Chapter 20: Payday Plans

“Hah…”

He knew he shouldn’t go easy—but the frightened, deflated Butterfly looked pitiful. Scolding himself for being soft, Seonwoo nevertheless lifted Butterfly’s face with gentle hands. His tear-streaked face openly showed frustration and resentment. His body was trembling now—clearly scared—but his stubbornness was no joke.

Seonwoo thought he should at least explain what caused this situation, and spoke in a slightly softer voice.

And the moment he showed kindness again, Jinho, as if waiting for it, couldn’t hold back his sorrowful sobs and mumbled excuses in a trembling voice.

Feeling his lips curl up at the adorable sight, Seonwoo thought once again—his Butterfly really was like a stray cat. Stray cats are deeply wary of people. They don’t trust easily, and they act on their own. This unexpected rebellion was his own misstep—he hadn’t considered the habit of attacking when cornered. First, he needed to pour affection into Butterfly until he fully trusted and relied on his owner.

Seonwoo decided not to use corporal punishment for the time being, and wiped Butterfly’s eyes. At the gentler touch, perhaps feeling reassured, Jinho began to cry audibly.

At that adorable sight, Seonwoo held Jinho in his arms and patted him soothingly. Well, at least through this incident, Butterfly had clearly learned that his owner was scary when angry. This was enough. He thought that as he held him.

For Seonwoo, who had decided to tame Jinho, one thing became extremely irritating. Upon close observation, Jinho was always on his phone whenever he had a moment. At first, Seonwoo casually thought it was just gaming addiction and planned to correct it later—but he recently discovered that wasn’t the case.

A promise. Jinho, with an innocent face, said he’d promised someone to report what happened throughout the day via messages or calls whenever he had time. Seonwoo couldn’t bring himself to smile at that. So all those actions he’d thought were gaming were actually contacting someone? He even seemed to be on the phone with that someone during his commutes.

Seonwoo felt anger surging up—anger he’d tried to suppress until he could fully let his guard down and expect Butterfly’s devotion. Should he change plans and break him down first? Using pain would make him submit easily. From the reactions whenever he deliberately brushed against Jinho’s skin while tying his strings, he was clearly sensitive to pleasure too.

Seonwoo recalled their recent conversation and pondered seriously. Butterfly would resist at first—but he seemed to like him, so the worst outcome wouldn’t happen. The whisper in his head sounded convincing.

Seonwoo believed Jinho liked him. Though never directly stated, Jinho’s actions toward him were things you’d never do to someone you didn’t have feelings for.

Staying past work hours to prepare dinner and wait, trying to prolong conversations, twisting his body with delight when petted or smiled at kindly—all of this confirmed for Seonwoo that Butterfly liked him.

Of course, Seonwoo saw Jinho as a pet, not a lover—but to someone with his orientation, in a way, the latter was even more precious. Seonwoo was confident he’d cherish Jinho as a pet more than anyone, and he believed that pets naturally come to love their owners.

So maybe it was time to get a little rougher. He wanted to try spanking, corporal punishment. He wanted to touch that well-padded ass too….

“Hyung, what are you thinking so hard about? This is my first time making this, you know!”

Hurry up and eat. His voice, strained as if he’d been waiting anxiously, urged Seonwoo to eat. Seonwoo paused his thoughts, smiled, and picked up his chopsticks—Jinho watched intently and swallowed.

Until the words “it’s delicious” left Seonwoo’s mouth, Jinho wouldn’t drop that almost solemn expression. So adorable. Seonwoo thought that and erased the nearly completed plan from his mind. If he followed that plan, he’d never see that defenseless expression again. Right, I just need to not give him time to contact anyone. Ah—. I really am going soft—.

“How is it? Huh? Ah, hyeong!”

“Really delicious.”

“Really? Wow! This is my first time making this. Amazing, right? I’m a genius after all!”

“I suppose. No one can beat Jinho-ssi.”

“Right? I’m really good at cooking, aren’t I? Maybe I should’ve become a chef!”

