The Tattooist's Secret
"Is this the place?" Yerim and I arrived at the address provided. I stopped at an ATM first and withdrew about 800,000 won. My remaining balance was 170,000 won, and payday was three weeks away. Sweat prickled my back. Yerim asked if I was okay, but I tried my best to act like it was nothing. I just had to think of it as an investment. If I hit it big on Pornhub, I’d be making 30 million won a month anyway. Ignoring my anxiety, I took the elevator up. A heavy steel door greeted us. It looked like a fortress.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" When I pressed the bell in front of the steel door, a camera swiveled with a mechanical whir. Was it watching us?
"Come on in." The person who greeted us was a beauty with a gloomy aura. Her defining features were eyes that avoided contact and dark, heavy circles underneath them. She had piercings in her ears and gray hair tied up in a bun. It looked like she’d bleached most of it, leaving patches of black hair here and there. Judging by her cardigan, she didn't seem to like showing much skin. When she opened her mouth, a small tongue piercing sparkled inside.
"..." She avoided my gaze and pulled her cardigan up over her shoulders. A rose tattoo peeked out... Why cover it all up? It was pretty, what a waste.
The tattooist, named Juda, avoided talking to me and led Yerim to the computer. "Please, have a seat. Do you have an image in mind?"
Yerim pulled out a photo of Emily. She had circled the areas where she wanted the tattoos. Juda nodded, looking at the spots over her glasses. "Ah, I see. A garter belt tattoo, and ribbon tattoos on both sides of the pelvis."
"And here, 2001.10.05. My date of birth. I want it in cursive." She explained the plan, tracing her finger down her right collarbone. But at the mention of the birthday, Juda’s nose crinkled.
"You're barely twenty. Won't you regret getting a tattoo?"
"No, my boyfriend likes it. I won't regret it." She grabbed my arm and looked at me with a smile. But Juda seemed even more uncomfortable. She stared intently at Yerim, asking if she really wanted to do this for herself.
"Thigh tattoos are hard to cover up once they're done. It costs a lot to remove them, too. Have you really thought about whether you're okay with this?"
It didn't matter for Yerim since she could just reincarnate, but when Yerim nodded, Juda sat at the computer and printed out the designs. The thigh tattoo, the ribbon draft, the cursive birthdate. Was that really going to be etched onto Yerim's body? I swallowed hard. How sexy would she be once it was all done?
"I'll tell you the cost first. 450,000 won for the thigh, 70,000 won for the birthdate, and 150,000 won for the two ribbon tattoos. That's 670,000 won in total. Please pay in cash."
Since it was my first time getting a tattoo, I didn't know if it was cheap or expensive... but considering I'd brought 800,000 won, it wasn't too bad! As I took the money out of my wallet, Juda sighed and looked at Yerim.
"Is this person paying for it, too?"
"Yes."
"Ha... I'll ask one last time. Are you sure you won't regret getting a tattoo? What are you going to do if you break up later?"
"Um, I'm doing it because I really want to."
Juda seemed to give up on persuading her, put the money in a safe, and locked it. Then, she quietly began the preparations.
"Please lie down here and take off your t-shirt. We'll start with the collarbone tattoo. Expect the whole process to take about eight hours."
Yerim took off her t-shirt and lay down quietly on the T-shaped workbench. Her black lace bra stood out. Juda soaked the printed cursive birthdate stencil in water and held it against Yerim's skin to gauge the position. It looked like she was going to fill in the color following the stencil transferred onto the skin. But something was strange. Juda's hands were shaking. She kept glancing at me through the mirror. Was she unable to focus because someone was watching? Suddenly, Yerim sat up.
"Um, I'm going to use the restroom before we start."
Juda looked visibly relieved. She clenched and unclenched her hands. "Oh, yes. Go ahead. It's better to go before we start the work."
"Come with me, honey."
Yerim put her t-shirt on and came outside. Her expression was complicated. "Uh, honey. I think it would be better if you weren't here."
"Huh? Why?"
"That person gets extremely anxious when a man is around. I read her memories." Yerim glanced inside. After confirming no one was listening, she started again.
"When she first opened her tattoo shop, she was almost raped by a male customer."
I choked. "She pressed the emergency bell and the police came right away... but she was assaulted while resisting and suffered an 8-week injury. Plus, the culprit only got 5 years for attempted rape and was released last year. She moved her studio, but she's still anxious about male customers."
So that’s why she kept glancing at me. Juda’s behavior made sense now. My god, what a piece of trash... damn. I couldn't help it. I wanted to watch her get the tattoo, but...
