The Day Before Enrollment (1)
Min Ye-won had made it home with Lee Seonho's coat still draped over her, and now she lay sprawled across her bed, wearing the same dazed expression she'd worn the whole way back.
Her head was a jumbled mess. She simply could not figure out what that final act of his — shielding her at the last moment — was supposed to mean.
"If you're going to do trashy things, then just keep doing trashy things all the way through…."
Because now, if she tried to get openly angry at him, that would feel weird somehow.
Clutching a head that had grown only more tangled thanks to that one last gesture — for no good reason at all — Min Ye-won rolled back and forth across the mattress.
It would have been easy to write it off as him simply not wanting to get caught by someone else. Except she'd sensed something in him that felt oddly like genuine concern for her.
"Ugh… was I just imagining it…? Maybe he didn't think anything of it, and I'm the only one reading something weird into it…."
Truthfully, she still hated him.
Having her emotions hijacked against her will for her first experience, suddenly stripped naked outdoors and taken for a walk on a leash, then having every moment of it photographed and held over her head — all of it. Every single bit.
And yet the instant someone else had nearly caught her in her shameful state, he had covered for her without a second's hesitation — and had even rushed to finish the perverted act he was in the middle of, worried she might be startled.
That double-sided attitude kept tripping her up, and it was what had her mind so hopelessly tangled.
"Maybe he's… not that bad of a guy?"
Honestly, considering everything he'd done to her up until now, the fact that this thought could even form in her head was absurd. And yet a small, cautious suspicion had begun to sprout — that maybe there was something more to him than what she thought she knew.
Maybe the desire to help is real, and he only acts like that because his, you know… tastes are just a little messed up….
…Which, honestly, would still be pretty bad.
Just as her mind was spiraling so far into chaos that she'd briefly lost track of herself, it was none other than a personal message from Jo Jin-hyun that yanked her back to reality.
…Why is this man pestering me again? I'm already frazzled to death as it is.
And why had he messaged so soon after she got home, anyway? Normally you'd report something like this the next day, wouldn't you?
If she'd still been at the hotel, Seonho might have caught sight of this text. Then what would she have done…?
…Huh?
What Seonho had demanded of her today had certainly been an unreasonable, sense-defying request. So how did this man know about it? The timing was off too — the text had come right after she'd walked through her front door.
Don't tell me — just like Seonho had said — if he'd been hiding somewhere along their date route, watching the whole thing….
"Uu, uuuuugh…."
Goosebumps.
Seonho was trash too, but this man was, without question, the most horrifying of the lot.
At the thought that he might have seen everything — including the humiliating spectacle she'd made of herself in the park — a shiver ran through Min Ye-won's whole body.
Still, if it came down to it, Seonho is the lesser evil compared to this bastard.
Come to think of it, maybe Seonho had pushed her into something so bizarre because he knew Jo Jin-hyun was watching. Framed that way, today's act actually made a certain amount of sense. If she'd reported doing something that never happened, the suspicious one would have been her.
It was horrifying that she might have shown her body to that creep with the unsettling beard and sunglasses — but it was still leagues better than being questioned by the police over ties to a terrorist.
"N-no. This is n-no time for this."
First things first: she had to ask Seonho. How was she supposed to reply to this?
And she should tell him that Jo Jin-hyun might have been watching today, too. Not that Seonho probably didn't already know.
…So he really did have it all figured out.
He'd only just heard about her situation, and yet the solutions came pouring out without a single hitch — and for the first time, Min Ye-won felt something almost like being moved.
It helped that, by now, she'd partially come to understand that what happened in the park hadn't been purely about sating his own desires.
…But replying exactly the way Seonho told me to really does quiet him down.
Well, sure — terrorists are rotten bastards by trade, but Seonho isn't that bad of a guy.
It's not like he refrains from doing awful things, exactly. Still, I know that when it actually counts — when it's genuinely dangerous — he tries to save me.
Even the threat to upload the video… he probably never really intended to, right?
Given how he'd behaved today, it was practically certain. He'd use it to threaten her into limiting her own actions, sure — but when it came to the moment of actually following through, he'd probably find some way to talk around it, or let it slide.
Thinking that he might be surprisingly soft underneath, compared to everything he'd shown her so far, Min Ye-won let a small wave of relief wash over her heart.
…Well, even if he says that, I know he's not going to post anything online.
If he were the type to blackmail with something like that, he wouldn't have covered for me when I nearly got caught earlier, and he wouldn't have hurried me home while worrying I'd be shocked.
This is a guy who knew I like caramel macchiatos and went out of his way for it. Blackmail? Please. What a riot.
That pervert's taste of his is genuinely disgusting, but…
Still, at the end of the day, Seonho is the only person who can help me right now.
He must have figured he'd finally found a handle on me and was venting his urges into me for it… and honestly, thinking it through, it wasn't like I couldn't understand.
I mean, I am pretty, right? When else would a guy like Seonho ever get to pretend he's dating a girl like me?
