Outdoor Play (5)
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
Off to the side of the deserted walking path, Jo Jin-hyun ground his teeth and swallowed the curses down into his throat, his heart brimming with fury at Lee Seonho—the man who treated his subordinate as nothing more than a tool to satisfy his own desires.
'That son of a bitch Lee Seonho... Just how far does he intend to toy with me before he's satisfied...?'
Jo Jin-hyun had somehow managed to look past the fact that they were having sex outdoors. Even if it wasn't exactly a garden-variety kink, as a man he could understand that much well enough.
And since they'd deliberately chosen an empty park, it hadn't been hard to deduce that Seonho had no particular desire to be caught either—so Jo Jin-hyun had swallowed his anger accordingly and practiced patience.
'But no matter how I look at it, that display out there was nothing but pure humiliation. Don't tell me this bastard figured out that Min Yewon was the woman I sent...?'
There was no other explanation. He would never handle a woman that roughly otherwise.
According to Yoon Selena's intel, his attitude toward Kim Isabel had supposedly been quite careful and considerate.
If the man were simply putting on an act, his treatment of women should have been roughly consistent. But that kind of behavior—treating her like a slave, like a pet—was difficult, on reflection, to attribute to a man in his right mind.
'And Min Yewon seemed to hate it too. She looked like she was only going along with it because of my orders...'
...Damn it. If he'd known this would happen, it might have been better to grant her a little more autonomy.
He should have included instructions to abort the operation on her own judgment if the man's insolence crossed a certain line—but who could have guessed her loyalty would drive her to such extremes?
With a devotion that seemed capable of filling the void left by his lost subordinates, Jo Jin-hyun couldn't help feeling uneasy at the thought that he was putting her through far too much hardship on her very first assignment.
His fury finally reached its breaking point at the moment Lee Seonho began fastening something around Min Yewon's neck.
'That's— don't tell me.'
A flash of light escaping from the tip of Lee Seonho's finger. And immediately after, the thing transforming into the shape of a collar and coiling around Min Yewon's throat.
At first, Jo Jin-hyun simply stared in blank confusion, not understanding what had happened—but it didn't take long before his mind flooded entirely with rage.
Because the moment he realized that the tool Seonho had used to wrap around her neck was the very artifact he'd lost recently—the Ring of Reincarnation—
-Crack. Crackle...
"L-Lee Seonho...!"
How dare he.
How dare he use my artifact. My last memento of Suhyeon—and he dares to use it in that manner.
Not as a weapon, not as armor, but as some lewd plaything—a dog collar to leash a naked woman and parade her around. Jo Jin-hyun ground his teeth until they threatened to splinter, bloodshot veins rising at the corners of his eyes.
"You... of all people. You, of all people..."
I will never, never let you die an easy death.
I will torture and trample you for all eternity, in agony so unbearable you'll beg for the end.
And so Jo Jin-hyun piled another layer of resentment and fury onto his chest as he continued to observe Lee Seonho and Min Yewon that day as well.
-Fwoosh.
...Though his lower half, confronted with Min Yewon's naked body before his eyes, was quite honestly raising its head all on its own.
-Tak tak tak tak tak...
One hand covering her breasts, the other shielding her crotch, Min Yewon hurried along the walking path at a quick, anxious pace.
She moved with the naive reactions of a girl trying public exposure for the very first time, and I strolled leisurely along a few steps behind her.
'Not that covering her nipples and pussy when she's already completely naked solves anything.'
In the first place, she wasn't small enough for her hands and arms to hide. The plump mounds of flesh bulged out above and below Min Yewon's horizontally crossed arms, impossible to conceal.
More to the point, I was walking behind her with her leading the way—which meant her springy ass and everything else about her from behind was on full, unhidden display.
'Watching her squirm like that... this really is adorable, I'll admit.'
The way she kept glancing around warily at the possibility of someone showing up—sure, she was a trash bitch who'd sold out her friend for money, but this kind of raw, fresh-faced fluster was undeniably a charming quality.
