Suspicious Proposal
It's the same dream I always have. Park Jun-hyun realized it was a dream the moment it started.
The horrific nightmare that plunged him into terror every time he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
"Ahahaha!"
His girlfriend's cheerful laughter rang out. They chatted about trivial nonsense with no real meaning, spending time together like any other couple, building memories.
"Why that face?"
Choi Ara teased him with a faint smile, as if his expression was strange. What was so funny about his face? He couldn't smile like the version of her from his memories because he knew how this dream ended.
"Nah."
Park Jun-hyun replied in a deflated voice and let the time pass. Until recently, it had been a peaceful, boring date that dragged on endlessly. Now, like the setting sun, darkness crept into the surroundings, gradually enveloping the two of them. The brilliant past they could never return to was coming to an end.
"Ara noona."
"Yeah? Jun-hyun-ah."
It was definitely a dream. When they were alone, he called his girlfriend Ara instead of Ara noona, but she responded without any sense of discomfort at the change.
"Nah... just... sorry..."
Park Jun-hyun uttered the apology he'd repeated countless times in his mind.
"Sorry for wha...?"
As the surroundings grew darker, his girlfriend's figure blurred and faded into the distance. Her voice broke up like a bad phone connection coming from far away. "Sorry for wha...t...?"
Soon, complete darkness fell, and an eerie silence descended.
"Hoo... hoo... hoo..."
Park Jun-hyun huddled up, pale with fear, breathing heavily. He plugged his ears with both hands, bracing for the tragedy to come.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Hmph?! Mmph...! Grk!!!"
From afar came lewd impact sounds and muffled feminine moans.
"Hng...? Ah, ah, aaa...? W-wait...! Wait?!"
The stifled moans gradually turned into the voice of his precious girlfriend, Choi Ara. Her desperate pleas grew closer...
"No! Aaagh! Nooooo! Jun-hyun-ah! Jun-hyun-aa! Save me! Save meeee!!!"
Her ear-splitting screams tore through the dark void. Right beside him echoed the obscene thuds and his girlfriend's desperate cries. Tears streaming down his face, Park Jun-hyun turned his gaze aside to see his beloved girlfriend pinned down by a shadowy, amorphous monster, being raped.
He reached out to help her, but his hand couldn't reach. The despair and guilt of her being right there yet untouchable swallowed him whole in an instant.
"Not inside! Don't cum inside! Aaagh! No! Please!"
No matter how hard he plugged his ears, her desperate pleas reverberated through his body, confronting him with the guilt he felt.
The rippling shadow atop Choi Ara, thrusting its hips and raping his precious girlfriend, began to take shape into a man—Kim Il-woo, Choi Ara's childhood friend.
'This guy again.'
It was the same dream, but at some point, the black shadow raping his girlfriend had started wearing Kim Il-woo's face. It was the form born from Park Jun-hyun's jealousy and envy. Kim Il-woo's shadow stared straight at him, slamming his hips down as if declaring your girlfriend is mine, grinning wickedly.
The monster wearing Kim Il-woo's face drove his hips harder than ever, shoving his black cock root-deep into his girlfriend's innermost depths.
Splat!
"Ah...?!"
With a crisp thud like striking a sandbag made of meat and his girlfriend's dazed little voice, silence suddenly enveloped everything.
"Haa! Haa! Haa!"
In the darkness, Park Jun-hyun collapsed to the floor, drooling tears and saliva, gasping for breath. The moment he squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his hands over his ears, unable to endure any longer, a bloodcurdling scream shook the space.
"Kyaeeeeek!!!"
His girlfriend's pathetic, heartrending wail slapped him like a solid form, jolting him awake from the dream.
"Aaagh!"
Park Jun-hyun bolted awake with a scream, as always. Drenched in cold sweat, his sticky body heaved with ragged breaths as he looked around. It was the research lab where he worked with his professor.
"Ah..."
