The Second Round
"Meeting again wouldn't be the worst thing."
The more cards you held, the better. And Park Myeongcheol's proposal would clearly do Kim Taeyoung some good, cutting that forty percent commission down to ten. Still, he doubted it would come without trouble. The prosecutors already had their eyes on him. The case had closed with no charges, but the moment a gap opened they would jab at it. His lawyer had said as much. Better to run this one past the lawyer again.
"Hahaha. Thank you. I will never let anything reflect badly on you, sir. Then—how about a second round?"
At Park's words, Kim Taeyoung checked the time. Seven. He had promised Hwayeon tonight that he would make her number one on the Excel broadcast.
It'll be fine. Those shows run more than ten hours.
A little late wouldn't kill anyone.
"Sure. Let's go. Where's this second round?"
"Somewhere worthy of you, of course. You'll be satisfied."
The place Park Myeongcheol brought him was a hotel in Gangnam—a room salon dressed up with the name of a club. It had been a long time. In his mid-twenties Kim Taeyoung had followed the circuit a few times himself. One of the older brothers he'd met at the department store had been a room-salon addict, and Kim had tagged along, only to decide that the money you burned in a room was better spent sweet-talking a woman into an actual date. He hadn't gone back since.
"Director. You bring enough ammunition?"
"Haha. Of course. I came prepared."
Park Myeongcheol drew out a strapped bundle of fifty-thousand-won bills. Five million won. The bill itself would go on a card, so every note of that was tip money for the girls. The sum had a certain will behind it. He meant to play properly.
Not bad. Spending someone else's money for once might actually be fun.
"Boss. You're here."
Down in the hotel basement, the sales manager who handled Park Myeongcheol exclusively came hurrying out and bowed with careful deference. Park laid a hand on the man's shoulder and raised his voice.
"Tonight's guest is genuinely, genuinely important. You know I don't say that lightly. Treat him right. Ace-tier girls only. If there's a single dud in the mix, I never come back."
"Don't worry, boss. I'll send in nothing but S-rank and A-rank."
"I'll hold you to it."
The room salon's sales manager ushered Park Myeongcheol and Kim Taeyoung in with extravagant care. From the way the man moved, Park was clearly a regular. The moment they entered the room, Park broke the band on the cash and fanned it across the table the way a man spreads a hand of hwatu or poker cards.
They didn't wait long before the drinks were set. Then the girls filed in behind the manager, ten of them, every one striking enough to debut on KoreaTV or any internet broadcast that same night.
"You choose first."
Park passed him the right of selection. In a hotel room salon that called itself a club, you picked one or two from the girls standing there. The choice, they called it. Kim Taeyoung didn't refuse. His eyes traveled over them.
Seven-thirty in the evening was early for the nightlife trade. The girls, only just arrived for their shifts, lit up at the sight of the fifty-thousand-won notes on the table, and every one of them watched Kim with glittering eyes, hungry to be chosen.
"Let's check the water quality first. You. All of you. Strip."
"S-sir! I'm terribly sorry, but this establishment isn't that kind of hardcore."
The sales manager jumped in at once. Kim Taeyoung didn't care.
"Anyone who doesn't like it can leave. Just know I'm spending every won of this tonight. If it runs short, I'm of a mind to draw more."
The girls split. Some drew in, taking him for a jin-sang. Others flushed hot with greed. The latter put their hands to their hall dresses without hesitation and took them off. Well-kept bodies came into the light of the room. Five of them were left in nothing but underwear.
"You. And you. Come here."
From the five, Kim Taeyoung picked the two prettiest. They sat down on either side of him, smiling as if they'd won something, and he glanced over at Park.
"Those three look like the better draw."
"Haha. Quite right. A person ought to want it. I'll take you two."
Park chose two of the remaining three. The last girl's face fell.
"Hey. Come here. Take this."
Kim scooped fifty-thousand-won bills off the table at random—seven or eight, by the feel of them—and held them out. The girl who hadn't been chosen brightened at once. The ones who had kept their clothes on watched her take the money with open envy.
Regret was written all over them. If they'd known he was going to throw cash around like this, they would have stripped too. Even without being chosen, they could have walked off with four or five hundred thousand won for nothing—money that took five tables to earn. But the bus had already left.
The girls who had made the choice, on the other hand, were sparkling. The stack of fifty-thousand-won notes on the table already felt like it was in their hands. What mattered now was walking out with more than the other bitches.
"Hello, oppa. I'm Saemi."
"Hello. I'm Rina. What's your name, oppa?"
"Just call me oppa. What does a name matter? More importantly, what cup are you? They look pretty big."
"Aaahn. Oppa, you're moving way too fast."
