“Didn’t I tell you... not to look?”
“Hurry up and take them off.”
Han Seojin stood behind Cheongwol, holding the leash, with his back turned to her.
As a condition for her stripping off her undergarments, he had promised to keep a certain distance.
Cheongwol kept glancing toward him every now and then.
What if he was lying? What if he was secretly peeking at her?
But he truly stood there motionless, back turned.
Frozen in place, giving her plenty of time.
Seeing that, Cheongwol flinched once more before cautiously reaching for her undergarments.
Never had that sensation felt so chillingly eerie as it did today.
The faint rustling as her trembling legs brushed against her uniform.
Even that tiny sound now tormented her with shame.
In the mountain’s silence, every noise echoed all too vividly.
“Hnng... Hnnh...”
Finally, Cheongwol fully removed her undergarments.
Cool air crept up her thighs. A prickling shiver rose across her entire body.
They were midway up Mount Emei, but the area around them was somewhat open.
No bushes or trees to hide her body.
The crisp mountain breeze kept slipping under her uniform.
“Eek...!”
Cheongwol kept flinching at the cool sensation.
“Haa... Haa...”
Her face flushed red as if it might burst.
But there was one thing she had to admit.
...What on earth is this sense of liberation?
She hadn’t even taken off her uniform—just lowered her undergarments.
Yet because she was so aware of it, or because she was doing it under Han Seojin’s coercion, the sensation felt entirely different.
“Are you done?”
Han Seojin asked.
“...”
Cheongwol couldn’t answer.
“I asked if you’re done.”
“...”
“Wol-ah—”
“—T-To...ok them off...!”
She raised her voice in anger, but shame quickly flooded in, turning it into a whisper.
“...Took... them off... so stop...”
Silence followed her words.
“...”
“...”
Han Seojin said nothing.
As if questioning whether she had really taken them off.
Cheongwol couldn’t understand why that made her anxious.
Say something, quick—
“—I want to go pet our little puppy. Over there—”
“—If you dare come closer!!”
Cheongwol shrieked.
Her eyes glistened with desperate tears, like a fool.
It was a strange sensation.
From the moment she took off her undergarments, all her senses sharpened.
She knew it was impossible, yet she felt like someone might leap out from behind those bushes, or something might suddenly pounce on her.
She was so utterly defenseless right now, with only Han Seojin to rely on.
That was why, even without offering her body to him, she strangely felt like she had entrusted her entire being to him.
“Seriously... if you come too close, you’re dead...”
Cheongwol whispered.
Even so, she swallowed the rest.
...Don’t go too far either. Please, stay by my side.
Not too close. Not too far.
Cheongwol never imagined the dog collar around her neck could feel this comforting.
Han Seojin was at the other end.
Like a cotton blanket enveloping her on a fearful night.
“You know there’s no turning back now, right?”
Han Seojin asked from afar.
“You need to hurry up and pee. I want to head back and rest too. Why does walking our puppy take so damn long?”
“Don’t... call it a walk!”
“...Now you say that?”
Cheongwol suddenly thought the same. Yeah, right. Why complain about the word “walk” now?
Her heightened sensitivity made her want to nitpick even the smallest things.
“Eek!”
The cold dawn air swept over her lower body once more.
Her uniform fluttered open at the front for a moment before settling.
If anyone had been in front of her, they surely would have seen her most precious place.
Cheongwol trembled all over.
That intense pleasure she had just felt...
It was hard to admit it.
...Am... am I a pervert?
Why on earth...
“Wol-ah. Look at me for a second.”
Cheongwol turned her head—just her head—while crouched and shaking.
Han Seojin still stood with his back turned.
About ten steps away.
He let out a sigh.
“I’m tired of waiting. I have work tomorrow, you know.”
“What?”
“From now on... every time I count to thirty, I’ll take one step toward you.”
“W-Wait...!”
“I’ll count in my head. Starting now.”
Han Seojin fell silent after that.
Cheongwol couldn’t believe him.
“Y-You’re lying, right?”
Han Seojin didn’t respond.
Cheongwol shook her head in denial.
“Y-You promised to stay there! Don’t come closer! If you do, I’ll get mad!”
But there was no reaction.
He was pressuring her solely with silence.
Cheongwol glanced ahead for a moment.
Dang Soran’s leather knife lying pathetically on the ground... and the Buddha statue with its back turned.
The urge was overflowing. Hesitating had made it unbearable.
But something inside her held her back.
She didn’t feel like doing it.
Her body ached for it, but her mind didn’t.
Cheongwol looked at Han Seojin again.
He was still ten steps behind.
...Is he just lying to pressure me?
Plenty of time had passed to count to thirty.
