Only then did the mask-like stiff smile that had been hanging on his face lift, and comfort flooded in like a tide. Hyunjin leaned his head against the car seat with satisfaction. With the car stopped in front of the blinking traffic light, he stared blankly at the many people crossing the crosswalk before his eyes. Behind those seemingly indifferent expressionless faces, how many selves were not wailing or despairing or rotting?
Goosebumps rose. It felt like wind had suddenly blown through his heart he’d tried to calm down, stirring up clouds of dust.
Fuck… Muttering curses, Hyunjin closed his eyes and concentrated on the Buddhist scriptures. Trying not to look at people as he drove, he soon found himself near his destination.
Unlike the entrance to the street lined with gorgeously dressed people, the place Hyunjin was heading was rather deserted. The guard with a cool impression standing at the entrance nodded in greeting upon seeing Hyunjin. Hyunjin also showed a gentle smile and nodded slightly, then slowly walked into the entrance and took the elevator.
With a ding, he got off at basement level 2. A ripe fragrance wafted from the corridor. The scent of the cologne he’d made an effort to wear was mixing with the smell of this place. He finally felt freed from the trap that had been tightly squeezing his heart. Hyunjin subtly smiled and took a deep breath.
As he entered the club entrance, the manager greeted Hyunjin with a smile.
“Welcome, Dr. Kim. You’ve been visiting quite often lately? You must be very stressed.”
“It’s always the same.”
Responding to the manager who approached with a friendly smile, Hyunjin slightly loosened the necktie that was choking his throat.
“It’s quite cold outside, isn’t it?”
“It’s fine since I came by car anyway.”
“I can smell winter on you, Doctor.”
Seeing how talkative she was being, it seemed he wouldn’t be able to request whoever he wanted today either. The mood he’d worked hard to lift felt crumpled.
Noticing Hyunjin’s eyebrows crinkle slightly, the manager continued with a brilliant smile.
“Dr. Kim, I’m so sorry, what should I do? Today Min is… going to be a bit difficult.”
“I should have called ahead yesterday.”
“Ah… I’m so, so sorry. A VVIP customer insisted on that boy specifically today and no one else…”
She clasped her hands together with an apologetic face, speaking cutely. Seeing the manager’s face as she made a crying expression, Hyunjin made an effort to suppress his surging anger.
“For my sake, please understand just this once. Okay? How about trying something new instead?”
“I don’t like newcomers. And omegas are out of the question.”
Lightly grasping the arm of Hyunjin, who was coldly rejecting her, the manager crossed the corridor, leading him. The sound of her walking in high heels echoed cheerfully through the corridor.
While muttering curses internally, Hyunjin obediently followed her. He’d heard that the manager, who had hidden her voluptuous body under an elegant dress beneath the reddish light, had been in this business for about a dozen years already. That’s how skilled she was at getting by, and she wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.
Even so, she was just a manager at an establishment, so she wasn’t a difficult opponent for Hyunjin who had something to rely on, but he couldn’t let the pleasure he’d been steadily enjoying get disrupted over the greed of a single night. Yeodanhwa was a place that kept prostitutes who somewhat matched Hyunjin’s tastes. Moreover, he hoped he wouldn’t have to bring up that “something to rely on” if he could help it.
For various reasons, he’d let it slide today, but he had no intention of tolerating being treated this way going forward. He’d just have to make it clear. So she’d never think of offering him an unripe fruit like this again.
Hyunjin thought this and smiled brightly. The manager also faced Hyunjin and gave a winking smile in front of the door where she’d stopped.
“You might be quite surprised.”
“By what?”
“Because it’ll be so much your type, Dr. Kim.”
“That would be nice.”
He showed a smile, but inwardly he chewed on it cynically. How ridiculous.
During the years he’d been playing with men in this scene, his tastes had been consistent and had never changed once. A delicate face and supple skin, a slender waist. Black, soft hair. He’d appealed countless times that was all he needed, but there hadn’t been a single person who perfectly fit those conditions so far.
The boy called ‘Min’ he’d been deprived of today had been somewhat to his taste. His face was moderately pretty, and though he was a bit taller than desired, his skin texture was smooth enough to be passable. However, the moans he let out were excessively lewd by Hyunjin’s standards, and his waist was as thick as any other man’s. Still, he’d been better than the other guys, so he’d been playing with him quite well. Hoping it would be even half as good as him, Hyunjin scanned the inside of the room with an impassive expression.
And before long, his gaze stopped at one spot.
“His name is Lee Jeong. Don’t scold him too much if he doesn’t greet you. I heard he originally can’t speak.”
The manager elegantly smiled and approached, placing her hand on the shoulder of the man in the room.
