Yukiko's Cracking Facade
Yukiko stood blankly waiting for the bus, recalling what Seongha had said to her in the changing room.
"Even if I'm not watching, I'm sure you're beautiful."
"I don't think that outfit is prettier than you, Yukiko."
"You're too beautiful."
His words and actions didn't match. If she was truly beautiful enough to capture his heart, he would have already embraced her. Even if he genuinely found Yukiko beautiful, that came with its own problems. According to the slave market's rules, one could get most of the money back as a "refund" if the contract was canceled without breaking the slave's chastity. Otherwise, he might have a fetish for stealing women away. Matching the master's sexual preferences was a slave's virtue, but it wasn't exactly welcome.
These were hypotheses filled with forced assumptions and guesswork for any household, but she had to do her best with the limited information she had. Seducing him with her body wouldn't work. It had no effect, and continuing a behavior he'd already rejected on his end was dangerous. She couldn't easily picture her master getting angry, but there was no need to walk such a tightrope. That left proving her value somewhere other than the physical.
Not all slaves were accepted for their sexual superiority. Even those who were relatively less beautiful could be taken in for being "convenient" if they were capable and clever, or kept like trophies if they had something special. Slaves who were strong in combat were often kept around as bodyguards. Men with strong dominance and vast wealth commonly kept hundreds or thousands of slaves. They didn't meticulously fuck every single one, and those slaves didn't all need to shine with beauty.
A blonde delinquent approached Yukiko's master. With crude, delinquent antics that screamed her brain was full of lust, she tried to seduce him, but Yukiko naturally assumed she'd fail.
"Oh, sorry, but no. If you're a student, focus on your studies, dear."
Even to an approach so half-hearted it wasn't worth responding to, Yukiko's master replied kindly, telling her to focus on studies if she was a student. Realizing this was just how he handled rejections made anxiety bubble up inside Yukiko. When she'd tried to serve him in the changing room and he'd refused, his face had been just as kindly. To outsiders, her own seduction must have looked just as crude and desperate as this blonde bitch's. She couldn't bear to lift her head.
Still, she should have. The blonde's words didn't reach Yukiko's ears amid her rage and bewilderment. All she saw was the blonde lunging at her master.
An ambush. It was something she'd experienced often in Japan. People dissatisfied with men's privileges or the social structure all hid knives in their clothes and stabbed deep into defenseless men's bodies. Kidnappings were commonplace too. For women at the bottom of society, getting chosen normally for sex was harder than plucking stars from the sky, so they'd just drag men off by force, milk them to near death, and discard them.
It was her mistake to let her guard down, thinking it was broad daylight and Korea had good public safety. Getting lost in thought for a moment had been fatal.
Yukiko plunged into endless regret and lament, but her body didn't stop. "What are you doing to Master?" She tore the bitch off him with crushing force and immediately checked his condition. Fortunately, there were no signs of injury or drugs. The fallen woman showed no sign of fighting back either.
"No, this... Are you okay? You're not hurt?"
The sudden action came from her master instead. He approached the fallen blonde to check on her. Yukiko panicked, but she couldn't shove her master away like she'd done to the blonde.
The conversation between the blonde and the man flowed far more amicably and smoothly than Yukiko had expected. When her master naturally gave the blonde his number, Yukiko could only grit her teeth at her own failure.
In conclusion, she'd failed. She hadn't perfectly guarded her master, and after failing, her excessive response had made him uncomfortable. Even as she finished one household chore after another, the failure wouldn't leave her mind. At least he seemed satisfied with her cooking, but ominous foreboding lingered everywhere.
She tried to appeal to her abilities by asking to manage his finances, but her master laughed it off and handed her an unimaginable sum without hesitation. But financial management skills needed time to shine; rushing to show "results" now would be self-sabotage. A master who handed over such wealth so easily wouldn't be satisfied with half-baked achievements anyway.
She could carry out her adoptive mother's order to invest in the family business, but Yukiko knew well she wasn't in a position to worry about that now. To suppress her complicated feelings, as she worked, her master suddenly appeared and called her. Hearing he couldn't sleep and wanted her to help him rest left her confused about how to take it.
After brief deliberation, Yukiko's choice was to wear the most lewd nightgown and go, but avoid physical appeals. Whether he truly needed someone to help him sleep or was indirectly ordering nighttime service, she couldn't tell. The white lace lingerie she wore was her final weapon for seducing a man. If he didn't take her this time either, she'd have to give up on physical service entirely.
