Would You Like to Save the Photo?
A hollow laugh slipped out before I could stop it. “Ha, this son of a bitch is really something else, isn’t he?” I muttered, sweeping my bangs back with one hand.
What is it? The Ring, which had stayed silent until now, spoke up. Completely shamelessly.
“Do you even know what I was just thinking about?”
“It’s a green light, Master.”
“Stop dodging the question. You know damn well.”
I asked again as I crossed the street. The Ring answered without hesitation.
“I don’t not know.”
“Weren’t you thinking about the taste of Hwangbo Ji-eun’s pussy that you fucked yesterday, and wondering when you’d get to have sex with her next?”
“It is the typical thought pattern for most men who’ve just lost their virginity.”
It wasn’t wrong, but…
“Ahem. Not that.”
“Ah… Then were you perhaps considering dating her? Your favorability toward Hwangbo Ji-eun has shot up dramatically after having sex with her yesterday.”
“I don’t see it as a bad idea.”
“She saved your life, after all, and the human known as Hwangbo Ji-eun already holds an enormous amount of affection for you, Master. She would make an excellent woman to date.”
“Her overall quality is quite acceptable as well.”
“……”
The Ring’s answer left me speechless for a moment. An excruciatingly accurate analysis. A response that hit far too close to the truth. Yet it was so cold.
If AI advanced even further and became an indispensable part of human society… would the world start to feel like this?
The thought suddenly struck me. There were people who insisted that progress isn’t the only correct path. In reality, plenty of people still yearned for the nostalgia of the past. But once the train called “progress” had stepped on the accelerator, no one could stop it. Not even if the intention behind it was pure.
Anyway.
“And knowing all that, you still gave me this quest?”
“I can give it, of course.”
“Well… yeah, I guess you can.”
This thing really had a talent for leaving people with nothing to say. I’d been ready to get angry, but the urge fizzled out instantly.
“Whether you perform the quest or not is entirely up to your free will, Master.”
“Completing it grants the corresponding reward.”
“Declining it simply means passing on the reward.”
“I know. I know, but…”
I pulled up the quest details and read them again.
Complete the designated date course with Moyong Sunae in three days.
Reward: 700,000 won
A timed quest with a reward of seven hundred thousand won. If the reward had only been fifty or sixty thousand, I wouldn’t have thought twice. But seven hundred thousand meant there was serious risk attached. The Ring never assigned rewards lightly.
“It should’ve just told me to go on a date with Hwangbo Ji-eun…”
Right when I was seriously considering dating Ji-eun, I get a quest to date Moyong Sunae instead. What kind of malicious prank was this?
There is no malice involved.
Then let’s call it a prank by fate.
“Damn it.”
What the hell was going to happen in exactly three days that a date with Moyong Sunae warranted a seven-hundred-thousand-won reward? The more I thought about it, the more my head throbbed. Still, one thing was crystal clear.
I can’t ignore this.
Not because I was greedy for the money. I was afraid of what might happen if I passed. What if something terrible came from skipping it? I’d already confirmed the Ring’s power was real just days ago, standing face-to-face with a man holding a kitchen knife.
“I have to do it. I have to, but…”
…Would it be okay to confess to Hwangbo Ji-eun after the date with Moyong Sunae? Humanly, ethically, wasn’t that complete garbage behavior? I knew it was. It felt like I needed to hear it from someone else before it truly sank in.
Luckily it was the weekend, so the perfect person to consult was home.
Beep beep beep beep. Ding. Click.
When I opened the front door, the house was quiet. My parents worked even on weekends. Only one person was home right now.
Creak—.
I carefully opened my little sister’s door. Beneath pink blackout curtains, inside a tent that looked like a mosquito net, my sister was fast asleep in her pajamas, breathing softly.
Kim Hyun-ah’s room was tidy and smelled pleasant, unlike mine.
She looks out cold. Maybe I shouldn’t wake her.
As that thought crossed my mind—
“…Kim Hyun-woo, what the hell… got something to say?”
She must have woken up when I came through the front door. Her personality had always been sensitive.
“No, it’s nothing big. I just wanted to ask you something.”
“Huuu… what is it…”
Still half-asleep, Kim Hyun-ah asked with her eyes closed.
“From a woman’s perspective… what do you think of a guy who two-times?”
“……”
Twitch. Twitch. Her toes wiggled under the blanket. After a short silence, she answered slowly.
“Wow. You really just said that out loud.”
“……”
“I’d want to kill him?”
Short, intense, and completely sincere. That single line erased every last bit of my hesitation.
Yeah… I definitely shouldn’t confess to Hwangbo Ji-eun.
As long as I had the Ring, there was no telling what kind of quests would come next. Starting a relationship right now seemed like an awful idea.
“Yaaawn. I mean, they say there are women who accept two-timing, but from my point of view, any woman who could smile and allow it…”
“Are what?”
“All mentally ill bitches. Definitely not normal, that’s for sure.”
“……”
“Done?”
“Yeah, done.”
“Then close the door and fuck off. I’m meeting my boyfriend tonight, so I’m going back to sleep.”
