Those Who Meet Must Part, Those Who Leave Must Return (1)
Those Who Meet Must Part, Those Who Leave Must Return (1)
[Tsk, don't get the wrong idea! Th-this is only because of our deal! I-I will never accept anything like this again!]
A memorable line echoed on its own, as if whispered right beside me despite the silence. The words Im Seo-ryeon had shouted, staking her pride as a martial master, rang in my ears every time I faced her for a massage.
"Hmph...! Ah...! Nngh...!"
Even when she spread her legs wide and shamelessly lifted her hips to meet my movements, even when my fingers somehow found their way beyond her thighs, pressing and kneading the mound of her sex, sliding up and down, that biting voice of hers kept echoing.
"Ah...! Ahh-ng...!"
Before her body grew heated, Im Seo-ryeon behaved with chaste decorum. But once the massage began, she cast aside all the propriety we should have observed as an unrelated man and woman, clinging to me vulgarly or spreading her legs wide as she gazed at me with desperate eyes.
Watching her bring our mouths together, sticking her tongue out as if begging me to suck it, staring at the ceiling with hazy eyes as she writhed and let out joyful moans under my touch—there was no way to describe her except as a bitch in heat or a sow in rut.
"Haaah...! Nngh...! Ah...!"
The way she rubbed her hands against me flirtatiously, urging me on with her chin. Even in that vulgar display, Im Seo-ryeon's voice still echoed inside my head.
[Tsk, don't get the wrong idea! Th-this is only because of our deal! I-I will never accept anything like this again!]
"Q-quickly..."
When I stood there blankly, struggling to suppress a laugh, she beckoned me with an urgent gesture. Her hand was pointing at her own crotch. At first I'd only pressed firmly on the inside of her thighs, subtly teasing her and bringing her pleasure to a rolling boil, but once a line had been crossed, she wanted something direct rather than that tantalizing build-up.
"Won't it look far too depraved?"
"I-I don't care..."
Did that voice of hers ring in her own head too? Did she still cling to that pitiful excuse—that she was only doing it out of a sense of obligation, simply because of a promise?
"Ahh...! Ah-ng...! Ah...!"
There was no way to know. I slipped my hand between her legs and began to caress her. I blatantly pressed my fingers against her clitoris to torment it, stroked along her cleft, and pressed down.
"Oh-hk...! Uk...! Grrk...! Ungh...!"
Her Qi Senses wide open, she accepted a pleasure so intense that her mind went blank, and today too she arched her hips and screamed with her mouth gaping wide.
"Nnng-hiiiiiiiiiik! Aaaaaaaaang!"
Fluids gushed from her lower half, her thighs convulsed, and her legs, unable to find their place, stretched wildly in all directions as her heels scraped against the floor.
And finally she collapsed onto the floor with a splat like a dead frog, curling up her body, her head trembling as she savored the afterglow.
[Tsk, don't get the wrong idea! Th-this is only because of our deal! I-I will never accept anything like this again!]
Seeing that depraved, stark-naked figure sprawled on the floor, her voice echoed in my head once more. To me, the entire thing sounded like some cheap joke in a third-rate theater troupe—the kind of comedy that blatantly telegraphs its inevitable punchline.
A man carrying a plate of food, and a clown.
The two actors pretend to walk toward each other with hurried steps.
From the moment they take a step, everything is already decided.
The clown will collide with the plate, spill the food, and the man will get angry at the clown.
The actors act as if that ending isn't coming, as if it's all natural, but in the end the conclusion is always the same.
"Heu-uk...! Eu-hee...! Ah...!"
She would say she wouldn't depend on me, but a conclusion in which she ultimately came crawling back to me was already preordained.
*******
The final day.
Im Seo-ryeon and the deputy had finished preparing to leave and stood before the main gate. To send off the inspectors from the Murim Alliance, I put my arm around Seon-go and faced Im Seo-ryeon. The look in her eyes, which on that first day had been sharp and aggressive, had lost its venom and now shone with a meek light.
"How was the massage? Were you satisfied?"
Im Seo-ryeon blushed at my question. She turned her head and spoke in a small voice.
"...It wasn't... bad. With this, I've certainly kept my promise, haven't I?"
"Promise?"
When I tilted my head, Im Seo-ryeon frowned. A beat late, I remembered the fact that she had broken the ceramic ware and mocked Seon-go, and I hurriedly shook my head.
"Ah, I remember. I remember. Don't worry. The things that happened this time will never come out of my mouth again."
