Beneath the Table (1)
The moment we arrived at the café, Lee Seon-ho walked straight up to the kiosk without a word and started placing an order as he pleased.
He added a caramel macchiato and honey bread to the menu as if it were the most natural thing in the world, then turned back to me with a tone that seemed to ask whether I needed anything else.
"The caramel macchiato and honey bread, right? Or do you want something else?"
"…Caramel macchiato, with extra whipped cream."
"Already did."
"…And chocolate syrup topping on the honey bread."
"Did that too."
"……Then never mind."
It was like he'd read my mind. Since when had he known me well enough to so casually pick out my favorite menu items like it was nothing?
It meant he still remembered everything from our first encounter. I had no idea what kind of memory that was, exactly.
Don't tell me… he's been interested in me since then?
He'd seemed to keep it hidden on the surface, but in reality he'd apparently wanted to make a good impression on me all along.
Come to think of it, looking at things objectively, there was no reason for him to dislike me in the first place. If he'd truly hated me, he wouldn't have used a buff or whatever to violate me, or taken lewd photos to blackmail me.
Jo Jin-hyun's offer to help had its own weight of trust, and in any case, it seemed clear that Lee Seon-ho had some kind of goodwill toward me.
…Not that I would ever, not even on pain of death, respond to whatever feelings he supposedly had.
Like I'd fall for something like this at this point.
Thinking back on everything Lee Seon-ho had done to me, feeling any fondness for him was simply impossible.
Yes, we were temporarily cooperating, but that was solely to separate him from Jo Jin-hyun the terrorist. Nothing more.
It was surprising that he seemed to care about me in such fine detail… but that was all it was.
After all, back at the restaurant just now, he'd rattled off one twisted rationalization after another to get something as bizarre as a rotor inserted inside my body. There was no way I could trust a man like that.
— Vrrrrrrrm.
"Ngh, hh…"
The moment I let my guard down, the vibration started up in my belly again.
It was just the one, but it had switched on so suddenly that Min Ye-won flinched in surprise. And Lee Seon-ho, watching her, wore a smile that clearly said he was enjoying every second of it.
"I'll go grab us a seat upstairs. I'll bring the order up when it's ready."
"……Okay."
"Don't confuse the vibration inside you with the pager buzz."
"……Shut up."
— Vrrrrrrrm.
"Ngh, hh…?!"
The second vibration came the instant she snapped back at him.
Lee Seon-ho had flipped the switch on a second rotor for nothing more than a single curse, and Min Ye-won found herself absurdly indignant—and yet with no choice but to obediently fall silent.
One wrong move and all six of them really would end up turned on at once. This was her first time ever using a vibrating adult toy like this, and if all six of these things ended up buzzing inside her body, there was no way she could hold out properly.
In fact, even the walk from the restaurant to the café had been a considerable ordeal. Only because he'd switched them off one by partway through had she managed to keep from making strange noises in the middle of the street.
— Tap, tap, tap.
"……"
Leaving her on the first floor without a word, Lee Seon-ho climbed up to the second.
For a moment, Min Ye-won actually considered just running for it. But of course, she couldn't. If she fled now, those photos from that day—the ones of her wandering around naked in the snow-dusted park—might end up uploaded to the internet.
Careless, shameless Lee Seon-ho was perfectly capable of doing exactly that. She picked up the tray with two coffees and the snack, swallowed a quiet sigh, and made her way to the second floor.
Where is he…?
She was fairly sure she'd seen him go up to the second floor earlier.
But even after scanning the seats near the staircase, there was no sign of him. Maybe he'd gone to the bathroom?
Half out of worry, half out of curiosity, she turned toward the side of the stairs—and only then did his face come into view.
He'd settled into a corner of the café, in the most inconspicuous spot possible. Seeing this, Min Ye-won felt a faint flicker of tension.
Just as sly and creepy as you'd expect. Look at him, deliberately picking the gloomiest seat in the place.
With that thought, she approached him, tray in hand.
— Thunk!
"…Here. Y-your coffee."
The instant she set the tray down—channeling a touch of deliberate irritation—a bad premonition washed over her, so she quickly pretended it was a mistake and handed his iced americano to him first.
"……Right."
He seemed to fiddle with something in his right pocket for a moment, then stopped and quietly accepted the coffee.
Min Ye-won was certain that if she hadn't changed her attitude, he would have switched on another one without fail.
What is this, taming a wild animal…?
She resented the way Lee Seon-ho tried to control her every move like she was some kind of beast—but then, she didn't exactly have any means of resisting either.
So for now, she simply sat quietly across from him and focused on the coffee and dessert laid out before her.
— Slurp.
"……"
…It was definitely sweet and delicious. She just didn't like that he was the one who'd picked out her coffee, toppings and all.
And then there was the lingering sensation of the vibrators that had been buzzing inside her body this whole time, rubbing her the wrong way. Still, she did her best to ignore it, carefully pressing her thighs together and adjusting her posture.
If she kept her body curled in as much as possible, maybe the vibrations would feel a little less intense. That was her reasoning, anyway.
An awkward silence settled over them. Not a single word of conversation passed between them; she simply focused on the dessert and coffee in front of her.