So charming it made me want to snatch up that pale white rump of hers as it wiggled busily, as if being chased by someone.
-Squeeze!
"Nngh?!"
Startled by the sensation on her backside, Min Yewon let out a cute yelp in spite of herself.
She hastily yanked both hands away from her chest and crotch to cover her ass instead, whipping around to face me with a flustered expression.
"Wh-what are you doing?! Why would you—!"
"You're walking too fast. You're supposed to match your master's pace, remember?"
"I-if you keep this up, someone's going to come! Just let me do one quick lap and we'll go, so please, just—"
"A pet only earns her walk by obeying her master properly. And if the pet won't listen, then I have no choice but to correct her behavior. Right, Yewon?"
"Y-you little.... ...Bastard."
Min Yewon spat the curse out deliberately, just loud enough for me to barely catch it.
Even I had no intention of stomping out that level of grumbling—but I did want to enjoy our naked outdoor walk at a nice, leisurely pace.
-Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle...
Having understood my words, Min Yewon slowed her pace to about half speed, and I followed behind her as we ambled through the park on a snowy winter night.
'Thank goodness there's no one around. If there were people here, we couldn't be this relaxed about it.'
Jo Jin-hyun was surely hiding somewhere watching, so I couldn't exactly prevent that—but I had no desire to put on a show for anyone else.
I wasn't the type to share my pet with strangers, not like the people who upload revenge porn or training videos to the internet. Those guys do me a service when I'm jerking off, sure—but actually distributing footage of my own? Absolutely not.
Naturally, that went for showing her off in person too. Besides, every so often some clueless idiot worms his way in asking to join, and that just pisses me off.
I was mulling over such things as we passed the halfway point of the path and reached the turnaround—
"Ugh, what an idiot. I took a wrong turn because of you, damn it."
"Could be, I guess. Hey, at least we got a nice walk out of it. Can't complain, man."
"A walk with just the two of us guys? Yeah, real thrill a minute."
...Unpleasant voices, shattering the silence, drifted over from somewhere near the end of the path.
"...!!"
-Tapatapatap!
Apparently I wasn't the only one who'd heard them—Min Yewon immediately broke into a run, desperate to flee somewhere, anywhere.
-Tchk!
"Khhk?!"
Regrettably, however, she didn't make it more than a few steps before jerking to a halt. The collar around Min Yewon's neck was currently leashed firmly in my right hand.
"Wh-what are you doing?! Someone's coming!"
"I heard them too, genius. We're in the middle of a walk, though."
"Th-that's not the point right now! We're going to get caught!"
"Calm down, don't get worked up for nothing. Even if you sprinted from here at full speed, you'd be spotted before you reached the bench. It's no use."
And even if she somehow made it, she'd be caught mid-dress trying to put her clothes back on.
Meanwhile, the two men carried on their conversation, their voices drawing steadily closer, and it wasn't hard to figure out they would soon turn onto the very path where Min Yewon and I stood.
-Thud, thud, thud.
"So anyway, last time I was—"
"Hh—hhk?!"
Leashed to me, escape was impossible—and she had no means of covering her naked body either. The only thing left to do was turn her back to the path, crouch down, and try to hide herself.
As Min Yewon sank down at the edge of the path, hunching as small as possible to keep her body out of sight, I draped my coat over her shoulders like a shawl.
-Shhhh.
"Uh, wha...?"
"...Keep your head down. And don't say a word."
"......"
With a tearful, bewildered expression—clearly having no idea what was going on—she cautiously lifted her head to look up at me. I pressed it back down, then gave the top of her back a few gentle pats to keep the coat from sliding off her body, and began to act.
-Pat, pat, pat...
"Aigoo, Seoeon.... I told you to take it easy on the drinking, didn't I?"
Lee Seonho's voice at her back, his gentle hand patting the top of her shoulders.
From a little ways off, the sound of two men chatting as they passed behind her.
Crouched at the edge of the path with her head bowed, Min Yewon's heart began to pound like mad.
