Removing the Root Cause
"I'll remove the most important cause."
"Hnhat..!?"
Without hesitation I slid my hand farther down and seized the contour of Shin Iseol's breasts—the ones I'd been dying to touch from the start.
"Hnnngh..."
Red points clustered thickly across her chest as well, so every squeeze drew a fresh moan from her lips.
"Nngh-hnn... ah... r-really, J-Junhyun? Hnn... I'm not making weird noises because... uhk... hnn... it's just... f-feels good, that's all."
"Right? There's no way the manager would ever see me as a man."
"B-but what do you mean, 'remove the cause'?"
"I can't name the exact condition, but whatever's making your collarbone ache is right here. If we don't get rid of the root, the same symptoms will come back next time."
Honestly, none of that mattered. The bra was a little annoying, but the soft, springy give under my palms felt so damn good. Every time I kneaded, the heavy mounds swayed and jiggled. And the nipples—whenever I pressed the full volume down, the fabric gaped and those stiff peaks peeked out. Lying on her back in the dim light made them hard to see clearly, but if I quit now I'd be a eunuch.
I slipped my fingers into the gap of the bra, dipped deep enough for a quick taste, then pulled out again. Shin Iseol's nipples were already rock-hard. Somewhere on her body a pink point had to have bloomed; I was sure of it.
"Eut! J-just now..."
"Just now what?"
"N-nothing."
She could never say it out loud—how was she supposed to admit I'd just touched her nipple? The moment she offered her chest she should have braced for at least this much.
I lost track of time fondling her. Eventually even Shin Iseol grew embarrassed enough to speak.
"J-Junhyun... I think we should stop. The counter's been empty way too long."
"True. Shall we call it a day, then?"
"Do I have to come back for more?"
"Of course. You've lived with this for years—if one session fixed everything I'd be a wizard."
"That... makes sense!"
She scrambled back into the T-shirt she'd stripped off earlier, face as red as a beet.
"Manager, anywhere else hurting?"
"Eh! N-no...?"
"Then why's your face so red? Embarrassed? This is just a massage. Massage. I only say that because you seem to be getting the wrong idea."
"What wrong idea? Honestly. I only did it for my own good. I'm at the age where I need to start taking care of myself."
"Anyone listening would think you're about to turn forty."
"You have to manage steadily from now on. A masseur who doesn't even know that—hmph!"
Watching Shin Iseol walk out the door, I thought, She gets a lot more obedient once you strip her.
At the counter Shin Iseol and Lee Yeondo were changing shifts. Shin Iseol shoved something like a coupon at me.
"Here. Use it or don't."
I vaguely remembered her saying she liked Starbucks. What she handed over was a ten-thousand-won gift coupon. Then, as if she hated losing the initiative (though she'd already lost it), she added:
"Don't get the wrong idea just because I gave you this. Why would I ever need a guy like you..."
I didn't bother answering. I simply fell into step beside Lee Yeondo as she headed for the break room. She kept her arms tightly folded the whole way.
I finally broke first.
"Yeondo, something piss you off?"
"Pissed?"
She stopped dead in the hallway and whipped her head toward me.
"What was that earlier? Did you do something to the manager that could be 'misunderstood'?"
"Huh?"
I wanted to say it was just Shin Iseol spouting nonsense, but I had to pick my words carefully.
"She was just completely misunderstanding—"
"And what's with the coupon? And the massage? So that's how you pick up women, Junhyun?"
"...No, look, what I'm saying is—"
"Well, I'm not your girlfriend so I don't really care. But the manager? Come on. You know how things are between her and me."
"Didn't you say things got better? Wait—no, I mean, with the manager I never even—"
"Her face was bright red when she came out. Sweat beading everywhere. I can pretty much guess what went on in there... hnn..."
She looked ready to cry any second. That strangely adorable expression left me speechless. Fuck, why did the freshly-defrosted virgin vibe only show up at times like this?
While I stood there sweating bullets, Lee Yeondo suddenly buried her face in my chest.
