Planting an Unbreakable Flag
We had arranged to meet again in Cheongdam-dong, where Yeonju and the café were. I dressed neatly, styled my hair with care, and left the house. After washing it once and giving it a proper blow-dry, the result looked far more natural than it had fresh from the salon. Brimming with confidence, I flagged down a taxi and headed straight for Cheongdam-dong. Yeonju was already waiting in front of the café. I stepped out of the cab and walked over to her.
“Eek!”
I deliberately circled behind her and gave her back a light tap.
Yeonju flinched hard, then whipped around. The moment she saw me standing so close, her eyes widened into perfect circles—those signature puppy-dog eyes of hers. I was a little startled myself. In her casual clothes, Yeonju looked stunning.
Below, she wore jeans and sneakers that teasingly revealed her elegant ankle bones. Above, a simple white sweater. The modest outfit suited her perfectly. Her cute face paired beautifully with the understated style, and her straight bob—without bangs—fell softly to her shoulders, giving her an overall fresh, bright aura.
But if anyone asked whether she was purely refreshing and adorable, the answer was no. When she gasped in surprise, her slender neckline and prominent collarbones stood out sharply, poking at my desire. I wanted to mercilessly stamp kiss marks all over that neck, which was whiter than her sweater and looked even softer and springier than rice cake. I should mark her as my house puppy so no other dog traders would dare look her way….
“Um… hello, Minjun.”
I had been staring blankly at the sleek neckline and collarbones usually hidden by her uniform. Yeonju, unable to stand the silence any longer, greeted me first, a touch awkwardly.
“Ah. Hello, Yeonju. And I’m sorry. I was only teasing, but I didn’t realize you’d be so startled. Was that very rude of me?”
“Huh?? Ah, no! Rude? I was surprised, but… it’s not rude at all… I was just so startled… definitely not rude… I… I like it…”
At the word “rude,” Yeonju practically jumped, passionately defending herself while looking straight into my eyes. Yet she couldn’t hold my gaze for even three seconds. Her cheeks flushed bright red. Her eyes, which had been tilted upward to meet mine, gradually drifted downward. Her voice grew smaller and smaller until it was little more than a whimper.
Yeonju. I don’t know what’s so embarrassing, but if you lower your head and stare at my chest like that, it gets a little embarrassing for me too. I’d only thrown on a short-sleeved shirt because the weather was cool—maybe the outline of my chest was showing….
Swoosh. Swoosh.
Under the pretense of protecting my chest’s dignity, I gently stroked her hair. Startled by the sudden touch, Yeonju lifted her head again. She looked at my face and tilted her head slightly, as if she couldn’t figure out what was going on.
Of course the chest had only been an excuse; I’d simply felt like petting her. But seeing those big, round black eyes filled with question marks and her lips slightly pursed in curiosity, I congratulated myself on a brilliant decision. If we converted cuteness into hazardous material, Yeonju would be highly concentrated uranium. Exposed to Yeonju Uranium—Juranium for short—my contaminated mouth began spewing garbage lines on its own.
“How can you be this cute?”
“Y-yes…??”
“Sorry, but I’m going to keep petting you. You’re so adorable I can’t help myself, Yeonju.”
“…Hic.”
The stench of trash must have hit her hard. The moment she heard my line, her already flushed face burned ketchup-red. It was so hot that even while stroking her hair I could feel the warmth radiating from her cheeks. If I pressed a thermometer to her face right now, it would easily pass fifty degrees.
Swish. Swish.
Stunned by the garbage line, Yeonju stood perfectly still, offering her head to me for a long time. I stroked her round little head to my heart’s content before finally lowering my hand. Only then did she relax her tightly hunched shoulders.
That was a mistake.
It was far too early to relax. I was the type who, once I started pushing, pushed all at once.
“When you spilled coffee on me at the café that day, I was actually really happy.”
“…Huh? Why… why?”
My sudden remark made Yeonju look at me in confusion. Her face, still faintly red, secretly peeked up at me like a perfectly ripe peach. I wanted to open my mouth wide and take a huge bite.