When Yukiko finished preparing and entered the room, her master looked slightly surprised but soon lay down and turned away. She recalled her training days. Her adoptive mother had abused her harshly, cursing that "trash like you will never earn a master's favor." Thinking back now, those words were right.
There had been casual conversations, but he showed no intent to fuck her. Fatigue enveloped her body. Should she try one last seduction or not? But despair and defeat weighed heavier.
The spicy, artificial scent of instant ramen broth tickled her nose. Yukiko realized as soon as she came to that she hadn't woken up on time. Even back with the family, she'd occasionally failed to rise on schedule. Each time, her adoptive mother would say she seemed tired and to rest well that day—then lock her in a narrow closet all day. Time spent in pitch-black darkness where nothing was visible was horrific enough that she never wanted to return to it.
Rushing out, she saw her master cooking. She apologized for her sin, but he just smiled and invited her to eat the meal he'd prepared together. The fact that he wouldn't even give her a chance to make amends made Yukiko sense the end was near.
She dressed lightly and approached the table with the heart of a condemned prisoner facing execution. The instant ramen was spicy but delicious. More importantly, she worried if he'd cast her out any moment. Sure enough, a low voice soon sounded.
"Um, have you thought about what you'll do after your slave term ends?"
"I plan to serve Master for life."
"No way the slave system lasts forever, right? Things will go back to how they were eventually."
An indirect declaration of parting. No one who'd just bought a slave with money would spout nonsense about abolishing slavery. To Yukiko, her master phrased things so circuitously and was so relentlessly kind. If a slave didn't please you, just curse them out and discard them. Slapping cheeks with those huge hands whenever they seemed inconvenient or inept was enough. Even masters who quietly refunded and parted were gentlemanly enough.
But his words were the excessively kind "find something to do after your slave days end." Incomprehensibly virtuous. He was looking out for a useless slave like her until the very end. Clothes, tea, cellphone, furniture. He hadn't let her buy a single thing with her own money. She was no different from a parasite, unworthy of receiving so much.
So, she had to admit it. "I'll start thinking about it from now on." That her presence here was a burden to Master. That even if she stubbornly threw tantrums and he allowed her to stay, she wouldn't be of any help to him.
"If there's anything you need, tell me anytime. I'll do my absolute best."
"I've already received everything I need."
It was unreasonable. This man was too kind to a failure like Yukiko, who was useless. "If only Sis had come instead, it might've been better than this..." Yukiko felt her own powerlessness to her bones but wouldn't lean on pity for more mercy here.
The one question she had for herself was why this failure felt so heartbreaking and regrettable. She'd been used to scoldings, realizing her own inadequacy, and atoning for mistakes since her family days.
While her master went out to buy coffee, Yukiko berated herself again for her mistakes. It didn't make sense for him to go himself for an errand. She'd tried to stop him insistently, but he'd insisted he wanted coffee right then and left.
She finished cleaning the room before he returned. Even if the end was foreseeable, she couldn't half-ass the work.
Just before cleaning ended, her cellphone rang. The first call on her new phone soured her mood. It was her mother.
She thought she'd grown accustomed to admitting failure, but this one was irreversible.
"You haven't forgotten your duty, have you?"
A cold voice came through the phone. The familiar pressure crushed Yukiko.
"I've already failed. I couldn't even get into Master's arms, and he's subtly ordered me to prepare to leave."
There was a brief silence. Silence and solitude had long been tools her adoptive mother used effectively to break her.
"Useless thing."
It was a cold response, but this was more familiar to Yukiko. Her master had simply been overly generous in forgiving defeat and uselessness.
"What about the finances...? Couldn't you at least forge a positive connection? What of investing in the family business?"
"When I asked to invest, Master entrusted me with a huge sum... but using even a bit of it riskily could cost me my life."
"Then stake your life to protect the family!"
Yukiko couldn't understand herself. Being treated as a tool by her adoptive mother was familiar, but hearing it today, of all days, made her angry.
"You're right. In any case, picking a fight with a man in this era is unwise. We'll find another use for you, so keep your body intact and come back. You've squandered your chance, so expect much harsher treatment..."
[Call ended]
Her adoptive mother finished and hung up immediately. Yukiko stared blankly at the silent phone, then continued cleaning as if entranced.