Kim Do-yoon
Kim Do-yoon
I didn't believe in the expression "pioneering a new market."
In a large corporation, "new market" was usually just a polite term for a market that no one wanted to take responsibility for.
"This time, the company is seriously considering entering the demi-human living zones."
Department Head Choi, standing in front of the conference room, pressed the remote.
A map of Seoul appeared on the screen.
Different colored zones were superimposed over the familiar administrative districts.
It had been about 30 years since the demi-humans, who had lived while hiding their identities from humans, officially revealed their existence.
Legally, they were the same citizens of the Republic of Korea.
But their lives hadn't become the same.
Most lived within living zones formed by their respective species.
Hospitals, schools, restaurants, and the goods they used were all handled within those zones.
It wasn't that humans couldn't enter, but not many people visited them casually like tourist spots.
The same went for the opposite.
Encountering a demi-human in the middle of Seoul wasn't as common as the news or advertisements made it seem.
Dating or marriage was even rarer.
It wasn't illegal.
It was just rare.
And rare occurrences were always followed by more attention than necessary.
"Until now, we've been passive because it was difficult to estimate the market size. But recently, companies within the living zones have shown an increasing movement to trade directly with human companies."
On the next screen, bar graphs popped up densely.
I checked the small text at the bottom right before the numbers.
Estimated value.
Insufficient sample size.
Additional verification required.
In short, it meant they didn't know.
"The problem is that previous attempts to enter the market haven't been very good," said Section Chief Park from across the table.
"The product specifications didn't match, and there were many complaints during the customer service process. The previous company didn't consider the differences between species at all..."
Department Head Choi slowly looked around the conference room.
I lowered my head a bit more, pretending to read the materials.
I couldn't afford to make eye contact for no reason.
Anyone could see this was a rotten rope.
The silence that had settled in the conference room was also because no one wanted to take on this job.
"Assistant Manager Kim."
Too late.
I raised my head.
"Yes, Department Head-nim."
"What do you think?"
The gazes in the conference room gathered all at once.
My throat was dry.
Honestly, I knew nothing.
I didn't even know how to safely say that I knew nothing.
"Since I have no experience with demi-human trade, it's difficult for me to say for sure."
"Didn't you say your wife works on a related platform? I think you'd do well."
"My wife's job and my work are separate."
I answered immediately, which was rare.
"Of course they're separate. I'm not saying to steal information."
Department Head Choi gave a good-natured smile.
It wasn't that he was telling me to steal information, but his face said I should at least get some advice.
"Just do the market research for now. Full-scale sales will come after we set a direction. Assistant Manager Kim, you're good at dealing with people, aren't you?"
I looked for words to refuse.
But there was no way I could refuse when he singled me out like this.
If I'm told to do it, I do it.
That was the life of an office worker like me.
Department Head Choi was preparing to move to the next screen.
The meeting was effectively over.
"......Understood."
Eventually, those words came out.
"I will organize it within the scope I can check by next week."
Department Head Choi nodded satisfactorily.
"Good. Then we'll conclude that Assistant Manager Kim will take charge of entering the demi-human residential zones."
There was no applause after the meeting ended.
It wasn't something to celebrate in the first place.
I tucked the newly received file under my arm and left the conference room.
When I returned to my desk, thirteen unread emails had piled up.
Pioneering a new market was a new task, but that didn't make my existing tasks disappear.
"Haa......."
I had to focus if I didn't want to work overtime.
I was barely able to leave the office when it neared 9 PM.
It was a little past 10 PM when I arrived home.
When I pressed the front door passcode, I heard footsteps from inside.
"You're here?"
Yuna smiled brightly.
She was wearing a white shirt and jeans.
The shirt sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, and she had a light pink apron tied over it.
A few strands of her long hair had fallen down by her cheeks, as if she had tied it up in a hurry.
It seemed she had started preparing dinner as soon as she got home without even changing her clothes.
Even in that outfit, it suited her excessively well.
She was truly pretty whenever I saw her.
I sometimes thought I had married a wife who was out of my league.
Yuna made friends easily and was good at her job.
She was the kind of person who would check her husband's arrival time and come out to the entrance to smile at him even after working all day.
Even by my own estimation, I was an ordinary office worker with nothing special.
It had been half a year since we got married, but the fact that Yuna chose me was still sometimes amazing.
"Why are you standing there?"
Yuna asked.
"Just because."
"You were thinking something weird again, right?"
"I wasn't."
As I stepped inside the house, Yuna took a step closer.
And she gently tugged on my tie, making me lean down.
Yuna's lips lightly touched my cheek.
It was a short kiss.
The tension in my shoulders eased a little.
"I'm home."
I said the greeting I always did, albeit late.
"Welcome home."
Yuna answered as if satisfied.
"Go wash your hands first. I'll heat up the soup."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"You must have had a hard day, I should at least do this much."
When I came out after washing my hands, soybean paste stew, steamed eggs, and stir-fried anchovies were on the table.
It wasn't a grand dinner.
This was better to eat after getting off work late.
Yuna sat next to me, not across from me.
When we bought the dining table for our newlywed home, we bought four chairs thinking we'd sit across from each other.
The seats we actually used were always two.
"So, what's wrong?"
"What do you mean, what's wrong?"
"You worked overtime, and your expression isn't good. Did something happen?"
"Well..."
I explained what happened in the meeting one by one.
Entering the demi-human residential zone.
Market research that no one wanted to take on.
But Department Head Choi pinpointed me, even though I had no relevant experience.
