The job-seeking sites he’d been checking from time to time flashed before Jae-min’s eyes. Most jobs required working five or more days a week, from morning to evening or afternoon to night, to receive just over 2 million won.
Then his bank account balance also came to mind. The money he’d earned from his previous part-time job had all been spent on dates. After breaking up, he’d continued drinking and even the allowance he’d received from home had run out.
Three times a week, rub some men’s chests and get 3 million won. If he refused, people would line up wanting to do it instead. In fact, it was absolutely a honey among honey part-time jobs he couldn’t miss. Jae-min, who barely came to his senses, widened his eyes and shook his head.
“No. I’ll do it.”
“That’s right! It’s a good opportunity, isn’t it? Cheol-hui, deposit it into the account I mentioned earlier.”
Yong-seok smiled and tapped the desk with his finger. Then the man who’d been boredly looking at the computer at the desk moved his hands quickly. At the light vibration, Jae-min lowered his gaze.
[Deposit] Lim Yong-seok 3,000,000 won
He didn’t know it would be deposited right away. Jae-min swallowed with his eyes wide open.
“For now, just learn some basic massage techniques and go. When you first start dealing with customers, I’ll go in with you and watch.”
Yong-seok smiled gently and called another staff member. Jae-min, who confirmed the deposit details that had been transferred like a knife as soon as he was hired, followed the staff member into an empty treatment room as if enchanted without any resistance.
With a male upper body model made of silicone placed there, the staff member calmly began massage training.
“At first, round your hands and push up like this… You just need to gather the secretions from all directions.”
It seemed no different from ordinary sports massage, so it was okay, but then.
“There are times when the breast milk doesn’t come out well, and in those cases, you can stimulate the nipple by rolling it like this.”
Seeing the staff member’s hand rolling the nipple of the silicone model with their fingers as if caressing, reality hit again.
But Jae-min bit down hard and kept repeating the number.
‘300.’
Let’s endure. Let’s remember the 3 million won salary. His wavering heart quickly became calm again.
⁕⁕⁕
“Jae-min started a new job? That’s great. We’re still worrying about what to do.”
“Still, it worked out well. You must have solved the immediate spending money need?”
The next day, Jae-min met colleagues he’d worked with at the performance venue. Though not an official university club, they were band members who had banded together because they got along and performed together on stage at a Hongdae-ipgu Station performance venue.
At the words of Chi-won, the drummer of the band ‘Fake Lightning,’ and Min-jeong, the vocalist, Jae-min scratched his cheek.
“It’s just temporary.”
“Yeah, let’s get together again when we perform. What lectures are you taking this semester?”
“Mostly major classes, and for general education, writing. I didn’t take it in my first year.”
“Writing? If you just get good scores on the assignments for that, you’re golden. There’s no exam either. Fighting!”
Min-jeong giggled and tapped Jae-min’s arm.
“Hey, Min-jeong. Looking at it, you’re only sweet to Jae-min, aren’t you? Are you two flirting?”
Chi-won, who had been watching the two quietly, asked mischievously. Then Min-jeong slapped Chi-won’s arm.
“Forget it. You know his taste is completely opposite from me, right? He only likes big-breasted women.”
Min-jeong had a slender, delicate build rather than a voluptuous one. Since there wasn’t a single wrong word, Jae-min stayed quiet without reacting. Then Chi-won burst out laughing.
“Look at this bastard not denying it. Well, our Jae-min has a pretty face too. Can’t he live his whole life touching soft, squishy breasts as he wants?”
“Ha… I’m suddenly getting super depressed.”
“Huh? Why?”
That’s because he had to touch not soft women’s breasts, but the chests of men who actually produced milk. The practice silicone was soft, but real chests would be different.
But unable to bring out the truth about the part-time job, he got up.
“I don’t know. I’m going to go now.”
“Why are you depressed?”
“Leave him alone. It must be because he broke up with his girlfriend. Hey, hey. Cheer up!”
At Chi-won’s repeated question, Min-jeong waved her hand and shouted. Jae-min, who nodded roughly, trudged out of the park. Then he remembered Min-jeong’s words from earlier and became curious about the ‘Writing and Logic’ team assignment results.
