MA-RI, HER legs spread open, thinks that having sex with two guys at the same time is like a blockbuster action flick—it's good only for the first half. You're hooked by the explosive preview and action scenes, but after a while, when you take a good look, you realize that the same scenes keep repeating. As time passes, the action sequences intensify, but the initial surprise and excitement dull. She's already come twice. Usually by this time, her nerves are beyond relaxed, having reached a point where she doesn't need any more stimulation. But the twenty-year-old boys have different ideas. They position Ma-ri on her stomach, then flip her on her back, and then, unsatisfied, they put her on her side and push into her. One of them approaches her head and pushes his long, limp penis in her face. As she wrestles with the two boys in the big rotating bed, she suddenly hears her dead father's voice ring out, as if a message from God: "You have to live just like you sing a song." The last words he insisted he heard from his spiritual brother, Rikidozan.
Startled, Ma-ri's eyes fly open, but there is no one but them in the room. Ma-ri pushes her ass into the air. One boy is trying to push into her from behind, and the other is sucking her nipple, his head mashed under her chest. It's hard to maintain the position because of her cast, but after striking various poses during the past hour, she has managed to figure out what works. She doesn't feel as lost as she did initially. Sweat drips off her chin and onto her cast. Rikidozan probably felt like this, she thinks. When he got in the ring, he must have had moments where, in the middle of being tangled with opponents who were actually his friends, he wished that time would pass quickly. There are things in life you can't do anything about, and you can't always just do things you want to do. He would have consoled himself like I'm doing now, striking this or that pose according to the script and suffering through one round after another. Sex is like pro wrestling. Only a game, but at the same time, a struggle. You have to be considerate of the other party while you attack, and you have to be somewhat aggressive to make it work.
She moans every time he thrusts.
"You like it? Like it? Yeah, you like it?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah."
"Talk dirty to me," Song-uk moans.
"No."
"Please."
"I can't. I've never done it before."
"Do it, you fucking bitch, you fucking whore," Song-uk says, pulling her head up.
"You assholes, you motherfuckers, you fucking assholes, ahh, ahh, fuck." With Ma-ri's every word, the guys become more turned on, and they press up against her more aggressively. Even dirtier words pour out of her onto the bed. Suddenly, someone's phone rings. "Toreador Song." Everyone pauses.
"Isn't that yours?" Song-uk turns to Panda, annoyed.
Panda gets up and slips his phone out of his pants, which were flung onto the floor. "Hell ... hello? Oh, hey. Are, are you here?"
"What's up?" Song-uk asks.
"It's Tae ... Tae ... Tae ... Tae-su," Panda says, looking panicked.
"And?" Song-uk urges.
"He called when we were at the restaurant..."
"You told him?"
Panda nods sheepishly.
"You idiot, why did you tell him? Just tell him no," Song-uk orders.
"He says he's right outside..."
Song-uk untangles himself from Ma-ri and takes a step toward Panda, but it doesn't look like he's going to take a swing at him. "How does he know we're here?"
"He texted me a while ago, but I didn't think he'd actually come..."
Song-uk turns to Ma-ri. "I don't know what I should do. He's a really close friend of ours ... He's trustworthy. We're in the same study group," he wheedles.
Ma-ri raises herself up on the bed, slowly. She puts a pillow against the wall and leans back. "Song-uk, can you bring me my purse?"
Song-uk hurries over with her bag. She's about to rummage through it, but stops. She turns to Panda. "Can I have a cigarette?"
Panda takes out a cigarette from his pocket, fumbling, and rushes it to her. She sticks it in her mouth, and Panda lights it for her. Song-uk frowns momentarily. She blows out a stream of smoke. "What the hell is this? Do you think I'm some whore?"
Both of their dicks are now flaccid, pointing down at the ground.
"How can you be a whore when you didn't even get paid for it?" Song-uk protests. "Isn't that right? I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but what I'm trying to say is, things have already come to this point—wouldn't it be okay if just one more joined us?"
"I'm sore. I'm not doing this anymore."
The doorbell rings, at first gently, and then more and more energetically.
"You've already told him the room number, too?" Ma-ri shoots an accusatory glare at Panda, who hangs his head.
