The Morning After

"You've got to be kidding me with this psycho son of a bitch...!"

Eunchae had come in for work that morning. The second she saw me and Nuna sprawled across the sofa and the floor, she asked what on earth had happened, completely thrown. The moment we told her about yesterday's spy-cam tip-off, she went nuclear, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"No, seriously, is this guy actually insane? Holy shit! This isn't something you just fire him over! Sue his ass — press charges, right now! Aagh! I want to go over there and rip every last hair out of his head...!"

"Calm down first, Eunchae. Just breathe."

Here was the proof that Nuna had truly settled down. If this had been yesterday, she would have said nothing at all — just worn that grave expression and asked us to leave. Instead, she was smiling as she tried to soothe Eunchae.

"Dohyun, do you still have that herbal tea I drank yesterday? I think Eunchae could use a cup too."

She meant the Surefire Calming Herbal Tea. Nuna and I had each had one, so eight were left. I nodded, brewed a cup, and handed it to Eunchae.

"Hahh... wait, what is this tea? It's actually really good. This is totally my kind of thing."

She sniffed at the aroma, then dropped in some ice and started drinking it iced.

"How is it? Feeling any calmer?"

I asked, curious whether it would still work iced. Eunchae nodded.

"Yeah... I don't know. It's like my whole chest just... loosened up. I feel incredibly at ease."

So as long as you drank it, the effect was guaranteed, no matter how you took it.

"That's a relief."

I smiled and started tidying up last night's leftover snacks and empty bottles, one by one. We'd come here to work, after all. There was no way anyone was going to concentrate with the remnants of a drinking party still scattered everywhere.

"Anyway, we're obviously going through with the lawsuit. We've already filed a report, and I'm meeting with a lawyer today."

"Oh, you already found a decent lawyer?"

Nuna asked as she helped me clean up. Eunchae answered like it was a stroke of luck.

"Yeah. Dohyun said the daughter of the manager at the convenience store he used to work at is a lawyer. I asked her for help and she said she'd take the case, so at least we didn't have to go hunting for someone decent. I looked her up — her career is no joke."

I hadn't known any of that when I asked. I'd just figured that going through someone I knew might get us better treatment. When Nuna and I looked her up together, we were stunned. The manager hadn't been bragging for nothing — her résumé was genuinely impressive.

"Ooooh~ That's our Dohyun-Dohyun! Amazing~ Even knows a lawyer~"

"I mean, I don't actually know her... but apparently she thinks well of me."

Something about how she'd liked how diligently I worked during my time at the convenience store. If the manager had liked me too, that meant both father and daughter had a good impression of me. I was just grateful, honestly. It wasn't like I'd gone above and beyond. I'd just done what I was supposed to do.

"Well, if it's Dohyun, of course they'd think well of him."

"But unnie, you're way calmer than I expected? With your personality, I figured you'd be completely wrecked by the stress right now."

"Uh... am I?"

Nuna's face flickered with a moment of fluster, and Eunchae's eyes narrowed as she started piecing things together.

"Hmmm. No way it's just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that. You two drank together last night, didn't you."

"Uh, th-that's...!"

Hold on. When she was talking to me, she'd been all "just say it, it's fine!" and perfectly composed. Why was she suddenly this flustered? If anything, that just made her look more suspicious.

"And you were still together this morning...? Oh, I know what this is. You did it. You totally did it."

"Hah, did what...!"

It had been fine when she was just thinking about it, but saying it out loud was apparently a different story. She'd acted like it was no big deal, so I'd assumed she'd own it just as casually. Cute. That's our nuna.

"I'm right, aren't I?! You did it, Choi Dohyun!"

When Nuna kept denying it, Eunchae whipped around toward me, apparently deciding I was the new target. Not that I had any reason to hide it. I'd already overheard that Eunchae and Nuna had talked about this ages ago.

"Yeah. We did."

I answered without a shred of hesitation, and both Nuna and Eunchae's eyes went wide. They clearly hadn't expected me to just... admit it.

"Hohh... for real?! You two actually did it?!"

She bolted upright and came right up to me. I nodded.

"Yeah. We really did."

"Huuuh~ Unbelievable...! You two just... had all the fun without me...!"

Look, even if the two of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them had already talked about it, doing it for the first time with a third person sitting right there was still a bit much.

