Why Not Call It A Draw? (1)

"Slave~"

"Yes… Madam."

"Today's meal seems especially delicious~"

Baekdo, seated at the dining table, giggled and playfully bit the end of her chopsticks.

It was as if teasing me constituted the pinnacle of her life's joy. Her face, alight with excitement, seemed to convey that this would be their very expression if every peach in the world ripened into sweetness.

'Damn it.'

I bit back curses internally while observing Baekdo.

She remained oblivious to her grieving apprentice, only indulging in her selfish whims.

The realization that I couldn't retaliate because she was privy to my predicament only deepened my sorrow.

Baekdo extended her chopsticks and popped a pancake into her mouth.

"Mmm~"

The nasal hum that followed was infuriatingly smug.

From army stew and rolled eggs to kimchi pancakes and abalone soy sauce braised dishes—

Baekdo reveled over the feast arrayed before her, a feast untouched by any hands but mine.

"But this pancake seems a bit underdone with the kimchi?"

"That kimchi was selected by Madam from Jirisan."

"Oh my. You should have been more discerning!"

'Oh my, my ass,'

I seethed with suppressed fury.

I held my anger in check wordlessly.

How did I find myself in such a miserable plight?

The reason I was kneeling, reduced to a servant as if plucked from a drama, all stemmed from a wager I placed with Baekdo.

-Shall we make a bet? Whether I can secure first place or not.

-Do you think I'd take a bet after witnessing your humiliation? Did you truly believe I would?

That habitual bet from days past.

Baekdo, whom I had underestimated as dim-witted, proved to possess a memory akin to Einstein's for such matters.

Thus, I found myself indefinitely consigned to servitude under this tyrannical woman.

"But, Madam, when does this juvenile charade conclude?"

"I had intended for it to end today."

"Oh… Really?"

"Yes, but that was before your comment. Now you're enslaved for three more days."

Damn.

I had been naive to hope she might acknowledge my efforts, even slightly.

"Well, a bet is a bet, though I don't like it."

As I stood there nonchalantly, Baekdo paused her meal and glanced at me.

Then she put down her chopsticks and spoke softly.

"I can't digest this. To begin with, you're an idiot, aren't you?"

"Excuse me?"

"It was a bet unfavorable to me. You knew that and still accepted it without any bravado. But you lost… hehe, sorry. The loser is you. You chose your own defeat. Accept it with guts and grit."

Today, her choice of words seemed deliberately infuriating.

However, she was right.

It made me even angrier that I couldn't argue back.

"Anyway, bring some alcohol. I feel like having a drink before sleeping."

Baekdo, as if my win or loss mattered not at all to her, changed the subject.

She casually stretched out her hand and clapped twice.

-Clap, clap.

The lines of her body were elegant, making the gesture look quite stylish.

'Sigh, what can I do… I have to play along.'

"…What alcohol? Oak-aged?"

"Bring the TokTok."

I took out a can of beer from the freezer, where it had been for 15 minutes, and brought it to Baekdo.

A drink that anyone familiar with alcohol wouldn't consider a drink, not containing even a tiny bit of alcohol.

Baekdo satisfyingly took the can and attempted to open it.

Then, oops.

Baekdo, who had stopped her hand from reaching for the lid, stared intently at the can's opening.

Wondering what was up, I watched as she handed the can back to me.

"Open it for me."

"Can't a noble open a can herself?"

"What if my beautiful hands get hurt?"

"Beautiful hands, my ass… You're more likely to stain them with blood than water."

Baekdo's eyes widened at my sarcasm.

"Come here."

As I approached,

Baekdo, teasingly flicking her hand, suddenly clenched it into a fist and thrust it right into my solar plexus.

"Ugh!"

Tears welled up, and my vision spun.

As I knelt on the floor, Baekdo, with her chin propped up, giggled and stretched her foot toward my shoulder. Her bare white foot pressed down hard on the tip of my shoulder.

"Why are you doing this while eating?"

"… Don't hit me, please. I'm not fully healed yet."

"It's your pain, not mine. Anyway, we'll be resting from training for a while with the MT and all. Just behave yourself."

