Substitute-Chapter 38

Waking up early and the morning workout were tolerable. Surprisingly, he was also getting used to working out while only wearing a T-back. Maybe it was because he’d been through so much bizarre stuff in such a short time that the level of exposure barely felt like anything anymore.

Except for the slight decrease in the number of guys ejaculating during workouts, the atmosphere in the training room was just as heated as the day before. And the harsh stares directed at Jiwon's mangled genitals hadn’t let up.

However, on the third day of the program, the mood among the crew members completely shifted.

The biggest reason was that they’d all been to the so-called “bank” and checked the balance in the coin accounts that had been opened in their names.

A few of them, jittery with suspicion that it might be a scam or just cyber money, immediately tried cashing out the coins. When they saw the money actually get deposited into their nearly empty accounts in real time, they were overwhelmed with emotion.

They cheered, claiming they’d hit a jackpot.

It wasn’t because of the mere 10 million won. It was because they were now anticipating the 700 million won they were promised to receive in the future. And if they managed to earn any bonuses, a few of them might even pocket over 1 billion won.

In the midst of the heightened atmosphere, the instructor who’d spent over three hours yesterday praising the crew and selling the benefits of the project reappeared.

The morning’s educational session was called “Morning Table Setting.” Naturally, Jiwon thought it would be about preparing breakfast for the guests, something that kitchen assistants or waiters might do. But it wasn’t.

The content, which started off as boring and cliché, suddenly turned primal and provocative.

“You guys, you didn’t come here to work as waiters. Why would we waste top-tier manpower on that kind of thing? Don’t worry about stuff like that,” the instructor said, waving his hand dismissively.

“Yesterday, I talked about the land flowing with milk and honey, right? Remember that?”

When someone deliberately shook their head, the instructor laughed heartily and said, “You little rascals.”

“You’re all so damn cute,” he said, grinning.

The instructor, who couldn’t be older than his 40s, kept bringing up youth and beauty every other sentence.

It felt like they were being brainwashed.

“Let’s get to the point. What color is milk?”

When no one answered, he asked again, “You don’t know?”

Someone jokingly said, “Yellow,” and the instructor shuddered dramatically.

“Oh my god, what the hell? No, no.”

“White,” he emphasized, pronouncing each syllable slowly.

“Say it with me. White. Hurry up!”

At the instructor’s urging, everyone obediently repeated “White,” as if they were elementary school students.

The room burst into laughter, as if that had been the funniest thing they’d ever heard.

“Milk is white. Then what do you guys have on you that’s white, huh? Oh, you sneaky little things. Just the thought of it makes you all happy, doesn’t it?”

More laughter.

“That’s right. Semen. And what color is honey? Yellow, right? We usually call that a golden shower. Oh, come on. Don’t act like you’ve never heard of it before.”

The instructor shot them a scolding look.

“Milk and honey are right inside your bodies. And what’s the land? Like I said yesterday, it’s right here. And also, your hosts and guests will become your holy lands too.”

The instructor looked around at the crew members with a proud, almost reverent expression.

“It’s the third day of abstinence, right? Jesus, how are you guys holding up? If I don’t jerk off, I can’t end my day. You guys are really something.”

He never mentioned money. He tried to frame their abstinence as something they were willingly doing for the project, rather than enduring it for the payout. He was a sharp one. Or maybe it wasn’t the instructor but whoever designed this project that was the real genius.

Either way, the more he talked, the more Jiwon felt a strange sense of pride growing inside him.

Jiwon had to keep reminding himself to stay alert.

The instructor kept spinning the tale of milk and honey with his slick tongue, until he finally got to the point.

“Now, it’s still 11 days away, but once the party starts, each of you will have the duty of serving fresh milk and honey to your hosts and guests every morning. That’s what we mean by ‘Morning Table Setting.’ You get what I’m saying? Oh, don’t act so innocent. It means you get to jerk off every morning, of course! Now then, let’s get started with today’s lesson.”

The instructor clapped his hands dramatically, and right on cue, a masked assistant wheeled in a trolley draped in a white cloth.

Drawing out the moment, the instructor descended from the podium with exaggerated gestures, then ripped off the cloth with a flourish.

On the trolley were glass dishes shaped like breasts and glass cups shaped like penises.

As the crew members started to recognize the shapes, scattered laughter broke out.

The instructor carefully picked up one of the penis-shaped glass cups.

