#23. Pioneering
#23. Pioneering
Honestly, I knew full well that the Simgiche virgin theory was total bullshit.
Who the hell in the 21st century would buy into that crap anyway.
But I wanted to crush Han Na-eun's spirit, who was stubbornly insisting she was a virgin just as she was.
I hated the pretense.
Na-eun had emphasized to me—maybe a bit excessively—that she was a virgin, but I didn't believe her.
With her top-tier looks, great fashion sense, and the fact that she could draw erotic illustrations so damn well, what reason would there be for her to be a virgin?
To her, I was just a plaything.
Nothing more, nothing less—that's what it felt like.
"Th-then... how the hell do I become a virgin?!"
At Na-eun's desperate-sounding words, I wagged my index finger side to side.
"Na-eun-ah. You're basically asking to return a product after ripping open the packaging."
I threw back some soju and let out a satisfied sigh.
"Kya~ That shit doesn't exist in this world! Na-eun-ah!"
"Fuck!"
She slammed the table with a bang.
Whoa, shit. That startled me.
"Hey... why the fuck are you swearing..."
"Just give me the soju."
She snatched the soju bottle in front of me, filled a water glass to the brim, and downed it in one go.
But why the hell was she reacting so sensitively to being called a virgin?
"Ugh... it's bitter..."
"No shit, who told you to chug it like that."
Why ruin a perfectly good expensive meal like that?
"Oppa, what you just said... you mean it?"
"What."
"That Simgiche whatever."
Hmm... Seeing her somewhat serious expression, I debated whether to tell her the truth, then decided to just spill it.
"Nah. I was just talking out of my ass."
I savored some grilled fish in my mouth and answered her.
Suddenly, Na-eun's body started trembling.
"...You used up today's quota, didn't you?"
"Live serialization is tough, so yeah, I've got 2~3 chapters stockpiled."
I usually had about 5 stacked up, but deleting the Han Na-eun Episode all at once meant I still hadn't recovered.
"Perfect. Then eat this and come home with me."
"Your place?"
Ah... so I really have to step back into that demon cave again.
"Nope. Today, I wanna go to your place. You live alone, right?"
...I don't remember telling her, so how the hell does she know?
"Oppa. Common sense says you're not holing up in a house with your family, raping women in erotic novels, right?"
Thinking about it, yeah, that would be pretty horrifying.
Imagine opening the door to call your son for dinner and finding him writing an erotic novel. One where he only rapes virgins, at that.
...If it were my kid, I'd be dizzy just thinking about it.
What should I even say?
"Quit it already? Quit this fucked-up life already?"
The sudden reality check hit me, and I let out a chuckle.
"Yeah, I live alone... Your folks would flip if they knew you were drawing erotic illustrations at home."
I pointed out that her situation wasn't much different, and her face fell awkwardly.
"Y-yeah... true."
And so the erotic novelist and the erotic illustrator sat there in silence, just sipping soju for a while.
That conversation from earlier was a fight that left nothing but wounds.
"Haa... What are we gonna do at my place? It's not as big as yours, and it'll reek of that Mosol stench you've been bitching about since morning."
I hadn't imagined having a guest, so the place wasn't even properly cleaned.
"Oppa, you make good money—don't lie."
"...Contract hasn't ended yet, so I'm just crashing there."
"I don't care. Take me anyway. You know what happens if you don't, Han Gyeo-ul-ssi?"
Hearing "Han Gyeo-ul author" in real life for the first time made me flinch and shudder every time at my pen name.
"Can't you just not call me that?"
"If you don't take me today, get ready to be called Novel World's Han Gyeo-ul-ssi at school from now on."
You fucking bitch!
"What are we doing there."
"We've gotta have a meeting."
"What meeting."
"Listen, Han Gyeo-ul-ssi. You've had meetings with me plenty already."
True... Come to think of it, we'd been business partners for illustrations for quite a while.
"Han Na-eun illustration. Not requesting it?"
Her suddenly suggesting an in-person meeting made me seriously consider switching illustrators.
"...Thinking about it."
"Huh...?"
"You're stressing me out knowing I'm Han Gyeo-ul."
She hadn't expected this reaction and started fidgeting anxiously.
"Why... why? Was my art that bad? Wasn't the Nam Ga-yeon illustration to your taste, Oppa?"
Na-eun, who was usually so bold, fiddled with her index finger nervously.
