NSTAR - 6

Min-hyuk’s tongue relentlessly invaded her slightly parted lips, widened in surprise.

Joo-eun arched her back further as she pushed her head back with wide eyes.

Her hands, which were placed on his shoulders to push him away, strangely lacked strength.

As the sound of saliva grew stickier, her hands, which had been trying to push him away, were now gripping him.

Deep wrinkles remained on his white shirt.

“Haa... haa...”

Joo-eun gasped for breath as he lowered his lips, captivated by her transparently white neckline.

“J-just... a moment... huh!”

The thrill from his deep sucking on her neck was different from a kiss.

He kissed her jaw again, then moved up and overlapped his lips with hers.

The kiss, which was urgent, then gentle, then forceful, then soothing, gradually drained the strength from her legs.

Unlike the rather hurried and stimulating kiss at the bar, this was like coaxing her, saying, “Our night is long, let’s take it slow.”

Like whispering, “I’ll bite and suck and make it fun, so don’t go.”

Her body slowly relaxed, and her legs followed where he led.

Even though it was her first night with a man, she could tell that their entangled steps were heading towards the bedroom.

What should I do... if we really go to the bedroom like this, there’s no turning back.

Contrary to her fear, her body and mind didn’t want to push him away.

Maybe it wasn’t him who was dangerous, but herself.

Thump. Something caught behind her knees, and Joo-eun’s body fell onto the bed.

Her eyes trembled along with the swaying white mattress.

The man’s face, looking down at her as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt, was incredibly seductive.

To the point where she couldn’t think any further.

When his wet clothes parted, revealing his tanned, firm body, Joo-eun unconsciously swallowed her dry saliva.

He pushed his shirt aside and took it off completely, then subtly stretched one corner of his lips into a long smile.

“If you want to go, now is your last chance. I don’t stop those who come, but I don’t stop those who leave.”

“...”

She, who had become tongue-tied, could only blink her large eyes.

She couldn’t believe she was in the middle of a moment she hadn’t even imagined when she woke up this morning.

Or even when she was asked to be his girlfriend for just five minutes.

Min-hyuk chuckled as he saw her trembling.

“It will be very different from what you saw this morning. The situation is very different now.”

She couldn’t bring herself to look down, but she could fully feel the very different presence.

“The chance is over.”

With those words, he roughly leaned over and grabbed Joo-eun’s breast through her clothes.

“Huh...!”

A strange moan, a mix of pain and stimulation, escaped her lips.

She tried to hold it back, afraid that the sound would stimulate him further and make him rougher, but it flowed out involuntarily.

It was a moment that surprised her as much as it was her first time realizing such a sound existed within her.

The lingering cocktail scent in her mouth mixed with his saliva and endlessly flowed down her throat.

“Don’t swallow it, give it to me. You’re insanely sweet.”

“Ugh... eup!”

He sucked on Joo-eun as if he would swallow her whole.

Her body arched and then tightened along with the increasingly hot stimulation, making it hard for her to come to her senses.

Only after the faint breeze from the air conditioner touched her skin did she realize that she was completely naked in his arms.

Every time she tried to cover herself, feeling a little embarrassed, he naturally lifted her slender wrists.

“Don’t cover yourself. You’re too beautiful.”

His gaze deepened on her upper body, which was fully revealed with her arms lifted.

Just his gaze was enough to excite her, making her feel hot below.

Was her body this easy?

She didn’t want him to see her soaked wetness.

Then, she was startled when his head suddenly moved down, and her eyes widened.

“Th-there...”

She cried out in surprise, but the words “don’t” wouldn’t come out.

Mixed with the desire not to be caught in her already heightened state of arousal and the desire to taste even greater stimulation, she covered her mouth.

“Haa, uh...!”

With her lips swollen from being kissed and sucked so much, this was all she could manage.

The flesh inside her thighs trembled. Muscles she hadn’t even realized existed in her body writhed frantically.

It was as if fireworks were exploding all around.

Her mind became hazy, as if filled with a smoky haze.

