The Second Night

I met Cha Heejung in front of the karaoke place, but we never even stepped inside the building. As if it were the most natural thing in the world, we started walking ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instead — and as we walked, she told me how she'd ended up seeing Lee Jieun today.

After we'd left the motel that afternoon and gone on a date, I'd told her I had a shift and we'd parted ways. From that point on, she said, she'd been waiting for me to get in touch. I'd held off out of consideration — she'd told me she was going home to sleep — but she pouted that she'd been pretty hurt by the silence.

Anyway, once she got home and still hadn't gotten a single KakaoTalk from me, she waited and waited, couldn't quite bring herself to message me first, and ended up contacting Lee Jieun instead. She'd wanted to ask whether Jieun had clocked in around that time, and if so, whether I'd shown up — but she hadn't had a decent excuse for asking.

"So I messaged Jieun and went, 'I was just at karaoke with Oppa, we split up a little while ago — did he make it to work okay?' Something like that."

"That's what it was?"

So the reason Jieun had known about any of it was simply that Heejung had been curious how I was doing. I'd just assumed the two of them were the type to share every last detail of their love lives.

"How can a person not send even a single message?"

"So then why were you with Jieun just now?"

"Well, I'd already asked her, so it felt weird to just cut the conversation off. We kept messaging on and off, and then I dozed off, and when I woke up..."

"Yeah, and?"

"There was a KakaoTalk from Jieun saying the shop had closed early. And she said she was going to karaoke with you and asked me to come along."

"Ahh — so Jieun was the one who invited you to karaoke? Then why didn't you show?"

"I got ready and came out right away... I'd just woken up looking like a mess, so of course I had to put myself together first!"

She definitely did not look like someone who'd just rolled out of bed. If anything, she was done up every bit as thoroughly as she had been yesterday.

"Anyway, I headed out and messaged her, and she said karaoke was almost over so she'd wait at a café. I went there — and Jieun was sitting there all by herself."

So Heejung had gotten all dressed up thinking I'd be there with them, and Jieun had left the karaoke place the second it ended so she could meet Heejung first? Now all the pieces clicked into place.

That aside — she had a pretty cute side to her, didn't she?

"Ahh~ so you didn't go to see Jieun. You went to see me~?"

"Ugh, seriously! It's because you didn't send me a single message!"

Her face flushed a little as the embarrassment caught up with her, and the sight of it was almost painfully cute. I had a sudden urge to tease her — You didn't message me either — but right now I needed to lean into something a little more intimate.

"I wanted to message you. I just held back because I didn't want to wake you."

"Sure you did~. Well, after I met Jieun and you weren't there, I sent you a KakaoTalk — and you sure replied fast enough."

"I told you. I wanted to contact you. I was holding back for your sake."

If anyone else had overheard us, they would've cringed themselves inside out. I didn't care. This was how you set a mood in the first place. Whether it was with Seong Gaeul or now, I could drop lines this cheesy without batting an eye. I was actually pretty good at this... so why couldn't I pull it off with Jieun?

Is it because I've already slept with Heejung and Gaeul?

That was the only difference that came to mind between those two and Jieun. Ah — one more thing. How long I'd known them. With Jieun, we'd known each other for so long that the relationship was already set in stone. That was the problem, maybe.

I was still turning those differences over as we walked, and before I knew it we were standing in front of a motel. Neither of us had steered us there. We'd simply been on the same wavelength. And just like that, I checked into a motel with her for the second time.

"Oppa, I'm heading out first! Text me!"

"Yeah... work hard..."

Half-asleep, I saw Cha Heejung off from the motel. Click. Even as I heard the door shut behind her, my eyelids pressed down on me like lead.

"Uwaaah~ I gotta get up too!"

I let out a groan in the empty motel room, trying to claw my way out of the swamp of sleep. It wasn't enough, so I decided to enlist some chemical help.

Fssss—

"Hoo..."

The nicotine hit my system, and my mind slowly came back online. Looking at the wreckage of last night scattered around the room, the memory of my heated night with Cha Heejung rose up on its own. I pushed aside the image of her naked body still flickering behind my eyes and focused on what had actually happened.

She'd always been the type to feel it intensely, but last night it had been even more so. No — it wasn't that she'd changed. I had.

Last night, I'd gotten a very thorough lesson in what this trait meant by efficient.

It wasn't like my singing had jumped overnight when I got Drinking, Singing, and Dancing — my actual technique in bed hadn't suddenly leveled up. But as we worked through position after position, I never once felt tired. Sex was a full-body workout to begin with, and stamina was a huge part of it. If I wasn't getting worn out, of course the session ran longer — and of course she hit even bigger climaxes.

