Prologue
Lee Yusom had childhood friends—local boys who had acted as her big brothers since she was little.
Kind and gentle, the taekwondo national representative who treated her like a real little sister: Ha Gang-bin.
A four-dimensional person whose every thought and action was utterly mysterious, yet the genius of national archery: Han Teo.
And then there was…
“You kiss like shit.”
Of the three, the one whose temper flared the quickest and whose mouth was the filthiest—the swimming national representative: Baek Eun-geon.
It just so happened that he was the one currently devouring her lips as though he planned to swallow them whole.
Baek Eun-geon had slipped into Yusom’s world when she was seven. From hide-and-seek to everything else, Yusom had learned everything from those older brothers. She had never imagined she’d have to learn kissing from him.
“Who said you even know how to kiss? You’re just doing it.”
Yusom managed a weak, chilly reply after catching her breath. Eun-geon’s brows furrowed at her tone.
“Loosen your lips. Even a new bird’s would be softer than yours.”
He nipped at her lower lip again, light but firm. The moment his low voice brushed her ear, Yusom’s body betrayed her and melted without permission.
Lips met once more. This time it was different. When she relaxed as he’d ordered, his tongue slid in much more smoothly and deeply.
Following his lead, he explored every soft spot inside her mouth without mercy.
His tongue dragged over the inside of her mouth with wet, heavy pressure, then he sucked the lower lip into his mouth and pulled on it rhythmically. While their breaths mingled, his saliva pushed its way between them.
Yusom’s long hair tickled his face. Annoyed by it, his hand wrapped around her waist slid upward in a way that was no longer subtle, tracing the length of her spine.
As if he was about to peel off her bra right here.
…This is dangerous.
The warning in her head made her pull back too quickly. A thin sheen of saliva still clung between their lips.
“I teach you everything good. When are you going to learn, Yusom?”
Eun-geon leaned against the sofa armrest, chin propped on his fist, and asked. His sharp gaze drifted to the firm chest and muscular arms visible even through his thin t-shirt.
Yusom swallowed hard without realizing it at the sight of such an oversized, hardened male body.
“What are you looking at?”
Why are you looking at your oppa? Or at what part of me?
She hadn’t even meant it that way—she’d just been stunned and staring in awe. But the moment she realized her gaze was too intense, heat flooded her cheeks.
There was nothing sexual in her stare; she was simply overwhelmed. Yet Eun-geon kept throwing those irritating remarks at her.
They were just partners, so it shouldn’t matter, but he always had to say something rude.
Annoying as hell, yet he carried such natural talent it was unfair.
“Where the hell did you learn to look a person up and down?”
Yusom wondered if she had really stared at his body with such a heated gaze.
…She couldn’t say she had zero selfish thoughts, but she definitely hadn’t meant it that blatantly. Still, the injustice burned.
“Annoying.”
Eun-geon’s long, smooth fingers brushed the buttons of her blouse. With a soft ting, the loose button flew off.
“Why? Teach me how to sleep in bed like usual?”
“…You don’t have to teach me. I already know.”
Yusom’s clumsy one-night mistake after drinking had turned their unclear boundaries between partners and lovers into something permanent. There was no time to fix it; they had simply fallen into that ambiguous space together.
Before she knew it, his fingertips were teasing the gaps between her fingers. Feeling something undeniably erotic, she tried to pull away, but his lips found hers again.
“You act all tough even now, but you can’t even last thirty minutes in bed.”
Perfectly cornered, Yusom had no choice but to obey this dangerous childhood friend oppa’s commands for the time being.
Until he grew tired of this relationship and let her go.
—
Several weeks ago.
“Whoa! Found it! Take a picture for me!”
“Baek Eun-geon’s photoshoot scale is insane, for real.”
Right in the center of Seoul, on the outer wall of the most famous luxury department store, a massive billboard dominated the view.
Brashly, the entire left side of the building featured a huge photoshoot poster starring the swimming athlete Baek Eun-geon.
In the photo he was dripping wet, yet his platinum-blonde hair—bleached several times—stood out, as did the color of his eyebrows that refused to blend in.
Those eyes, lighter than most people’s and translucent dark brown, brimmed with defiance. His expression screamed that he hated being in this photoshoot.
Yet his gaze stayed sharp and focused on the camera.
Through those long lashes, his naturally seductive eyes instinctively pulled people in.
“He’s really hot. A swimmer looking more dazzling than an actor? It makes sense.”
“Even among national representatives, he’s the face of the brand. He’s on a whole different level from just smiling and dancing idols.”
High-pitched squeals rose from the female fans waving phones around, pressing the shutter button repeatedly.
After positioning the camera for the best ad shot, they drew hearts in the air above his head and captured his happy smile several times.
“The video ad was even better.”
“It’s still running nonstop.”
Outside the building, the giant screen in the center played the ad twenty-four hours a day.
Eun-geon had completely removed his shirt and slowly emerged from the water, then ran a hand through his wet hair in one smooth motion.
The camera swept down his body in a glossy, intimate glide, from upper torso to lower, zooming in as though he had appeared right in front of the viewer.
“Wow, just like that… body… and those abs… showing everything like that?”
“What’s there to say? First-time viewers must be shocked. Even during the Olympics he kept taking his shirt off.”
“That’s true, but they didn’t even catch those close-ups. Damn, I’m drooling.”
That was the one thing that made this particular advertisement feel so unfamiliar. During the Summer Olympics Eun-geon’s body had been submerged in water during competition, so the network had been wary of showing too much. Still, they had let him strip for the ad.
“They say this is the only ad he accepted.”
“That’s what they say. Eun-geon originally wanted to give the exclusivity to just one company, so the fee is astronomical.”
Once money was mentioned, the group of people gathered in front of the billboard leaned in to listen.
Recently students had started taking photos in front of the billboard and posting them on social media as proof.
Eun-geon was already a hugely popular national representative swimmer, but the impact of the ad he finally received after so many years was on another scale entirely.
“So around thirty billion? No, that’s too high. Top actors get five to seven billion per drama episode.”
“My cousin works in ads. She says at least a hundred billion… or more…”
“Really!? For real!?”
“Yeah. Eun-geon gets two- or three-year exclusive contracts.”
At such an insane amount, the surrounding women were practically drooling. But Eun-geon accepted it so easily it was almost comical.
Baek Eun-geon, who had snatched gold from America at the Olympics and lit up the name of South Korea on the world stage.
Now his name was no longer just a sports star—it was a single brand worth hundreds of billions in guarantees.
“Eun-geon oppa is still the same.”
Yusom stared blankly at the enormous billboard.
The face she had grown tired of seeing since elementary school and through middle school had become a sports star known to the entire world.
Bzzzzzt!
At that exact moment, a loud honk rang out from a car pulling up on the roadside.
“Huh? What’s up? So noisy.”
“Exactly. Using the whole road like that. Calling that a nice car.”
“Hey, nice? In Gangnam a Porsche drives around like a Sonata. You’d have to at least have a Lamborghini to actually feel it in your neck.”
His logic was correct, yet it was humiliating that the car honking was the G-Wagen meant to pick her up.
Embarrassed by the luxury vehicle, Yusom’s face flushed red. She had no idea that this car was about to drag her straight into hell a few minutes later.