She Wasn't Even on My Radar
Seong Gaeul pretended my silence didn't bother her, but there was no hiding the atmosphere that had settled between us. In the end, our date fizzled out well before dinner, dying off in the early evening.
God... this is hard...
I'd never even considered actually dating someone. All I'd wanted was to enjoy Christmas Eve with Seong Gaeul and wrap it up with a hot night together... Were men and women just wired differently? How was I supposed to treat the women I'd meet from now on? Christmas Eve slipped away while I wrestled with questions I had no answers for.
The next morning — Christmas Day — was awkward from the moment I opened my eyes. My usual routine had been to text Seong Gaeul the second I woke up and head over to the OP. After what happened yesterday, I had nothing to do.
Out of habit, I fired up the computer and started browsing. Before I knew it, I caught myself typing "Cheonan OP" into the search bar, hunting for a new girl. A wave of self-loathing hit me, and I slammed the browser shut.
"Ugh. What the hell am I doing?"
It felt like just yesterday I'd decided Seong Gaeul would be my last — that I was done with paid sex. And here I was, searching for an OP first thing on Christmas morning... All because I hadn't gotten any last night. After going at it twice a day, every day, a single day off was all it took for my libido to hijack the controls.
I went to the bathroom, lit a cigarette, and checked the time. Barely eleven in the morning.
Seven hours to kill.
The company dinner Dongmin-hyung had mentioned was tonight at six. The little thug who did daytime deliveries at our shop had set the whole thing up to make a move on Lee Jieun — but going after Jieun right in front of me?
I'm better than that guy, no question.
The punk — I couldn't even remember his name — was shorter than I'd been back when I was 173 cm. Around 170, maybe? Compared to that, I was a commanding 185 cm. I'd put real care into building this body through the app, so even my proportions were on point. I'd known Jieun far longer than he had. There wasn't a single reason I should lose to him.
There was another girl coming to the dinner — some Cha Heejung — but a plain-looking girl like that wasn't even on my radar.
At least, she hadn't been. Not until then...
"Sorryyy~ Am I a little late? Kyaa! Jieun~ It's been forever!"
"Whoa~ Heejung unnie! It's been so long!"
Cha Heejung.
I'd written her off as a girl who didn't know how to dress herself up. That had been a massive miscalculation.
The brown hair she usually threw up in a messy bun now fell in loose waves, swaying with every step. She'd swapped those thick horn-rimmed glasses for contacts, and the face I'd called plain was anything but — it was dazzling. Her lips were painted a vivid red, her eye makeup dark and heavy, almost too much, and yet it suited her perfectly. Standing side by side with Jieun, she didn't lose to her in the slightest. If anything, Cha Heejung was the one who pulled your eyes first. A genuine beauty, appearing right in front of me.
And then she slipped off her coat, and her hidden assets exploded into view.
Holy shit... that body is insane...
The figure she'd been hiding under those baggy hoodies was finally on display. She had on a tight black sleeveless mini dress — it didn't even show her collarbones, and somehow that made it even sexier. Those eye-catching, generous breasts. Those hips, sculpted to complete an hourglass figure.
I pulled out my phone and discreetly checked her info.
Forty-nine kilos and a D-cup. Her body value was a full seven points higher than Seong Gaeul's. Her looks sat one point lower — but even that still beat Jieun.
Spiderweb?
I was still marveling at the high Difficulty when I spotted that strange trait and tapped it.
I pulled up Jieun's info to compare it against her Virgin trait.
Half the value of Virgin, sure — but fifty points was still nothing to sneeze at.
Seong Gaeul's last Difficulty was 125, right?
That one Spiderweb trait alone was worth about 0.4 of a Seong Gaeul.
I was still comparing the three of them when I felt Dongmin-hyung clap me on the back.
"This guy's hopelessly shy... Heejung, you know him, right? Kim Minseok, works the evening shift. He's twenty-four, so just call him oppa."
"Of course I know him~. He even covered a shift for me once."
That's when I realized I'd been glued to my phone. I scrambled to my feet and greeted Cha Heejung.
"Ah, it's been a while. I had a somewhat important message come in... You're Cha Heejung, right?"
"Huh...? Oh — yes. It's been a while, Minseok oppa."
