After work, she gathered with the female employees for the first time in a while. Throughout dinner, the topic was naturally Gunwoo.

“Without the team leader today, there’s no motivation to work.”

Gunwoo had been away all day attending the monthly team leader meeting.

“I know. And watching Manager Lee run wild just made me sigh. When the team leader’s around, he can’t make a peep. I guess that’s why there’s a saying about the rabbit becoming king when the tiger’s away from its den.”

Hyena agreed. The way he’d been hounding employees all day—it was amazing he’d held back until now.

“Do you know other departments’ female employees are chanting ‘One Do Gunwoo per team’ these days?”

“Of course. Even my peers have been envying me lately. Saying it must be motivating to work.”

“He’s really so s*xy, right? And what about that voice?”

“That face, that voice, that body. He’s seriously like a 2D boyfriend.”

“So what? His personality sucks.”

Hyena tossed out the comment while poking at her ice-filled glass with a straw. 

“Our Hyena doesn’t get it. When someone has the face, body, and ability all covered, having a good personality too would be a scam.”

Women really were drawn to bad boys, it seemed.

“Does he have a girlfriend? Should I make a move?”

“I wouldn’t recommend it. He doesn’t consider the other person’s feelings at all and just fires off harsh words.”

Hyena answered without thinking. Suddenly, the surroundings grew quiet. When she sensed something was off and looked up, curious eyes were fixed on her.

“You talk like you know a lot about the team leader?”

“No, I just mean that’s how he seems.”

Hyena quickly made an excuse.

“Now that you mention it, it is suspicious. The team leader and Hyena have unusually little conversation, don’t they? Like you’re deliberately avoiding each other.”

A bead of sweat trickled down her back.

“That’s because I’m on his bad side…”

“Relationships that start with mutual dislike have a high probability of developing into romance.”

The female employees who’d caught on ganged up on Hyena.

“It’s okay to lose the bet with Manager Lee, so just date him. Date Team Leader Do.”

Even Heejin, who’d been messaging her boyfriend the whole time, joined in. At times like this, she needed the skill to play along appropriately.

“Yes, yes. If such an opportunity arises, I’ll definitely seize it and charge forward.”

The female employees giggled at Hyena’s answer. It was an evening where she went to heal but came back only stressed.

The house she entered later than usual was quiet. Gunwoo seemed to still be at work.

The after-party following the team leader meeting apparently wasn’t over yet. Hyena glanced at Gunwoo’s room and walked past it. Showering came first.

She stripped off her clothes like a snake shedding its skin and stood under the hot stream of water. The day’s fatigue melted away like snow. 

As she lathered up more carefully than usual, her cell phone, which she’d brought into the bathroom, rang loudly. Since her entire body was covered in foam, she couldn’t bring herself to answer it.

“It’ll stop if I leave it.”

She muttered and rinsed off the foam. But the bell that had stopped soon rang again.

Eventually, she roughly rinsed off the foam and checked her phone.

The screen flashed with the words <Lady Jeongseon>.

“Mom, is something urgent?”

—Where are you?

“Home.”

—Perfect. Go to Gunwoo’s room and check if he’s okay.

Hyena tilted her head.

“Why oppa all of a sudden?”

—Earlier when Eunju called him, he said he was on his way home, but his voice sounded really off. He hasn’t answered his phone since.

“He’s probably sleeping.”

—A mother has her intuition.

Aunt Eunju’s love for Do Gunwoo was a bit different from other mothers’ love. 

Even considering the special circumstances of him being adopted, how could she be so devoted to a child she didn’t give birth to? 

Sometimes Hyena wondered if Aunt Eunju might be Mother Teresa reincarnated.

If only oppa would let auntie get a little closer. Do Gunwoo put up walls around everyone. Hyena was no exception.

—You know Gunwoo’s personality, right? Even when he’s sick, he just suffers alone. That’s why Eunju’s heart has melted so many times. And what about when he was rushed to the emergency room right before the college entrance exam?

How could she forget that incident? She even remembered the exact date. November 3rd.

That day was exactly one week before Gunwoo’s college entrance exam.

‘Check in on Gunwoo when you have time. Since yesterday he’s barely been eating and won’t budge from his room.’

Aunt Eunju had specially asked Hyena while unavoidably leaving the house for a relative’s funeral. 

Gunwoo, who had just been to the police station a few days earlier after being involved in an ass*ult case, had holed up since then. 

The shock must have been great since the perpetrator of the ass*ult was his biological father.

Thinking he might need time alone, Hyena had turned back several times while heading to Gunwoo’s house and sent him messages instead. But there was no reply even as time passed.