"...That's a big deal. Really."
"Yeah. It's a big deal."
"Should I help you? I can tell you what to avoid when dealing with demi-humans."
"Is that okay?"
"That much is fine. I'm your wife."
Yuna said that and smiled bashfully.
Truly, I had married a wife who was out of my league.
As I was thinking that again.
"So, about that..."
"Yeah?"
"Doyoon-ah. I'm going to go wash up first."
My wife calling my name means one of two things.
One is that she's really angry.
The other is.
A signal to spend time in bed together.
Yuna's face was flushed red.
The look in my wife's eyes, which had been talking to me softly while worrying about me just a moment ago, had changed strangely.
The slender nape of her neck, revealed between the shirt collars, looked exceptionally white and prominent.
I put down my spoon and swallowed hard.
"...Yeah."
"I'll go in and wash up first, so take your time eating and cleaning up before you come in, okay?"
Yuna checked my reaction and smiled sweetly as if satisfied.
I stared blankly at my wife's back as she untied her apron and hung it on the dining chair.
The soft curve of her hips revealed over her jeans particularly caught my eye.
Not long after Yuna went into the master bedroom's bathroom, the fragrant scent of body wash, along with hazy steam, seeped into the living room through the gap in the door.
I hurriedly shoved the remaining rice into my mouth.
Without even knowing what it tasted like, I chewed and swallowed it roughly and stacked the dishes crudely in the sink.
Usually, I would have finished washing the dishes thoroughly, but I didn't have the luxury for that right now.
When I opened the master bedroom door, Yuna's figure came into view, lying naked on the bed, shyly hugging a pillow with "YES" printed on the chest.
"......."
Gulp.
My Adam's apple moved naturally.
Yuna's snow-white naked body, which I never easily got used to no matter how many times I saw it.
Her skin, flushed peach-colored from just having showered, was dizzying.
Only the red "YES" cushion she was hugging tightly to her chest was barely covering my wife's intimate areas.
As soon as I opened the door and entered, Yuna blushed deeply and clutched the corner of the cushion tightly with her fingertips.
I walked slowly to the side of the bed.
While I looked down at my wife, unbuttoning my shirt one by one, the sensation of my lower half heavily expanding was vividly transmitted.
The fatigue that had worn me out at work during the day seemed to fly away in an instant before that defenseless and explicit posture.
"You worked hard today. My dear husband..."
Not stopping there, Yuna said shyly and gently spread her legs.
The smooth hips and the fair skin of her inner thighs, revealed below the cushion, were fully exposed.
"Yuna, you really......."
"R-really what? Do you hate it?"
Yuna bit her lip and looked up at me slightly.
That unique, heat-filled gaze of hers, trying to observe my every reaction while being shy.
That, I liked so much.
"No. I like it so much."
I tossed my shirt roughly onto the bedside table and overlapped my body on top of Yuna's.
When I pushed aside the red heart cushion Yuna was holding, my wife's soft skin, which had been hidden, completely filled my vision.
"Mm...."
At my voice, Yuna barely nodded and gently wrapped her arms around my shoulders.
There were no special techniques or provocative positions like usual.
In the most familiar and standard position, I took my place between Yuna's thighs.
The soft warmth of my wife, which had already started to seep out little by little through the gap of her spread legs, touched the tip of my member.
"Doyoon-ah...."
"Yeah."
"It's warm...."
As always, a wholesome and warm time of caring for each other.
"Mm. Mm..."
Yuna leaned her forehead on my shoulder and quietly swayed her body to the rhythm of my movements.
Instead of provocative or breathless moans, only the small gasps she swallowed back into her throat occasionally tickled my ears.
The final moment came not long after.
"Yuna...!"
"Yeah. Cum inside me..."
As always, I ejaculated plenty of semen inside Yuna.
A time full of love spent with my beloved wife.
But why is it?
"......."
A ticklish sense of regret, as if something was incompletely burned, remained inside me.
"...Hehe. That was good."
"Me too."
Yuna also smiled bashfully in my arms and told me it was good.
It seemed a strange shadow similar to mine was slightly visible on Yuna's face too.
We both knew.
The fact that the physical conversation we just shared hadn't satisfied each other's thirst at all.
But what of it?
It's good enough even if it doesn't satisfy everything.
"Doyoon-ah."
As I was enjoying the lingering feeling.
Rustle.
Pulling up the blanket, Yuna burrowed deeper into my arms.
"Yeah, Yuna."
"We...... why don't we have a baby? Even at the hospital, they just say we're both extremely healthy."
The usual playfulness was completely gone from Yuna's voice.
A serious, somewhat sunken tone.
I carefully stroked Yuna's shoulder and said comfortingly.
"Let's not be too impatient. They say it happens when you're relaxed. It's not like there's some secret, we just need to try harder."
"Trying harder......."
Yuna repeated my words in a low voice.
Then, suddenly, she hugged my neck tightly and pressed her body against me.
"Oppa."
Yuna called me Oppa.
It was a title she almost never used after we got married, one that only came out when she was extremely excited or when she was throwing a huge tantrum.
"Yeah. What's wrong?"
"I. Really want to make a baby with Oppa."
"I'm the same. So...."
"Yeah. So. Can't we... try a little harder?"
"Try harder?"
Judging by Yuna's tone, is she suggesting we go to a clinic or something together?
I listened to Yuna's words while thinking that, but what followed far exceeded my expectations.
"Please. Oppa... I want you to get fucked by my friend. Okay?"