Maybe it’s a little early, but…
Eager to devour that luscious peach, I loaded my secret weapon: the melodramatic eyes. The kind of gaze that looked inexplicably dreamy and moist, as if sprayed with mist, yet carried a faintly seductive glint. The exact expression male leads in dramas and movies used when staring at the female lead with love and affection. On an ordinary person it would look like dead fish eyes slathered in cream cheese, but I was quite confident in anything eye-related. When I had enhanced my appearance, I thought I’d pressed randomly, but the eyes had received an unusually heavy boost. The result was that both my eyes and pupils were now +3 reinforced—on an entirely different level from the rest of me, which had only reached 1 or 2.
“To be honest, from the first time I saw you I really wanted your number, Yeonju. You looked so beautiful working. Just watching you put me in a good mood.”
Equipped with the melodramatic eyes, I stared at her intently and unleashed a full carpet-bombing of trash lines. The way she couldn’t even manage a proper greeting was stupid yet incredibly cute, so it wasn’t entirely a lie. Trash lines mixed with truth always smelled far worse.
“Eh…? Ah… hic! Th-that… yes… me too… no… I mean… that’s not… hic!… hic!”
Pew—. Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom!!!!!
Struck directly by the trash missile, Yeonju glitched like an AI robot whose entire circuit board had been fried. She couldn’t string together a single proper word. Her eyes spun in circles, and the heat that had begun to subside exploded outward again, turning her cheeks an alarming shade of red. She looked like the legendary red-faced human. Red-faced Human Yeonju was both adorable and erotic. The sight of her flushed face and even her pale, slender nape turning crimson was nothing short of spectacular. I finally understood why vampires lost their minds trying to sink their fangs into a frail woman’s neck.
“Oh no… are you all right, Yeonju? I got ahead of myself and startled you, didn’t I?”
“Ah… I… um… that is…”
“I’m sorry. We only just met today. This kind of talk must have been too much.”
“No… it’s… it’s okay… I think…”
“Don’t worry about it too much. When I say I like you, it doesn’t have to mean that kind of like. I just like the person Yeonju so much that being together is enough for me.”
“Ahh… yes… yess… me too…”
“That’s a relief. Then, Yeonju, shall we go shopping now?”
Instead of answering, Yeonju nodded twice. We walked side by side down the streets of Cheongdam-dong. Our bodies were close, yet I never took her hand. From her attitude, I was certain she would have liked it if I did—definitely wouldn’t have disliked it—but I deliberately kept that precarious distance where our arms almost brushed, never quite touching. After hitting her with the melodramatic eyes and a full carpet bombing of trash, it was time to let the stimulation settle a little. Sudden war after peace is frightening, but once you’re already in the middle of a battlefield, an air-raid siren is nothing more than tragic background music.
Yeonju led me from store to store and eventually bought me a shirt at the last one. It was pretty, but the price tag—well over three hundred thousand won—made her hesitate. She tried to refuse, yet she insisted this was the nicest one and pressed the shirt into my hands anyway. Seeing her casually swipe a three-hundred-thousand-won shirt while working part-time at a café confirmed that Yeonju was, without question, a gold spoon.
“Yeonju, I really appreciate it, but isn’t this too expensive?”
“Ah… no. It’s fine. I just wanted to buy it for you… Today meant a lot to me. Even though I made a mistake, you said it was okay… you took my side… you protected me… I was truly grateful.”
After giving me a three-hundred-thousand-won shirt, Yeonju bowed her head and thanked me. A textbook pushover, yet it didn’t feel bad at all. After all, I was the one holding her pushover switch.
“Then, do you have a bit more time?”
“Yes?”
“I can’t just accept a gift and send you home. Let’s have dinner together. The two of us.”
“Ah… well…”
“Is that not okay?”
“No!! It’s… it’s good!!”
Yeonju had been hesitating, as if something weighed on her mind, but the moment I asked again she flipped her stance completely. I was a little concerned whether it was truly all right, but I was burning with impatience myself, so I pretended not to notice.
“What kind of food do you like?”
“Ah… I eat anything!”
“Do you drink?”
“Yes?! Yes… yess!”
The answer still felt off, but I ignored it, searched for good restaurants nearby, and made a reservation. After a five-minute taxi ride the building appeared, and we stepped inside.