While waiting for the bus, Jae-min checked the cyber classroom announcements. Jae-min, who had been naturally scrolling down looking for the surname ‘Lim,’ flinched when his name wasn’t at the bottom and scrolled back to the top.
His name was at the very top.
“Fuck, this is really super depressing.”
In life, there are times when you wonder if it’s heaven’s trick or divine punishment. When you desperately pray that ‘just not this!’, saying everything else is fine if you exclude just that one thing, that one thing always becomes reality.
Jae-min let out a groan at the unbelievable situation.
‘Group 2 – Kang Hyun-woong (Physical Education), Lim Jae-min (Business Administration)’
Of all people, he was in the same group as Hyun-woong, the person who annoyed him most in Jae-min’s world these days.
⁕⁕⁕
“Ugh, I’m tired…!”
Though the team assignment turned out shitty, the team project was something to think about later. First, he had to solve the biggest task right in front of him.
Jae-min went to work at the clinic for a while and learned chest massage. Having touched the cold silicone upper body mannequin’s pectorals so much, even when he came home, it felt like the soft texture of the model remained on his palms.
Continuing to press and knead with force made his wrists hurt, and standing for long periods made his legs hurt, but since he still hadn’t dealt with actual people yet, it was manageable.
“How will the real thing be…”
As the massage movements became familiar, fear rushed in at the thought that practice was ending. Jae-min lay face down on the bed and sighed as if the ground would cave in.
And time flowed frustratingly fast, and Thursday came around again.
Getting up in the morning to prepare for school, his phone, which had been charging on the desk, vibrated briefly. At that moment, Jae-min felt an eerie energy. An inexplicable fear attacked him, so he checked his phone with full tension.
It was a message from Yong-seok.
[Uncle Lim Yong-seok: Let’s try dealing with a customer today ^^]
“What had to come has come…”
He pressed down on his eyes with his palms. In the pitch-black darkness, the figures of the men he’d briefly encountered while going to and from the clinic came to mind. There were many formidable builds that seemed like they could receive a courteous apology just by glancing at them if they bumped into someone on the street.
Thinking about kneading those bodies, no different from boulders placed on a rough mountain, his appetite completely disappeared. After letting out deep sighs repeatedly and finishing breakfast half-heartedly, Jae-min finally moved his heavy feet and left the house.
He had to go to school first. After attending lectures, he had to go to work at the clinic. Jae-min let out another long sigh on the bus.
“3 million won…”
Jae-min stared at the deposited screen with hollow eyes. Seeing it in the swaying car, the ‘0’s moved left and right like a hypnotist’s necklace. Those circles seemed to whisper, ‘Where else could you easily make this kind of money? You’re lucky!’
Jae-min’s corners of his mouth, which had sunk as if going underground, slowly rose.
‘Right, I got paid, so I should work hard.’
Jae-min’s steps became lighter after getting off the bus. Passing through the school gate and past the basketball court, as he got closer to the ‘Writing and Logic’ lecture hall, worries about the part-time job became smaller and other concerns gradually grew.
It was because the thought of the group assignment, which he’d briefly crumpled up and thrown into a corner of his head, came back to mind.
Since he never thought he’d be paired with Hyun-woong among all those students, the bewilderment was very great. He resented his past self who hadn’t found a team member in advance and complacently left it to fate. He’d left it alone because it was bothersome, but if he’d known it would be like this, he should have grabbed anyone and coordinated.
Troubled, Jae-min stood in front of the lecture hall door, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled. When he breathed calmly, his complicated head became a bit calmer. It was something that had already happened anyway, so he resolved to think as positively as possible.
‘I just need to calm down moderately and finish the assignment well. We’re the first group anyway, so we can get through the presentation quickly.’
He opened the lecture hall door. As expected, Hyun-woong had come early and was sitting in his seat. Jae-min briefly scanned his back and walked to his seat. He put down his bag, sat with his legs crossed, and glanced at Hyun-woong.
