The Dog Collar
"Wh... what are you doing?"
A bead of clear liquid clung to her softly pink, glossy lips, glinting like a thread of silver silk. It was, without question, the filthy act of a woman spitting into a water bowl—and yet, somehow, it looked holy.
Have I... finally lost my mind?
I ought to have been shrieking and kicking up a storm, but I'd forgotten my part entirely and just watched, dazed.
"Hm? Oh, this isn't about you spitting on my face. It's your sister. Wonyoung—that bitch used to do this to me every single day."
At lunch, without fail, she'd spit onto the food tray. Soup, rice, whatever was on it—she'd churn the whole thing into a swamp. And if it wasn't eaten, she'd drop in something even filthier, something stranger.
"I told you, didn't I? However much I suffered, you were going to suffer exactly the same."
With that, Jian lifted one milky-pale leg out from under her skirt. She was wearing a mini dress and a pair of blue Converse. Then she kicked off the sneaker with the little star logo and sent it skittering away.
"Oh my! You're the first man I've ever shown my bare skin to, Seongjun."
God only knew what counted as "bare skin" by her standards, but she peeled off her sock as well, baring a snow-white foot.
"My feet are pretty, aren't they? These are the one part of me your sister never tortured."
It was a heartbreaking thing to hear. She lowered her white, straight feet—toenails neatly trimmed—into the gleaming stainless-steel bowl, and the soft ahh—splash of it rang out like a sound effect straight from a film.
"Heh heh... Lee Wonyoung, that bitch, used to soak her feet like this in everything. Soup bowls, water cups, all of it."
Jian kept her toes submerged, swishing them back and forth until the water was thoroughly steeped. Apparently that was what I was meant to drink. So why did the thought of filth simply not come? Wearing an expression of pure disbelief, I could only swallow hard, my throat clicking.
"What, is it gross? Gross or not, you don't get a choice. You're drinking it too."
Choi Jian lifted the water—steeped with her feet, laced with her spit—and came closer to where I sat bound. All the while, my eyes stayed locked on her slender white ankles.
"You're awfully quiet today. What's the matter? Shocked?"
She set the steel bowl down without a sound—then, out of nowhere, smacked me across the face.
Smack!
It didn't carry much force, but the sting of her palm was plenty vicious. Gazing up at me, my head still knocked askew by the blow, she murmured in a low voice.
"From now on, this is how you and I say hello. That bitch Wonyoung used to slap my cheek the second I set foot in school."
By that point, my pity had boiled over into an anger I couldn't name. No matter the circumstances—how could anyone live like that, taking every hit like an idiot? My eyes flashing, I looked down at Jian.
"Heh heh heh... hey, you goddamn retard of a bitch. You got no hands? No feet? Why the hell did you just take it? Even a worm squirms when you step on it. Was Wonyoung really that terrifying?"
Something in her wavered. Sweeping her long hair back, she spoke while glancing away over her shoulder.
"Of course it was terrifying. Your sister was the chairman's daughter. She owned that school. I lived every day in fear that my scholarship would be cut, that I'd be barred from every competition."
Turning smoothly back around, she seized a fistful of my short hair. Her large eyes churned, tears and fury swirling together.
"But I'm not scared anymore. This time, it's your sister's turn. So hurry up and drink your water."
"F-fuck off. Go get me clean water."
"Talking back to me now? Want me to teach you what pain really is?"
That was when I meant to drink. There was no reason left to hold out—and truthfully, I didn't much want to. But right then her shrill voice rang through the room.
"Secretary Kim!"
At her shout, something shot out of the wall where I was bound: a choker studded with gleaming metal. A dog collar, in other words.
"It's a choker, made just for you. I designed it myself. Every sparkle on it is real platinum. Pretty, right?"
What kind of wall launches a bedazzled dog collar at a man? How exactly had this place been engineered—and who the hell had built it?
Before I could even feel the absurdity of it, the glittering collar was clamped around my neck.
"Wait right here for me, okay?"
Collar secured, Jian stepped out beyond the bars and came back with that same baseball bat from before.
"Secretary Kim?"
She spoke as though issuing an order into empty air. There was probably a boom mic hidden somewhere in the ceiling.
The next moment, with a heavy clank, the shackles binding my wrists and ankles came undone on their own. Everything installed in this place looked crude, but apparently it was automated down to the last bolt. With my hands and feet free for the first time in ages, I began kneading my raw, aching forearms and wrists.
"Feeling better now? Good. Now crawl over here and drink your water like a dog."
Jian pointed the bat in her hand at the bowl sitting on the floor. Free of my restraints at last, I just stared at her.
Should I take her down?