He realized he'd fallen asleep in the lab again, too scared to go home. He got up from the makeshift bed provided there.
"Hooo..."
Exhaling hot breaths like after a marathon, he dragged his fatigue-heavy body to the bathroom. Splashing cold water on his face cleared his mind a bit, but the mirror reflected a man's face etched with inescapable exhaustion.
"Get it together."
He had to stay strong for his wounded girlfriend. Things hadn't been like this before, but since Choi Ara's rape, his emotions were out of control. He scared himself with how rude and violent he was becoming even toward his girlfriend, who didn't appreciate his efforts.
It hadn't been long since Choi Ara's mother, Lee Seo-yoon, thanked him profusely for helping her daughter and begged him earnestly.
"Thank you so much for helping our Ara. I know it's shameless to ask, but... please don't give up on my daughter."
Lee Seo-yoon's face, entrusting her precious daughter to a rude punk like him, held the same desperation she felt.
"Timing's awkward to get back together now."
Feeling obsessed about not wasting this last chance from her mother, Park Jun-hyun brewed hot coffee. The aroma wafted to his nose, but with no leisure or mindset left to enjoy it, he dove back into his time machine research—potentially his girlfriend's salvation.
Like that, unleashing terrifying focus all day like a madman, a visitor arrived for Park Jun-hyun.
"Hey."
It was Kim Il-woo, Choi Ara's childhood friend and the man gnawing at his nerves lately. Seeing the one guy he least wanted to face show up voluntarily, an unbearable disgust rose on Park Jun-hyun's face.
"Let's talk."
"I got nothing to say to you, Il-woo hyung."
His heart raced with anger, and sharp words he could hardly believe came from his own mouth issued a blunt dismissal.
Truth be told, putting up with him this much was impressive. He'd seen his confused girlfriend kiss this guy willingly right in front of him—treating him like "hyung" was already more than enough courtesy.
At the same time, Park Jun-hyun felt his emotions slipping even without Ara there, frowning.
'It's getting worse.'
He knew he was losing control but couldn't stop it—that was the real problem. As he pondered seeing a psychiatrist soon, Kim Il-woo dangled enticing bait.
"It's about Ara. You got time."
Park Jun-hyun, turning back to the lab, froze at her name, glaring with bloodshot eyes before nodding.
"If you're wasting my time with bullshit, you're on your own."
"It's a good deal for you too, don't worry."
Kim Il-woo chuckled as if amused, leading Park Jun-hyun to a nearby café.
"What'll you have? My treat."
"Don't wanna owe you anything, and I already get paid anyway."
"Oh... didn't know that."
The gap between an ordinary college student and a prodigy standing shoulder-to-shoulder with professors in his field. Park Jun-hyun felt a sliver of his crushed pride recover as he grabbed a drink and sat in the corner.
"So, what brings you here?"
Park Jun-hyun adopted a half-hearted attitude, just hearing him out. Kim Il-woo ignored the rudeness, slurped his drink, and got to the point.
"You're researching a time machine, right?"
Park Jun-hyun flinched, his guard up at the revelation of his project.
"How do you know that?"
Even in its infancy, it was a tightly secured project with renowned professors. He hadn't even told his girlfriend Ara or his family—where had this guy heard it?
'Did I slip up?'
There was a chance he'd let something slip chatting with Ara, but the idea that she'd share it with him bothered him more.
"Skip how I know. I think I can help with that research."
Kim Il-woo dodged the source while boldly claiming a mere mortal could assist.
As expected, Park Jun-hyun bristled at the invasion of his domain. "What bullshit! You think that makes sense?!"
Self-praise aside, Park Jun-hyun's mind was brilliant. Barely an adult with no status or power, he was still a rising star in his field.
"Of course I don't have a genius brain like you or those professors. Just offering a little help."
"Don't need it."
