episode_0061

I pressed down on my throbbing temples, barely managing to lift my lead-heavy eyelids.

Every joint in my body felt stiff, as if creaking.

There was no need to wonder about the cause.

In my hazy memory of how I even fell asleep, what clearly stood out were the sounds that seeped in from beyond the blanket I’d pulled over myself.

The beastly cries emanating from the Team Leader and that man.

This miserable, filthy body that had, while eavesdropping on those sounds, forgotten shame and reached climax alone.

The disgusting stench lingering in the room hinted at what had transpired while I slept.

“…Huh?”

Suddenly, feeling a presence, I turned my head to see the Team Leader already up, staring blankly out the window.

My Senior – no, that man – was nowhere to be found in the room.

More than that, what concerned me more right now was the Team Leader.

Her empty gaze drifted aimlessly into the air.

Her brow was furrowed so deeply it was unsightly.

This was completely different from how she’d been last night, clinging to the man, acting coquettish, and shouting in a sweet voice.

‘What is it…?’

Just as I felt a sense of bewilderment at her starkly different appearance from the previous day, the sliding door opened, and Okami entered with a bright smile.

“Good morning, everyone. Did you all sleep well last night?”

“Ah… yes, yes.”

Startled by Okami’s question, the Team Leader, who had been anxiously biting her fingernails, nodded her head.

Her voice was unnaturally trembling.

“Was the room perhaps too small for you? Both of your expressions seem a little off. Did something happen during the night, perhaps…?”

At Okami’s question, brimming with concern, I could clearly see the Team Leader’s shoulders trembling.

She frantically shook her head and waved her hand, claiming nothing had happened, but anyone could see it was a suspicious gesture.

Okami gazed intently at the Team Leader’s face before once again adopting a soft smile and straightening her posture.

“Well then, please come to the annex when you are ready. I have prepared a meal. Lee Daeri-nim is already there.”

The moment Okami spoke that man’s name, a blush spread across her face.

Looking again, even her kimono sash was slightly disheveled.

I wondered where he’d been since early morning.

Of course, what else would that man be up to?

“Yes, I understand. I’ll be there shortly.”

The Team Leader didn’t answer, so I replied instead.

I had no appetite, and I wanted nothing more than to just stay holed up in my room, but that wasn’t an option.

At the very least, a meeting was scheduled for today.

What was I doing, coming to a foreign country I might never visit again, without being able to properly enjoy it?

This was all because of that man.

I reluctantly lifted my heavy upper body, mulling over the hateful man’s face.

****

After changing all my clothes and arriving at the annex, the meal was already neatly set.

“You’re both late. Come and eat quickly before it gets cold.”

That man, who had arrived first and was already seated, was savoring his meal with an utterly calm and relaxed expression.

The Team Leader, without being told, sat almost clinging to him.

If that wasn’t enough, what followed was an even more absurd spectacle.

“…Lee Daeri, you have sauce on the corner of your mouth.”

“Ah, I do?”

“How can a grown adult be so messy? …Come here, I’ll wipe it for you.”

The anxious demeanor she had in the morning was gone, and now, not only was she chatting intimately with that man, but she even wiped food from his mouth.

“I think this rolled omelet is the most delicious.”

“Oh really? Then, have some of mine. I don’t have an appetite.”

“Aw, how could you? Then, Team Leader-nim, could you perhaps feed it to me yourself?”

“…Mina is watching.”

“You don’t want to?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to… *Sigh*. Here, say ‘ah~’.”

The sight of her even putting her own side dish into his mouth was truly absurd and grotesque.

Had she completely fallen for that man last night, or what?

But it was just for a fleeting moment.

As she put food into his mouth, when their eyes met for a moment.

I didn’t miss the fleeting emotion that passed deep within the Team Leader’s eyes.

Unlike her intimately smiling lips, her pupils were subtly trembling.

From that, I felt an eerie sense of déjà vu.

‘As expected, something is going on…’

The unsettling feeling I’d had since morning.

That demeanor and eyes filled with terror.

The core of my suspicion was slowly transforming into an ominous conviction.

