Chapter 198: OT
The setting of this novel is Earth in a parallel universe.
“We’ll head in, then.”
“Yeah. Get home safe.”
Eun-ae and Ye-eun lived in the same neighborhood, so they got out of the taxi at Bangbae Station. I had been riding shotgun, so I climbed into the back seat and said my goodbyes.
After the first round of gamjatang, they had wanted to go for a second, but I was ready to leave. The moment I stood, the three of them rose with me just as promised. Eun-ae and Ye-eun, though, must not have gotten permission from home; they asked to be dropped off midway.
“You okay with this, Ji-eun?”
“Y-yeah. When I told Mom I was with a guy, she was thrilled. She even told me to stay the night. She grew up in LA, so she’s pretty open-minded.”
Well, her daughter came out as a lesbian and then suddenly says she’s with a man… I can see why. No mention of her dad, though. Hmm. That’s personal. I’ll learn it in time.
She was small, just under 160 centimeters, with fair skin, round eyes, and a cute face. She looked so young she could have passed for a middle-schooler.
The taxi started again toward the address I had given earlier. Ji-eun kept her head bowed, face flushed. I gave a quiet snort of laughter and looked out the window. She seemed wound far too tight; piling on conversation would only make it worse. So I simply reached over, took her left hand, and rested it between us. She relaxed and gently curled her fingers around mine.
We drove a long while past Suseo Station until a massive wall came into view. Her eyes went round as she stared. The taxi stopped at the main gate.
No outside vehicles allowed past this point… inconvenient, but whatever.
Once I paid the fare, she stood gaping up at the towering gates.
“What is this place… why the walls?”
“My house is in here. The walls? The whole area’s nothing but rice paddies, so security’s a bit shaky. That’s why they put them up, I heard.”
They had actually been built high to keep monsters out, but I left that unsaid.
I stepped in front of the camera. It recognized my face, and a pedestrian door—not the vehicle gate—slid open automatically. Beyond it stretched a winter landscape of lush green lawns, each yard landscaped differently yet in perfect harmony, the houses built in European and American styles. It felt like stepping into another country.
“Whoa… this exists in Seoul?”
“Well, Hannam-dong and places like that have plenty of this. Sort of.”
“True… I heard the walls there are high too.”
I had texted ahead, so thankfully Kang Ho wasn’t out on one of his ridiculous night strolls. Lights were on at his place.
“Which one’s yours?”
“That one. The four-story.”
“Ah…”
We walked for a while before the house came into clear view. Lights burned on the second and third floors; the women must have gathered there in groups. We took the elevator to the fourth floor and stepped out in front of my front door. Lights flicked on automatically from the entryway through the living room. No cat meows either—Geumgang and Horan must have been taken downstairs by Jeong-mi and the others.
“Wow… it’s huge.”
“Yeah.”
What surprised me was how casually she glanced at the appliances and walked right past them.
Outsider detected. Until she becomes your woman, cognitive manipulation is active—modern appliances will appear as era-appropriate to her. Preferably bring them in only after an Absolute Obedience Contract outside.
Yes… sorry, Jini. Keep bothering you like this.
I hadn’t thought of that.
I led her deeper into the house and stopped in front of the master bedroom. When I opened the door, the scent of the World Tree rolled out thick and warm.
“Mmm… wow!! What is that smell? Wood?”
“The bed. The wood of the bed. I don’t really know myself.”
“It smells so good. Feels like the alcohol’s clearing out of my head. My heart’s settling down too.”
She was right—from the moment she stepped into the room, the tension in her body had clearly eased. She gave the room a quick once-over, then followed me inside.
“Not scared? Coming this far means you’re ready to have sex, you know. You said you’re a virgin.”
I snorted and opened the fridge. The bottles of semen had dwindled noticeably. I pulled out a few two-liter jugs, set them on the desk, and looked at her. Her face was scarlet; she was twisting her body, both index fingers circling near her stomach.
Cute…
“I-I was just… curious. How different it is from sleeping with Ye-eun.”
“Ye-eun’s the guy in your trio?”
Ye-eun was definitely the most energetic and bright of the three. Eun-ae was quiet; Ji-eun sat right in the middle—and she was the prettiest of them. All three were about equally cute, though.
“Yeah. But we never really did guy-girl stuff. We never put anything in. Just mouths.”
“No scissoring? Like that mismatched kind of love?”
She shook her head hard.
White coat, light-blue knit, jeans—she looked every bit the student. I walked toward her. She startled but only bowed her head deeper, fingers still spinning in little circles.
“Want to wash up first?”
“Huh? Yeah. Thanks.”
When I pointed toward the master bath, she slipped out of her coat and disappeared inside. I checked my phone. Jeong-mi had texted that Na-hee, A-reum, and A-hee were with Ji-yu in Hye-yun’s master bedroom on the third floor. I read it carefully. Then Ji-eun’s coat buzzed—someone calling her. Privacy; I ignored it.
Just go with Ji-yu. I’ll give Hye-yun a heads-up later… yeah, Ji-yu’s fine.
The women I would bring from the other side were a separate problem. Someone with a mind like Jia Xu’s might be useful, but here we would be fighting monsters. Schemes meant for humans wouldn’t have much room to play. Friction with other countries or groups was possible, of course, but that was far in the future.
