An Unexpected Deal
Jieun barely said a word after that. I was burning up inside, but I waited, keeping myself calm. No matter how close you were, laying out your family's situation—especially the money part—was never an easy thing.
A few minutes crawled by. She looked at my face, then the floor, then my face again, over and over, until at last she opened her mouth.
"Hey, Dojun. Could you... give me a little?"
I barely stopped the corners of my mouth from lifting.
If she just takes it all at once, it won't land the same. Better to play hard to get—then she'll really feel how grateful she ought to be.
A true master never rushed. I held onto my composure and kept the playful tone going.
"Wow, look at this shameless girl. You want me to just hand you money?"
"W-who said I wanted it for free?!"
"Huh?"
Something unexpected snagged on the half-joking remark I'd tossed out. Compensation. The price of the money. I'd only been thinking about helping her however I could—this wasn't anywhere in the plan.
Wait, what is she talking about? Is she thinking of an IOU or something? That can't happen.
I wanted to give Jieun real help—the kind with nothing attached—and through that, win even a little piece of her heart. I had absolutely no intention of taking anything in return. No. I couldn't. If I did, the meaning of what I'd done would be cheapened, and she would inevitably see it as a transaction. A contract.
I waved my hands in a hurry.
"You don't have to feel—"
"In exchange, I-I'll let you do it."
"Huh?"
The words I'd been about to say—You don't have to feel burdened. I'll just help you—vanished straight down my throat. Instead, I replayed what I'd just heard.
Let me do what? What is she going to let me do? Wait... is it that? The thing I'm thinking of?
I guarantee I was more shaken in that moment than Jieun had been staring at two hundred billion won on a crypto app.
A war erupted inside my head.
Dojun, no! If you take this, it becomes a transaction! This isn't the plan! You and Jieun will never be able to go back!
Shut up, you eunuch bastard! How long are you going to stay just friends? You're both grown adults—what's the problem? Just fuck her already! Then she'll start seeing you as a man!
The debate between the two of them was vicious. Before I settled it, I needed to confirm that I'd heard Jieun right—that I hadn't misunderstood, or filled in a blank that wasn't there.
"W-what do you mean, you'll let me do it?"
"...You know. That."
Jieun's face had gone scarlet. She couldn't lift her head. She hadn't said it outright, but right here, right now, the two of us had reached an understanding about the thing I was thinking of. Sex.
Alright, dick. You win.
I put an end to the war. Any further argument was pointless. If it meant I could have Jieun, I would wear whatever filthy label came with it.
"How much do you need?"
Once I'd gotten my thoughts in order, I asked carefully. I was curious about her answer. Just how much did she want, that she'd willingly offer up her own body?
She's not going to ask for half, is she?
I couldn't entirely shake the uneasy thought. I trusted Jieun, but money was a demon that corrupted people. Blinded by two hundred billion won, she might demand something outrageous.
In the crypto world, stories of people who struck it rich and then turned on their lovers, their relatives, their siblings—even their own parents—weren't uncommon. There was no guarantee she would be any different.
"O-one time..."
"One time?"
"Th-thirty?"
"What?"
As if to laugh in the face of every one of those worries, Jieun's answer went somewhere I never saw coming.
Thirty per round? What did I just hear?
A banner from a porn site I'd seen yesterday flashed through my mind. Prostitution. It had been linked to a massage-parlor site. A similar phrase had been written there.
"Three hundred thousand won a round?"
"Why? You don't want to?"
"No! That's not it."
My mind went blank.
Should I even take this? This was just straight-up prostitution. Even the dick that had been shouting so confidently clamped its mouth shut. That's how deep the dilemma ran.
I'd clearly been promised sex in exchange for helping her financially. And yes, people called that prostitution.
But I still hadn't thought of it that way—because of what existed between the two of us.
The word friends, for one. Even if money changed hands and we ended up in bed, there was no chance we'd treat each other like a customer and a whore.
I would still see her as a friend, or as a woman. And she would see me the same way.
At least, that's what I told myself.
But three hundred thousand a round? Isn't that just prostitution with the lights on?
A troubling thought hit me. Namely: how was Jieun even able to offer me a deal like this?
