Chapter 140: A Different Way of Treating the Same Woman [R-18]

After her swim, Seojin sat with her wet hair roughly dried, staring out the window as if lost in thought.

Her eyes were quiet, but it was not a simple, vacant stare.

Woo-chan quietly followed her gaze.

The building opposite—a full-scale advertisement covering the high-rise wall.

[‘R Jewelry’ New Collection]

The model was the rising star, idol Yoon Ha-el.

She was a beautiful celebrity who, in a field typically dominated by actors rather than idols, had leveraged her elegant visuals to quickly land an ad for a high-end brand.

Along with the catchphrase, the screen cycled through images of the glittering earrings and necklace she wore, and the ornate jewelry that adorned her fingers.

Woo-chan lifted his coffee and took a sip.

“…Do you want it?”

At his words, Seojin slowly turned her head.

“Pardon?”

Woo-chan didn’t shake his head.

Instead, his gaze slowly swept over her hands, noting they were bare. He took in her unadorned earlobes and the clean line of her neck.

“If you said you wanted it, Rio isn’t the type to say no.”

Seojin said nothing.

In her silence, Woo-chan surmised that she wasn’t looking at the advertisement, but at ‘Rio’s woman’ within it.

That wasn’t all.

As his lover, Seojin had tumbled wantonly with that very girl, both of them sharing him.

It was astonishing to see the woman who had been so fervent as to redefine the word ‘vulgar’ now projected on screen in such an elegant form.

Outside, the woman who had satisfied him and been granted a new public face. And here, the woman who wore nothing, living with him, only to be consumed in private.

The two women, from their respective positions, were facing each other.

“Ah, no. I… I’m just worried I’d scratch it if I wore it around. It’s hard to take care of…”

Instead of just nodding vaguely at Seojin’s words, Woo-chan briefly withdrew his gaze, then looked at her again and spoke quietly.

“It’s fine to wear it casually.”

His words were unexpectedly gentle.

“It’s good to treasure things… but it’s not like you’re going to deliberately drop it in a mud puddle.”

Seojin hid her mouth behind the small espresso cup and glanced at him.

“That’s better than treating it like a sacred object. This way, it carries your own story.”

As he finished speaking, Woo-chan’s gaze swept over Seojin’s neckline once more.

Her skin was bare, but for the man who sought to possess her just as she was, this very bareness was a stronger form of bondage than any jewelry worn by Yoon Ha-el in that ad.

Her claim that she was afraid of scratching it was, in reality, a projection of her awareness that she herself was already damaged somewhere.

So, in his own calm way, he was indirectly telling her that there was value in being damaged—that she was valuable just as she was.

But the moment she quietly answered, “Yes…,” he felt a strange sense of unease at how natural her submissiveness was.

A subservient consent that clung deeper than mere obedience.

It wasn’t simply a matter of ‘being well-behaved.’

It was a quiet smile that seemed to know her own position so precisely that she looked all the more comfortable in it.

Woo-chan felt it wasn’t right to leave a person in such a state.

So he lowered his gaze to the table, crossed his legs, and slowly tapped the tabletop with his fingertips.

Tap. Tap.

The rhythm was short and sharp.

“Among the things you own… is there anything you treasure?” he asked.

Seojin slowly looked at him. Woo-chan met her gaze and asked again.

“Preferably something I might know. Like that, for instance.”

He tilted his head slightly and gestured with his chin toward the photo of Yoon Ha-el still on the billboard across the way.

‘R Jewelry.’

A silver line, a delicately sparkling gem setting. A woman’s accessory, meant to shine beside a man.

At his words, Seojin’s lips curved up ever so slightly. She lowered her head and smiled faintly.

“…Yes. I still have it.”

It was a small voice.

That memory occupied a private space within her, condensed with emotions far deeper than mere embarrassment.

At her words, Woo-chan slowly withdrew his gaze and finished his coffee. Placing the small, empty mug down on the table with a soft clink, he slowly rose from his seat.

“—I see. Are you busy after this?”

Seojin looked up.

“Ah, no… I’m just going home…”

“Good.”

Woo-chan stuck his hands in his pockets and smiled.

If Rio was a debauched and flamboyant man whose free spirit was on full display, Woo-chan was a sharp, composed man who wore his suit with an air of gravity.

“Let’s walk for a bit.”

“……Pardon?”

Clearing his cup with one hand, Woo-chan was already on his feet.

He started walking, his dress shoes silent on the floor. As he passed the front of the table, he turned his head halfway toward Seojin.

“I’d like to get there before it closes.”

“Uh…?”

