episode_0016

#16. Resolution

“How did it go with Baek Jiyeon?”

“I think it worked out okay.”

“You *think* it worked out? Why aren’t you sure? You two had sex, didn’t you? Didn’t you ask for her impressions or anything?”

“Well… I ended up falling asleep first….”

I was meeting Chaerin on a walking path near my house. She was wearing a baseball cap pulled down low, so I couldn’t see her expression very well.

“…Do you have the ring?”

“Yeah. Just a sec….”

As I reached into my pocket to take out the ring, Chaerin grabbed my arm.

“Don’t take it out yet. Listen without turning around. Someone is following us from behind. Someone from my sister’s side.”

“…What?”

Wait a minute. So, we’re being followed right now?

“My sister wants to know if I’m managing you properly…. She’s already set her sights on you. Do you have a better sense of what Joo Chaebin is like now?”

“Th-then, let’s quickly report it to the police…!”

“We can’t report it. It won’t do any good. Just stick close to me and keep walking for now. That person probably won’t try to get any closer than a certain distance anyway.”

I started walking next to her as naturally as possible, tense. Chaerin lowered her voice and continued.

“Before I tell you why I wanted to see you today… I’ll tell you about what kind of person Namgeon is. It’s a bit long, so listen carefully.”

“Y-yes. I understand.”

She brought up a story about CEO Nam’s past. It was a story she heard directly, and after checking, it turned out to be true.

Namgeon wasn’t someone who had grand ambitions from the start. In his twenties, Namgeon was just another common lowlife, but he had a god-given talent.

When he was young, Namgeon had a woman he was secretly dating. But that woman was the wife of a VIP who was emerging as a new powerhouse in the political and business world. She was in her mid-40s, and Namgeon was in his mid-20s.

At first, the VIP’s wife treated Namgeon like a host. He was nothing more than a toy to entertain her when her husband wasn’t around.

Namgeon knew his place well too. He only went out when Madam contacted him, and he never did anything that would leave a trace.

Madam liked that about Namgeon. She was drawn to the young man who was more prudent than his age and knew how to revere her, unlike her husband.

But even in the midst of all that, Namgeon didn’t act rashly.

He diligently followed Madam around, carrying shopping bags for her, and always escorted her when she got into the car. He recommended famous dermatologists and massage parlors, and of course, he thoroughly grasped her tastes and only gave her what she needed.

After a year, the proud Madam opened her mouth first. She had been living a sexless life with her husband for five years already, and she demanded to know why he didn’t ask for her body.

She had been working hard to take care of her body, hoping to become a little younger by meeting Namgeon, but he was treating her like a queen without saying a word.

Then he said that meeting her was all planned. That powerful figures in the political world were keeping VIP in check, and they had chosen him as one of the means to do so.

But after meeting you, talking to you, and acting together, I saw the true nature of a wife who thinks about her husband. That’s why I couldn’t cross the line, he said.

That didn’t matter to Madam anymore. She had become a woman again after meeting Namgeon.

In her twenties, every time she ruthlessly rejected the men who constantly clung to her, she was able to remind herself of how noble she was.

Born into a good family, graduated from a prestigious university, and married someone worthy of her.

She liked this fate of hers. She thought that this was how the life of the upper class should be.

But the reality was different. Her husband often didn’t come home due to frequent business trips and lobbying activities, and her only daughter had stopped trying to communicate with her family at some point.

Her daughter spent more time with the housekeeper than with her, who was a businesswoman. As such, the relationship between mother and daughter gradually grew apart.

That day, Madam kicked all the employees out of the massage parlor and had Namgeon massage her.

She had been diligently exercising and taking care of her appearance for a year, and at this moment, she was facing her prime. Of course, it was far from her younger days, but Madam’s current appearance boasted a beauty that was worthy of being called a *misi* [married woman].

Namgeon had been waiting for this moment.

He had been waiting for the moment when a woman’s life shines the brightest.

When a woman who has already reached the peak of her career has an even more radiant appearance, she looks for reason. A woman who has found the male that suits her best finally becomes a female.

Before long, Madam forgets even her own age and vows to obey Namgeon. Completely shedding her past noble, strong-willed pretense.

Madam herself offered her newly adult daughter to Namgeon. Her daughter, who had only relied on her parents’ connections and hadn’t broken her habits from her school days, only doing terrible things, became Namgeon’s slave, licking his feet in just a week.

He, who had turned the mother and daughter into his sex toys, ordered them.

He told them to deliberately make her husband, VIP, suspect infidelity to distract him.

The mother and daughter diligently carried out their mission to be loved even a little more by Namgeon.

Madam blatantly had photos taken of herself entering a hotel with another man, confusing VIP, and her daughter deliberately leaked her promiscuous personal life, frequenting clubs.

Until the moment her husband’s suspicion turned into certainty, Namgeon kept the mother and daughter under his control and thoroughly trained them.

VIP, who was slowly collapsing between work and family, eventually had a complete mental breakdown and left the political world, becoming forgotten.

Namgeon’s talent was his overwhelming ‘design ability.’