Four of them… if I leave Jia Xu out for now, the wife order would be Jo Un, Jang Bi, Guan Yu, then Gao Shun.
Wang Yeon—his mother over there—crossed my mind for a moment, but I decided that if more slots opened later I would bring Jia Xu and Wang Yeon. For now, those four were locked in.
The bathroom door creaked. Ji-eun emerged wrapped in a bathrobe that must have been hanging inside, head still bowed. Short bob, cute face. I needed to wash too, so I started toward her. She stopped and spun her fingers again.
“Wait on the bed. I’ll rinse off and come out. And someone called earlier—check your phone.”
“O-okay.”
As I walked past she pressed herself flat against the wall to give me room. The scent of shampoo hit me in a warm wave. I stepped into the bathroom, scrubbed myself under hot water, then finished with a blast of cold to clear my head.
[Lee Ji-eun’s POV]
Ye-eun, Eun-ae, and me—all three of us finding someone we liked at the same time. I had figured it would take at least a year even at university.
The first time, I saw Ye-eun’s eyes light up as she scanned a woman. I looked sideways and there they were: two stunning glamorous beauties gazing at one man like honey was dripping from their eyes. And that man looked strangely like my big maternal uncle.
The uncle in America who treated us so well whenever we visited once or twice a year. Tall, good body. When I was little, he had been my ideal type.
Maybe that was why. At first Ye-eun had been the one interested because of Ian’s girlfriends, but after we met him at the school’s front-gate bulletin board, I was the one who fell hardest.
Once he disappeared into the bathroom I pulled out my phone. Kim Ji-sun—Mom—had called so many times it was giving me a headache. I dialed her back. She picked up on the first ring.
“My daughter. So, where’s the nice place you went with that boy?”
“Mom. Do you actually like that your daughter’s with a guy?”
The memory of coming out flashed through my mind. “Is it because I raised you alone after the divorce?” “Why on earth would you choose homosexuality?” “If that’s the case, why not persuade the girls and go for polygamy instead?”—every one of those lines had actually come out of Mom’s mouth. And she had been the one who contacted Eun-ae’s and Ye-eun’s parents with that same drive and steered everything toward polygamy.
“Of course. Hearing you’re with a man just cleared ten years of indigestion, Ji-eun.”
“Mom. Is that really why you called?”
I could picture her delighted face with perfect clarity. I shook my head and asked again why she had phoned.
“That, and I wanted to know where you are. In case you got snagged by some thug. Just text me the location.”
“Huh? It’s Suseo-dong, a place called IA Town. South of Suseo Station. About twenty houses right in the middle of the rice paddies…”
“What? My daughter actually went to a man’s house? Hohoho. And Eun-ae and Ye-eun?”
“Mom! Their parents said it was way too soon and told them to come home. You’re the only one egging me on from behind, you know that?”
“So what? He’s handsome, looks like he’ll do polygamy, and every single one of his women is pretty and well-behaved. With that much going for him you snatch him up fast. That way your rank inside the harem stays high. Got it, my daughter?”
I really thought Mom was hopeless.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure I can beat those unnies. They’re too pretty. Especially A-jeong unnie.”
“Tsk. Looks aren’t everything for a woman, my daughter. I told you about our family line, didn’t I?”
“Mom!!!!!”
I jumped and checked the room. I knew exactly what she meant—the Myeong-gi talk. The Ginhak.
After I came out, Mom had sat me down, drunk, and monologued that every man on her side of the family had monstrous stamina and every woman was born with a Ginhak. Then I searched it online and nearly had a heart attack.
“Hohoho. Look at your father. Divorced over ten years and he still keeps calling me. Hmph. He should’ve treated me well when he had the chance.”
“Ugh.”
“But how handsome is ‘handsome,’ exactly?”
Her voice dripped with curiosity. I went to the bed, inhaled the pleasant wood scent, and tried to calm myself.
“He looks like Big Uncle. Mom, Big Uncle doesn’t have a son in Korea or anything, right?”
“Huh? No. Just two daughters. In America.”
Thank god. Ideal type looking like my uncle was one thing; I had zero interest in actual incest.
“I was so startled. He looks exactly like Big Uncle.”
“Oho. Even half as good-looking and he’d be a catch. That face plays better in America than Korea. Ji-seok oppa’s looks.”
“He’s even better-looking. And he’s got to be about 185.”
“What? Oh, my daughter hit the jackpot. Don’t forget what I taught you. Squeeze. Down there. Then the man will hang on you forever.”
“Ugh, Mom, hanging up. Stop saying weird things.”
Click.
Everyone on Mom’s side of the family had the same bizarre personality. Big Uncle was the most normal of them. I had heard the second uncle—who died young—was the real eccentric, but Mom and the youngest aunt were exactly like this.
How can she say something that embarrassing to her own daughter?
The youngest aunt was no better. She used to call from America and say the exact same things for ages. There was a stretch when the word “Ginhak” echoed in my ears like a hallucination.
I texted Ye-eun and Eun-ae that I had arrived at Ian’s place. Replies came instantly.
I just laughed at their messages, turned the phone off, slipped it into my coat, and folded the coat beside the bed again.
Thump-thump.
He was taking a long time—over ten minutes—and impatience started to creep in. I stared blankly toward the bathroom until I heard the click of the door.
Thump-thump.
My heart hammered harder and harder. I could feel my face turning redder by the second.