Jinho, completely unaware of what Seonwoo was thinking, smiled brightly at him. And Seonwoo, looking at Jinho, licked his lips with his tongue. Thinking that even with an appearance that wasn’t his type at all, no one could make him this aroused like Butterfly could.

“Hmm hmm hmm~.”

Lately, I’ve been enjoying my commute. No, to be honest, I’m enjoying today’s commute. Because today is the long-awaited payday!

If I work hard today and go home, it’ll be deposited in my account, right? It’ll get slashed for loan interest and stuff tomorrow anyway—but I’ll enjoy it until then. Even if just for today, I’m going to be rich!

If a penny-pincher makes a meal out of just looking at fish, then today I’ll feast my eyes on my bank balance to my heart’s content. Even if I can’t afford expensive espresso, I’m a cool city guy!

[Identity verified.]

“Welcome. Good morning again today.”

“Hello! Have you been well? What a clear and bright morning!”

“Yes, I suppose. Though the sun hasn’t risen yet…”

It sounded like the butler grandfather was saying something behind me, but I couldn’t hear—I headed straight for the elevator after greeting him. Today I’m going to work extra hard. I’m in a good mood, so I should be nicer to Min Seonwoo too.

I recalled the new plan I’d set up last night. Just building a connection with Min Seonwoo felt like too modest a goal—so I decided to scale up a bit.

The gist of the new plan: get officially hired at this dream job. So starting today, I’ll do everything Min Seonwoo asks, and even things he doesn’t ask, I’ll take care of. Additionally, tonight’s theme is ‘Kim Jinho Made It—A Dinner Party That Makes You Want to Offer a Job After Eating.’

I dashed into the waiting room as soon as the elevator doors opened and organized my tasks for the day.

Cleaning doesn’t show much no matter how hard I try, so I’ll just keep it as usual. For laundry, I’ll give it an extra good shake before hanging. For dinner, I already have a menu planned, but I’ll ask him later—no matter how fancy, if it’s not what he wants, it won’t be impressive. What else could I do? At this rate, there’s nothing different from any other day…

I needed something Min Seonwoo would clearly notice, not just something I felt I did harder. As I was berating myself for having no visible talents, my phone vibrated and the lamp flashed.

I realized with a start and quickly changed clothes. The vibration that rings around my start time is a signal meaning “I’m ready, come in and have me tie your strings.”

I’d been so lost in thought that I hadn’t put on the uniform in advance, so I let it ring twice. On a day I’d resolved to do well, I was about to get scolded first thing in the morning. Is this Murphy’s Law? I urgently knocked on the next room’s door before it could ring a third time.

I swallowed once and slowly opened the door. The room was quiet. I poked my head in first to look around—Min Seonwoo, casually dressed yet still oozing model presence, was sitting with his chair turned toward the door, legs crossed.

Following his long legs upward… his eyes weren’t smiling.

“Come in.”

Emergency! Emergency!

Hearing the distant siren in my head, I approached Min Seonwoo, who was gesturing with his finger. I walked very slowly because my feet wouldn’t move—but he waited with remarkable patience.

I crept forward, dragging out the time as much as possible, but eventually reached within arm’s reach. Min Seonwoo stopped his gesturing and uncrossed his legs.

I took one more step forward, as I’d been taught, and stood between his legs—expecting to get slapped on the back of the hand again, I was extremely tense, but fortunately he didn’t seem that angry. Soon, his long fingers tied my strings. Phew—, I was worried for nothing.

“You were late. I told you that not keeping time commitments is a bad habit, didn’t I?”

“Yes…”

“One more time, and that’s it.”

“Yes!”

“Why were you late? You arrived early.”

Relieved by his relatively lenient reaction, I opened my mouth to answer—then quickly bit my lip. The ticklish sensation made me feel like some strange sound was about to come out. He knows full well I’m ticklish!

Whether intentional or not, even though it looked perfectly straight to me, Min Seonwoo kept reaching inside my clothes to pull and adjust them—his fingers brushing my skin and making me ticklish. I cursed him out internally while grabbing his arm and pulling it down.