From Beast to Man
After three straight days of focusing on nothing but work, I had successfully pulled in a total of twenty-five VIP clients.
I had to bolt up and down the hallway, dripping sweat, just to barely keep the schedule from collapsing.
Most other masseurs worked fifty-minute sessions with a ten-minute break, but I ran special massages back-to-back at a full sixty minutes each.
Once the money started rolling in, sex barely even crossed my mind. Sure, there were plenty of beautiful women I could sleep with whenever I wanted, but most of the ones who came in asking for massages just weren’t that impressive in the looks department.
Plenty of them had great bodies, though—the kind of women who had zero problem stripping down and showing everything. Especially the ones hunting for female-only therapists so they could get their bikini-line skin ready for next summer.
So for three days straight I got to put my hands all over as many sexy female bodies as I wanted.
A few of them even heated up when I brushed their pink spots, but I only ever teased them—close enough to make them burn, never quite crossing that razor-thin line.
And then something amazing started happening with those women. Without anyone telling them to, they opened their wallets.
A woman’s sexual fantasy seems to lean a lot more on imagination. Guys need that direct, gut-level pleasure or they just don’t feel much, but women are different. Who knew that almost giving it to them but holding back would work even better? It felt like I was endlessly dangling the carrot without ever letting them take a bite.
Anyway, thanks to all that, I finally got to collect the reward for working my ass off this week.
The biggest haul came from Gu Somin. She put down a ten-million-won deposit and casually asked what the largest deposit so far had been. I told her Lee Mikyeong’s had been twenty million. She thought it over for a second, then freely laid out a cool thirty million.
“There’s a condition, though. Every now and then, if my father’s condition gets worse, you have to come look after him.”
“Of course, Somin.”
“Then it’s settled. Here… please process the full payment in one go.”
A thirty-million-won lump sum! Insane. Rich women might throw money around, but just how massive a European contract had she landed to swipe thirty million like it was nothing?
I was a complete outsider to fashion and modeling, and there was nowhere to dig up that kind of info, so I had zero way of guessing what kind of numbers she was actually pulling.
The moment I brought in that thirty-million contract, Choi Wonjae dropped into a full formal bow right in front of me, half-joking.
“Aigoo! Our shop’s walking lucky charm has arrived! Thank you!”
I scrambled to return the bow right back at him.
Other masseurs walking past snickered, but Choi Wonjae showed no sign of stopping the deep bows.
That very same day the commission on the thirty-million deposit hit my account.
And after locking down twenty-five VIP contracts, the total deposit money I alone had brought into Head to Toe Aesthetic came to a staggering seventy-eight million won.
On top of that I walked away with a cool twenty million of my own, and because every massage session paid out separately, my total earnings for the month sat around thirty million.
That figure didn’t even include the money from the Lee Mikyeong contract.
“Whew…”
Twenty million was sitting right there in my bank account, yet it still didn’t feel real.
A lot had happened to me in just a few days—unbelievable things. I’d ended up living a full sex life with beautiful women I’d never even spoken to before.
My phone contacts, once filled with nothing but guys, were now overflowing with women’s names glowing pink.
The whole situation had flipped so hard I was still half-dazed.
I didn’t even know where to spend the money. There wasn’t a huge list of things I could do with it right this second, but I’d always heard that when you get your first real paycheck you should invest in yourself.
I was standing at the counter during a free moment, happily plotting how to blow the cash, when Shin Iseol suddenly caught my eye.
“Manager.”
“Y-yes? Ah—no?”
“Huh? What?”
“I never thought that.”
“Thought what? I didn’t say anything. I just called you Manager.”
When I gave her a weird look, Shin Iseol’s face flushed red in an instant and she waved her hands frantically.
“Ah, what is it? Why are you dragging it out like this? Just spit it out. I’m busy.”
Ha. She’d been spacing out two seconds ago—busy with what, exactly? Don’t hit women, Junhyun. Hit them with the meat stick.
I cleanly decided to skip Shin Iseol and go ask Lee Yeondo instead.
“It’s nothing. If you’re busy, go ahead and work.”
“Ugh! No way. I hate this kind of thing—I can’t just let it slide. Tell me. What were you going to say? As the manager, I’ll listen. As the manager.”
I told her it was fine several times, but she latched on and wouldn’t let go. I decided Shin Iseol was an even worse leech than Seoah.
In the end I spilled my little worry to her.
“I got the commission this time, right? But it’s been forever since I handled real money, so I have no idea where to spend it…”
“How much was it?”
“A little over twenty mil…”
“Twenty mil!”
