Chapter 42: Back to Seoul [R-18]

The black, low-slung sports car purred quietly as it pulled off the mountain path, the tires vibrating softly over the gravel.

Seojin, sitting in the two-seater with no back row, tried to keep her posture straight. But the insides of her thighs still felt faintly flushed, and with every brake, the car’s lurching motion made the sensations crawl back to life.

“I thought you were just someone’s leftovers, or some animal in heat.”

The man turned the steering wheel with one hand, the corner of his mouth lifting. His face, sunglasses still off, held the same detached nonchalance as if he’d just walked out of the party from two days ago.

“You were biting down so eagerly just a moment ago. Gone all docile on me?”

Seojin didn’t answer. Her lips, still moist, trembled slightly. She remained silent, afraid that his words would make something inside her lurch again.

“Kang Seojin, twenty years old. Experimental soldier under the Ministry of Defense, 18th class of TS Soldiers…”

He muttered her personal details, which he’d learned during the handover, his brow furrowed as he stared ahead.

“A little different from the military I know. This country… it sure knows how to do some interesting shit.”

Resting his chin on the hand that was on the gearshift, he let out a short laugh.

“If I’d lived here, would I have caught that disease and ended up like you?”

The man turned his head slightly to look at her, adding, “Not that there’s any point in wondering. I’m already twenty-six.”

“…”

His smile held a teasing playfulness, but it was mixed with a gaze that swept over her body, genuinely appraising it.

“Anyway. I’d never been with a transgender person before. It was… a novel experience.”

Though Seojin’s case was different. She had no surgical scars, and her transformed body was something beyond human recreation.

When she continued to keep her lips sealed, he lost interest and turned his attention back to the winding road beyond the window.

“Don’t feel like talking? My name is Rio. Rio Ryu.”

He gave a slow nod, as if this were a blind date.

“The son of the man who acquired the next two years of your life. Is it easier to understand if I say I’m your employer?”

Seojin listened to Rio’s words, her lips pressed tight as she stared out the window. It might not have been silent resignation; perhaps she was just choosing her words.

Every time the light from the winding road reflected off the window and flashed across Rio’s face, a familiar silhouette seemed to overlap with his.

The middle-aged man who had been her single ray of hope. And now, next to her, sat his son.

She didn’t need him to say it to understand. The genes remained in this hedonist like a joke, like wreckage, but unlike his father, the man beside her now was not someone who would leave her with any choices.

The son of the man who acquired the next two years of your life.

It was pointless to try and figure out where and how things had gone so wrong.

620 million won.

None of the money was for her, and the number felt completely unreal. She couldn’t even grasp the reality that she was being sold for such a sum.

But if this was how it was going to be, then from the moment she got in this car—no, from the moment he walked into that room—she should have thought of herself not as some VIP escort, but as a “hired woman.”

But back then, she had enjoyed unbelievably incredible sex with him, not as an employer and employee, but as a man and a woman. A relationship defined like that from their very first meeting could only be called the worst possible start for Seojin.

Steadying herself, she turned her head and saw the knuckles of Rio’s hand on the steering wheel.

Long, distinct fingers. Hands she’d only known to pull at her breasts and nipples were now turning the wheel at a precise angle, as if it were second nature.

Though she didn’t know what her duties would be, judging by his words and the contents of that near-plea at the end of the auction, her job was to take care of this man.

Seojin realized she would have to sit in the passenger seat next to this man for two years, until this scene became natural.

“So… can you tell me what I’ll be doing from now on?”

At her first words, Rio’s eyes narrowed slightly. Then he smiled.

“You’ll find out in due time. All you have to do is follow my lead.”

“…”

“There’s a lot more to do with me than just have sex.”

As they drove, sometimes exchanging brief words, sometimes falling into long silences depending on his mood, the nightscape of Seoul began to glitter and spread out beyond the window.

The black sports car slid quietly into the underground garage of a large building. Without any security checks, the vehicle proceeded directly to a private section deep underground. Rio fiddled with a device for a moment, then opened his door and got out with practiced ease.

“Get out.”

As he spoke, the sports car’s quiet engine died. A moment later, Seojin opened her door.