What the hell is this now?
Before I could process it she shoved my off-balance body straight into the massage room. My ass hit the bed and I toppled onto my back without realizing. Yeondo locked the door behind her with a sharp click, then came back and pressed her face into my chest again.
"I'm a little upset."
Ah... fuck, she's ridiculously cute.
My neck felt warm; looking down I saw fat teardrops rolling down her cheeks. Not full-on sobbing—just quiet, unnoticed tears.
Still, it was a bit much. No matter how pretty Yeondo was or how girlfriend-like she felt, I had no intention of dating her. Dating meant responsibility, and I couldn't promise I wouldn't see other women. Meeting Han Seoyeon had driven the point home: the world was full of gorgeous women, every possible shape of breast, every kind of pussy from tight to gaping to ones that clenched like a fist. The ways they could turn me on were endless.
I'd sworn that, if only to make up for all those virgin years, I was going to experience every last one of them. After our last fuck Yeondo had acted so cool, but the second she thought my eyes were wandering she got this hurt.
I stroked her hair. I simply had nothing better to say.
Apparently she wasn't as possessive as I'd feared, because she murmured:
"Massage me too."
"Huh?"
That was the problem? Not "don't talk to the manager" or "don't touch her"—just "don't give it only to her; give it to me too."
Aigoo, how am I supposed to handle this level of cute...
I hugged her tight. Seoah, Yeondo—every one of them only ever did adorable things, so I couldn't hate them even if I tried.
Still holding her, I lowered my head and instinctively sought her lips. She must have known, because like some friendly little animal she gently pressed her mouth to mine. Soft smacking kisses at first, then gradually deeper, messier, until we were locked in a full, heated make-out. No time to strip, so for a good ten minutes we just kissed and groped, then by mutual silent agreement stopped the sexy business and headed for the break room.
Work life from now on was going to be deliciously sweet.
In the break room I checked the VIP clients' schedules and locked in everything through Wednesday. Yeondo, peering over my shoulder at the chart, offered advice.
"Print the schedule week by week. Figure out what time slots your regular VIPs already take, then recruit new ones for the empty hours."
"Ah... that way I can avoid double-booking the same time."
I filtered the clients the way she suggested. Lee Mikyeong spent her evenings and nights out partying, so she only came for treatments during the day. Park Yuyoung couldn't shoot natural-light photos after sunset, so she mostly worked daylight hours. Seoah had no fixed schedule and obeyed me absolutely whenever I called—she got first priority for time adjustments.
Nothing was truly saturated, though the morning rush slots were the busiest. When I asked the ever-helpful Yeondo, she said once the chart filled solid I could clear two hundred thousand won a day after commission. Weekdays only, that was four million a month; add the base salary of one million plus commissions and, with just three VIP contracts, the average monthly take hit twenty million.
I swallowed hard at the number. Twenty million a month was over two hundred million a year. That kind of salary was impossible unless you worked at a top conglomerate—and even then it would be a stretch. Hearing that the life I'd spent fretting over cup-ramen could flip this completely felt like a slap across the face.
Sex and money at the same time? Who the hell would turn that down?
To take one more step toward that dream I had to close the deal with Gu Somin successfully. Freshly minted model Gu Somin, the girl who would do anything for her hospitalized father—what did I need for a win-win contract with her?
I sank into thought for a moment. The multicolored light, her bleak original future, the future that had already changed. The same multicolored light I'd seen with Han Seoyeon. If I was certain Seoyeon would contact me again, then right now there was only one thing to do: dig deeper into exactly what effect those multicolored points of light that seemed to show the future actually had.
The Gu Somin contract was just the opening skirmish before landing the real whale—Han Seoyeon.
I dialed Gu Somin at once.
"Hello?"
"Somin. You booked our shop for about an hour from now, right?"
"Yes."
"I'd like to change the location. You told me where your dad's hospitalized last time, right? I'll head over there."
I pulled on my outer jacket and got ready to leave.