Compensated Dating
It was more delicious than I expected. The spaghetti in particular could easily hold its own against a Michelin three-star restaurant?”
Cha Yeri wiped her lips with a tissue, wearing a satisfied smile. I let out a soft snort.
“I’m glad my research paid off. I was worried it might not suit your tastes, Madam President.”
“Oh, is this your first time here too? You walked in so naturally I assumed it was your regular spot.”
Why the hell would I come to a place like this? A man’s true happiness is walking into any random soup joint, ordering a bowl of rice soup with a bottle of soju, and slurping it down with noisy satisfaction.
“It’s my first time as well. I’m happy I could come here with you, Madam President.”
“I also… don’t dislike coming with you… I suppose.”
It was cute how she kept trying to awkwardly mirror every compliment I gave her.
“You don’t have to force yourself to praise me if you’re not used to it.”
“I’m doing it because I want to. I agreed to be your lover for three hours, so I should at least do this much. I have zero intention of just killing time and only taking what I want.”
She must have been bothered by what I’d said earlier. Fine. If she wanted to do it, there was no need to shove my own opinion down her throat.
“Then do whatever feels comfortable, Madam President.”
“I will. By the way, am I playing the lover role properly?”
“There are still many immature parts, but for a first attempt, you’re doing well.”
“It can’t just be ‘for a first attempt.’ Like you said, opportunities to practice dating don’t come often. If I’m going to do it, I want to do it perfectly.”
Even in a situation like this, Cha Yeri was always striving to become a better version of herself. The more I watched her, the more I wanted to completely corrupt her. Feed her twisted knowledge, toy with her, and when I grew bored, reveal the truth and watch her fall into despair?
Nodding to myself, I held out the tissue I’d already pulled to the fiercely determined Cha Yeri.
“There’s sauce on your cheek. Right side.”
“Thank you.”
When she reached out to take it, I pulled it back. Watching her flustered face, I shook my head.
“I’ll wipe it for you instead.”
“Is this also something lovers do?”
“You could see it that way.”
“If that’s the case… I understand…”
She tucked her hair behind her ear and leaned her face forward with a faintly embarrassed expression. The way she avoided meeting my eyes was delightful.
I let out a pleased chuckle and gently wiped the spaghetti sauce from her cheek.
“Today… it feels like I’m learning so many new things.”
“I’m enjoying discovering many new sides of you as well, Madam President.”
Cha Yeri stared at the sauce-stained tissue, anxiously fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. Who could possibly picture the cold, strict Cha Yeri while watching her act this cute? This was probably her real self. She had simply grown up in such a strict household that she never had the chance to express her emotions honestly.
Originally, only the protagonist Kang Suho should have been allowed to see this side of her. But what could I do? She belonged to me now.
“You know you’re being incredibly affectionate today, right? Kang Ijin.”
“No way. I’m acting exactly like my usual self. You’re the one who was viewing me negatively before.”
“Is that so…?”
Cha Yeri seemed to accept my words at face value. She actually bought that? It was obvious to anyone that I was desperately trying to seduce her.
“Shall we head out now? There’s still plenty of time left. You’ll keep me company, won’t you?”
I’d even bought her shoes thinking we could wander around together. At the very least, I needed to get my money’s worth.
“Since that was the promise, I suppose I must… Ah, I’ll pay for the food.”
“Go ahead.”
Cha Yeri stood at the counter and opened her bag to pay.
“Please use this.”
Taking the opening, I slid the card I’d prepared in advance into the terminal.
“Hey, you—”
Beep. Beep-beep.
Cha Yeri rushed to stop me, but the receipt had already printed out.
“I said I would pay.”
“I was the one who suggested coming here, so I should be the one to pay.”
“But you already gave me clothes as a gift. If you keep doing this…”
Knowing she was relatively well-off, Cha Yeri felt a heavy burden from such gestures. But I had deliberately placed that burden on her shoulders.
“If it bothers you that much, you can buy me a meal next time, Madam President.”
“Now I understand. You paid on purpose so you’d have an excuse to see me again, didn’t you?”
As expected, she saw through my intention immediately. Since I’d been caught anyway, I decided to admit it boldly.
“Ah… you got me.”
I scratched the back of my head, pretending to be embarrassed. Cha Yeri let out a deep sigh.
“Honestly, every single thing you do has so many hidden motives…”
“But if I don’t do at least this much, you wouldn’t meet me separately, would you? It’s not like I can take another knife for you.”
“Could you stop painting me as some cold-blooded woman who only meets people when there’s a reason?”
“Then will you meet me again next time?”
“Umm…”
Cha Yeri fell into deep thought as if wrestling with a dilemma of a lifetime. Then she glanced up at me. Deciding there was no particular reason to refuse, she nodded.
“Fine. What’s the big deal about meeting again? Since I owe you this time, next time I’ll treat you to food that can’t even compare to this place.”
