The Sinnam Halmang Foundation
It might seem like an old-fashioned habit, but I always carry a handkerchief. Whenever I wash my hands outside, I prefer drying them with my own cloth rather than touching communal paper towels or noisy hand dryers. While I had other reasons beyond sheer practicality, what mattered was that I still faithfully kept up the routine.
One worn handkerchief in exchange for three brand-new ones.
As I went to start the laundry, memories from yesterday surfaced unbidden. Sitting in my grip right now were the pristine handkerchiefs Leehyun had bought me.
"Jeongseo, um... I'm sorry, but would it be all right if I kept this handkerchief?"
"Why would you want that? I used it to wipe my feet."
Before we had left the multi-room, she had suddenly asked if she could take the cloth I'd just used. Naturally, I questioned her.
"Well, it's just... I really love the pattern, that's all. I'll buy you a brand-new one in return."
"That feels a bit strange. I have an identical one at home, so I can just bring you that next time."
"No! That won't do... I really need this one today."
"Pardon? I didn't quite catch that."
Leehyun still didn't fully comprehend the depth of my possessiveness. To her, I merely seemed like someone who took meticulous care of his belongings and kept things for a very long time.
"I want the one you actually used, Jeongseo."
"The ones at home are all mine too."
"We won't be able to meet again until the weekend at the earliest... Please? Can't you let me have it?"
She had pleaded with earnest, desperate eyes, her fingers gripping tightly onto the fabric that had dried my bare feet.
"Can't you just think of it as a present for me?"
"A present... Well, all right. You can keep it, Noona. Though I'm not sure how much of a gift that really is."
"It's more than enough! I love it so much! Really!"
A radiant beam of pure delight had broken across her face as she carefully tucked the handkerchief away. The funny thing was that the design was plain as could be.
Her mention of the word 'gift' had tipped the scales. Despite my earlier intentions, I hadn't given her a proper reward back then, and by chance, that handkerchief happened to be relatively new. Those factors aligned, resulting in the rare exception where I actually parted with an item of my own to someone else. To anyone else it might have been trivial, but to me, it felt like a monumental event.
"Should we take a little walk and head to the department store?"
"The department store?"
"Yes. I need to buy your replacement handkerchiefs. I'll get you the best ones they have."
"You really don't have to. It was a gift, so you don't owe me anything."
"No way! I want to buy them for you. You have no idea how precious this is to me."
At the time, I assumed she said that knowing how much I valued my possessions. In the end, unable to withstand her stubborn insistence, I ended up at the department store and came away with three brand-new handkerchiefs from a luxury foreign brand famous for its signature tartan plaid.
Purely in monetary terms, the comparison was absurd. The price difference between my worn cloth and her new ones was well over tenfold. In the past, I never would have accepted them. But now, I knew better than to keep score like that with Leehyun.
It wasn't merely because she was a wealthy landlord. It was because I had come to realize that different people derived vastly different levels of satisfaction from the exact same object or gesture. Leehyun was proof of that, and so was Mother.
So, this isn't a debt.
Having settled the thought, I tossed all three new handkerchiefs into the washing machine drum. No matter how expensive they were, to me they were just handkerchiefs.
Still... there's no way, right? Nah, she wouldn't.
I still couldn't quite grasp why she had fixated on that specific cloth. A fleeting suspicion crossed my mind—could it have been precisely because I had used it on my feet?—before I promptly dismissed it. That was far too perverse a thought. Surely she had simply liked the pattern and placed special sentiment on the fact that it had belonged to me.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Noona."
Putting the matter out of my mind, I headed up to the second floor and called out outside Yeo-eun's bedroom door.
Click.
Receiving no response, I let myself in. Yeo-eun was still fast asleep.
"Mmh... Jeongseo?"
"I'm starting the laundry."
A scowl immediately tugged at my brow the moment I stepped inside. Despite how many times I had warned her, scattered clothes were strewn haphazardly across the floor.
Smack!
"I told you to put your dirty clothes in the hamper."
"Ouch! Why are you hitting me first thing in the morning?"
"It's afternoon. You're way past your wake-up time."
"Ah... what time is it? I stayed up a bit late last night."
Lying on her stomach, she squirmed and rolled over onto her back. Her massive breasts sloshed side to side beneath the thin fabric of her camisole.
"Ngh... guess I better get up. Gah, wait—owww?"
"What's wrong?"
"It's throbbing down here all of a sudden. Jeongseo, help me out."
I had swatted her rear and was gathering up the discarded laundry when she suddenly started writhing in distress. Thinking she had caught a muscle cramp, I set down the bundle in my arms and walked over to the bed.
"Where does it hurt? Your stomach? A cramp?"
"Right here... Gotcha!"
The moment I leaned over, her arms shot out. Pulled off balance by her grip, I collapsed directly over her soft body.
Mwah. Mwah. Mwah.
"Heheh. Ah, that's the stuff."
"What are you doing? Let go. I'm busy."
"Just a minute. I really am throbbing down there."