Shin Iseol’s eyes bulged so wide they looked ready to pop out of her head.
“I kind of expected it, but twenty mil… and that’s just the commission… Teacher Junhyun’s going to be filthy rich. I’m so jealous.”
“…”
“Ah, right… so the problem was where to spend the money? Then I’ll solve it for you. Donate every last won to me.”
“…If you’re just going to talk nonsense…”
“Ah—ah! Okay, okay! Really… I wasn’t planning to go this far, but if you beg so earnestly I have no choice. Director!”
“Uh—uh?”
Shin Iseol bellowed at Choi Wonjae as he walked past.
“What are you doing right now?”
“I was thinking of just clocking out since I’ve got nothing left to do?”
“Watch the counter for a bit.”
“Wh-what? Hey, hey! Have you lost your mind?”
“Hmph… whether I’ve lost it or not, you should hear the reason first. Teacher Junhyun has something he wants to confide in Manager Shin, so we’re stepping out for a little while.”
Fuck. Had Shin Iseol turned into a complete sly fox while I wasn’t looking?
Or had a sly fox just shapeshifted into Shin Iseol?
“Oh, okay. Then go ahead.”
And why the hell did the director accept that so easily?
Shin Iseol locked onto my elbow and dragged me out; I followed her outside in a daze.
Before we left, Choi Wonjae yelled from behind us.
“When are you coming back?”
“We’ll be back by closing time.”
“Hey, you crazy bitch!”
As we went down the stairs, Shin Iseol giggled the whole way.
“Ahahah. Ah, it’s been so long since I heard the director swear. Whew… hilarious.”
“Um… where exactly are we going?”
“You said you wanted to spend money, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then first we have to get outside.”
Shin Iseol stopped and turned to face me.
Even though I’m on the short side for a guy, I wasn’t that much shorter than her. Looking slightly up at me, she gently smoothed my messy hair with a surprisingly tender hand.
Fuck, why is this making my heart race?
Those big eyes, the braided bun on top of her head, the chic outfit, and that casually affectionate touch—even the tomboyish Shin Iseol couldn’t help looking pretty right then.
“We should start with the hair.”
“H-hair?”
“It’s not that expensive, but you need a proper style before you can buy clothes. Teacher Junhyun has a wide forehead, so a pomade look would suit you really well. You’ve never paid attention to your hair before, have you?”
“No…”
“Oh my god. That’s why you don’t have a girlfriend! Men live and die by the hair game! Don’t you know that?”
Men live by the hair game? First time I’d ever heard that in my entire life.
While I stood there looking blank, Shin Iseol just kept walking, towing me along. I felt like an obedient puppy. She had my wrist and I trotted after her without protest.
She took me straight to a men’s-only salon.
Inside, a stylist with his hair waxed high and sharp greeted us.
“Boss. Please turn this beast into a human being!”
“Oh, then he’ll have to eat nothing but garlic for thirty days?”
“Ha… if only that would do it. Honestly, I can’t stand watching him walk around looking like this. It’s embarrassing.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Wha—no. Ahem. Quit yapping and just make him human already.”
I wondered why their banter clicked so perfectly, then learned the salon owner and Choi Wonjae were close friends who often showed up together at company dinners.
The two of them chattered nonstop about my hair.
“Pomade, right?”
“Can this beast even maintain it?”
“Nothing’s easier or more convenient than pomade. It’s short—just flip it over and you’re done. Won’t even take ten minutes.”
“Then make sure you teach him how to take care of it too.”
“Okay.”
Without a single word to me they sprayed my head and immediately fired up the clippers, buzzing the sides high.
“W-wait a second… how many millimeters is that?”
I nearly had a heart attack, flashbacks of army haircuts slamming into me.
“Three millimeters! Anything over three and it’s so stuffy I jump up even while sleeping!”
Fuck, what is this guy even saying?
In the end I just surrendered my head to the male stylist and underwent the “beast-to-human conversion” they kept talking about.
“All done.”
It took maybe twenty minutes. After the wash and final set, the mirror they showed me just looked awkward—a greasy style that practically demanded a dress shirt and tie. Shin Iseol, though, seemed satisfied; she nodded.
“Now you look halfway decent. He’ll handle the bill himself.”
“I figured Wonjae would cover it.”
“This guy’s loaded. He made twenty million in three days.”
“Wow—see you often, Junhyun-ssi.”
“Ah… yes…”
I gave an awkward goodbye and stepped back outside.
“Alright, now shall we really start spending some money?”
Shin Iseol looked excited as she headed toward the department store, still holding my wrist the entire way.