Just to Try It
Just to Try It
"......."
"......."
An awkward silence hung in the air for a while.
The first to speak was Jieun.
No, it was Sera.
"At work, I only ever called you Assistant Manager Kim-nim. I never properly heard your name. Haha."
"I... guess."
My answer was pathetic too.
Sera forced a laugh, but the corners of her mouth trembled awkwardly.
The finger pushing up her glasses was shaking slightly.
Yuna looked back and forth between the two of us.
To ease the awkward atmosphere, I cautiously opened my mouth.
"The name Han Jieun..."
"It's my Korean name. My resident registration lists me as Han Jieun, and I use that name in human living zones."
"Then what about Sera?"
"My species name."
"Species name?"
"You can think of it as a name used among succubi."
A Korean name and a species name.
I could understand one person using two names.
The problem was that the two people behind those names were my new employee and my wife's friend, respectively.
And she was also someone who might sleep with me in the future.
"Wait a second."
I pressed my temples.
I needed some time to sort things out.
"So the Sera Yuna mentioned is Employee Han Jieun."
"Yes."
"And Employee Han Jieun is the friend Yuna said she asked."
"...Yes."
Sera's voice was a little quieter the second time.
Simply confirming their names had made the situation even clearer.
Maybe it would have been better if it hadn't become clearer.
"So you two really did know each other."
Yuna spoke belatedly.
"Rather than just knowing each other..."
I began to answer, then stopped.
I had seen her face every day for a week at work.
We had eaten lunch together, I had taught her the job, and she had even said goodbye to me when leaving work.
That qualified as knowing each other.
"I was assigned to Assistant Manager Kim-nim's team."
Sera answered for her.
"And Assistant Manager Kim-nim is my mentor."
"Really?"
Yuna's eyes widened.
She looked genuinely surprised.
At least that reaction didn't seem feigned.
"Yuna."
"Hmm?"
"Why didn't you tell me this friend was joining our company?"
Yuna blinked.
"Did I not mention it?"
"You didn't."
"I didn't tell you everything that happened at the café that day..."
Yuna scratched her cheek with one finger.
"Honestly, I didn't think we'd be assigned to the same team. I'm sorry. I wasn't hiding it on purpose."
"I didn't know eonni's husband was Assistant Manager Kim-nim either,"
Sera added in a flustered voice.
But one thing was nagging at me.
"Didn't you see my face in the Daydream?"
Sera's mouth fell shut.
Yuna also fell silent beside her.
Seeing both of their faces flush at once made me feel like I had asked something I shouldn't have.
Though it was already too late.
"It's not something I remember."
Sera cleared her throat before answering.
"Daydream means exactly what it says. It's a dream you briefly have while remaining awake."
Sera lightly tapped her temple with her fingertip.
"When you wake up from a dream, the fantasy fades quickly. The circumstances or lingering sensations may remain, but things like faces and voices disappear first."
"My face too?"
"Yes. Since you were someone I had never actually seen in reality, it faded even faster."
If it was like a dream, there was nothing strange about it.
It was no different from an ordinary dream whose contents vanished even as you tried to grasp them the moment you opened your eyes in the morning.
At least that made sense.
"Let's sit down and talk."
Yuna spoke cautiously.
This wasn't a conversation to continue in the entryway.
I followed the two of them into the living room.
Three teacups were arranged on the table.
Beside the two cups Yuna and Sera had already been drinking from, an empty cup had been placed neatly.
It seemed they had planned to start talking as soon as I came in.
I sat down at one end of the sofa.
Sera naturally took the seat across from me.
Yuna cautiously settled herself between Sera and me.
"Want some tea?"
Yuna asked.
"Sure."
Yuna poured tea into the empty cup.
The sound of the tea touching the rim seemed unusually loud.
Neither of them spoke first.
Sera had placed both hands neatly on her lap.
Eventually, I was the one who asked first.
"Jieun-ssi."
"Yes, Assistant Manager-nim."
At Sera's reflexive reply, I gave a wry smile.
"We're not at work right now, so let's not call each other that."
"Then what should I call you?"
Sera glanced at Yuna.
"Hyeongbu?"
"That sounds even weirder."
"Doyoon-ssi?"
"That's better."
Sera slightly raised the corner of her lips.
"All right, Doyoon-ssi."
Being called by my name by someone who had been calling me Assistant Manager-nim just a few hours ago felt strange.
I lifted my teacup and took a sip for no particular reason.
"First, I want to make absolutely sure."
I said this as I set the cup down.
"Did you hear Yuna's request exactly?"
"Yes."
"How much did you hear?"
Sera's pupils wavered for a moment.
"That eonni had to fulfill her hidden desire in order to become pregnant."