"Nah, it's not that..."
Honestly, no matter buyer and seller, I couldn't keep commissioning erotic illustrations from a female junior regularly.
"Now that I know it's you, how can I commission without feeling weird?"
"Commission me! Why not! Skill's all that matters!"
"There are tons of people dying to get your illustrations who aren't me."
That was a fact.
I'd worked with her long-term, so requesting was easy for me, but I knew people waited months for just one of her pieces.
"...You're gonna be this disloyal?"
"It's fine for someone who knows loyalty to torment a fellow industry peer like this?"
"We've seen each other's junk, so let's not."
Pfft.
Her blunt wording out of nowhere nearly made me spit out the water I was drinking.
"Ah. Don't go zero-to-hundred like that."
"You're one to talk, after shoving it down my throat."
Fair point.
That was probably the ultimate zero-to-hundred.
Might've been the biggest impulse of my life, before or since.
"Oppa. Then decide after seeing the Han Na-eun rough sketch this time."
"Hey... Isn't it harder for you to draw a character with the exact same name as you, when I commission it?"
"...You think I turned down other people just because you requested it?"
Hmm... Morally, I thought I shouldn't commission her, but business-wise, granting Na-eun's request was the right call.
Yeah... I was gonna request the Han Na-eun illustration from HNE Author anyway.
"Fine, just this once."
Na-eun let out a huge sigh of relief, looking extremely grateful.
"Then let's go. All done eating?"
The mountain of dishes had mostly vanished by now.
Honestly, more than Na-eun, it felt like I'd vacuumed most of it up because the money hurt more.
"Yeah~ Sure~"
"Thanks for treating! Oppa. Bang!"
Watching Han Na-eun wink playfully, I sighed deeply.
"300,000 won. How was the meal?"
I handed over the card, but Na-eun answered.
"Yes~ It was~ so~ de~ licious~"
...Fucking infuriating.
"Thank you. Come again~"
"Yes~"
The sun was high in the sky, but I felt a bit tipsy.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"You're really coming to my place?"
"Yes."
Na-eun stood right next to me like it was the most obvious question in the world.
"Let's just do the meeting like before—email. Wait, now we have numbers, so text."
"Screen-sharing live from each spot makes way better work come out. Oppa."
Na-eun brushed back her hair, revealing her pale neckline.
"We can look up references together in person, think about compositions while seeing them—obviously gets more satisfying results for both."
Her words sounded plausible enough...
But that means right now...
"You're saying we look at erotic illustrations in my room?"
Nod nod.
"You and me, sitting together?"
Nod nod.
...Huh.
Na-eun really saw me as some wooden doll or something.
No. But considering the performances I've pulled off so far, this setup should absolutely not be safe. At all.
"What if I get horny and try to fuck you?"
I glared down at her with the scariest face I could muster.
Nod nod.
...Huh? Nod nod to that too?
Maybe she heard my inner monologue, 'cause she suddenly shook her head vigorously.
"You're crazy? Oppa!"
"Hey. I'm not exactly Mr. Self-Control. Looking at erotic illustrations gets a physiological reaction outta me too—I'm a guy. You saw it."
"Then go handle it in the bathroom and come back out to discuss."
Why the hell would I need to go that far!
And imagining jerking off alone in my room with a girl as a guest? No way.
This was seriously no way.
"...Hey. I won't hold back. I warned you."
"Yes~ Next Mosol-ada~ I've held back my whole life~"
Maybe it was the booze, but my blood pressure felt doubled.
"Hey. Follow me, you fucking brat."
"You're cute when you act tough, Oppa."
Na-eun grinned, delivering a fresh wave of humiliation.
In the end, Na-eun and I boarded a bus toward my place, passing the motel district and arriving at my building.
I'd come this far in a tipsy haze...
"What're you doing? Open it."
Na-eun crossed her arms, urging me at the front door.
"Hey... like 5 minutes? No, 3 minutes—can you wait here?"
"Why."
"Just a quick clean-up before I let you in."
"Hmm~ Even if there's porn, it's fine~"
...That, I wouldn't delete even if you were coming.
"Just picking up trash and underwear. Wait."
I left Na-eun outside and went into my room...
But as the alcohol started wearing off bit by bit, I realized the situation was way more serious than I thought.
A... girl... in my... room...?
Even at 26, my heart started pounding pathetically fast.