Putting a Collar on a Cat's Neck

Getting confirmation is terrifying.

It had always been that way, even back in school.

I knew perfectly well that if it were Mom, she would tell me I'd done a good job—that even if I'd bombed a test far worse than this, I could just do better next ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time, and she would gently soothe me.

And yet, somehow, showing her my report card had always been so hard.

Maybe it was precisely because she was such a kind person that it scared me even more.

It was the same with Seung-chul oppa.

"Huff, huff…!"

"Oh, Seol-ah."

Objectively speaking, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠believed that if I confessed, Oppa would accept me.

But if you asked me whether that would truly be because he loved me and chose me… no. Of course not.

I'd followed Unnie's advice and played hard-to-get with everything I had, and he'd given me zero reaction.

He simply didn't see me as a romantic prospect.

Maybe if I were just some female he felt like groping and fondling now and then, it would be different.

"Oppa…."

"Whoa, look at all that sweat. Your friend came looking for you, Seol-ah. Is that why you're like this?"

"D-did Su-yeon unnie say anything…?"

"…? Not really? We just didn't have much to talk about, so I showed her around the house a little."

It wasn't that I thought that was a bad thing.

Romance and lust were similar emotions, yet they were also clearly distinct.

If anything, I was the worst person here for using hypnosis to exploit Oppa's feelings like that.

In other words, this was a sandcastle built wrong from the very foundation.

"If that's all, then I'm glad… hah."

"Ah, sorry. Your hair was a total mess from the sweat. You're an adult now, and I treated you too much like a kid. That must've bothered you."

"N-no…!"

"Hm?"

"I don't mind. I-I'm basically like your little sister, right? I think this much is perfectly fine."

"Uh… is that so?"

"Yes."

So I couldn't give up the place I had now.

A position where he could dote on me just enough, and where I was allowed to receive that affection.

Maybe even if Oppa dated someone and got married, I wouldn't have to lose a spot like this.

I almost wished I'd been born a dog or a cat.

Then I could nuzzle my cheek against him and ask him to stroke my head without worrying about how it looked.

"You've been avoiding me a bit lately…. I wondered if maybe you'd gotten a boyfriend."

"M-m-me?"

"You haven't?"

"How would I even date anyone……."

"Why not. If I were you, Seol-ah, I'd be pretty confident I could snag a boyfriend by the end of today."

"……."

I thought it again: getting confirmation was terrifying.

Stepping out of the safe space of little sister and big brother into the utterly unstable position of a woman who confessed and a man who received that confession—that was simply too frightening.

Even if it led somewhere good, I would probably keep being scared.

I was just born that kind of person.

"Well, anyway, it's not that you've started hating me, right?"

"No…."

"Then don't go running away from me anymore. We were never super close or anything, but we're still on speaking terms, aren't we? We're going to keep living together. Right?"

"…… Yes."

"Good. Sorry for grabbing you. Go on inside."

"What about you, Oppa?"

"Ajumma asked me to take care of something. I'll be right back."

So I couldn't confess.

And making Oppa confess to me first would, I was sure, be even harder than I imagined.

Did that mean I had to keep living as his little sister forever?

Wasn't I allowed to at least satisfy my own desires a little?

Conveniently enough, the perfect tool was already in my hands.

If we couldn't become a couple who loved each other, then I still wanted even a one-sided relationship.

If I put a collar on him…….

Illnesses were meant to be cured.

Even knowing it was wrong, when an easy method sat right there within reach, I chose it anyway.

I'm sorry, Oppa.

Please don't hate me for this.

Evening arrived.

Ajumma, thrilled about leaving work early for once; Yuki, who'd claimed she had plans yet come home early; Seol-ah and Seol-ah's friend, who wandered out of their room after playing; and, finally, just plain Seo Ji-young for good measure.

I found myself sitting down to dinner with no fewer than five women.

There hadn't been any clause about this when I took the boarding-house job, but before I knew it I'd become the meal guy out of a simple desire to help somehow.

