episode_0137

Lately, I’ve been feeling somewhat spaced out more often.

Even though I was aware of it myself, shaking off that disconnected feeling was proving to be difficult.

“Aren’t you paying attention?”

It was the same even while working.

I heard whispers about being absent-minded as my part-time job was nearing its end, but getting my mind back on track wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

“Why am I like this?”

Even when I asked myself, the frustration lingered.

I knew the answer but didn’t feel like pondering over it.

It must be because of Seo Yerin.

Seeing her, who worked as an actress, made me unusually unsettled.

I was well aware that it was a kind of obsession and possessiveness, disgusting emotions.

I had some of this with my ex-girlfriend too.

Oh Yoonji used to complain to me that she seemed to have strong attachment and jealousy issues, but truth be told, I was quite fixated on her back then.

Reflecting on how I fell apart after she left easily revealed how obsessive I had been.

But feeling such emotions towards Seo Yerin…

“What are you doing?”

Yu Arin said to me as I stood there absentmindedly holding onto the cart.

She was someone who had been making me feel more at ease lately.

“The one who used to work so well can’t even do their job properly now, so where do we go from here?”

She kept teasing me every time she saw me.

“Let’s go, then.”

Dragging the cart, I briskly moved my feet.

Yet, even as I pressed the elevator button, the turmoil in my mind didn’t dissipate.

Turmoil.

Yes, my current state seemed to be precisely defined by that.

My head was in a tangled mess, feeling not only disillusionment towards myself but also anguish and jealousy rising within me.

“This is annoying.”

There were times when I disliked myself greatly.

This time, it was just one of many self-loathing feelings.

I decided to push through it.

* * *

“They say we need to clear out this room?”

After work.

Yu Arin and I found ourselves in the hotel room where we had spent the night in the past.

The room given by my sister-in-law and older brother’s secretary.

We thought we could make good use of it, but in reality, we only used it once with Yu Arin.

There was no sense of regret.

Instead, I felt like the room had served its purpose well.

Clearing out the room wasn’t the issue.

“What should we do with these?”

It was the adult items inside that were the problem. Seeing them piled up like a mountain made my tongue involuntarily click.

When I asked, Yu Arin, looking flustered, scratched her cheek and replied.

“They’re asking us to take them?”

“….”

What are we supposed to do with these?

“Let’s divide them between what you’ll take and what I’ll take for now.”

As I suggested, pointing my thumb, Yu Arin made a face indicating annoyance and proposed.

“Can’t we just throw them all away?”

“Most of them are still unopened. Besides, looking at the brands, many of them seem quite expensive.”

“How would Jin Gong know that?”

“….”

Pretending not to hear, she randomly picked something up. It happened to be a squishy onahole, which felt disgusting to touch, but still.

“But they do seem expensive.”

Nodding in agreement, Yu Arin.

Fascinated by the texture of the squishy onahole, I couldn’t stop playing around with it.

“If it’s the Vice Chairman, he wouldn’t use cheap stuff.”

Suddenly, I froze in place.

Looking at Yu Arin in disbelief, she shrugged her shoulders.

“They were meant for you guys to use. So, maybe they did use these…”

“Oh, damn!”

I yelled, throwing the onahole that might have been used by the Chairman back and forth on the floor.

Oh, damn.

It turned out there truly were abysses one shouldn’t delve into.

The tower of adult items in front of me was the kind of thing that should never have been built.

A modern-day Babel tower constructed by the obscurity of the present.

“Let’s just throw them all away.”

As I firmly stated, Yu Arin showed a somewhat ambiguous reaction.

Despite suggesting we discard them earlier, upon realizing the value of these items, she seemed a bit hesitant.

“Shall we take it instead of throwing it away for now? We could sell it on a platform like Used Goods Market.”

“Are you really buying this kind of stuff on the Used Goods Market?”

Even if there are some new items, selling adult products on the Used Goods Market seems a bit off.

Yu Arin was speechless when she reconsidered her own actions.

“No, but why should we deal with this? It’s just one handcuff that has been used!”

As I raised the handcuffs that Yu Arin and I had used last time and exclaimed, the guy’s face turned red.

He seemed to be squirming uncomfortably, and I thought he was trying to seduce me or something.

I almost burst out laughing.

“I’ll talk to my older brother about this.”

I immediately called the person involved in this situation.

We didn’t talk very often, but this needed to be clarified.

After a few rings, my older brother’s voice came through.

– You’ve been calling quite frequently lately. What’s going on now?

Since my older brother was straightforward, I got straight to the point as well.

“Isn’t it your responsibility to clean up after using these things in the room?”

– Room?

“You gave Yu Arin a room key at Hotel C. Room 909. You’ve stored adult products there.”

