The Collared Fox
On the third floor of the main building, at the far end of the hallway, sat a sealed storeroom. The air was a stale cocktail of old dust and damp mildew, and even in the middle of the day the place lay black as if someone had drawn a blackout curtain across the sun. In that cramped space, stacked with abandoned desks and chairs, lewd, wet sounds echoed off the walls.
"Hnnn... slurp... schlick..."
Shin Nara was on her knees on the freezing cement floor. From the waist up she was completely naked, not a thread on her. The blouse and bra she had stripped off lay crumpled in the dust, already filmed with gray grit, but she had no attention to spare for any of that. Filling her entire field of vision, rising thick and rigid right in front of her face, was a man's raw, towering lust.
Park Dohun. The only person who now held the power of life and death over her. Her one and only Master.
"Tighter. Clamp down with those tits. Squeeze until they burst."
Dohun's cold command dropped onto the crown of her head. Shin Nara flinched and threw every ounce of strength into her arms. His cock, trapped in the deep valley of her heavy breasts, tightened until the veins stood out along the shaft.
"Y-yes...! Master... hhnn..."
She worked her chest frantically up and down, swallowing the head of him with her mouth every time it surfaced from between her breasts. Soft flesh rode the hard column of him, flushing red with the friction, and the wet, squelching grind of skin on skin filled the silent storeroom.
It was humiliating. Humiliating enough to make her want to die. Only a few days ago, Shin Nara had been the one looking down on Park Dohun from a lecture podium. Now she was on her knees in a dust pit, catching his cock between her tits, drooling as she serviced him.
But a terror larger than the misery had already taken hold of her. A debt of five hundred and eighty million won. And behind that number, interest that tightened around her throat like a noose. The moment she crossed this man, her life was finished — literally. Prison, or a grave.
"You not even trying? Head in the clouds? Don't feel like paying off that debt, is that it?"
Dohun seized a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back.
"Aaagh!"
Her neck snapped back and a scream tore out of her. Tears sprang to her eyes from the pain of her scalp nearly ripping free — and still, by reflex, her tongue flicked out and licked the head of his cock. An instinctive, animal plea. Forgive me. Let me live.
"I-I'm sorry... I'll work harder... please, go easy on me... I was wrong..."
"Use your mouth too. Tits and mouth together. Can't you multitask?"
"Yes... slurp..."
She clamped her breasts around the shaft and took the head into her mouth at the same time. Her airway closed off; she could barely breathe. She did not stop. Dohun looked down at her with a sadist's eyes and snapped his hips.
Slap. Slap. Slap.
Every time his hard pelvis slammed into her soft chest, a strangled moan leaked out of her. She clung to his pant leg like a lifeline and held on. She had to endure this pain and this humiliation until he came. That was the sole duty — and the sole means of survival — of a woman who had become a slave.
"I'm close. Open your mouth."
Dohun's voice dropped low. Shin Nara opened wider and crushed her breasts tighter around him. The obsessive terror that she would be punished for letting even a single drop escape had complete possession of her.
A thick, shuddering pulse — and then a hot, briny flood poured into her mouth, down the cleft of her breasts, and across her face in a torrent. She squeezed her eyes shut and took the scalding barrage with her whole body. The viscous fluid ran down her jaw and pooled white in the hollow of her collarbone.
"Hah..."
Dohun exhaled roughly and stepped back. Shin Nara collapsed onto the floor, gasping. She was a wreck of sweat, semen, and dust. Her trembling hand started to wipe the mess from her face — then froze. Even cleaning herself without her Master's permission might be a blasphemy.
"Hah... not bad. You drained it well. Get dressed."
Dohun tossed the words out indifferently as he tucked himself back into his pants. Only then did Shin Nara scramble to gather her clothes. The fingers fastening her buttons shook so hard she could barely work the holes. What if he hadn't been satisfied? What if he demanded the money back right now, this second? Anxiety crashed over her in a wave.
That was when Dohun pulled out his smartphone and tapped at the screen.
A notification chime cut through the silence from inside her bag. She drew out her phone with careful, frightened hands. The moment she saw the display, her eyes went wide.
Ten million won. The number stamped on her account balance felt unreal. To a woman who, until a moment ago, had been crawling across the floor of hell, that figure was a rope lowered from heaven.
"Th-this is...?"
Shin Nara's voice trembled.
"Living expenses."
Dohun said it like he was discussing the weather.
"You said you don't even have money for food. If you starve to death, who's going to pay me back? Eat something decent."
"Ah..."
"And at the same time."
He stepped in close and tipped her chin up with his fingers.
"This is seed capital."
"S-seed capital?"
"That's right. Depending on how you perform — if you do as you're told — I'll feed you coin intel. Run it. This time you'll listen, won't you?"
Shin Nara's heart slammed against her ribs. Coin intel. Information from Park Dohun, the 15.2-billion-won asset holder they called God's Hand. It was as good as a money-printing press. If she had listened when he told her to short, she would have paid off the entire debt by now and been living like a queen. And now that divine revelation was being offered to her again.
"F-for real? You're really going to give me intel? You mean it?"
Life flooded back into her eyes. Greed. Even at the bottom of this wretchedness, the hunger for money had survived, stubborn and twitching, and now it stirred her again. Take this ten million as a stake, burn the mountain of debt to ash, rise from the wreckage for everyone to see, and put Gangnam under her heel — a thread-thin, unbearably sweet hope she could not bring herself to let go of. That rope pulled her back to her feet and gave her something to cling to as her mind tried to slide off the edge. At the very least, it was a reason to stay alive.
