The Civil Servant
Han Chae-kyung was a re-elected city councilor in Annam City, population 610,000. Her district covered Baekwon-dong and Wonjuk-dong. Among the mediocre councilors, she was one of the few with potential.
“Are you listening to me?” (73 / 887 / 1 year 6 months ago)
Honestly, her résumé was nothing special. She went to university in Suwon, the neighboring city. After graduating, she worked briefly as a local newspaper reporter, then for a civic group. She had a grab bag of miscellaneous credentials, all of them just for business cards.
If she had any advantages, it was her husband's wealth. And her face.
“Look at that expression. Anyone would think I was scolding you unfairly. If you'd just sent me a message, I wouldn't have to…”
She wore a fitted navy one-piece dress, a cream silk blouse, and her hair was swept up in a natural updo. She was 168 centimeters or more. She'd been doing Pilates for a long time, so her figure was good. Her personality — well, setting aside the fact that she was currently reaming me out — wasn't usually that bad.
“Well… hah.”
Han Chae-kyung's expression began to harden. She licked her lower lip. She seemed to have finally realized that I'd reported to her in advance.
This was the secretariat that supported the city councilors' activities. She'd come in out of nowhere and started chewing me out — I was part of the legislative support team — and she'd raised her voice in front of the other employees. Then she must have flinched when she realized it was just arbitrary bullying with no justification.
On a normal day, I'd have been cursing her out in my head, but right now my mind was elsewhere.
(73 / 887 / 1 year 6 months ago)
It was because of the numbers floating above Han Chae-kyung's head.
‘1 year 6 months ago?’
Her last sexual encounter was 1 year 6 months ago. Han Chae-kyung was in her thirties, but her husband was older and they'd been married a long time, so a sexless marriage wouldn't be strange. They were probably just living out of obligation. But the first two numbers… those were really something.
“Officer Joo Sung-hyun?”
“…Yes, Councilor Han Chae-kyung.”
“I regret raising my voice. But you know what legislative support entails, don't you? If you limit your own scope of thinking, it becomes hard to respond flexibly and quickly.”
Instead of apologizing, Han Chae-kyung tried to gloss over it with nonsense.
“I'll stop here.” (73 / 887 / 1 year 6 months ago)
She left, looking around to gauge reactions, so I gave a perfunctory nod. Even then, my eyes stayed fixed on the figures floating above the back of her head.
73 partners. 887 encounters.
That was way higher than the aunt from the *nodo-bang* next door I'd seen back in my senior year of high school.
How could a sitting city councilor have 73 partners… I couldn't wrap my head around it, so I looked around.
The Annam City Council Secretariat.
Apart from the fact that the council chair had personnel authority, it was just a normal local government office. The director was Grade 4. Twenty-nine employees worked under him. Twenty-five were regular civil servants, and four were term-contract employees. I was in the legislative support team, so I got stuck dealing with city councilors more often than most, but everyone had it rough.
Colleagues, superiors, and juniors I saw every day.
‘Ah.’
Numbers were also floating above their heads.
“Sung-hyun? Don't worry about it. Councilor Han does that sometimes.” (1 / 674 / 5 days ago)
“Yes, Team Leader.”
Choi Ki-hoon, my direct superior, the head of the legislative support team. 45 years old. He'd supposedly only ever dated his current wife since high school, and it turned out to be true. 674 encounters with just one person, and even 5 days ago. It was almost admirable.
The sex lives of the other employees were laid out before me.
Kim So-young, who sat right next to me: (31 / 212 / 16 hours ago)
Park Jung-hyun from the budget team: (10 / 12 / 2 months ago)
Yoon Mi-jung from HR: two divorces (4 / 59 / 8 months ago)
Everyone showed a different set of numbers.
There was a female employee who'd had sex just sixteen hours ago, a male employee with 10 partners but only 12 encounters, and a female employee in her early forties who'd been married twice but had fewer than 60 encounters total…
Everyone was different. Some made sense, others were genuinely surprising.
That was what confirmed it for me. I really had gotten my ability back.
The ability I'd given up on in my third year of high school to focus on getting into college had finally returned.
That meant Han Chae-kyung really was a slut.
73 partners. 887 encounters.
Han Chae-kyung was thirty-six. I knew she'd gotten married at twenty-nine. Assuming she didn't cheat after marriage, she'd racked up that record in her twenties. Over 70 partners by age 29.
‘Still, it's not completely inexplicable.’
Short relationships lasting a month or two, occasional one-night stands. Then she met her current husband, sixteen years older, had a brief fling, and got married. You could say she was just very sexually active. Even Kim So-young (31 / 212 / 16 hours ago), who was writing a report at the desk next to me, wasn't that far behind Han Chae-kyung. And she wasn't slacking off at work.
“Officer Joo Sung-hyun. Would you like to handle the smart industrial complex field inspection?”
“Ah… then what about Officer So-young?”
“I'll take the Banwon Art Festival. It's a shorter commitment, but I also have to accompany the councilors for meals. I heard they're eating ox bone soup. Want to switch?”
“I'll switch. I don't mind the meal duty.”
“Okay. Done.”
Kim So-young and I worked well together. Fellow colleagues who served the councilors up close — the ones who used 70% of the operational budget just on food.
