Jo-hee. Her surname was naturally Lee, the same as hers. She was the most beloved, or perhaps once-beloved, younger sister.
For Ina-kyung, aside from a very few 'close associates', she had only family. The life of a startup founder, a chaebol second generation, was generally a lonely one.
Father, Chairman Lee, had become an object of fear and respect ever since his temper grew a bit short. Jo-hee... had quickly drifted away from their once-intimate sisterly relationship. In a way, it was an inevitable change.
And now, the younger sister she was facing for the first time in months looked like a completely different being.
Nakyung's pale thighs trembled uncontrollably. The sharp sensation of the shoe's heel pressing into her knee sent shivers down her spine. It wasn't exactly painful, but it made Jo-hee's intentions towards her all too clear.
"Why aren't you answering again?"
"I'm... sorry."
Jo-hee rolled her high-heeled shoe on the floor with a sharp tap tap sound and asked again.
Nakyung moistened her dry lips with her tongue. Her appearance was clearly almost identical to when she was in Korea in the past. But just because she looked like 'Ina-kyung' didn't mean she could claim to be Nakyung.
At least in front of her younger sister Lee Jo-hee, she could not say her name was Ina-kyung. That ironic situation made Nakyung's body shake.
"...It's Tao."
"Full name."
"Pardon?"
"Say your full name. Isn't that basic? Is this girl really that stupid?"
"Ah..."
As she said that, Jo-hee this time poked her older sister's rounded forehead with her index finger.
Full name? Of course, Tao also had a longer name. That is, well...
"Thao Nguyen Phan... that's my name."
That was her 'official name'. A familiar pronunciation paired with an unfamiliar surname. As she dwelled on it, she desperately tried to suppress the fine tremor in her voice.
"Right. The fact that you're kneeling here now means you agree to the conditions my husband and I demanded. Then you should have naturally stated your full name. We're employers offering an amount of money a Vietnamese woman like you couldn't even imagine. Isn't that right?"
"Yes... I'm truly, sorry.."
Tap, tap.
Jo-hee continued to poke her older sister's forehead with her finger, reprimanding her.
Nakyung... no, Tao's cheeks flushed bright red.
Everything Jo-hee said was correct. The beautician, or rather, the plausibly termed 'beautician' who was closer to a prostitute, 'Thao Nguyen Phan', and the Korean chaebol second generation, 'Lee Jo-hee', were clearly in an employer-employee relationship. It was only natural for the latter, Tao, to state her full name.
Therefore, Tao expressed agreement and apology without any complaint to Jo-hee's scolding.
"Sit down and do it."
"Thank you, Oppa."
At that moment, President Nam, who had been watching the sisters' reunion, brought over a chair.
Witnessing her younger sister's expression change 180 degrees in that brief moment, Tao couldn't help but flinch in surprise. The nasal, coquettish voice and the fresh, smiling eyes. But the look of a girl gazing at her beloved man lasted only a very short while.
"Tao. Kneel and look straight at me."
"Yes."
Jo-hee's commanding voice was surprisingly calm, but within it, she felt an inexplicable, undeniable 'power'.
Ah, I see.
As instructed, she knelt on the floor and looked up at her younger sister, and Tao realized something anew.
It wasn't intentional or fabricated.
It was a habit naturally acquired by the privileged class, who had been born treading on and commanding people from below. It wasn't much different from their gait, gestures, or subtle speech patterns. The gaze looking down at her now was the same.
Her younger sister had unmistakably become a being from a different world. To be precise, it was the result of her own fall.
"I hear you want to come to Korea?"
"Yes... that's correct."
That Tao from Vietnam was dating a male employee of Korea's Seongbon Group was no longer even gossip-worthy.
"Good. I'll only say this once, so listen carefully. For the next short period of three days, or up to a week, Oppa and I will be staying in Ho Chi Minh City. During that time, I need someone to attend to me and show me around."
"Yess..."
The younger sister's shoe-clad foot landed thud on Tao's thigh.
The hard heel of the shoe pressed firmly down on her thigh through the dress. Shifting her weight forward, stepping on her older sister like a footrest, Jo-hee continued.
"The money, as informed in advance, will be given to you in cash immediately after the job is done. In Korean won, dollars, or the currency of any country you want. However, during the work period, you must absolutely, unconditionally obey my commands. To the extent that it doesn't cause permanent aftereffects or leave marks on your body, you must obey whatever I command without a single second of hesitation, immediately."
"Ah..."
"In simple terms, it's a temporary slave contract. Understood?"
"...Yess."
Jo-hee uttered the nonsensical, anachronistic term 'slave contract' as if it were nothing.
Tao's lower abdomen, kneeling on the cold floor, grew hot in contrast.
Slave contract. Her younger sister was now demanding such an absurd thing from her, her older sister. The resonance of the unfamiliar word stimulated Tao's twisted desires.
Perhaps it was a good thing for her too. It was a perfect 'excuse' to offer absolute obedience to her younger blood relative.
"I'll give you exactly one more chance. If you don't like these conditions, leave this room now. What I want is not a slave forced into service, but a voluntary and loyal one. Still, there will be no disadvantage for 'Tao'."
Jo-hee's proposal sounded reasonable at first glance.
But Tao immediately shook her head. She vividly remembered that chilling 'warning' President Nam had left yesterday.
"No... I'm already aware of the contract terms through the manager... There's absolutely, no problem."
"Right. I thought so."
Desperately suppressing the trembling of her body, Tao promised to accept the conditions, to accept the temporary slave contract her younger sister proposed.