“This is incredible… What am I supposed to do with someone who can’t even talk?”
“Isn’t someone who can’t talk sometimes more convenient?”
The manager’s words hit the mark, which made him feel a bit unpleasant. What she said had no fault. Not only psychiatrists like him, whose brains were filled to the point of disgust with the words of patients poured out all day, but among the people who visited places like this, there wouldn’t be anyone who came to have sincere conversations with their partner.
“That said, he’s not unable to do things with his mouth, so it won’t be that inconvenient.”
Hyunjin’s eyes quickly scanned the man. A strange atmosphere emanated from the man. The thick shadow of resignation felt from the man who couldn’t even raise his head wasn’t a smell an ordinary person could give off after experiencing despair for just a day or two. The shadow of depression, completely rotten and decayed, covered the man’s head like a dark cloud.
In short, the frail man before his eyes was completely broken.
The man rose from his seat and bowed to Hyunjin. The man’s legs were exposed beneath the large, wide white shirt he wore. Looking at his pale, thin legs, Hyunjin glanced toward the manager.
“Is he perhaps an omega?”
A voice full of displeasure echoed through the room. The manager smiled as if somewhat troubled.
“Yes. I know you don’t like omegas well… but his appearance is so much your type, Dr. Kim, that I prepared him. Do you dislike it very much?”
Hyunjin sighed and blatantly glared at the woman before him. Like a fox… Since he usually detested phenotypes whether alpha or omega, he’d never once allowed an omega into his room until now. At this point, he was even curious what she was relying on to act this cocky.
You shouldn’t do this to me, a long-time regular customer. Stealing away the boy I reserved to put under another bastard’s crotch, and now even an omega…
His fist clenched tight on its own. However, Hyunjin soon smiled brightly with a face that perfectly hid his displeasure.
“This is interesting. Can’t speak, an omega… I have no idea what I’m supposed to use this for or why you’d put it in my room.”
‘How impudent, fuck.’ The words he couldn’t say he swallowed back down his throat. The manager, reading the emotions beyond his smiling face like a ghost, stretched out her words pleadingly and met his eyes.
“Oh, Dr. Kim. Just for today. Next time, I’ll put Min in as a service for free.”
“You know it’s not about the money.”
“I know. I know it so well…”
The manager made a crying expression and put her hands together as if in prayer.
“Really just for today. I’m in such a difficult situation. Please understand just this once. And…”
The manager approached the man and gently lifted the chin of the man who was bowing his head. Her ornately decorated fingernails caught his eye.
“Please take a good look at his face just once and then decide. If he’s ugly, we wouldn’t put him in your room either, Doctor. He’ll suit your taste well.”
The man’s face was properly revealed for the first time under the dim lighting.
His tiny face was extremely pale. His downcast eyelashes blinked slowly without trembling. As he’d felt from the beginning, despite the man’s very young-looking appearance, he didn’t seem to be a newcomer. Looking at his meek attitude close to despair and resignation, it wasn’t difficult to guess that he must have serviced men countless times.
His lips were very red. Can’t even speak but has something uselessly pretty. Hyunjin muttered inwardly and scanned the man with sharp eyes as if dissecting a frog. His nose bridge and the line of his neck were graceful and delicate—a beauty such that if you flipped a wig or something on him, you’d believe he was a woman.
His face was certainly to his taste. However, the thought that such an appearance was the typical look of omegas who sold their bodies made disgust surge up even more strongly.
Hyunjin let out a hollow laugh and slowly removed his watch, placing it on the table. The disgust churning inside him soon began to squirm, transforming into sadism.
Should I completely wreck him? Then they won’t dare pull this impudent shit again.
“Just as you said, Manager… he’s my type. Just for today should be fine.”
The manager, who bowed repeatedly in thanks, closed the door and left. The man plopped down in his seat and completely loosened the tie he’d pulled at. With the table between them, Lee Jeong stood with his hands clasped together, head bowed as if he’d committed a crime.
“Lee Jeong-ssi, was it? Come here.”
The man, sitting leisurely, showed a gentle smile. Lee Jeong, who had been staring only at the floor without meeting his eyes, slowly raised his head.
“Come closer.”
The urging tone was soft but intimidating. Hearing the man’s voice, Lee Jeong slowly took steps and approached the man.
The man reached out his hand and ran it along Lee Jeong’s side. The slender waistline hidden inside the white, loose-fitting shirt he wore flinched and trembled each time the man’s hand touched it. Even so, Lee Jeong couldn’t resist the hand groping his side and bit his lips to endure it. As always, the touch of the man feeling him up was as disgusting as having dozens of leeches attached, but he couldn’t express that emotion. If he did, he’d get slapped immediately.