I was a little nervous about whether I could actually please the palates of women averaging twenty-seven years old.

And the result:

"Hey, Ha Seung-chul."

"Yeah?"

"What the hell did you put in this rice?"

"…? Nothing?"

"What is this. It's ridiculously good today."

Looks like my SSR-tier cooking skill had activated.

I might actually be quite the ideal wife material.

Wait—was "ideal wife" even a term you used for men?

I was a science major. I wouldn't know.

"Su-yeon-ah, eat this too~ It's so nice watching you enjoy your food."

"Thank you. But I'm not just being polite—it's genuinely delicious. I don't usually like Korean food that much…."

For the record, In-ha ajumma currently had a grin stretching from ear to ear.

That was because Su-yeon had asked whether she was Seol-ah's older sister.

Well, she definitely didn't look anywhere near her forties.

"But did you make all of this yourself, Ajumma?"

"Huh? Well…."

"Th-this is actually Oppa's cooking……. Right?"

"Mm-hmm. Seung-chul did everything, really. Ajumma doesn't have much talent for cooking……."

With those words, every gaze in the room swung toward me.

The friend named Su-yeon still wasn't used to my face, so the with that mug? look never quite left her expression—but that was fine.

Whether it was my body or my cooking, receiving positive attention from women was always a pleasure.

Maybe this was the payoff for grinding eighteen months as a cook in the military.

Still, I figured I should toss out a little humility here.

"You cook well too, Ajumma. You even ran a restaurant."

"That was just me diligently assembling whatever the head office sent over. And I closed that place years ago…."

"Whoa, Oppa made this? Yuki always just said thank you to the landlady unnie for the side dishes…!"

"Well, she did give me the card……. Doesn't it make more sense to thank Ajumma?"

That much was true.

Without the building owner's card, I would've been stuck at the level of bachelor cooking at best.

When you dump premium ingredients into a dish, it's actually hard to make it taste bad.

"Well… if you'd like, I could pack some for you? Not sure I'm allowed to just decide that on my own, though."

"Seung-chul made it, so it's your call~ Ajumma's fine with it, so go ahead."

"R-really? Then I'll shamelessly take you up on that…."

"Didn't you say your unnie's fridge has zero space left?"

"I can just throw out that garbage food."

"…… Hmph."

Heh.

Praise really was nice, though.

For a second I thought about how lately the only things I did were loan out my dick and cook, which basically made me a 2026-edition Dolswe—but even Dolswe would have bowed and scraped if it meant three hundred after taxes a month plus free oral.

Next time I should try baking too.

"Thank you so much! I'll make sure to savor every bite…!"

"If you run out, you're always welcome to come back. This is pretty much the only thing I do around the house anyway. But you came because you had something to talk about with Seol-ah, right? Did you get that sorted out?"

"Ah, that…. She said she'd handle it herself…? Um, Seung-chul oppa, actually."

"……?"

"N-never mind. Please tell Seol-ah to hang in there…! I really enjoyed the meal…!"

She left with a strangely guilty look on her face, but I still felt like I'd done a decent job hosting Seol-ah's friend.

"Seol-ah."

"Yes?"

"That friend earlier told me to tell you to hang in there. Did something happen?"

"… I'm cutting that unnie off."

"Uh."

… Or not?

Well, it felt less like genuine fury and more like she was sulking, so I figured the girls would sort it out among themselves.

Anyway, once dinner was over it was dessert time.

Tonight's menu was fruit and wine that Ajumma had apparently received from somewhere.

Obviously I hadn't contributed a single thing to this part, but between the delicious dinner and the delicious fruit, the warm, cheerful atmosphere kept rolling along.

That atmosphere, however, was shattered into pieces by a single remark from Ajumma once the wine had put a flush in her cheeks.

"Whoever ends up marrying Seung-chul is going to be so lucky~ A husband who can cook, who's tall, and handsome. Right?"

