episode_0410

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I wanted to throw the dildo away right then and there, but I couldn’t.

Because I had already blurted out to Baek Jiho that this dildo was something I planned to use when he was too tired.

If I got embarrassed now and threw it away, it would only give Seo Woojin unnecessary leverage.

Especially since I had even gone to the adult store alone without Baek Jiho.

So, I headed to a nearby café with Seo Woojin and the suspicious paper bag in tow.

…Though, to be honest, I had stopped by another café on the way here earlier.

Since I couldn’t think of any other place to talk, this was the next best option.

“…….”

“…….”

Earlier, he had been agitated by the situation and hurled rough words at me, calling my lie idiotic—but now, he was just quietly sitting beside me without a word.

As I waited for the crosswalk light with him, I kept my head held high and stared straight ahead, trying my best to act unbothered.

But there was nothing I could do about the awkward atmosphere.

I felt like I was suffocating, like I was going to die.

Before we even reached the café, I wanted to bolt somewhere, anywhere.

But if I actually did that…

It was painfully obvious what would happen later.

I couldn’t do it.

Even if it was just a slight misunderstanding, in Seo Woojin’s eyes, Seol Dabin was a girl who had secretly bought a dildo resembling his thing.

In this situation, what would a guy think?

Ah—

Is he thinking about having sex with me?

Something like that.

It was easy to guess up to this point, but the real problem was what came next.

How exactly was I supposed to explain myself in a way that would convince Seo Woojin?

I’m sorry, but it’s absolutely not what you think.

I completely understand why you’d misunderstand, but I only bought it because it resembles my boyfriend, not you.

Let’s just pretend today never happened.

Even if I brushed it off like this, would Seo Woojin really go, Ah, I see, and back off?

…Like he said earlier, he wasn’t an idiot.

I ran through a few more half-baked simulations in my head, but none of them offered a clear solution.

Most of them just boiled down to deny it stubbornly no matter what.

…Ugh. What the hell am I supposed to do?

Seo Woojin… is a man with an insane sex drive.

Enough to create relationships with sex partners he doesn’t even have feelings for.

Enough that even going at it with Hayun and Jiyun isn’t enough for him.

Enough to growl at me for using my boyfriend as an excuse, telling me not to feed him lies even an idiot wouldn’t believe.

A man who seems like he’d take any woman.

Maybe he’ll use this as an opportunity to…

…What if…

“What are you doing?”

“…Ah, um.”

While fidgeting with the paper bag in my hands, Seo Woojin—who had walked ahead—turned back to look at me.

The crosswalk light had already turned green.

After hesitating, I eventually caught up to him without a word.

410

If only I had just ordered it online, none of this would’ve happened.

At worst, my parents would’ve found out,

I’d get scolded by my mom for buying something so obscene,

My monthly allowance would get cut,

And maybe word would reach Baek Jiho’s ears.

In the absolute worst case, it would’ve ended there.

Compared to getting caught red-handed by Seo Woojin himself, that option actually seemed pretty competitive.

“Haah…”

The rich aroma of coffee, the smooth taste of milk.

I never imagined the signature flavor of a latte could feel so utterly lost on me.

I usually enjoy it just fine, but now, of all times, it’s like this—probably because I’m so tense in front of Seo Woojin.

I set down the straw I was holding and looked straight ahead.

Not at the coffee cup, not at my own reflection, but at Seo Woojin, who was staring at the middle of the table.

Maybe that’s why.

When interrogating villains, even their smallest gestures—sometimes just their eyes—can tell you a lot.

For a moment, I recalled the lessons I had always dismissed as theoretical.

The way his gaze was fixed made it seem like he was contemplating how to pry my secret out of me.

The way his fingers tapped the table made it seem like he was just idly passing time.

…But when it comes to actual practice, none of it seems useful. It’s all just stuff I memorized for good grades.

Honestly, if I had to pick one thing I wanted most right now—

It would be to just finish our drinks and part ways like nothing happened.

That’s all I’m desperately wishing for.

But since that’s probably not going to happen, I spoke up first.

