DB
Han-seok drove himself into the deepest reaches of Ban Do-ah's core.
The inner walls of a passage that had never once taken a man were slowly molding themselves around the thick shape of his flesh, taking its imprint.
"Nnghh."
Tears spilled from Ban Do-ah's eyes. The arousal that seeped out from where her body gripped him tight dripped in a long thread to the floor below.
"Not as painful as you expected, is it?"
"Mmh."
Han-seok began to move his hips, slow and unhurried.
"Ah. Aahh."
"Does it hurt?"
"You're... too big... haah. Haah."
Whether it was the special lubricant or not, Do-ah's body adapted to him with remarkable speed. Within a few strokes she was breathing hot, ragged breaths, her face flushed a deep red.
What she didn't know was that her arousal was already spilling uncontrollably onto the floor beneath her. Unlike Han Yu-na, she wasn't squirting right away — clearly, every body had its own quirks.
Mindful that this was her first time, Han-seok kept his pace gentle.
"For the next few days, we're not using the company drug. You know about EX69, right? That's the only thing you'll take before we do it."
"Why... not?"
"Once your body's had some time to adjust to me, then you'll take the company drug, and I'm going to observe what difference it makes."
"What kind of... drug is it? I heard it's a contraceptive, but... they said it has other effects too..."
"If I tell you, it could skew the results. You'll have to feel the difference yourself and tell me what you notice. It's so I can check whether the drug is doing what it's supposed to do. The girls already told you, didn't they? It's nothing dangerous, so don't worry."
"Ah. Aahh. Aaahhn. Nngh."
Do-ah, who had been meekly taking him while they talked, let out a moan laced with something close to a cry — then, flustered, consciously pressed her lips shut.
Han-seok withdrew.
"Nnh."
Do-ah's hips jolted. The entrance that had been forced open snapped rapidly shut, spilling out a handful of her essence.
"Aaahn."
Her body, it seemed, was already partly broken in. Her psychological resistance was still intense, so even without administering the drug yet, she needed to be led through the process of convincing herself that she was the one beginning to want him.
He had used the love gel; before long, she would be like his other exclusive females — dripping at all hours, aching for his cock. And once she'd spent the next few days or weeks fully adapting to his body, she would receive the semen of EX74. From then on, she would suck on candy made from that semen and wait, patiently and helplessly, for whatever Han-seok chose to give her.
Han-seok pulled her panties and leggings back up for her.
"It's... it's over? You didn't finish inside me, right?"
"It's your first time, so this is where we stop today. If you want me to come, you've got a long way to go."
Han-seok dressed and helped her to her feet.
"The BD will be delivered to your place tomorrow morning. Watch your father get the injection, confirm it's genuine, then come in to work in the afternoon."
Ban Do-ah nodded.
"See you tomorrow."
"Um. Boss."
She stopped him as he turned to leave.
"Did my father do something terrible to you? Some kind of wrong that..."
"Could you handle it?"
"..."
"If you can handle it, I'll tell you. But after you hear it, you might be begging me never to give your father another injection. You still want to know?"
"Whatever it was... I'll apologize in his place."
With both hands clasped together, she bowed her head.
"Forget it. It's not your fault — what good would an apology from you do me? This was never something an apology could fix in the first place."
"..."
"Tell Ban Seok the company hands out treatment to employees' family members with incurable illnesses as part of its benefits package. Don't mention that the boss is Lee Han-seok — your father might pass out. Test the waters with my name yourself if you want. Got it? I'm off."
"Boss."
"What now?"
"Thank you."
Lee Han-seok chuckled.
"You'd better be."
He walked out of the gym. Watching his broad back disappear through the door, Do-ah's gaze fell on the damp patch soaking the canvas of the boxing ring, and she froze. She touched a hand between her drenched thighs.
"No. No, no."
Shaking her head, Ban Do-ah hurried toward the showers.
Ahn Byung-gook's study. Ahn Sung-chul sat in the very seat where his father had died mid-glass of wine. Across the desk sat his younger brother, Ahn Seong-jun, the third son.
"Seong-jun."
"Yes, Chairman."
"You always seem to know exactly how to keep the other man comfortable."
Ahn Seong-jun offered a faint smile. "I know you're busy, so if you'll simply state your business, I'll get straight to it."
"Sharp as ever, too. All right, then — now that Father is gone, let's have it. That question Father refused to answer before he died. I'm the head of Cheonseong now, so I need that answer."
