Contract Stage: Stage 4 · Up to Intercourse

"Oppa, I like… anal."

"A… anal…"

I stopped my hands for a moment at the unexpected confession.

She waited for my reaction. That attitude of hers—embarrassed yet making no attempt to hide what she wanted—only stirred me further.

Coming from a face that pure?

It seemed washing up and leaving was out of the question.

"Eun-ha, you're getting more adorable by the second."

"Hing… so embarrassing."

I rinsed away the soap suds and gripped her wet ass firmly with both hands. When I carefully rubbed her anus with a finger, her body flinched and tensed.

"Relax…"

"Mm… okay."

"Hold the wall and lean forward a little."

I knelt down and began slowly caressing the place she wanted with my tongue.

And that was how our love story began.

That afternoon.

Seo Eun-ha had come to fix her nose.

The moment the consultation room door opened and she walked in, the first thought that hit me was simple.

Really?

The line from her forehead down the bridge of her nose was natural, and the tip didn't droop. From the front or the side, there was nothing to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠touch.

She said she wasn't happy with it, but to my doctor's eyes, it was more than enough.

No—not just enough…

She's beautiful.

Putting a knife to that face would only cost her the natural look she already had.

"What part are you unhappy with?"

"My nose."

"Which part of the nose?"

"I wish it were just a little higher."

"Raising it would make it worse than it is now."

Seo Eun-ha didn't answer right away.

The reaction I'd expected. When someone comes to a hospital with money ready and the doctor tells them not to do it, they usually get offended.

But what could I do? What shouldn't be done, shouldn't be done.

"Other ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hospitals said they could do it."

"They could, sure."

"Then why won't you?"

"I can't ruin a pretty nose just to take someone's money."

Kim Su-hyun, sitting beside us, set her tablet down on her lap.

Having watched my consultations for seven years, she immediately knew the surgery was off the table.

"When he says that, it's over. You'll save yourself time if you just give up."

"Whose side are you on, Manager Kim?"

"The side that pays my salary. But even I'm telling you not to do this one."

"The two of you together like this make me feel like I'm the weird one."

"You're not weird. Your greed's just a little excessive."

"Director, you have such a way with words."

"I make faces pretty for a living."

Su-hyun covered her mouth with the tablet. Couldn't quite cover the laugh, though.

Seo Eun-ha was looking at me longer than she looked at the mirror.

A woman who came for a surgery consultation staring only at the doctor's face like that…

The nose doesn't seem to be the real goal.

I had no intention of pretending not to notice.

"Don't you not make money if you don't do surgeries, Doctor?"

"That's why I'm good at other surgeries."

"You're very confident."

"It's my job. I'd be in trouble without it."

"Then look at me as a man, not a doctor."

There it was.

She'd crossed the line first.

As a man…

I already was. Claiming I felt nothing with a beautiful woman in front of me just because she was a patient would be a lie.

And I had no intention of living with my eyes closed just because I was a doctor.

"I am looking."

"Am I pretty?"

"Yes."

"Is that all?"

"Would you like to hear more?"

"That I'm pretty enough without surgery."

"I've been saying that from the start."

"Not as a doctor."

"You're pretty as a man looking at you, too."

Was that the answer she'd wanted?

Seo Eun-ha didn't ask anything further.

Instead, Su-hyun closed her tablet completely.

"Aigoo. Should I step out for a bit?"

"Stay put. We're in consultation."

"Is this still a consultation?"

"She's asking questions."

"Yes. Very personal ones."

Su-hyun deliberately piled on another remark.

Keeping her around this long had completely erased any sense of deference toward her boss.

Jealousy?

Seo Eun-ha stood up from her seat.

"Then I won't do it."

"Good decision."

She took a business card from the desk. Mine.

"Doctor, can I contact you?"

"Yes. If you have a reason to."

"Even without a reason?"

"I'll take a look and decide."

"Cold."

"Better than giving someone false hope."

"Then I'll have to send something worth hoping for."

Seo Eun-ha put the card in her bag and left.

Once the door closed, Su-hyun spun her chair toward me.

"You liked her, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Huh? Admitting it right away?"

"She's pretty. Should I say no?"

"Planning to contact her first?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Whoever wants to will."

Su-hyun opened her tablet again.

"Keep that up and you'll be alone forever."

Alone…

It didn't sound particularly bad.

"That might be comfortable, too."

At the time, I really thought so.

I had no idea that a few hours later, I'd be drawing my own blood to call that woman.

3:18 AM.

A call came from the hospital.

A patient who'd had nose surgery the day before was bleeding.

I put on clothes before I was even fully awake.

Of all days.

Still, it was a patient I'd operated on.

I finished my grumbling in the car, and once I arrived at the hospital, I did what needed to be done.