"Got it."
…So for now, I'll play along like I don't know anything. Just a little longer.
So he really was watching.
I'd anticipated it to a degree, but to think Jo Jin-hyun had actually been hiding somewhere, observing me and Min Ye-won with his own eyes.
Granted, when you run this kind of conditioning, it's an unavoidable part of the process. Even so, a faint unpleasantness was hard to suppress. However much lower she ranked compared to my heroines, she was still my property, and I'd gone and exposed what was mine in front of another man for no reason.
Well, nothing to be done about it. Keeping track of every single villain's line of sight would be far too much of a hassle.
It wasn't as if Min Ye-won warranted that level of careful preparation anyway. She wasn't the president; as long as it stayed out of plain view, it was fine.
And like I've said before — he's a man who'll be crawling on the ground within a few years regardless.
Oh, right. The video.
Before I forgot, I needed to edit it and send it over. Trimmed down to a length short enough to send through a Cocoatalk message.
The part in the park where she came over and over and then lied that she hadn't. And then, shortly after I started pounding into her, the line I'd wanted finally spilled out of her mouth.
"You came again? Sounds like you're feeling good too, Ye-won."
"…N-no. Th-that one didn't count…."
"Really? Then I'll show you on video later. Whether you came or not — you can decide while you watch."
"……I d-don't… need it…."
…We've been apart for less than two hours and I'm already worked up.
She really is useful as a slave. How many pieces of spank bank material has she made for me at this point?
Adjusting the video's length while waiting for the day when Cha Eunju or Kim Isabel would finally sink to this same level of depravity, I got to work.
-Schlup!
"Mmph, hnnnngh…!!"
The opening, naturally, was the moment I slid inside her.
-Shlorrrp….
"Hnn, hi, hiiiik…."
And the ending was the moment I came inside her body, hit her third orgasm simultaneously, and sent her gushing in a shiofuki.
At this length it should make for perfectly serviceable material. I wonder what she'll think, watching herself get screwed like a dog outdoors in glorious third person.
Swallowing the urge to whip it out right then and there and relieve myself, I finished the encoding and sent the finished video straight to Min Ye-won's Cocoatalk.
Well, watch it or don't.
There's a real chance she'll spite herself and refuse to open it, but if it's Min Ye-won, curiosity will probably win out.
With how simple her thinking is, today's events have almost certainly nudged her a few degrees toward liking me by now.
She's the type who reacts sharply to whatever kindness or malice is right in front of her face, but is sorely lacking in the ability to tally up the overall sum of goodwill or hostility a person has shown her over time.
Drag her outside naked for an hour, and a slightly pricey café caramel macchiato with a slice of tiramisu is enough to buy back her forgiveness.
Originally, I'd planned to make her do a full lap of the park in the nude. Instead, I'd cut it to half, wrapped up the training early, and even — worrying over her — shed my own coat and sent her home. Whatever the cause, I'd wager a decent chance she's picked up some fondness for me in the process.
The outsider showing up was an unscripted development, but thanks to it, I can manage her far more efficiently now.
By the next training session, I'll probably be greeted by an even more docile Min Ye-won.
Holding onto that expectation, I turned to preparing the final event before enrollment.
"Han Sora, did you finish packing?"
"Mooom, I finished packing~! How many times do I have to say it~!"
"Did you pack enough underwear to change into? Spare clothes? You packed your uniform and your practice attire properly, right? Are those spare arrows enough? Maybe pack some more of your old training arrows just in case—"
"Mom, they sell arrows at Cheonmu Academy too~! What am I supposed to do hauling a bunch of useless training arrows all the way there~!"
"You— you! What kind of way is that to talk to your mother, huh?!"
March 1st.
One day before Cheonmu Academy's entrance ceremony.
Han Sora normally made the round trip to Cheonmu Academy every morning for archery training — but today, she was a little different.
An enormous backpack on her shoulders, a massive suitcase in each hand. Buried under luggage from head to toe, she looked armed for an outright evacuation — and half of it had been more or less forced into her grasp by her mother, Yang Sujeong.
"Behave yourself at the academy, listen to your professors, don't leave any food on your tray…."
"What, you think an academy is the same as school?!"
"I say it because I worry, you punk! You're always so scatterbrained — I'm scared something'll go wrong once you're out there!"
"Ugh, it won't! I'm leaving!"
"Don't cram your feet into your shoes all folded up!"
"I'll put them on properly at the elevator, okay!"
Han Sora grumbled her way out the front door from the crack of dawn, with Yang Sujeong seeing her off through worried eyes.
It was only about an hour away by rail, but sending her daughter off to an academy in another city left anything but an easy feeling in her chest.
"Whew. Honestly, when is that girl ever going to grow up."
Watching her daughter — who still looked every bit a little kid — disappear from view, Yang Sujeong let out a shallow sigh and headed back inside.
…It would be several more hours before she got the phone call informing her that Han Sora had left the Preliminary Student ID she needed for dormitory check-in sitting at home.