"Do it with me too! Include me next time! I spent last night getting myself off all alone!"

"Okay, that is way too much information..."

"Nngh! I wanted to do it too, I just held back, okayyy...!"

I could only shake my head as Eunchae threw a full-blown tantrum.

"Ugh, honestly! We'll do it together next time, so just be quiet!"

Nuna dropped that bombshell like it was nothing, and Eunchae finally shut up.

So next time was going to be a threesome, then.

Yeah. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was definitely going to need some eel rice bowl for that. Earn money, earn stat points, buy eel rice bowls, raise my stats... Later on I wanted to unlock other talents for Eunchae and Nuna too. Whatever it took, I was going to have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to work hard.

"Anyway, I'll give the lawyer a call."

I'd texted her yesterday saying I'd contact her in the morning. She'd replied that I could call whenever was convenient, but I'd figured I should at least wait until after regular work hours started, so I'd put it off until now. Eunchae had come in for work, and it was past nine. Time to make the call.

"Go ahead, take your time. And Eunchae, stop saying weird things and stay quiet."

"I know how to be quiet when someone's on the phone, obviously."

The way she snuck another sip of the herbal tea suggested she still needed the calming effect.

"No, I'll take the call in the other room. You two talk as much as you want."

I figured the two of them would have plenty to discuss, so I offered to step out.

"It's fine, really."

"Yeah, Dohyun-Dohyun. Do whatever's comfortable."

"No, you two have a lot to talk about between yourselves."

I headed into the room, telling them to talk freely, and dialed the lawyer. I'd heard the manager brag about his daughter plenty of times, but I'd never actually met her. I was a little nervous.

The line rang three, four times.

A clear, bright voice came through the receiver.

"So you two really did it?"

Watching Dohyun disappear into the room, Eunchae asked quietly — the herbal tea keeping her from getting worked up again.

"We really did. What, you think we faked it?"

"Who brought it up first?"

Eunchae didn't think Dohyun was the type to make the first move. If anyone had said something, it had to have been Dayeon.

But this unnie isn't exactly the type to just... come out and say something like that.

The Dayeon she'd known all this time had never been bold enough to initiate that kind of conversation. Which made her all the more curious. What on earth had happened last night?

"...I asked first."

"You did? Unnie? For real?"

Even though that was exactly what she'd guessed, hearing it from Dayeon's own mouth was still a shock.

"Mm. The stuff you and I talked about before... it just kind of came up."

"What stuff?"

"When you told me you and Dohyun were partners."

If she'd eased into it that way, it would have been a lot more natural than just blurting out let's have sex!

"Honestly, I was under a ton of stress yesterday. Dohyun watched the stream, texted me, and I asked him to come over."

"He watched the stream and texted you?"

Eunchae had watched yesterday's stream too, and Dayeon hadn't looked particularly off. If there'd been even a hint of something wrong, Eunchae never would have just sat there without reaching out.

"I know, right? I was surprised too. I thought I hadn't shown anything at all, and then he just texts asking what's going on. I nearly jumped."

"How did he even... notice? I didn't catch it at all."

Eunchae looked genuinely shaken. She'd liked Dayeon longer than Dohyun had. She'd been the one sitting beside her, listening to her vent when things got hard. The fact that Dohyun had seen something she hadn't... that was more than a little startling.

"He just said that's how it looked. Anyway, I called him over, we talked about this and that... and then it just happened."

"You're skipping a lot of the middle part there."

"...I-I can't tell you every single detail...!"

Just thinking about it was embarrassing enough. Saying it out loud? That was torture.

"Hmmm. Okay then... just one thing I'm curious about."

"What?"

"Did you... give him a titjob?"

The question came out of nowhere, and Dayeon nearly jumped out of her skin, hiccuping in shock.

"Mm... I see. So you did."

Eunchae nodded, taking the reaction as an answer. If it hadn't been true, Dayeon would have thrown a fit — but she really had done it, so she couldn't say a word. She just turned her burning-red face away.

"Man, I'm so jealous of your chest. I want big ones too."

"Yours aren't exactly small, though?"

"A B-cup is... small. Compared to yours, unnie."

Eunchae was staring at her chest so blatantly that Dayeon reflexively lifted her hands to cover herself.