Eight Corners Society (10)
Eight Corners Society (10)
Had I ever heard such a tale?
How even the most ordinary exchange can turn lewd when glimpsed from a certain angle. In that charged moment when a man and a woman lock eyes with tender warmth, beneath the surface their private lusts and impure desires coiled together, saturating the air on every side with a licentious fragrance—taking shape like Pandemonium itself. A noxious scent, imperceptible to those ignorant of the circumstances, held sway over the estate.
"Will you tell me of the North Sea Ice Palace?"
And Seon-go, relying on a single small hole, had been watching that spectacle with perfect clarity. Her husband was casting glances more ardent than any he had ever shown before, his fingers twitching restlessly—and those glances were aimed not at her, but at another woman.
"...What sort of story would you like?"
Eun Ho-seol, wholly convinced that she was the true object of that affection, shivered and played the vixen. To Seon-go, her foolish air had been utterly endearing. The thought that a master of martial arts was being so thoroughly toyed with—dancing in Docheol's palm and her own, blundering into adultery like a fool—was so exquisite it already felt as if drool might soak the room.
Even when Eun Ho-seol answered with just a single word, she would coquettishly twist her hair and steal sidelong glances at Docheol. In moments where she could easily have looked straight ahead, she would hunch her shoulders ever so slightly, tracking the movement of his gaze. Docheol, for his part, openly rolled his eyes as though he were falling for her, only to pointedly look away again.
"Exactly as I said. I have always been curious about the place they call the North Sea Ice Palace. A sect that lies beyond the Central Plains, yet cultivates martial arts and passes down its traditions just as the people of the Central Plains do. What sort of remarkable place must it be?"
As long as the guards remained outside, the pair's conversation merely skimmed the surface. Yet both of them were straining desperately to find the hidden core between the words and seduce the other. Eun Ho-seol sought to toy with Docheol by leaning forward just enough to hint at her cleavage, or by deliberately wetting her hair to bare the nape of her neck.
Docheol, in turn, acted the part of a man being played, panting softly as he savored her curves. Yet even then, he feigned the dignity of a martial artist, coughing dryly and averting his eyes as though he would never dare cross the line.
"Hoo...."
Seon-go hid her twitching lips and steadied her breathing. She was pressed so tightly against the wall that she feared it might give way. But the wall was thick, the hole was small, and Eun Ho-seol was so thoroughly absorbed in her frivolous mischief with Docheol that she failed to notice her at all.
Seon-go was beginning to grasp, little by little, what Docheol had been trying to tell her.
That Eun Ho-seol had to come to understand this as a game. That she had to be coaxed into visiting more often. That the two of them must become Eun Ho-seol's release valve—and get her addicted.
Those words, which had once seemed like a Zen riddle, became easy to understand the moment she saw it with her own eyes.
Eun Ho-seol, savoring the sensation of Docheol falling for her, would grow more and more absorbed in this game.
And all Seon-go had to do, for her part, was boast about her husband right in front of her and play the unsuspecting wife to perfection.
*******
The second meeting.
"It has been far too long, Madam Eun!"
That day as well, the meeting took place at the estate. When Eun Ho-seol met Seon-go by the lakeside, her face brightened with gladness—yet there was also a flicker of expectation in her eyes as she glanced repeatedly toward the estate. Seon-go pretended not to notice those glances at all.
"Ah, new tea arrived at the estate just today. Won't you come try some? Your guards are most welcome to join us as well!"
What must Eun Ho-seol have been thinking as she looked at that bright, guileless face? For Seon-go, simply imagining it was part of the pleasure.
Pretending to know nothing, Seon-go led her to the estate. The guards were served tea in a separate room, and once again the three of them sat around the table together. And then, everything unfolded exactly as it had the time before. Once again, Seon-go feigned ignorance and quietly slipped away from the table, and the very moment she departed, Docheol spoke.
"It is a pleasure to see you again."
Eun Ho-seol offered no reply to those words. But her flushed cheeks and wavering eyes betrayed exactly what she was thinking. I am glad too. Or perhaps, I have been looking forward to this. From Docheol's standpoint, either sentiment suited him perfectly.
His ultimate goal was to make Eun Ho-seol say, with her own lips, "I missed you."
To achieve that, it was crucial to make Eun Ho-seol recognize this as a "game"—one whose intensity would escalate, bit by bit, with every meeting. In this precarious situation—with guards stationed in the very next room, with no way to know when his wife might suddenly return—the two of them drew closer and closer still.
Docheol felt so exhilarated that merely imagining it could make him grow hard.
So he cautiously stretched out his foot beneath the table. He tapped the tip of Eun Ho-seol's shoe with his own and looked at her, smiling. Eun Ho-seol's eyes went round at his audacity. Seeing that she kept silent, Docheol once again tapped her toes with his.