“…I get that you might misunderstand, but I really bought it with my boyfriend in mind.”

“Still sticking to that excuse?”

“It’s the truth, what else am I supposed to say…?”

As expected, that was his reaction.

Seo Woojin seemed convinced I had bought it with his anatomy in mind.

Of course, he wasn’t entirely wrong—but I had absolutely no intention of admitting that.

Besides, if I kept deflecting like this, the advantage would probably stay on my side.

It wasn’t like Seo Woojin could crack open my skull and see what I was thinking. As long as I didn’t slip up, I could get out of this unscathed.

So I was in the middle of assembling plausible excuses in my head when—

He rested his chin on his hand and spoke slowly, deliberately.

Not in the rough tone he had used right before we left the adult store,

But in his usual, overly polite voice.

“Then I’ll just give Baek Jiho a call. I happened to see your girlfriend buying a dildo at an adult store. The clerk said it was 9 inches—23 cm. What do you think about that? If you’re telling the truth, he’d probably assume you bought something similar to him, so he wouldn’t find it strange, right?”

“…….”

“Plus, if it’s really just a substitute for when your boyfriend is tired, like you said, then there must’ve been some recent changes. Like you’ve been taking care of yourself more often, so the frequency of sex has gone down. Or maybe it’s gone up. One of the two. If he’s your boyfriend, even if he hasn’t consciously noticed, he’d at least be aware of it. The size of the dildo, the reason you bought it—everything would be explained. Sounds good, doesn’t it?”

“…….”

But the words he chose—

Were anything but polite.

“…Wh-why are you suddenly bringing up your phone? Let’s just talk this out first…”

“Why take the long, winding road when there’s an easy solution?”

“Just—!”

Fortunately, the table was small enough that I could reach Seo Woojin from where I was sitting.

I awkwardly got up, pushed my latte aside, and stretched my arm out toward him.

Though, unlike what I expected, the distance was just far enough to make the whole thing look ridiculous.

At this point, I’d rather just grab Seo Woojin by the collar and shake him, but the more pressing issue was his phone.

If Seo Woojin actually said that to Baek Jiho, any chance of making up for my last mistake would vanish entirely.

I had to stop that at all costs.

There was no point stubbornly clinging to a lost cause.

I shoved the chair leg aside with my foot and moved right next to Seo Woojin so I could snatch it outright.

But to my surprise, he set his phone down without resistance.

Not after scrolling through his contacts, either—just placed it down with the screen pitch-black, as if he had been toying with me.

He even tossed it toward the center of the table, as if telling me to take it.

At this point, it felt like he was challenging me.

But if I assessed the situation calmly, I was still at a disadvantage.

For now, I grabbed the phone—a ticking time bomb.

“Anything else you’d like to say, Seol Dabin?”

“…….”

Honestly, no.

Digging my heels in and insisting it’s not what you think only worked when it was just the two of us. The moment Baek Jiho got involved, the entire dynamic would collapse.

But that didn’t mean I could sit here and spout nonsense like Yes, you’re right. I bought it because I wanted to masturbate thinking about you.

The real reason I bought that dildo was probably just because my body was curious about bigger sizes. I bought it to test that theory, nothing more…!

Even if I explained it dryly, it would obviously sound different to Seo Woojin.

It would probably translate to I want to try having sex with you—some low-tier fantasy like that.

So what the hell was I supposed to say to fix this?

I sat back down and kept thinking.

After a long silence, Seo Woojin, who had been waiting for my response, added one more thing.

“Is this because of what happened last time at the door?”

“…….”

No matter what excuse I came up with, one call to Baek Jiho would be the end of it.

Not to mention, the fact that I bought a dildo that size would come to light—

My confidence, my self-esteem—

All of it would take another hit.

Protecting my pride was important in this situation, but…

…Protecting Baek Jiho’s pride was the priority.

Making sure this never reached his ears.

After staying silent for a long time, I finally wet my dry lips and answered.

“…First, there’s one thing I want to clarify. It was just curiosity.”

“Curiosity?”

“It’s not like I wanted to do anything with you or whatever… It was just pure curiosity.”