The proof was sitting right in front of me, on the Sex Coin app.

"Mmm~ nice, nice!"

A Satisfaction of 96. When I thought about how my first time with Seong Gaeul had scored an 8, this was an incredible number. Of course, Heejung being the type who felt everything so intensely had a lot to do with it, and I was grateful for that.

Looking at the fact that I'd just made over six million won, I felt a little guilty that I hadn't even managed a proper send-off in my half-asleep state.

"Ah, I really should've at least seen our Heejung off properly..."

Honestly, it had been beyond my control. Even if Correct Posture had kept me physically fine last night, I'd gone four rounds the day before ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and three last night. On top of that, I'd only slept about six hours across two days.

Is this a stamina problem...?

I'd just earned 20,000 coins, so investing in stamina and skills didn't seem like a bad idea. But it wasn't something I needed to do right this second.

Riiing— riiing—

See? The front desk was already calling to tell me to get out.

"I'll be out in a minute~."

I gave a half-hearted answer and headed straight for the bathroom. After I finished showering and walked out of the motel alone, a restless, unsettled feeling settled over me. A hollow feeling, or maybe loneliness, for no reason I could name.

I never felt like this walking out of an OP...

Maybe I'd just woken up in a sentimental mood. On the way home, I was fidgeting with my phone when I remembered I'd promised to contact Cha Heejung. I considered sending a cheering rabbit sticker along with it, then got embarrassed, gave up, and sent a dry, stripped-down text instead.

I was about to slip my phone back into my pocket when it buzzed immediately. Thinking it was Heejung, I checked the screen — and a completely unexpected name was staring back at me.

What's this guy doing calling at this hour?

"Hello? Oh, Sangyoon. What's up?"

"You little shit, if you're gonna mooch drinks off me, the least you can do is report back on the situation."

"What situation?"

"Coins, man. Coins. You asked me a million questions about them and you still haven't tried it?"

"Ahh~."

The truth was, I'd completely forgotten. How had I even gotten Sex Coin in the first place? I'd heard about altcoins from this guy, gotten interested, started looking around, and somehow ended up with Sex Coin. After that I'd been so consumed by sex every single day that I'd forgotten all about regular crypto — not that I could tell him that.

"Dude, where am I supposed to get the money to buy coins right now? I'm thinking I'll try starting next year."

"Ohhh? You sure talked like you were gonna jump on it right away. Whatever. What are you doing on the 31st?"

"The 31st? December 31st?"

Come to think of it, 2017 was almost over. I was about to say I'd obviously be working, then checked the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠calendar — Sunday. A day off.

"I don't have any plans that day. Why?"

"Then let's go drink. Hyung's treating. How about a club?"

"A club?"

A club, out of nowhere? I'd never even been to a place like that.

"Yeah. I went last December 31st and it was insane. Especially the kids who are nineteen right now — they show up in droves."

"Nineteen? Aren't they still in high school?"

Had this guy lost his mind? He'd made a bit of money off coins and forgotten how terrifying the laws against sleeping with minors were...

"They'll be adults on January 1st anyway. So the second the New Year's bell rings, they whip out their IDs and pour in."

I was a little tempted. Minors were one thing, but adults? And if they'd just become adults, they probably didn't have any experience with guys, right? Which would mean their mining Difficulty would be high, obviously.

"Oh, I'm a little interested. So what, you think you can pick them up?"

"That's why I'm saying we bring Jiho and go as a trio. Jiho's got a decent face but he can't talk to girls for shit, and you're actually pretty good at that kind of thing. I'll cover the tab. So? We doing this?"

The Kim Jiho that Park Sangyoon was talking about did have a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠solid appearance. Tall, decent-looking face — the kind of guy who'd been popular since high school despite being a total wuss who turned red in front of girls.

Ah, I might be taller than him now.

Either way, his proposal was pretty solid. Normally I would've thought about seeing Cha Heejung on my day off, but I could always meet her during the day. And then a club at night?

"Okay! I'm in!"

"Then I'll make a group chat. Keep the 31st free, yeah?"

By the time I hung up with Park Sangyoon, I'd arrived home. I was about to punch in the door code like usual when a box caught my eye.

What's this?

The "SC" written on it jogged my memory of something I'd completely forgotten.

"Ah! The Item Gacha!"

That thing had cost several million won, and I'd just... forgotten about it. I was startled at myself. I hurriedly hauled the delivery box inside and tore open the packaging.

Inside was...

"Men's perfume?"

A lavish glass bottle about the size of a fist, cut like a gemstone. And a single slip of paper. That was it.