Daddy's Scent... I Can't Take It Anymore
"I'm home, Daddy!"
My daughter Min-ah didn't make it back until evening. She looked somewhat drained — and of course she would. Meeting new people. Coming face to face with seniors her own age. Drinking. Every last one of those things would have landed on her as stress.
"Nothing happened, right?"
"Of course not! Don't you trust a daughter as dependable as me?"
"It's just... you were so far away. I couldn't help worrying."
"Don't worry. Nothing happened at all."
Perhaps because she was aware of how worn out she looked, Min-ah tried to put on a more energetic front. But exhausted was exhausted. She was clearly not her usual self.
"How about you, Daddy? You weren't too bored while I was gone?"
"I was bored. Without you here, the house felt so empty."
"See? It's better when I'm around, right?"
She threw her arms around my neck and kissed me on the lips. For a split second, the memory of Ah-rin kissing me flashed through my mind, and my face went hot in an instant.
"Huh? Daddy, why is your face all red?"
"Uh... no... that's..."
"Don't tell me... you're embarrassed that I kissed you?"
"N-no, that's not it!!"
"Pfft! Daddy, you're so fun when you get flustered!"
She laughed as if it were the most entertaining thing in the world. I clutched at my chest inwardly. For a moment I'd been terrified she'd caught me thinking about Ah-rin. Thankfully, that wasn't it.
"I'd better stop teasing you before it gets even more awkward! Daddy, I'm hungry! Feed me!"
At least she wasn't the type to take a joke too far. That was a relief.
"R-right. Just wait a little, sweetheart. Everything's already prepared, so go wash up and come back."
"Okay!"
Min-ah cheerfully wheeled her suitcase into her room.
I let out a long breath. Thank god. She hadn't noticed I'd been away on a trip.
I had never once lied to my daughter. But this time, for the first time, I had. She hated the thought of me seeing other women. Whatever the end result, when I'd left, it had been to help a female junior recover mentally. Min-ah and Ah-rin. Satisfying both of them had required a well-intentioned lie.
And the lie had worked. Ah-rin had recovered a great deal, mentally. And I... a parched corner of my heart had begun to burn again. Min-ah hadn't the faintest dream that I'd been away. Everything had ended well. And now, the same everyday life as always was waiting for me here.
When my daughter came out of the shower, she thankfully was no longer wearing that racy slip. She had on ordinary pajamas, the way she usually did.
I'd steeled myself for the worst... thank god.
I had no choice but to treat what happened back then as a one-off act of rebellion. A relief, really.
My daughter. And Ah-rin. Because of the two of them, a sexual appetite that had been lying dormant in me — everything I had been holding down — was creeping back in, slowly taking hold of me again. Ah-rin, especially. The oral sex she had given me. It had been so good. One of the most electric experiences of my life. It popped into my head at the slightest trigger. Enough to leave me hard.
If, in the middle of all that, I had seen my daughter in that sexy slip again, something disastrous would have happened. So before she came home, I had masturbated three times, until there was nothing left in me.
And then I saw her standing there dressed so neatly, and I felt... disappointed.
...
Hey. Cha Eun-hyeok. Have you lost your mind? You felt let down? Looking at your own daughter? What kind of deranged thought is that!! If I ever think something like that again, I'm an animal. A beast!! ...God, I really am a sick bastard. Never think that again.
Even if we didn't share a drop of blood, this girl was my daughter. I had held her in my arms from the day she was born and raised her myself.
"Daddy, what are you thinking about that's got you looking so serious?"
"Ah... huh? S-sorry, sweetheart! I zoned out for a second."
Min-ah sat down at the table with an innocent little smile.
"Wow, this looks amazing."
She was ambidextrous. Chopsticks in her left hand, spoon in her right.
"Thanks for the meal!"
"Eat plenty."
She dug into the fermented soybean stew and seafood pancake I had made, eating with real appetite. I had prepared it all before leaving on the trip. I had put real care into it, just in case — if the quality of the food slipped, she might get suspicious.
"Was the food at orientation that bad?"
"Yes! It was awful!! Daddy's cooking is still the best. The best!"
She shot me a thumbs-up, and it was so cute I couldn't stand it. I placed a piece of pancake and a bit of salted baby octopus on her rice.
"Try it like this."
"Whoa, salted seafood!"
She neatly pinched the pancake together with the salted octopus in her chopsticks and pushed the whole bite into her small mouth.
"Wow!! This is actually really good!! But Daddy, you never used to eat this stuff, did you?"
I had deliberately left high-sodium food off the table because it wasn't good for you. But things were different now. The excuse was that my daughter was an adult... though the real reason was that I needed a stronger flavor, so she wouldn't notice. If this was food I had prepared four days ago, Min-ah would definitely taste the difference. So I was numbing her tongue with the punch of salted seafood. Feeding my daughter something bad for her body just to make a lie succeed... it didn't sit well with me.