"I'll record it with my filming magic and show you later. Don't worry."
Well, that was fine then. I nodded. It would be good practice for editing, too. It worked out well. "Then I'll head to the PC bang. Since you said it takes about 8 hours, I'll come pick you up right when you're finished."
"Okay, honey. See you then!"
Yerim hugged me tightly and saw me off. Only after I left did she press the bell to the studio again.
"...Where is your boyfriend?"
Once I disappeared, the shaking in Juda's hands vanished. Her anxious, darting eyes became relaxed.
"He said you might be uncomfortable with him here, so he left first."
Juda hesitated as she put on her latex gloves. "...Was it that obvious? I'm a bit wary of men."
"My boyfriend is pretty quick on the uptake."
In reality, he wasn't really. He was busy messing around with Young-sun without a clue... honestly. If I let him tattoo me this time, he'd probably stick to me even more. Charle grumbled and made one more request. "By any chance, could you leave one of the rose petals on the garter belt empty? I want my boyfriend to fill it in later."
"Sure, we can do that."
She stuck the stencil onto Yerim's collarbone and sprayed it with transfer solution. When she peeled it off, only the design remained on the skin. She would move the needle over it to fill in the ink. "Ah. Can I record the tattooing process?"
"As long as my face doesn't appear. If you're going to upload it to the internet, please mosaic it."
"Of course."
It must be the anxiety that an attempted rapist might come looking for her. Charle sighed and switched to selfie mode. She was recording with magic, but she had to pretend to record with the camera too. When she peeled off the stencil, the design was imprinted on her right collarbone. 2001.10.05. The day she was born in the Demon Realm. Charle swallowed. It was her first time getting a tattoo. Once she had sex with me and uploaded the video, people wouldn't be able to take their eyes off her birthday. They’d probably imagine her childhood and get even more excited.
The birthday on her collarbone felt like a freshness label on meat for sale. Those who watched the video would be even more excited to see the hardcore sex of a twenty-year-old, newly adult Charle. Men got more excited the younger the partner was. While she swallowed hard from the excitement, Juda inserted a needle into the tattoo machine. With a buzzing sound, the needle touched the design.
"It'll sting a little."
"Ughhh..."
Charle let out a moan at the sharp sensation piercing her skin. Even so, the camera followed the needle etching into her skin without a tremor. Color was slowly filled into the outline-only design. I would love this. In reality, the birthdate appearing on her white skin was incredibly erotic. From now on, anyone who crossed paths with her on the street would know Charle's birthday. Even someone she met for the first time. And they would glance at her H-cup breasts below it and imagine the age gap between them. When it was about half-filled, Juda spoke up.
"...You must really love your boyfriend."
"Well, I suppose so."
Yerim smiled bashfully. It was a happy smile without a hint of shadow. Juda thought of the passionate look Yerim had given me earlier. The look that said, *Even if he tells me to get a tattoo, it's fine. I won't regret it.* Even if we broke up someday—I wouldn't regret this choice. A sigh escaped her. Juda had dreams too. The fantasy of opening a tattoo shop, dating someone, getting married, and living happily. But that dream had become a nightmare. Perhaps starting the tattoo shop itself had been one giant mistake.
Customers who booked appointments and visited the shop kept saying strange things when they saw her face. *Can you tattoo my groin? Can you do it if I take off my pants and show you now? Do you have a boyfriend? Your shoulder tattoo is really sexy.* The man's physique was average, but the pressure the fragile Juda felt was beyond imagination. She suppressed her fear and disgust. She didn't want to provoke him to leave, fearing he might turn violent, so she humored him while pressing the emergency bell. She had installed it for times like this, but it took a long time for the security company to arrive. While she did her best to respond, the man eventually exploded. *'Hey, stay still. You'll get hurt.'*
The feeling of him forcing her onto the workbench and pressing down on the back of her neck. When she stabbed his thigh with the tattoo machine she was holding, he screamed and threw her to the floor. Then he kicked her several times and tore at her clothes while she screamed in pain—that was when the security company burst in.
Juda realized she was breathing heavily. A trauma response was rising. There had been signs of hyperventilation from the moment I entered. She thought it would be fine since we were a couple, but it wasn't. From the moment a man entered the studio, her body trembled. It was hard to even make eye contact. If I hadn't left, she would have fallen into a panic long ago.
"Just, just a moment—." She put the tattoo machine down to the side and exhaled roughly. Yerim saw this and approached her with concern. "Are you okay?"