Chapter 49: The Twisted Savior [R-18]

Seojin didn’t answer him.

No words came to mind. Her head throbbed, and her stomach was still in knots. Her mouth was parched, a bitter taste rising from the back of her tongue. As if she could eat anything right now.

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together firmly.

Taking a breath, she swallowed it back down as if fighting a wave of nausea, then slowly turned her head.

She deliberately averted her gaze and spoke.

“…Do as you please.”

Rio watched her profile for a moment.

The slightly rumpled hem of her dress, her shoulders hunched as if holding her breath, and the silence that draped over them both.

Then, the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.

“Alright, then.”

Tap.

The hand that had been resting on the newspaper on his lap moved to cover the back of her hand. Seojin flinched, but Rio said nothing, his fingers slowly stroking her skin.

“If you say that now,” he began.

His voice was playful, but his eyes were not.

“Can I take that to mean I can really do whatever I want?”

At his words, Seojin’s head snapped back toward him. The moment their eyes met, a cold sweat trickled down the nape of her neck.

“I just told you. Do what you want.”

Rio chuckled lightly. Watching him, Seojin swallowed hard. Without even a sip of water to rinse her mouth, her stomach twisted until it felt hot.

“Ugh.”

The sound escaped her lips.

“No, I… No. You can’t. I don’t think I can eat right now.”

Rio’s eyebrow arched slightly. Before she could see his full reaction, Seojin rushed to add more.

“You should… eat by yourself.”

She slowly rose from her seat. The scrape of the chair cut through the quiet air of the hotel lobby as she untangled her neatly folded hands and pulled down the hem of her skirt.

The fabric of the dress, which had ridden up her inner thigh, slid down her skin and fell back into place.

“…Excuse me, I need to use the restroom. I don’t have a way to contact you, so… I’ll wait here for you when you’re done eating.”

Her voice kept breaking from the nausea. Without another look at him, Seojin stood up and walked away. She hurried her steps, causing her chest to bounce and the thin shoulder straps to feel as if they might slip.

She moved as if she were fleeing.

“…Hm.”

Watching her retreating back, Rio let out a short, breathy laugh.

*

“…Hahk…!”

Sinking to her knees before the toilet, Seojin threw up everything inside her.

She couldn’t tell if she was purging the alcohol or the emotions she had swallowed down all night. Only after several heaves did her stomach settle for a moment. She braced herself against the wall with a trembling hand.

She made her way to the sink but couldn’t bring herself to look up at the mirror, leaning on her arms with her head bowed.

She didn’t have the courage to lift her gaze. More than ever, she didn’t want to admit that the wretched woman reflected in the mirror was her.

“…Hah…”

She exhaled a long breath.

Her legs were shaking. Carefully holding the thin straps to keep them from slipping off her shoulders, she leaned against the sink, her body trembling minutely.

It was then.

The soft sound of a door opening echoed in the quiet restroom.

“Mom, this won’t come off—”

A clear voice. It was followed by the gentle footsteps of someone else entering.

“Let’s try washing it with water.”

Seojin flinched, her back stiffening reflexively. She quickly raised her left arm.

“…I’m sorry.”

It was an instinct she didn’t even understand herself.

She covered her face with her arm, as if to block the child’s gaze.

“Could you… please go somewhere else?”

Her voice was low and trembling.

The mother and daughter were silent. A moment of stillness passed. The child looked at Seojin with a bewildered expression, but the mother forced a gentle curve onto her lips.

“Honey, it looks like the lady… is sick and resting.”

“Why is she resting here?”

An elegant voice, a calm gait. The mother explained that sometimes people do that when they’re very sick. Without another word, she wrapped an arm around her child’s shoulders and led her away.

Behind the closing door, even the sound of their shoes faded into silence.

Seojin remained with her head buried in her arm, hiding her face. She was ashamed.

It wasn’t that anyone had recognized her. It was the fact that she felt like a shameful creature, even to a child she didn’t know.

Fortunately, her steps back to the lobby, where she assumed he would be gone, didn’t feel heavy. But when she rounded the corner and saw the spot where they had been sitting, Seojin froze.

Rio was still sitting on the sofa. He was talking to someone, laughing with a familiar, leisurely air.

“Haha.”

Wanting to face no one, Seojin waited until the person left before quietly approaching him. She stood before him, her eyes downcast, and spoke briefly.

