#36.

Park Min-ah walked into the apartment complex with heavy steps. As the sun set and twilight descended, her legs were already moving towards the management office. Seeing the light seeping through the window, her heart began to beat rapidly.

‘Could it be… is the manager-nim there at this hour?’

With curious eyes, Park Min-ah tiptoed towards the office. This time, the blinds were down, so she couldn’t see inside clearly, but she heard a faint sound. It was a woman’s voice.

Holding her breath, she pressed her ear closer. The sound she heard made Park Min-ah’s eyes widen. The sound of a man and woman breathing heavily, the sound of flesh colliding… a violent noise of bodies crashing together echoed.

The sound was so familiar that Park Min-ah involuntarily covered her mouth. She felt breathless and her head was spinning. Goosebumps rose all over her body and her legs gave way.

‘No way… already another woman…?!’

Overwhelmed by shock and betrayal, Park Min-ah staggered away from the spot. Tears threatened to spill, but she desperately held them back. The fact that another woman was rolling around with him in the place that should have been hers was horrifying. Clutching her crumbling heart, she trudged home.

Opening the front door, Park Min-ah collapsed onto the bed. She buried her face in the pillow and sobbed. The suppressed tears finally burst forth.

“Why… why can’t I be the one…? I should have been there…”

Weeping bitterly, she blamed herself. She shouldn’t have rejected Lee-han. She should have responded to his desires. That way, she could have kept her place. Regret washed over her, but she knew it was already too late.

“Please don’t do this… please come back to me…”

–

The next day, late in the evening, Park Min-ah was walking down a path she had become all too familiar with. Her steps towards the management office, cutting across the apartment complex, were heavy. Arriving in front of the darkened building, she cautiously approached the window.

A faint light seeped through the window. With trembling hands, Park Min-ah pressed her ear to the glass. Sadly, the sound she dreaded was there again. The heavy breathing of a man and woman, the noise of bodies colliding… the revelry of that night she had spent with Lee-han was being replayed in its entirety.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. The place that had been special to her, their own secret space, was being defiled. It was being filled with the movements and moans of another woman. Park Min-ah’s heart felt like it was breaking into pieces from unbearable betrayal and humiliation.

‘I… I shouldn’t have pushed him away first…’

Regret surged like a tide. Lee-han’s last words flashed through her mind.

[It’s Min-ah-ssi’s choice.]

She resented herself for rejecting him even after hearing those words. She didn’t want to lose him. She wanted to be with him. But what good was regret now?

Leaning against the wall, Park Min-ah sank to the ground and sobbed, stifling her cries. Inside, the sounds of lust still leaked out. The moans of the two people echoed in her ears, driving her crazy. She gritted her teeth and gasped for breath, but she couldn’t leave.

After a long time of crying silently, Park Min-ah staggered to her feet. With a face stained with tears, she trudged away from the office. Her empty eyes were filled with despair.

Her figure, walking unsteadily through the whistling wind, looked utterly pathetic. She sighed deeply and muttered.

“Please… just stop now…”

But the words became a faint echo, scattering into the empty night air. She didn’t know how much longer she would have to endure this pain, or how many more times she would have to hear the chilling noises coming from the office. Deeply immersed in despair and anguish, Park Min-ah headed home. Endless darkness was swallowing her up.

Park Min-ah entered the house with heavy steps. Standing in front of the mirror, her eyes were firm and unwavering. Slowly reaching out, she caressed the mirror and quietly muttered.

“Now… this is the last time. I won’t let him go again.”

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Park Min-ah whispered resolutely. With trembling hands, she began to undo the buttons of her top one by one. Then, she threw off her bra. The bare skin revealed beneath her T-shirt was clear.

It was what he liked, what he always demanded. To seduce him with a body unencumbered by underwear. Now, Park Min-ah had decided not to hesitate any longer.

Across the apartment complex, where darkness had settled thickly, she headed towards the brightly lit management office. Her heart was racing like crazy, but she didn’t stop walking. Reaching the door, Park Min-ah paused for a moment, gasping for breath. Before raising her trembling hand to knock, she made a vow to herself.

‘I am… his.’

As Park Min-ah opened the door, the hot air filling the office washed over her face. A shocking sight unfolded before her eyes. Lee-han and a woman were entangled, passionately entwined. The woman’s body undulated like waves with Lee-han’s rough movements, and suppressed moans and harsh breaths echoed.

“Aht…! No…!”

The woman, who had been lying face down, screamed in surprise at the sound of the door opening. Park Min-ah recognized Han Su-jin in her face.

NUhQays3bWtpcW9BdFhzOHVxWnNOckQrSDhWUnlWWWpSeXBlbWtrem5QNjBmSGdvc0pEaGk4ZXFKTEFIZnVKeg

“Please… stop it!”

Han Su-jin pleaded, pushing Lee-han away with all her might. But Lee-han only thrust his hips more violently. Han Su-jin’s resistance was useless. With a face contorted in pain, she collapsed onto the desk and groaned.

