Woojin, You're Scared of Me, Aren't You? (1)
The next day was Saturday.
When I actually stopped to think about it… I now had five women I could have whenever I felt like it, and yet I was stunned to realize I didn't have a single one lined up for this precious weekend.
Had I gotten too caught up in the long game?
Min Seoeun and Chae Dayeon were already scheduled for next Friday and Saturday respectively. Han Minah… I was too wary of her husband to reach out on a whim. Ju Harin still needed a little more time.
Which left the one I could actually handle, I supposed.
I fired off a text to Lim Jiwoo the moment I woke up that morning.
The phone rang almost before I'd set it down.
Riiing—!
"Hello?"
"Yes, Woojin."
"Sorry to bother you on the weekend, sunbae."
"Nnnoo, it's fine. What's going on?"
Bewitching was the only word for it. Even through the phone, Lim Jiwoo's voice carried that trademark nasal sweetness of hers — the kind that reeled people in whether they liked it or not.
"It's nothing much. Are you free today or tomorrow, by any chance?"
"Free? For how long?"
"Remember how you mentioned my hair last time, sunbae? The salon thing."
"Mm, that's right. But didn't you say you didn't have time for that?"
"I did, yeah. But everything ended up falling through. I think I actually have time this week, so I was wondering if you'd like to go together — if you're free, that is."
"Mmmmm…"
A nasal voice ought to have been a little much, but Jiwoo's had a sly, honeyed pull that set a man's pulse going. Not that a racing pulse only meant one thing.
The first kind was exactly what you'd expect from a fox that pretty — the kind that drove a man out of his mind. The second was a slower burn. Anxiety. Because a fox was only ever that charming for a reason, and the reason was always to extract even more of whatever she wanted.
"…I don't know. You were the one who said your schedule was iffy, so I was thinking I might end up with other plans. I'm not really sure what to do now~."
The way she drew out the end of that sentence made it sound like if I wanted to see her today, I was going to have to put something on the table to match.
Except I'm the one holding the cards here.
"Is that so? Then I guess it can't be helped. Understood. I'll reach out again whenever I have ti—"
"Ah— wait, Woojin. Hold on a second. Why are you deciding so fast? I said I might have something, not that I do."
"You want to meet today? What if those other plans come through?"
"Well. Honestly? I'm not a fan of dragging things out like this either, so I'll just… I just won't go. I'll come see you instead."
She snatched my retreating interest right back out of the air.
"Today?"
"Yeah. Let's meet today. There's a salon I mentioned before that I want to take you to — can you come toward Seoul today?"
"I can do that. Should I grab lunch on my own, then?"
"Can you leave right now?"
"I can walk out the door as soon as I wash up."
"Mm, then you'll get here around twelve-thirty. I'll send you the address. See you then."
That settled it. I didn't have the exact address yet, and washing up and getting out the door was going to be a little tight — I was about to hang up when her voice slid through the speaker one last time.
"Mm, get here safe~."
God. That voice was going to be the death of me.
I let the momentary dizziness pass and pulled up Lim Jiwoo's page.
Nothing that really needed touching… no, wait. Just one thing.
Remark 4 — She does not hesitate to initiate physical contact with Choi Woojin.
Hmm-hmm-hmm~
Before heading out to meet Woojin, Lim Jiwoo sat down at her vanity humming a tuneless little song she couldn't have named if she tried. She finished a light makeup look, then paused.
"Mm…"
A small flood of texts had been landing all morning.
She ignored every last one of them and stood up.
A taxi dropped her in one of Seoul's busier downtown stretches, and she gave her outfit one last look.
White jeans that clung to her long legs and traced the line of her hips. An oversized T-shirt, the hem riding just high enough that her navel was a possibility, not a promise. Over it, a navy jacket that fell to her hips.
Even she had to admit she looked good. Pleased with herself, Jiwoo smiled and walked toward Woojin as he came up the street.
"You're here?"
Even in the two short words it took her to say it, Lim Jiwoo's voice was dripping with that bewitching quality of hers. The eye-smile. The way she held herself. The scent of her. And then, on top of all that—
She slipped her arm through his, casual as anything.
"Hungry, Woojin? Anything you're in the mood for?"
Even this little gesture had a fox's craft buried in it. Clamping on tight and grinding your chest against a man's arm was what amateurs did — too obvious, the intent written in neon. A real professional kept it at the threshold. Almost touching. Almost not. That precise line where you let a man burn, the art of giving just enough and holding just enough back. Jiwoo held that line perfectly as she steered him toward the restaurant street.
