The Crown Lounge
A sharp intake of breath cut the quiet. It came from Sally, who had been watching the table from the kitchen, and Su Yeoning's sudden decision to strip had startled her badly. Their eyes met. Flushing, Su Yeoning turned her face away.
"Nnngh..."
"B-Boss... I, I go back to my room now..."
Both women were mortified. The only person in the room who seemed entirely unbothered was Kim Taeyoung, and he spoke as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening.
"It's fine. Sally, if it doesn't bother you, you can stay. Yeoning runs hot. And you're both women—what's the problem?"
"Nnh..."
"What? B-but..."
"Is it that uncomfortable? If you don't want to look, you can go. Then again, Yeoning's chest is grotesquely huge, isn't it?"
"No. No, it's not that I don't want to look. It's just..."
Flustered, Sally tangled herself in half-finished sentences. The moment she panicked, her Korean pronunciation improved dramatically. Why was that? It hardly mattered now.
"If you don't hate the sight and it doesn't bother you, just stay. Yeoning loves it when people look at her. Right, Yeoning?"
"Oppaaa..."
"Let's eat."
Kim Taeyoung picked up his spoon with perfect calm, and the two women left at the table had no idea what to do with themselves. In the end Sally chose to see everything and act as if she saw nothing.
She did not want to be thrown out of this house. Unlike other bosses, Kim Taeyoung never looked down on her for being a Southeast Asian single mother, and he never ground her under the usual inhuman gabjil—the casual abuse of anyone with less power. Her hourly wage was far higher than a Korean worker's. It was a dream job.
She had learned that his sexual tastes were strange, but that didn't matter. Far worse things happened in the Philippines. A rich white man buying a Filipino girl and having sex with her in the street was not even unusual.
"Aah—oppa!"
"What?"
"Y-your foot, please... I can't eat."
Su Yeoning had meant to use the same tactic as Sally. Since the housekeeper said nothing and held still, Yeoning took it as a promise to look the other way, and she too bent over her meal and pretended Sally wasn't there.
Kim Taeyoung had no intention of leaving her alone. He stretched a foot beneath the table, and as if it were the most natural thing in the world it slid between her legs. Su Yeoning tried to clamp her thighs shut. A few insistent taps forced them apart anyway, and his big toe found her clit with perfect accuracy.
Being exposed had already left her nipples and clit stiff. A body that sensitive got worked up on that alone, slicking itself and pouring out want, and with her clit under his toe there was no way she could sit still.
"Why can't you eat?"
"You keep using your foot—aah!"
"Keep what?"
"Hnn! Because you keep touching me with your toes."
Kim Taeyoung prodded her clit with his toe. Every little movement tore another moan out of her and broke her words apart, but she couldn't let this go on. He wasn't actually planning to have sex right here, was he? There was a housekeeper. There was a child in the house. Su Yeoning forced the sentence out.
"Hahaha. So what am I doing? I have no idea."
He showed no sign of stopping. Still playing dumb, he kept working her clit with his toes. His foot was clumsier than his hand, but it was more than enough to wind her up—the big toe rubbing her clit while the others brushed her labia and the mouth of her pussy in little glancing touches.
"Haaah! Oppaa!"
A loud moan finally burst out of her. Sally, who had been pointedly looking the other way, glanced over, then whipped her head back around.
"Why are you getting horny at the dinner table? Eat, and I'll fuck you once we're upstairs. Food first."
Kim Taeyoung drew his foot away from her pussy and went back to his meal as if nothing had happened. Su Yeoning glared at him for a moment. There was nothing she could do. The torment repeated itself about twice more, and in the end she couldn't finish her rice.
"Why'd you leave food?"
"Oppa..."
Su Yeoning rubbed her thighs together and looked at him with desperate eyes. His steady teasing had turned into pure edging. Her sensitive body was wound tight, and not being allowed to come was agony.
"Let's go upstairs. Please?"
"Haha. You sure you only lost your virginity yesterday? You want it that badly?"
Su Yeoning flushed. He was right—her hymen hadn't been broken long ago. But she had something to say for herself. If she was in heat like this, it was entirely his fault. He had stripped her where the housekeeper could see, then kept jabbing her sensitive spots while she tried to eat.
"Nn... I want to."
She couldn't pour the complaint out. Between her and Kim Taeyoung the line was unmistakable: he held the power, and she did not. So instead she let the want slip out in a voice so small it might or might not have been heard.
"What? I can't hear you."
"I said I want it! I want to do it with you!"
When he leaned his ear in close, Su Yeoning screamed it at him. That was the fullest revenge she could manage.
"Ghk!"
Assaulted by the volume, Kim Taeyoung clapped a hand over his ear and grimaced. He didn't scold her. If he was going to punish her, he would do it in bed. An hour later, he had disciplined Su Yeoning to perfection.
