episode_0164

A Monday evening, bustling with people leaving work.

Kang Yiseo and Park Yuna were sitting on a bus, heading towards the Sandfox Entertainment office.

“Unnie. Are you really going to talk to Chaerin Unnie when we get there?”

“Yes.”

Kang Yiseo nodded at Park Yuna’s somewhat nervous question.

Today’s meeting was to persuade An Chaerin to stop agonizing over her relationship with Han Jihoon.

Given the circumstances, it was clear they had a sexual relationship, and An Chaerin was in such a state of conflict that she had sought advice from Kang Minah.

While they couldn’t simply rejoice at Han Jihoon’s growing number of women, they had chosen this path because they couldn’t oppose a relationship that had already gone as far as the bedroom.

Another reason was that, unlike a complete stranger, they could trust An Chaerin, with whom they had been close.

Kang Minah, for her part, didn’t join them, saying An Chaerin would feel burdened if someone she had only met once, like herself, were to come along.

“It would have been nice to talk while eating something delicious together, but it’s a shame. Right, Unnie?”

“Indeed. Still, Chaerin Unnie is so busy. She probably made time for us this time too because we said we wanted to see her. Let’s go, get straight to the point quickly, and then come back.”

“Yep!”

A short while later, the two arrived at their destination.

As the employees had left for the day, they entered the quiet office, where An Chaerin, who had been waiting alone inside, greeted them.

“Welcome. It would be nice if I had something simple to eat, but there’s nothing here… Should I make you some coffee?”

“It’s alright, Unnie.”

“Ah! I want coffee… Hehe.”

“Alright, Yuna. I’ll make it for you right away.”

A moment later, the three women sat around the central table in the office.

The first to speak was Park Yuna.

“Chaerin Unnie! Have you tried the dinosaur pillow?”

“Oh, right, I forgot to thank you for sending it. I’m using it really well. Thank you, Yuna.”

“It’s super big and fluffy, so if you hug it and sleep, all your fatigue just melts away, right?!”

“Uh-huh. Y-yes, it does. Ahahaha….”

An Chaerin replied with a slightly embarrassed laugh.

The truth was, the dinosaur pillow nearby had gotten dirty during her intense time with Han Jihoon last night, but she couldn’t say that here.

“Unnie, your face really looks better than before. You used to look so tired.”

An Chaerin replied to Kang Yiseo’s words.

“Really? It must be that the dinosaur pillow Yuna gave me is really effective.”

After exchanging some light chatter, it was time to get to the main point.

Kang Yiseo asked with a very serious expression.

“Unnie. How is Jihoon in the office these days?”

“What…?”

A flustered An Chaerin asked back.

It was natural, as she wasn’t yet ready to confide in them about her relationship with Han Jihoon.

On the other hand, Kang Yiseo didn’t miss the other’s unease.

“Something happened with Jihoon, didn’t it?”

“Wh-what do you mean, something happened…?”

An Chaerin couldn’t escape her bewilderment, but the other person had no intention of beating around the bush.

“Unnie. You slept with Jihoon, didn’t you?”

“H-how did you know that…?”

The CEO couldn’t bring herself to deny the confident question from her streamer.

The tension in the office grew heavier, and Kang Yiseo continued.

“You sent a package to my mom. As thanks for her advice.”

“Mom? Kang Minah…?”

“Yes. I didn’t say anything until now, but Kang Minah is our mom. And Mom, Yuna, and I are all dating Jihoon.”

“What?! So the person named Minah in Jihoon-ssi’s chat room was…?”

“Ah. So you knew Jihoon was dating someone else besides me?”

An Chaerin’s face, which had been frozen in bewilderment, was now tinged with horror, and her eyes trembled incessantly.

Soon, she gathered both hands neatly on her knees, bowed her head, and said.

“Yiseo, Yuna. I’m so sorry…! I know it’s wrong, but I was really crazy! Still, I don’t have feelings for him, it was just… just the bedroom. No, even that is absolutely wrong, but it’s just… I’m so, so sorry!”

Her mind muddled, An Chaerin apologized, blurting out whatever came to mind.

Tears welled up in her eyes from guilt, but Park Yuna’s voice, in return, was light.

“Chaerin Unnie, you don’t have to apologize!”

“Huh…?”

“It felt really good with Oppa, didn’t it?!”

“Yuna, what are you…?”

An Chaerin, who couldn’t understand the situation, then heard Kang Yiseo’s apology.

“I’m sorry, Unnie. I might have made it sound misleading. Neither of us came here to be angry at you.”