Seeing the number 31 did make her look a little different, but it wasn't my place to interfere. What she did with her sex life outside work was her business. Even Han Chae-kyung, who'd just chewed me out… it annoyed me, but I wasn't going to dig into her private life.
“Why are you staring like that?”
“No reason.”
I decided to let it go. One slut among the city councilors was fine.
‘Yeah. Let it go.’
Honestly, I didn't have the energy to focus on one slut. I was already overwhelmed by the translucent numbers floating above everyone's heads around me.
Number of partners they'd ever been with, total number of sexual encounters, and the time of their last encounter. Just those three data points allowed for all kinds of speculation.
Back in my senior year of high school, I couldn't handle it, so I gave it up.
And now it was just as awkward, but I had no intention of repeating the mistake of my youth.
‘Otherwise I'd be a fucking idiot.’
Now I was confident I could handle it.
***
Another week passed.
I gradually adapted to seeing numbers and went about my daily life, running various errands under the guise of legislative support.
“Officer Kim So-young. The meal receipts for the drivers are missing.”
“Oh, I'm sorry.” (31 / 218 / 3 hours ago)
So she'd had a round before coming to work. I could casually ignore the changes in the numbers of people around me.
In that time, I'd inadvertently reviewed the experience counts of about 300 people. Civil servants, petitioners, delivery riders, the college student next door…
On my way to work, I'd once run into someone with an astonishing count, and another time, someone who'd managed to stay a virgin for an impressively long time.
I also learned that the time of the last sexual encounter was output to the minute. Yesterday, a man and a woman came out of the first-floor bathroom of the city council building with a slight time difference, and on each of their heads floated the numbers 5 minutes and 7 minutes, respectively. How desperate were they to do it in the city council building… and they both looked quite old.
‘People can still get it on. It's fine.’
A stimulus that cracked everyday life. Not entirely clean, a bit astringent. But it was interesting.
…So that's how some people live.
There were people with 8 partners and 8 encounters.
There were people who managed to squeeze in a quickie during lunch by managing their time well.
The people themselves would feel bad if they knew someone was voyeuristically observing their sex lives in real time. Actually, it wouldn't just be bad — they'd probably see me as human garbage. But as long as I didn't get caught, it was fine.
So far, I was just a pure observer. I'd never shown it in front of the people involved.
I planned to keep it that way unless something happened…
“Officer Joo Sung-hyun. Look at me.” (73 / 887 / 1 year 6 months ago)
But there was one woman who kept getting in the way. Councilor Han Chae-kyung, who'd been loose with her body in her youth, kept harassing me.
The reason was, of course, the scolding from a week ago.
Honestly… it was nothing.
She'd asked me to draft an inquiry. I'd politely told her via text that I couldn't deliver it because the responsible department hadn't provided the basic data. She hadn't seen the message, came to the office, chewed me out, and then fled.
That was it.
It was annoying, but it was the kind of thing you could just let slide.
“Officer Joo Sung-hyun. The refreshments for the senior citizens' meeting last time were inadequate.”
“That wasn't my responsibility.”
“If something is lacking, anyone should step up to fix it, right?”
“I suppose that's true.”
“Unbelievable. Really.”
I had an inkling why Han Chae-kyung was picking a fight, even though she knew damn well it wasn't my fault.
First, I was an executive of the Annam City Civil Servants Union. I hadn't taken the position voluntarily, nor had I been pressured into applying. My only sin was making eye contact with the branch president when I was about to quit.
Second, my father, a village bus driver, was the president of the Annam City Foot Volleyball Association.
Humble titles, all of them. But it was natural for a politician to be aware of them.
The problem was how she was going about it.
‘She should have just apologized.’
If she'd said, “I misunderstood that time, I hope you don't take offense,” I would have handled it accordingly. But there are always people who, when they're in the wrong, scrape at you like this instead. I still didn't know why the lack of snacks at the meeting was my fault.
“Officer Joo Sung-hyun. Am I wrong?” (73 / 887 / 1 year 6 months ago)
The more irritating she got, the more Han Chae-kyung's encounter count stuck in my head.
73 partners. 887 encounters.
Han Chae-kyung was born and raised in this neighborhood, and she'd gone to a university in a nearby town. Even before becoming a councilor, she'd only been active locally, so most of her partners were probably from Annam or the surrounding area. Annam, Siheung, Suwon, Hwaseong…
When she moved in local political circles, wouldn't she occasionally run into them? I wondered how she'd react each time. I also wondered how much her husband, already middle-aged, knew about his young, pretty wife's past.
The truth was, Han Chae-kyung had made me curious.
“Councilor. I apologize for the other day.”
“Hmm?”
“I'm sorry for the late apology. If something like that happens again, I'll report it in advance. I believe that's my duty as a member of the legislative support team.”
I pacified her first.
Only then did she seem satisfied, nodding with a magnanimous expression. She muttered a few condescending pleasantries before leaving. Today, her hair was half-up with waves. The strands that fell brushed against her slim waistline. Her back view was more tolerable than when she was yakking.
But she was still a slut.
(73 / 887 / 1 year 6 months ago)
Now I was planning to look into the traces those numbers had left behind.
For now, just looking.