An Invitation That Felt Like a Curse
I had received an invitation with my wife... The depraved and uncomfortable fantasies that had tormented my mind the entire way home from work seemed to freeze the instant I opened the front door. The savory aroma of stew filling the house, and Sujung greeting me in her apron. The intense guilt I had felt that morning vanished without a trace, and I once again slipped on the mask of an ordinary, affectionate husband. 'Yeah, that was just a dream. Get a grip, for God's sake.' But that sense of relief didn't last long. The moment I saw Sujung's back as she ladled soup at the dinner table, my heart began to pound wildly again. The tight strings of her apron made the curved line of her breasts stand out even more prominently. What would normally have made me think, 'My wife looks especially pretty today,' with a warm smile, now appeared in my eyes as the raw, fleshy mounds that had been roughly kneaded by my brother's hands in the dream.
In the dream, every time he had grabbed and squeezed her breasts over her tracksuit, the shape had distorted and the texture had bulged out obscenely. That same sensation matched the soft, heavy volume now rising and falling with her breathing beneath the apron, sending chills down my spine. "Oppa, is the side dish selection a bit lacking today? Why are you spacing out like that?" Sujung asked, setting down the soup bowl and looking at me. I averted my gaze like a thief caught in the act and forced myself to chew a mouthful of rice. But every time my wife leaned forward, the fantasy of my brother's fingers mercilessly digging into her cleavage and crushing her flesh paralyzed my optic nerves. 'Inside that modest apron... those luscious breasts that my brother had eyed with such greedy lust... that he had groped so savagely...'
The more I tried to reflect on it, the more twisted and obscene the fantasies became. The fact that my wife's body, which had been violated and fondled under another man's gaze, was now moving so demurely right in front of me made my lower body throb with a painful tightness. It was precisely at that moment, when my sanity was teetering on a tightrope, that my phone on the table began to vibrate violently. The name glowing clearly on the screen was [Seunghun Hyungnim]. The instant I saw that name, my face froze into a dazed expression laced with bewilderment and an irrepressible thirst, like someone who had just received a forbidden invitation.
The name of the man who had so greedily devoured my wife's body in last night's dream now pressed down on me with that vibrating tone, as if it were about to burst into reality. "Did you get a text? Who's it from?" Sujung asked casually, setting down her chopsticks. I swallowed dryly and read the message on the screen.
I stared at the message for a long time before slowly lifting my head to look at Sujung. "Ah... it's from Seunghun hyungnim. He says he owes us from the camping trip a few days ago and wants us to come over to his place this weekend. Says he'll treat us..." My voice was trembling slightly. I pretended to wait for her reply while carefully scanning every inch of Sujung's expression. The thought that those neat hands holding the ladle over her apron might be the same ones that had wrapped around her neck while receiving my brother's greedy gaze in last night's dream burned my mind white-hot.
"Oh really? Looks like he and his wife were really grateful that day. If you're tired, oppa, we don't have to go... What do you think?" Sujung asked with an easy smile, but to my eyes, her lips looked redder and wetter than usual. What exactly did Seunghun hyungnim mean by 'treat,' and what kind of expression would my wife show in front of those greedy eyes... The guilt evaporated in an instant, and a lust far more intense than what I'd felt that morning weighed heavily on my lower body. I hid my trembling hands under the table and barely managed to speak. "Well... since hyungnim is inviting us so insistently, it would be rude not to go, right?"
At my answer, Sujung gave a slight smile. I couldn't tell if that smile belonged to my modest wife or to a lewd woman anticipating the secret excitement of the coming weekend... The confusion made my mind reel. The few days left to me after receiving Seunghun hyungnim's invitation felt like the cruelest punishment of my life. No, the ordinary word 'spent' wasn't enough. I was barely 'enduring,' being torn apart every moment between filthy, beastly suspicions and the human reason that had once been normal.
It was a week of complete mental exhaustion. What was the shameless intention behind hyungnim so casually inviting our couple to his home? And my wife, who had received such an invitation yet passed the decision to me with an indifferent expression, as if choosing yesterday's lunch menu... 'Did nothing really happen between them?'