He slowly rose through the smoky haze and whispered, gazing intently at her panting form.

“Be prepared. This won’t end with just one time.”

Her large eyes trembled slightly.

As Joo-eun’s brows furrowed in fear, her head was thrown back by the force of his sudden thrust.

“Haa-uh...!”

“Hold on.”

At his low whisper, her trembling hands groped for his arms.

Her body surged upward with a thud, and the bones on the back of her hand trembled.

Even though she was already soaked, Min-hyuk slightly frowned at the difficult position.

He wanted to rush into it without restraint, but he gently warmed her up, afraid of breaking her delicate body.

After endless thrusts, they could fully feel each other.

The sound of friction filled the room.

Joo-eun had to hold onto him tightly, experiencing a stimulation she had never tasted in her life.

She wanted to hold onto this dreamlike moment, which might disappear like a mirage tomorrow, for just a little longer.

Her lips, which met again as her body swayed, swallowed her distractions.

The persistent and intense exchange continued until dawn without showing any signs of stopping.

It was a time of intense longing for each other.

In return, Joo-eun groaned from the muscle aches that swept over her.

She slowly opened her eyes, feeling a sweet breath lingering near her ear, unable to even move a finger.

When she opened her eyes, it was dark as if she had closed them.

After watching the cracked muscles rise and fall rhythmically for a long time, she finally came to her senses.

She snapped her head up in surprise and saw him sleeping, more radiant than the night.

What had she done with this man?

How could she have done such a thing when she wasn’t even drunk...?

The act she had committed with a man whose sleeping 모습조차 완벽해 한 치의 오차도 찾아볼 수 없는 (even his sleeping form was perfect, without a single flaw) felt too unreal in retrospect.

‘Ha... Song Joo-eun, you’re crazy.’

It was understandable for this man, who seemed to change women every day, but she wasn’t such an impulsive person.

How had she ended up like this?

Even when she tried to recall, only lewd gestures came to mind.

Joo-eun tightly closed her eyes and shook her head.

She couldn’t figure out how to face this extremely embarrassing situation.

While she was completely trapped by him, unable to do anything, his firm arm fell to his side with a thud.

‘…That’s a relief.’

She was now rejoicing in the released reality, as if the her from last night, who was clinging to him and tearing up with happiness, was a different person.

But what’s this ringing sound from earlier? Was it a phone call?

Her friend Se-young, who must be waiting, flashed through her mind.

How worried must she be?

Joo-eun carefully got up, gathered her clothes, and left the room.

She hurriedly put on her clothes and was about to press the call button, but the call ended.

Her eyes widened at the message that arrived shortly after.

“What... what is this?”

Her lips trembled, as if she couldn’t believe it.

She was so out of breath from running.

She had been so shocked by the message from Se-young that she had run out immediately.

‘Please, please, let it be nothing serious...’

Contrary to Joo-eun’s desperate wish, she saw her friend packing her bags.

“Se-young-ah...!”

Joo-eun’s voice calling out startled Se-young, who had been packing her bag. She slowly tried to stand but collapsed back onto the bed.

“Are you okay? What happened? Is it really serious?”

Seeing the blood on her friend’s bare feet, Se-young burst into tears. How panicked must she have been to run here without shoes? Tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving no time for them to gather.

“Se-young, pull yourself together and tell me what’s going on. Okay?”

When Joo-eun shook her friend’s shoulders, still fixated on her bleeding feet, Se-young finally raised her head.

“Joo-eun...”

“Yeah. Tell me.”

“Dad... He’s been in a coma for two hours...”

Joo-eun’s heart sank like a stone.

But fearing that her own fear might add to her friend’s burden, Joo-eun forced herself to sound calm.

“It’ll be okay. He’ll be fine. It’s probably nothing serious. Really...”

“H-he collapsed while frying chicken late at night... I didn’t even know how hard he was working, and here I am, living it up like this. What do I do, Joo-eun?”

Se-young sobbed uncontrollably, and Joo-eun pulled her into a tight embrace.