Yeah. No way he’d come closer—
The echo of the first footfall traveled through the dirt straight to her heart.
“D-Don’t come closer!!”
Cheongwol shouted. But Han Seojin remained calm.
“You should pee quick. If I get closer... I’ll hear it even more clearly.”
“Hnng!”
Cheongwol flailed her arms awkwardly to shoo him away, but he was far beyond her reach.
She grabbed dirt and grass from the ground and hurled it at him.
Han Seojin shook his head and said,
“I’ll count faster now.”
Cheongwol immediately changed her tune and cried out.
“G-Gangju! I-I’m sorry! So... okay?”
The second step.
Cheongwol buried her head between her knees.
She wanted to cry.
She needed to pee. But she couldn’t. Han Seojin would hear everything.
He’d know she was urinating.
Cheongwol hadn’t shown anyone such a sight since she was ten.
She wasn’t close with her senior brothers, so she had hidden it from everyone.
She had even sneaked in and out of the outhouse.
To show this side of herself—something she hadn’t even shared with her senior brothers—to this man now...?
While she agonized, Han Seojin took his third step.
Tears welled up as Cheongwol shouted.
“Have you forgotten who I am? I only act like this in front of you! Out in the Central Plains, everyone reveres me as a nun!! Does it make sense to make a nun do this?!”
Han Seojin glanced back at her slightly.
Their eyes met.
“A nun, huh.”
With that short scoff, the corner of his mouth twisted faintly.
“...Want me to make you say it yourself—what you really are?”
Cheongwol couldn’t retort.
If she provoked him, she’d surely have to utter even more humiliating words herself.
Fear and helplessness, mingled with pleasure, kept weakening her legs.
That only made the urge assault her more fiercely.
Cheongwol flinched at Han Seojin’s fourth step.
“Ah... Aah...”
He was already nearly halfway there.
Regret finally surged in.
She should have done it earlier.
If she had finished back then, he wouldn’t be this close.
He wouldn’t have heard.
But now, he was close enough that she couldn’t pretend he wouldn’t.
Maybe he’d even smell it.
The thought made it impossible to go.
But conversely, that meant she couldn’t hesitate anymore.
“Aah...”
Something inside Cheongwol snapped.
She finally resolved to do what she couldn’t before.
Hesitating more would only let Han Seojin get closer.
It would only get more humiliating. Just finish quick.
You’ve needed to go since earlier... If it gets any later, the Sect Leader might come looking.
So hurry...
“Hnng...”
Following Han Seojin’s command, she prepared to urinate.
Even as she broke and submitted, she felt a dark thrill of depravity.
“...Huh...?”
...But nothing came out.
The fifth step.
“G-Gangju...! W-Wait!! It... it won’t come out...!!”
It felt like some part of her was blocking it.
Like shackles binding her.
Shackles from Emei Sect ingrained in her body, or simply human ones—who knew.
Throwing them off consciously was excruciatingly hard.
It meant denying her past self.
Cheongwol turned to Han Seojin.
...When did he get this close?
Now it felt utterly impossible.
It was agonizing.
She desperately needed to pee, but nothing would come.
“For your information, Wol-ah. If you don’t pee on that leather knife... I’ll treasure it and use it forever.”
“...Huh?”
“A leather knife from the Tang Clan of Sichuan... How else could a beggar like me get one? If you dirty it, I’ll have trouble using it, so I’ll just tell Dang Soran I lost it... But if not, there’s no reason not to use it, right? I’d gladly keep it by my side for life. Doesn’t matter if she’s your rival or your nemesis.”
Cheongwol looked down at the leather knife.
...Treasure it?
If she didn’t do it now?
Cheongwol bit her lower lip.
“You’re so mean...”
She whispered, voice trembling with tears.
“...That’s too mean, Gangju...”
Giving her two equally awful choices, then threatening to pick the other if she didn’t choose—how was that fair?
Cheongwol imagined it.
Him wearing that leather knife at his waist, living his days casually.
Dang Soran’s trace always at his side, wherever he went.
He’d sharpen it when it dulled, carry it while doing business.
Not days or weeks or months... but years, even decades.
All depending on her choice in this moment.
...No. I hate that.
Cheongwol trembled as she lifted her uniform a bit higher.
She gently bit the hem with her teeth.
Perhaps instinctively, to muffle her own sounds.
Her bottom was fully exposed.
If she peed, it would soak Dang Soran’s leather knife... and the statue.
The sixth step.
Cheongwol squeezed her eyes shut tight and bore down.
Just like always.
Wasn’t this something she’d done naturally since childhood? It wasn’t hard.
She just had to do it.
“Haa... Haa...?”
But soon, she opened her eyes in confusion.
“...Huh?”
Truly, truly—nothing came out.