The Price of Protection
I held out my phone to Jeonghye. There was no way I was going to hit on her so openly in this situation, and my expression was far too solemn for a guy just trying to get a number out of attraction. Still, she hesitated, clearly unable to read the room. I could feel her confusion.
‘Hmm. Pass. Definitely a pass.’
When a man lays this much groundwork, it usually means he’s willing to do something for her. Jeonghye was sharp and intelligent, but it seemed she still didn’t understand men very well. That worked in my favor.
“Ah… well… we’ll probably need to stay in touch anyway… so… um… here…”
She offered a somewhat plausible excuse, then carefully took my phone and entered her number while glancing around nervously. After seeing how harshly she’d scolded Yeonju last time, it was hard to reconcile, but she really was cute.
I took the phone back and immediately transferred ten million won. The recipient: Jeonghye.
Vrrr—
Her phone vibrated, probably from the transfer notification. When she glanced at the screen, her already large eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at it.
For a long moment she said nothing, just sat there staring at her phone. Then, slowly, she turned her head and looked at me. There was a sharp edge in her gaze—fragile thorns trying desperately to protect something soft and vulnerable underneath.
“Excuse me, Minjun-ssi.”
“Yes, Jeonghye-ssi.”
“Why did you send me money? It’s true that I don’t have much and I’m struggling, but I don’t want to be pitied like this. My sister made a mistake. I’ll handle it myself.”
I didn’t dislike that she got angry even after receiving the money. It was a bit old-fashioned, but I found it admirable. She must have been through so much already, must have wanted to give up, yet she still knew what she had to protect until the very end. People who protect what’s theirs no matter the circumstances always shine. And I had always admired and loved that kind of radiant light. If it wouldn’t shine on me willingly, I wanted it badly enough to swallow it whole in darkness.
“I’m just lending it to you. An advance. So you can hold your head high for once.”
I deliberately kept my tone light. Warm feelings, like balloons, rise more beautifully when released gently.
“…What?”
“Use it to help your sister. She seemed responsible, probably because she’s your sister. Let her walk around without feeling guilty toward her friends. Pay the settlement yourself. That’s what real swagger looks like. There’s no interest or deadline. Just pay me back when you’re doing better.”
The way to remove the thorns someone carries in their heart is actually simple: protect what they’re trying to protect. The key wasn’t pitying Jeonghye, but showing the same warm compassion toward the grace she was risking her life to safeguard—while also respecting her position. My hunting skills were in top form, earning full marks even from the pickiest judges.
“…Why? Why are you being so kind to me…?”
Watching prey tremble, trapped in a snare after running and running, was the ultimate thrill for a hunter. Jeonghye lowered the sharp thorns she’d been carrying. No—I had forced her to lower them. Her eyes and the corners of her mouth trembled as she looked at me. She was fragile.
“Actually… we… basically just met today… I don’t understand why you’re being so nice to me… hic… Do I look pitiful? Is that it? Or… do you like me or something?”
She pretended to be curious, but she was only begging for mercy. Pleading for me not to tighten the leash any further.
If I were a decent guy, I would’ve silently hugged her. If I were a bad guy, I would’ve given her a fake love confession. But a truly bad man goes one step deeper.
“You were impressive. So impressive that I thought it would be nice to have a family member like you. You, Jeonghye-ssi.”
“What… what’s so impressive… I came here by subway… My sister was at the police station, but I couldn’t bring myself to take a taxi because it was too expensive… sniff… I look completely pathetic… What’s impressive about that…”
“But you still got here the fastest. You were first, Jeonghye-ssi.”
The things that weighed on her. The things she hadn’t been able to do for her sister. She was pretending to be fine, but deep down she wanted comfort. Jeonghye’s soft underbelly was exposed, revealing wounds scattered everywhere. I gently touched those wounds.
Tears streamed down her face.
“No… that’s not true at all… Actually… the truth is… I was annoyed on the way here. I was irritated! sniff… I even hated my sister… Thought it would be easier if she just didn’t exist… And she doesn’t even have parents!! But… hic… what’s so good about me…”
“But you took responsibility. You came here to take responsibility. That’s enough.”
“…You did everything, Minjun-ssi… sniff… You handled it all. I just… cried… That’s all I could do…”
“That’s exactly why you were impressive. I don’t cry. Even if my family died, I wouldn’t cry. But you cry. You cry because of your family. That’s more than enough.”
“hic… sniff…”
People who work hard deserve a reward, but figuring out what counts as sufficient reward is difficult. It could be ten million won. It could be physical intimacy with someone they love. Or it could be just a few words. I’d already given the money, and physical contact was premature, so I chose my words carefully. It felt as thrilling as picking out flowers for a first date.
‘The words she most wants to hear. The words that will give her strength.’
Words that would tighten the leash enough to choke her. Warm yet cruel words. A single sentence that would acknowledge me, support her will to keep going, and warm the difficult day she’d had.
Looking at Jeonghye, I opened my mouth, revealing only the bright side of my heart.
“Jeonghye-ssi… you’re doing more than enough right now. Today, you were both a wonderful older sister and a great parent to your sister.”
“…”
Time seemed to slow, as if it had stopped. But I wasn’t the only one caught in slow motion. Jeonghye and I looked at each other in that frozen moment. In just a few seconds, countless emotions passed between our eyes, and we understood each other without words. Our gazes tangled together seamlessly, as if we had once been one and had only been separated for a short while. A single moment of eye contact was more intense than a hundred times having sex.