It was a private-room izakaya. Japanese food worked well for both dinner and snacks, and I liked the idea of the two of us alone in a quiet room. It turned out to be an excellent choice.
I called the server and ordered several decent-looking dishes along with the most expensive sake—very middle-class of me, but with sudden wealth I had always wanted to try it. Once the server left, only Yeonju and I remained in the room. As awkward silence settled, I spoke first.
“How old are you, Yeonju?”
“Ah… I’m twenty-one.”
“So you’re my noona? I just turned twenty.”
“Ehhh~??”
Hearing my age, Yeonju reacted like a Japanese variety-show comedian seeing something shocking. Ehhh?? Was it that surprising? I definitely didn’t look old.
“If you react like that, I’ll get hurt, Yeonju.”
“Ah… no… it’s not that… you just seem so… mature that I never imagined you’d be so young.”
I had been called an old soul before, but this was the first time anyone had called me mature. And Yeonju, you really have terrible judgment. There aren’t many people less mature than me. If you saw how I acted while gaming, you’d faint.
“It’s fine, Yeonju. What does age matter? As long as our hearts match, that’s enough.”
“Yes. Yes! That’s right. Matching hearts… is what matters…”
Yeonju nodded vigorously. No matter what I said, she seemed ready to agree with everything. If I told her to have sex with me, would she simply nod and accept…? No. Snap out of it, you crazy bastard. It’s not time yet. If I only wanted sex, I wouldn’t have gone to all this trouble. Not yet. Sex can wait. Sex.
“Sex…… I mean, what is your gender?”
“…Yes?”
Shit. My brain was so full of sex that nonsense had spilled out. You pathetic sex-obsessed idiot!
“Not biological sex—mental gender. I was curious whether you had a preferred gender or anything. I’ve been very interested in gender issues lately.”
I had zero interest in gender issues. My only recent interests were money and women—lots of money and pretty women. Still, the improvised excuse worked. The confusion on Yeonju’s face gradually eased.
“Ah… I don’t really know much about that…”
“Then do you have any particular interests or hobbies, Yeonju?”
“I… don’t really have anything like that. No hobbies… no friends… Ah, sorry for suddenly saying something so depressing.”
No friends was excellent news. In the future, the only person Yeonju would need to rely on was me.
“Not at all. It’s fine. But it’s really surprising.”
“What is?”
“That you don’t have friends. Someone as cute, pretty, and kind as you, Yeonju.”
“…Ahh… uhh…”
Pew—. Kaboom, kaboom, kaboom, kaboom!!!!!
Another trash-line bombing while she was off guard. This one was critical. The indiscriminate assault seemed to have regressed her vocal organs; Yeonju lost the ability to speak and could only let out newborn-like whimpers.
This should be enough. Time to finish it.
The moment felt ripe. I planned to dispatch a merciless occupation force into Yeonju’s ownerless mountain. I had to plant a flag called “me” deep in her heart—an unbreakable flag. No matter what happened later, even if I slept with a different woman every single day, that flag must never waver. I needed to drive a piece of trash that would never break into her fragile heart.
Because even if I fucked every woman I desired, I wanted Yeonju to look only at me and give her body only to me.
I knew it was a psychopathic, garbage mindset, but I didn’t care. I had decided to live exactly as I desired, and I had no intention of giving away even a speck of what I craved. Therefore Yeonju had to become mine—completely, without leaving behind the smallest crumb. Physically and mentally, she had to depend on me alone.
That was why I kept feeding her the kind of words a low-self-esteem girl like Yeonju would desperately want to hear, in exactly the format she would crave. They felt cheesy to me, but to her they would taste sweeter than anything else in the world.
“It’s because you’re too kind, Yeonju.”
“Ahh… eh… yess?”
“Other people must be blind. They can’t recognize someone as wonderful as you.”
“…Haah… uuu…”
“To me, Yeonju, you look like an angel.”
When I said “to me,” I made sure to activate the melodramatic eyes again and gazed at her. Yeonju looked on the verge of tears.
“…Uuh… aah… I’ve never… heard words like that before… so… heuk… thank you, Minjun.”
Judging by her reaction, my flag had been planted firmly and deeply inside her. Like sherbet placed on a car hood that had baked under the midsummer sun all day, Yeonju melted away completely.