Baekdo poked my cheek hard with her finger, chuckling.

This person, really.

I snapped.

I turned my head and bit her finger hard.

"Eek, what are you doing!"

Thump! Baekdo's palm struck my cheek and pushed me away. In retaliation, I grabbed her arms, pinned them down, and toppled her over, revealing her stomach as her shirt lifted.

It wouldn't hurt her anyway.

I bit her finger as hard as I could.

Baekdo's left hand grabbed my hair.

"Let go."

"Let go first!"

"Eeek. If you don't let go in three seconds, I'll crush your limbs!"

-Crash!

A chair fell over. Chopsticks dropped from the table and struck the back of my head.

After a few minutes of fighting like cats and dogs, I choked and collapsed, coughing. Baekdo, with a bite mark on her index finger, rubbed it on her clothes and tapped my knee with her foot.

"Cough, cough."

"What is this all about! You lost the bet."

"Just take it easy, would you? What is this?"

I grabbed Baekdo's wrist and brought her hand to her face.

A few strands of my hair were clutched in her hand.

She had grabbed so hard that it had come to this.

Looking at Baekdo, she appeared offended, glaring at me with a fierce look.

"… You're the one who lost the bet."

Her tone changed. Perhaps I had shown too much dislike.

Her pouting lips reflected her mood. Such an easy-to-read expression.

"Alright. What do you want me to do?"

"…"

"Do you want ice cream? Green tea flavor."

As I started to appease her, Baekdo's ears twitched at the mention of ice cream.

"…Never mind, just pour the drink."

"Yes."

"Buy me ice cream tomorrow."

Peace had finally been restored.

Sitting on chairs had originally been forbidden, but that no longer seemed to matter. I sat down and took two bottles of soju and one bottle of beer from the fridge.

"Are you going to drink all this?"

"I don't want to drink your stuff."

"As you wish."

-Clink. Clunk.

I placed the tilted bottle of soju on the table.

"But why are you drinking as well?"

"I feel like drinking today."

"Should a slave even do that?"

"Slaves drink more, just like office workers."

"I can't understand what you're saying."

I filled Baekdo's glass to the brim with TokTok.

Baekdo stared at her glass, then pursed her lips and brought the glass to her mouth.

-Gulp, gulp.

Her throat moved a few times before she parted her lips.

"Puh, the slave's job isn't over yet."

"Of course."

"Give my hand a massage."

Baekdo extended her hand toward me.

Refusing again might have led to an unpleasant ending.

I took her hand and began massaging it.

The texture of the white skin was evident along the fingerprints. A unique scent emanated from the fine hairs.

It was cold and soft, yet seemed a bit firmer than Hwangdo's hand.

I wondered if it was true that this hand became as hard as a rock when she exerted strength.

As I pressed firmly, my gaze was drawn to a particular spot.

There was a long scar on the edge of the hand I had thought to be delicate.

A scar I hadn't seen on either Hwangdo or Cheondo.

'No wonder there's an overreaction.'

The spot where I had been hit squarely earlier throbbed as if pricked by a needle.

"What caused this?"

"A slave talks too much."

"Tell me, Madam."

Baekdo raised her eyebrows.

"It's nothing. Just a scar from training when I was young."

"Is that so? I haven't heard much about the masters' pasts."

"You don't need to know."

"Really, not going to tell me? Even to me?"

Baekdo pressed her lips together and continued drinking.

"Ask Cheondo about it later."

"Ah, so frustrating."

Press. Press.

The conversation ended right after that.

I carried on with the massage.

Baekdo, holding a glass of alcohol, fanned her flushed face, which resembled a peach, perhaps from the alcohol or the massage.

"Stop it. It's not even refreshing. I shouldn't have asked."

She withdrew her hand, noticing a slight sweat.

She looked at her other hand, which held the empty glass.

"Did that make you drunk?"

"Who's drunk? That's always your problem. Always cursing, always nagging. And I'm not drunk. It's impossible for me to get drunk."

It was a classic drunk person's trait, denying their inebriation multiple times.

She was talking a lot; it seemed she really was drunk.

"But we both curse at each other."

"… We're definitely not a good match."

