Just a Friend
Her friends insisted she might feel differently now that Kang Cheol-jin had gotten handsome.
Pi Ah-reum found her friends' words strange. They'd been going on about how Kang Cheol-jin had gotten better-looking recently...
"...Wasn't he better-looking before?"
At that question, her head tilted quizzically.
Of course, that was purely Pi Ah-reum's opinion, and her friends didn't agree. Everyone at the table stared at Pi Ah-reum as if to ask what on earth she was talking about.
"Did I mishear?"
"He was better before?"
"Anyone can see he's better-looking now."
Under the barrage of questions, Pi Ah-reum called to mind Kang Cheol-jin's transformation.
"Umm..."
He'd definitely been quite chubby—no, downright plump—when they first met. Enough that his originally sharp features had been largely obscured by the extra weight.
But about a month later, he'd slimmed down nicely. Mid-April had been the peak. He was naturally tall and big-boned, so the overall impression was more bear than pig, and Pi Ah-reum had been quite fond of that look. A man ought to have some meat on his bones, and when you hug him, he should feel warm and solid—that was her personal philosophy.
Not that he looked bad now, of course. It just felt like he'd lost too much weight. If he lost any more, that cuddly, teddy-bear charm would vanish entirely.
At Pi Ah-reum's words, her friends laughed awkwardly.
"Ah-reum, your taste in men is... uh, pretty unwavering, huh?"
"Well, I mean, bear-like guys do have their niche."
"...Yeah, everyone's got their own preferences, I guess."
They clearly couldn't wrap their heads around it, but you couldn't exactly call someone weird just because of their personal taste.
They decided to steer the conversation back on track.
"Anyway, that's not the point. So, are you not interested in Cheol-jin?"
"Be honest. From what I can see, Cheol-jin likes you too."
"Yeah. He treats you differently from everyone else. He's way more natural around you, Ah-reum."
Like most people, Kang Cheol-jin's attitude shifted depending on how close he was to someone, but he was a particularly extreme case. You could tell just by how he treated Ahn Seong-hyeon—he was fundamentally a yes-man who couldn't refuse a favor, yet with Seong-hyeon he didn't hold back at all.
Among the girls, Pi Ah-reum was that person for him. With other girls he was unfailingly gentle, but with Pi Ah-reum alone, he'd tease her mischievously.
Pi Ah-reum's head tilted again.
"...If he liked me, wouldn't he treat me even better?"
Her friends thumped their chests in frustration.
"No, he's nice to everyone but snappy only with you—that's what makes it special."
"Exactly. Being unfailingly nice isn't always a good thing. It kind of feels like he's subtly drawing a line, you know?"
"Mm-hmm. When someone's only ever nice, it creates a sense of distance. Cheol-jin definitely has that thing going on."
"...The bad boy type?"
"Nah, Cheol-jin's not a bad boy."
"Just because he messes with you doesn't mean he doesn't treat you well."
"That's... true..."
Even if she'd wanted to argue otherwise, it was hard to claim Kang Cheol-jin didn't treat her well. The way he'd come running with just one phone call before—even thinking about it now, it was genuinely touching.
"Umm..."
Pi Ah-reum folded her arms and sank into thought. Naturally, the gesture emphasized her chest, which was large for her small frame, and her friends' gazes flicked toward it with envy.
But Pi Ah-reum, eyes closed, was too deep in thought to even notice those looks.
'Cheol-jin's great. Of course I like him.'
She liked him, obviously. First, his looks were her type, his personality was easygoing and kind enough, and their hobbies matched perfectly. And their sexual compatibility? She never got tired of it no matter how much they did it. The only problem was her stamina—if she could, she'd go all day.
But was that romantic feelings—
'—Right. Yeah, we've had sex, so obviously there's romantic attraction?'
Kang Cheol-jin was the opposite sex, not the same sex, wasn't he? They'd licked every inch of each other's bodies, seen every embarrassing and unseemly thing there was to see, and tangled their bodies together over and over. Of course she was attracted to him as a man.
'But it's still kind of ambiguous.'
She wasn't sure if her feelings for Kang Cheol-jin were what people called romantic love between couples.
Why wasn't she sure?
Because while she'd had sex, she'd never once been in a relationship—she was perpetually single—and if you wanted to dig deeper, it was because they'd done things in the wrong order.
Pi Ah-reum had slept with Kang Cheol-jin the very first time they met. Naturally, the reason had not been love at first sight.
She'd been dying to have sex as soon as possible, her head full of nothing else. Then Kang Cheol-jin had happened to pick up her rotor remote. That was the trigger.
He looked so utterly meek and harmless—he didn't seem like the type who'd cause trouble afterward. And since he'd already found out, she figured she might as well go all the way. The fact that Kang Cheol-jin's face was exactly her type had also played a part in her pushing things that far.
Because they'd started this relationship on impulse, without any romantic feelings, now the whole "dating" thing—boyfriend this, girlfriend that—actually felt awkward. Especially since Kang Cheol-jin had firmly stated from the start that he had no intention of dating.