"Of course. Why would I lie to you?"
Dohun gave a short, dry laugh.
"But remember this. If you go off on your own again — if you start chasing the herd without my say-so and blow it all..."
His eyes went cold.
"Then you'll actually have to start selling organs. You understand me? One eyeball. One kidney."
"Yes! Yes! I'll remember! I swear! I'll only listen to Master! I'll do exactly as I'm told!"
Shin Nara nodded so hard and so fast it looked like her head might come off. The eager little sounds she made were the sounds of a mutt wagging its tail for its owner. Pride? Dignity? In front of ten million won already sitting in her account and the profits still to come, those things were worthless.
"Good. I like the attitude. I can see some potential."
Dohun chuckled under his breath and patted her cheek, twice, dismissive.
"When you're done with work today, come to my place."
"Your... place?"
"Yeah. I'll text you the address."
The corner of his mouth twisted.
"I'll give you a proper education there. Look forward to it. Very Spartan curriculum."
He walked out of the storeroom without a backward glance. Left alone, Shin Nara stayed crumpled on the floor and clutched her phone to her chest. Ten million won. And Park Dohun's intel. With those two things, she could stand up again. Her body was filthy and her soul was sold, but if she could make money, none of that mattered. Even through the sour smell of semen, she saw hope. A warped, ugly, and utterly singular hope.
And a hope that would never, ever come true.
Nine o'clock at night. Shin Nara stood in front of the door to Park Dohun's rooftop room. Her heart was hammering hard enough to burst. The storeroom that afternoon. The money that had landed in her account. Tangled, contradictory feelings spun through her until the hallway seemed to tilt.
Knock. Knock.
"Come in."
The door opened and she stepped inside with careful, hesitant feet. The room was small. Park Dohun sat waiting on the edge of the bed, a little box with a red ribbon in his hand.
"You made it. You're late."
"I-I'm sorry. Work ran long... the professor held me back..."
Shin Nara kept her head bowed and hovered, awkward, not knowing whether to stand or sit, her uneasy eyes flicking around the room.
"Come here."
Dohun crooked a finger. She drifted toward him as if pulled. He stood her in place and opened the box. Inside lay a strip of black leather. A silver ring hung from the center, and the band was studded — unmistakably an SM play collar, a dog's collar by any other name.
"Th-this is..."
The color drained from Shin Nara's face.
"A gift. Welcome-to-the-club present."
Dohun grinned and lifted the choker out of the box.
"Yura and Jisu-sunbae wore one too. It's like a badge for our little 'family.' Wouldn't be fair if you were the only one left out, right?"
"Yura...? Seo Jisu too...? Th-that girl? Wait — before that, what kind of relationship do you— I mean, does Master have with the two of them..."
"I'll tell you later. You'll see it whether you want to or not."
She started to press, disbelief written all over her face, but Dohun cut her off with a voice gone cold.
"Now. Give me your neck. I'll put it on nice and pretty."
"......"
He held the collar out. Shin Nara hesitated. The moment she put this on, it would feel like she had stopped being a person and become an animal. The last remaining thread of her pride pulled taut.
But she could not refuse. Ten million won, and the coin intel still to come. The leverage he held over her. The five-hundred-million-won debt already around her throat like a leash. All of it had her by the ankle and would not let go.
Slowly, she lifted her chin and offered him her neck. A gesture of surrender. Cold leather settled against her skin. Dohun buckled it with practiced, unhurried hands.
Click.
The sound crawled up her spine as the collar locked shut. The pressure closed around her throat — a physical declaration that she now belonged to Park Dohun, completely.
"Heh. Looks good on you. Born to be a slave."
Dohun hooked a finger through the ring of the choker and yanked.
"Nngh!?"
Her body lurched and she stumbled into his chest.
"From now on, this is your home. And I am your world. Got it?"
He whispered it against her ear.
"Bark for me. Say hello to Master."
Shin Nara bit down on her lip. Tears welled. But she knew. If she did not bark here, the ten million, the coin intel, and her future would all vanish together.
"Woof... woof woof...!"
She barked. Misery closed her throat, but she still shook her hips in a wretched imitation of a wagging tail and barked.
"Master... woof... please... pet me..."
Dohun burst out laughing, and the sound filled the cramped rooftop room to the walls.
"There we go. That's my pretty little puppy. I ought to give you a reward."
He threw her onto the bed and climbed on top of her. The old mattress screamed and sagged.
"Tonight's going to be a long one. Prove it with your whole body — how badly you want to make money, how badly you want to crawl out of that debt pit. And bark while you do it."
His hands tore her clothes off her like he meant to rip them. Pain flared where fabric scraped skin, and cold air hit her bare body. Tears stung her eyes from the shame, but Shin Nara did not resist. She spread her arms instead and pulled him against her with desperate force.
I have to endure this...! This man is the answer.
She dug her nails into his back and, inwardly, ran the numbers. If she could just survive this humiliation and extract the sure information he dangled in front of her — turn ten million into a hundred million, a hundred million into a billion — she could rise again for the whole world to see. To her, Dohun's cock was not merely an instrument of lust. It was the only bull chart that could launch her crashed life back into the stratosphere.
Clinging to the hope that she had to survive, she let herself fall willingly into hell. What remained in that room was no longer a person. Only a collared gambler, staking her body for one more shot at turning her life around.