For Implants, They Feel So Natural...?

We began our ascent of the volcano.

Seongsan Ilchulbong.

It was a tuff cone, born in the distant past when hydrovolcanic eruptions first tore open the seafloor far below.

Standing there, I had hoped my daughter would take something from that place. And it seemed she had. I never asked her what. A child that young could never have put it into words. But I was certain of this much: if she carried that feeling somewhere in her heart, it would surely help her as she made her way through life.

And she had grown up well. Not because she had seen this view — that much I knew. But that it had helped, even a little, was just as certain.

And now...

I had brought Baek Ah-rin.

A woman in her thirties who, thanks to her father's gaslighting, had never known the wider world. A woman for whom the neighborhood she lived in had been the entirety of existence. I wanted to show her that a world like this existed too. Only then could she shatter the shell wrapped around her and grow a little further.

"This is... higher than I expected. Hah... hah..."

Baek Ah-rin was panting hard, one breath tumbling into the next. Fair enough. The grade was steep enough that even someone who worked out would be gasping if they climbed without rest. I knew the trail, so I was pacing myself — but Dr. Baek, trailing behind me, clearly wasn't.

In a situation like this, there was a trick.

"You take the lead."

"Pardon...? I've never been here before, though......"

"There are no forks in the path. You just keep going up."

"Ah... then... won't that slow us down?"

"Stop worrying about me. Let's take it easy."

"Ah... yes. I'm sorry, sunbae."

"Climb at your own pace. I'll match you."

"Thank you, sunbae!"

I handed off the lead I'd been holding and let Baek Ah-rin go ahead. Her steps seemed to lighten, if only a little.

The trail up Seongsan Ilchulbong doesn't actually take that long. There's a reason for that, though. It's steep. Fall even a few paces behind and the person in front of you has their ass right in your face.

Which meant...

Baek Ah-rin's ass stayed planted in my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠field of vision the entire way up.

"Hahh... hahh... s-sunbae... aren't we going too slow?"

"No, it's fine. Thanks to you, I get to take it easy too."

"That's our sunbae, all right. I feel like I'm dying... hahh... hahh....."

"It's your first time here. And you don't exactly work out."

"That's not true! I go to the gym every single day after work!"

Women's hiking gear, even when cut a little generously, was still designed to accentuate certain features according to the wearer's sex. We weren't walking a flat path — we were climbing — and the fabric pulled taut toward the front, which meant what got emphasized was everything behind. Her ass, in particular, was now on full, shameless display.

I had seen her naked. Even with clothes covering her, the lines were visible, and my mind filled in the rest without asking — the image of her bare ass, right there. And with her muscles engaged, it looked even firmer, even springier. She really did seem to work out, just like she'd said.

"You skip the cardio, though, don't you?"

"Hahh... hahh... how did you know?"

"Cardiovascular endurance and muscular endurance aren't the same thing."

"Ah... YouTube said I should focus on weight training...... hahh... hah......"

"Next time, try jogging for about thirty minutes too. It'll help a lot."

"Thank you, sun...bae......"

In that instant, Baek Ah-rin's body lurched — she'd missed a step.

"Uh... uhhh???"

Missing a step when your legs had already given out meant—

"Ah—aaah!!"

Baek Ah-rin's ass came flying straight at my face.

If I dodge that, she'll roll right down a slope that's practically a cliff!!

...Shit...!

Whump.

I caught both of her round cheeks with my head. A sudden compressive force shot down my spine. Of course it did. I was taking her full weight on my skull, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not my body — the strain on my lower back was inevitable. But I worked out regularly. My core was strong enough to take this.

I reached out to grab Baek Ah-rin's waist—

Squish.

....???

"Ah... ahh...?"

Squish? I grabbed her waist, didn't I?

Screw it...!! I'm about to go over backwards too!!

I gripped down hard.

"S-sunbaeee...!!"

"I know!! I'm sorry...!! But I'm about to go over, so just a second!!"

I held on for dear life. Thankfully... my core won. I held, barely.

"Hah... we're alive."

"Ahhh......."

Heat began to radiate from Baek Ah-rin's body. This was what happened when she got flustered.....

Squish.

......

Ah.

That yielding softness filling both of my hands.

It was Dr. Baek's chest.

For implants, the texture was surprisingly natural. How strange...

......

Is this really the time to be rating your junior's tits?!

"I-I'm sorry!!"

I yanked my hands off her chest and my face off her ass as fast as I could. Fortunately, she was standing properly on her own now.

"Ah... sunbae... I'm sorry. My legs just gave out all of a sudden......"

"It's fine. You're not hurt, are you?"

"Ah... my chest hurts a little....."

My face went scarlet. I'd probably squeezed too hard.

"...Th-that was... I had no choice, it was an emergency......"

"It was my fault. I'm sorry."

She bowed her head.