A look of confusion. But he offered no further explanation. With a light gesture, he beckoned her toward the escalator.

Seojin awkwardly followed, her swim bag in one hand, her damp hair roughly tied back. She had no idea where Woo-chan was going.

The place they headed to was a department store, close enough that they didn’t need to drive from the fitness center.

When they went up one floor, they found rows of jewelry stores.

Seojin stopped, her face somewhat bewildered. She looked at him.

“Wh-why are we here…?”

Is it a gift for his girlfriend? But it doesn’t seem like she’d be very happy if he chose it with me…

“Which one is it?” Woo-chan asked her instead.

Directly in front of them was a display case identical to the one in the billboard she had seen earlier.

[‘R Jewelry’ New Collection]

Delicately crafted earrings, necklaces, and bracelets were neatly arranged inside the glass, which softly reflected the ambient light.

But he wasn’t looking for the new collection; he was looking for the one she treasured.

“……”

Woo-chan continued as they passed the storefronts of several brands.

“Let me know if you see it.”

Seojin took a small breath. The image that surfaced in her mind was vividly clear.

That day, the one Rio had put in her ear without a word… a silver earring with a smooth curve.

The thrill of him putting it in with his own hands was such that Seojin had slept that night without taking it off, clutching it tight so it wouldn’t fall out on the pillow.

Seojin hesitated, recalling it, and quietly lifted her head.

Then, her eyes suddenly froze, fixed on something straight ahead.

“—Ah.”

A small gasp.

When Woo-chan turned his head, he saw a pair of earrings in the glass display case she was staring at.

[S Collection]

Beneath the engraved name was a pair of earrings with a soft, flowing, curved line.

The design was not flashy but distinct. Tiny gems were embedded along the silver line, and the overall piece exuded a classic yet solid sense of luxury.

Seojin unconsciously took a step closer. Her fingertips gently traced the air, almost touching the glass.

“…This one. It’s very similar to this.”

At her quiet voice, Woo-chan beckoned to a store employee.

“Please show us this one.”

The employee bowed, took out the case, and placed the earrings on a soft cloth.

Seojin looked down at them, her lips parting slightly.

Seeing the clear difference in their ages and attitudes, the employee must have thought he was a man buying earrings for his shy, young lover. She began to introduce the product with an elegance meant to put Seojin at ease.

“The S-line was repackaged this year as a limited edition. It was originally quite rare even among collectors, but it’s been released again in small quantities.”

Despite the employee’s polished explanation, Seojin couldn’t hide a sense of awkwardness.

As Seojin briefly wondered whether Rio had chosen it for her himself back then, or if he had simply ordered the most beautiful thing as usual, Woo-chan pointed to the earrings and spoke.

“Is there a big difference in the details?”

Seojin, knowing he was asking her and not the employee, examined it for a moment before shaking her head.

“Um, I… I’m not sure.”

In the eyes of the sales associate showing it, there was of course a difference, but with a high-end jewelry sale on the line, she kept her mouth shut.

He naturally opened the case and stood behind Seojin. He gently pushed her hair aside and held an earring to her earlobe.

“Lift your head just a little.”

A cool piece of metal touched her skin. Click—

He didn’t stop at just holding it up to her. Her earlobe moved slightly with the weight, and at the sensation, Seojin’s eyebrows twitched minutely.

He fastened the other one in the same way.

Woo-chan quietly stepped back.

“Look.”

Seojin lifted her head and turned toward a mirror on the side of the store.

In the mirror, two silver lines shone from her ears. They weren’t identical to the ones from that night, the ones she treasured at home, but they were very close to the first thing Rio had ever left her with.

“…They’re beautiful,” she said, almost in spite of herself. The words truly slipped out like a sigh of wonder.

Without much deliberation, he immediately handed his card to the employee.

As she watched the employee hand over the receipt along with a warranty in several languages, a case, and a small shopping bag, Seojin snapped back to her senses.

“W-wait. I’ll take them off and give them to you…”

As she spoke in a flustered tone, her fingertips carefully reaching for her earlobes, Woo-chan tilted his head slightly and cut her off.

“They’re yours.”

At that one phrase, Seojin’s hands froze.

He followed up in his characteristically blunt tone.

“If you have two of the same thing, you won’t have to worry so much, will you? Consider that pair the one you can be rough with.”

The one she could be rough with.

Because the original was beautiful, because it was precious, she could keep it on display in her special place. This was a substitute, a gift telling her not to leave herself unadorned.

By telling her to wear this precious jewelry casually, as if it were a mere accessory for any given day, he was hoping Seojin would start to treat herself the same way.

“My business here is done. Shall we go?”

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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