Kim Taeyoung kneaded the breasts of the woman who had given her name as Saemi. Park was right there, and three other girls besides, but his hands knew no restraint. This was what you did in a place like this. Park wasn't even looking at him. If trouble started, he would be on his feet in a heartbeat to settle it; if the client was enjoying himself well enough on his own, then Park was free to enjoy the hour too.
"Underwear looks uncomfortable. Take it off."
Kim raked in another handful of fifty-thousand-won bills. He didn't count them. He simply lifted a wad and tucked it into her panties. The girls brightened at the sight of money spent so hot. It was jin-sang behavior, but in this world, spend enough and a nightmare customer turned into a cherished guest.
"Aaahn! That's embarrassing! Oppa, if you're going to do that, strip her and the other unnies too. Then I'll take it off."
Saemi pouted as she said it, looking after the other girls and sparing herself the shame of being the only one bare, both at once. A working professional, through and through. Kim let out a big, open laugh—ahaha—and picked up another bundle of bills. He tucked money into Rina's panties as well.
"You too. Off."
"I've never stripped before even drinking.... Oppa, you really are something."
Both of them removed their bras. Pale breasts came free. Kim reached out a hand to each and took hold of them. Two breasts at once. Money really was the greatest thing there was.
"Let me guess. Saemi, you're a C. Rina, a B? Or an A?"
"Ah, dead on! I'm a C."
"Aaahn, oppa! I'm a very full B, okay?"
After kneading them, he had called the sizes exactly. Rina flared and insisted she was a B, but it was an obvious lie.
"So why are the panties still on? Panties are underwear, aren't they?"
His hand drifted down of its own accord. He was feeling her ass, and the scratch of lace annoyed him. No reason to hesitate. He ordered the panties off then and there. The women wavered. Their eyes went to the money on the table.
"That? You want it? First one to get her panties off—five hundred thousand won!"
He shouted it, and every girl hooked her fingers into her panties and stripped in a rush. From where they sat he could see their asses, and their pussies too. Pros, all of them. The grooming was immaculate.
"Yes! First!"
Rina flung her panties overhead and claimed the win. Saemi's had caught on the heel of her shoe and slowed her a little, and the two beside Park were late reacting to Kim's words, so they were slower still. Ten fifty-thousand-won bills went to Rina. She gathered them into a neat wad and tucked it into the sofa beneath her.
"Oppa, so you're just going to strip us and play?"
Saemi said it. Even a professional whore felt the shame of sitting there naked while the customer kept his clothes on. At times like this, everyone had to be bare or the embarrassment didn't ease. Kim lifted his glass.
"First a round, all of us. Director. You'll drink?"
"Yes, sir. Gladly."
Six glasses knocked together over the table. Harsh Western liquor went down his throat. The ice was a little smaller than a baseball, and still it felt as if his throat were on fire.
Sure enough, once you've got money, it's the same wherever you go.
In a capitalist society, the man with the money was the one on top. KoreaTV and a room-salon club were hardly different. The difference was that here you handed over cash and put your hands directly on a woman's body, while on a personal broadcast you sent Moon Balloons and took the reverence of the BJ and the viewers.
The two were alike, but the distinction was sharp. And Kim Taeyoung understood, cleanly, why whales like him poured such huge sums into KoreaTV. It was the hunger to be acknowledged.
Ordinary people couldn't fathom why a whale spent that kind of money. If you were going to spend it anyway, wasn't it far better to drop it in a room salon and play with a pretty woman? More economical, too. But a night like this only filled a physical appetite for a little while. It could not feed the need for recognition the way KoreaTV could.
With money, you could control a BJ adored by a vast audience. Spend, and you received a reaction; the viewers watching that reaction gave you a shout-out in turn. That was what drove a person mad. In the real world it ended with a single climax, but the mental satisfaction you got online could be felt as many times as you liked.
"Whoa.... Oppa's is seriously big."
Kim Taeyoung had taken off everything. The cock that had swollen while he handled their breasts came into view, and the bar girls startled at a size you expected to see on a porn site.
"Can I touch it?"
"Do whatever you want."
"Whoa. It's this big, and it's still so hard!"
The two women took hold of him. At Saemi and Rina's reaction, the girls beside Park stared at his cock, curiosity written all over them.
"Want it inside?"
"Eek! No. If we do it in the room, Uncle gets really mad. And I don't want to do it in front of everybody."
"So you do want it in."
"Nnh.... oppaa...."
Kim slid a hand between each woman's thighs. As his fingers neared their pussies, the two of them parted their legs as if it were natural and let their waists and hips sink, tipping the angle of their lower bodies up so they were easy to touch.
"Who wants to go first?"
"Nooo, we haven't even drunk yet.... hnnk!"
Saemi fussed. Kim immediately lifted a glass, tossed it into his mouth, and kissed her, passing every drop of the harsh liquor straight across. Saemi's eyes flew wide, but she swallowed it down in gulps.