The Filing
"So that's why you wanted to see me today?"
"......Yes. D-did that upset you......?"
"No. Then why don't we just get the whole filing done today?"
"Yes."
"I'd like that too."
"Let's. The food's getting cold. We can talk while we eat."
"Okay."
No one had to go first. Smiles spread across all three of our faces as we began, slowly, to carry the food from our plates to our mouths. It felt as if the three of us were strung together on some invisible thread. A bond—not the trust of friends, not the tie of family, but the faith and closeness that exists only between a man and the women who choose him. Rahee and Hyunji must have felt it too. Their faces were bright, full of happy smiles.
"We don't have to take pictures?"
"Ah!"
"Right."
Both of them startled and reached for their phones. I watched for a moment, then beckoned them over with a small wave of my hand.
"Come here. Let's take one together."
"I-is that really okay?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. Hurry up. It's getting cold."
"Okay!"
Rahee smiled, pleased, and tucked her hair back behind her ear to tidy it, while Hyunji drew a mirror from her handbag and studied her face.
"You're both pretty, so just come over. You planning to do this every time?"
"Ah, even so."
Rahee came over to my right without any fuss and leaned against the table. Only then did Hyunji flush and scurry over to stand at my left. We took a few shots on Hyunji's camera, set between us, then more with the food in the frame, and a good while passed before we could finally eat.
"Unnie, we came out well."
"We did. The food looks pretty too."
"Mm. This place knows what it's doing."
"Right?"
Just as that easy atmosphere was about to settle over us, Rahee scooped up some scrambled eggs and spoke.
"......Shinwoo. So you are thinking about moving, then?"
"Moving? I figure we probably should."
"Hyunji was putting it nicely earlier...... The truth is...... there are some dangerous women."
"There are?"
I looked at Hyunji. She was watching me with a worried face. Even so, with something like this it was better to hear the facts straight, so I turned quietly back to Rahee. She hesitated, then went on.
"There are women who think it's fine to rape a Multimale. Quite...... a lot of them."
"......What?"
Now that I thought about it, it made a grim kind of sense. A person drunk on lust was capable of anything, and to someone like that, it would feel like a justification.
"So it's a kind of excuse."
"......Yes. These days, if someone knows your name and your face, AI will dig up everything......"
She meant my address would be exposed. The alley was a little lonely at night, but there were plenty of cameras, so I hadn't worried much—though once something actually happened, what good would any of that do?
"......I see. Then when should the three of us go look at places?"
Hyunji, mid-sip, choked as if it had gone down the wrong pipe and fumbled for a tissue. Rahee dropped the scrambled egg she'd been putting in her mouth.
"......What? Why are you reacting like that? You don't want to?"
"N-no!"
"Of course not!"
"Mm. I've got about two hundred million won right now, and if I add in that loan they said comes with the benefits, I think we can get a decent place."
"......I'll sell my place too."
"Me too. I'll list my apartment."
"No."
I refused so flatly that the two of them, who'd been visibly excited, faltered. Flustered, they couldn't get a word out.
"This is the first time I'm saying it to you, Hyunji. Rahee already knows, right?"
"......Yes."
"I'm going to take responsibility for both of you. You're my women. But I have no intention of putting your money between us. I'll handle the money myself."
"Ah, oppa......"
Hyunji's eyes grew moist, as if my words had moved her. Rahee, if anything, rushed to answer.
"B-but...... a house is something we're supposed to prepare. That's how it's supposed to be......"
"Th-that's right. The woman is the one who's supposed to prepare it......"
It wasn't that I failed to understand. I had no intention of spouting nonsense about not needing money. I knew by now that with Hyunji's help it would amount to nothing at all—but if we did it that way, the easy relationship I'd only just built between Rahee and Hyunji could twist out of shape. It wasn't as if I didn't know Rahee's circumstances. And having seen how devoted the two of them were, I wanted them to feel that I was worth that devotion.
I need to set this in place while I can still control it.
Hierarchy forming between people was unavoidable, but a hierarchy born of money was something I simply couldn't accept. And the moment even one more person was added, there would inevitably be parts I could no longer control.
"I understand. But I'd like you to think of it as me being stubborn. Let's keep enjoying ourselves like this from now on. All right?"
At my firm words, Rahee's and Hyunji's faces, both turned toward me, grew redder and redder.
"......I understand."
"......Yes. B-but you have to be as safe as possible, Shinwoo."
"Yeah. We'll pick it together."
"......Okay."
"Oppa."
"What?"
"......I can't tell you how glad I am that I met you."
"I can tell just by looking at your face, you know."
"Ah, wh-why? Did I get something on it?"
"You look like a ripe peach."
"Seriously."