"We'll eat dinner out and come back, so you don't need to make anything."
He and Su Yeoning finished getting ready to leave. Before they went down to the underground garage, he spoke to Sally.
"Yes, Boss."
Sally bowed her head as she answered, her face arranged as if the earlier scene had never happened.
"All right. Good work."
Kim Taeyoung went downstairs. Not long after, an engine turned over, and the sound faded into the distance.
"Haa..."
She let out a small sigh. The other face of the boss she had thought was only kind had been a shock, but her resolve didn't change. For a foreign single mother, this house was the only lifeline she had.
Sally laid a hand on her lower belly. Last night's sounds were still vivid in her ears—a woman's voice drowned in pleasure, going on for hours. She had fretted the whole time that her daughter, Jennifer, might wake to it, and yet something in her had stirred as a woman. What kind of sex made a person sound like that, like an animal?
No. Work.
She would not wonder. Looking after Jennifer and searching for the child's father was already more than she could handle. This was a workplace. If she could earn good money here, that was enough. Sally shook off every stray thought and threw herself into the housework. Cleaning a house this large by herself meant she had to keep moving.
"Whoa..."
Namsan Department Store. Su Yeoning let out a gasp at the quiet splendor of the VIP lounge that opened off the VIP parking garage. The store ranked even its VIPs by how much they spent, and it ran a different lounge for each rank.
Kim Taeyoung's rank was Crown Tier, the second highest. Every Crown member spent at least 120 million won a year, so the lounge was furnished hard and the service that came with it was in a class of its own. And Kim Taeyoung, once an employee of this very store, knew exactly how to use every privilege a VIP was given.
"Oppa...? Didn't you say we were going to buy my clothes first?"
He sat down at a table in the Crown lounge, and Su Yeoning spoke with unease. She was still wearing nothing but a coat.
"We'll buy them. Sit down first. What do you want to drink? Coffee? A latte?"
Surely not. It was Saturday, a weekend afternoon, and the lounge held a fair number of people. He couldn't be crazy enough to do something obscene here. Soothing herself with that, Su Yeoning sat down carefully.
"A café latte for me."
"Let's get brownies for dessert. They're the best thing here."
"Okay."
Kim Taeyoung looked up and caught the eye of a staff member waiting nearby. The employee met his gaze, put on a faint smile, and came over.
"Is there anything you need, sir?"
"It's been a while, Ayoung. You been well?"
Ten years at Namsan Department Store had left him with plenty of acquaintances in the building, and Kwon Ayoung, who handled VIP reception, was one of them. They weren't close, but they were on terms for a casual hello.
"Yes. I've been well. And have you been well, sir?"
She was a professional at reception. Knowing him might have loosened her posture or her speech, but she treated him with strict formality. Kim Taeyoung let out a short laugh. They weren't close; she probably didn't want to manufacture trouble where there was none. He understood her position.
"I've been fine too. One americano, one café latte, and a brownie each."
"Understood. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
"Women's clothing, hmm... Anvitée would be good. A thick knit, and a pair of pants to go with it. Oh, Yeoning. What's your size?"
"What? R-right now?"
"Yeah. You need something to put on now. Tell her your size."
A little flustered, Su Yeoning gave Kwon Ayoung her measurements, and Kim Taeyoung went on.
"She'll be wearing it right away, so have them bring it fast. I'm counting on you."
"Yes. Understood, sir."
Kwon Ayoung bowed politely and turned away.
"Oppa, is it really okay to do it like this...?"
"Of course. Department stores bend over backward for VIPs. Forty, fifty percent of sales come from them. And the man sitting in front of you is Crown Tier—second from the top of the VIP ranks."
"No way.... How much do you have to spend to make Crown Tier?"
"A hundred and twenty million."
"What...? A—a hundred and twenty million won?"
Kim Taeyoung gave a light nod. Su Yeoning's mouth fell open and stayed that way. A little later, the coffee and dessert arrived.
"Your coffee and dessert, sir. An associate from the brand you mentioned will be here shortly, so please wait just a moment."
"Thanks."
Kwon Ayoung bowed neatly again. This time, though, she didn't turn away at once. Her eyes met his. The employee smile vanished, and a moment later the Kwon Ayoung he actually knew was back.
Kwon Ayoung was one of the women Baek Yuhyeon had victimized. That bastard had put his hands on a great many women, and when they didn't give in to his groping he found all sorts of ways to torment them. Kwon Ayoung had endured it. Plenty of others hadn't, and had quit.
Then Kim Taeyoung's own gabjil had resolved everything. Baek Yuhyeon faced internal discipline and a police investigation both. The sexual harassment and assault he had committed until then came out officially, thanks to a flood of testimony from victims and witnesses.
As one of those victims, Kwon Ayoung felt a boundless gratitude toward him. She bowed to Kim Taeyoung once more, putting all of it into the gesture.