Eventually, Hyena went to Gunwoo’s house and found him collapsed in his room, bleeding.

She called 119 and tears kept flowing until the test results came out. She was consumed with worry that something might happen to Gunwoo.

‘It’s fortunate you found him early.’

The doctor’s words from over ten years ago felt like they were being spoken right in front of her. Goosebumps rose on her skin as that nightmare came back to her. Before she knew it, Hyena was getting dressed.

“I’ll go check on him.”

—Okay, look at his condition and call me. Eunju’s worried.

“Okay.”

Her response was half-hearted as she focused on getting dressed again, but it wasn’t easy to pull clothes onto her still-wet body. Eventually, she just threw on a bathrobe over her briefs and left the bathroom.

Her steps quickened. When she got close to his door, she heard a strange sound from inside.

“Nngh.”

Something similar to a groan.

‘What? Is he really sick?’

He was naturally healthy and rarely got sick, but when he did, he suffered severely. The problem was he never said he was sick and just suffered alone. Just like right now.

She’d long forgotten Gunwoo’s repeated insistence that knocking was essential.

Hyena urgently opened the door. And she saw it. In the brightly lit room, on the bed, Gunwoo completely disheveled, gripping and stroking his p*nis.

Her body froze in place. Fortunately or unfortunately, Gunwoo, unaware she’d entered, continued moving his hand.

His thick, long p*nis, too big to be fully grasped even by his large hand, twisted this way and that in his grip. Hyena took in the sight as though entranced. Lewd, lewd, and lewd again.

“Nngh… Na…”

At that moment, a whisper like a moan pierced her eardrums.

‘Turn around and leave. Then it’ll be like it never happened.’

At reason’s warning, she stepped back.

“Hic.”

A hiccup escaped without warning. Whether he heard it or not, Gunwoo looked at Hyena. Their gazes collided in mid-air.

The next moment, the p*nis that had been twisting in Gunwoo’s hand spurted out something viscous.

A heavy, awkward silence filled the room.

“Ah, um. Well, I heard groaning sounds.”

Hyena quickly made an excuse while wetting her dry lips with her tongue.

The p*nis that had just finished ej*culating hardened again.

“That, s-sorry. I didn’t mean to see…”

“Get out.”

Even at the cold order to leave, Hyena couldn’t move.

“Unless you want to keep watching.”

Gunwoo added, slowly stroking his firmly er*ect p*nis.

Startled, Hyena hastily left the room. The sticky sound of flesh rubbing followed her back.

Returning to her room, Hyena squeezed her eyes shut. But whether her eyes were closed or open, she couldn’t forget the image of Gunwoo she’d just seen.

Just recalling it made her lower region grow damp. Sticky fluids soaked her briefs, like during ovulation. Her braless br*asts tightened, and her n*pples, usually just part of her body, stood fully er*ect toward something.

“Haa, what’s wrong with me?”

When she reflexively pressed her thighs together, her lower region tingled. At the feeling so different from usual, Hyena trembled. Once, twice, three times.

Hyena repeatedly squeezed her cl*toris. Each time, the er*ect n*pples under her bathrobe were stimulated too.

Heat gathered heavily below her lower abdomen in an instant. Following the unsatisfied sensation, her hand moved down without realizing it. It was instinctive behavior.

Just as her slender hand was about to enter her briefs, the phone in her other hand vibrated.

Hyena, belatedly realizing what she’d been about to do, dropped the phone in shock. The caller ID appeared on the screen of the phone that had fallen straight down.

<Jeongseon>

Hyena, who’d been breathing shallowly, bent down. Heat rose again in the cl*toris that had been stimulated moments ago. Deliberately ignoring that feeling, she brought the phone to her ear.

“Yeah, Mom.”

—How’s Gunwoo?

Mom, I saw Do Gunwoo m*sturbating. If that were all, I wouldn’t say anything. But while recalling that image, I also…

Swallowing the words she couldn’t voice, she forced out a bright voice.

“He’s sleeping. He doesn’t seem sick.”

—That’s a relief.

Being sick might have been better. Then she wouldn’t have experienced such an embarrassing situation. If she could turn back time, she wanted to go back to before Mom called.

She stopped mid-thought.

She’d reached the conclusion that if she’d received the same call, the result wouldn’t have been different.

—It’s nice that you two live together. You can look after each other like this.

At the words tinged with laughter, a perfunctory answer flowed out.

“I know.”

—Thanks for checking. Honey, you must be tired, so rest now.

The call ended. What remained after the storm passed was briefs soaked beyond repair, an unsatisfied sensation, and Do Gunwoo’s lewd face that kept surfacing.

