episode_0005

“Dad’s home….”

Lately, I’ve been coming home with a constant sense of tension. It’s because I never know when Yoohee might start up again.

Still, the dinner side dishes are neatly prepared on the kitchen table, and I picked up my spoon gratefully.

“As delicious as ever.”

She somehow knows I like stew dishes and often prepares them for me. Today, she made soybean paste stew with chunks of tofu scattered throughout.

I enjoy tofu a lot, especially the pieces soaked in the stew’s flavorful broth. Just like how meat releases its juices when chewed, biting into tofu releases either stew broth or oil—it’s delicious, anyway.

Naturally, once I finish my meal, washing the dishes is my responsibility. Yoohee seems to think that whoever eats should clean up after themselves, leaving me with the dishwashing duty. Sometimes, it would be nice if she handed them over to me; I’d appreciate that.

“Oh….”

Come to think of it, there was stew splattered on my white shirt.

Luckily, it was in a spot hidden by my jacket, but still, having stew on a white shirt can be bothersome. I should have just worn a black shirt for comfort.

I took off my shirt and put it in the laundry basket. Lately, with the increasing heat, I feel sticky if I don’t shower every night.

Then, something unfamiliar caught my eye in the laundry basket.

“….”

I could see something red, which I rarely wear, inside the laundry bag. As soon as I touched it, I knew what it was and set it back down.

“Well, Yoohee might have forgotten about it too.”

Since there are no other women in our house, anyone would recognize it as Yoohee’s underwear. Normally, she washes and hangs them to dry in advance, so seeing them mixed with my laundry feels strange. Maybe that’s why….

Realizing that if I stayed there too long, I wouldn’t have an excuse if Yoohee caught me, I quickly headed to the bathroom.

*Splash*

The feeling of rinsing off the day’s stickiness with the shower is always refreshing. It feels like being reborn. Listening to the sound of water splashing gives me a sensation akin to experiencing ASMR.

“Phew….”

Breathing a satisfied sigh, I lay down in the room. As my fatigue dissipates, my eyes quickly grow heavy. Perhaps due to the heat, I feel like my energy depletes faster.

*Thud.*

The signal that Yoohee is about to start. Fortunately, today, I’m tired enough to sleep without worrying about it. Ignoring the noise, I close my eyes, knowing that morning will come when I open them again.

Or so I thought.

“Aah… Hnnn….”

Despite trying to ignore it, I couldn’t help but imagine Yoohee’s actions, making it impossible to keep my drowsy eyes shut. I could feel her voice tickling my ears, and a certain part of me starting to swell.

It now feels like she’s intentionally letting me hear it. Her moans grow louder as if inviting me to enjoy the sound.

“Hmm, hnnng…!”

I must resist. While I may have been weak before, I can’t succumb to this devil’s temptation now. If Yoohee were to catch me witnessing this scene, she would probably look at me with a cold expression.

“Ugh!”

Seemingly reaching a climax, Yoohee’s moans ceased. Luckily, it seems like she finished early today.

Yes, this is normal thinking. Just because my daughter masturbates doesn’t mean I should join in. It’s a sign of human growth.

“Darn it.”

Still, images of Yoohee in the underwear I saw earlier, seducing me, kept popping into my head, delaying my sleep a bit longer.

—

I suggested to my superior.

I can’t stand seeing our department members mistreated and taken advantage of elsewhere. I’ve hesitated for a while, but I finally decided this isn’t right.

“Is everything okay, sir?”

“Huh? Oh? Why?”

“You just seem in a good mood.”

“Do I now?”

Hmm… I do feel good. Even at this age, I felt that I could still grow. It was my small ambition to start anew with a fresh mindset. Thanks to that, I can even make suggestions like this.

“Is there something going on with Suhyun?”

“Nothing at all.”

“Oh.”

“Just work stuff.”

“Mm-hmm~”

Suhyun keeps glancing over here while working, but since she doesn’t say anything, I really don’t know. There’s definitely something she wants to tell me, but maybe because it’s only been two days since she started working, she seems to be watching my reactions. No need to be so cautious, though.

Especially in times like this, the superior should step forward first to help without making it burdensome.

…Or is it actually burdensome?

“Suhyun.”