Rahee's face was still flushed, but she looked at Hyunji with a bright, blooming smile, as if she found her adorable. Yes. That was the kind of smile it ought to be. Hyunji hastily pulled out her compact and checked her reflection.
"I-it's just because I'm embarrassed."
"Yeah. Cute. Right?"
"Right. It's not weird, Hyunji. It's cute."
"......You're both too much."
Laughing, we finished the meal and headed for a nearby community center, following the directions Han Gyeo-wool had given us. She'd said it didn't matter where we filed, and I'd seen no reason to go any farther than we had to.
"......Is this reaction normal?"
"It probably is. Pfft—oppa, your face looks weird."
"I-it's our first time too, so......"
The moment the three of us walked in holding hands, every eye in the place swung our way. It was an outlying community center, but there were still quite a few staff and citizens about. I strolled up to the counter as if nothing were unusual, meaning to ask the civil servant staring at me—then turned instead to Hyunji, whose hand was still in mine.
"Wh-what was I supposed to say again?"
Hyunji smiled and addressed the female clerk.
"One man-and-woman relationship filing, please, and two partner-registration forms. All three of us are new registrations."
"Ah—ah. Yes! One moment."
The clerk's eyes went so round I wondered what there was to be so shocked about. She rummaged hurriedly through a drawer, then rose from her seat. I glanced at Rahee gripping the edge of the counter beside me and quietly stroked her hair.
"Why are you so nervous?"
"......I-I never even imagined this."
"Me neither. I really never thought I'd get to fill out a filing form......"
"I know......"
I could feel Hyunji—who had explained everything so smoothly only a little while ago—fidgeting with her hands as if she were embarrassed. Just then the clerk returned, leading a middle-aged woman whose hair had gone gray.
"Ah, good day. I'm Lee Gyeong-sun, head of this district office. P-please, allow me to show you this way."
"Can't we just fill them out here?"
"Well, a new registration for a Multi-Male Partner is a first for this office, so......"
I looked quietly at the sweating chief, then at Rahee and Hyunji. Both of them nodded.
"A lot of places are like this. If your information leaks, the government office that registered you is automatically held responsible."
"Didn't you say it leaks anyway?"
"If they follow the manual, they can at least dodge the blame."
I nodded at what they said, then followed the chief into a small reception room and sat down. Two female clerks came in after us, took the seats across from me, and offered a greeting.
"We're truly grateful that you've chosen to register at our office. Please fill these out, and you two, these. If you'll leave your IDs with us, that will be all."
Once we had filled out the three forms set before us, one of the clerks gathered all three of our IDs and stepped out of the room. The middle-aged woman, who had been staring blankly at the three of us—already holding hands again—spoke.
"My. It really is true. I've been at this office for over ten years, and this is the first registration I've ever processed. It's an honor."
"Are there really that few?"
"I'm afraid so. Step just a little outside here and it's the countryside."
"Come on, that's just what people say. I hear this area's been developing quite a bit lately."
"Well, speaking of that, if I may."
The chief leaned a little closer over the table and asked, her voice serious.
"Might I ask where you currently reside?"
The address was already on the IDs and the forms, but she asked carefully, as if she were trying, in her own way, to observe the courtesies.
"I'm living in Seoul."
"Ah, I see. Then, by any chance...... are you living with these two?"
"Not yet. I do plan to look for a suitable place."
"Ah. Then perhaps somewhere around here?"
"Mm. It is close to Seoul, but......"
"Well—one moment. I'll bring some tea."
I didn't know what she was after, so I didn't want to answer carelessly. The moment she sprang up and left the room, Hyunji leaned in and whispered at my ear.
"It's the subsidies. The budget jumps all at once. Even the city planning can change."
"No way. This is still Gyeonggi, no matter how you look at it. One person like me moving in couldn't possibly......"
"It's a bigger deal than you think, oppa. There's a famous story—five Multimales gathered in some country town, and a school got built there."
"......What?"
"Oppa, you're really cute today. You always act like you know everything. Right, unnie?"
"Pfft. She has a point."
"......A school?"
"Yes. When a single Multimale relocates, the effect—exaggerating a little—is like an entire apartment complex springing up. Of course, the school happened because where they lived was too far from any existing facilities."
"Even so. The influence goes that far?"
"Because everyone involved earns above a certain level. And once people learn a Multimale lives in a neighborhood, more women move in. Factor that number in, and of course they'd want to catch you."
It was an absurd thing to say, but if a man had many partners, it really did make sense. Exaggerate a little, and it was like a dozen or so people—each earning enough to maintain an entire apartment building in Seoul—dropping into the countryside all at once. No wonder the chief was wearing herself thin. On top of that, the women who followed in hopes of a meeting would have come because they had the confidence to. Which meant they, too, were likely earning well above average.