First Time I Feel Uneasy About Overindulging in Alcohol
Weird... “Did I drink too much yesterday…?” It was the first time anything like this had ever happened to her, so the confusion left her completely flustered. Still, her body only felt a little stiff. Strangely enough, she felt refreshingly clear, almost unnaturally so. Nothing seemed out of place. Had she simply gotten lucky?
Hyesu hesitated a moment, then found herself staring down the long alleyway stretching ahead. It was quiet as always, with only a thin dusting of white snow spread across the ground. Gazing at the same familiar alley gave her a peculiar feeling. It had once terrified her so much. Yet now there was no fear at all. Why? It felt peaceful. Almost cozy. Had the atmosphere shifted somehow? Or maybe it was simply because dawn was beginning to break. She smiled bitterly. In any case, she told herself she should cut back on drinking for a while. No matter how decent the neighborhood security was, passing out on the street like this was hardly wise. If her parents ever found out… She shuddered. They would probably lecture her from sunrise to sunset.
Just then another gust of wind swept through, making her shiver. Hyesu hunched her shoulders and hurried home with quick, short steps. Then suddenly—
“Ah!” She gasped and spun around. Once more she looked at the long alley and the snow-whitened ground. But she only shrugged and turned away again. She had the vague sense she’d met someone here. It felt like they had even spoken, yet the memory refused to surface clearly. Maybe it was just her imagination. A dream, perhaps? Aah! Just how drunk had she been last night…
Muttering to herself, Hyesu soon gave a small chuckle and walked home with steps that felt impossibly light.
“Now it’s your turn to keep your promise.”
The woman whispered in a voice as soft as velvet. The man stared at her with an expression drawn tight by tension. Her beauty was almost blinding, yet the emotion flooding his eyes was not desire. It was something closer to anxious dread.
The woman paid his reaction no heed. She licked her lips and smiled with slow, wicked sensuality. Sticky greed shimmered in her gaze.
Rustle… Rustle… She began to undress. The expensive coat slid from her shoulders and dropped to the floor with a muted thud. Beneath it she wore a sweater, and through the thin fabric her black lingerie peeked through. Her full, heavy breasts drew the eye most of all. But that was not the whole of her beauty. She possessed the proportions of a model—narrow waist flowing into generously curved hips and long, sleek thighs that seemed to steal the breath from one’s lungs. Completing that voluptuous figure was a face of breathtaking loveliness. Small and finely wrought, with sharp, alluring features. Especially her eyes. Those eyes alone could enchant any man alive.
The woman laughed, playful and teasing.
“Hwan-ah…” She breathed his name like a caress. The gentle sound slipped into his ears and sank straight into his chest, an incantation he could not escape. Lee Hwan. That was his name. He could not look away from her. Cold sweat traced down his forehead all the same.
She slipped the sweater off as well. Ah! Skin so white it dazzled contrasted sharply with the black lingerie, making every curve stand out in stark relief. When his gaze fell on the faint blue veins visible beneath the soft swell of her breasts, Hwan swallowed hard without realizing it.
She stepped closer and reached out. Long, pale fingers brushed his tense cheek. He flinched. His eyes wavered violently. The reaction seemed to amuse her; she let out a soft, mischievous laugh. At that captivating smile, Hwan’s vision grew steadily more hazy.
No matter how desperately he tried to cling to reason, no matter how he fought to resist, he was powerless before her smiling eyes, the lightest touch of her hand, and that gentle voice. He could not resist. He was not meant to. This was the price of their contract. The time had come to repay the power he had borrowed.
She was not human. She was a fox yokai sealed away long ago. Her name was Miho, and she had lived for thousands of years. She had never told him the full story, but she had apparently been imprisoned inside Yeou Bawi—the Fox Rock—as punishment. Meeting her had been pure coincidence. Or perhaps it was better to call it an unknowable thread of fate.
Back when he still refused to believe in yokai or evil spirits, after losing his parents to a grotesque entity and finding himself on the verge of death, that was when their paths crossed. More precisely, she had called to him, and following her voice, he had found her. At the time she had been nothing short of a savior. She had rescued him from certain death and granted him strength no ordinary human could wield. In exchange, she demanded a price—his yang energy. His very life force.
His family were pastors; he had grown up in a household strict about matters of the flesh. Until he met her he had remained a virgin, never even dated. And she had taken that first time from him. From then on, until the goal they had sworn to achieve was fulfilled, he would have to offer his yang energy every time he used her power. That was their contract.
Wearing a seductive smile, she drew even closer. Her sweet breath brushed the bridge of his nose, light and maddeningly arousing. Their eyes met. Ah! He saw the red glow flickering in her gaze as well, brimming with raw greed. A shiver ran through him. At the same time, heat began to bloom inside his own body. His mind grew clouded.
Their lips met. A soft sigh escaped him. Her mouth was soft, sweet as ripe fruit. She tangled with his stiff, nervous lips as though savoring them, then gently bit down. Ah… Under her skilled kiss his heart melted further. The world before his eyes seemed to bleach white.
Soon she pushed against his chest with both hands, laying him down on the bed. Her fingers moved to his shirt, slipping each button free one by one. He felt his consciousness drifting deeper into haze. He could not refuse her. He must not refuse her. What she wanted was his yang energy, after all…
At first he had been afraid. One mistake and she might drain every last drop of his vitality. If she ever chose to break their contract and consume everything, he would have no way to resist. The fear had been real. More than death itself, he dreaded losing the chance to find his missing family. Besides, she sought freedom. The only reason she had formed the contract with him was because she had no other choice—to escape the Fox Rock.
In truth, both of them had been driven into the agreement. She had even tried to deceive him in the beginning. Once she gained her freedom, what did she intend to do? He did not know. She always kept so many secrets. He wondered what sin had earned her imprisonment in that rock. Who had sealed her there? They said she had waited inside it for a long time, listening for a voice that would answer her own… After their contract ended, he had no idea what she planned. Perhaps she too wanted revenge against the one who had bound her.
“Ahh…” At last his clothes were gone. When her cool fingers touched his wildly pounding chest, Hwan flinched before he could stop himself. Even the deep, clinging kiss paused for a moment before the frantic beat of his heart. At the sudden break he felt an unexpected pang of disappointment.
She smiled and lifted her head. A red tongue slid slowly across lips as crimson as cherries, as though tasting him. An irresistible, bewitching hunger radiated from her. Hwan’s chest tightened, swelling with heat.
Then her fingertips moved lower, brushing between his legs. Ah! The lightest touch made his body jerk. Blood surged downward. In truth, he had paid this price several times already. Yet he could never grow accustomed to it. To him, every gesture of hers still struck as lethally potent as it had when he was a virgin.
It was the same now. She was too dangerous. He swallowed again. Fresh sweat beaded on his skin. The room suddenly felt unbearably hot.
Once more their lips tangled. As his mouth opened, her tongue slid inside. Ah! Their tongues met, sparking sharper pleasure. His body stiffened again, trembling. His breathing grew ragged. Reason dissolved. Resistance became impossible.
Only her seductive moans and soft laughter lingered at his ear. Ah! At last his cock throbbed so hard it ached, straining painfully against his underwear and pants. Smiling playfully, she slipped her hand inside and wrapped her fingers around his rigid length. Then, as though playing with a toy, she began to stroke him with slow, deliberate strokes.
Ah… His body reacted on its own again, shivering violently. The feeling that he might come at any second surged through him. As always, her skillful touch was both lethal and addictive. Utterly impossible to refuse.