"I almost put you in danger too."

Her face was on the verge of tears. Baek Ah-rin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had always been bright, cheerful. In the ten years I'd known that face, it felt like I'd been seeing it about to cry an awful lot lately.

"I should've been the one in back... that way I would've been the only one who got hurt......"

"Hey. What are you talking about."

"...Pardon?"

"You went first, so I was there to catch you. If you'd been in back, I couldn't have protected you at all."

"...That's the point... I wouldn't have been a burden to you......"

"Don't talk nonsense. Let's keep going."

".....Yes."

Self-deprecation. Excessive self-blame. Something was off about Baek Ah-rin. If I let this conversation keep going, it was going to turn into another problem, so I cut it off.

Right. It wasn't that she was strange — she was anxious. She was thrashing her way toward change, out of the stable life she'd had until now. Every little thing was going to get under her skin. She was bound to be hypersensitive. That was all this was. I'd leave it at that.

Baek Ah-rin glanced back at me. The look in her eyes was the look of someone walking on eggshells.

"Are you walking on eggshells around me?"

"Ah— no, I'm not!"

She whipped her head back around.

"If you keep that up, I'm going to get pissed. You know how I am."

"I'm sorry, sunbae. I won't do it again."

And so, a little awkwardly, we started toward the summit once more.

"Wooow......"

The summit.

"Nice, right?"

"...Yes... sunbae."

Baek Ah-rin's voice was still small, still folded in on itself. I gave her a solid smack on the back.

"Ow! S-sunbae, why did you hit me?!"

"Why are you shrinking into yourself like some little girl? Is this about the screw-up earlier?"

"Yes! And I AM a girl, for the record! I'm not a man!"

Baek Ah-rin shouted it at the top of her lungs, her voice thick with indignation. Even so, the crushed quality in it had faded considerably. The look on her face was thoroughly unimpressed.

"Don't shrink into yourself. Anyone can make a mistake."

"....It's just... I feel like I've been making too many mistakes around you lately... I try to be careful, but then I mess up even more, and I end up hating myself for it."

"Everybody screws up sometimes. I do too, you know."

"......"

"Here. Look at this instead."

"...Wooow."

A vast crater unfurled before our eyes. Beyond it, the wide-open sea. And above it all, a sky so blue it looked like scattered jewels.

"Well? Doesn't it feel like you can finally breathe?"

"Ah... I understand now why you wanted us to climb up here."

"......"

"I wanted you to see that. To feel it."

"...Thank you. Sun...bae......"

Baek Ah-rin's shoulders began to tremble, just slightly, and then the tears spilled over, rolling down her cheeks. In the end, she was a woman too. A deeply sensitive girl.

"Just for a moment... would it be all right if I leaned on you, sunbae?"

"....Yeah. Lean on me."

A light tap. Her head came to rest against my arm, barely any weight to it at all. And like that, without another word, she stayed there with her head on my arm, gazing out at the beautiful view for a long time.

So did I.

After coming down from Ilchulbong, we pointed the car south along the island. The coastal road hugged the shoreline, and we slid the panoramic sunroof open. It was February — cold — but with the heater roaring, it was more than manageable. A salt-laden sea wind poured in, the kind of thing you could only feel in a place like this.

"Aren't you tired, sunbae? I'll drive."

"No. You only drive compact cars. You can't handle a car like this."

"I'll have you know my license covers trucks too."

"I still don't trust you."

The air between Dr. Baek and me felt like it had eased considerably compared to before. The tightness she'd been carrying had loosened a great deal after seeing Ilchulbong. And this sea wind — that, too, would do a fine job of unwinding whatever was left.

"So? What do you think of Jeju?"

"...I like it."

"Glad you came, right?"

"......"

No answer.

"Imagine if you hadn't come — the way you originally wanted. Would you have ever gotten to feel this?"

"...I'm sorry. For making things hard on you."

"Don't be. I always come here with my daughter. Coming with a junior I love... it feels new. It feels good."

She flinched. Her whole body tightened for a second, then eased. A faint, unreadable sigh.

"Your daughter seems like a very important part of your life."

"She is. When it comes down to it, she's the only family I have who actually gives a damn about me."

"...But she's an adult now... she'll be leaving before long, won't she?"

"Yeah... I guess I'll be lonely soon, huh? Haha."

"Then... I......"

She clasped her hands together in her lap, her index finger fidgeting restlessly. She looked like she had something she wanted to say.

"...What is it?"

"It's nothing."

"You look like you want to say something."

"No. There's nothing. Anyway, where are we staying?"

"Ah... we're almost there."

The most luxurious, most expensive resort in Seogwipo.

"Don't tell me... that place?"

"Yeah. That's the one."

It felt like we were driving into some vast ancient ruin. With Baek Ah-rin still sitting there, her jaw hanging open, the car shot through the entrance.