“…You’re not eating.”

At her words, Rio looked up.

“I ate plenty late last night. I was trying to get you to eat, but you said you couldn’t, right?”

He then gestured upward with his chin.

“—I was going to take you upstairs.”

His tone was light and glib. It was the attitude of a man who treated women according to his mood, pushing aside troublesome matters with a flick of his wrist.

In truth, to him, Seojin was simply a ‘variable’ whose condition had suddenly soured.

She was stumbling and throwing up. He had no desire to put her in a car to go anywhere, and paying any mind to her condition didn’t suit his personality.

So, it was much simpler to just stick her in a room.

But Seojin couldn’t read the undercurrent in his words. All she needed right now was a wall—anyone, anything—to hide behind.

At a time when everything from the weight of the air on her chest to the people who passed by without a glance felt unbearable, Rio’s words became her salvation.

“…Okay.”

With that short reply, Seojin readjusted the straps of her dress over her chest and slowly followed him.

He rose without a word, offered her his hand, and pressed the elevator button with a practiced motion as they walked together.

Seojin stood right beside him but didn’t meet his eyes. She simply followed where he led.

For a brief moment, a mixture of relief and exhaustion melted over her, and her eyelids slowly closed. Whatever his intentions were for taking her upstairs, it was fine for now.

As long as that room could hide her, even for a little while.

As they entered the room and the door clicked shut, Seojin let out a long sigh of relief.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’m clearing my schedule for the afternoon.”

As if he were a different person from the one who had been so mischievous in the lobby, Rio sat on the edge of the bed, kicked off his shoes, and leaned back, practically lying down. He propped an arm behind his head and immediately focused on his phone.

Seojin hesitated for a moment at the sight, then turned away.

The sofa in the living room.

A place far from him in the bedroom. Seojin walked toward it. And with a soft groan, a stifled sigh, she lowered herself onto the sofa.

“…Haaah…”

The feeling of the fabric clinging to her skin. The straps pressing against her chest felt suffocating.

Finally, now that she didn’t have to go anywhere, her body sank into the cushions. But in that state, it was surprisingly difficult to lie down comfortably.

The cleavage created by pushing up her breasts was excessive for her current reclined position, and the fabric wrapped around her waist seemed to grip her just below the ribs.

“…Ngh…”

With a small whimper, Seojin shifted her body.

She glanced over the back of the sofa toward the bedroom where he was, but sensing no movement, she sank back down as if to hide and swallowed once.

Carefully, Seojin raised a hand and took hold of the shoulder strap.

She pulled it down slightly, to just below her breasts.

Rustle.

As the fabric slid down, her ribcage expanded just a little. Only then could she breathe comfortably.

That was all.

As she savored the freedom of an unconstricted breath, sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling window, softly enveloping her skin.

The throbbing headache that had been knocking at her senses seemed to be fading. In that liberating sensation, Seojin’s eyelids slowly drifted shut.

Ding—

The room service bell rang. Rio quietly got up and walked to the door.

When he opened it, he found two trays on a cart. One held a cup of black coffee, the other a glass filled with a hangover remedy.

“Enjoy your time, sir.”

Rio just nodded at the staff member. Taking only the coffee cup, leaving the saucer behind, he took a sip. The bitter flavor spread deep inside his mouth.

It felt like loosening his own leash. That was enough.

“Kang Seojin.”

Walking toward the living room, Rio called her name softly.

But there was no answer.

In the living room, on the sofa bathed in sunlight, what he saw wasn’t a haggard woman gasping from a hangover, but a woman sleeping peacefully, her large breasts completely exposed.

The dress had slipped down, and her entire chest, down to the undersides of her breasts, rose and fell with her quiet breaths.

No. The dress hadn’t just slipped. She had taken it off. The straps had naturally slid off her arms and lay loosely below her waistline along with the fabric that had once covered her chest.

Her skin was wrapped only in sunlight and the soft sofa cushions. Her long, black hair spilled over her shoulders and cascaded beside her cheek, covering the area below her collarbone.

The sight was strangely still, and in that, it was perfect. To him, Seojin was far better to look at now, lying there silently, than when she had been a nuisance earlier.

More than anything, it turned him on.

He briefly registered that he had no free hands, set everything down on the TV table, and approached her side.

Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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