Will You Call Me Senior?
Having changed her pad at the rest stop, Min-ah had at least been spared the catastrophe of her pants soaking through with her own juices. With her period as an excuse, not a soul on that bus dared lay a hand on her. She could feel it—every person aboard, seniors and classmates, men and women alike, watching her, taking their cues from her mood.
An aura. That distinctive something radiating off Min-ah. A congenital allure inherited from her mother, the kind that bewitched people and drew them in. With that alone, she could bend anyone to her will. It was her most powerful weapon, and she was using it now to ride the orientation bus in perfect comfort.
The Korean Language and Literature Department Min-ah had entered was a female-majority major—more women than men. Crushed beneath her presence, they didn't dare speak up, but the whispering still leaked through.
Min-ah ignored their muttering. She knew they were nothing more than mayflies, incapable of doing her any harm.
"You okay?"
A man with gold-dyed hair approached and asked. Tall, and handsome besides.
Right. This is the guy they said was the college student council president.
Min-ah was putting on a face that anyone could see was in pain. Even so, she offered the president a faint smile—a perfunctory thank-you for his concern, and the opening move in taming him for her own use.
"Thank you... for worrying about me... I took some medicine, so... I think I'm feeling a little better..."
"I'm sorry we had to schedule orientation on a day like this. As president, I feel responsible."
Give me a break. Why would you be sorry?
Min-ah snorted inwardly.
"It's fine. Just you looking out for me like this is more than enough."
"Alright. Don't push yourself... I'll arrange a separate room for you. Rest there once we arrive."
A typical man.
They pretend to be kind, then show their true colors. Animals, every last one of them.
Inside Min-ah's heart stood a towering wall of distrust toward men her own age, one that seemed utterly unbreakable. But she never let that feeling show. Quite the opposite. She left room for everyone to be kind to her—and then she used them. When she needed to deal with someone she didn't like. When she needed dirty work done without getting her own hands dirty. They were endlessly useful that way. She kept her innocent, quiet image intact while satisfying the desires she truly wanted.
The males who fell for her honey trap moved exactly as Min-ah intended, never even realizing they were being steered. They got nothing in return. Not money. Not a physical relationship. Nothing. They were used, thoroughly and completely. Or rather—Min-ah was certain she had paid them fair value. A smiling glance. A little attention. Keeping them company in conversation. That, in her mind, was the going rate.
The men who approached her all wanted the same thing in the end: to date her. And the destination of dating was, of course, physical love. Min-ah had not the slightest intention of mixing her body with any man other than her father. So she had devised a brilliantly effective way to sidestep their demands.
Guy friends. Male friends—the kind of relationship that was friendship without a trace of romantic feeling. It was the highest reward she offered the men who did as she said. High school had been a time when dating was socially acceptable but sex was not, and that had been enough to fend off the males who came circling.
He's getting me a separate room...? He's not thinking something weird, is he?
Suspicion. It might have been an insult to the president, depending on how you looked at it, but it came from Min-ah's excessive possessiveness. Then again, the school she had entered was Hankuk University—the most prestigious university in the country, home to the nation's finest elites. The thought that they wouldn't casually do something like rape put her somewhat at ease.
Well... I did learn jiu-jitsu just in case, though...
The bus rumbled on. Before long, it was approaching a condominium nestled in a mountain valley.
"I'm fine, senior... I can... walk on my own."
The president had tried to piggyback her, but Min-ah refused. She knew exactly what he was thinking.
"Yeah? Then I'll escort you."
The president was quite handsome. His expensively dyed blond hair was thick and glossy, catching the light as it moved, and his forearms were thick enough that he clearly worked out. Tall, with a small face—he had the presence of a model. The girls in her class already seemed to regard him as an object of envy, hearts practically spilling from their eyes as they looked at him.
But to Min-ah, he was a type she found viscerally repulsive. A thug pretending not to be a thug. He was polite, his manners impeccable, but something lurked underneath—something only Min-ah could pick up on.
The Hankuk University college council president is a thug, huh...
Min-ah gave a small shake of her head.
"You okay? Feeling dizzy?"
