One Day in July (4)

The next day, ten in the morning. Kang-jun sent his entire team off to the beach and went alone to meet Velita. The hotel he'd named Blue Moon did business with a massive blue moon hanging over the entrance. Already, people in swimsuits were coming and going from the front door.

Blue Moon Hotel café. The moment Kang-jun stepped inside the agreed meeting place, he was met with a throng of people. One entire wall of the café was floor-to-ceiling glass, giving a clear view of everything outside. Plenty of guests sat under the cool air conditioning, leisurely nursing a cup of coffee while watching the scenery beyond. Honestly, that alone was enough to put someone in a vacation mood.

"Over here!"

Kang-jun made his way to a table sectioned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off by partitions that looked fairly upscale. Velita was already there, having ordered coffee and cookies and polished off about half of them. For fashion, she'd thrown on something resembling a mesh top, and underneath it a chest covering that could have been a bra or ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a bikini was fully visible. Looking further down, she had at least wrapped a thin skirt around her waist.

He sat across from her. A waiter came over separately to take his order.

"What'll you have?"

"Iced black."

Once the waiter left, Kang-jun cracked his stiff neck left and right with a series of pops. Last evening he'd played prisoner with Hye-mi, and late into the night he'd played the affair game with Zixu. He was a little short on sleep, and the yawns kept coming.

"Bed not treating you right?"

"Yeah, tossed and turned a bit."

No need to mention he'd been fucking until late.

Soon a coffee cup bobbing with ice was set down in front of him with a soft clink. He took a sip of the bitter brew and chased off the stubborn drowsiness clinging to him. Only then did his eyes clear a little.

"Still, glad you look well."

"Nothing particularly wrong."

Things had been fairly busy lately, but nothing worth fretting over. Kang-jun took another sip of coffee and put the question to her.

"So. Tell me about the Labyrinths."

"Ah, that."

Given her looks and manner, he hadn't expected much — but she explained surprisingly well.

Heroes were periodically dispatched to the Labyrinths under their organization's jurisdiction and obligated to report on conditions and status. Labyrinths ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠whose exploration count fell below the standard received additional Hero exploration teams. New recruits had to complete exploration training before being dispatched. Even D-rank personnel were required to participate in Labyrinth exploration on a regular basis — roughly once per quarter. And so on.

That was the gist of it. Listening to her, Kang-jun re-etched the faded memories into sharp relief. The exploration training and the mandatory participation for D-ranks had only just come back to him.

"You'll get a call soon telling you to join the training too."

"What a pain…"

"Can't be helped. It's mandatory."

That meant August's Labyrinth exploration might get a little harder. He might have to push himself.

"By the way — how many points have you racked up? It's been a month."

"Still zero."

"What? …Why?"

Velita's eyes went round; she clearly hadn't expected that at all. With Kang-jun's skill level, promoting to C-rank before the year was out should have been nothing.

"Don't really need them."

"Then what about promotion?"

"Too much of a hassle right now."

She'd never met anyone who refused to promote because it was a hassle. Everyone else was burning with ambition to climb the ranks.

"Promotion isn't easy, you know."

"There'll be another chance later. I've got too much on my plate right now."

"Is it because of your Labyrinth team? …Wouldn't it be better to promote fast and move to a better team later?"

"That's my business. Not yours to worry about."

Kang-jun drew a clean line and told her to drop it. Velita shut her mouth, wondering if she'd overstepped. Still, she felt a little hurt. She'd only said it out of concern, and he'd cut her off so coldly.

At any rate, the Labyrinth talk was settled for now. Velita snuck a glance at Kang-jun's expression and asked about the rest of the day.

"Next? Nothing particular."

"Really? I'm also… a little free, actually."

She dragged out the end of her sentence, carefully reading his face. The way she was testing the waters was almost funny.

"Want to head out?"

"Together?"

"Obviously together."

"Oh! Okay, let's go! Together!"

Check, please! Velita craned her neck and slapped the table with her palm, calling for the waiter. She slipped her card between her fingers and held it out to the approaching server. He took it politely, ran the bill, and returned it to her along with the receipt.

Once the tab was settled, the two of them walked out of the hotel side by side.

The sky was as clear as yesterday. A salty sea breeze blew cool against them. She dipped her head slightly, pursed her lips, and poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue, lost in thought for a moment.

Everything so far had gone exactly according to plan. Now what came next?

Kang-jun checked the time on his phone. A little past ten-thirty in the morning. He estimated when the kids would be back. If they returned for lunch, roughly around one. About two hours of free time.

"Hey."

"Y-yeah?"

She'd been improvising her next move when her head snapped up toward Kang-jun.

"Where's your room?"

"…My room?"

And then her face began to flush. Her heart suddenly pounded.

"Uh… just now, back there…"

She pointed awkwardly behind them with a finger. That so? Then let's go back. Kang-jun strode off at a purposeful clip. Velita hurried after his long strides. Watching his broad back, she lightly chewed her thumb.

Why did he ask where my room is? …No way. This is it, right? That's what this is, right? It has to be.