I agreed silently.

I nodded.

"Just looking at you makes me want to torment you. Your unhappiness is my happiness."

"I feel the same, but you have a terrible personality."

"That's not for you to say. Damned third-class apprentice."

There was another downgrade in my title.

Baekdo sometimes reverted to old titles when she was displeased.

"A woman marrying a third-class apprentice would surely suffer."

"Not at all. I treat my women so well. Haven't you seen?"

"A third-class apprentice is a typical womanizer."

I took a sip of alcohol and retorted immediately.

"I don't cheat."

"Place your hand on your heart and think. That's what womanizers always say."

"Have you ever been with a womanizer?"

Baekdo narrowed her eyes and sighed bitterly.

It was the sigh of someone who seemed to know everything.

"I'm only saying this because Cheondo is asleep. You've been with that teacher and Hwangdo, too."

Lee Seyeong and Hwangdo.

I thought she didn't know. Was it like sisters knowing each other's sex lives but not talking about it?

…I had been hit hard.

Baekdo tapped her glass.

"Beer."

I filled her glass with beer, and she began to drink.

-Gulp, gulp.

"Ha… you thought I wouldn't know? You think you know everything."

Then she began mumbling to herself.

Listening closely, it appeared as if she was having a conversation with Hwangdo in her mind.

"No, Hwangdo. If you make it that obvious, how could I not know? Maybe Cheondo, who knows nothing about men."

Baekdo, with a tone of weariness, propped her chin and glared at me with her eyes.

After ending the conversation, Baekdo smiled slightly. It was the smile of a victor.

"Anything else to say?"

"I don't have a partner right now, so no problem."

"Ha ha, crazy guy… That's even more of a problem."

Lately, there hadn't been much of a relationship to speak of with Hwangdo.

Of course, I was still in a precarious situation since the exams had ended.

Resisting temptation while living with three women and a lust demon wasn't easy.

"So, how did that happen?"

"Well, I was attacked in my sleep."

"What? Making up stories again. Hwangdo wouldn't do such a thing. Do you even think you have that kind of charm?"

I agreed, nodding in response. I conveyed the truth.

"I think so too. But it's true."

"Ha, that's laughable. A guy whose night activities are mediocre at best being so confident."

"What?"

I hadn't expected that topic to come up.

In daily life, there are two things you should never touch on with a man.

Those were their sexual prowess and gaming skills.

Even in bathhouses or restrooms, men secretly compared these things.

"Can you last 3 seconds?"

So, when Baekdo teased with her usual tone, I couldn't help but laugh defensively.

"The confidence of someone with no experience is truly amazing."

"A woman's value increases with lack of experience."

"That's only true when you're young. Let's see if you can say the same when you're thirty."

"..."

Her voice was slightly raised due to alcohol.

"Do you even know? What's the average duration for intimacy?"

"Ha! A man should easily last two hours."

"You really know nothing. Two hours and you wouldn't last, would you?"

Baekdo's eyes turned icy like a winter storm.

"Ridiculous. Do you know who I am? A woman who can split the heavens and earth."

"I've experienced it. Relationship skills and combat ability don't correlate."

"Not for me."

"Yes, they do."

The voices intensified.

"It's not. Stop being childish."

General.

"Who's being childish?"

Dumb soldier.

"You couldn't last."

"Want to try?"

"What?"

Both sides were equally skilled.

"Go ahead, try!"

A field commanding general, no, was I really going along with this?

After the heated exchange, I realized the situation was heading in the wrong direction.

The table was laid with cold dishes, and we faced each other.

Baekdo's face seemed to reflect similar thoughts, but we were unwilling to back down.

It was obvious.

Saying "Let's stop." now would lead to "Scared, huh? Okay, let's stop." from the other.

It was stubbornness, but Baekdo and I lived our lives with that kind of persistence.

So, retreat was not an option here.

"If you want to give up, say it now."

Maybe because the conversation had heated me up, I felt a bit of the alcohol.

"Give up? For what."

Baekdo, with a flushed face, stood up.

Her dolphin shorts and the black tee accentuated her chest, which heaved once.

She tried to maintain a smile on her face.