Episode 64. A Good-Bad Guy, a Just-Bad Guy, and a Weird Guy (7)

She shot up and quickly scanned him from head to toe. She couldn’t see below because of his clothes, but the obvious bandage on his face was impossible to ignore. If that had been a wound even Seonghwa’s ability couldn’t block, it might leave a serious scar.

Her hand hovered uncertainly in the air, unable to touch his face.

“You didn’t fight because of what I said, right? I was just rambling, I didn’t mean for you to actually—urk!”

He seemed fine—walking normally, smiling—so it didn’t look like he was badly hurt. But that didn’t erase her guilt. Just as Sodam furrowed her brow, about to launch into a string of excuses, a strong arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her close.

“Save your concern for your Esper, Guide Maeng Sodam.”

“What…?”

“Seems like I didn’t register at all to you, but I got hurt too.”

There hadn’t been a single visible wound on Juyul when he walked in earlier, so what the hell was this now? As she turned to inspect him properly, a chill suddenly brushed past her left side. A tiny shard of ice grazed Juyul’s face.

“See? Here.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

The sight of him brazenly presenting his cheek, now tinged with a faint red flush, made her want to scream. Who the hell scratches their own face just to get someone to worry about them? He clearly hadn’t gone easy with it either—dark red blood welled up from the scratch, already scabbing over.

Frozen with disbelief, Sodam finally grabbed the arm still wrapped around her and shook it.

“Let go. I need to get some ointment.”

“I should check properly first. Maybe I’m hurt elsewhere too.”

“If you’re going to be like this, why not just take off all your clothes? That’d make it easier to see whether you’re injured or not.”

“Not a bad idea.”

Whatever mood he was in now, Juyul immediately nodded and reached to take off his outerwear the moment she finished speaking.

Startled, Sodam ducked out of his grasp and grabbed his arm, practically dragging him toward the nearest room. Even then, she didn’t forget to give a polite nod to Daram, whose eyes were sparkling, and to Seonghwa, who wore an oddly bitter look.

As the door clicked shut behind them, the first thing that escaped her mouth was, naturally, a deep sigh. Sodam exhaled like she was trying to release everything bottled up inside her. Her gaze followed the arm still in her grasp, up to Juyul’s face.

She had dragged him away hoping to prevent him from saying anything inappropriate in front of others, but his face still looked unsatisfied. Rubbing her aching forehead, she asked bluntly,

“What the hell is this about? Since when did Esper Baek Juyul need my concern?”

“You keep acting like you’re not my Guide. Shouldn’t you have asked me if I was okay before Cha Seonghwa?”

“Ha… What are you, a kid? Who even keeps track of who got asked first? I heard you two fought, so of course I asked about him. Were you even hurt?”

Juyul scoffed like he was watching a bad comedy and shoved his face toward her, showing off the small wound, now dried and scabbed over. It was such a petty display it made her snort.

“Not that. You gave yourself that one, Esper Baek Juyul.”

“…Maybe there are more. Like you said, maybe they’re in places only visible if I take off all my clothes.”

“Maybe not me, but you, the person in question, should definitely know.”

Even if she said it outright—childish, ridiculous—Juyul showed no sign of backing down. In fact, with not even the hint of a smile in his eyes, he made it clear he was dead serious, and Sodam could only raise both hands in defeat. Still, letting it go like nothing had happened felt like a hit to her pride.

‘Fine. If that’s what you want, then that’s what you’ll get!’

With a twisted sense of resolve, she started feeling him up—abs, chest, shoulders—squeezing and pressing without restraint. Along the way, she also indulged some of her repressed curiosity. Just when she figured this ought to be enough to make even him flustered, she looked up and locked eyes with him.

“Uh… Ha, haha… Looks like you’re perfectly fine!”

“That’s all you’ve got to say?”

“It’s fine as long as Esper Baek Juyul is healthy. Yes, that’s what matters.”