"I gave you a hint at the time, if you recall."
"I do. You said... data."
"That was really just wordplay, hyung-nim. Reverse BD and you get DB — Data Base. Data."
"Reverse BD..."
Seong-jun glanced around the study. "Somewhere in this room, there's likely a diary or something of the sort that Father left behind. He told me — me alone — that he'd written everything down in detail there..."
Ahn Sung-chul dropped a thick leather diary onto the desk. "This is probably it, but I haven't managed to read it all. Just give me the essentials. I'll go through the journal myself when I have the time."
Ahn Seong-jun cleared his throat and straightened. "Father wanted to create something like BD himself because he feared BD."
"Feared it?"
"To be precise — he feared the reversal of BD. A drug that would neutralize the effects of every BD injection, rendering them completely void. Father believed that someday, such a drug might appear."
"What on earth are you—"
"The most famous names in the world — the powerful, the wealthy — have all extended their lives with BD. Now consider: what happens if a drug exists that can void every one of those life extensions? The man who holds that drug becomes the man who rules the world."
Ahn Sung-chul's hands began to tremble.
Seong-jun folded his hands and bowed his head. "Sneaking close to administer an injection, or slipping it into food or drink — that part isn't difficult. The difficulty lies in developing the drug at all. But suppose it had already been developed, and someone put it in Father's wine."
Ahn Sung-chul shot to his feet.
Seong-jun went on, unhurried. "I'm not saying it's certain. We ran a precise analysis of the wine — no suspicious compounds were detected."
Sung-chul slowly sank back into his chair.
"But anyone capable of developing such a drug would have no trouble, with today's technology, making sure nothing showed up in a toxicology screen. That's what I was told."
"You're saying Father died drinking a drug that neutralizes BD?"
"It's baseless speculation — but the possibility isn't zero. I asked the experts. If such a drug exists and was ingested, they said, everything is explained: shock from sudden, catastrophic aging, and the cardiac arrest that follows."
Silence settled over the study.
Seong-jun gathered his coat and rose. "I've said all I came to say, so I'll take my leave. ...Hyung-nim."
"Mm."
"Cheonseong is in your hands now."
"Right."
Ahn Seong-jun left the study. Ahn Sung-chul opened his father's diary and combed through it all through the night — until, at last, he found something. Written unmistakably in Ahn Byung-gook's own hand:
I met Jane Lilith at the banquet. I approached her hoping I might wring even the smallest clue about BD out of her, and in the days after, I contacted her again and again, and we spoke.
I told her I wanted to build a drug better than BD, for the sake of mankind. I begged her — give me the data, anything at all. I was prepared to get down on my knees if I had to.
Jane only looked at me with pity. And then her mouth delivered words I never expected.
BD was not her creation. The core algorithm that keeps the body forever young — that had arrived as an attachment to an untraceable email, sent by an unidentified person calling themselves JL. The whole of BD was built on the programming code contained in that file.
She said that at first she took it for nothing more than the whim of some eccentric — a Satoshi Nakamoto of Bitcoin, nothing more. It was only after countless people had received their injections that she understood: the incomplete code JL provided was enough to create BD, but never enough to create its antidote. The only person on this Earth capable of making such a thing is JL himself.
She has told no one all these years, she said, because the moment she spoke of it, she was certain she would become his first target.
The instant I heard those words, my whole body broke out in gooseflesh.
Lee Han-seok stood at the window, watching the rain fall over Seoul.
Riiiing—
The phone rang. The caller ID read Ban Do-ah. Han-seok answered.
"Yes."
"Boss."
"Mm."
Han-seok slid open a drawer. Through the phone came Do-ah's voice, brimming with happiness and gratitude.
"Someone came from Lilith this morning. They gave my father his BD200 injection, and we just finished verifying it's genuine."
"I told you I'd keep my word."
Han-seok opened a square case shaped like an aluminum pencil case. Inside lay a syringe.
"Thank you. Truly, Boss."
"The odds are still one in two, you know. We'll have to watch for about a month. I went out on a limb to get it, so I hope he pulls through."
He pressed the plunger, and a measured dose of the drug rose into view.
"Yes. Even just being given a one-in-two chance — I can't thank you enough. Really. My father wanted to come thank you in person, but I managed to talk him out of it somehow."
"Good girl."
"Then I'll come in and see you this afternoon."
"Right. I'll be here."
Click.
Han-seok ended the call. Etched on the side of the syringe was a single word:
[DB]