“It’s a big dick, huh?” he said, flicking his tongue.

The auditorium erupted in boos and raucous laughter.

Fuck. What the hell is this?

Jiwon clenched his jaw, forcing himself not to scowl.

The more the instructor’s lecture went on, the louder the laughter and cheers grew.

Things they couldn’t openly say outside, they were free to shout out here. And everyone seemed to love it, wearing that fact like a badge of honor.

Jiwon felt like he was in another world.

In some ways, he was jealous.

If the outside world were as openly accepting as this place, his brother might not have had to hide his sexual orientation from the family until he died.

At least then, Jiwon could have known who he was dating, where he was going, and what kind of dangers he was exposed to.

If that were the case, could he have saved him?

Jiwon shook his head firmly.

His brother’s death wasn’t that simple.

A loud boo brought Jiwon back to reality.

He hadn’t heard what the instructor said, but he could guess.

“And from now on, we won’t call it piss anymore. We’re going to call it honey. So what do we call the act of filling this cup with honey? Who wants to guess?”

“Getting honey!”

“Wrong!”

“Harvesting honey!”

“Close!”

“Collecting honey!”

“Correct! Did you hear that? It’s called ‘honey collecting.’ Now, let’s all say it together. Honey. Collecting.”

The instructor slowly scanned the room, emphasizing each word. The crew obediently repeated, “Honey collecting,” like they were elementary school kids.

Even through his mask, Jiwon could tell the instructor was grinning with satisfaction.

The instructor playfully ran his fingers along the glass penis, and the crew snickered.

“Oh, you guys love this, huh? Alright, they say you should strike while the iron is hot. Since we’re talking about honey collecting, let me show you a demonstration.”

The instructor placed the glass penis down and reached for the zipper of his pants. The crew burst into laughter, thinking it was a joke. But it wasn’t.

In full view of everyone, the instructor pulled down his zipper and dropped his pants, along with his underwear, exposing himself.

The auditorium filled with cheers, boos, and applause.

Jiwon was horrified. Before coming here, he’d studied all kinds of perverted shit, but he never imagined he’d be watching a guy piss in front of him, let alone call it “honey collecting.”

“That bastard’s crazy,” Park Gunwoo muttered, but he was laughing as he said it.

Looking around, Jiwon saw that most of the guys were clearly enjoying it. Jiwon forced himself to laugh too, pretending to fit in. He kept his eyes fixed somewhere else, not looking at the instructor.

As the instructor continued his “demonstration,” he looked almost proud.

Surely, he’s not going to make us do it too.

But Jiwon’s worst fear came true.

“Alright, your turn, everyone!”

Before the instructor even finished speaking, the assistant started handing out drinks and bottled water. The drink was an electrolyte beverage.

“I’ve tried all kinds, and this one has the prettiest color when it comes out.”

The instructor still stood there, his dick hanging out, as he continued the lesson.

“Alright, bottoms up. Let’s go.”

The bottles were handed out to each crew member, and the order was given.

Everyone laughed and drank up.

“Well, at least I was hungry,” someone said.

Park Gunwoo, who was on a diet, seemed pleased, while Jiwon, feeling troubled, swallowed the drink.

“Anyone ready to piss? Raise your hand!”

Of course, no one raised their hand.

After breakfast, everyone had a break, and before entering the educational session, they had all taken care of their business. It was a direct order from the team leader, and because of the booster, the pills, and the bottled water they drank before the workout, they had no choice but to empty their bladders.

A break was given.

But calling it a break was a joke—there was nowhere to go. Until they felt the urge to pee, they had to sit around in the auditorium, killing time with small talk.

Jiwon, who was chatting with Park Gunwoo, was approached by Gwak Hyesung, who acted overly friendly. Park Gunwoo blatantly ignored him and walked away, leaving Jiwon to become Gwak Hyesung’s conversation partner.

To everyone else, Jiwon might have seemed like a nice guy, but in reality, he wanted to talk to Gwak Hyesung. Specifically, he was curious about where Gwak Hyesung had been before joining the crew.

To win him over, Jiwon deliberately dropped the formal speech, pretending to be more casual than usual. He even made jokes he wouldn’t normally make, telling Gwak to feel free to speak comfortably.

After a while of aimless, meaningless conversation, Gwak Hyesung finally brought up that he was glad to have joined the crew.

Jiwon didn’t miss his chance.

“Now that we’re talking about it, where were you? You came so fast.”

