you?"
"No need. I'm not caring about records right now, just warming up my body."
"What's your best time so far?"
"12.19 seconds."
"12 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles? That's insanely fast."
"It's slow."
Jeong Eun-ji answered calmly. Among the boys at Jinsu High, almost no one broke into the 14-second range in a flat 100-meter sprint. For her to run the hurdles in 12 seconds and still call it slow showed just how serious she was.
"I see. Well, I'm bored, so I might as well watch you run."
"Get lost. What am I, a monkey at the zoo? If you're bored, go play soccer with the other guys over there."
"If I joined in, they'd be thrilled."
"That's your problem. Anyway, go somewhere else. You're not a club member or the coach. Having some random person watch makes me nervous."
"What if I shorten your slave contract by one day in exchange for letting me watch your training?"
"Deal! It's a deal! You definitely just said that, right!? One day shorter! Watch or do whatever you want! No, even if I don't want to see you, just watch!"
Jeong Eun-ji, who had been stubbornly refusing to let Han Seong-jin watch, took the bait instantly this time. Fortunately, this particular bait didn't have a hook hidden inside.
After that, throughout the PE self-study period, Han Seong-jin watched her run and helped with her training in between. All he really did was stand at the finish line with a stopwatch to record her times and set up any fallen hurdles, but even that was enough to admit it was far less mentally taxing than practicing alone.
This is convenient.
Normally the track coach handled these things, but when practicing alone she had to hold the stopwatch herself while running and reset fallen hurdles, which wasted a lot of time. Now she could focus entirely on training.
But why is this guy suddenly acting so decent? Has he really changed...?
The moment she started to accept that Han Seong-jin had changed, Jeong Eun-ji shook her head violently.
No no no. He did that to me yesterday! And that's not all—he stripped me, filmed it, and is using it to blackmail me!
With all those conflicting thoughts crashing around in her head, there was no way she could focus properly on the hurdles in front of her. As she tried to clear the middle hurdle, her leg caught hard. Her balance collapsed instantly.
Th-this damn...! Get it together—
She didn't even have time to curse herself for losing focus before she crashed onto the track.
"Ow!"
Since this had happened countless times during practice, Jeong Eun-ji instinctively twisted her body as she fell to avoid a serious injury. But she couldn't prevent the skin scraped against the track from bleeding.
"Ugh, shit..."
The stinging pain made her swear quietly. Han Seong-jin, who had been at the finish line, immediately came running.
"Hey, are you okay? You're bleeding on your leg and arm."
"Ugh... I'm fine. I've had way worse injuries than this while training."
"You don't look fine. Hey, get on my back."
Saying that, Han Seong-jin turned and offered his back.
"What? N-no way! I can just walk by myse— Ow..."
Jeong Eun-ji grimaced in disgust and tried to stand on her own, but the pain from her scraped leg made her flinch.
"You're in pain just from moving and you're still talking nonsense. Just get on."
"I said I'm fine..."
"Do I need to make it an order?"
When Han Seong-jin brought up the slave contract, Jeong Eun-ji bit her lip and approached his back.
"Everything really is an order with you. So annoying..."
But once she was actually on his back, she couldn't deny that it was much larger, firmer, and warmer than she'd expected.
"Teacher, Jeong Eun-ji got hurt. I'll take her to the infirmary and come right back."
With the PE teacher's permission, Han Seong-jin carried her toward the infirmary. Normally, just being alone with him would have made Jeong Eun-ji curse nonstop, but this time she stayed completely quiet the entire way to the infirmary.
"Oh, right. Hey."
While walking down the hallway, Han Seong-jin called out to her.
"What."
Even her reply sounded unusually calm compared to her usual tone.
"My shoulders are sore. While you're at it, massage them. With the hand that isn't injured."
......As expected, this bastard hasn't changed at all!
Jeong Eun-ji had inwardly accepted that Han Seong-jin had changed—after all, he'd scored two points higher than her on the test and had spared her from stripping naked in front of everyone—but she still couldn't bring herself to accept it easily.