A time machine defied time itself. If developed, it'd etch his name in history. Even solidifying the basics would bring fame, so he hated randos meddling. Probably useless ideas or impractical knowledge anyway.
"I don't know shit about the time part. So I brought ideas for the battery or energy components."
"I said I don't need it!"
He almost snapped that he shouldn't waste time with trash ideas, but held back thinking of Choi Ara. He hated the guy hanging around her, but treated him as one helping mend her wounds—nothing more, nothing less.
"Just take a look. It's my battery blueprint."
"No, I said don't nee...d...?"
Park Jun-hyun's irritated eyes widened in shock at the casually proffered blueprint.
"Gimme that."
A quick glance revealed an incredibly detailed, excellent design unbelievable from a college student.
'This could actually work.'
He'd need to verify back at the lab, but it was legit.
'He spots it right away.'
Kim Il-woo had brought the exact battery blueprint future Park Jun-hyun had made. As expected, even young, that sharp mind recognized its value and freaked out.
"So? Helpful?"
"...Yeah. I admit it."
Park Jun-hyun conceded honestly. He was focused on the time machine core now, but compact batteries for maintaining traveler form or return energy were essential. This could slash development time.
"Straight up: why bring this to me?"
Batteries had standalone value, especially high-efficiency ones for time machines—universally applicable. He suspected ulterior motives from a guy who could design something this advanced.
Kim Il-woo, handed the blueprint from the future, didn't grasp its full worth in Park Jun-hyun's eyes. His goal was lust, nothing more, so the suspicion felt odd.
"Nothing big. For Ara."
"For Ara?"
"Yeah. You're holed up in that lab for the same reason, right? Build a time machine to stop her rape."
Park Jun-hyun paled, almost fearing the man who saw right through him. Kim Il-woo sipped his drink, puzzled by the growing wariness.
"Why so guarded? We're both dogs panting after her."
"D-dogs...?"
Park Jun-hyun was appalled by the crude word.
"Cut the crap. You gave up when you became her boyfriend... but seeing her suffer lately, I can't trust you."
Kim Il-woo chose mocking words to rile him.
"What the fu—!"
As expected, Park Jun-hyun lost it and nearly yelled, but Kim Il-woo cut him off sharply. "This is a declaration of war. Do it right, or I'll take Ara."
A preemptive strike already fired deep into his girlfriend's womb, now this declaration. Park Jun-hyun couldn't hold back, slamming the table and grabbing Kim Il-woo's collar. He raised his fist to punch the bastard declaring he'd steal her, but Kim Il-woo continued calmly, unflinching.
"You keep researching to save Ara, and you can care for her too, right?"
"You psycho...! Why should I listen to you?"
He hated obeying a guy vowing to take his girlfriend.
"You're her boyfriend, aren't you? Can't even protect her, so shoulder this much at least."
"Urk...!"
Sophistry. But it crushed him with guilt and responsibility.
"Even a normie like me made this battery design, so genius you can do better, right? If you care for Ara, improve it and bring a prototype."
"..."
Park Jun-hyun opened his mouth to refuse but couldn't speak. Trash who wanted to steal another man's girl, yet he'd wracked his average brain for Ara to produce this gem. He'd be playing into his hands, but it was true—this sped the path to saving his precious girlfriend.
'He can't refuse.'
Refusing would make him seem uncaring toward her, so he'd dance in Kim Il-woo's palm no matter how pissed.
"I take the battery rights. Let's get along, us guys who like the same girl."
Kim Il-woo claimed rights since mass-producing batteries was essential to summon his future wife repeatedly. He'd use future self and wife freely to sate his twisted lust.
Shaking off Park Jun-hyun's grip roughly, the tormented man released weakly.
'Wanna go beyond 3P to 4P.'
Kim Il-woo pondered devouring the mother-daughter duo and future wife as he left without waiting for a reply.
Suspicious as hell, but the boyfriend obsessed with saving his wounded girlfriend had no choice but to accept the offer.