While he tossed his keys to a valet, Seojin got out and was immediately hit by a blast of sound and a thumping beat that seemed to rise from the floor, forcing her gaze downward.

An elevator chimed and opened, and Rio strode inside nonchalantly.

The floor he pressed without a word was—B1.

But when the doors opened, the place they stepped out into seemed to be a separate passageway, neither above nor below ground.

The first thing she saw was a dark corridor, with music spilling from its far end. Seojin glanced down at herself. Her military uniform. Her tense expression.

In stark contrast to her state, Rio, who exuded a style that blended perfectly with the space, walked inside without so much as a nod, wearing just a shirt and jacket.

As Seojin followed him through the narrow entrance, the space exploded with light. Red and blue lights crisscrossed, striking the ceiling, while strobe lights flashed from all directions.

Men and women pressed against each other, groups laughing with drinks in hand, a few people waving at Rio with deliberate gestures as he passed. Seojin felt herself freeze, from the tips of her toes to the nape of her neck.

The beat was that of club music, but the atmosphere permeating the space was too much to be described by the simple word “party.”

A passing woman laughed and tapped Seojin’s uniform sleeve, while from behind, someone gave her ass a playful pat.

“…!”

When she turned her head, Rio was already far ahead. Seojin followed without a word.

In her uniform, she felt like a creature from another world. The passage, which was now narrowing, made her feel as if she’d be lost forever if she didn’t keep up with Rio’s silhouette.

“Stay close.”

The words were tossed over his shoulder, but Rio’s voice cut through the music, low and clear. Seojin moved up behind him, as if swept along by an unknown heat.

Then his hand reached back and brushed against her wrist before taking hold of it. Holding her wrist, Rio half-turned to look down at her.

His golden-flecked eyes reflected her perfectly even in the darkness, and a sly, debauched smile—one that anyone could see belonged in a place like this—spread across his lips.

“Haha, no need to be scared. They’re all my friends.”

With that, Rio turned forward again and continued walking.

Seojin could only stare helplessly at the back of his heels. Each time the heels of his impeccably tailored shoes glinted in the light, their contrast with the quiet, luxurious rug beneath them made the class of this place feel all the more real.

At the end of this separate world, a semi-hidden glass door opened, and a wave of heat, laughter, cigarette smoke, and the smell of alcohol washed over them.

“Oh—Rio’s here!”

“Hey! The man of the hour is late.”

The long table was already packed with people.

Women in dresses that were half-off, men with gold chains over designer shirts, and next to them, even to Seojin who had no interest in celebrities, were famous faces and influencers drenched in provocative perfume.

Everyone cheered as if they had been waiting for him, and he responded with a casual wave of his hand as he walked naturally toward the center of the group.

Seojin instinctively took a step back. Her body, clad in a uniform, taciturn, with the sensation still alive deep in her thighs.

She wanted to leave this glamorous, unfamiliar place and hide in the darkness. She knew instinctively that she stood out, that she could never belong here.

But Rio didn’t let go of her wrist.

Instead, as if sensing her subtle attempt to shrink back, he pulled her forward.

Then he positioned her right beside him, in front of everyone, and wrapped an arm around her waist.

“This is the gift my father sent me this year.”

Rio’s voice blended naturally over the party music.

“Her name is Kang Seojin. That… what’s it called? That disease thing.”

As he smiled and gestured with his chin, playful, lewd laughter erupted from around the table.

“Ah! Ahh. Hey, for real? Is this that thing everyone’s talking about? The trans-something?”

“Fucking weird. The uniform might actually be kind of hot.”

“But shit… her face is totally a woman’s.”

Unlike Rio, most of them were Korean. One of them openly scanned the line of Seojin’s chest, while another raised a whiskey glass and gave Rio a meaningful smile.

Seojin said nothing.

She just breathed, pressed against Rio’s side, clinging to the sensation of his hand on her waist as her only anchor.

And then she realized.

The way he was showing her off like this wasn’t a simple introduction. It was a boast. Reflected in the eyes of others, Rio wore a subtle possessiveness and a debauched satisfaction on his lips.

Seojin felt it with perfect clarity.

Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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