A siren blared in Sodam’s head, loud and clear. As she tried to pull her hand away while avoiding his gaze, his hand gently caught her chin. Her face tilted up naturally under his touch, their eyes meeting, breaths overlapping.

Gathering what little reason she had left, Sodam quickly slipped her hand between their lips to stop him. Her voice trembled slightly as she spoke.

“There are people outside…”

“You cried just fine yesterday, but a kiss is too embarrassing?”

“…! That’s because you made me lose my mind…”

“Then let’s do it the same way again. So you won’t have to worry.”

With a crooked smile, Juyul leaned in and lightly licked the palm blocking his lips.

The slick, wet sensation of his tongue rubbing over the soft flesh of her palm made Sodam’s shoulders flinch. When he slid between her fingers and traced downward, her once-firm grip began to loosen.

He took her middle finger into his mouth and slowly rubbed the tip with his tongue, just as she had done the night before.

“W-wait, that… tickles…”

As memories of her shameful display from the previous night flashed in her mind, Sodam’s face flushed a deep red. Juyul bit down just hard enough to leave a mark on her knuckle, then pulled her close by the waist, eliminating all distance between them. Her lips pressed helplessly against the back of her own hand as she stared up at him, eyes wide.

“All you need to do is keep looking at me like this. You don’t need to worry about anyone else, no matter how injured they are.”

“…Was that in our contract somewhere?”

Though her voice came out muffled, Juyul heard her clearly. Instead of replying with words, he gave his answer through action. He forcefully removed the hand between them, pulled her tight, and kissed her.

It was a short kiss—barely long enough to blink—but it was enough to thoroughly explore every familiar part of her mouth.

He rubbed the soft flesh from her palate down to her throat, pressing into her inner gums and beneath her tongue until Sodam’s body lost all strength.

The faint Guiding that had barely begun to build within her rushed back toward its source, leaving her barely able to stand. She clung to him just to stay upright, exhaling in shallow pants. When he bit down hard on her lips, a pained crease formed between her brows.

The bitter taste of blood filled her mouth, and it trickled down the edge of her lips, tickling her chin. As if claiming all of her, he licked away every drop that spilled before speaking again through her blood-stained lips.

“Don’t forget. I warned you.”

“…Haa.”

Hearing those words made her head spin. Leaning against his shoulder, she felt his fingers slide down from her shoulder to her collarbone, almost like praise. Even as his touch was soaked in possessiveness, all Sodam could think was—

‘Jesus, is there or is there not a clause in the contract about this, you psycho…?’

He had been so insistent on her keeping every single rule in that contract, yet here he was, breaking it first without a second thought. She couldn’t believe how petty he was. At this rate, he owed her at least two full weeks of paid leave. What was he even planning to do? Their relationship had been formed under strict, binding terms—so how did he think it made any sense to just snatch up a Guiding session out of spite?

‘…Not like I wanted the Guiding anyway… No, wait, isn’t that worse? Then why did I even let it happen?!’

They hadn’t shared any real feelings, and there hadn’t been a dramatic moment between them either. What, he just saw her with a childhood friend and flew into a jealous rage? That was the behavior of someone who desperately wanted to prove he was still a petulant child.

‘Let’s be real—aren’t we just regular, fixed sex partners at this point? And just from seeing me half-dressed with someone else, he loses it? This is why virgins are terrifying…’

Of course, this wasn’t your typical friends-with-benefits arrangement—they had a contract, and money exchanged hands. But still, that didn’t justify him going ballistic just from seeing her with someone else. The only semi-logical explanation might be that he hated the idea of spending money on her while she was getting involved with someone else.

‘Ah, maybe that’s it? Even a protagonist gets twitchy after shelling out that much cash. Yeah. That must be it.’

Her instincts—having now faced his obsession firsthand—screamed that it wasn’t just about money. But her rational mind crushed that thought. The moment any emotion beyond the contract got involved, Sodam was as good as dead.

And not figuratively. Literally.