The bell stops ringing and this time the person outside starts banging on the door, another horny guy standing in front of room 503. Song-uk looks at Ma-ri, nervous, but doesn't do anything. She knows right then that this is the last time she will see him. Isn't it too early for me to arrive at a dead end on the street of life? This is so unfair. It's too early. What did I do wrong? I worked hard, I was, for the most part, faithful to my family, and I lived life to the fullest. I made donations to charities every month and I've been there for every major event in my friends' lives, celebrating happy occasions and commiserating for sad ones. What did I do wrong, other than get old?
"Tell him to come in," Ma-ri decides.
Song-uk brightens, like a kid who has received a present. Panda regains his cheer as well.
"I did it with two already, so one more shouldn't be a big deal," Ma-ri mumbles to herself. She instantly feels ten years older. This is it. In a few days, the cast will be taken off, she'll forget about Song-uk, and she will go back to her boring old life. She'll sell cars during the day and watch television on the sofa at night. She'll take vacations with her family, maybe go on a camping trip, and on some nights she'll even accompany Ki-yong to the premiere of some film he imported. I'll go back to that life. This is it after today. Anything more is impossible.
The door opens to reveal a man too old to be a college student. His hair is wavy and shot with gray, and he's wearing unbecoming gold-rimmed glasses. Panda and Song-uk, who open the door with sheets wrapped around their waists, step back. "Who are you?"
The man steps into the room. "I'm sorry, but you can't do this."
"What are you talking about?" Song-uk says.
"We received a tip that someone was using this room for group sex," the man explains, looking around the room with a glimmer of a smile on his face. But he doesn't hide his disgust. "So I guess it's true."
Ma-ri covers her face with a sheet.
"I'll give you five minutes. Take your belongings and get out."
"I have to shower first..."
"Sorry, it's a violation of the rules. Just get your things and leave, before the cops get here."
"Okay."
"Hurry," the man says, and slams the door behind him.
Song-uk, annoyed, addresses Panda. "You dumbass, you said it was Tae-su! What the hell is this?"
Panda checks his phone and finds a new text. "He says he got caught at the entrance."
Song-uk kicks his bag. "What kind of an unmanned hotel is this? Fuck."
Ma-ri gathers her clothes from around the room and goes into the bathroom ahead of the guys, locking the door. She puts her clothes on and smoothes her hair. She washes her face, then perches on the bidet while she freshens up her makeup. She turns the water to cold, and the throbbing in her groin subsides a bit. She wants to shower but she doesn't think she can without Song-uk's help. She hears the guys knocking on the bathroom door but doesn't reply until she's satisfied with the way she looks. She opens the door and goes into the room, looking as demure as she did when she left work. The guys are already dressed.
"I ... I ... I had a good time," Panda stutters. "And so ... so ... sorry."
"It's fine," she replies curtly and goes out to the hall. Someone is peeking at them from the maid's room. She figures a maid is waiting for them to leave so she can change the sheets.
She addresses Song-uk. "Bye. It's been fun."
"Are you mad at me?" Song-uk asks, deflated.
"No," she says, shaking her head. She tries to compose an expression that exudes equanimity but she isn't certain if it is conveyed to the boy. "We'll say goodbye here."
"Yeah, see you later."
"No, I mean it's over. Bye," she says, her voice faint.
"Wait." Song-uk grabs her arm.
She feels something new, something she's never felt in the time she's been seeing Song-uk. Annoyance. She frowns involuntarily and jerks her arm away.
"What about me?" Song-uk protests.
"What about you?"
"Have you been playing with me? Is that what this was all about?"
Panda tugs at his sleeve. "Come on, Song-uk. Let's go."
She smiles almost imperceptibly. Her annoyance disappears. She reassures him in a friendly but businesslike way, like a late-night radio personality. "I'm sorry if that's how you feel. I'm sorry, okay? I loved you once. You know that, don't you? You couldn't have not known, because you're smart. But that's it. Bye, okay? We'll go our separate ways here. I'm tired."
She walks down the stairs, stopping a couple of times because of her aching pelvis. The guys don't follow her, but take the elevator down. By the time she gets to the ground floor, they are already gone. She walks through the automatic doors. The flashing neon signs rush toward her. Why didn't she notice those on her way in? She walks out into the street. A heavy and poisonous fatigue, the kind she has never encountered before, weighs down her body. Her head hurts, as it sometimes does when she eats sweet white chocolate too quickly, and she feels dizzy.