True, there was a collar locked around my neck, but my limbs were free. The wire trailing from it hung slack—a good two meters of it, by the look of things. So she had a baseball bat; she was still, at the end of the day, a woman. What kind of force could possibly come out of that nipped-in waist, those plump, creamy thighs?
"Thirsty yet? Come on, drink, Seongjun. But no using your hands. Down on the floor and lap it up like a dog. Got it?"
Three strides. That was all it would take to be on top of her. Not that I intended to hurt her—this might even be part of the act, staged action to make the play more convincing. Either way, wasn't this my first real opening? I'd close the gap in a heartbeat, and wrap my arms around that waist.
"What are you doing, Lee Seongjun? Can you not hear me? Should I just pour the water out?"
"Fuck you, you bitch!"
Mind made up, I launched myself like a springing leopard. But the instant my body left the ground, the wire on the collar retracted with a singing whrrng.
"Gaghk—!"
I meant to tackle her—and, while I was at it, sneak a grab at her chest. Arm around her waist, fingers groping their way toward that firm-looking ass. But the collar hauled back on my throat like a living creature. And it did not hold back one bit.
"Kkh...! Gghk..."
The wire reeled itself toward the wall, and I hung there with my neck wrenched back, gasping for air. A few more seconds of this and I was going to choke out cold.
"Oh, Seongjun... whatever am I going to do with you? Hm?"
From a safe distance, she waved a remote about the length of two fingers.
"Press this one and the wire on your collar winds in. You didn't think I'd skip the preparations, did you? And this little red button here runs electricity through the collar. Shall we try it?"
Face blazing like my breath was about to give out, I cupped both hands over the collar and shook my head. A gesture of pure, desperate sincerity if there ever was one.
"Gghk..."
Jian must have tapped the remote, because the wire went slack. Only then could air get through; I sprawled against the floor, chest heaving.
"I won't say it twice. Drink. Like a dog. Or I'll feed ten thousand volts into that collar of yours."
Unbelievable. A retractable wire on a dog collar. And ten thousand volts on top of that? At that point, resignation was the only option left. Sprawled out flat, marveling at just how meticulous, how thoroughly premeditated every bit of this was, I burst into a hollow laugh—and the moment that taut knot of tension inside me loosened, a monstrous thirst came crashing in.
"Hey. Am I supposed to hold my hands behind my back?"
"Hm? No, no need for that. Dogs don't put their paws behind their backs when they drink."
"You fucking witch... goddamn, the detail on this."
"Mm-hm. Your sister did it that way."
I crawled toward the bowl on the floor. Stainless steel, like the feeding dish for an extra-large dog—except this one was enormous, and it sparkled.
"Hold on."
Just as I was bringing my face down to the bowl, she called a pause and drifted over slowly.
"Since we're doing this, drink while looking into the camera. And I'll put mine in again. We're keeping it authentic, you know."
Conscious of the cameras, Choi Jian made every motion big and theatrical. She swirled her cheeks round and round, and clear, clean saliva slid down along her glossy lips and dripped.
"Mmm... that was a nice big one. Hurry up and drink, Seongjun. Savor it. Okay?"
"You... you're a batshit crazy bitch, you know that..."
I stared down into the bowl, numb with defeat. It defied all logic, but that water, swimming with her spit, did not feel filthy. If the water rippling inside a dog's dish could feel fresh, even wholesome—had I truly gone mad?
Sluuurp~! Slap, slap, slap, slap!
Like a camel finding an oasis in the desert, I fell on that water bowl without an ounce of dignity. The way a cat or a pup catches water with its tongue—that was how I scooped it up, lap after lap. Water that seemed cold and lukewarm at once doused my burning thirst in an instant. Water is supposed to taste like nothing at all, and yet a faint sweetness was rising out of it—out of her saliva, mixed in.
"More?"
The big bowl had emptied in the blink of an eye. Burning thirst, it seemed, stripped a man down to something pure. The face gazing down at me—More?—might have belonged to a benevolent saint. And in that moment, all I could do was nod.
"Good boy, Lee Seongjun... you dog in heat."
She slid her sock off again, baring that white foot. Soon enough, the plump, pale thing occupied the giant bowl, and she filled the dish—her foot and all—to the brim with fresh water.
"Drink. As much as you like."
I should have refused. Kicked the bowl across the floor screaming that it was filthy, spat every curse I knew. That would have been normal. But my burning thirst still wanted the water.
"You fucking witch..."
One vile curse was the only rebellion I had left in me. My tongue rose and churned the water in the bowl again. Against its tip I felt the smooth glide of bare skin—her little toe, maybe? With every lap, my thirst ebbed a little further, and the cock inside my pants grew heavier and heavier. It was enough to drive a man out of his mind.