He kept his tone deliberately indifferent.

“Ah...”

Gwak Hyesung’s expression turned awkward as he glanced around nervously.

“This is a secret.”

He whispered, barely audible.

“If it’s a secret, you don’t have to say it. Don’t make things hard for yourself.”

Jiwon acted like he was being considerate, but his intentions were anything but.

He didn’t care if the guy got in trouble or not—he wanted that answer.

Was I always this sneaky?

He felt a twinge of guilt, but his thirst for revenge easily overpowered his conscience.

“I mean, I’m curious, but if you really don’t want to say it, you don’t have to.”

Jiwon said that, then got up as if he was going to look for Park Gunwoo.

“I was on the first basement floor.”

Gwak Hyesung quickly confessed.

So it was the basement after all.

“Alone?”

Jiwon leaned forward, bringing his upper body closer to Gwak Hyesung.

“No. Including me, there were twelve of us waiting down there.”

Gwak Hyesung whispered.

“Twelve more guys who look like us?”

Jiwon asked a deliberately dumb question.

In truth, he hadn’t expected there to be twelve of them. That number genuinely surprised him.

“No. Our team had three, including me. The rest were...”

“What are you two chatting about?”

A black mask suddenly inserted himself between Jiwon and Gwak Hyesung.

Neither of them had expected the instructor to be so close. They flinched as if they’d seen a ghost.

“Sounds like you two were talking secrets,” the instructor said, jokingly. But his eyes glinted sharply as he looked at Gwak Hyesung.

Gwak Hyesung’s shoulders stiffened.

“No. We were talking about the electric shock.”

Jiwon said that, sounding defensive.

“Electric shock?”

The instructor raised his voice.

“Yes. You know, the chastity cage... The one that happened when this guy arrived...”

Jiwon trailed off, pretending to hesitate. Only then did the instructor’s expression relax.

“Oh, that. Must’ve been rough for you right from the start...”

“Is that so? You two must be getting pretty close, huh?”

The instructor’s gaze drilled into Jiwon. Suspicion flickered in his eyes.

“...Yeah.”

Jiwon mumbled, lowering his gaze.

The instructor stared at Jiwon for ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) a long moment before turning to Gwak Hyesung.

“How’s Sailor 5 doing?”

“Pardon?”

“How are you feeling now that you’ve joined the project?”

“I feel great!”

“Good. You should feel great.”

The instructor squeezed Gwak Hyesung’s shoulder hard and then let go. He then moved away toward another group.

Whew.

Jiwon exhaled a deep sigh of relief.

He thought Gwak Hyesung would feel the same, but instead, Gwak smiled at him.

For some reason, it sent a chill down Jiwon’s spine.

“What are you smiling about?”

“It’s just... funny.”

What the hell is this bastard talking about?

“Huh?”

Jiwon raised an eyebrow.

“I heard that everything here is recorded. I guess they can hear us pretty well.”

Gwak Hyesung pointed to his scarf ring.

Fuck. Why the hell didn’t he say that earlier?

Jiwon squeezed his eyes shut.

Was it a trap?

Maybe. Probably.

Sneaky bastard.

It was no wonder Gwak Hyesung was getting ostracized. Jiwon had misread him completely, thinking he was just trying to suck up to him. Jiwon had thought he was the one playing Gwak Hyesung, but it was the other way around.

Jiwon glared at Gwak Hyesung as he walked away.

Then he mentally replayed the conversation.

What exactly did I say?

Was my tone too different from usual?

Did I sound like Yoon Jiwon, not Kim Jiwon?

How did it come across to them?

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Jiwon cursed himself for being so reckless. He knew there were CCTVs everywhere but had never considered they might also be listening in. How stupid could he be? He should’ve suspected every piece of equipment on his body.

Jiwon fidgeted with his scarf ring and bracelet, his unease growing.

Please, let it be nothing. Please let me not be the only one who asked Gwak Hyesung those questions.

But despite his wishful thinking, the instructor’s eyes kept drifting back to Jiwon.

Jiwon tried his best not to look nervous, but it was impossible. Cold sweat dripped down his temples, and his palms were clammy.

Jiwon saw the instructor lean toward his assistant and whisper something. The assistant hurriedly left the room.

It felt like a noose tightening around Jiwon’s throat.

And that’s when his savior appeared.

“Instructor! Can I go piss?!”

Someone shouted, and the entire room’s attention shifted to the source of the voice.