The bleeding stopped quickly. Nothing major.

I left a note on the progress for Kim Su-hyun and stepped out of the building at 4:12 AM.

I hadn't eaten anything since evening.

Should grab a triangle kimbap at least before heading home.

I turned down the alley toward the convenience store.

But where the convenience store had been until last week, a sign I'd never seen before was hanging.

Lover… Draw?

I must really be tired.

Below the sign was something that looked like business hours.

"Where'd the convenience store go."

The triangle kimbap was gone, and a shop for drawing lovers had appeared.

Going in will probably just make me more tired…

Knowing that, I still opened the door. Hunger dulls judgment.

Probably.

Inside, instead of people, there was a machine.

A large screen in front, five buttons on the right, a blood extraction device for the arm on the left.

And next to the blood extractor, a small machine that looked like a slot machine.

"You draw a lover and gamble too?"

No matter how I looked at it, this wasn't a normal shop.

Should I just leave.

A camera moved toward me. Soon a name appeared on the screen.

"…How does it know my name?"

No answer. Instead, the blood extractor cover opened.

300cc a day. Whether you use it or not, it disappears at 6 AM. No saving.

They even blocked the time for customers to hesitate.

The salesmanship was solid, at least. More instructions scrolled down.

You use blood to contract with one woman, and if you exceed the selected stage, a 300cc penalty applies.

If blood is insufficient, it takes from the blood you'll receive on the next usage day first.

A shop that even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠creates debt for you.

At this point I really should leave…

My hand stopped at the consent rules written below.

Only the maximum range is set. If the other person says no, it ends immediately.

At least it doesn't force people here.

I liked that part.

"The terms are clear, at least."

I put my arm into the blood extractor. The needle went in and the red line climbed to 100, 200, 300.

The pain was no different from a blood test. I wasn't dizzy, and only a small mark remained on the inside of my arm.

Did it actually draw it?

The front screen changed. Three women appeared.

First.

An employee at the cafe on the first floor of the hospital building. Not a bad face. I remembered the uniform more than the face.

Second.

A woman I'd never seen. Not my type.

The third photo appeared.

The woman I'd met that afternoon. The one who'd taken my business card and still hadn't contacted me.

Seeing her again here.

I hadn't planned to contact her first. That didn't mean I didn't want to see her again, either.

At the very bottom of the screen was also a button to change candidates.

Spend 50cc and three different women appear.

Why bother?

I already had a woman I liked. No reason to switch. Seo Eun-ha—the pure, delicate beauty type.

I pressed Seo Eun-ha's photo.

The five stage buttons lit up.

I put my hand over Stage 5.

Restrictions Lifted.

For a woman I just met, that's a bit…

I moved my finger down one slot. Stage 4. This was plenty explicit too.

But I didn't want to press Stage 2 or 3 and then pretend otherwise.

I'd make the range I wanted clear. Whether she came or not was for Seo Eun-ha to decide.

If she refuses, the 200cc just disappears. A waste, but…

I'm not going to pick another woman again.

"Send."

I was lying in bed looking at Yoon Do-kyung's business card.

I hadn't saved the number. But I couldn't throw it away either.

Contacting him first would feel like losing…

What should I even send?

The nose talk was already over.

I'd asked if I could contact him without a reason, but when it came to actually sending something without a reason, my fingers wouldn't move.

Then my phone buzzed. A message from Yoon Do-kyung. More precisely, a strange contract under the name Yoon Do-kyung.

"…What is this."

I read it again. I hadn't misread it.

Stage 4. Up to intercourse.

A man I met for the first time today sent this at dawn?

He was the man who hadn't even drawn out the word "pretty" for long in the consultation room.

But the selection record had something even more absurd.

He'd considered Stage 5, then chosen Stage 4.

So he wasn't a gentleman after all…

No—he'd never pretended to be one. When I asked, he answered everything honestly. He just hadn't moved first.

4 minutes 21 seconds until decline.

I put my finger on the decline button.

I'm crazy. Of course I'm not going.

My finger stayed put.

3 minutes 48 seconds.

I picked up my phone and went to the closet.

Wait, why am I opening the closet?

Instead of the blouse I'd worn to the consultation, I pulled out a thin knit top.

I let my hair down too. Looking at my face in the mirror, I said quietly.

"I'm just going."

Saying it out loud made it more suspicious. Does someone who's "just going" change clothes and fix their hair? Still, my hands didn't stop.

12 seconds remaining.

If I don't like it, I can just come back.

I pressed accept.

I opened the front door. The hallway outside my apartment vanished, and a red screen appeared.

Yoon Do-kyung was standing in front of it.

His gaze traveled slowly from my face down past the knit top and back up.

Ah… I actually came.

Only then did it hit me.

I had accepted a Stage 4 contract.