Foot Worship Chapter 3

I ended the call, having finished my business in just a few seconds, and headed toward the studio. I tossed my sweat-soaked judogi into the laundry basket and hurried to get ready to go out. I put on a white shirt, jeans, and a bomber jacket. I stood in front of the mirror and straightened my collar. After finishing my preparations simply, I went outside.

I considered taking my car, but remembering that a designated driver had scratched the rear bumper while parking a while ago, I decided to take a taxi. I caught a taxi roughly on the street and headed for Itaewon.

The good thing about Kwon Raewon coming to Korea was that I had a friend to drink with at any time. Goo Jihoon was also scheduled to come to Korea soon after, so I was even more excited.

A washed-up athlete who had nothing but muscles, a chaebol son Kwon Raewon who was filled with all sorts of inner wounds and couldn’t be gloomier, and a nutcase Goo Jihoon who had nothing to show for himself but his medical license. The three of us, who had nothing in common except for being kinksters, had somehow become friends. Meeting them felt like destiny during the worst dark period of my life, which made it feel all the more precious.

“Shall I drop you off here?”

“Yes.”

I brushed away my thoughts and hurriedly took out my wallet to offer my card. After getting off the taxi and walking a bit, I saw a familiar sign. Nagunae… The old-fashioned font and the battered sign spoke of the passage of time. I tapped the sign with my finger and stepped down the stairs leading to the basement. When I opened the door, sticky jazz music flowed out along with dim lighting. The owner, who had been sitting at the counter staring only at his phone with a bored face, pointed inside with his finger as if he were used to it. I bowed my head to greet him and opened the door prepared in the innermost corner. Grapes flew at me like cannonballs right away. I skillfully caught the grapes, put them in my mouth, and chewed them noisily.

“You pay for the drinks.”

“Our Director Kwon, you’ve become even stingier since you started working at the company.”

“Stingy? How did that interview you had today go?”

At the mention of the interview before I could even sit down, a sigh escaped me automatically. I poured the beer on the table into a glass and brought it to my mouth. After emptying the glass refreshingly, I rubbed my lips.

“Do you know what they say about a halo shining behind someone?”

“A halo? Not a hu-jang (anus)?”

“Hey, you crazy bastard.”

Kwon Raewon laughed loosely as he brought his glass to his mouth. I lost my words for a moment and stared fixedly at his face. Since coming to Korea, his face, which had been like an achromatic color the whole time, had a faint color layered over it. Did something happen?

“Why stop talking? So, what is this halo?”

“The person who came for the interview today was my type. They opened the studio door and walked in, and I’m telling you, there was a halo shining behind them.”

“Stop talking nonsense and just drink your alcohol.”

“…But it looked like that person was interested in me, too.”

“Maybe they thought you were a Dom.”

“I told them I was a sub, but they still seemed interested in me.”

Kwon Raewon filled his glass, poured my glass full of beer, and placed it in front of me. Then, leaning his arms against the back of the sofa, he let out a snicker.

“And?”

“…It’s not a joke, it’s the truth. They told me not to wiggle my body and to stay demure, saying they’d make me cum with their own hands next time. Isn’t this flirting?”

“How is that flirting? It’s sexual harassment.”

At Kwon Raewon’s words, my mood, which was already low, sank to the point of piercing through the basement and digging into the Earth’s core. I pursed my lips and gulped down the beer. I didn’t forget to glare at Kwon Raewon as if to kill him. I wiped the foam off my lips with the back of my hand and shouted.

“Sexual harassment, my foot. Do you think I’m the type to get sexually harassed?”

“Sure, let’s say it isn’t. You didn’t hire that jerk, did you?”

“…I did hire them. They had the best specs among those I interviewed.”

“Wow, what should I really do with this soft tofu bastard?”

“I told you not to call me soft tofu!”

Perhaps because my mental state seemed quite fragile, Kwon Raewon or Goo Jihoon had started calling me soft tofu at some point. They said that even though I looked smooth and normal on the outside, I seemed like I would get crushed like soft tofu the moment I took a hit. Since I had a past of digging tunnels (wallowing in depression) at the drop of a hat, it wasn’t entirely wrong in good conscience. But I didn’t want to acknowledge it easily, either. Above all, it was very unpleasant to hear it from guys with similar mental ages.