“Sure. Eat something good.”
“You too, oppa.”
Click.
I closed the door, stepped out, and let out a long sigh.
What exactly are you thinking about to sigh like that?
If it couldn’t talk, it wouldn’t be so damn annoying…
“…I was trying to figure out how to ask Sunae out on a date.”
That part was true. In my entire life, I had never once asked a girl out first.
Thump!
Damn it. My heart, which had been racing at the thought of dating Hwangbo Ji-eun just moments ago, was now pounding at the thought of going on a date with Moyong Sunae.
I really was a complete scumbag, wasn’t I?
“Hyun-woo, welcome in.”
“Hey, Sunae. Hi.”
I’d tried my best to act normal when I came to work, but the moment I actually faced Moyong Sunae, my face flushed bright red. Damn it. It had been fine when I was drunk. I’d decided yesterday that I would call her by name and speak casually from now on. Just that already felt embarrassing, and now that I had to ask her out on top of it, my nerves were through the roof. My palms were sweating.
I thought I was perfectly prepared before leaving the house…
In fact, I had already reserved tickets for the currently hottest movie, The King and the Woman, for three days from now. I didn’t even know how many times I had practiced the exact line I would use. When Kim Hyun-ah walked out of the bathroom and caught me practicing alone in my room, I’d wanted to die from sheer embarrassment.
Wow. This takes a lot more courage than I expected.
It made me realize just how impressive those guys were who could casually strike up conversations with women they’d just met. Now I understood—they really were something else.
“Hyun-woo, do you have something you want to tell me?”
“Huh? Ah, that’s… no, never mind.”
I fumbled through an excuse, but I genuinely wanted to slap myself. That had been the perfect moment to ask her out, and I let it slip. What an absolute idiot.
Still, Sunae really is insanely pretty.
Her figure might be a little slimmer than Hwangbo Ji-eun’s, but those utterly innocent eyes and gentle smile were incredibly charming. She looked like she would make the perfect devoted wife.
It’s obvious she’s a virgin, so what are you hesitating for?
Just looking at her tells you everything! Moyong Sunae is one hundred percent a virgin.
A girl that pure—you just need to take her once and it’s over. She doesn’t even have the courage to meet other men, so she’s guaranteed to be a perfect homemaker for life.
Just get her a little drunk and take her to a hotel…
Heat rushed to my face. Of all times, Hwangbo Ji-eun’s words from yesterday floated up, and on top of the memory of the sex we’d shared, Moyong Sunae’s image overlapped. Before I knew it, I was imagining myself fucking Moyong Sunae.
Wow, I’m insane… I really am a scumbag. A total scumbag.
Come to think of it, among the things Hwangbo Ji-eun had said was that line about getting a girl drunk and dragging her to a hotel. She hadn’t used the same tactic on me, had she? Maybe the condoms in her bag had been prepared in advance for yesterday after all…
“Hwangbo Ji-eun! Making a flashy, energetic entrance today as well!”
She really couldn’t behave like a proper lady.
“Ahh, Oppa! Yesterday felt so good!”
“Huh? Uh…?”
Was this girl out of her mind the second she walked in? Why would she use words that could be so easily misunderstood?
By the way, her outfit was far bolder today than yesterday. Once she put on the café apron it would be hidden, but right now, without it, the top she wore put her incredibly voluptuous cleavage on full display. Her neck and collarbones were exposed, and on her chest were the kiss marks I’d left yesterday…
Gasp!
“J-Ji-eun…!”
“Ah, that’s right, Ji-eun.”
“Yes, sis.”
Moyong Sunae beat me to it.
“You took Hyun-woo home safely yesterday, right? All the way to his house. Properly.”
A shiver ran down my spine. What the hell? For a split second, goosebumps had prickled across my arms.
“Ah………………”
Hwangbo Ji-eun turned away from me and met Moyong Sunae’s eyes with a sly smile.
“Of course. Don’t worry, sis. I took him home safely.”
“Ah, I-I see. I wasn’t worried. I knew you’d handle it. By the way, what are those marks that look like bites?”
“I must have been bitten by mosquitoes. My studio is pretty old, so there are a lot of bugs.”
“Those look a little big for mosquito bites, though?”
“Do they?”
Grin.
“The bug must have been pretty big.”
“……”
Did I imagine it? For a moment, Moyong Sunae’s eyes seemed to grow colder than I had ever seen them.
“Ah! I’ll go put my apron on!”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
…I must have imagined it, right?
Whatever the case—
Ha, if I’m going to ask her out, now’s my only chance while Ji-eun is in the staff room!
“Um, Sunae.”
The exact moment I finally gathered the courage to ask Moyong Sunae out—
Tok tok~ Tok tok~
A personal message arrived on my phone. When I checked it—
“……”
I stared at the completely uncensored photos and lost the ability to speak. What the hell had this girl just sent me? Was she out of her mind?
Even while reeling from the sheer audacity—
> Would you like to save the photo?
I saved every single photo and the video Hwangbo Ji-eun had sent me to my gallery.