It was a truly ambiguous feeling. Dating him seemed nice, but staying as they were seemed fine too? She knew full well he had lingering trauma, and she didn't want to pressure him. Anyway, for a mix of complicated reasons, she didn't feel like actively pursuing a relationship.
'Though obviously I'd hate not being able to have sex with Cheol-jin anymore.'
That was the crucial point.
Where else was she going to find equipment like that?
She'd told Kang Cheol-jin this outright before—there was no point making some guy her boyfriend in haste only to find out he was small. She'd already encountered a monster cock in her very first experience—long, thick, even pretty in shape—so some average dick wasn't going to cut it. Her standards had gotten way too high...
At that thought, Pi Ah-reum's eyes flew open.
'Wait, he's literally perfect as my man? I shouldn't let him slip away.'
Tall, bear-like and warm, good at games, a hardcore otaku she could share hobbies with, and on top of that, a skilled creator who could make VTuber avatars. Most of all, overflowing stamina and the strength to do deulbak.
The more she thought about it, the more he was nothing but pros.
He only messes with her? That's actually perfect. Having that back-and-forth banter is what makes being together fun.
"Hoh-hoh..."
Pi Ah-reum narrowed her eyes and stroked her chin as if smoothing an imaginary beard. She'd never seriously thought about it before, but there really was no better catch out there.
'I kinda want Kkangcheol to be mine? Should I ask him to marry me?'
Back when she'd just gotten into college, she'd thought she should experience as many different dicks as possible while she was young. But somehow she'd ended up encountering an endgame-tier cock on her very first meeting. If she stupidly chased variety now, she might lose what she already had—
"Ah-reum?"
"Ah, sorry."
Pi Ah-reum snapped back to attention and spoke.
"Really, Cheol-jin and I are just friends. Cheol-jin probably thinks so too."
At that predictable answer, disappointment washed over her friends' faces.
*
I parted ways with Bam Nuna and came home.
After that, I went down to the stream and ran flat-out for an hour, then hit the gym and wrecked myself on weights. Going in the evening, the place was packed as hell.
Shwaaaaaa-!
Done with the shower.
Back home, I threw myself into drawing.
Several hours passed like that.
"Euh, uwaaaaah-!"
When I stretched, my body let out a series of bbuddeuk-bbuddeuk bone-grinding sounds. I must've stayed in one position way too long.
"Whoa, I really zoned in. Let's see."
I examined the drawings I'd done over the last two hours. They were today's commission pieces. When I'd put up a post on Trickster saying I was taking commissions, the orders had flooded in like people had been holding their breath waiting.
The speed of drawing varies wildly by artist, but illustrations generally take quite a long time. That's because the whole point of illustration as a field is to pour maximum effort into a single image and bring out every detail. Some artists spend days on one picture.
But I'd cranked out five pieces in two hours. I was naturally fast-handed, but even I was surprised by this speed.
And the quality hadn't suffered either. It had actually gotten better.
"I had sex and my art skills improved..."
That wasn't just bullshit talk. Surprisingly, there was solid reasoning behind it.
My main trade had always been high-grade explicit yajjal. Naturally, that required a deep understanding of the female body, and up until now, I'd used all sorts of reference materials to draw.
But now, I didn't need to look up references. Because in my head, there were scenes more vivid than any reference could ever be. There was no way my drawing speed wouldn't pick up.
"The textures got better too, somehow. This is genuinely an unexpected gain..."
I guess learning from reference materials really is different from firsthand experience. Knowing what each part of a woman's body actually feels like—that had carried over into my art.
Honestly, it probably wasn't just the sex. Escaping my room corner and actually meeting people was likely the bigger reason. Especially how the characters' faces now had distinct personality and came alive—that had to be the main cause. One of my weak points had been that while the hairstyles and colors were different, all the character faces looked basically the same, and that issue had been resolved.
I was smiling contentedly at the drawings when it happened.
Jiiing-!
My phone buzzed. Seeing the pile of messages, I must've been so focused I hadn't heard it.
= Bam Nuna: Cheol-jin, you really can't? Please be our illustrator ㅠㅅㅠ
Most of the messages were from Bam Nuna.
I let out a bitter laugh and sent back a shaking-head emoji.
"I don't have time to draw a comic too..."
I'd turned down the request Bam Nuna had made back in the clubroom. Purely because I had no time. From school assignments to workouts, commissions, and the club animation storyboard—there was just too much to do. Yes-man or not, if I took on comic illustration on top of all that, my personal time would vanish entirely.
So I'd firmly refused Bam Nuna's request, but it seemed Nuna had no intention of giving up easily. I did feel proud that she liked my art that much, but it was also seriously awkward.
That was when it happened. The doorbell rang.
"Huh? I didn't order anything."
I'd even cut out delivery food for the diet—why was the doorbell ringing?
I opened the door.
"Ack, alcohol smell!"
A face flushed bright red raised a hand high in greeting.
"Hiiii!"
Gold-brown hair, puppy-like features.
But far too tiny to be a golden retriever.
"What brings you here?"
A drunk Pi Ah-reum had come knocking.