First, I lowered the tail I had bristled up.

Rather than stubbornly denying it using Baek Jiho as an excuse, it was better to admit part of it and cleverly twist the reason.

“What exactly do you mean by pure curiosity?”

“Well… I thought it would hurt… But Hayun seemed to really enjoy it, so…”

If I just said I thought it would hurt, it wouldn’t explain why I bought the dildo.

But if I said I came too fast when I thought about that dick I saw last time, any guy would obviously misunderstand.

So I admitted part of it while adding a negative spin—something Seo Woojin could halfway accept.

Judging by how Seo Woojin just sipped his drink without saying much, my plan seemed somewhat successful.

“…So I just wanted to try it out for the experience. Happy now?”

“You’ve probably done it plenty with your boyfriend. Why bother?”

“Well… That’s…”

There was no need to say I’ve never done it.

If I said that after dating for years, it would make it seem like there was something wrong with either me or Baek Jiho.

Saying He’s nowhere near as big as you felt like a terrible thing to do to Baek Jiho, so I didn’t want to go that far.

But since Seo Woojin happened to be exceptionally large…

If I just added the nuance that Baek Jiho was average, maybe Seo Woojin wouldn’t think much of it.

“Baek Jiho is… average…”

But even as I said it…

…It didn’t sit right with me.

Now that the words were out, it felt less like a white lie for my boyfriend and more like a cruel jab.

“I get the gist. After what happened last time, you got curious because of the weird request I made…”

“…Like I said, it was just curiosity. Not because I wanted to do anything with you.”

“To summarize, you wanted to try having sex with a guy who’s big, right? Since you couldn’t actually do that, you settled for a dildo.”

“…L-lower your voice… If you’re going to use words like that…”

“Anyway. Am I wrong?”

“…….”

I tapped my flushed cheeks with the back of my hand, then reluctantly nodded.

Between saying I wasn’t satisfied with just masturbating, so I bought a dildo shaped like another woman’s boyfriend’s dick—

And saying I was just curious, thought it’d hurt, but Hayun seemed to really enjoy it, so I wanted to try it—

The latter was slightly better.

I still had some dignity as a human being.

“…….”

“…….”

It felt like everything had been resolved.

Just as I was about to head home with nothing but a lifetime’s worth of embarrassment—

“Need some help?”

“…….”

Outside the window,

The setting sun stretched our shadows long.

Despite his polite tone, his words could only be interpreted one way.

What kind of help was he offering?

What did he mean by that?

Really,

There was only one possible interpretation.

“If you just shove it in clumsily by yourself, it’ll probably hurt a lot, like you said earlier.”

“…I’d rather do it with my boyfriend than get help from you.”

“With your average-sized boyfriend, instead of the 9-inch dildo?”

“…….”

I knew.

Seo Woojin was a man driven by lust—enough to create sex partners he didn’t even care about.

A man who had sex all night even during our double dates.

A man who snuck off with two others during the festival and fooled around in the nurse’s office.

Of course, if I showed weakness, he’d pounce.

I had vaguely sensed it the moment we ran into each other at the adult store.

So if he spouted nonsense like this, I was ready to break something.

Even if he was a healer, he’d still feel pain.

Then I’d tell Hayun everything and make sure he got dumped in the ugliest way possible.

“…….”

…But.

The situation had shifted midway.

Just like how I could tell Hayun everything—

Seo Woojin could tell Baek Jiho I had bought that kind of dildo.

And that would be the end.

And stupidly,

I only realized it after he brought up Baek Jiho.

“…Fine. Just promise me one thing. You’ll only use the toy.”

“Of course. Should we pinky swear?”

“Ugh… What’s the point of asking a healer for that…”

“Anyway, got it. We’ll stick to what you just bought.”

“…If you try anything weird because of the mood, I don’t care if you tell Baek Jiho—I’ll tell Hayun everything…”

“…….”

“…Let’s go. Anywhere.”

Mutually Assured Destruction.

Recalling a term I had heard somewhere, I clicked my tongue and got up from my seat.