That woman was desperately acting.

****

After finishing the meal, we left the inn and moved to the client’s office.

As on the previous day, the meeting proceeded smoothly, but my gaze was entirely fixed on the Team Leader.

She couldn’t hide her unstable demeanor throughout the meeting and even made small mistakes during her presentation.

“It seems the Team Leader is very tired, as it’s been a long time since her last overseas business trip.”

Although that man would interject with appropriate humor and agreement to lighten the atmosphere each time.

It was unusual for such a cool-headed woman to falter like this.

“…Mina.”

And then, during the brief break after the meeting ended.

While I was busy compiling documents, the Team Leader quietly approached me.

Her voice was extremely cautious, as if afraid a passing mouse might overhear.

“What is it?”

“Could you see me for a moment?”

It was a sudden summons, but enchanted by the desperation in her eyes, I nodded.

Fortunately, that man seemed preoccupied, chatting with the buyers.

We secretly slipped out of the meeting room and entered a small lounge nearby.

As soon as the door closed, the Team Leader urgently spoke, as if someone were chasing her.

“Mina, you know too, don’t you?”

“Yes? What, what are you talking about…?”

“That man, Lee Hyunsung—that man—is controlling us.”

It was what I had expected, but hearing it directly from her mouth made my heart drop with a thud.

At the same time, her tone and expression felt somewhat unnatural.

Like an actress reading a well-rehearsed script.

“Team Leader-nim, how did you…?”

“While I was being violated by him last night, I suddenly came to my senses. How terrible the things I had suffered were. It was all that man’s doing!”

Her voice trembled violently.

Her face, which clearly showed the same confusion and pain I had experienced, also carried a subtle sense of incongruity.

“After that, I was violated by that man all night long, fully conscious.”

The Team Leader’s eyes, distorted by humiliation and rage, were inflamed crimson.

“Mina, you too have been continuously victimized by Lee Daeri, just like me, right? Even long before I was.”

“…Yes, that’s right.”

Relief that someone finally understood my suffering surged, but at the same time, an unfamiliar wariness reared its head.

This whole situation was too sudden.

“We can’t just let this continue.”

At that, the Team Leader took another step closer and whispered in a low voice.

“What do you mean, ‘can’t let this continue’?”

“We can’t keep living as that man’s playthings, can we?”

“That’s…”

She was right.

But.

“But there’s no way. You know the power that man has, Team Leader-nim, you’ve experienced it yourself. We can’t resist.”

At my resigned words, the Team Leader’s eyes shone intensely.

“No. There is a way. I have an idea.”

“An idea?”

“I’ve found out how that man controls us.”

“Th-that’s really true?!”

My voice involuntarily rose.

I quickly clamped my hand over my mouth, freezing as I met the Team Leader’s gaze for a few seconds.

Barely calming myself, I took a breath and asked her again.

“Did you really find out that man’s method? Wh-what is it?”

At my question, the Team Leader glanced around for a moment before whispering in a low voice.

“His phone.”

“His phone?”

“More precisely, an app. Hypnosis app, I think it was called? He’s been using that to control us as he pleases.”

Hypnosis.

And an app, no less.

Who would ever imagine such a method?

But looking back, it seemed he never let go of his phone.

Both normally, and during the act.

“But how did you find out it was a phone app?”

“I heard it directly from Lee Daeri’s mouth.”

“From that man’s mouth?”

At my disbelieving question, the Team Leader nodded.

“Perhaps he thought I was completely in his grasp after last night, because he spilled everything so easily.”

‘Spilled everything so easily?’

Even so, he just casually revealed such crucial information?

Something was off.

The feeling that things were too easy.

But what if what she said was true…?

“So, what exactly is your idea, Team Leader-nim?”

“It’s simple. If he’s controlling us with a phone app, we just have to take his phone away, right? Then we’ll be free!”

“That’s easier said than done! That cunning man can’t possibly not know that! What if this conversation itself is part of his plan…!”

“No!”

The Team Leader grabbed my hand firmly.

Her hand was as cold as ice and trembled faintly.