***

“Why are you so wet here?”

Fingers invade inside her underwear with that sweet voice, spreading the slick folds apart before retreating, repeating the motion over and over.

Hyena moans at the teasing contact.

“Did watching me stroke my c*ck turn you on?”

The crude words only fuel her desire more.

“Hyena.”

Hot breath pours from lips pressed close to her ear. The breath seeping into her eardrum instantly stimulates her heated core even further.

“You need to answer.”

“Ngh, it’s not like that…”

“Liar.”

Gunwoo lets out a laugh-tinged voice and spreads the slick folds again, pushing inside. When his finger grazes her cl*toris, Hyena trembles.

“I told you not to lie to me.”

Press—he pushes down on her cl*toris mercilessly. Pleasure bordering on pain spreads through her entire body in an instant.

“Haah.”

Hyena moans and writhes. She wants to reach out and stop him, but she can’t move a single finger.

“Hyena.”

Gunwoo calls her name tenderly and presses down on her cl*toris again. This time deeper than before.

Demanding she answer properly.

“Hng. You’re right.”

Finally, Hyena confesses the truth with a sob. Only then does the finger resting on her cl*toris start to move. Slowly, so slowly. The pleasure bordering on pain gradually transforms into a ticklish sensation.

“How lewd. Getting turned on watching my c*ck.”

His unfiltered words and actions are the same even in bed.

“I’ll take responsibility. Since I made you like this.”

“…”

“What should I do for you?”

His finger, slick with her arousal, slides downward.

“Should I touch you like this?”

He strokes slowly from her cl*toris to her anus, asking once more. Her entrance, craving something, opens and closes rapidly.

“Or should I put it in here?”

Something hard traces around her entrance. Her entrance, which has never accepted anything before, convulses and pushes away the unfamiliar thing.

The more it does, the more persistent his finger becomes.

“Tell me what you want.”

He asks innocently while already inserting one knuckle of his finger into her entrance. Hyena gasps at the intense foreign sensation.

Meanwhile, another knuckle digs deeper inside.

“Hngh.”

Hyena arches her back and moans.

“If you can’t even swallow this much, how will you take my c*ck?”

She recalls the p*nis he was gripping and shaking. The length and thickness that even his large hand couldn’t fully grasp.

That’s going to come inside her?

Frightened, Hyena shakes her head. Gunwoo tenderly brushes the disheveled hair from her face and whispers.

“Hyena, nothing in this world is impossible.”

The finger moving in and out of her entrance slips out completely. And something incomparable to a finger touches that spot. Something blunt and hot, a piece of flesh with clear intent.

“Even shoving my cockhead in here…”

Gunwoo, who had been breathing hot air into her ear, straightens up. His fully er*ect p*nis, veins bulging, traces around the hole like confirming where it will enter.

Each time it does, arousal flows like water. It’s beyond her control.

“Should I put it in?”

Despite the gentle question, the thick tip already forces its way into the narrow opening. A sensation opposite to fear slowly swells through her body.

Her mind, thoroughly soaked in pleasure, fills with a single thought.

This is what she wanted, isn’t it? Ever since she started liking Do Gunwoo as a man, not as an older brother.

Finally, Hyena admits the fact she kept denying.

‘It’s okay because it’s a dream.’

Justifying herself that way, Hyena reaches out her arms. Gunwoo pushes in like he’d been waiting for it.

“Huk.”

Hyena, who’d let out a single scream, opened her eyes wide. The familiar ceiling was the first thing she saw.

The sweet voice, the vulgar speech, the firm body pressing down on her—all had disappeared. Like a mirage.

Blink, blink. Every time she closed and opened her eyes, the image of Gunwoo she’d seen in the dream lingered.

‘Hyena, nothing’s impossible in this world. Not even shoving my cockhead in here…’

The voice from the dream seemed to sound right in her ear.

Hyena, who’d been struggling at the boundary between dream and reality, squeezed her eyes shut.

‘I did it.’

She occasionally had er*tic dreams. It was true that the partner had been Do Gunwoo. But she swore she’d never had such an expl*cit dream before.

To finally experience in a dream what she’d deliberately avoided in reality.

Self-loathing instantly swelled through her body.

‘How am I supposed to face him now?’

The world’s most difficult question floated through her mind.

Finally, Hyena walked into the bathroom two hours earlier than usual.

After washing her body that had been tormented by Gunwoo—in a dream, but still—under the water and completely finishing her preparations for work, it wasn’t even 6 AM yet. 

Hyena, who’d been pacing around her room, carefully brought her hand to the doorknob.