“You didn’t come to be angry…?”

An Chaerin still looked bewildered.

Not planning to be angry at a woman who had been intimate with their lover behind their backs.

Naturally, from her perspective, Kang Yiseo’s words made no sense.

“How did you end up with Jihoon? He was the one who seduced you first, right?”

“Well… he said fatigue would disappear if I was with him… and at the time, I had so much work and was so tired…”

“Ah-ha.”

“B-but Jihoon-ssi said we should reveal everything to you…! I asked him to wait because I wasn’t ready yet, so he hasn’t said anything…”

An Chaerin, without realizing it, wasn’t making any statements unfavorable to Han Jihoon, and was even defending him.

This was because she didn’t want her cherished younger sisters before her to be hurt if she revealed Han Jihoon’s beastly side.

“I knew it would be like that.”

“You knew it would be like that…?”

“Unnie. What are you planning to do with Jihoon from now on?”

Unlike Kang Yiseo, who asked at a leisurely pace, An Chaerin’s answer was without hesitation.

“I’ll never get involved with him again. I’m really sorry…”

“No, Unnie. We told you we didn’t come to receive an apology.”

“That’s right, Chaerin Unnie!”

Park Yuna, who had been listening quietly, chimed in with Kang Yiseo’s words.

Soon, a statement that would surprise An Chaerin burst from her lips.

“Chaerin Unnie, you should date Jihoon Oppa, just like us!”

“…What?”

To their eldest sister, who couldn’t comprehend, the two younger sisters continued to explain.

Their boyfriend is a strange man who isn’t satisfied with just one girlfriend and keeps adding more women.

But if it’s An Chaerin, unlike a stranger, they could accept it too.

Unnie, aren’t you in a complicated situation right now because of guilt?

Don’t bother worrying; just date Han Jihoon comfortably, like us.

Of course, upon hearing those words, An Chaerin was still nothing but confused.

“Girls, I just can’t understand it… Dating one man at the same time as multiple other women…”

“Unnie. I couldn’t get used to it at first either. But after living with it, I realized it’s actually pretty good. Yuna and Mom probably think the same.”

“Yiseo Unnie is right! It’s so much fun just hanging out among ourselves, even without Jihoon Oppa!”

“And Unnie. You’ve already done it with Jihoon a few times, haven’t you? But you can’t stop, can you? You knew it was wrong, but it kept coming to mind, which is why you consulted our mom, isn’t it?”

“…”

An Chaerin was speechless at Kang Yiseo’s remarks, which seemed to read her entire inner thoughts.

“Mom also said it’s okay if it’s Chaerin Unnie, so just date Jihoon comfortably. This is why Yuna and I came here together.”

“I also think it would be great if Chaerin Unnie dated Oppa, because then I could get even closer to you!”

The two genuinely wished for their eldest sister to date their boyfriend.

At that moment, An Chaerin realized a major problem.

Those two seemed to think Han Jihoon had romantic feelings for her, but in reality, he only regarded her as a sexual plaything.

Having experienced Han Jihoon’s perverse side herself, she didn’t view him as a romantic partner.

“But I don’t have enough affection for Jihoon-ssi to date him…”

“It’s okay! I never even dreamed I’d date Oppa at first. He’s a really good person, so Chaerin Unnie will probably come to like him once you spend time with him!”

“W-well… I wonder.”

An Chaerin couldn’t readily believe Park Yuna’s confident words.

Just then, Kang Yiseo read her inner thoughts once more.

It was possible because she herself had similar experiences.

“Unnie. Honestly, Jihoon, he’s perverted and strange, isn’t he? He makes ridiculous, lewd requests and such, doesn’t he?”

“Huh? Uh… Y-yes, that’s right.”

“But then, once you actually do it, it feels good, and nothing major happens, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“That’s probably what’s bothering you, but even though his actions are strange, he’s incredibly kind on the inside. So you don’t have to worry.”

“Jihoon Oppa treats me and the Unnies so well!”

No matter how much the two of them appealed, the affection she didn’t have for him wouldn’t magically appear.

Even so, from An Chaerin’s perspective, it wasn’t easy to flatly refuse the younger sisters who had overlooked her ‘sin’.

“I’ll think about it first…”

“Aw. I told you, there’s no need to think about it! If you date Oppa-”

“Yuna, I think we’ve talked enough. Chaerin Unnie’s head must be aching, so let’s stop here for today.”

“Yep!”

“Unnie. You must be busy, so we’ll get going now. Think it over thoroughly and contact us anytime.”