Park Min-ah stood by the door, holding her breath as she watched the scene. Unbearable betrayal and anger surged, but at the same time, she felt a strange excitement rising.

Soon, Lee-han stopped moving with a loud groan, and Han Su-jin’s body trembled, making gasping sounds. Eventually, Lee-han smiled with satisfaction and pulled away from Han Su-jin’s body. Han Su-jin, limp, lay face down on the desk, panting.

Lee-han slowly got up and approached Park Min-ah. Park Min-ah, her face stained with tears, looked up at him. Her throat was choked, and she barely managed to open her mouth.

“I… I’m sorry… please don’t abandon me…”

Park Min-ah pleaded in a trembling voice. Lee-han stared down at her silently.

“You’re prepared, aren’t you?”

Lee-han asked in a calm voice. Park Min-ah stammered as she began to undo her buttons. Soon, she opened her clothes, revealing her white, shining breasts without a bra. Nodding, she leaned her body towards Lee-han.

Lee-han smirked and stared at Park Min-ah. Soon, he turned and went to the drawer, took something out, and walked towards Park Min-ah. It was the black choker that Park Min-ah had been wearing before.

“Wear it.”

At Lee-han’s words, Park Min-ah took the choker and, with trembling hands, put it around her own neck. Lee-han pulled her close and whispered.

“Now you’re mine forever…”

Park Min-ah shuddered at the hot breath brushing against her ear. Finally… she was becoming his. A sense of relief washed over her. In Lee-han’s arms, Park Min-ah lost all tension.

Lost in Lee-han’s scent, Park Min-ah lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep. Han Su-jin was still slumped on the desk. Only a dark silence flowed in the office, filled with lust and betrayal.

Lee-han carefully picked up the sleeping Park Min-ah and moved her to a bed in a corner of the office. He gently laid her down and covered her with a blanket. Han Su-jin staggered to her feet and straightened her clothes. Then, with faltering steps, she approached Lee-han.

“You crazy bastard!”

Slap! Han Su-jin’s palm struck Lee-han’s cheek. Lee-han turned his head and only twisted up the corner of his mouth.

“Why, what’s wrong? You already knew.”

“You… you’re going to hell!”

Han Su-jin spat out through gritted teeth. Her body trembled with anger and betrayal. Lee-han stroked Han Su-jin’s tear-stained cheek. It was a gentle and dangerous touch, like comforting a child.

“Shh… it’s okay. I won’t go to hell alone.”

Lee-han whispered with a chilling smile in his dark eyes. His gaze pointed out Han Su-jin’s sin. Her fault in colluding to shatter an innocent soul.

Han Su-jin lowered her head and sobbed. She hated and loathed herself for leading Park Min-ah down the path of corruption, blinded by jealousy. She regretted to the core the fact that she had superimposed her pain onto someone else’s suffering.

“It’s the hell we made… so it’s only natural that we go together.”

Lee-han’s arms, speaking slowly like a snake, wrapped around Han Su-jin. He murmured comfortingly into Han Su-jin’s ear, who was crying sadly.

“Don’t worry. You won’t be lonely in hell. We’ll be together forever.”

It was a chillingly sweet voice. Han Su-jin buried herself in Lee-han’s arms and wept. It was an abyss she had fallen into herself, from which no one could save her.

Pitch-black darkness descended on the office, where a fishy smell and lust lingered. On the bed, Park Min-ah writhed and groaned. It was a struggle to lose the light of purity.

–

The white-haired old man couldn’t take his eyes off the scene unfolding on the screen. In a playground, a young woman was entangled with a man, their bodies intertwined. The woman’s body convulsed violently, then she saw something and began to tremble in terror. The man was smiling and comforting her as she burst into tears.

As the old man’s gaze followed the screen, the scene changed. A glimpse of the man holding a phone and giving instructions to a woman flashed by. Then, a scene appeared of a man and woman entangled in a recycling area. With violent movements, the woman was surprised but frantically shook her hips.

At that moment, the woman who had received the phone call began to linger near the recycling area. The woman’s figure was caught on the screen along with the moans of the woman reaching her climax, but she soon left the spot. Her figure, acting as if led by something, felt familiar.

The screen switched again. The woman’s figure was zoomed in. She was crying, clutching her chest. Deep despair was felt in the way she put a choker around her neck with trembling hands.

As the video ended, a chilling smile spread across the white-haired old man’s face. He stared at the screen with ruthless eyes, as if admiring dolls, and muttered as he deleted the video.

“Hmm… satisfactory.”

The old man smacked his lips as he recalled the images of the women in the monitor. Eyes trembling with fear, suppressed moans, faces stained with despair. All of that came to him as untainted pleasure.

But what captivated his interest more than anything was Lee-han. Once a young man with pure and vague dreams, he was now becoming a cunning villain. The old man even felt a morbid satisfaction in Lee-han’s appearance, manipulating and trampling on women.

He was ecstatic at the sensation of blackening a blank canvas. With a murky laugh, the old man slowly left the office.