The Blue Spot Vanishes
Massaging a man definitely required more force. It felt like if I didn’t put in a solid amount of strength, the pressure wouldn’t even register.
Choi Wonjae’s blue spot sat right beside his erector spinae, so I started pressing firmly with my thumbs along the deep valley of those muscles, working it loose.
The blue spot began to spread outward little by little. Choi Wonjae, who had shown zero reaction when I worked his red spots, suddenly flinched. He didn’t say whether it hurt. No words at all—just the pure vibe of Go on, give it your best shot. That sparked my competitive side, so I cranked up the pressure.
I pressed down hard.
The blue spot started vanishing at high speed.
In a ridiculously short time, as if a gauge were filling, the blue spot gradually shifted to normal skin color and then disappeared completely.
What? That’s it?
Far from uncovering any secret, it ended so anticlimactically that I was left speechless. I took my hands off Choi Wonjae’s lower back and watched for any change, but there was nothing to confirm.
One, two, three seconds. Was nothing really going to happen? If not, I’d be a little disappointed. I’d hoped something—anything—would happen after removing a blue spot, but the air had completely gone out of it.
I was about to give up and go back to the shoulder massage I’d been confident about when Choi Wonjae suddenly twitched his lower body and slowly raised one knee.
“Mmm…”
?
Had I asked him to change positions? Or was he signaling me to massage around there? I couldn’t tell, so I just stayed still. Then, without warning, Choi Wonjae stood up from the table. With his back still to me, he spoke.
“Ahem… Well, uh. I think I’ll be heading out now.”
“…Excuse me? Did I make some kind of mistake?”
“No. Quite the opposite.”
Could you please explain that in a way I can actually understand?!
Was the blue spot the kind that made you fail the interview? I didn’t want to ruin the opportunity Jin Ayoung had created for me. Not for her sake—for mine.
I dropped to my knees right there on the spot.
“Director. Please. Just give me one more chance!”
When I raised my voice, Director Choi Wonjae still kept his back to me but turned his head to look.
“If there’s anything I’m lacking, I’ll learn. I don’t even care if you don’t pay me. I’ll study hard, earn recognition, and get a job here no matter what.”
Maybe he sensed the desperation and sincerity in my voice. He spoke in a calmer tone than before. I was so nervous I couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Kang Junhyun.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been unable to have relations with my wife lately because of erectile dysfunction.”
“!”
“But it seems your massage worked. The erectile dysfunction is completely gone. I’m feeling extremely healthy right now. Even so, are you going to try to stop me? I’m going to go make a baby right this second, so don’t hold me back.”
Rattle— Bang! Clatter-clatter-clatter.
The moment he shut the door, Choi Wonjae sprinted off somewhere at full speed.
I was so dumbfounded I just stared into empty space for a while.
By the way… am I dreaming right now?
Slap—
I smacked my own cheek really hard. It hurt. It fucking hurt.
What, erectile dysfunction? Is this guy actually insane? So he changed positions just now because he got hard? Ugh. All that charismatic aura he’d been putting on shriveled up like a dried chili pepper left out in the summer sun. They say prejudices are most effective when they get flipped, and damn if that wasn’t true.
While I was thinking all this, the sliding door opened again and the woman from the counter strode in. She looked me up and down with strange eyes.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to work?”
“?”
“The director said to put you to work starting today and then left. Don’t tell me you didn’t hear? Honestly, that guy…”
“Um… what’s going on…?”
“There’s a uniform in the locker, so change into that. I’ll give you a slow tour of the shop.”
Rattle— Click.
She said that and walked out. What is it with the staff here? They all just say their piece and leave.
I followed her instructions and changed into the uniform—a black T-shirt and wide three-quarter pants. When I finished changing and headed out toward the counter, she started showing me around.
The woman’s name was Shin Iseol. It seemed like an unnecessarily grand name at first, but thinking about it, it suited her mysterious vibe perfectly. Usually if someone has a name like that and they’re not pretty, it’s unforgivable—but Shin Iseol was pretty enough to get a pass. I’d assumed she was older than me for sure, but she was the same age: twenty-nine.
As expected of a women-only massage shop, the entire staff was female. The person who looked like a male employee in the videos turned out to be a short-haired female staff member, and when I greeted her in person she was a pretty woman with fairly broad shoulders.
“This is the VIP room. If you saw it on the website you’d know, but VIP and regular customers have different prices. Other shops might give discounts to VIP customers, but we do the opposite. Instead, the quality of service is completely different. Customers who pay more should naturally get better service, right? That’s the business philosophy we operate on.”
I had no idea what she was talking about, but I nodded anyway. Basically, the customer who pays more is king, I figured.
“And this is the room for regular customers. You’ll be coming here a lot from now on, so remember the location and be careful not to mix it up with other rooms. Sometimes people fall asleep during the massage, so you can’t wake them up.”
Hah— Shin Iseol said she’d been talking all day and was tired, so she sat down briefly on the massage bed. She irritably tapped one shoulder. She seemed stressed out of her mind. Her nape and shoulders were covered in red spots on the bare skin.