His hand brushed, ever so casually, against Min-ah's shoulder. She could have startled and given him a warning, but she didn't. Too many people were watching. Getting labeled as the weird one in a place like this wasn't a good look.
"Nnh... I'm sorry..."
"Don't be. Here."
He supported her as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Min-ah's brow furrowed slightly, then she forced it smooth.
Stay calm... just stay calm.
"Alright, everyone head that way. Min-ah isn't feeling well, so I'll have her rest somewhere else."
The place the president took Min-ah was nothing like where the other students from the bus had gone. They entered a small, luxurious three-story building that looked more like a private villa. Most resorts had ordinary apartment-style lodging and then pricier villa-type suites—this was clearly the expensive kind.
"This is the officers' lodging. I was on the fence about booking it, but I'm glad I did."
"Thank you... President."
"Don't mention it. Oh, right—my name is Kim Tae-min. I'd be grateful if you called me senior."
Already making his move, huh.
She saw straight through him, but Min-ah put on a smiling face, playing the part of someone in pain who was still doing her best to be polite.
"Thank you... senior."
The president flashed a slight smile at how obediently Min-ah went along. That smile had gotten him into bed with more women than he could count.
That was right. His goal, right now, was to have sex with Min-ah.
His hand slid from her shoulder, tracing along her neck. A hideous, maddening crawl of goosebumps raced over Min-ah's skin, but she clenched her teeth and endured it. Her eyes had been right. Kim Tae-min was a thug.
Every orientation, he used his superior looks and manners as weapons, dangling the bait of being their boyfriend to sleep with naive girls who didn't know any better. The place he and Min-ah were in now was a lodging Kim Tae-min, president of the College of Humanities, had booked privately, just for himself.
The two of them. Alone. A room cut off from everyone else.
A gentle touch. A handsome face. A solid physique. Height. Manners. President of a Hankuk University college council. When a man like that claimed to be head over heels and asked to be her boyfriend—who would refuse? Every freshman girl he'd marked until now, he had fucked just like that. And this time, his target was Min-ah.
But inwardly, he was thrown off. Unlike every girl before her—who would blush, or flounder, not knowing what to do—Min-ah was like a block of wood. He even caught a faint sense that she found him unpleasant.
What the hell is with this bitch... why is she reacting like that?
Then Kim Tae-min grinned to himself.
The fish you work for always tastes better.
His face said he didn't need to get what he wanted right this second. That was right. He already knew Min-ah would be a fairly formidable opponent. The aura coming off her—that power to bewitch people—Kim Tae-min had it too. The harder a toy was to obtain, the more you wanted it. He was burning with the will to make Min-ah his.
"Alright. Get some rest. If you need anything, I'll bring it to you, so don't worry."
"Thank you, senior."
A grin. He flashed that trademark smile of his once more, then left the lodging.
As Tae-min stepped out of the building, a strange feeling settled over him. Until now, romance had been far too easy. What you got easily, you grew bored of just as fast, so you discarded it just as easily. He'd assumed Min-ah would be one of those girls too.
Not this time. She was no pushover. It was like looking at a female version of himself.
"...Alright. Let's do this."
In the end, it still came down to confidence. Tae-min left the building with a smile. And through a gap in the veranda, Min-ah was watching him go.
"...A tough one just latched onto me."
Still, thanks to the thug of a student council president, Min-ah had gotten some free time. She wasn't one who particularly enjoyed communal living, so it was more than welcome.
Evening. Had Dad gotten off work alright? Was he eating properly? Worry for her father crept in.
Eight o'clock. He would have finished dinner by now, settling in to rest.
If I call around now, he'll be happy, right?
She turned on her phone—a phone that could only make calls and send texts. Dad had said he'd replace it with a new one soon. She knew his number with her eyes closed.
Beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep-beep. Beep-beep-beep-beep.
The ringtone began. It rang. And rang. And rang. And rang. And rang. And rang. And rang.
What? Why isn't he picking up?
Ordinarily, Dad answered almost immediately, but today he was late.
What? What's going on with him?
Anxiety began to take hold of Min-ah's heart.
Click!
In that instant, Min-ah's father, Eun-hyeok, answered the phone.
"Hello?"
Min-ah's sharp voice rang through the entire lodging.