“Oh, yes. Manager. Do you have something for me to do?”

“Well… then, could you please take care of this for me?”

I didn’t intend for this to happen, but somehow I ended up assigning more work again. Could this lead to criticism on anonymous sites?

*Sigh…*

Indeed, there are online community sites where people anonymously criticize companies, their superiors, or other companies.

I’ve joined those sites occasionally to see if there are any criticisms about our company or me, but thankfully, I haven’t seen any negative comments directed at me yet. There were plenty criticizing the company, though…

Posting on such sites doesn’t immediately create an impact, but if certain individuals notice it, opinions can quickly turn negative, and the person involved might face internal ostracism without even realizing it. I’ve witnessed that scenario a few times.

“What should I do…”

I can’t just take away the task I gave her, and all I can do is silently hope that Suhyun won’t complain.

I should relieve her burden, but by trying to do so, I might end up adding to it, and I probably won’t hear what Suhyun has to say.

*Rrring*

A call comes through the office line. I wonder who it is; let me answer it first.

“Manager Kim. This is HR. Your suggestion has been accepted for now. We probably won’t be calling you anymore.”

“Oh, really? Thank you.”

“Instead, the probation period will likely be shortened. It seems like it might be cut down to about a month.”

“Oh… I understand. I’ll make sure to provide training until then.”

It’s a pleasant surprise. I never expected my suggestion to be accepted so quickly. Was our company always this good? Typically, it takes about a week… Well, I’m just glad it worked out.

And Suhyun is competent, so there’s really no need for me to train her. Other new hires are almost capable of handling tasks themselves, so I had very little to do. It feels like I have a lot of free time, but in my own way, I’m quite busy.

“Suhyun.”

I needed to inform the person directly involved about this news.

“The probation period has been reduced from 3 months to 2 months. You’ll probably become a regular employee even sooner, Suhyun.”

“Thank you for letting me know.”

We’ve had several conversations, but everyone’s tone remains formal. What kind of life did they live to change from being lively to abrupt, or were they cynical from the start? It’s hard to tell.

Still, Suhyun seems like she has always had a cynical personality.

“Oh, right.”

Come to think of it, I only submitted the suggestion over the phone and didn’t submit it in writing. Maybe because we’re close, it seems like the message got through. Nevertheless, for formality’s sake, I wrote up the document and handed it over to HR.

“Oh, Manager!”

Wearing a white jacket with a black blouse and skirt, tears delicately adorned her eyes, making her glance irresistibly sexy.

She wore a gold necklace around her neck. Perhaps because she’s the boss’s daughter, there’s a genuine 24k vibe about her.

“Oh, Director Hwang. I came to deliver this.”

“Why would you go through all this trouble… You really didn’t have to.”

“But we must follow protocol, right?”

I relayed my suggestion to the upper management as the deputy of the greeting department and the daughter of the company’s CEO, Hwang Siyeon. Typically, one would start with an exaggerated position like a director or at least a team leader, but she insisted on starting from a regular employee position based on her own wishes. It has been about two years since she joined the company.

Nevertheless, perhaps because people are aware that she is the CEO’s daughter, there seems to be a slight awkwardness in how others treat her.

Of course, I treat her just like anyone else, regardless of such matters. My principle is to treat everyone equally as long as they don’t do anything disrespectful to me.

“Thank you~”

“It’s my pleasure.”

“Um… Manager!”

“Yes?”

“Oh no… Your jacket is wrinkled….”

Hwang Deputy smoothed out the slightly raised back of the jacket for me.

“Thank you. I’ll be on my way then.”

“Sure~”

Looking at Hwang Deputy, who is younger than Suhyun, I reminisce, ‘I used to be like that too…’ Those days when I dedicated myself passionately to entertainment, my body may have been tired, but my passion for entertainment has not diminished.

“…Of all times, it had to happen during the inspection.”

Since Hwang Deputy works on the 10th floor, it’s impractical to use the stairs, but there’s no choice. Even just getting up to where I am now was a struggle, and thanks to that, my legs felt wobbly.

“Phew….”

“Oh, um….”

“Huh? Suhyun. What’s wrong?”

When we returned to our department, Suhyun, who usually shows no emotions, was staring at the monitor with a distressed expression.

“I’m sorry, Manager….”