Cha Heejung looked up at me, let out a brief, dazed little sound, then smiled and returned the greeting. She sat down and started whispering with Jieun.
"Was that oppa always that tall?"
"Right? I don't think he used to be that big... Maybe he just looks taller 'cause he lost weight?"
"You think so...?"
Their hushed voices made me flinch. Cha Heejung would have more reason to be suspicious than Dongmin-hyung or Jieun, who'd seen me every day while I was growing. Worried someone might start picking at the details, I quietly buried myself in my phone. About five minutes passed.
"What's taking that Choi Seongyong bastard so long?"
Dongmin-hyung checked the time on his phone, irritated at the one person who still hadn't shown. At least now I knew the punk's name.
Seeing him like that, Cha Heejung pulled out her phone.
"Want me to text him?"
They worked the same shift, so of course they had each other's numbers. Still, it left a weird taste in my mouth.
"Sorry! The bike hit some traffic..."
He showed up right as she was about to call.
"Hey, try showing up on time for once. You're five minutes late to every single shift, and now you're pulling the same shit today."
"Sorry, Dongmin-hyung~. Did you already order the meat?"
"I was waiting for you, you idiot."
Dongmin-hyung laughed as he answered the guy's rambling. Choi Seongyong greeted everyone else belatedly, then peeled off his coat and stood right back up.
"I was in such a rush I didn't even get to smoke — just gonna grab a quick cigarette!"
Then he grabbed my arm.
"You smoke too, hyung, right? Come with me."
I couldn't decide if that was being friendly or just having no manners. The guy had barely spoken two words to me before, and now he was acting like we were tight.
"Yeah. Minseok, you go with him before the meat comes out."
Dongmin-hyung, having just placed the order, seemed to think it was a fine idea and shooed me out.
I stepped outside without even putting on my coat, and the chilly wind wrapped around me. I pulled out a cigarette, and Choi Seongyong immediately flicked his lighter and lit it for me.
"Ah, thanks~."
"It's nice having someone to smoke with, though."
He lit his own cigarette, then dropped his voice like he was sharing a secret.
"Hyung, so the thing is — I'm going after Jieun. Think you could, you know, put in a good word for me tonight?"
So that's why he'd dragged me out here the second he arrived. I couldn't bring myself to say I'd help him.
"Jieun? Why?"
"She's super cute, you know? And that petite height — she's totally my type!"
Couldn't argue with that. I kept my face neutral and changed the subject.
"What about Heejung? The girl you work with? She's not bad, right?"
"Ehh, Heejung noona's all makeup. Have you ever seen her bare-faced? She's a completely different person. Completely."
Well, I'd seen it too. And yeah — I had to agree she was a different person.
"That so? But if she looks pretty with makeup, she's pretty, isn't she?"
"Not for me. No way. I really can't stand plastic surgery or makeup-only girls."
This was where our opinions split. Me, I figured makeup or surgery — as long as she looked good, that was all that mattered.
"Wait, hyung — you interested in Heejung noona? She doesn't even see guys under 180 cm as men, though..."
He said it while giving me a once-over, scanning me from my shoes to the top of my head.
"Huh...? Hyung, you're taller than I thought. How about I put in a word for you with Heejung noona tonight?"
My original plan for tonight had been to sabotage whatever was going on between this guy and Jieun. She wasn't going to fall for me out of nowhere today anyway, so I'd figured I'd just keep the two of them from hitting it off and take my time getting closer to her...
Cha Heejung?
Me hitting it off with her? That... wasn't a bad idea at all. A few hours ago she hadn't even been on my radar. Things had changed.
Those D-cup breasts. That cinched waist. Those hips that demanded attention. Makeup or not, her face was genuinely beautiful. And most importantly — that high mining Difficulty. Thanks to the Spiderweb trait, her 263 was more than double Seong Gaeul's.
Thinking back to the last time with Seong Gaeul, when I'd mined over ten thousand coins...
Twenty thousand!
My Sex Coins were currently worth 276 each. If I could sleep with Cha Heejung even once, I could make over five million won.
And Dongmin-hyung had set this up like a double date — two-on-two. I had zero intention of watching this punk succeed with Jieun. But me succeeding with Cha Heejung? That was a completely different story.
A little greed started to take hold.