Kang Yiseo, who had stood up from her chair with Yuna, remembered something a beat later and spoke.

“Oh, Unnie. Please keep it a secret from Jihoon that we’re trying to persuade you. If he knows we’re helping him, he might take it for granted and try to pick up other women again.”

“Okay… I understand.”

“Then we’ll really get going now.”

“Chaerin Unnie! Make sure you don’t forget to hug the dinosaur pillow when you sleep!”

The two women left the office, and silence fell.

Although the worst-case scenario, like her relationship with her younger sisters collapsing, had been avoided, An Chaerin remained rooted to her spot, lost in thought.

‘Me dating Jihoon-ssi too… what on earth is that supposed to mean…’

The proposal of four women dating one man at the same time was absurd in itself, but before that, she didn’t think she could possibly develop romantic feelings for that man.

How could she genuinely love a cowardly pervert who hid his beastly nature from his girlfriends?

Unable to come to a conclusion, she finally rose from her seat with a sigh.

“Haaah….”

‘First, let’s go home from work.’

Han Jihoon would have already gone home, but the traces of what she had done with him last night would still be in her house.

She hadn’t been able to clean in the morning due to rushing off to work, so she wanted to tidy up the messy living room and bedroom.

‘Cleaning will take a long time too…’

With dispirited movements, she packed her things and left the office.

Even as she drove her car home, her shoulders were slumped.

===

“Woah, damn it! …Argh! Ah, too bad! Phew, I’m definitely clearing it this time. By the way, the graphics are insane, seriously.”

In a state of high excitement, I clicked the mouse while muttering to myself.

Right now, I was at the CEO’s house, completely engrossed in trying out a super high-spec, space-defense-level computer, losing all track of time.

‘Seriously, no matter how much I play, I don’t get tired of it. A good computer really is worth its price.’

Playing a high-spec game with movie-like graphics in high resolution.

And playing it with high frame rates and smooth movements, it was so mesmerizing I couldn’t come to my senses.

Lost in that mesmerizing feeling, I installed various games and even tried video editing tools, and before I knew it, afternoon had turned into evening.

‘What? It’s already past five?’

Startled, I quit the game and stood up.

I had taken a shower in between and even washed the clothes I wore and put them back on (true to the CEO, she had a good dryer, so they dried quickly), but I hadn’t touched the bed or its surroundings, so they were still messy.

‘The CEO will be back later, so it’d be good to clean up before that, right? …Wait a minute. Maybe I don’t really have to go that far?’

If it’s just going to end as a friends-with-benefits relationship, I wondered if there was any need to impress her.

But that thought lasted only a moment.

The fact that I was causing trouble for someone else made me uncomfortable, so it seemed better to just clean everything up.

I immediately turned on the cleaning cam and restored the living room and bedroom to how clean they were when I first arrived at this house.

‘Okay, next up…’

If someone came home from work and found a dirty comforter clean, anyone would think it was strange.

To avoid suspicion, I put the already clean comforter and bed cover into the washing machine.

The pillowcases and the dinosaur pillow, which seemed to be a gift from Yuna, I wet as if I had hand-washed them and hung them on the veranda.

After taking care of any other elements that might arouse suspicion, all the tidying was done.

Just as I thought about going home, a loud rumbling sound echoed from my stomach.

‘Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten anything since I woke up this morning.’

I had just endured it while gaming, but moving around to tidy up the house made my hunger much more severe.

‘I’m too hungry to go all the way home, and I don’t want to wait for delivery.’

Thinking it would be okay to just whip something up, I rummaged through the CEO’s kitchen.

Perhaps because she lives alone and works frequent overtime, the kitchen was emptier than expected.

Still, it seemed possible to make kimchi fried rice with the ingredients available.

‘…Wait. If I make it now, won’t the CEO arrive while I’m eating?’

She had said something this morning as she rushed out of the house.

She said she would leave work right away and clean, so to leave the messy house as it was.

That meant she would arrive soon without overtime, and if the owner came home while I was eating at someone else’s house, the atmosphere would feel a bit awkward.

‘It’s an awkward amount of time to eat quickly, wash the dishes, and leave. It’s just a friends-with-benefits thing anyway, should I just be shameless and eat?’

That thought crossed my mind, but if I could do that, I wouldn’t have cleaned the house in the first place.

‘No. Eating alone in front of the owner is a bit…’

I’ll just make enough for us to eat together with the CEO when she gets off work.

She said she would leave work right away, so she probably hasn’t had dinner yet.

Finally having come to a conclusion, I opened the refrigerator and began to prepare the meal.