"I figured now that you're an adult, a little bit wouldn't hurt."
"Ah... thanks, Daddy! You're the only one who ever thinks about me like that!! Oh — did you know this, Daddy?"
"Hm?"
"Even when they served salted seafood when I ate out, I never touched it."
"Why not?"
"Because you told me not to."
Min-ah looked at me and flashed a bright, open smile. That was the kind of good girl she was. And then, out of nowhere, a thought struck me. The feeling that at any moment, she might vanish from my side. Yes. Maybe it was because she had grown that much. Was this what it meant to be a father?
But it was the natural order of things. Parents die someday. A person needs family for as long as they live. My daughter, too, would eventually need a partner she could spend her life with. And for that to happen, a father had to know how to loosen his grip.
"Aigoo, my sweet girl."
"I'm good because Daddy's good."
"That's not—"
Before I could finish, she had already stacked pancake with salted octopus and held it out toward my mouth.
"Here. Daddy has to eat the good stuff too. Aaah~"
My lovely daughter. A single shaft of light in a life that had been miserable. A rush of feeling hit me in the head, and I took the bite she offered.
Mm.
"How is it? It's good, right? Right?"
"Yeah. It is. It's good."
"Heheh...! I love seeing Daddy smile!"
Nothing made me happier than that unspoiled smile of hers. I couldn't keep the doting father's grin off my face. And just like that, another happy evening slipped by.
Min-ah had been buried in her bowl for a good while, eating with gusto, when something seemed to occur to her. She lifted her head.
"Oh, right, Daddy. I got appointed class president?"
"Did you really?"
A smile spread across my face all on its own. I wanted her to learn how the world worked from as many angles as possible. I knew firsthand how hard it had been, walking into society after a life spent only studying. If she did something like student council — society in miniature — I figured she would be able to find her way even without me.
"That's wonderful! How did it happen?"
"The General Student Council President picked me. She said I'd do a good job."
Of course. A girl like my daughter was the kind of talent anyone would want to get their hands on.
"Are you okay with it, Daddy?"
"Hm? Okay with what?"
"If I do student council, I might come home late. You won't be lonely?"
She made a slightly sulky face. Ah. She'd wanted me to look at least a little disappointed. I stroked her hair.
"But that means you were the most recognized freshman there, doesn't it? My daughter, acknowledged out in the world... I'm so proud of you."
"R-right?"
Her face went red.
"So even if I get a little less time with you, Daddy isn't lonely. Don't you worry about that."
"...Okay, Daddy. Thank you."
She came to me and sank into my arms. It felt like a slightly oversized cat burrowing into my chest.
"I'll do well in college too."
"You will."
"I'll grow up properly, become a real adult, and..."
The arms around me tightened.
"I'll become an adult Daddy can recognize."
The nuance felt a little off.
"Daddy has always recognized you, you know."
"I mean as an adult... Daddy."
She squirmed. Buried in my arms, my daughter's body felt strange for a moment. Baek Ah-rin. Why... why did this feel like when I had been holding Ah-rin?
You animal... you bastard.
A wave of disgust at myself ate through my head. To hide it, I had no choice but to hold my daughter even tighter — just to buy myself time to get the look off my face.
"Good night, sweetheart."
"You too, Daddy."
The door clicked shut.
Min-ah let out a breath. Her face darkened.
Just now... what was that taste on Daddy's lips?
It had been tiny. Vanishingly tiny.
Or was it? Did I imagine it?
Eun-hyeok had showered the moment he got home, so she wouldn't catch on. He had brushed his teeth too. And even so, Min-ah had caught it — that infinitesimal difference. That faint taste lingering on the lips that had kissed Ah-rin.
It's weird... there's clearly no trace of another woman in the house, but...
Of course, it had been far too faint for her to be sure, so she started looking for other evidence. The living room. The bathroom. The master bedroom. Even the study. But there was not a single trace of another woman.
Maybe I'm just being hypersensitive...
Min-ah decided she was being too sensitive. The part of her that wanted to believe in her father was stronger. And more than anything... after four days apart, her father looked, for reasons she couldn't name, so much more like a man. The female hormones inside her had begun responding to the male scent Eun-hyeok was giving off.
"Hahh... I... I can't take it."
She slipped a hand down the front of her pajama pants. She wasn't wearing anything underneath. If she touched herself now, she would soak through in seconds, no question.
"Daddy... you're so hot... of course you are..."
She didn't give a thought to cleaning up afterward. She pushed her index and middle fingers into her pussy.
Squish.
"Hhn... ah!"
Eun-hyeok's male scent, amplified by what Ah-rin had done to him. And in answer to it, his daughter Min-ah's fingers began to move.