“That man always enjoys walking a tightrope. He enjoys watching us struggle! Mina, you’ve experienced it yourself, you know!”

There was a point to what she said.

If that man had truly set his mind to it, we would have long ago become puppets incapable of even thought.

But…!

“That’s why we have to seize that chance! Before that man changes his mind and turns us into complete puppets!”

Her gaze was desperate, almost bordering on madness, yet even that felt mechanical to me.

Let’s say all of this is true.

But what if this woman is just trying to use me?

“Still, it’s too dangerous. If we fail…”

“Mina!”

The Team Leader grabbed my shoulder.

“You want to escape from that man, don’t you?! From this humiliating, terrifying ordeal! So do I! So please help me. We have to get out of this hell together!”

To see Kang Jooyoung clinging so desperately.

It wasn’t that I didn’t understand.

Because I, too, had suffered at that man’s hands.

“…”

I bit my lip.

My mind was so complex it felt like it would explode.

Could I trust this woman?

Was this another trap?

“How can I trust you, Team Leader-nim? You could be being controlled by that man and trying to deceive me.”

“…Mina, are you really okay with this? Don’t you want to escape from that man?!”

Her rebuke struck me like a dagger.

“Of course not!!”

I shook my head vigorously.

I didn’t want to live as that man’s slave like this.

I had realized it last night.

If I stayed by that man’s side any longer, I would truly lose my mind.

“…What do I have to do?”

After much deliberation, I decided to drink the poisoned chalice of hope.

Although it was suspicious, this might be the one and only chance I had left.

At the answer that finally came from my lips, a flicker of relief crossed the Team Leader’s face.

“Tonight, I’ll distract that man. Whether by suggesting we go to the hot spring or drink alcohol. I’ll get him out of the room somehow. In the meantime, Mina, you find his phone.”

“His phone…”

“Yes. Once his phone is out of his hands, we can be free.”

It was an extremely dangerous gamble.

I didn’t even want to imagine the cost of failure.

But, if we succeeded, I could escape from that man.

“…Alright. I’ll do it.”

Once I made up my mind, my heart began to pound wildly, as if it would break my ribs.

Sweat seeped into my palms.

That night, after finishing dinner and returning to the guest room, the Team Leader acted as promised.

She temptingly suggested to Lee Hyunsung that they go to the hot spring, and that man, as if he had been waiting, accepted the offer with a lewd smile.

“Mina, do you want to come too?”

He asked me.

I shook my head, pretending to be as nonchalant as possible.

“No, I’m a bit tired, so I’ll just rest in the room.”

Feeling the two of them leave the guest room behind me, I took a deep breath.

Now, the real work began.

I confirmed their footsteps had completely faded before cautiously approaching his sleeping area.

‘Where could it be… Inside his coat pocket? Or his bag?’

I tried to calm my faintly trembling fingertips and began to thoroughly search where his belongings were placed.

But there was no sign of the phone, neither in his coat pocket nor inside his bag.

‘Damn it! Where is it? Surely he didn’t take it with him?’

Cold sweat trickled down my spine.

My heart felt like it would burst from anxiety.

The Team Leader said she would buy as much time as possible, but I couldn’t know when that man would return.

Perhaps he hid it somewhere else?

I frantically scanned the room, desperately searching for anything that looked like a phone.

Under the pillow?

Inside the blanket?

Not here either.

Where on earth…!

It was then.

A low, cold voice, like a whisper from hell, came from behind me.

“What are you searching for so diligently, Mina?”

“…!”

All the blood in my body froze.

Extreme terror, as if all sound in the world had vanished and my heart had stopped.

Like a creaking wooden doll, even before I could slowly turn my head.

“Gah!”

A thick arm extended from behind me, twisted around my waist, and attacked me from the back.

My vision flipped for a moment, and I was miserably thrown onto the tatami floor.

“To think that even you, with all your cunning, would fall for such a simple trick. You must have been quite desperate, weren’t you?”

Hearing those words immediately afterward, I instinctively knew.

It was a trap, after all.

It was a trap that man had set from the very beginning.

But it was too late to realize it.

The shadow of despair fell over me.