"Good. They'd better not."
Im Seo-ryeon folded her arms and said that. As she pressed her own chest with her arms, her breasts were naturally pushed out into a round shape. Seon-go glanced at those breasts for a moment before alternating between looking at them and her own, comparing, while I stole glances at her chest and spoke.
"You, for your part, had better report to the Murim Alliance that I am innocent."
"...Nothing came of the investigation, so noted."
"If you ever want another massage, you're welcome to visit anytime."
"...I'll keep that in mind."
Given that she was an inspector under the Murim Alliance, I couldn't keep her locked up and kneading her forever. Still, the effect of massaging her for the past fourteen days seemed undeniable. Because even while she surely remembered that vulgar, lewd display in full, she never once said she disliked it.
Next I looked to the side. The deputy who had accompanied Im Seo-ryeon had, in this short span, grown so gaunt that it looked as if he'd literally been drained of his essence. His cheeks were sunken, his skin was pale, and dark circles had formed around his eyes—so much so that I felt uneasy even speaking to him.
"Deputy, I hope you travel safely as well."
At that, the deputy bowed and spoke. When I had first met him, he had left a strong impression of a shy young man, but seeing him again today, something strange lingered in his eyes, and even his smile was hazy.
"I hope you fare well too, Sect Leader. Over the last fourteen days, thanks to you, Sect Leader, I was able to open my eyes to a new world."
"...A new world?"
The deputy laughed at my words and said,
"Ahaha, you know full well what I mean, don't you? Even for a man, it's embarrassing to speak in a situation like this..."
"Enough. Our farewells are dragging on. Let us return."
Im Seo-ryeon cut off the deputy's lengthening words with a snap. The deputy clearly wanted to say more, but Im Seo-ryeon had already turned and begun to leave, so he had no choice but to hurry after her to attend her.
Seon-go watched the scene and said,
"If you just let her go like that, won't you regret it?"
"By now, I'm all she'll be able to think about."
I shrugged as I spoke. Seon-go hugged me tightly and said,
"More than that, now it's just the two of us."
"So it is."
"Please be a little sweet to me today. You've been stuck with that inspector all the time lately, and I felt lonely."
"Understood."
I said that and, still holding Seon-go, turned around.
"Oh my, Sect Leader! Thanks to you, I had a good time!"
And the place our gaze turned to held a woman who looked to be in her fifties, wearing heavy makeup and strange clothes. She touched up her makeup, swayed her hips as she passed us, and went out the gate. I blinked and then looked at Seon-go.
"Who the hell was that woman just now?"
Seon-go wore a puzzled expression at my question and said,
"Huh? Docheol. She's a prostitute from the next village. You called her to entertain the deputy."
"...That middle-aged woman just now?"
"I thought you knew. Was I wrong? I figured you two had similar tastes."
I turned around again.
That woman, whose flesh sagged like an ill-fitting hide, whose buttocks swayed exaggeratedly, who looked at least fifty years old.
The deputy had been squeezed dry by her for nearly a fortnight?
With a dumbfounded expression on my face, I could only stare in the direction where the deputy had disappeared.
********
"Oh."
Im Seo-ryeon and the deputy were passing through a village. Im Seo-ryeon turned her head when she heard the deputy suddenly let out an exclamation. His gaze was directed at the village well, which was crowded with women doing laundry.
Im Seo-ryeon said,
"What are you staring at so intently? Is something suspicious?"
The deputy couldn't take his eyes off one woman among them. She was a woman of considerable age, with tough muscles from doing laundry standing out on her arms. She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she transferred the laundry into her basket.
The deputy pointed at the woman and said,
"That lady. Do you think she's married?"
"......"
Im Seo-ryeon could not immediately answer, unsure of the intent behind his words. As she hesitated, the deputy stepped forward and said,
"This won't do. I'll go ask if she's marri— mmph! Mmph!"
When he really seemed about to go ask, Im Seo-ryeon, startled, clapped her hand over his mouth and shouted,
"Be quiet! Why are you suddenly spouting nonsense?! You are a descendant of the Zhuge Family, and I, as your superior, have a duty to control you! If you go around throwing yourself at any random woman like that, how am I supposed to face the others when we return to the Murim Alliance?"
"Mmph! Mm-mmph!"
The deputy made urgent muffled sounds as Im Seo-ryeon dragged him away. Shaking her head, Im Seo-ryeon thought to herself that she had no idea how the Sect Leader had treated him that a perfectly normal young man had lost his mind.