"Ramen sounds good to me. What about you, sunbae? I really don't have any preferences, so we can get whatever you want."
"Then… how about the spicy stir-fried octopus? I'm craving something with a kick."
"Let's do that."
"Mm. It's this way."
Even when they had to let go at the restaurant, she didn't just drop his arm. Her fingers went gliding down his forearm, over his elbow, along his wrist, and across his hand — a slow, lingering stroke — before she drifted to the side and took her seat. They ordered.
"So, Woojin. How late are you staying today?"
"I was planning to have dinner and then head out."
"Just until dinner?"
"Yeah. The whole point was going to the salon with you, sunbae."
"Nnngh…"
That wouldn't do.
She needed to have sex with Woojin to stack promotion points. If he just ate and left, she'd get nothing out of this.
How do I buy more of his time?
"That was really good, Woojin."
"I should be the one saying that. This place is actually amazing. I don't usually go out of my way for octopus, but I think I would for this."
"Really? Then I'm glad we came."
Up until now, Lim Jiwoo had always been the one holding the cards with other men. They would have invested all kinds of things to win her over — money, time, charm, whatever they had.
"Shall we head to the salon, then?"
"Sure. How far is it? Walkable?"
"Yeah. About ten minutes from here. Why?"
"If it was far I was going to ask whether we needed a car. Ten minutes is nothing."
"Mm. It'll go by before you know it. This way."
Flip the dynamic between Jiwoo and me, though, and I was the one holding the cards. Which meant if she wanted to win me over, she was going to have to put something on the table — her money, her time, or that face of hers.
First, money.
"So what are they doing, sunbae? A cut, or…?"
"A cut and a perm, something like that."
"About how much do you think it'll run?"
"Mmm… honestly, your hair isn't bad right now or anything. I just think if we touched it up a little, it'd really come alive. We won't be doing anything dramatic, so it should be around a hundred thousand won, give or take."
"A hundred thousand. Got it."
"Don't worry about the cost. I'm the one who talked you into this. Think of it as a little present from me."
"Sorry?"
A hundred thousand won, give or take. In the grand scheme of things it wasn't an insane amount of money — but it also wasn't the kind of sum you just casually threw down between the two of us. We were workplace senior and junior. We'd had sex a few times, sure, but that had been a promotion exam, strictly speaking, not something either of us had done out of actual feelings. And those nights hadn't magically created feelings that hadn't been there before.
"I lean on you so much at work, and you've helped me out a lot. Just think of it as a thank-you. Ah — not that I'm saying this makes us even, of course."
And yet here she was, offering to invest that hundred thousand won in me. She was probably expecting me to accept it gratefully and start thinking about how to pay her back.
"No, it's fine. It's my hair. And as for you leaning on me at work — that's just how people are, isn't it? When someone relies on you, it feels good. Makes you think you're actually useful. Really, it's fine."
"Still…"
"I'm serious. It's fine. Buy me something good for dinner instead."
"……"
So much for money.
Next up: time.
"…The hair itself won't actually take that long, you know."
"True. How long are we talking?"
"It should be done in under two hours. I already made a reservation."
"So around four, then."
"Mm. Four's a little early for dinner, even for you. Let's say we eat at seven — is there anything you want to do until then?"
Roughly three hours. If I really wanted to make her squirm, the correct move here was to say something like, I'll just wander around on my own until then. Even I couldn't quite bring myself to say something that pointed, which meant I was going to have to spend those three hours doing something with her. And if I wanted to keep the upper hand, the smart play was to let her lay out the options and then pick from her menu.
"I hadn't thought that far, honestly. Did you have something in mind, sunbae?"
"Mmm… a movie would be nice. Coffee would be nice. A book cafe, a dog cafe, board games, bowling… or the weather's so nice today, I'd be happy just walking around with you."
She said it with that swaying little eye-smile, and I swear I was going to lose my mind. Forget her motives, forget what she actually was underneath — a face like that, all fox-eyed and gleaming, telling me she'd be happy doing anything as long as it was with me, tail swaying like she already knew she'd won. There was no world in which that felt bad.
"And after dinner… Woojin. Are you really leaving right after?"
"Sorry? Yeah, that was the plan. Why?"
"You're going to leave without doing it? That's disappointing, Woojin."
"What's disappointing?"
"I was going to eat you up today, and now you're trying to run away. Of course I'm disappointed."
Sharp as ever — she must have caught the flicker in me, because this was where she put her real weapon on the table. She pushed her lips out in the smallest, sulkiest little pout, then broke into a bright grin and slipped her arm through mine again, leaning in until her mouth was right beside my ear.
"…Are you scared of me?"