"……."

"……."

"Hmm, true."

Seol-ah looked oddly pale.

Seo Ji-young was scrunching up her face for reasons I genuinely couldn't parse.

And Yuki, looking like she'd just been handed free material, at least played along with a response.

Hey, nobody asked anyone to marry me.

No need to react that coldly.

And Ajumma, when it came to this kind of thing, had even less social awareness than I did.

"But Seung-chul, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Me? Nope. And aren't we banned from dating……?"

"Hm? That just means you shouldn't have one when you move in. As long as you don't meet someone inside the boarding house, Ajumma doesn't mind~ It was a long time ago, but I got married at your age and had Seol-ah. You're not still a virgin, are you?"

"M-Mom…!"

"What~ Yuki's curious too~?"

"……."

"Uh, well."

A virgin… I wasn't, exactly.

But every single time, I'd been the one getting milked while under hypnosis.

Yuki had casually probed me about it last time, and she clearly had zero memory of ever touching my dick back then.

Which meant I had to play along the same way.

I felt a bit like the ace of a red-light district who was still coyly pretending she didn't know the first letter of the word "man."

It wasn't that entertaining.

"It's a little embarrassing, but… I don't have any experience yet."

"My, really? Should Ajumma introduce you to a few girls?"

"Ah, no. I'm fine."

"…… I'll head up first. Thanks for the meal."

Seo Ji-young stood up with her face screaming I am extremely pissed off.

And as she climbed the stairs to the second floor, she threw me a look like she wanted to murder me for free.

Well, fair enough—she'd given me her virginity, so hearing me claim I was pure as snow would be pretty infuriating.

Of course if we were assigning fault, mine was zero and hers was a hundred, but still.

"Too bad~ Yuki likes men who can cook~"

"……."

This barely-legal gyaru bitch (virgin) was saying that while slowly tracing the tip of her foot along my leg under the table.

It didn't seem entirely serious, but I was still grateful she at least didn't have the hypnosis app.

If she did, I might actually have gotten myself a kid out of it.

And last of all—

Han Seol-ah.

"…… Mom."

"Hmm?"

"Can I have some more?"

"Of course you can~ You're always allowed to drink a lot in front of Mom. Plus we're home, aren't we?"

I don't think that's a good idea, Seol-ah's mother.

If you knew what she did last time she got drunk, you'd faint on the spot.

Separately from that, the memory of the movie theater made my dick start lifting its head, but I was still worried—worried was worried.

And bad premonitions usually turned out to be right.

"Mmm……."

I myself had downed a few glasses of wine and was lying in bed in a pleasant haze, trying to fall asleep.

But whether it was a restless dream or something else, I woke up halfway through.

Since I was up anyway and my throat was a bit dry, I thought I'd get some water—

… Huh?

Still lying down, I glanced slightly downward.

Clink-clink.

There were handcuffs locked around my wrists.

"Ah, you're awake."

"…… Seol-ah?"

"Yes~. It's me."

I really needed to put this girl on a drinking ban.

If she kept being this reckless, my heart wasn't going to survive.

At least give me a normal command or something.

Outdoor play last time, and now handcuff play?

"C-could you unlock these first."

"Nnngh…. I'm not going to do anything bad to you, Oppa. It's going to feel so good."

It would feel good, sure.

I had maybe one gram of pride to my name, so reverse-rape play? Fine ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by me.

But it was still uncomfortable.

Unlock them.

"I prepared this too…."

"……."

What the hell is that choker.

Seol-ah, that is not it.

If I walked around with something like that on my face, I'd look like a genuine suspicious pervert, you know?

But then—

Click.

Despite my desperate inner screaming, Seol-ah ultimately fastened that dog-collar-like thing around a neck.

Not mine—her own.

"…… Huh?"

"I told you it would feel really good for you, Oppa. Come on, look here……."

…… No, hang on.

If you're going to make me do something like this, at least don't put the handcuffs on me first.