Leisure Time (6)
Sunday morning. I’d gone to the neighborhood pool and was on my way home. The sun had only just begun to rise, and the still-chilly dawn air brushed against my face, bringing yesterday’s events rushing back until my head ached.
“....”
“Good work today, Su-ho.”
“Ah, thank you, ma’am.”
An older woman I’d gotten friendly with at the pool greeted me, but today I couldn’t hide how I felt. When she asked, concerned, if something was wrong, I muttered a quick excuse about being in a hurry and slipped away.
“Why am I like this?”
I knew the source of this restless, gloomy mood better than anyone, yet knowing didn’t help me fix it. Seeing Im Chan-woo standing in our gym—someone who absolutely shouldn’t have been there—had been a shock, no matter how much I tried to deny it. Still, I hadn’t wanted to show any weakness. Not to Dad. Not to Chan-woo himself. So I’d just nodded in greeting, and thankfully he’d accepted it without comment. Then I’d used the excuse of looking for my sister and left the gym, but my hands had been shaking the whole time. Every time I saw that guy, she came to mind.
“Haa...”
Staying like this wouldn’t change anything. Chae-yun and I had broken up—well, it had just sort of happened—so that was the end of it. So why did it still hurt so much? The pleasant fatigue I usually felt after swimming had already faded. I reached the gym and wondered how I was going to kill time today. Ever since the breakup, time just wouldn’t pass normally.
As I climbed the stairs, a dull thud echoed from the floor above. What was that? No one should be here at this hour. I quickened my pace, pushed open the gym door, and stepped inside. Sunlight slanted through the half-drawn blinds, illuminating two figures standing in the middle of the wide floor—Dad and my sister.
Dad’s face wasn’t wearing its usual gentle smile. It was twisted with confusion, sorrow, and anger. My sister stood opposite him, her expression as indifferent as ever, staring back at him without a trace of emotion.
“...Hong Su-a. Is this what I taught you martial arts for?”
“Fist-fighting sports exist so you can hit people. What else would you use them for?”
When my sister answered her own father so coldly, Dad’s trembling hand struck her across the cheek without a word.
“...You, you...”
“Wait, Dad.”
I dropped my bag and rushed between them, prying the two apart. Tears glistened in Dad’s eyes, but my sister only snorted, clearly unbothered, and grabbed me by the scruff of my neck.
“You’re going to ban me from competitions again as punishment, right? Fine, do whatever you want. You, come with me.”
“Sis, hold on...!”
Without so much as glancing at Dad’s lonely figure, she dragged me straight out of the gym. Only once we were outside did I manage to shake off her grip and shout at her.
“What the hell’s been wrong with you since yesterday?!”
“...”
She just stared at me in silence. Nothing could be read from those cold eyes.
“...Think about Dad for once. How many times has this happened now? Every time someone you don’t like shows up at the gym, you do this! And yesterday—what the hell did that guy do to piss you off so badly?”
After listening to everything, my sister finally laughed out loud. But I knew that laugh wasn’t born from joy or happiness. It was mockery.
“Haa, Hong Su-ho. One girl dumps you and you turn into a complete idiot.”
“...What?”
“You hate that bastard too. So why didn’t you stop him when he was getting hit? When he stepped into the ring? If you’d thought about Dad, you would’ve stopped it.”
“...Even if I tried, you—”
“You, Dad—do you think it makes either of you feel better when your oh-so-diligent, perfect son sells out his own family just to make excuses?”
She cut me off at every turn, driving her words straight into my chest. All I felt in that moment was disgust.
“Then what about you?”
“What.”
“I got dumped. Chae-yun cheated on me. I hid all of it and never planned to tell anyone. But I told you because you were close with her—because I thought you deserved to know. That’s why I said something. Not so you could do this.”
“...So what.”
“Why do you hate that guy so much? Because he’s the guy who stole your brother’s girlfriend? Because he’s the new boyfriend of the girl who cheated? No. You’re the kind of person who doesn’t care what happens to someone like me. So why go that far?”
The morning air had warmed, making the heavy atmosphere feel even thicker. My sister remained silent, her expression still cold.
“...Hypocrite.”
She clicked her tongue in contempt, turned her back on me, and walked away. I didn’t try to stop her.
—
“Um, Oppa. You really want me to hit you?”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
“If you’re going to practice something like this, wouldn’t it be better to have Seo-hee unni—”
“She’s too strong. What if you actually get hurt?”
With my hands clasped behind my back, I stood still and told Chae-yun to hit me in the face. Looking embarrassed to be playing along with such a stupid request, she let out a loud sigh and swung her fist straight at my nose.
Front.
Unlike yesterday, I tilted my head lightly and dodged. “Today it works again.”
“Seriously, what are you doing?”
“I just wanted to check something.”
I still didn’t understand why my danger sense—something that had always protected me—had failed to detect that woman’s punch. Curious, I’d decided to test it, but this wasn’t giving me any real answers.
“Try from behind this time.”
“...Again?”
Chae-yun made no effort to hide her reluctance.
“Yesterday I ended up in the hospital. Whose fault was that, again?”
“Fine, I get it!”
Grumbling, she walked behind me. I put on a blindfold, completely blocking my vision.
“When do I start?”