Sera folded down one finger.
Then, blushing, she said,
"And that what eonni wanted was for me to... fuck Doyoon-ssi."
"...So what answer did you come here to give today?"
Sera didn't answer right away.
Her thumbs, folded together on her lap, crossed over each other several times.
"Actually, I came intending to refuse."
Jjalrang.
The teacup Yuna was holding struck its saucer.
"Sera."
"Sorry, eonni."
Sera looked straight at Yuna.
"If I said it over a message, it would feel like I was running away, so I came to talk to you in person."
Her voice was gentle, but there was no hesitation in it.
"I sincerely want to help you, eonni. But no matter how you look at it, sleeping with a friend's husband is a different matter."
Yuna's fingers slowly slipped away from the teacup handle.
"And I might have someone else I like, too."
"That's... true."
She was right.
Yuna couldn't refute it either.
"So I came here to refuse."
Sera spoke to me again.
"Until just before I came in here today."
There was something different about the tone of that last sentence.
"Until before you came in?"
Sera's gaze remained fixed on my face.
"Because I didn't know eonni's husband was Assistant Manager Kim-nim."
Yuna slowly turned toward me.
I understood even less.
"How does that give you a reason to change your answer?"
"I saw Assistant Manager Kim-nim at work for a week."
"That was me looking after you as your mentor."
"I know."
Sera gave a small laugh.
"That's why I changed my mind."
The tips of Sera's ears slowly turned red.
"Even after I told you I was a succubus, you didn't ask anything strange, and when other people avoided me, you ate lunch with me."
"That's only natural."
"For me, it wasn't always so."
I was at a loss for words.
I hadn't thought I had done anything special.
But just because something wasn't special to me didn't mean it couldn't leave a special impression on someone else.
"I thought what I felt during the Daydream might have been emotions flowing over from you, eonni."
Sera looked down at her palm.
Faint nail marks remained there.
"But the feelings that arose while watching Assistant Manager Kim-nim at work are mine, so... I realized I don't dislike it that much."
The living room fell silent.
Sera looked at Yuna again.
"So? What do you want from me, eonni? What exactly am I supposed to do?"
"I-I told you. That..."
"If you just say 'that,' I don't know exactly what you mean. Eonni, you don't know exactly either, do you? What you like. You just vaguely want to see Doyoon-ssi being taken by another woman. That's about the extent of it, right?"
"Uh... well. I guess so."
Perhaps because of the subject, Yuna stammered more than usual while talking with Sera.
"To satisfy a desire, you first have to identify exactly what that desire is. What if—just hypothetically—I fuck Doyoon-ssi, but it's more stimulation than eonni can accept? What then?"
"That..."
"If you say you can't watch after we've already started, it'll be too late."
There was nothing wrong with Sera's reasoning.
Right now, I couldn't tell whether Yuna truly wanted to see me having sex with another woman or merely wanted to see that sort of atmosphere.
"That's why I'm suggesting we test it."
Sera said,
"We don't have to go all the way from beginning to end. We can try things one by one and see what eonni reacts to."
"One by one means?"
When I asked, Sera folded down her fingers one at a time.
"Well. We can start simply, with Jieun-ssi and me getting physically affectionate up close, then raise the intensity one step at a time. If it becomes too much for eonni to watch, eonni can tell us to stop."
It was certainly a reasonable suggestion.
"...Yes. That sounds good."
As I watched Yuna nod and accept Sera's suggestion, I opened my mouth.
"Wait."
The two of them looked at me at the same time.
"Then let's set some conditions."
"Conditions?"
The two of them looked at me simultaneously.
"Even if this is just a test, we can't simply do whatever we want. I think it would be better to establish some rules."
Sera straightened her posture.
"Go ahead."
I took a moment to gather my thoughts.
"First. We absolutely do not mention this at work."
"I wanted that too."
Sera answered immediately.
"At work, we'll continue as Assistant Manager Kim-nim and Employee Han Jieun, just as before."
"Good."
I folded down one finger.
"Second. If any one of the three says stop, we end it right there."
"No questions asked?"
"Even if we ask questions, we do it after stopping."
Yuna slowly nodded.
Sera, however, seemed to ponder whether something about this rule was odd.
"Um... isn't it a little awkward to stop immediately just because someone says stop?"
"What do you mean, Sera?"
"If we're doing a sort of role-play, it kills the mood if we stop just because someone says stop. How about deciding on a signal instead?"
"That's... true..."
"Let eonni choose the signal. If eonni really hates it, she can give the signal and we'll stop."
"That..."
At Sera's words, Yuna thought for a moment before making a suggestion.
"...How about throwing a pillow?"