She peppered frantic kisses all over my cheeks and neck before locking me into a tight, inescapable embrace, giggling foolishly to herself in pure bliss.
"Mmmgh. Jeongseo... can't you touch me down here just a little?"
Yeo-eun ground her lower belly against my thigh. Waking up straight from sleep, her musky personal scent hung thick in the air. Reaching down, I gave her lush breast a firm, punishing squeeze.
"Is this what you needed 'help' with?"
"Haaahn... Ngh, yes... down there too. Please touch me down there."
"You haven't even showered yet."
"I washed up right before going to sleep! Please. Hmm?"
Pleading shamelessly, she started cheekily tugging at the waistband of my shorts. Her eyes were already glossy with rising lust.
"Waking up and immediately plotting how to jump your younger brother. Let go."
"What do you mean 'waking up'? I think about it all the time anyway."
"Unbelievable."
A dry laugh slipped out at her sheer brazenness. In retaliation, I pinched her nipple hard through the fabric.
"Eeeek?! That hurts! Ahh, ngh..."
"I told you to let go."
"Whyyyy? I'll do all the cleaning later, I promise! Please? I don't know why, but I'm just so turned on this morning."
Whining with her eyes glued greedily to my chest, she continued to squirm. Come to think of it, I hadn't put on an undershirt beneath my loungewear today. That glimpse of bare skin had clearly stoked her engine.
"You mean you're turned on every morning. Fine, let go. Hands off, then strip."
"Huh? Really?!"
"Yeah. But you'd better put real effort into cleaning later. You're airing out the duvets too, got it?"
"Yes! Absolutely! Leave everything to me!"
Ecstatic, she shucked off her clothes in a single flurry of movement. I settled down beside her, letting my hands roam over her plush chest before sliding down to tease her wet slit.
"Haaah... I'm melting... Mmmnngh."
"Here? You like it here?"
"Yes... a little harder. Haaahn, yes, right there!"
Watching her squirm and pant beneath my touch stoked my own desire. Pulling down the front of my shorts, I freed my fully erect shaft and heavy testicles.
"Oh? You're putting it in?"
"Depends on how well you behave."
I rested my cock across her face. The thick length lay horizontally over her parted lips, and her pink tongue immediately darted out to trace the underside.
"Ngh. Ah, the angle is weird."
With my erection pointing upward, she struggled to get a proper purchase. She strained her neck upward to lift her head, then fell back onto the mattress with a soft thud before shifting onto her side, propping her upper torso halfway up so she could take the glans into her mouth.
Slurp. Schloop. Gluck.
She began sucking with noisy enthusiasm, awkwardly bracing herself on one elbow. As much as she loved being touched, taking my cock into her mouth seemed to bring her just as much raw ecstasy.
"Yeah. Just like that. Good girl."
Before long, I took my hands off her body, leaning back to let her work her mouth over me. When I stroked her hair and praised her, she curved her eyes into a radiant, adoring crescent. She was gorgeous whenever she kept her mouth occupied like this.
"Lie on your back."
After letting her blow me for a while, I shifted down between her thighs. By now, Yeo-eun had grown entirely accustomed to me taking the dominant position on top. Without a word of complaint, she lifted her legs and used her own hands to pull her soaked folds wide open.
"Hurry. I'm going crazy here."
"Heh. Hold on."
Spurred by her impatience, I lined up the tip and thrust straight into her drenched passage in one smooth motion. She bit her lower lip, stifling a sharp cry. Drawing my hips back slowly until nearly slipping out, I drove back in with relentless force.
"Try to hold out today, would you? Don't just climax and check out on me."
"Hnngh... Okay. I feel great today, so... eeek?!"
In the end, she failed to last today as well. With her mouth slack and eyes rolled back, she could only choke out breathy hiccups with every slam of my pelvis.
"Good grief... you absolute scrub."
"Am not... not a scrub... nghh!"
At least she hadn't passed out cold this time, remaining responsive enough to protest. Seeing her overwhelmed by rolling waves of orgasm, I drove into her even harder. She was the one who had started this fire, so she had to see it through to the end.
Without a shred of mercy, I pounded deep into her dripping heat until both of us were thoroughly spent.
A new week began.
Monday, Tuesday.
One ordinary day rolled into the next, and finally, the long-awaited Wednesday arrived.
"Mmh... Jeongseo?"
"Yes?"
"You know what day today is, right?"
"Yes."
Boss tilted her head as she looked at me. It was break time, and we had just stepped into the back office together.
"You don't look very happy, though. Everything okay?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Mmhmm... Tada! I prepared an envelope for you."
She pulled a crisp white envelope from her desk drawer with a flourish.
"I put your bonus in here separately just to make it feel special!"
"There's a bonus?"
"Of course! You're premium talent, Jeongseo. How could I possibly pay you bare hourly wages? Here."
She held the envelope out toward me. I didn't recall seeing any mention of a separate bonus in the contract. My base wage had already been set generously high to account for that very thing. Yet here she was, presenting a surprise envelope as a little celebratory gift.
In any case, today was my official payday.
And on that very first payday, I was about to discover an infuriating truth.