The Massage Duel
“Shin Yongseop is here? Why?”
“Why do you think? I already told you. That bastard was always going to show up here somehow to drag you down.”
But why today of all days? Today was the day of an important contract.
Choi Wonjae clearly knew that too, which only made him look more troubled. He scratched his head and said to me,
“I told them to let me know the second you walked in. So finish the contract fast and let’s go meet Shin Yongseop.”
Right then, footsteps came down the stairs from the upper floor. I looked that way without thinking and watched the tips of a pair of shoes descending, slow and deliberate. Time itself seemed to stretch and crawl. Even without Wonjae telling me, I already knew whose footsteps those were.
Knees came into view, then everything above the waist.
I had pictured some soft, middle-aged guy. Instead he was tall, striking, and handsome.
“Looks like you’re here. You’re Kang Junhyun?”
I just stood there staring, unable to answer right away.
“Uh… well…”
With the original plan already falling apart, Wonjae started stammering too.
Shin Yongseop looked completely at ease as he planted himself right in front of me and rested both hands on his hips.
He was wearing a suit just like mine, only his was a much lighter beige tone against my black. When he set his hands on his hips the back of the jacket flared up and settled again.
“Is what Kang Junhyun said true?”
“…What?”
“The things you said in the interview. Are they true?”
“Which part exactly are you talking about?”
“So it is true.”
Yongseop finished speaking and frowned.
Even I didn’t know why I’d done it. All I had to do was say it hadn’t been sincere and the whole thing would have been over, yet the words just wouldn’t come out.
Had I wanted to push back on pure instinct? Against this man who looked so perfect standing in front of me?
“Shall we take a look at your skills today, Director?”
“Skills? How do you mean?”
“We’re in a shop, so we pick a method that fits. What else do masseurs need to check each other’s skill? For example, employees going shopping is something that simply shouldn’t happen, no matter how you look at it.”
Yongseop flicked a glance at the shopping bags Iseol and I had brought.
“Ah, those are…”
“Doesn’t concern me. Earlier it sounded like you were talking about a contract.”
Wonjae and I both flinched at the same time.
Even with sharp ears, our conversation shouldn’t have carried all the way upstairs. Had he planted a bug or something?
“Is this the person?”
Yongseop looked Han Seoyeon up and down once.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we? Han Seoyeon… right?”
“Shin Yongseop? The one on TV?”
“Yes. Pleasure. I gave you a few massages last time. You hid the fact that you keep a dog at home, so it became difficult to take any more appointments.”
“I didn’t hide it… I just didn’t mention it.”
“Well, let’s leave the past alone. Since this lady has already received my massage, comparison should be easy. Is there any woman here who has received a massage from Kang Junhyun?”
The only women at the counter right now were Han Seoyeon and Shin Iseol. Yongseop already had his target locked in and simply waited for an answer. I could already guess what kind of personality he had.
He stared at Iseol for a long moment until she suddenly looked up and their eyes met. Startled, she hunched her shoulders and glanced around nervously. She must have been thinking about something else entirely.
“M-me?”
She answered without fully understanding, but she wasn’t wrong. It had been a short massage, but a massage was still a massage.
“Then that settles it. Here’s what we’ll do. Kang Junhyun will massage Han Seoyeon, and I’ll massage this one. Thirty minutes each, then we switch. That way the comparison will be clearer than ever. After that the two ladies each give one vote to the masseur they preferred.”
Iseol, who had been listening quietly, finally grasped the situation and snorted.
“If we do it that way of course I’ll side with Teacher Junhyun. He’s our shop’s employee.”
“Ah, the order will be random. We’ll do back massages, and no one will know which of us went first. Showing faces or saying anything out loud will be prevented by video recording.”
“Ah…”
“Video recording? We have no reason to agree to something like that.”
“Some shops actually film for safety. There shouldn’t be any problem at all… unless you’re doing something that borders on sexual acts inside.”
I flinched hard. Fuck.
Come to think of it, weren’t all the massages I’d given basically quasi-sexual acts? Even if they only barely crossed the line, my hands were still lewd enough to make a woman think of sex.
Right. Maybe what I’d been doing wasn’t real massage at all.
Shin Yongseop had learned everything properly from the ground up and had even mastered high-level joint treatment techniques. After being humiliated by someone like me, of course he was angry.