"A pillow?"
"Yeah. Throwing the pillow. Wouldn't that make a clear signal?"
"Sure. A pillow works."
With the stop signal settled as well, I wrapped up the preliminary discussion.
"Let's absolutely follow these two rules for now. For the rest, we'll decide beforehand how far we'll go each time we test it."
Neither of them seemed to have any particular objections.
At least we could avoid hurting each other's feelings by starting without any rules.
"Then."
Yuna looked at me.
"How far should we go today?"
"...Shouldn't you ask where we should start, eonni?"
"Y-you think so?"
Yuna grew flustered at Sera's words, and Sera hugged her from behind, whispering as if she found her adorable.
"Already so eager, eonni?"
"Ahaha...."
"But, you know, eonni."
"Hmm?"
Sera's playful voice grew slightly lower.
"Are you really okay? Are you really okay with me fucking Doyoon-ssi?"
"I told you. I..."
"Eonni. I'm a succubus, you know? A species that devours men. What if Doyoon-ssi becomes unable to be satisfied by anyone but me?"
"Th-that..."
Yuna's expression grew complicated.
Her brows were furrowed anxiously, but her cheeks were flushed even more brightly.
She seemed to dislike the situation Sera described, yet at the same time, it also seemed to arouse her.
But soon, Yuna looked at me and steeled her gaze.
"...I trust Doyoon-ssi, so it's okay."
"You trust Doyoon-ssi?"
"Yes. Even if... even if Doyoon-ssi really falls for your body... I believe he'll choose me in the end."
Yuna's voice was quiet, but there was no hesitation in it.
"Because oppa loves me."
Sera's expression went blank for a moment as she watched Yuna like that. Then she glanced toward me and said,
"...I'm jealous. Really. I guess this is why you two got married so quickly."
"Ehehe..."
As I watched Yuna smile bashfully, I found myself quietly smiling too. Then Sera walked toward me, ttubeok-ttubeok, and wrapped her arms around my neck.
"Then. Since eonni agrees, shall we start now?"
"Y-yes..."
Kkulgeok.
The sound of Yuna swallowing echoed through the room.
"Doyoon-ssi, shall we go to the bedroom?"
"Uh, sure."
Even though it was my own house, I found myself being pulled into the bedroom by Sera.
When I opened the master bedroom door, the first thing that caught my eye wasn't the bed.
A single chair had been placed directly in front of it.
It was a chair brought in from the dining table.
It had even been positioned precisely so that it faced the bed head-on.
That alone was enough to make the familiar bedroom look strange all at once.
Yuna carefully sat down in the chair, hugging the YES pillow she always showed me, and looked this way.
The only place left was the bed.
Sera perched on the edge of it first.
She was still dressed exactly as she had been when she came straight from work.
A neat suit and a black skirt that fell to her knees.
Along with the large glasses, she looked exactly like Employee Han Jieun as I had seen her at work.
"Doyoon-ssi, sit down too."
Sera lightly patted the spot beside her with her palm.
I glanced at Yuna.
Yuna clutched the corner of the cushion tightly and nodded silently.
In the end, I sat beside Sera.
The mattress sank slightly under our combined weight.
At first, I sat with enough distance between us for another person to fit.
Sera didn't move closer right away either.
Every time the mattress shifted even slightly, both our shoulders stiffened at the same time.
This was even more awkward than when we had been setting all the conditions in the living room.
Now that everything had been set up like this, I had no idea what to do first.
We'd said we were starting with something light, so should we begin with a literal hug?
I was thinking that over and couldn't bring myself to move easily when Sera spoke first.
"Assistant Manager Kim-nim, weren't you ever curious why my glasses were so big?"
"I thought your eyesight was really bad. Wasn't it?"
"These actually don't have prescription lenses."
"They don't?"
Sera pushed up the frame with her index finger.
"They're actually charm suppressors."
"Charm?"
"They're an item that keeps succubi from attracting unwanted attention when living among humans. I can't cause problems at work, after all."
"Such an item exists?"
"Yes. They're pretty expensive."
Sera smiled as she said that, then closed the distance between us in an instant.
"We're not at work now."
Sera gripped the arm of her glasses.
"So these won't be necessary."
No sooner had she finished speaking than she slipped off her glasses.
Her previously concealed red eyes were revealed in full.
Her face was unmistakably the same Han Jieun I had seen at work.
And yet, the moment our eyes met, my heart beat one beat late.
Had Han Jieun always been this beautiful?
The thought came to me involuntarily.
At the same time, Sera's body slowly moved closer to me.
"Then, Doyoon oppa."
Sera's pink eyes curved seductively. Licking her lips, she brought her face close to mine.
"I'll eat well."