“Hmm?”

“The computer….”

“Hmm? Oh….”

And on the screen Suhyun was looking at, a red screen was displayed.

~~~

“Hmm….”

When the system encounters unexpected errors like RAM overload, excessive program usage, or program load errors, it displays a blue screen.

And that red version is just a red screen. It’s not a hardware issue like the CPU failing, so if you turn it off and on again, it restarts. It’s probably rare, so it seems quite alarming.

These days, what’s scarier than a blue screen or a red screen is 🙁 a screen with a QR code. That means the booting process is corrupted, so you have to reinstall the OS.

I turned off the computer by pressing the power button twice for Suhyun, who couldn’t do anything. Fortunately, it restarted without any issues.

Come to think of it, I could have used this as an excuse to get a new computer, but it feels somewhat regrettable.

“I’m glad it turned on. It’s nothing serious, so don’t worry about it.”

“Yes….”

It seems like she made a significant mistake despite not being here for long. Well, this isn’t even a mistake. Even when Manager Choi blew up the hard drive, nothing happened. So, even if she makes a bigger mistake, she won’t be fired. In fact, Hyojin also had a red screen once… Maybe the computer is faulty.

“Oh, Manager.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you….”

“Well… it’s nothing to thank me for…. But still, I’m relieved she doesn’t flatter like Hyojin. Just thinking about that moment makes me shudder….

As I returned to my seat, a message came from Suhyun.

“Manager, are you free after work?”

“Yes. But why?”

“Thank you. I have many questions. You seem to be good at using computers, Manager….”

“I see…”

I consider it basic stuff, but well, I’m the most interested in computers in our department. I always keep them up to date.

‘I hope she doesn’t ask about things I don’t know.’

It might take a while, so I sent a message to Yuhee saying I’ll be late.

~~~

“Dad says he might come home late, so you don’t have to prepare dinner.”

Just as I was about to prepare dinner, I received a text from Dad.

“Coming home late…?”

Dad always says, “I might be late today due to overtime.” Not mentioning overtime implies that it’s not about working late.

‘Could it be…..’

At the company, I might be dragged along forcibly, but my dad is a department head. He’s not someone who gets dragged around; he’s the one doing the dragging. Moreover, since my dad isn’t much of a drinker, work dinners only happen once every two months.

Of course, even during these times, he claims to have work dinners.

If my dad doesn’t give any reasons, it must be a dinner appointment with someone. It would be great if the other person were male, but if it’s a woman…

“I should check on this.”

I need to make sure my dad isn’t going down the wrong path.

Checking my dad’s logged-in chat (I sneaked in while he was asleep), I noticed a yellow dot in his friend list.

“Kang Soo-hyun…?”

Who is this person?

With long black hair and dressed sharply, there’s something sophisticated about them. Their penetrating cat-like eyes and seductive smile are striking. Undeniably beautiful.

「Pranco.」

Kang Soo-hyun’s status message. A simple word that sounds like a motto or a name.

─Tap tap tap tap.

If you’re unsure of its meaning, searching is the best option.

“This is…”

The first thing that popped up in the search results was an XTube link. The bold letters “Crazy Game” covered the image in the thumbnail.

Clicking on the link revealed an intro, showcasing a bizarre game with a woman in the bottom right corner.

“This is…”

She was dressed as a full-on bunny girl. Perhaps due to editing, her already fair skin looked even paler. Additionally, her collarbone and overly ample chest were prominently displayed.

Becoming famous by broadcasting in such attire is truly beyond belief. Well, everyone has their own marketing points, so it’s none of my business.

「Kyaaaaa!」

True to its title, the game was truly insane. There were no save points, and if you fell, you had to start from the beginning—a true hardcore game where you couldn’t quit until you cleared it. Turning it off meant starting over.

As Kang Soo-hyun screamed after a momentary mistake, the chat on the screen was flooded with ‘ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ’ (laughter).

“Is she also doing live broadcasts?”

There was no XTube channel, but upon searching on another site, I found an account with Kang Soo-hyun’s picture. It was a fairly large broadcast with 50,000 followers.

“Today’s broadcast is canceled~ Sorry ><"

According to the announcement post, today's broadcast was canceled.

"No way…"

Is my dad really involved with this person…?