"Wait a second. Don't tell me..."
"What?"
"Have you... done this with other people too?"
"W-what the hell are you talking about?! You crazy bastard! Die!"
Fortunate or not, the girl who until now hadn't even been able to lift her face from sheer embarrassment exploded—hurling a pillow at me and jumping to her feet. If there'd been an ashtray nearby, my skull might have been cracked open on the spot.
"I'm sorry! Stop!"
"Shut up, you loser piece of shit!"
Even as I kept apologizing, Jieun's anger showed no sign of cooling. There wasn't a hint she was about to settle down.
In the end, it took her mom coming in from outside to finally stop her.
"Good grief, how old are you two to still be horsing around like this? Seong Jieun, grow up already!"
"Mom! It's not like that!"
"Not like that, my foot! Why isn't this room cleaned up yet?"
Her mother stood there with her eyes wide open, watching us until we'd finished cleaning the entire room.
"Young lady, you try that one more time..."
"Just get out!"
Only after the storm had passed could Jieun and I look at each other again.
An uncomfortable silence settled over us. The atmosphere was so unbearable my ass started fidgeting on its own.
"Wanna step outside?"
"Go where? You sit right there."
Apparently she couldn't stand the idea of us parting with a misunderstanding still hanging in the air, because Jieun grabbed me. She glared at me fiercely, as if she'd kill me if I so much as imagined anything weird one more time.
"Listen carefully. I just looked it up, that's all."
"Yes. Understood."
"You already know, right? That my dad's business went under."
"I know."
She let out a deep sigh, and only then did she start talking about her family's situation.
"I really don't get how the world works. Our family never had to worry about money our whole lives, and then overnight we were broke. And suddenly this thought hit me. That the future me might not be the person I imagined."
Her expression looked somehow hollow, but her voice was even. I'd been ready to rush over and wipe away her tears if any appeared. I swallowed my disappointment.
"That things might not go the way I want. That my will doesn't actually decide anything. Once I started thinking like that, I suddenly got curious."
"About prostitution?"
"...Yeah. Because I'd always thought I'd never do something like that. Hey! I'm telling you again, don't get the wrong idea! I just searched it a little, that's all."
Jieun kept insisting to the very end that I not get any weird ideas, but listening to her, my heart sank.
This is worse than I thought.
It wasn't just her family's finances. The pressure Jieun herself was feeling was far greater than I'd realized.
She said she'd only looked it up, that she never actually planned to do it—but how long would that last?
No. Let's be blunt. What was the result? Hadn't she just proposed prostitution to me a minute ago?
I'd always believed in results over process. So even if Jieun was drawing a line right now, I couldn't believe that line would hold forever.
Suddenly I remembered the conversation we'd had the moment I walked into her room. I'd asked Jieun about her university applications, and she'd deliberately dodged the question.
In other words, going to school was looking impossible.
These days student loans were easy enough to get. The fact that she was already this worried before she'd even been admitted said a lot.
Meaning they can't even cover basic living expenses. Fuck, just how much did her old man blow through?
A few possibilities flickered through my mind, but I set them aside for now. That wasn't what mattered. What mattered was the girl sitting in front of me.
"Don't worry too much. I'll help you."
"I'm sorry, Dojun."
"Don't be. Between you and me? I was wondering why I'd been making so much money. Guess this is why."
I meant every word of comfort. I hoped it would ease even a little of her anxiety.
Of course, a part of me was also nervous she might take back the offer. But that didn't mean I could leave Jieun hurting without comfort.
It was, I suppose, the last scrap of pride I had left—and what I owed a friend of ten years.
If comforting her made her withdraw the offer, it would sting—but falling back on my original plan of giving her help with no strings attached wouldn't be the worst thing in the world either.
Jieun, I believe in you. You're not the type to go back on your word.
Of course, I preferred the current arrangement. And Jieun didn't let me down.
"No. I don't want to just take it either."
"R-really?"
"Yeah. If it's you, it's not so bad."
"Huh?"
She also had a way of wrapping a man's heart around her little finger.
"I mean, it's not like you're a stranger."
"R-right. I'm not a stranger."
A succubus, through and through.