Her opinion of me must have improved considerably. She accepted my request for another meeting so easily. It had taken a massive amount of effort to reach this point. In the beginning, I had blackmailed her and shown my thuggish side, earning nothing but hatred. But by demonstrating my exceptional abilities, I clearly imprinted that I was different from an ordinary delinquent. After she began showing signs of interest, I softened my personality slightly and slowly planted the perception that I wasn’t all that bad. Finally, by perfectly saving her from being stabbed, I had flipped every negative emotion she held toward me into something positive.
This man was originally like this. Even if his words are rough, he’s someone who willingly acts for others. I had burned that impression into Cha Yeri’s mind.
Kya~ Even if I do say so myself, it was a flawless strategy. The most important part was that she no longer hated me. Instead, she had begun showing me favor. Thanks to that, I could maintain my core identity as a delinquent while still drawing out her affection.
“Please do so.”
“Instead, I have a condition for meeting you.”
“Can’t you just meet me without any conditions? It feels too much like compensated dating and I don’t like it…”
“Compensated dating? What’s that?”
Ah, of course Cha Yeri might not know the term. As expected of a heroine, she had virtually zero knowledge about that kind of thing.
Ah… if I tell her the truth, she’ll definitely hate me… I shouldn’t have said it out loud.
Habits really were terrifying. Sua had fallen so completely for me that she simply let my dirty jokes slide, but for Cha Yeri, who had only just started showing interest, it had been far too hasty.
“That is…”
“Why aren’t you answering? What is compensated dating?”
Completely unaware of my inner panic, Cha Yeri’s eyes sparkled with curiosity at the new word. Who would have thought her learning drive would activate here of all places?
“It means… exactly what the words say… like how I set a condition to meet you, Madam President… it’s a general term that covers those kinds of arrangements.”
“So it means literally… But then why did you say you disliked compensated dating? The context doesn’t match.”
“That’s… well… the idea of meeting under conditions itself… felt too cold and transactional between you and me, Madam President… Yes… so I just said I disliked it. I didn’t really mean anything by it…”
“Is that so? Then… anyway, I want to do compensated dating with you.”
“Cough! Cough!”
She uttered those words so boldly in the middle of the street. I was so shocked I actually choked and quickly looked around. Fortunately, no one seemed to have heard.
It appeared she had completely misunderstood the term because of me. But I didn’t correct her misunderstanding. Something told me leaving it alone would create an interesting new development. The biggest reason, of course, was that hearing such a vulgar word come from the elegant Cha Yeri’s mouth was incredibly arousing.
“Are you alright?”
“It’s nothing.”
“You’ve been acting strange for a while, you know? Suddenly stuttering and coughing.”
It’s because of you, you damn bitch. What was I supposed to do when she delivered lines straight out of a 19+ doujin with that pure, innocent face? Both Sua and Cha Yeri were cunt bitches that drove me absolutely insane.
“More importantly, what’s the condition?”
When I acted like it really was nothing, Cha Yeri seemed to think it wasn’t important and didn’t press the issue.
“When we meet alone like this… could you continue maintaining our current fake lover relationship?”
“Continue maintaining it?”
This shocked me far more than when she had said she wanted to do compensated dating. When I showed my surprise, Cha Yeri—who had been watching me—reacted shyly. It seemed she felt embarrassed after saying it herself. Could I interpret this as her fully recognizing me as a man?
In rom-com stories, there was a cliché where the heroine genuinely liked the male lead but couldn’t express it, so she asked him to become her fake boyfriend. Could it finally be happening? No, I couldn’t get ahead of myself. I had to stay vigilant.
“What’s the reason?”
“Surprisingly, pretending to be fake lovers with you has been very helpful in terms of experience… I thought I roughly understood dating even without experiencing it… but actually doing it, there were many things I didn’t know and many moments that embarrassed me… If you don’t mind, I’d like to periodically practice dating through you… Is that not possible?”
It seemed I had gotten excited for nothing. She didn’t appear to be lying to hide her feelings. She genuinely seemed to want to learn about dating through this opportunity. However.
That thinking can’t be completely free of affection toward me.
Cha Yeri had originally been in a state where she wasn’t even aware she saw me as a member of the opposite sex. Perhaps she was unknowingly deceiving herself by framing it as wanting to learn about dating.
“I have no reason to refuse.”
There was no guarantee the fake relationship wouldn’t become real. If we kept pretending to be lovers, I could simply make Cha Yeri mine. Should I trick her by saying it was basic lover behavior and drag her straight to a motel? Once I got her inside, I could overpower her with my strength… If I forced myself inside her on a dangerous day and made it a done deal…
As I was seriously considering it, she turned her head to look at me. I smiled awkwardly.
“What was that expression? It looked incredibly lewd…”
“No way? I was smiling because I was too happy.”
“It’s only a fake lover. It’s not real, so I have the right to refuse anything I don’t want to do. Don’t cross the line.”
“You don’t have to say that. I won’t do anything you’d dislike anymore, Madam President.”
“We’ll see about that… considering what you did to me before…”
Cha Yeri stammered, unconsciously touching her own lips. It seemed the memory of our first kiss had resurfaced. I grinned at her and asked.
“Are your lips very dry? Do you know a method lovers use to moisten each other’s lips?”
When I puckered and unpuckered my lips with a mischievous smile, Cha Yeri flinched and took half a step back.