After a while, though, Min Ye-won felt she'd grown at least somewhat accustomed to the strange vibrations. …Though the foreign feeling of something being inside her body still hadn't gone away.
"Mm, mmmm."
"You're eating well. Same as back at the restaurant."
"…So what? You're the one who ordered it."
"Well, it's your favorite, isn't it, Ye-won? I figured if I ordered it, you'd happily eat it all up."
"……"
"For our next date, how about we try a cake shop or something? I know a pretty good place near Myeongwol Academy."
"…That's unusual—coming all the way to Myeongwol just for me?"
"If it's to see you, Ye-won, that much is nothing."
"……"
Shameless. What's with the act all of a sudden, seriously.
Determined not to fall for that kind of hypocritical behavior, she forced her gaze to stay fixed on the food in front of her.
As long as the sweet coffee and dessert were in her mouth, she didn't have to think about that infuriating face or voice. And for a moment, she could even forget the vibrations and the foreign sensation inside her body.
"Ye-won."
"…What now?"
"Come to think of it, there's no real need for us to sit across from each other, is there? The seat next to me is empty. Come over here."
"……"
"Sitting beside me is way better than facing each other, don't you think? Right?"
"……"
— Slurp.
Doing her best to ignore Lee Seon-ho's infuriating voice, Min Ye-won quietly brought her lukewarm coffee to her lips.
Just making eye contact with him was already unpleasant enough—now he wanted her pressed up against his side?
Deliberately ignoring the disgusting proposal, she reached her fork back toward the honey bread.
— Vrrrrrrrm.
"Ngh, hh…?!"
Startled by a third vibration suddenly pulsing inside her, she had no choice but to hurriedly withdraw her hand.
"…Wh-what?"
"Ye-won, hurry up. I'm cold, so come warm me up."
"……"
Seriously, seriously repulsive bastard.
He must have planned this from the very start—ordered her to insert them so he could toy with her whenever he pleased, just like this.
Quietly biting her lower lip at his attitude—always dragging her around like this, when without the blackmail and the buffs he couldn't make her do a single thing—Min Ye-won endured.
— Slide.
"…Done?"
"Yeah. Nice and warm."
"…I hate this."
"Oh? Do you, really?"
"……I-I wouldn't say I hate it. Yeah."
…One wrong word and he might flip another switch, after all.
As long as she gave the answer Lee Seon-ho wanted, at least this kind of teasing would stop.
Complying so readily galled her, but having realized that rebellion was pointless anyway, Min Ye-won made her decision: for now, she would play along with his childish little game.
…It's not like I'm doing this because I want to. I'm just removing any excuse for him to try something weirder.
It was absolutely not a good feeling. Absolutely not.
Repeatedly reassuring herself of that, she stole another glance at Lee Seon-ho, then picked up her fork for the honey bread once more.
When I told her to come sit beside me, she hesitated for a moment—so I flipped on one more rotor, and she promptly came over and pressed herself against my side, meek as anything.
When I pulled her toward me as a matter of course once she'd moved to the seat beside me on the sofa-style bench, she trembled ever so slightly. Honestly, it was quite the sight.
See? You should have just come quietly from the start.
Resisting for no reason only cost her—another switch flipped, and she ended up pressed against me anyway. She lost out either way. Seriously, did the girl have no capacity to learn?
Well, my plan was to come up with some excuse or other and turn them all on eventually. It would've been a waste, after all, to insert six of them and not use every last one.
Anyway, the only reason I'd brought her to a café at all was that the café wasn't the final destination. Granted, I'd deliberately picked a café with few customers, so some quiet, discreet shenanigans were definitely on the table—but anything more serious would come with too many complications.
No, I'd brought her here to work her up into a proper frenzy and then let the words let's just get a hotel room come out of her mouth on their own. Offering her the illusion of a choice was simply my way of making the girl feel like she was the one choosing.
With those thoughts in mind, I casually rested my right hand on Min Ye-won's thigh as she sat beside me.
— Slide.
"……"
Perhaps trying to read the situation, she didn't react immediately—instead cautiously stealing glances at my face.
To make sure she understood the sensation wasn't her imagination, I deliberately applied a little more pressure and brazenly kneaded her thigh.
— Knead, knead.
"…L-Lee Seon-ho."
"What? Something wrong?"
"……"
Maybe being openly groped in a place like this was a bit much for her—she called my name in a careful, hesitant voice, meeting my eyes.
When I answered her question with deliberate nonchalance, that exasperated expression of hers came right back.
"Y-your hand."
"What about my hand?"
"……N-nothing. Never mind."
Oh? So our little Ye-won isn't entirely without capacity to learn after all.
Good. After taking a beating like that, it was about time her brain started catching up. She'd apparently realized on her own that talking back would accomplish nothing except getting another rotor switched on.
— Knead, knead.
"……Ngh."
Doing her best to endure the sensation of my hand on her thigh, Min Ye-won strained to focus her gaze somewhere—anywhere—else.
— Slide.
And then, still pretending to simply knead her thigh, I let my hand creep slowly toward the very center of Min Ye-won's lower half.