The Dining Table
Before I knew it, Toto had come padding over, panting, and was looking up at me from around my feet. I smiled, scooped him up, and settled him against my chest, and he licked beneath my chin. Perfect timing. I might as well take a few pictures first.
"Yeah, yeah. Look here. Right here."
I snapped a few photos with him in my arms, then stroked the little dog, whatever had him panting so happily, and started up toward the second floor still holding him. The shower grew louder the higher I went, a kind of background music, and I was just opening the door to the room beside it.
Why is it so dark in here?
It was morning, and yet not a thread of sunlight reached the room. I reached beside the door and flipped the switch, and the moment the lights came on, my mouth fell open at what they showed me.
...She's not kidding around. And she said this wasn't hardcore.
What caught my eye first was the king-size bed set in the center of the room. It was far larger than the one in Ju Hayeong's bedroom, the sort of luxury piece you'd expect in a hotel, but the ornaments along the frame were anything but ordinary.
The frame alone is built for SM. The mattress, I couldn't say.
Rings were fixed at every point along it, and black leather straps that began at each corner lay in neat lines across the snow-white sheets, gathered at the center of the bed. The walls were hung with masks, whips, riding crops, leather switches, and more of the same. Beside them, four harnesses in a glossy enamel finish hung in a row.
All of them brand new.
I stepped closer and ran my hands over the whips and the leather pieces, but there was, quite literally, no trace of use in them. Aside from the harnesses, and a few bundles of rope. I could tell she favored leather. Gear like that needed steady care; it was a lot of work. And yet what I was looking at wasn't the mark of meticulous tending, only of things kept from going bad, and the feeling came through thick that this was closer to a collection than to a kit she'd gathered for play. I turned toward the other side of the room, and the thing that seized my eye was an X-shaped restraint frame.
...Doesn't look like I'll need to prepare a thing.
Even if we used only what was already here, I figured we wouldn't run out of ideas for months. Mix the pieces, and still more kinds of play might open up. That was when it happened.
"...Ah..."
The bathroom door flew open. Ju Hayeong stepped out shaking the water from her hair and met my eyes. She scrambled to cover herself, then took in the sight of me standing in the room with Toto in my arms, and her face went scarlet.
"Ah... You saw..."
"I was looking around the house. A collection, I take it?"
"...Y-yeah... I didn't really buy them to use..."
"Right. I can tell. Are you a fan of that movie?"
"...Yeah. Th-there just aren't many mainstream SM films."
"Anything you're curious about? We ought to try what we can."
"...Yeah. But..."
She came toward me slowly. Toto saw her and started squirming, so I set him gently on the floor. He trotted to her feet and set his tail going like a little motor, but she gave him a single stroke and came straight on to me. She moved as if to put her arms around me, hesitated, then caught hold of my chest, looked up, and whispered.
"...I think I like you better, after all, Shinwoo..."
"And here I thought I gave it my all at the cafe."
"...O-of course the cafe was good too. I just... like all of it. So long as I'm with you."
I stroked her face, still damp from the shower. The words pleased me. Enough to leave an itch in my chest. And I could feel that she meant them. Just like that, I drew her wet body into my arms and brought my mouth to hers.
"Haa..."
"Whenever you feel like it, just tell me."
"...Thank you."
"Shall we head down? I'll be in the living room."
"I-if you want to keep looking, that's all right."
"Let's do it together later. I'll tell you about them."
"...Okay."
We went down to the first floor, and while I waited for her to come out dressed, I sat on the living-room sofa and fiddled with my phone. I couldn't help seeing that yesterday's news was kicking up a bigger storm than I'd expected. Among YouTube's trending videos, several had already gone up using that report as material, all of them about the safety and protection of Multimales.
...Is it really that frightening?
I scratched my cheek and cocked my head. It wasn't that the massive woman outside the house hadn't been scary. But I had no intention of looking down on a woman who acted out of nothing but a sincere liking. That feeling, at least, was a lovely one. So long as she didn't cross the line, she was welcome as far as I was concerned. The YouTubers in those videos, though, were busy cursing women like her and sneering at them. It was something like the way people tore into celebrities' sasaeng fans, those obsessive stalker-devotees, except the wording here ran even harsher.
Hmm.
I poked around YouTube a while longer, then switched over to social media. I left the message window alone, still lit up with notifications, and checked the posts first. The cafe seemed to be holding up well enough, so I looked for the one where I'd uploaded the photos from the gym. I hadn't put up many yet, in any case.
...It wore me out, but the effect is something else.
The likes had already broken twenty thousand. The comments were packed so thick I couldn't hope to read them all. Most were praise, hearts spilling over. There were plenty fretting about the news, which told me most of these people had come from the broadcast rather than from the cafe or the neighborhood boards. There were comments that amounted to harassment, of course, and accusations that I was being paid to promote something, but beneath those, countless other replies were cursing the critics in my place.
Can't say it feels bad.
I'd never thought of myself as the attention-seeking type, and yet I felt quietly pleased. So this was why people lived on social media.
"Shinwoo. Food's ready."
"Ah, coming."
At the bright sound of Ju Hayeong's voice, I set Toto down from my thigh, where he'd been sitting quietly, and headed for the table. The sight that met me made my mouth fall open before I could stop it.
"...What is all this?"
She flinched at my words, startled, and clutched the hem of the apron she had on. Then, carefully, in a worried voice, she tried again.
"Ah, d-do you not like Korean food? I knew it. You had Korean last night, so maybe it's too much...?"
"No... I'm wondering if I ought to check whether the table legs are still holding."