I wished that were true. But the devil in my head kept whispering. Maybe the two of them had already crossed the line, and this situation was a cruel game to see if I had noticed their dizzying secret. Or perhaps, taking it one step further, it was a sadistic torment where they mocked me while keeping me right beside them, enjoying their own secret bond. These thoughts chained together endlessly. They were absurd, filthy delusions. The Sujung I knew would never be that kind of woman, and Seunghun hyungnim shouldn't be such a vulgar person either. Yet I couldn't stop having these 'filthy thoughts,' and every time I caught myself getting hot down below in the middle of those fantasies, I despised myself enough to want to die.
I could say with certainty that in my thirty-three years of life, I had never once imagined myself like this. Perhaps at the root of these delusions was not a desperate desire to trust my modest wife, but a far stronger, shameless urge to see her violated by another man's hands... That was my true 'bare face,' the one I had avoided or hidden my entire life. The man I saw in the mirror was no longer the diligent husband I had known. He was nothing but a voyeuristic patient, peeking into the abyss of corruption and projecting my brother's greedy gaze onto my wife's body beneath her apron.
Work at the company and everyday conversations all scattered like dust, empty and meaningless. Only the approaching weekend made my heart beat madly, caught between the dual emotions of terror and ecstasy. When that door finally opened, would I be greeted by ordinary neighborly hospitality, or would it be the beginning of hell that paralyzed all my reason? I couldn't even trust myself as I was pushed toward the end of that damp, fishy-smelling week.
Finally, the promised Saturday evening. Right up until the moment I pressed the doorbell of Seunghun hyungnim's apartment, my palms were unpleasantly sweaty. Sujung standing beside me looked especially radiant today. My wife's 161cm petite frame in a light pink blouse had a perfect proportion that was pleasing to the eye, but the heavy C-to-D-cup volume visible through the thin fabric made its presence unmistakably known. Every time I looked at my wife with her fair, porcelain skin and baby face so cute and pretty that people called her that, the vulgar delusions I had harbored all week felt like sins, and I lowered my head in shame.
Ding-dong—
The door opened, and Seunghun hyung greeted us with a boisterous laugh.
At thirty-five, Seunghun hyung still had broad shoulders and a solid build. His eyes hid the greedy gleam I'd seen at the camping ground and sparkled with sly charm. Behind him appeared Jian, his wife and the same age as me.
Jian had a completely different charisma from Sujung. With her 169cm model-like long limbs and refreshing, striking features. If Sujung was like a juicy, fair peach, Jian had the feel of a sophisticated city woman with smooth, cold skin like white jade. Her slim B-cup figure and the firm, straight shoulder line made her self-care seem flawless, unbelievable for a thirty-three-year-old.
"Wow... sister-in-law, you look like a celebrity today. Hyung must be too nervous to go out with you." I forced out a joke to hide the tension I'd been suppressing. Seunghun hyung slapped my shoulder and gave Sujung a sticky glance.
His gaze lingered for just a split second on the tight cleavage visible between the buttons of Sujung's blouse before dropping away. It was only an instant, but my heart plummeted to the floor. The crude fingers that had rummaged through the waistband of her tracksuit in the dream seemed ready to rip that blouse off at any moment. The hallucination was so vivid it made me dizzy.
"Come on, brother-in-law. Jian unnie has much more atmosphere and is prettier... Unnie, how do you take care of your skin? Standing next to you makes me look like such a kid." Sujung laughed as she linked arms with Jian. The 161cm cute and sensual bagel-girl Sujung and the 169cm white-snow-skin Jian, who wasn't quite as voluptuous as Sujung but was still a glamorous beauty in her own right. The contrast between the two women sitting side by side on the living room sofa was dizzying in itself, but my mind was already dirtying this elegant living room with obscene fantasies.
"Alright, don't just stand there. Sit down. I specially prepared some nice wine and snacks to treat you and your wife today, Junseok." Hyung headed to the kitchen with a mysterious smile on his lips.
'Treat.'
Every time that word slipped from between his lips, the lingering aftertaste of the sticky wet dream I'd had that morning seemed to revive, sending a tingling ache through my lower body. The cold, clean image of sister-in-law Jian, my own luscious wife, and hyung's dark eyes alternating between the two women. Even before the real drinking began, I could already feel the air in this house turning as damp and heavy as inside that camping tent. At thirty-three, the common sense I had built up over the years was preparing to collapse once more on top of this luxurious marble living room.