Deal Breaker - Chapter 31
Today, her post-nut clarity seemed to last unusually long. Hyeji knew it was only because she was so satisfied with the s*x earlier that she was starting to feel averse to it now. She’d burned through every last bit of her desire until there wasn’t even any ash left.
How ironic, to end up an asexual, if only for a little while. Yet she knew that the moment things started again, she’d go wild as if there were nothing more fun in the world.
Humans really are so weak.
Even though it was her own weakness, she projected it onto all eight billion people on earth, hoping that by spreading her shame among them, her share would be only one eight-billionth.
Normally, Noh Hyeji was the very embodiment of material desire, and she wasn’t even ashamed of that. But when it came to being the embodiment of s****l desire, she was embarrassed. Wasn’t that a contradiction?
In a capitalist world, people see the desire for money as crude but honest, yet s****l desire, though honest, is seen as crude. Would things be different if we lived in a sexually liberated world?
But thinking about it further, it seemed humanity universally deemed any common desire to be crude. Maybe condemning these universal desires is just a means of maintaining social order.
Perhaps restraint and checks are absolutely necessary.
After all, so many social tragedies are rooted in desires that go beyond what’s acceptable.
S****l desire is something that disappears once it’s satisfied, but can the desire for money ever truly be fulfilled? S****l desire is a purely physiological phenomenon with physical limits, but material desire is a social craving and perhaps has no limits.
Come to think of it, doesn’t material desire do more harm to society than s****l desire?
You come into life empty-handed and leave it empty-handed, after all. But none of the sages ever said you had to skip the Han River-view apartment on your way out.
Noh Hyeji, today your post-nut clarity is on another level.
Maybe someday she should write a whole essay collection about these moments. What should she title it? [Born from Self-Pleasure, Destroyed by Self-Pleasure] could work. [Life is Fleeting, But I Still Want a Han River-View Apartment]. Huh? Why does that sound so familiar? Anyway, how much could she make from publishing those essays?
She was just about to check her phone when the bedroom door opened and Kanghyeon came out, wearing a white T-shirt and black sweatpants.
“Hyeji-ssi, are you eating anything?”
Hyeji-ssi. That meant they were off the clock now.
“Cup noodles.”
“Did you bring one for me?”
“I’ll sell you one cheap for thirty thousand won.”
“Highway robbery. I wouldn’t pay that even on the peak of the Swiss Alps.”
“This is Dubai.”
“You really never back down, do you?”
Still, the fact that he said that meant she had brought one for him. On the console by the window, there was a pair of wooden chopsticks and a cup of instant noodles, lined up next to the electric kettle.
Since Hyeji was watching TV, Kanghyeon couldn’t walk in front of her, so he circled around the back of the sofa. His gaze brushed over the table beside it, where a half-eaten cup of noodles sat with chopsticks still sticking out.
“You call this an after-party? Just eating cup noodles? Order room service.”
“I did.”
“Good job.”
Hyeji felt as if someone had stamped her forehead with a big [Well done].
“What did you order?”
“Buffalo wings and fries.”
“Little Miss Hyeji, you have a good eye for bar snacks.”
Acting as if he were dealing with a kindergartener, Kanghyeon poured hot water into his cup noodles, then grabbed two cans of beer from the minibar on his way back.
The two of them clinked their cans together lightly before taking a drink. This was their own sort of after-party. The mission that had kept everyone frantically busy since last fall had finally ended without a hitch.
Maybe that’s why the CEO had been a bit crazy tonight.
Hyeji glanced at Kanghyeon out of the corner of her eye as he sat beside her on the sofa. Dressed lightly as if for a girlfriend, he had his long legs stretched out and sat back in a relaxed posture. On the surface, he seemed comfortable, but in fact, he’d chosen the far end of the long sofa… Distant as ever. As usual, he struck the balance between friendliness and distance: back to being the ‘CEO’.
Of course, ‘back to’ meant that just a little while ago, he hadn’t been his usual self.
Did he cross the line a bit tonight?
But then again, even when that man crossed the line, it only ever meant touching a private area or sharing a kiss. Not that she minded. Well, no complaints, really.
…Looks like my post-nut clarity is over.
No matter how much Hyeji was at the mercy of her instincts as a Guide, there were still lines she’d never cross. An Esper could, with bad intentions, take advantage of a Guide who’d gone into heat from interrupted guiding—telling her to spread herself, or to beg to be taken, or treating her as less than human. There were plenty of opportunities to cross the line.
But Kanghyeon would never cross that line.
Well… he did tear her panties.
He glanced at the already spotless entryway, then stirred his cup noodles and said offhandedly,
“I’ll buy you new underwear tomorrow.”
“Use the company card.”
Kanghyeon was about to take a bite of noodles, then let out a short laugh.
“If I do that, the accounting team will know I tore your panties.”
“Then just say you bought them as a client gift.”
“Panties as a client gift? I’d rather have it go around that I ripped my Guide’s panties.”
No matter how materialistic she was, not even Hyeji would expense a pair of panties to the company. She just liked teasing Kanghyeon and seeing that look of bewildered ‘What even is this?’ in his eyes.
