Taming (5)
This is fun. I wasn’t drunk from just one can of 7.5% beer, but whether my head was clear or not, it was still pretty entertaining to grope Seo Jia’s nonexistent belly fat while she squirmed in discomfort. Of course, just because I wasn’t drunk didn’t mean she wasn’t. Her flushed cheeks said it all. She’d downed two cans, so she was probably desperate for the bathroom too. If I had any maniacal hobbies, I might’ve pushed her further, but I didn’t really have that kind of taste.
“Haa… stop. Just…”
“If you’re too embarrassed to ask, want me to ask for you?”
“No need…”
…It was just fun to toy with her. Watching the woman who used to despise me get so flustered by a single gesture of mine was genuinely enjoyable. These days, I couldn’t pull the same stunts with Haeun or Hinami. Not because I cherished or liked them enough to hold back, but because doing the same thing to women I didn’t even dislike held zero appeal. It wasn’t about sexual walls so much as the feeling of striking out a batter during my playing days. Pure, simple fun. Especially when it was a woman who used to outshine me, now dancing in the palm of my hand.
“Ah, now that I think about it, convenience stores these days don’t really lend out their bathrooms. Probably worried people will run off with the key.”
“…”
“Still, if you flash your ID and ask, they’d probably let you. Especially if an idol asked.”
“Trash…”
Her eyes, which had been dead for a while, suddenly regained their spark, glaring at me with pure loathing. It was so satisfying that I didn’t even feel the need to argue back when she called me trash. Seo Jia being in distress was amusing. …The fact that she had to rely on that same trash because she was desperate was downright hilarious.
“If it’s really that bad, we can head back to the gym. It’s closer than the apartment… Anyway, most places won’t lend it out if you’re wearing a mask, sunglasses, and a hat pulled low.”
“…”
“Your choice. Ah, the apartment will take longer since we have to ride the elevator up.”
Slowly, I started nudging her forward again with my knee against the back of her thigh, reversing the path we’d taken. Seo Jia tried to plant her feet, but a drunk woman desperate to pee couldn’t resist my strength. She began waddling like a penguin. As I blew into her ear, I pressed down firmly on her stomach one last time and whispered in a low voice.
“…If you grant me one wish later, I’ll carry you and sprint to the gym in under three minutes.”
“…”
“Ah, nothing dangerous. …I have no intention of stripping you outside.”
I made sure she could imagine the pressure on her stomach intensifying the moment she refused. I rubbed her warm lower belly in slow circles while teasing her eardrum and earlobe with a sticky voice. When my tongue finally brushed her burning ear, she couldn’t hold out any longer.
“…”
She nodded once. Then she walked behind me, breathing heavily, and climbed onto my back.
“…Good girl.”
I put her hat on backward, gripped her thighs tightly, and started walking with long strides. Instead of retracing our earlier path, I went straight ahead—down the same route I took to work every day.
“Haa… hah…”
Her breathing grew ragged as my strides lengthened until she was practically flying. She tried her best to endure, but every time her dangling feet brushed the ground, the way she sucked in her breath was so entertaining that I didn’t slow down. From her perspective, getting inside the building as fast as possible was probably for the best anyway. If she’d truly reached her limit, she wouldn’t have had the presence of mind to climb onto my back in the first place.
“Haah… hoo, hoo…”
Carrying her as she clung to my back and kicked her calves, I ran steadily down roads without traffic lights. Even for me, it was a little strenuous, but not enough to stop. I reached the building entrance a little faster than promised. When the gym came into view, she let out a relieved sigh. The moment I set her down in front of the stairs, she bolted inside without even glancing at me, heading straight for the bathroom.
I watched her retreating figure for a moment before stopping by the convenience store next door to buy the alcohol I hadn’t gotten earlier. Nothing special—just cheap vodka. Of course, I had no intention of feeding 40% disinfectant to that drunk girl. She’d pass out instantly, and carrying her dead weight home sounded annoying. I simply ducked into the gym, poured exactly one shot into a paper cup, hid it in a corner of the break room, washed my hands thoroughly, and waited for her to come out.
After soaking my tongue with vodka until it burned and dried out completely, I grabbed the girl who was walking toward me with an annoyed expression and pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Ah, wait…!”