“Don’t say anything. Just when you’re ready—”
Behind.
Danger.
“Uwah, shit!”
I ducked, and an incredibly powerful fist grazed the back of my head. Getting hit by that would’ve felt like taking a hammer to the skull.
“....”
“Why? Wouldn’t this actually help you?”
I took off the blindfold and turned around, but Chae-yun was already muttering to herself. I ignored her and fell into thought. My danger sense wasn’t broken—on the contrary, it seemed even sharper than before. So what had gone wrong yesterday? Even if it could dodge bullets, there was no way it should’ve missed a boxer’s punch.
“Ugh, but why did Oppa suddenly get hit by unni? She’s really nice, though.”
“She’s the guy who messed with his little sister’s girlfriend. You shouldn’t be asking that, you know?”
...Wait.
“What did you just say?”
“Huh? I said she’s a really nice unni.”
“Not that. Before that.”
“Eh? Why you got hit by unni?”
“Yeah, that.”
I still didn’t know why I’d been hit by that woman. But I did know how it had happened.
“Alright, one last time. Hit me.”
“Eh, again?”
She grumbled but approached anyway. I put the blindfold back on.
“This time, tell me before you swing. And go as easy as you can.”
“Okay.”
Take the hit. Take the hit. Take the hit. I kept repeating the words like a mantra.
“I’m hitting you now, okay?”
....
“Ugh!”
The punch I’d expected from the front slammed into my temple instead. Caught completely off guard by the unexpected angle, I toppled to the floor.
“...What? You suddenly couldn’t dodge?”
“I see now...”
My danger sense had an on/off function. Normally it stayed active to protect me from threats, but when I actually wanted to get hit, it simply didn’t trigger. That was the feeling.
“...I don’t really get it, but it’s fine, right?”
“Yeah, it’s fine.”
I took Chae-yun’s hand and stood up. I’d learned everything I needed to know about my danger sense for now, so...
“What are you going to do now?”
“The gym owner said to come back once he’s feeling better, so showing up today would just make things awkward. I’ve got somewhere else to go anyway.”
“Where? Can I come with you...?”
Still supporting me, Chae-yun naturally linked her arm through mine. I could feel the soft press of her chest against my arm.
“...I was planning to take you anyway.”
“Really?”
She smiled brightly, and a pang of guilt hit me. If I’d brought Seo-hee instead, she would’ve complained the whole way about dragging her on another weird date.
—
“Who would’ve thought she’d fall apart so easily, right?”
“Lick...♡ Yes, that’s right... Master...♡”
“...I thought this was supposed to be a date.”
Inside Seo-hee’s quiet house, I found myself in an unwanted early three-way confrontation. Me, Chae-yun, and the former professor Seo-hee. Chae-yun sat in a chair, chin resting on her hand, sighing as she stared at me with clear displeasure. I wasn’t exactly in a good mood either. I sat on the bed while Seo-hee knelt beneath it, greedily sucking on my cock.
“...That went quite poorly, didn’t it?”
“Sorry.”
The wet, obscene sounds that kept breaking the unusually heavy silence made my head hurt. I closed my eyes and sighed. Chae-yun’s irritation was entirely because of Seo-hee.
“...Ugh.”
Overstimulated, I came straight into Seo-hee’s mouth. She drank it down with obvious delight, licking up every drop that had spilled onto the floor before looking up at me and begging.
“Master, the drug... Please give it to me♡ Okay?”
Her face flushed, Seo-hee wiggled her hips like a dog wagging its tail. I pulled a small vial of blue liquid from my pocket and showed it to her.
“Yes♡ That♡ Give me that♡”
This was exactly why Chae-yun had a headache. Leaving Seo-hee alone while I tested my abilities had resulted in this—drug addiction. Without the drug, she could no longer feel any sensation at all.
When Seo-hee had regained consciousness yesterday, she’d been different from the other women I’d seen. She’d shown no interest in conversation, only craving pleasure. Sensing something had gone wrong, I’d brought Chae-yun along.
“She’s definitely one of our kind, but I don’t feel anything from her. She doesn’t show any abilities either, and she doesn’t seem particularly outstanding. She’s an inferior specimen. Something like this won’t even be able to reproduce properly. She’s useless.”
Chae-yun crossed her arms and sighed again as she coldly assessed the value of her own kind, but Seo-hee didn’t seem to notice—or perhaps didn’t care—about the gaze directed at her.
“That’s why I brought you.”
“You think I can fix this?”
Quick on the uptake as always, Chae-yun got straight to the point.
“No, I can’t fix it.”
Ah, damn it. So she wasn’t all-powerful either.
“A human brain would be easy to fix. But our kind? Impossible. Their structure is far more complex than a human’s...”
“Then what do you usually do in cases like this?”
“...An inferior specimen has no value. How could she possibly seduce a male and reproduce in this state?”
“...”
Seo-hee paid no attention to our conversation, continuing to drool while staring at the blue vial I was holding.
“Usually, we would modify inferior specimens and gift them as sex slaves to human males. But we can’t do that now. She’s a professor—if she disappears, it’ll cause serious problems.”
“No, I’ve got a good idea.”
“Huh?”
“How exactly do you do that sex slave modification thing?”