Jo-hee nodded, neither pleased nor surprised. It was an attitude that said she had expected as much.
"I knew a call girl like you, who'd do anything for money, would naturally say yes. You were famous in Japan as a call girl who'd even suck men's back holes for a tip, right? Isn't that so?"
"Ugh... Yes, that's correct.."
As Jo-hee asked, crossing her legs, Tao couldn't suppress a moan.
The smooth legs clad in black stockings dangled and swayed. Though not showing it outright, her younger sister was subtly pleased. Tao could tell that immediately.
Jo-hee, too, as 'Jenny', knew all about her past. All the perverse services Jenny had performed for petty cash in Japan's cheap hostel chains. Drops of sweat slid down Tao's temples from the overwhelming shame and humiliation.
"Ack...!"
It was right then.
A rough force viciously grabbed Tao's wig. The sudden pain of her scalp being pulled made Tao let out an involuntary scream. Jo-hee had ripped off her wig without any warning.
"Aughk..."
"Trying to poorly imitate a Korean woman? It doesn't suit you at all, so you should stop."
"Yes, yess..."
Her younger sister tossed the long, black wig that mimicked 'Ina-kyung' straight onto the floor.
The gaudy platinum blonde short hair characteristic of a Vietnamese prostitute returned. Shedding a few tears, Tao dared not protest Jo-hee's violence. She, more than anyone, knew the meaning contained in that merciless action all too painfully.
"Since you've accepted the contract. I won't treat girls like you as having the same personhood as me. What do you think that means?"
"Ah..."
Jo-hee's attitude was utterly frank and blunt.
Tao gulped down her saliva. Facing her own younger sister, she fell into a state of obvious arousal. And sexual arousal often made Tao's mind spin quickly.
What Jo-hee wanted. The practical meaning of the declaration that she would not treat her as an equal person, Tao intelligently grasped.
"I, I'll take off all my clothes."
"Right, you got it."
For the first time, the first time since their reunion, a satisfied smile spread across her younger sister's lips.
Tao felt thick beads of sweat running down her spine. She slowly stood up from her knees in front of her younger sister. And with her own hands, she took off the black dress, the uniform of beauticians. In front of her younger sister, she became purely naked.
"Huk..."
It was clearly on a different level from sexual meaning.
Her younger sister Jo-hee, dressed in elegant, sexy formal attire, and herself, not even permitted to wear a shabby dress.
The presence or absence of clothing symbolized the difference in status. Sinking into wretched excitement, Tao exposed her firm breasts, slender waist, and curved buttocks without reservation.
"Hmph."
Especially the moment Tao's large breasts jiggled and bounced out, the reactions of President Nam and Jo-hee diverged.
President Nam, who had been quietly watching with a hand on Jo-hee's shoulder, whistled playfully. Jo-hee, on the other hand, snorted disapprovingly. Jo-hee had always been jealous of her older sister's much larger breasts.
Slap!
"Aughk...!"
This time, a slap flew without warning. And not on the cheek, but on the breast.
Despite the searing pain, Tao gasped a moan instead of a scream. Jo-hee frowned and spoke.
"What are you doing now?"
"I'm sorry..."
Tao immediately knelt down.
The smile vanished completely from Jo-hee's facial expression. Perhaps sensing his lover's displeased mood, President Nam silently planted a loud kiss on her head. As if that wasn't enough, Jo-hee turned her head and naturally intertwined tongues with her beloved lover.
"Hmm... Oppa, just a moment."
"Go ahead."
Glancing up, President Nam's expression was genuinely pleased.
Jo-hee looked down at Tao again. She lifted her shoe-clad foot and stepped on Tao's plump thigh.
"Ahuk..."
"You don't seem to understand what it means to need a toy, not a person."
Jo-hee's voice was icy cold.
"First, clean these shoes properly, Tao. With your tongue. These shoes are more expensive than not only your flower fee but also my own 'value'. Greet the shoe-'sir' properly, and clean even the soles spotless with your tongue. If even a single speck of dust remains, then I'll grab you by the hair like this and drag you outside like a bitch. Start now."
"Yes, yess... I understand. Jo-hee, sir."
It was literally treatment below that of a human, but the Vietnamese beautician Tao had no choice.
The shoes Jo-hee was wearing now were familiar to Tao as well. They were from a luxury brand that the former 'Nakyung' also owned a couple of pairs. Of course, the ones Jo-hee brought were the highest-end model among them, so it was no exaggeration to say they were more expensive than not only a mere Vietnamese prostitute's flower fee but also her 'value'.
"Shoe, shoe-sir.. Ugh... I will.. clean with my, my tongue.. Pardon me."
"Pfft..!"
At the humiliating comment of her own older sister treating the shoe like a master, Jo-hee openly held her stomach and burst out laughing.
Tao's pretty face flushed crimson red. Although her wig was taken, her face now resembled a Korean woman more than a Vietnamese one. But Jo-hee didn't care about that at all.
"I don't like the phrasing. Be more respectful, more natural."
Tapping Tao's thigh with the shoe's heel, Jo-hee urged.
"Yes, I'm sorry... Shoe sir, I... with my tongue, will clean shoe sir thoroughly, spotlessly.. Please grant me permission."
Even cleaning her younger sister's shoes with her tongue was something that, for the current Tao, required begging to be allowed.
Only then did Jo-hee lift her shoe-clad foot. Whether intentional or coincidental, the expensive heels she was wearing looked almost brand new... Having experienced countless services dirtier than this, Tao began cleaning her younger sister's shoes with her tongue without hesitation.