While she rested, I looked around at the items nearby. Compared to the VIP massage room, the regular room had almost nothing set out—just aroma gel and various tools to assist with massage.
“Can I try this?”
I pointed at the aroma gel. Shin Iseol nodded. I opened the lid, squeezed a tiny bit onto my palm, and rubbed my hands together. A sticky yet soft, mysterious feeling. It made a wet, somewhat lewd sound as it squelched between my fingers.
As I rubbed between my fingers, Shin Iseol’s red spots suddenly caught my eye.
“I’ve got gel on already—want me to give your shoulders a quick rub?”
“No thanks. Massaging it doesn’t make it better anyway.”
“It’s weird hearing that from someone who works at a massage shop.”
“Because it’s the truth. If massaging fixed everything, people would only come when they’re in pain, not get addicted and keep coming back. Doctors are the same, right? Even if they could cure you completely, they deliberately fix things little by little and slowly.”
“Oh, really? First time I’ve heard that.”
“This industry’s all like that. Junhyun, if you’ve got any fantasy ideas, you’d better erase them quick.”
Sounds of someone worn down by life. Is this what they call the evils of capitalism? Old, entrenched beliefs mean she ends up trusting no one around her.
Even though there’s a therapist right in front of her who cured erectile dysfunction with his bare hands. Ah… that sounds a bit disgusting when I put it that way.
I showed Shin Iseol my sticky palms. They glittered under the soft lighting unique to massage rooms.
“It’ll feel good. I’m good at this.”
At my words, Shin Iseol narrowed her eyes into slits. That prim look of hers wouldn’t lose to anyone. If Jin Ayoung was pure puppy-face, this woman was pure fox-face. Her makeup wasn’t heavy, yet her skin gleamed. Whether it was a concept or not, she was wearing something like a cheongsam dress, and her waist was so slim it strongly gave off a skinny impression.
“If your skills made the director click his tongue in amazement, I might trust you a bit…”
“Just trust me and try it.”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head as expected.
“No. It’s a hassle. How good could it even feel?”
Ah, seriously, this woman is so frustratingly annoying.
She could just accept it—why was she being so difficult? My competitive spirit flared up again.
“Want to bet? Once you get it once, I guarantee you’ll ask for more.”
“Oh, confidence~ But too bad. Every single staff member here has already tried. I absolutely refuse any massage that isn’t from the director.”
Ugh, so irritating. Should I slap her?
Hahaha.
I put on the most good-natured smile I could manage and held it in.
“I’m serious. I’m being completely serious right now.”
“Hmm, a bet? You don’t look like you have much money… Got any handsome friends around?”
I thought of my friend Youngjun, the playboy type, and nodded.
“Then if I win, introduce me to that person.”
I curled up one corner of my mouth.
“Then let’s change the bet terms. Begging for another round is something you can just hold back on if you try.”
“That’s true.”
“How about this? If Iseol gets so good from the massage that she lets out a moan, I win.”
“Ha, come on. What did you just say? Did you just say ‘moan’?”
“Yes. And if I win, I’ll make a big request. Of course, something you can actually grant.”
“Honestly. What is it?”
“I’ll tell you when I win.”
“Since that’s never going to happen, I won’t have to hear it anyway. Go ahead, try.”
I squeezed more aroma gel onto my hands, which had dried a little. After rubbing it in thoroughly with a soft sound, I lightly placed my hands on Shin Iseol’s shoulders. Centering on the clusters of red spots, I gently rubbed with low pressure, gradually spreading the aroma gel across her shoulder area.
Twitch. An immediate reaction. Even if her shoulders weren’t broad, the points that felt good were fixed. And I hadn’t even applied strong pressure—just lightly rubbing the skin—yet the reaction came right away. The key was the red spots. Just lightly scattering the clustered red spots would feel pretty refreshing.
After applying aroma gel to every place my hands could reach, including her neck and shoulders, I gradually added pressure to my fingertips. I pressed as if carefully flattening dumpling wrappers without tearing them. As I kneaded her shoulders in a butterfly shape, spreading outward in circles, Shin Iseol unconsciously lifted her chin.
Normally, she’d let out a moan around now. Jin Ayoung had. I kneaded her shoulders gently, then caressed the nape of her neck. Again, carefully, without strong pressure, as if soothing a child.
The surface moved smoothly. I swept down her flawless, blemish-free nape, slowly banishing the red spots.
Sweat started beading up. Even a massage beginner like me could tell the difference between aroma gel and human sweat. Shin Iseol, her body heated to the max, flinched wherever my fingertips newly touched.
Her mind must be going blank. Little by little. Little by little. Melting away. Like ice cream whose temperature had risen, Shin Iseol released the tension from her arms and let her rigidly straight back slump.
I deliberately didn’t massage from behind her back and moved around to her front.
For the climax, I raised my thumb toward the red spot on her collarbone area and pressed firmly.
Then Shin Iseol’s tightly closed lips finally parted stickily.
“Ha… Haa…”
Her head lolled as if her consciousness was flickering.