128. Damage Control

…What is this situation?

Why is the Manager standing outside the window after I woke up?

Why are Hinami and that guy facing each other right across the way?

My head is throbbing, so I can’t quite understand.

“…How long did I sleep?”

First, I turn on the phone in my hand to check the time.

It’s definitely more than 10 minutes past the time we should have arrived.

…Was I that tired to fall into such a deep sleep?

No matter how I think about it, I wasn’t that tired.

“Ah, excuse me. Jia-ssi…”

“Jia…”

The Manager and Hinami call out to me from outside the window.

It seemed so unreal, like a scene from a dream.

I doubted if I was still asleep, so I pinched my cheek.

The incoming pain confirmed that this wasn’t a dream, though.

Which made it even more suspicious.

Why.

Why was Hinami, who should have gotten off at her place first, here with me now?

While that guy was supposedly bringing Hinami, who had gone into her house.

…Why on earth did the Manager wait without waking me up?

“…”

I’ve slept in the car many times, but I’ve rarely passed out so hard that I couldn’t wake up even when nudged.

Unless the schedule was so ridiculously tight that I couldn’t sleep at all.

I’ve never passed out so hard that I didn’t even dream, let alone just being unable to distinguish between dream and reality while asleep.

Today was different; I had slept enough.

So the time I was asleep was completely,

this situation where I have absolutely no memory of it felt incredibly bizarre.

“Move aside.”

Because of that strange sense of déjà vu, I opened the car door and leaned out towards them.

Pushing aside the Manager leaning against the driver’s side.

I picked up the coffee can, lid still on, sitting there alone, and examined the inside under the light.

…I hadn’t noticed it earlier, but.

Just slightly.

There was some unidentifiable sediment left inside.

I wanted to think it was cigarette ash,

but there wasn’t even a smell of smoke in the car.

“…”

Staring intently into the can, I whipped my head around to look at the Manager.

Not just flustered.

His face was filled with sheer terror as he avoided my gaze.

…Hah.

The suspicion that was merely a spark ignited into a blazing inferno.

I had heard of cases like this before, but since it was coffee, which is inherently bitter, I hadn’t noticed anything.

To think it would happen to me.

“…Manager-nim.”

“Yes, yes…”

“Do you want to go to the police station like this, or do you want to shut your mouth forever and quit your job?”

“…”

That fake face now felt utterly disgusting.

I never dreamed someone who acted so saintly would do something like this.

I knew he had feelings for me beyond a professional relationship, but… I never imagined he’d commit such a dangerous act.

I blurted out the words to the Manager, who stood frozen, sweating buckets.

Then, I handed the coffee can in my hand to Hinami, who was standing there blankly, seemingly unable to grasp the situation.

“Um, Jia…?”

“It’s evidence, so hold onto it for now.”

“…”

With my free hand, I held my throbbing forehead, trying to organize my thoughts.

Starting with why he tried to make me drink this.

…Thinking realistically.

It must have been a sexual offense.

Touching me, or secretly filming me.

But judging by the fact that my clothes weren’t disheveled, it seemed like nothing too dangerous had happened.

The interior probably wasn’t recorded by the black box either….

“…Manager-nim. If you have a mouth, could you please answer me?”

“…”

While pressuring the Manager, who remained tight-lipped, I glanced sideways at Hinami and the guy looking into the coffee can.

…Honestly, I think that guy is cut from a similar cloth,

but at least right now.

in this situation, he probably wouldn’t do anything reckless.

Compared to him, I couldn’t imagine how far the Manager would go.

It wouldn’t be strange if a knife suddenly appeared from the hand tucked into his pocket.

Does a person who drugs someone with sleeping pills even have boundaries?

So, just in case, I stealthily,

started walking behind that guy.

“Um, can you just…”

The moment I was completely behind the guy.

“Ouch…!”

The Manager swung his arm towards the can in Hinami’s hand,

leaving a slight scratch on her delicate skin, snatching the evidence.

He then bolted past us, running like a madman.

“…That crazy bastard.”

But.

As soon as I saw him run,

Kang Joo-hyuk, who was in front of me, dashed out without a second thought to chase the Manager.

Before they were even far from my sight,

the Manager was pinned down by Kang Joo-hyuk, sputtering and caught in a pathetic heap.

“Haaak… Let go, you fucking bastard…”

“What the hell are you?”

The coffee can the Manager had stolen rolled away, ting, ting, across the floor.

I moved closer to Kang Joo-hyuk, who was expertly subduing his hands.

The Manager thrashed wildly, his head buried in the ground, but all it did was scrape his cheek on the asphalt.