Honestly, the crazy one here wasn’t him—it was me.
Cold sweat ran down my spine. If I got embarrassed here, I would lose Han Seoyeon and the VIP contract right before it was sealed.
What right did I have to go up against Shin Yongseop? He was a masseur recognized by the entire country.
“Kang Junhyun.”
While I stood frozen, Yongseop stepped closer.
“You look like you can barely stay on your feet. How about taking the mask off before you’re exposed?”
“What are you talking about?”
Wonjae answered in my place.
“Ha. A greenhorn who can’t even speak without a spokesman? Look at him. Face gone white, veins standing out at the temples. Pulse racing, breathing short. Sweat’s about to break out from the tension. How dare a brat like this challenge me. I’ll make sure he feels today’s lesson in his bones.”
“Hey, Shin Yongseop. Our Junhyun clearly isn’t feeling well. Shouldn’t we put the match off for another day first?”
“Haha. That’s rich. Up until a second ago you people were acting like you were dying to stamp that contract. No—before that you were out shopping at a luxury department store. What an interesting shop. Avoiding the match because you’re unwell? If I leak that to the media and the men’s care magazine, things are going to get very entertaining.”
“I’m telling you he’s not in good shape…”
“No, Director.”
I cut into their conversation.
This whole mess was something I had started. And more than that, every miracle that had happened to me so far had been passive. That thought stopped me cold.
How long was I going to keep relying on other people?
I had to overcome this myself.
In pure skill I was clearly inferior to Shin Yongseop—that was a given.
But I had an ability that was mine alone.
Not something that changed a single day’s condition, but something that could rewrite an entire year.
I trusted my hands. I looked down at them, then lifted my chin and met Yongseop’s eyes straight on. The gaze burning under those thick brows stabbed through my chest, but I held firm.
“I’ll do it. That match. But I have conditions.”
Yongseop gave an amused little grin and crossed his arms.
“What are they?”
“No video recording. I don’t want to show my ability to other people.”
That much was true.
Since my massage ability had no real foundation, an expert’s eyes would only see me as someone randomly groping flesh for no reason. And that wasn’t all. What maximized my ability was communication with the other person. Gu Somin had already proven that massage alone wasn’t enough to change the future.
“Then how are we supposed to know whether you’ll pull any tricks?”
“I give you my word that I absolutely will not.”
Yongseop looked ready to argue further, then peered steadily into my eyes. Apparently deciding I was sincere, he finally nodded.
“Well, if you put it that strongly, I’ll leave it to your conscience. Shall we begin the match, then? But it won’t be any fun without stakes, will it? Kang Junhyun—tell me what you want from me if you win.”
“….”
I thought for a moment.
The odds of me beating Shin Yongseop were extremely low. Just as he said, unless I used some kind of trick it would be hard to win.
But that didn’t mean I planned to roll over and lose easily either.
I intended to push my ability to its absolute limit and flip this whole situation. There were two people receiving massages. That meant a tie was possible.
But what if, against all odds, I actually won?
“Teach me chiropractic techniques.”
“…What did you just say?”
“I said teach me the chiropractic joint treatment techniques.”
“Puhaha! You think you can actually do it just by learning? For the record, don’t go throwing around the word ‘treatment’ without a license. You’ll get the shop shut down.”
I had no idea what he meant. Confused, I looked at Wonjae, who quietly nodded. So Yongseop was telling the truth.
“In this country the people who can sell medicine are legally fixed, and only doctors can perform treatment. Even if you have every certificate in the world. I never go around saying I treat people. I just say things like ‘it feels good,’ ‘it’s refreshing,’ ‘I do chiropractic.’ That’s it. I don’t teach techniques to people who can’t use them properly.”
“That’s something I can figure out slowly from now on.”
When I spoke firmly, Yongseop looked a little surprised.
“Then let’s hear what Shin Yongseop wants if he wins.”
He glared at me again like he wanted to devour me whole.
What exactly did this man want from me if he won this bet?
No—once I thought about it, the answer was obvious.
“Go on an interview and say it. That I’m not even worth the dirt under Shin Yongseop’s toenails.”
He looked perfectly put-together on the outside, but inside he was petty as a little kid.