After perfectly analyzing the target’s personality, family, lover, connections, etc., he provides a bait that suits them. He spent a whole year on Madam, but only a week on her daughter.

There is only a difference in the time it takes to bite the bait, but the target he chooses is bound to bite the bait.

Namgeon has created numerous ‘works’ with his overwhelming talent. As a result, it was only natural that dark connections would accumulate.

He used these connections to create a system so solid that no one could recklessly touch him.

Namgeon, who had built his own kingdom, even established his own foundation. He supported the studies of many students, carrying out projects to help them become great people in the future.

Now, he doesn’t move directly for the ‘target.’ This is because the underlings under the group lure the target into their own society on their own.

“Namgeon is this kind of person. I didn’t have a chance to tell you all this time.”

After hearing Chaerin’s story, I felt nauseous. If what she said was true, then Jiyeon was just another one of his targets.

“To be sleeping soundly without knowing how dangerous your girlfriend is… Ugh, never mind. Now, I’ll tell you what you need to do today.”

She turned her head slightly to check on the person who was following us.

“…Tch. They’re still following us. I guess I’ll have to go all the way to my house like this.”

“All the way to your house? …Me too?”

“Yeah. I’m going to re-educate you there.”

“Re-educate…? What do you mean?”

“Slave education, re-socialization… stuff like that. Damn… I don’t know much about it either since it’s my first time…. Ugh, you should have made sure Baek Jiyeon’s condition was good!”

“W-why are you suddenly like this…! I’m sorry, whatever it is……”

“Shut up. Still, it’s better than you going over to my sister’s side. I live in a one-room apartment near here, you know? Follow me for now.”

………….

It wasn’t until I arrived at Chaerin’s house that I could finally breathe a sigh of relief about being followed. The ‘slave education’ she mentioned earlier was a very chilling word, but I decided to keep quiet for now.

Her small room was very clean and well-organized.

I never thought Chaerin would be this kind of woman—.

“Hey. Why, are you surprised that it’s too clean? …It’s small, but bear with it. I’ve been living here since I was young.”

Chaerin took off her hat and let her hair down. She took off her sweat-soaked short-sleeved shirt and threw it roughly into the laundry basket, then immediately turned on the air conditioner.

“Ah… it’s hot. …What are you staring at like that? I’m smaller than your girlfriend…. Ugh, the bottom is sweaty again.”

As she said, Chaerin was thinner and smaller than Jiyeon, but she had a rare voluptuousness.

When I saw Chaerin lifting the bottom of her bra to cool off the sweat, I quickly closed my eyes and chanted prayers in my head.

“How did you, who I accidentally met at the studio, end up here….”

“Y-yeah, right. Hahaha….”

I gave an awkward laugh. At the time, she didn’t know about Jiyeon’s fitting model news at all. That’s because I hadn’t told her.

While I didn’t know anything, Jiyeon was gradually being influenced by CEO Nam… Damn it, I didn’t want to think about it anymore.

I was just grateful that Chaerin was helping us at this timing.

“I really just joined the club without thinking, and you were there…. We ended up in the same group…. Then your life suddenly got twisted……. Is this a coincidence?”

Chaerin stretched out her arms and legs and lay down as she was. Sweat dripping from her neck slid down her armpits and fell.

“So I was even more excited…. I thought there would be a gap for me to dig into… like in the old days. But I never thought Hong Doyun would be such a useless guy…….”

It was a stabbing remark, but I had nothing to say. It was my fault for not looking after Jiyeon.

“Chaerin…. But what exactly is re-education… how exactly do you educate me?”

“Do you want to know? …There is a curriculum, but I don’t know about it. But the key is this. Female master and male slave. The male slave must unconditionally obey the female master. Because he’s a slave. That’s the purpose of the management I mentioned at the beginning.”

“Your sister… Chaebin *Noona* [older sister] wants to make me that way?”

“Hmm… When did Joo Chaebin *Sajang* [CEO] become Chaebin Noona…? Anyway, you’re right. But accepting an ordinary student like you as a member of the underworld isn’t easy systematically. Even if you completely surrender.”

“I won’t surrender. Jiyeon won’t either.”

“You talk a good game.”

She muttered, looking at the ceiling and letting out a hollow laugh.

“I have no intention of educating you. …It might be a little surprising, but I’m not into that kind of thing. But my sister will ask me to show results. I can’t refuse that. That’s how big Joo Chaebin’s power is in that world. The reason why we were followed today is exactly that.”

“If I… don’t show results, what happens?”

“It’ll proceed as planned. People around you, except for you……. Ugh. I can’t say it because it makes me sick. It’s better not to know.”

I had nowhere to run anymore. I felt that if I just kept watching like this, things would gradually become irreversible.

That’s right. I can normalize everything again now. And the only way to do that is for me to become Chaerin’s slave.

“Chaerin. Let’s not do it half-assed.”

“……?”

“If we’re going to buy time, this is the only way. Have you educate me so that Chaebin Noona doesn’t suspect anything. In the meantime, I’ll try to do something about Jiyeon.”