Swish—
But even that deep eye contact wasn’t enough. Jeonghye’s body slowly leaned toward me. With wet, sorrowful eyes, she gradually drew closer, her lips parting slightly. It was a childish plea for comfort—not just for her heart, but for her body too—and it was too pretty to refuse.
Without those thorns, Jeonghye was so soft and delicate that it made me wonder why she’d ever needed them in the first place.
Splash—
“Ah…”
Just as our lips were about to touch, in that fateful moment when it seemed nothing could come between us, Jeonghye dropped the paper cup she was holding. The water inside splashed onto my pants.
Instead of our lips becoming wet with each other’s saliva, my pants were suddenly damp. The mood was completely ruined.
Splaaash—
Like a broken clockwork suddenly spinning again, time resumed its normal flow, and the strange atmosphere between us flew away into the air.
‘Ah, fuck, seriously…’
I was annoyed that the good mood had been broken, but there was no one to blame. The paper cup Jeonghye dropped was the same one I had brought her. Just like with Yeonju, it seemed I wasn’t meant to share drinks with the people at this café.
‘What the hell is that, really!… Next time I’m wearing swim trunks under my pants.’
I had mixed cold and hot water to make it lukewarm so it wouldn’t be too cold, and now my pants were slowly getting damp and lukewarm. It wasn’t a sharp, cold shock, but the gradual seeping feeling was even more unpleasant. Like being fully dressed and stepping into a hot spring.
“Ah… I’m so sorry!! I didn’t mean to…!!”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Just a moment… Minjun-ssi, please stay still!”
Jeonghye was competent as expected. Even though it was an unexpected accident, her experience as a café part-timer hadn’t gone anywhere. She apologized first, quickly looked around, then stood up and ran to the women’s restroom. A few seconds later, she returned with a handful of tissues and knelt in front of me, starting to wipe the water from my pants.
Scrub scrub scrub scrub—
“Are you okay? I’m really, really sorry.”
It felt like déjà vu, but that wasn’t important. Jeonghye was wearing a pink V-neck sweater that suited spring, short in length but loose on the sides according to current fashion. Kneeling and bending forward in such loose clothing, from my angle I could catch glimpses of her pure white bra and even her cute navel.
Scrub scrub scrub scrub—
“I don’t usually do this. I must have lost focus for a second. Ugh, seriously.”
And there was another problem. The spot Jeonghye was wiping—the exact place where she’d spilled the water—was unfortunately right near my crotch. Completely unaware of the issue, she focused on drying the fabric, rubbing it with tissues. Every time she did, I was in serious trouble.
If my cock decided to stand at attention now, she might get startled by the monstrous thing and run away. She might even think I was hiding a shotgun in my pants and report me to the police for illegal firearm possession.
“Jeonghye-ssi… you can stop now… it’s all dry.”
“No, it’s not dry at all.”
“It’s fine. You can stop.”
“This much is okay for me to do. Just let me—”
Scrub.Thud—Thud—Thud—Press…
When something suddenly caught on the fabric she’d been wiping so diligently, Jeonghye’s hand slowed down. She poked at it a few more times, as if trying to figure out the sensation through the thick tissues, then her hand froze completely. Her earlobes flushed bright red in an instant, as if burned.
She seemed to be the type whose ears turned red when embarrassed. The gap between her usually composed face and this reaction was ridiculously cute, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to admire it. How long had it been since I’d been playing the kind psychological counselor? The moment her hand touched me, I got hard. It was incredibly embarrassing.
I needed to do something about this situation, fast.
“I… I’m going to the restroom.”
“Ah… um… okay.”
Suddenly we were both stuttering like we’d been possessed by Yeonju. I stood up awkwardly from my chair while Jeonghye quickly moved aside to let me pass, her movement so urgent it was as if she’d encountered a knife-wielding thug on the street.
She was clearly afraid of my cock.
‘Well, at this size it’s not just a knife—it’s a medieval longsword… Of course she’d be scared.’
Having to flee to the restroom because of an erection was a little humiliating, but confirming that Jeonghye was a woman who’d never tasted a man before made me feel good. If she’d been the type who could appreciate how magnificent and powerful my longsword was, she would’ve shown at least a little excitement. But all I felt from her was fear.
‘She’s a virgin. No doubt about it.’
I wasn’t obsessed with virgins, but if possible, I preferred them. Some men said it didn’t matter as long as the sex was good, or that fixating on virginity was outdated. But I wasn’t one of them. Virgin or sex master—those were the two best options. With a virgin, there was the psychological thrill of taking someone’s first time. With a sex master, it was just physically satisfying. I felt sorry for the mediocre non-virgins, but the door of opportunity was still open to them. If they practiced hard enough to master the art of sex and became sex masters themselves, I’d occasionally reward that effort.
“Haa… This is legendary…”
I sighed in the restroom. The most profound thought I could muster to calm my erection was a debate about virgins versus non-virgins. Thanks to that, my cock had settled down, but my chest felt bitter, like I’d accidentally come just from looking at a thumbnail while searching for porn.
Vrrr—
As if to console me, my phone vibrated mournfully. I took it out and checked the number. It was Lawyer Yu Inyeong.
“Yes, Lawyer-nim.”
—I don’t think we’ll be able to reach a settlement.
“…Why?”