Between shoe and shoe, the warmth of each other's body was felt, and Eun Ho-seol flinched, shoulders shrinking back. This strange mode of contact, something she had never in her life experienced, flustered her entirely. Docheol merely shrugged and extended his foot once more. This time, he did not bump against Eun Ho-seol's foot. With his leg stretched out just slightly, he moved it restlessly this way and that, as though at play.
Only then did Eun Ho-seol grasp the rules of the game Docheol was playing.
It was a brazen and peculiar game. It was, with even greater certainty, not something a married man and a married woman had any business doing. But precisely because of that, Eun Ho-seol found herself wanting to play along.
She stretched her foot toward Docheol and met the tip of his.
Tuk.
As shoe pressed lightly against shoe, crumpling the leather, their toes met. A strange game one must never play with another woman's husband—and Eun Ho-seol felt a strangely thrilling sensation ripple through her. Two emotions crossed paths in her mind at that moment: the feeling that this much was permissible, and the feeling that this was utterly wrong.
But since it was, for now, both thrilling and fun, the scale tipped toward the permissible side.
How many times had their feet bumped together by then?
While continuing the tapping foot play, Docheol naturally leaned forward and murmured,
"I missed you."
Eun Ho-seol flinched at those words and drew back. Then, glancing toward the room Seon-go had entered, she said,
"...Your wife, you know."
"You aren't saying you cannot because you have a husband, I notice."
Eun Ho-seol neither affirmed nor denied his words. But she pressed her lips together firmly and, more forcefully than before, tapped his foot—tuk. Docheol pushed his teacup aside and took a leisurely sip of tea. This gesture was not for Eun Ho-seol's sake.
The moment he set the teacup down, the door opened and Seon-go entered. She moved with a bright, beaming smile and claimed the spot beside Docheol. Linking her arm with his and resting her head on his shoulder, she spoke loudly enough for the guards to hear.
"I am so sorry—for being away from the table for so long. Docheol, dear. You missed me, didn't you?"
And then Seon-go puckered her lips as though preparing for an overt display of affection. Docheol, after casting a brief glance at Eun Ho-seol, kissed Seon-go. Eun Ho-seol, her lips pursed in a slight pout, watched the scene for a long moment. Seon-go's love for her husband was excessive.
Was there truly any need to flaunt how deeply she loved her husband, even in a setting like this?
Just as a shadow of discontent began to settle over Eun Ho-seol's face, Docheol subtly stretched out his foot beneath the table and brushed it over the top of Eun Ho-seol's foot. Eun Ho-seol's lips trembled faintly as she leaned back against her chair, and in answer, she coiled her foot around Docheol's and pressed it downward.
As if two serpents were entwined in combat, their feet tangled together—then separated in tandem with Seon-go's lips pulling away. Eun Ho-seol felt her body flush with a strange heat. Her breath came rough, and a peculiar sense of release trickled through her chest.
For reasons she could not fathom, Seon-go seemed to be gazing at Eun Ho-seol with an expression just as excited as her own.
"Madam Eun? Did you enjoy yourself a little today?"
Eun Ho-seol nodded at those words and smiled. That day, her nodding was especially vigorous. Docheol added his own farewell to Seon-go's:
"Let us meet again."
Even that parting greeting filled Eun Ho-seol with pleasure.
She intended to return to the estate even if he had not said a word about meeting again.
A sense of superiority and release.
Everything she craved was waiting at the estate.
******
Hwang Ryong-seong listened to the report his guards delivered and let out a derisive snort.
"Docheol is bringing his own wife along and meeting frequently with mine?"
It was a painfully obvious ploy. If the wives met first and built a rapport, Docheol's standing within the Eight Trigrams Association would grow that much more advantageous. Hwang Ryong-seong said,
"Surprisingly, he stoops to such a transparent trick. But there is no need to obstruct his efforts to grow closer to the Eight Trigrams Association."
Another man of the Eight Trigrams Association, seated beside him, asked,
"That man called Docheol, sect leader of the Crimson Ring Sect, has a certain reputation as a womanizer. Are you truly at ease with this? He may well be harboring other intentions."
Hwang Ryong-seong shook his head at this and said,
"No matter how storied his exploits with women, would he dare lay hands on another man's wife right before his own? The daughter of the Yang Family Taijiquan Gate and the disciple of Hengshan Sect that he keeps company with are both renowned for their upright, straight-as-bamboo character. They are women he could never keep in check if he were truly a man with no sense of discretion. And that North Sea Ice Palace bitch came all the way to the Central Plains precisely to establish her family line, in the end. How could she possibly choose another man over me? Hm?"
Hwang Ryong-seong said this and laughed.
He was utterly confident.