The Unspoken Story
The woman paused, blinked at me, then picked up where she had left off.
"And a few days later, that thug came back and said he wouldn't take protection money anymore. He even went further and promised to keep the other gangs from harassing our shop. You know how people have a sense for these things. I knew that regular of mine had done something. So the next time the man came into our shop, I cut straight to it. I asked him what he wanted. Just say it."
Even as the story stretched on, I wasn't bored in the slightest. It wasn't that she was an especially gifted storyteller. It was that the kind of life you only saw in movies was unfolding, for real, in this woman before me. Lives really were varied and strange, I thought, and I sank deeper into her account.
"The man said, right out of nowhere, that he wanted to marry me. I couldn't believe it. What did he even know about me to say something like that? But he already knew everything about me — from the years I'd spent as a Triad mid-level boss's woman all the way to how I'd ended up back in Korea. He must have looked into me after he saw me at that bar."
Damn. That, too, was a scene out of a film. So things like this really did happen.
"Honestly, I think I felt something close to moved. It's not easy for someone to want a woman with a past like mine. Setting everything else aside, I thought I'd never again meet a man who knew all of that and still treated me this way — so I started seeing him. Well… marriage right away felt like too much, so we moved in together."
Fair enough — a man proposing marriage that fast did sound rash. Still, the story was flowing along rather prettily.
"But as time went on, I realized he was an extraordinary man. Not in the sense of degrees or social standing — the work he did was huge. He was involved in a lot of national-level business and kept very close company with some very high-ranking people. Honestly, he brought home a lot of money, too."
I smiled and spoke.
"Then you have nothing at all to worry about. Why did you want to see me privately? Was it not that you wanted to talk through a problem — just that you were moved by what I said at the gathering and wanted to meet me?"
The woman hesitated. The bright, almost buoyant look she'd worn while baring her past and boasting about the man she was with had drained away. She had clearly come to tell me something. After a long pause, she finally opened her mouth.
"The truth is, he wasn't only doing legitimate work. On the surface he runs a normal, legal company. Of course, not everything he does is illegal. His business was clearing properties that had gone to public auction — but if you look at what that really involves, there are a lot of people who dig in their heels and refuse to budge. He often handled scaring those people into settling quickly. He keeps people on hand for that kind of work."
Hmm? That didn't match. A moment ago the man at the center of her story had been thoroughly impressive. While I was still turning that over, her account went on.
"I had no complaints about the life I have now. I thought of it as compensation for my dark past. But here's the thing — I lived in that world. I know it. And I know how people like that end. If something happens to him, I feel like my world will come crashing down all over again. Lately that thought has been getting stronger, and every day feels uneasy. The reason I started coming to the gatherings to hear Jisin-nim's words is that I want to shake off that anxiety and live in peace."
There were parts of that I couldn't quite accept. She spoke of a dark past — but until that mid-level boss died, hadn't she lived in luxury? If she had been forced into that world against her will, that would be one thing, but her story didn't sound like that. And now this man of hers was apparently running enforcers. Was this the world she wanted to find rest in?
I shifted in my seat and studied her face carefully. This woman had clearly lived in those back-alley circles since she was very young. For someone who had seen that environment and those kinds of people countless times to suddenly grow anxious like this — there had to be a trigger. Something about her story didn't sit right. When I said nothing and simply watched her, she put on that uneasy smile again. I kept my thoughts to myself and offered her a kindly smile.
"I understand you've been through a very hard time. If coming to our gatherings has given you even a little peace of mind, that makes me very happy. I hope your difficult past doesn't stand in the way of what lies ahead for you."
She still looked at me with that odd expression. I leaned forward.
"Judging by your face, you don't seem ready to tell me everything yet. Go home for today, and when you've prepared yourself, come find me again. I'll be ready to hear your story whenever you are."
I gave her the most comforting smile I could manage. Looking vaguely unsettled, she rose from her seat and went out. Unlike when she had first entered the room, she seemed a little depleted. I was puzzled. Why on earth had Myungsuk brought this woman to me? She was still wrapping her heart in a layer of performative hardness, so she couldn't even be honest with me — she had left looking full of worry. I found myself thinking that not everything she had told me today might be true.
While I was lost in thought, Myungsuk came in. She was wearing a robe. By now it almost felt strange when the people who came to see me kept their clothes on. But she shed the robe at once, set it aside, and settled onto my lap, looping her arms around my shoulders. When she did this, it was a signal that she wanted something. I kneaded her breasts, and out of nowhere the memory of talking with my mother on the phone surfaced. My mother was much younger than most mothers of women my age, and for a moment I found myself comparing the two. Similar ages, yet worlds apart. My mother had always been strict and rigid with me — and yet this woman of roughly the same age was nestled in my arms, craving physical love from me. The irony of it struck me.
When I looked at Myungsuk's face, she pressed her mouth to mine. It was a sticky, messy kind of kiss. She really did want to have sex with me right now. Her thick saliva spilled into my mouth, and her tongue worked through the inside of it. We stayed like that for a long while in that wet, clinging kiss, and when we finally parted, Myungsuk spoke.
"There's no end to a person's greed…"
I smiled and gave her a look that said, What?
"I thought seeing Jisin-nim like this every so often for sex would be enough… but lately I've been wondering what it would be like to live together. And I want to have Jisin-nim's child, too…"
When my eyes widened a little, Myungsuk burst out laughing.
"I'm just thinking out loud. I'm a bit old to be having a baby, aren't I? And…"
She started to say something more, then closed her mouth. I stroked her thigh and gently eased her legs apart, then slipped my hand between the hair at her mound. Parting the soft flesh of her sex, I found her already wet. I'd known she would be.
As I toyed with her slick folds, Myungsuk's eyes began to glaze. Mouth half open, arms around my neck, she said,
"I was actually going to just talk and leave today…"
A lie.
"Did the conversation go well with the person you just met? No… of course it did."
I scooped her up and carried her to the bed, then laid her down gently.
"Aing… I said I was only going to talk and go…"
Cute. I stripped off my robe with a wicked little smile and lay down beside her. When I brought my hand back to her sex, Myungsuk quietly opened her legs. So much for only talking and leaving.
"She looked terribly conflicted when she left. In the end she never got to the real details, did she?"
I nodded and took her nipple into my mouth.
"Mmm…"
Myungsuk was a veteran. She knew how to turn outside stimulus into a full hundred — or feel nothing at all. Judging by how wet she was, she was taking what I was doing at more than a hundred, and she clearly wanted more. Her hand quietly closed around my cock.