– What are you talking about?

“Do you really not know? Then who did your wife use this with? Can we consider it cheating on her? Should I call Mom right now?”

– …Don’t.

“Why can’t you admit that you used it yourself?”

– I didn’t use it.

“Sure, you bought them but didn’t use them, right?”

– ……

“Damn, seriously.”

I sighed as I tapped my forehead. The items in front of me felt impure.

“Oh, I really want to throw up, but let’s finish this conversation first. What are we going to do? Take these with us.”

– Use them or sell them as you please. Most of the items are unused anyway.

“Just tell me what’s been used. If the packaging is opened, it’s considered used, right? I’ll just throw those away.”

– ……

“…Don’t act innocent.”

– Among my peers, I’m relatively clean. Here, it’s all about lovers; there are only four of us.

I wanted to badmouth them, but I couldn’t because Yu Arin was looking at me.

I’m not in a position to criticize anyone about relationships.

– But I’m hungry.

“What now?”

Stop beating around the bush.

– I won’t support you separately, neither will Mom nor I.

Yeah, Mom secretly gave me some pocket money to use.

She tucked it into my pocket for emergency expenses.

– Then why not try selling some of those things using that money? There are many items that haven’t been opened.

“So, anything with opened packaging is considered used, I see.”

– ……

Yu Arin was organizing the opened and unopened items at that moment.

“Who would have…?”

I was about to say something when suddenly an idea struck me.

“I think something might work out.”

After hanging up, I called Chanwoo and got someone’s number from him.

A few minutes later.

– Hello?

A somewhat neutral voice.

It might give you chills down your spine, but I remained calm and said:

“Do you remember me?”

– Oh, I do remember. We had a good time that night.

“It wasn’t me; it was Chanwoo who had a good time with you.”

The bald man didn’t deny it even though he smiled.

Thankfully.

“Do you happen to buy adult products? We have some unopened ones here, but they’re expensive.”

Later, I found out from Chanwoo that the shop owner where we bought adult products was none other than the bald man.

He has a way with words.

I slightly suspected that the bald man might have been the one who led us drunkenly to that place.

– Can you take a picture and send it to me?

“Sure.”

After asking Yu Arin to come out, I took a picture and sent it to him.

His reaction was intense.

– Wow? Only expensive brands are here? Are you really just going to sell these?

“We have some attachment to them, so we’ll give you a discount.”

It’s difficult to handle anyway.

Even if it’s cheaper, as long as money comes in, isn’t that a good thing?

– But what about the opened ones next to it?

“Ah, those are used goods.”

– …Did you use them?

Why does it feel like my taste is coming back?

Damn.

“Damn.”

– ……

“I’m sorry.”

– No, that could happen.

“But isn’t regaining your taste a bit over the line?”

– Sorry, I salivated. I made a mistake.

Even if someone has manners, if they didn’t speak nicely, you could just curse at them coolly, but that’s not the case here.

“It wasn’t me, someone else used it. Are you interested? It’s a used item.”

– Who used it?

“If you know, does it make a difference?”

– The price could go down or up depending on the face, roughly a 0.5 to 1.5 times difference?

“Wait a moment.”

He immediately calls his older brother.

“Hyung, I’m trying to sell a masturbator that you used to a bald gay guy right now, can you send me a picture?”

– …What?

“I’m trying to sell a dirty adult product that you used to a bald guy who said he’d pay double if I show him your face. But I don’t carry your picture on my phone.”

– Don’t do it.

“You won’t send it?”

– Do you think I will?

*Sigh.*

“I guess there’s no other way. Should I just use the vice president’s picture from your company website?”

– Just leave it.

“This is mine now. What are you saying? If you don’t send the picture, I’ll cut ties.”

– Double.

“Sir, your tongue is too sharp, so the price went up in the middle. It’s 2.5 times now.”

– Stop joking.

“Yes, 3 times.”

– Phew.

“4 times?”

– Let’s compromise at 2.5 times.

*Sigh.* Fine. What will you do with that? I’ll just consider it as a favor from you and sell it to the bald guy.”

– …3 times.

“Hyung, thank you!”

– Making me swear after a long time.

“But if your negotiation skills are only that good, are you really a vice president? Give up.”

– This bastard…

Thud.

Damn it.

It’s payback for when he insulted me last time.

“What did you decide?”

Yuarin, who had finished organizing, asked with a bright smile, and I replied by giving a thumbs up.

“Unused items slightly below retail price, used items three times the retail price.”

“How did the deal end up like that?”

I grinned at Yuarin, who was puzzled.

“Shall we go eat beef?”

“Beef!”

The doubts that were there just vanished as Yuarin’s eyes lit up at the mention of beef, humming a tune.