The smell of alcohol reached my nose too. Even if she was tipsy, it wasn’t the scent of someone who’d only had two beers while wearing a mask. It was the disinfectant smell coming from my own lips and tongue. To push that scent onto her tongue, I pulled her mask down.
“Pha, hoo, cra—crazy… Heh… mmph…”
I squeezed her ass hard—the one I’d been debating whether to mess with earlier—then tipped the remaining contents of the paper cup onto my tongue and forced it into her mouth. I tossed the empty cup aside, then caressed her still-burning ear while she was soaked.
“Mmph… puh. Ha, hey, stop…”
“Hey?”
“Stop… please. Mmph…”
One shot wasn’t enough to get her drunk, but the strong alcohol smell swirling in her brain was enough to intoxicate the atmosphere. The dimly lit interior of the building helped create that strange mood too. In the hazy air, I completely covered her tongue—which had tasted of bitter beer—with the scent of alcohol. Depending on her tolerance, this alone could get her drunk. Not as a wish, just like drunken rambling.
“Puhah… ha…”
“…Ah, I should use that wish now.”
“What…?”
“Follow me. Let’s take a picture.”
After finishing the sticky kiss, I grabbed her wrist, dragged her outside, and stood her under a streetlight. I took off her backward hat but left the mask hanging from her chin. Pulling out my phone and holding it high, I stood beside her, pressed my lips to her ear, and clicked the shutter.
…A photo that could never be taken with her sister’s boyfriend was now saved as a record.
“Wish complete. Let’s go back.”
“…”
Staring at the photo I’d just taken, she bit her lip hard, her whole body trembling. Whether it was because she’d been photographed like this again, or because the tongue-kissing hadn’t counted as the wish… or maybe because she was disappointed I hadn’t done anything more explicit. The last option probably wasn’t it, but either way, it didn’t matter to me. I could’ve done both without her even making a wish.
“When we get back, wash up and sleep well. I’m off tomorrow too, so if there’s anywhere you want to go, I can take you.”
“…Are you joking?”
“Not joking. Or you can stay home and watch me fuck the kids.”
“…I’ll go up and rest.”
Her intoxication had risen another level, but her mind seemed clearer. I linked my arm around her waist and walked slowly under the streetlights, strolling through the empty night streets with a beautiful rose.
…One by one, I gently plucked her sharp thorns. Gradually stripping the rose bare. So that someday, I could plant it in my own pot.
**
…I want to die. Not because Kang Juhyuk played with me. Of course, when I had to sprint to the bathroom, I felt so humiliated I wanted to die, but that was because he was a bastard, not because I’d done anything wrong. It wasn’t because the convenience store part-timer made eye contact with me either, or because I was anxious about getting caught. The real reason I wanted to die was something else.
“Haa……”
After he forced that kiss on me, while we walked home slowly for over ten minutes, I hadn’t even worn my sunglasses properly, let alone my hat… The fact that I’d walked along without feeling any danger at all made me feel like such an idiot. I couldn’t even excuse it as being drunk—my head had been far too clear after nearly getting caught by him. Even if I tried to blame the alcohol smell making my head spin, I’d been in an incredibly dangerous situation just now. If I’d run into even one person while walking, it would’ve been over. Yet I hadn’t cared at all, too busy worrying about what he might do to my ass while gulping down the night air.
“…Idiot.”
…Maybe my brain had short-circuited when I desperately needed the bathroom. But no matter how much I thought about it, the really stupid thing had happened after he let me go. What the hell was wrong with me that I hadn’t even felt the danger? If the vodka smell was going to make me like that, I should’ve already collapsed when I drank the beer. Was it because getting kissed by him was so absurd? No, it wasn’t like that was the first or second time. Then was it because he’d scared me with all those threats about the wish, only to settle for a single selfie, so I’d let my guard down? …That wasn’t it either. A photo of him kissing my ear under a streetlight at night was dangerous enough to ruin my life. Why had I felt ‘relieved’ back then? Had I thought it would end there?
“You fucking idiot…”
While endlessly blaming myself, still intoxicated by the alcohol scent that lingered no matter how much I rinsed my mouth, I closed my eyes under the pitch-black blanket and wandered endlessly. Grieving that the more famous my sister became, the more I had to pretend to be close to him… …and terrified that the less famous my sister became, the more he would covet me.