-Thump.
"So, where to for round two? It's freezing out. How about a piping hot soup and a shot of soju at that oden place we hit last time—"
-Thump, thump, thump.
Even Min Yewon could guess what Seonho was playing at. Right now, he was acting the part of a boyfriend patting his drunk girlfriend's back, plain for anyone to see.
Deliberately or not, he was also calling her by a name that wasn't hers—as if to say that even if they were caught, he'd make sure her identity stayed hidden.
"Seoeon, hang in there. Want me to run down and grab you a hangover cure?"
"......"
He wouldn't get it wrong twice by accident—this, too, had to be intentional.
He'd thrown the coat over her the instant she crouched, so he must have planned to do it from the very start.
Min Yewon, who mere moments ago had felt as though her life were over, found her heart inexplicably beginning to settle.
'I figured he wouldn't care in the slightest whether I got caught or not.'
Telling her to lay her clothes out in advance just so he could toy with her. Suddenly treating her like a pet and snapping a collar around her neck.
Lee Seonho had done nothing but repeat one piece of low-down trash behavior after another, so of course she'd assumed he'd abandon her this time too.
Yet what she'd gotten instead was a coat draped over her shoulders, shielding her naked body from being seen by strangers.
Perhaps because of this kindness she never could have anticipated, Min Yewon's heart was now pounding even harder than it had when those strangers' voices had been drawing near.
'Fuck—why? Why is this happening to me...?'
Get a grip. Why the hell is your heart racing over this?
If he'd never stripped you by force in the first place, none of this would have happened. Getting fluttery because the guy covered you with a coat for thirty seconds? Does that make any sense?
Feeling grateful to a man you wanted to kill just moments ago—where's the logic in that, you idiot? You absolute moron.
'That's right. Whatever he looks like right now, his true nature is trash. It's obvious—once those people pass, he'll just strip me all over again.'
Then he'll yank the leash and order me to slow down, or something like that. While he gropes and kneads my ass from behind like some pervert.
With those thoughts, Min Yewon forced herself to shake off the emotions rising in her mind—determined not to forget the hatred she'd felt toward Lee Seonho only moments before.
"Looks like they're gone."
"......"
"Get up, Yewon. Time to head back."
See? I knew it. Exactly as expected.
Now he'll snatch the coat off my body again and make me walk all the way back to the bench, every step as humiliating as the ones here.
Maybe it won't even end here. From the very beginning, all he ever wanted was to watch me squirm—this whole act was probably just a lie to string me along until he was done.
Yeah. This bastard is trash, so of course that's what he'll do.
"Let's call it a day and head back. It'll be dangerous if anyone else shows up."
"...O-oh. Okay."
...Except he was supposed to be that kind of trash.
-Thud, thud, thud...
"......"
Why wasn't he taking back the coat he'd draped over her? Why was he cutting the walk short and heading back to the bench?
And the collar around her neck—when on earth had he undone it?
Min Yewon arrived at the bench laden with questions, but Seonho's bewildering behavior kept right on going.
"I'll hold your coat so you can get dressed."
"You must be cold after all that. Here, put my jacket on."
"Want another cup of coffee? There's still some left."
"......"
Why—why are you acting like this?
You're a piece of trash who only ever grabs people's weaknesses and uses them against them. Why are you suddenly playing the nice guy and messing with my head?
Not five minutes ago I hated you enough to kill you, and now you go and do this, and everything starts feeling... strange.
"You must have been pretty shaken up, so let's stop here for today. Thanks for going along with my stubbornness. I'm sorry about that."
"......"
"Keep the coat on the whole way. You're chilled to the bone, so you need to stay warm. When you get home, soak in a hot bath, tuck yourself into bed, and get a good night's sleep."
And so, never once managing to grasp Lee Seonho's true intentions, Min Yewon trudged her way home with her head a chaotic mess.
"......"
And behind her, Lee Seonho watched her retreating figure in silence—and smiled.