Byeolchae and the Bodyguards
Stepping inside, I was hit by the thick scent of a new house. Past the entryway the living room opened wide, and a massive sofa caught my eye—easily as large as the one at Minhwa’s place. The seating was so expansive you could stretch out and sleep without feeling cramped at all. Sofa, walls, floor, ceiling: everything was white. A single large abstract painting hung on one wall; beyond that, there was no decoration whatsoever.
The wall opposite the one facing Simanjeong looked out over the river. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in bright light, and I could see the water glittering where the sun struck it. As I stood gazing at the river, Yongjin, beside me, spoke up.
“This glass is special. From the outside, you can’t see in.”
I knew exactly what that meant. When I smiled, he went on.
“There’s one private chamber. Inside it, a bed.”
Yongjin led me through and showed me the room. It held nothing but a bed that looked larger than king-size, standing alone. Off to the side was a bathroom; through a door inside the bathroom lay the bath itself. The tub was big enough for three.
“Why is the tub this huge?”
Yongjin looked at me and smiled.
“It’s not just for you.”
Huh? What does that mean? Before I could ask, he faced me squarely.
“You, Yunchae, Jeongmi, Miryeong, and one more person will live here full-time. And there’s another door besides this entrance—it leads up to the rooftop. That’s where the security will stay.”
I tilted my head.
“One more person? Security?”
Yongjin gave my shoulder a light clap.
“Unless you say otherwise, I’ll move your things over right away.”
I nodded without quite thinking. After Yongjin left, I stood by the window and looked at the river. The view was breathtaking. Jeongmi and Yunchae came up on either side of me. I thought, I’m not the one guiding people to heaven. I’m the one who’s arrived in it.
While the three of us lazed about, workmen carried the belongings from my old room into the private chamber. There wasn’t much—just a few sets of clothes. Once the workers left, someone else came in. Minhwa. She was pulling a suitcase behind her. When she saw me, her face lit up.
“Jisin. I’ve decided to live here starting today as well.”
So the “one more person” was Minhwa. Just like that, the five of us began communal life in my newly built residence. The women went about completely naked; I wore a robe, but nothing underneath. Most days we talked, scrolled on our phones, or used the PC set up in one corner. I read a great deal, and sometimes I meditated while watching the river flow past.
Minhwa still clung to me constantly and teased me. Of all of them, she was the most aggressively affectionate.
“What about your house? Did you leave it empty?”
She nodded.
“Yes. So come over whenever you like. Bring everyone here with you. We can call in a chef and eat something delicious. Oh—and that house is yours now, Jisin. Do whatever you want with it.”
She finished with a shy little dip of her head. It didn’t suit her at all.
“And I’m yours too, so do whatever you want with me.”
I thought I might go insane. A beautiful woman with a stunning body was telling me she belonged to me. I felt as if I owned the whole world. Exactly as she intended, I kissed her often and put my hands all over her.
Jeongmi was no less intense. Whenever I was tangled up with Minhwa, Jeongmi was the one who interrupted the most. The moment Minhwa was beside me, Jeongmi pressed even harder, clinging and throwing herself at me. Yunchae only watched us. She never approached until I called her, and she never complained. Expressionless as she usually was, the look of waiting in her eyes was unmistakable.
Miryeong always seemed busy. She handled a lot of outside work, and even after she came home she would sit in a corner with her laptop, writing or reading. Still, if I came up behind her and put my arms around her, she melted into me as if whatever she’d been doing no longer existed. In other words, she was always ready—but she never made the first move. In that way she was a lot like Yunchae. One day Miryeong eyed everyone’s bare bodies carefully; the next day she showed up freshly waxed. Now the only one who still had pubic hair was Minhwa, and even she kept it trimmed so short she must have been maintaining it almost daily.
Their clothes and everyday things remained at Simanjeong. Whenever they went out, they stopped there first, changed into ordinary clothes, and left. After one such outing, Jeongmi gathered us all and showed us something: slender black lace chokers.
“The leather chokers we’ve been wearing feel a little conspicuous when we go out, so I got these. You can wear them every day and they barely show.”
I fastened a choker around each of their necks myself. Minhwa and Jeongmi made no secret of how pleased they were. Yunchae and Miryeong accepted theirs with blank faces and went to check the mirrors. They didn’t show it, but I thought they liked them. Or rather—I hoped they did.
Even while we lived this erotic communal life, we never had group sex. Even Jeongmi, the most open of them, never had sex with me in front of the others. I felt the same; I couldn’t quite bring myself to do that with an audience. At night some of them slept on the big sofa; some slept with me in the private chamber. Whenever I took one of them into the chamber to have sex, the others stayed out. I decided we weren’t ready for that yet.
Even so, watching them sleep on the sofa—however spacious it was—bothered me a little, so I had another enormous bed brought into the private chamber, and I remodeled the storage room and put a bed in there as well, for anyone who wanted to sleep alone. People still chose to sleep with me or on the living-room sofa.
A few days later Myeongsuk came looking for me. She called me over to Simanjeong and spoke privately.
“I’ve hired two male bodyguards. Both of them came through people I know, so their identities are solid and they know how to keep their mouths shut. You can rest easy.”
I gave a dry laugh.
“I’m not exactly at the level where I need bodyguards, am I?”
Myeongsuk didn’t smile.
“There are several reasons. For now, just accept it. Sooner or later you’ll need them.”
By now, everything she said sounded as if it carried weight. And that very day the two bodyguards arrived. Anyone could see they were built for violence—two solid, powerful men. One was named Park Gwangsu, thirty; the other, Ju Yeonggi, thirty-six. Both claimed special-forces backgrounds and black belts in multiple martial arts. They greeted me with rigid faces, and I felt quietly cowed. Both were tall and heavily built, and both had skin burned very dark, as if they had lived outdoors under the sun for years.
From that day on they lived with me. They took up residence on the rooftop of Byeolchae, watching the surroundings from above and making occasional patrols. They barely spoke; they didn’t look like men one could easily grow close to. After the introductions they moved their gear to Byeolchae in perfect order, changed into black clothes, and went straight to work.
I was about to head back to Byeolchae when Myeongsuk called me again. She led me into the conference room and spoke with a guarded expression.
“Tomorrow evening Gu Yeonsu has invited you, Jisin. She asked me to come as well, but I don’t plan to go. It’s a very high-end Korean restaurant in downtown Seoul. Please go.”
Gu Yeonsu. The real-estate woman. On the first day she had said she would invite me to dinner; this had to be it. I nodded without much thought. But Myeongsuk’s face stayed dark.
“Try to draw her out so she’ll talk about whatever is troubling her. Right now she’s tangled up in something serious.”
“Something serious? What is it?”
Myeongsuk’s eyes gleamed.
“You’ll have to hear it from her yourself. That’s why getting her to open up is so important.”
I frowned.
“So I just listen to her troubles?”
Myeongsuk gave me a meaningful smile.
“I wonder. I’m not sure you’ll be able to leave it at just listening, Jisin.”
What was that supposed to mean? Myeongsuk stood. As she turned to leave the conference room, I slipped my arms around her from behind and cupped her breasts. She stayed still. When I moved my hands to her weak spot—her ass—she spun around.
“My resolve is about to crack. I have to go home today.”
Myeongsuk pressed her mouth to mine. Her tongue swept through my mouth. After a long, sticky kiss she left with a look of regret on her face.