"Aigoo, thank goodness. Come on, sit."
Only then did she break into a bright smile, sweeping her hair back behind her ear as she sat down across from me. I was still staring blankly at the table. A feast covered every inch of it. One dish, two. A full eighteen-dish banchan setting, the old formal spread. With it, a pot of doenjang-jjigae, soybean-paste stew, sending up a gentle steam, and a bowl of fluffy white rice. Photograph it and show it to anyone, and home cooking would come to mind on sight. It was the very picture of a home-cooked meal.
"...This looks delicious. It's been so long. A table like this."
"Really? Sit, hurry. I don't know if it'll suit your taste..."
She laid a hand at the center of her chest and let out a small sigh. Served a table like this, manners said you finished every bite even if it tasted awful. I sat, picked up my spoon at once, and took a mouthful of the stew. At the deep, savory flavor that spread across my tongue, I closed my eyes with the spoon still between my lips. A face rose up. Someone I had only lately, since they passed, managed to go about my days forgetting.
"...This is the real thing. Hayeong, you cook incredibly well."
"Really? I'm so relieved. I was terribly nervous."
"...If this is the skill that makes you nervous, I'd be looking at prison."
"Shinwoo, you can cook too?"
"No. Looking at this, I've just confirmed that I don't. How many of these did you make in that short a time?"
She let out a little puff of laughter and, spoon in hand, quietly started on her own meal. Three or four of the side dishes had the look of something just made; the rest seemed to have come out of the refrigerator. Even so. This was already more than enough.
"Wasn't this an awful lot of work, first thing in the morning?"
"No. I... I wanted to."
"...If I want to keep being fed like this, I'm going to have to work a lot harder."
"...Ah, you don't have to... I'm really going to die..."
Flushed with embarrassment, she stabbed at her rice with her spoon. I watched her for a quiet moment, then brought my own spoon to my mouth.
...How long has it been?
It was a meal that warmed me all the way through, enough to call my late mother back to mind. The stew was so clean and satisfying that the anxiety over how things were changing, tight around my chest since morning, and the throb in my head from turning over what to do next, were rinsed away in a single swallow. If chicken soup was what warmed a soul, this one gave me the illusion it might actually heal one.
"...Could you make this again?"
"...Yeah. Anytime."
"From now on, too?"
"...Yeah. I'll do it. Your meals, Shinwoo."
"Go file it today. I'll watch the shop."
"Is it that good?"
"Yes. The best there is."
At my words, the happiness brimming in her smile, and the happiness radiating brightly off her, sent lust surging through me before I knew what was happening. All at once the little brat sprang upright, straining as if he meant to tear clean through the crotch of my sweatpants. I bit my tongue and muttered at him, hard and inward, to settle down. Fortunately, he was the sort who sank as fast as he had in the bathroom.
...I'll give her that one. To think I'd be the one who took the hit.
I never imagined that feeling someone's emotions could provoke me like this. The lust that had shot up all at once left my head hot. Even so, the moment I got him to go down, I felt the heat slowly cooling, and a sigh slipped out of me. Trunks were done for. From now on it would have to be something tight, snug boxer briefs, no exceptions. If they held me even for a moment, I could force it down.
"W-what's wrong? Is it strange?"
"Nothing. Your face just now was too pretty, Hayeong."
"...Ah..."
She flushed and dropped her gaze, murmuring as if embarrassed.
"I'm so glad you're enjoying it."
"...Because it's delicious."
"Yeah. Eat up. It'll get cold."
"Right. At this rate we'll be late."
As the meal went on between us, it seemed, from some point on, that a sweet floral scent had begun to drift through the air. Toto, crunching noisily through his kibble beside us, lifted his head and pricked his ears. He looked from me to her and back again, and if that gaze seemed oddly like a glare, it would be the fur on his face.
"Are you really sure?"
"Yes. It's still hard, isn't it?"
"...A-a little..."
At that, embarrassed, she drew a hand across her lower belly. The soft smile that spread over her had me watching her quietly, smiling myself, before I went on.
"Rest a bit, then stop by the community center on your way. I can send out most of the menu now."
"...I'm sorry."
"I'm the one who did it. Do I owe an apology too?"
"Th-that's not..."
"I know. Don't be sorry. I liked yesterday too."
"...Shinwoo."
She called to me from the entryway, where she'd come to see me off. I caught her quietly by the waist, drew her in, and pressed my mouth to hers.
"Then tidy up, rest, and come by. Here's my ID."
I drew my wallet from my inner pocket and held out my resident registration card. Ju Hayeong, watching me through dazed eyes, took a key ring from her apron and offered it.
"...Yeah. The keys are here."
"If they say they need me, we'll go together this afternoon. Oh, and on your way to the community center, could you take one look around my villa?"
"Of course. I'll check."
"I didn't go home yesterday, so I'm curious what kind of reaction that'll get."
"...Ah, yeah..."
Her face went red all over again, and she started winding the hair at her temple around her finger. She embarrassed more easily than Rahi or Hyunji. I let out a short laugh, and as I made to step out with my gym bag, she caught my hand.
"I-I'll wash them for you. They should be dry by the afternoon."
"Ah, would you?"
"Yeah. I want to."
"...Here. I'm counting on you, then."
"Don't worry. The washing machine does the laundry. That's all."
She hugged my bag to her chest and smiled, shy and sweet. I brushed my fingers over her cheek, said goodbye, and left the house. The cafe was practically next door, but the moment work ended I'd have to head straight for the gym, so I took the car and set off anyway.