Kwon Raewon looked at me, who was getting worked up, with eyes that seemed to say I was pathetic, and then shook his head. In the room that became quiet as the conversation cut off, only the sound of Kwon Raewon filling his glass could be heard. I was hot-headed for a moment, but I also fully felt that the man’s words weren’t sincere. Perhaps, as Kwon Raewon said, I had been sexually harassed. It was an interview, it was our first meeting, and the time we spent together was only about 15 minutes. It didn’t make sense for sparks to fly in just 15 minutes. The problem was that even so, the man’s face kept hovering before my eyes.

“Anyway, site management was left to you from the beginning, and it’s a part you’ll handle yourself. But I don’t want you to get hurt by people.”

“…Yeah.”

“It’s possible to fall in love at first sight. If the other person feels the same way, that’s even better.”

“You’re right. Like you said, I was just imagining things. To be honest, who would like a sub with a bulky build like me?”

Kwon Raewon, who had been quietly tipping his glass, rapped me on the head with his fist. I rubbed the spot he rapped while glaring at him.

“I told you not to rap my head. It hurts!”

“I told you I’d really break your head if you keep saying that crap.”

Thinking that I’d only get cursed at if I added more words here, I shut my mouth. I exchanged trivial conversations with Kwon Raewon and quietly tipped my glass. After opening up to Kwon Raewon, my heart felt a bit lighter.

Just as the drinking session was coming to an end, my phone suddenly rang. Seeing that it was an international call, it must have been Goo Jihoon. I answered the phone quickly with a face loosened by the alcohol.

“Hello.”

―What’s up, what kind of trouble did you cause?

“I didn’t cause any trouble.”

―Then why did Kwon Raewon say you look like death?

“…Did this bastard not even wait a moment and snitch to you?”

―Shut up and tell me what it is.

I glared at Kwon Raewon, who was sitting next to me humming and bringing his glass to his mouth, and took out a cigarette and put it in my mouth. Then Kwon Raewon immediately reached out and snatched the cigarette from my mouth. My lips stung, perhaps because the rough cigarette filter had torn my skin. When I touched it with my hand, a small amount of blood smeared on it.

“Ah, Kwon Raewon tore my lip. It’s bleeding.”

―Don’t whine from the morning, just tell me what it is.

“Ah, that… do you happen to believe in the saying about a halo shining behind someone?”

―Yeah, of course.

“Huh?”

―I saw a halo when I first saw my Queen.

Goo Jihoon was in a D/S relationship with Kwon Hae-yi, an actress and Kwon Raewon’s younger sister. Absurdly enough, the siblings were both Dominant types. Kwon Raewon, sensing my gaze, asked “Why” with his lips. I shook my head and held the phone properly. I giggled while exchanging silly jokes with Goo Jihoon. Unlike the cold Kwon Raewon, Goo Jihoon matched my mood appropriately. After talking for a long time, I felt a bit better. As my laughter died down and I became a little calmer, Goo Jihoon carefully brought up the topic.

―Park Beomjin, I don’t care who you meet, but just don’t get hurt.

“Did you two plan this? I’m not a child.”

―Do you think we do this for no reason? It’s because you act so soft that every Tom, Dick, and Harry clings to you and rips you off.

“What did I do?”

―What? Is it just one or two won that your seniors and juniors borrowed from you and didn’t pay back? And how many people have sold you a ton of insurance and ran away? It’s not enough that you got money extorted for some prayer fee because you had to accumulate virtue, but then multi-level marketing,

“I got it, my ears are going to bleed.”

I rubbed the moisture on the surface of the beer glass with my hand and bit my lip. Honestly, Goo Jihoon was right. I had trusted people around me until now, and it wasn’t just once or twice that I got backstabbed. My personality made it hard for me to refuse, and thinking about how desperate they must be to ask me like this, I’d help them, but the ending was always a betrayal. It’s bitter, but since it’s something I brought upon myself, there’s nothing I can do.

―That’s why I’m worried. Hyung-nim is coming to Korea soon. Stay quiet and don’t cause any trouble until then.

“Yeah. Come quickly. Kwon Raewon is no fun at all.”