He couldn’t escape the man whose physique vastly overpowered him.

“Let go, you son of a bitch! Fuck, I’ll sue you for assault, you crazy bastard!”

“Go ahead, you moron. You’re talking a lot after scratching someone else’s woman and making her bleed, you psycho.”

Picking up the coffee can rolling on the ground, I slipped it into my pocket, just in case he tried to snatch it again.

Then, completely unable to comprehend the situation,

with a bewildered look, holding her slightly bleeding wrist.

I stopped Hinami, who was trailing behind me.

I turned on my phone and pointed the lens at the Manager pinned to the ground.

“Excuse me, Manager-nim.”

“…”

“…It was sleeping pills, right? In the coffee.”

“…”

The mouth that had been spewing harsh words just moments ago

snapped shut instantly at my question.

“If you don’t answer, I’ll assume that’s what it was and report it immediately.”

“No. Fuck, it wasn’t that…!”

“…Then what was it, you psycho stalker bastard.”

“…”

I used strong words to force him to speak,

but he only mumbled excuses, unable to offer any real explanation.

Not knowing how to resolve this at all, I was carefully choosing my words, which were stuck in my throat.

“…Fuck. Let go. If you don’t, I’ll leak all of this to the reporters.”

“What?”

“You, you. Hinami. Out with a guy at this hour. I’ll spill it all, you sons of bitches. Not just you, I’ll spill everything about your seniors too, you fucking bitches…”

…The Manager.

breathing heavily in the empty street,

tried to blackmail us instead.

“…Uh, excuse me…”

“Hold on.”

The guy gestured Hinami, who was nervously trying to approach, to wait, then forcefully pressed down on the Manager’s head to shut his mouth.

…Could such force and violence really calm this situation?

From his perspective, he was cornered and spewing nonsense, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t hitting close to home.

Nothing would be more disadvantageous to us

than the Manager actually leaking everything to the press.

“Hey, Seo Jia.”

“Yes.”

“Fuck, what should we do about this? This is beyond my ability to handle?”

“…I don’t know either.”

Even Kang Joo-hyuk couldn’t find an answer,

making this situation incredibly uncomfortable for all four of us.

Hinami, Kang Joo-hyuk, and I were in positions where scandals couldn’t happen.

And the Manager could face jail time if he couldn’t get out of this situation.

“Haa…”

For that reason, Kang Joo-hyuk scratched his head vigorously, sighed deeply,

then reached out to me, who was recording, and waved his palm, saying,

“…Contact someone who can fire this guy.”

“…The Director?”

For a moment,

I hesitated, wondering if I should inform the agency about this situation.

“I don’t know who it is, but can they fire someone and sweep this under the rug without any issues?”

“…Yes.”

“Then contact them. …First, we need to get this bastard fired.”

I took out my work phone from my pocket.

I dialed the number of the most trustworthy person with the authority among my contacts.

-Hello? Jia, what’s up after work…

“…The Manager caused an accident.”

-Hey, wait. What? Was it a traffic accident?

“No, it’s something else…”

As soon as I revealed my identity to the Director.

“Hello? You’re the agency Director, right? …Your Manager drugged Seo Jia-ssi with sleeping pills, and we caught him. So I’m calling you.”

-…Yes, yes? Who is this?

He snatched my phone and revealed everything that had happened,

“I’m Jia’s older sister’s boyfriend. Her lover was worried because her sister wasn’t answering, so I went down to check and witnessed it. We live downstairs from my fiancée.”

“Hey you, son of a bitch, that’s a lie… Keuk……”

Erasing Hinami’s presence, which shouldn’t have been there,

using my sister as a pretext to fabricate a story,

while covering the Manager’s mouth, I relayed the facts.

-Um, yes? What? Sleeping pills? The, the Manager?

“I’m not sure exactly, whether it was sleeping pills or drugs… Anyway, he put something in the drink? So, could you possibly come here right now? It’s in front of Seo Jia’s house. We’ve got him held down, but it’s not good if this becomes a news story.”

-Ah, yes. Yes, yes. Yes! I’ll be there quickly. Wait, Jia…

“Just a moment.”

After conveying only the essential points,

he handed the phone back to me and asked Hinami to go bring my sister.

-Hey, Jia. What the hell is this? Is it all true?

“…Yes, it’s true.”

-…This is insane. Don’t hang up, just wait. I’m coming.

“Okay.”

…Just as I had expected.

Watching Kang Joo-hyuk, who intended to cover up and erase this incident,

I

felt nothing towards him.

Even amidst such an emotional situation,

his strangely calm demeanor

was quite chilling.