In her head she ran through a checklist one by one — whether she'd scrubbed thoroughly down to her crotch in the shower, whether anything was stuck in her teeth, where she'd stashed the condoms.

Neither of them said a word from the elevator all the way to the door of her hotel room. Her hand trembled slightly as she held the keycard to the lock. She swallowed hard.

Finally — joining with this man again…! Every hardship she'd endured until now melted away like snow on a spring day.

Beep. The door opened. She slotted the keycard into the holder beside the frame.

"Come i—"

Before the word was finished, Kang-jun yanked her into his arms. Their lips met. Tongues tangled in an instant. She wrapped both arms around his neck.

Okay. Coupon opportunity locked in.

Already starved for a man, she kissed him with juice running. Down below, a flood had already broken. This. Yes. This is it.

Kang-jun tore the mesh top straight open and yanked her covering up. Then he sucked the stiff, jutting peaks perched atop her thick breasts and chewed them roughly between his teeth.

The valve blew wide open before they even made it to the bed. Kang-jun drove into her with every intention of wringing her dry. Aahngh. She crawled across the floor on trembling limbs until her knees were raw and scraped.

Being a C-rank Hero, she somehow managed to cling to consciousness through the first hour. After that, though, it was genuinely hard enough to kill her. Her mind blanked out and came back several times. Kang-jun sucked and chewed and thrust without a single pause — hard enough that an ordinary person would have fainted long ago.

"Please… stop… I— I was wrong, nngh, I'm sorry—"

Of course, no matter how she begged, Kang-jun plugged his ears and pretended not to hear a word.

They hadn't even turned on the air conditioning, and the room had become a steam bath from their body heat. She was completely drenched in sweat. During a brief breather, Kang-jun poured bottled water into her slack, open mouth. Gulp, gulp. She drank it down in desperate swallows, like someone who'd wandered a desert and found an oasis.

And then the coupling began again. She lost count of how many times she'd come. The pleasure surging up through her was starting to tip into pain.

Kang-jun filled exactly two hours. Discounting the brief rests in between, he fucked her like a man possessed — hard enough that even he, with his high stamina stat, was thoroughly spent.

"Haa… shit."

She was already too wrecked to even moan. All she could do was cling to her breathing. Her entire body was covered in bite marks ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from his teeth and soaked in a nameless mixture of every fluid imaginable. The ass he'd slapped raw with his palm had already bruised purple.

Velita was, quite literally, devastated. Kang-jun let out a short, dry laugh at the masterpiece he'd created. He'd gone a bit overboard.

She passed out right there where she lay, without so much as a twitch. Kang-jun went straight into the bathroom and took a long, hard shower. His own body felt heavy.

Once he was done, he gathered his clothes, got dressed, gave the unconscious Velita a quick once-over, and left the room. Haa. The world outside after two hours looked a little different from before.

The moment he got back to his own room, he collapsed onto the bed. And in that state, he slept like the dead. When he woke, the sky was already pitch black.

Hye-mi, laughing in the living room while watching TV, spotted Kang-jun coming out of his room.

"Oh, Senior! You're up!"

"Yeah. Slept pretty deep."

"You were out so cold we didn't wake you."

They'd held off on dinner until Kang-jun woke. Soon they called room service and laid out a generous spread on the table.

Kang-jun filled his stomach thoroughly and climbed back onto his own bed. Still no message from Velita. She'd taken such a beating she apparently still hadn't come to.

He'd just set his phone down when a woman slipped quietly into his room. Hye-mi. She shut the door behind her with a soft click and slyly produced something from behind her back. Handcuffs.

"After yesterday… I figured we might need these…"

Kang-jun played prisoner with Hye-mi in handcuffs again. That night, Zixu came looking for him and presented her bare ass with something already stuffed up her hole. He worked his hips through the night once more.

…Is this really a vacation?

The four-day break flew by like a shaft of light. The Kang-jun Team returned to the team house and unpacked. Once everyone had finished settling in, he called them all into the living room.

"Starting tomorrow, we go back to the usual routine. Hye-mi, Zixu — Awakening is right around the corner for both of you, so step it up."

"Yes, Senior!"

Kang-jun went back to his room and made a round of calls. First he phoned the Hero Branch to report his return. Next was the Villain Organization, then Manager Kang, and last he spoke with Jang Hwa-young.

Jang Hwa-young said it almost like an order. Kang-jun couldn't refuse, so he answered yes, obediently. From the sound of her voice, her body was itching for it.

He also exchanged a few messages with Velita. She seemed to be angling for some kind of definition of their relationship.

Calling her a casual sex buddy he met now and then would probably set her off, and making her a girlfriend was too much of a hassle. What word would let him keep her around without the inconvenience…? Kang-jun ran through several options before one that fit just right came to mind.

She must have glimpsed some possibility in that, because she didn't push any further.

After the brief exchange, Kang-jun lay on the bed planning out August's schedule when another message notification chimed.

Figuring it was Velita again being a nuisance, he checked the screen — and the sender was the Hero Branch. He unlocked the phone and read the contents.

…The thing she said was coming. It finally arrived.