CU Ch 0.3

The clock read 3:00 AM the moment he opened his eyes. 

It was definitely too early to get up. Solgae drank a glass of cold water, went outside, and started pummeling on the sandbag in a corner of the garden. 

What a strange dream I had.

Is it sexual frustration? Should I find a woman today after so long? 

He thought he’d been relieving his sexual urges whenever they became unbearable, yet ridiculously enough, he’d dreamt of having sex with the doctor last night.

In the dream, he was lying on the examination table, and the doctor, naked from the waist down, was straddling him, lewdly moving his hips. The flushed face from excitement, the labored breaths, and the hot sensation of the doctor’s penis clenching around his own felt as vivid as reality. His penis, which he’d barely managed to calm down, sprang to attention just by recalling the dream.

Solgae clicked his tongue, looking down at his fully erect penis straining against his pants. 

An erection from a dream about a man? How absurd.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he continued to pound on the sandbag so intensely that his entire body was drenched in sweat by the time the sun began to rise. His subordinates, coming out to the garden one by one for their morning exercise, gaped in surprise at the sight of Solgae hitting the sandbag like a madman.

“Hyungnim?” 

Only at Jebi’s cautious and bewildered call did Solgae stop his workout. He’d been pounding the sandbag non-stop for nearly two hours, and his knuckles, now scraped, were slightly bleeding. But embarrassment outweighed the pain. Feeling awkward, Solgae masked his face with an even more stoic expression and headed calmly towards the bathroom. 

Even as he showered under ice-cold water, one worry filled his mind; what if he got an erection at the clinic? He was worried that the mere sight of the doctor would trigger memories of the dream and arouse him.

Wait, come to think of it, I don’t think I heard him say, ‘Come back tomorrow,’ yesterday. After each post-operative treatment, the doctor would always smile gently and say, “Please come back tomorrow at this time.” But he hadn’t heard those words yesterday.

‘Is the treatment over? If it was, he would’ve told me I didn’t need to come anymore, right?’

His question was answered when he visited the clinic that night. When he opened the door, a stranger was there instead of the doctor.

“Who are you?”

The stranger, dressed in a white doctor’s coat and playing a game on his phone while sitting on the waiting room sofa, asked as he awkwardly stood up.

“…….”

Solgae glanced at the darkened examination room without answering. The stranger’s gaze, whose shoulders were hunched in tension due to Solgae’s threatening demeanor, suddenly looked down at Solgae’s lower body, then snapped his fingers with an “Ah-ha!”

“Are you, by any chance, Mr. Kang Jugeon?”

“Yes.”

“Jaejun told me you’d be coming around this time. He asked me to give you this. He said you’d be here around 9, but you didn’t show up, so I was just about to leave.”

The stranger finally relaxed and rambled on, pulling out a folded note from his pocke and offered it to himt. Solgae’s expression hardened as he unfolded and read it.

Mr. Kang Jugeon, your tool is a special gift from God meant to benefit the world, so don’t even think about reducing it! Thanks to you,I ate well¹.

“Ate well?” 

Solgae muttered ominously, reading the last line of the note. Even though he’d unknowingly been taken advantage of by a man, he wasn’t so stupid as to not understand the implication of “ate well.” Everything finally clicked into place. 

The reason why he hadn’t felt any difference after the supposed reduction surgery, why he was always asked to come late at night, why the doctor’s face was always flushed after each treatment, why the post-operative care was done under anesthesia, and why he had that dream this morning… it all made sense now. It was a series of strange and illogical events, so much so that he couldn’t believe he hadn’t questioned it until now.

He wasn’t highly educated, so he couldn’t call himself smart, but he wasn’t foolish either. Yet, he’d been completely fooled by the doctor’s gentle face.

So, that dream… it wasn’t a dream, but reality?

Ha! 

A dry laugh escaped Solgae’s lips as his expression turned cold. The stranger doctor, who had been chattering away like an old friend after confirming Solgae’s identity, also began to stiffen.

“What’s your name?!” 

Solgae demanded menacingly, striding towards the doctor.

“M-my name, sir?”

“Not you! The bastard who left this note and ran!”

“J-Jaejun? Min Jaejun, his name is Min Jaejun.”

So, the doctor’s name is Min Jaejun?

“Where is he?”

“I-I don’t know. He’s always wandering around, so….”

Seeing Solgae’s fierce expression, the stranger doctor let out a terrified squeak. The way he frantically shook his head, tearfully pleading, “I really don’t know,” seemed genuine. Solgae spun around and left the clinic.

‘Doctor. You dare deceive and run from me?’

He had the audacity to scam a gangster and run? He must have thought I looked easy.

Jebi, who was waiting outside as usual, quickly opened the car door, sensing something ominous from the frigid air emanating from Solgae. Solgae slid into the car and headed straight to the office. He then sought out the boss.

“Boss, please grant me a month’s leave.”

The boss frowned and looked up at the abrupt request.

“Leave?”

“Yes.”

The curt reply surprised the boss. In nearly twenty years of serving the boss, Solgae had never asked for anything. So, it was natural for him to be taken aback by a request for a month’s leave.

“What’s going on?” 

The boss asked for an explanation. Before answering, Solgae gritted his teeth.

“I have to… catch a scammer.”

You dare scam a gangster and run? Doctor, you picked the wrong person to mess with.