“You’ve worked hard enough to deserve this trip. You’ve done your best. This isn’t your fault. Don’t blame yourself… Let’s go. We need to get back to Seoul right away...”

She kept stroking Se-young’s back until the childlike wails began to subside.

Once Se-young had calmed down a little, too exhausted to do anything herself, Joo-eun took charge. She packed their bags and booked return tickets home.

Se-young suggested staying behind by herself for a bit longer, but Joo-eun flatly refused and proceeded with the checkout.

Finally, they called for a golf cart.

The pre-dawn scenery of the resort, viewed from the open-air cart, was breathtaking.

“I’m sorry, Joo-eun... This was a place I’d dreamed of visiting for ten years, and now we’re leaving like this.”

“We can come back here, but there’s no guarantee I’ll have another chance to be there for my friend when she needs me.”

At Joo-eun’s words, Se-young’s eyes reddened again within minutes of having stopped crying.

“Sob... Next time, I’ll earn more money and book this place myself. Song Joo-eun, you just show up.”

“No. Next time, let’s go somewhere cheaper. Honestly, this place wasn’t really suited for us anyway.”

A place where our pretty swimsuits wouldn’t feel out of place. Somewhere like that.

Joo-eun swallowed the words she wanted to say and held onto her fluttering hair as if trying to steady her racing thoughts.

“Why? Was it uncomfortable here...?”

“I just thought... Instead of chasing some dreamlike world, maybe I want to travel through a prettier reality next time. Dreams only last a few hours. Eventually, you have to wake up.”

How could she call today’s reckless actions “reality”?

Because it was a dream. Only in dreams could such things happen.

It was time to wake up. To return to reality.

“Alright. Let’s do that. But what did you do alone at the resort today? Weren’t you bored?”

“No, I wasn’t bored. Actually... I was quite happy.”

As Joo-eun smiled faintly while saying this, Se-young stared at her intently.

Her friend’s eyes, murmuring about happiness while watching the resort grow smaller in the distance, somehow seemed sadder than her own.

---

Loneliness had always been a given in Min-hyuk’s life. 

The idea that he could be so perfectly connected with someone felt unreal to him. 

Which was why, last night, he had pushed her relentlessly—desperate to get closer, to bridge any remaining distance between them. 

The realization that this woman, who had shaken him to his core, truly existed filled him with an indescribable sense of wonder. A small smile spread across his face as he thought about it. 

Every morning had begun with the same suffocating migraine, haunted by the tedium of nightmares he couldn’t escape. But today, waking up to her sweet scent felt unbelievably blissful. 

Yet now, as he reached out to touch her waist again... 

“...!” 

She wasn’t there. 

She had fallen asleep in his arms just hours ago, hadn’t she? 

When he opened his eyes, the empty space beside him felt cold and hollow. All that remained was the lingering sweetness of her fragrance. 

Throwing back the covers revealed his chiseled body, exposed and untouchable. Pretending to be calm, he hastily grabbed the white robe hanging on the wall, his movements urgent. 

Could it be true? 

As expected… 

The living room showed no trace of her presence. Hoping she might have left a note, he returned to the bedroom but found nothing. 

It was as if no one had ever been there at all. 

“Song Joo-eun…” 

His gaze darkened as he stared at the ceiling. 

Curiosity and anger welled up inside him. Why had she run away like this when she was just upstairs? Was she trying to play hard-to-get? 

Fine. If that’s what she wanted, so be it. 

“I’ll push and pull as much as you want. Just don’t let go.” 

He muttered under his breath. 

But the empty room seemed to mock him. She hadn’t set any bait; he had simply swallowed the illusion whole. 

Standing there, staring into the vacant suite, Min-hyuk felt like he’d been struck on the back of the head with a sledgehammer. 

“Did she hate me enough to sneak out in the middle of the night?” 

But it had been so sweet. 

Hadn’t she cried in his arms, saying how happy she was? 

Hadn’t they both felt something genuine between them? Was it all just a delusion on his part? 

“Damn… This woman. She keeps stimulating me, day and night.” 

With a flat tone, he raked his fingers through his hair, lost in thought.