Seeds of Ruin Sown
……………
"Yujin."
Baek Sehee looked me straight in the eye.
"Let's get down to business. We don't have much time."
"……Yes."
Baek Sehee pulled something from her bag. It was a stack of documents inside a file envelope.
"Yujin, you know what this is, right?"
I skimmed the contents. It was the manager employment contract. The one between Kang Haneul and me.
……How?
The original was in Kang Haneul's possession. I didn't even have a copy.
So how did Baek Sehee have a copy?
"Yujin. You're bound by a slave contract."
"……Pardon?"
"This contract you signed with Kang Haneul. None of it holds any legal weight."
Her finger glided across the paper.
"Look at this part.
"
Baek Sehee read the contract deliberately, word by word.
"And this part too.
"
I knew that clause. Kang Haneul had already told me about it.
"Next, this one.
"
Baek Sehee set the contract down.
"And finally, this.
In other words, unless Kang Haneul agrees, you can never escape this contract."
I was speechless.
"All these clauses were dressed up to look legitimate with a lawyer's help, but if you challenge them legally, every single one can be voided. Violations of labor standards law, infringement on personal rights, unfair contract terms……."
Baek Sehee paused for a moment, then spoke again.
"Yujin, did you know the contents when you signed it? Or did you sign without reading?"
"………."
It would be a lie to say I knew nothing. After Kang Haneul relentlessly pushed for us to live together, I had a rough idea. That the contract terms were downright strange.
"……I saw it."
"Then why didn't you raise an issue? This is blatantly illegal."
"At first, I didn't read it properly. Later, I had a sense but…… I deliberately looked the other way."
"Deliberately?"
"I didn't want to break the trust. With Haneul."
Baek Sehee stared at me silently for a long while after my answer.
"……You're talking about trust with Kang Haneul, right?"
"Yes. Haneul likes me."
"Yujin."
"I know. I'm not an idiot. Haneul is obsessed with me. ……But she's not a bad person at heart. She's just a little extreme."
I didn't even know why I was saying this. But I defended Kang Haneul anyway.
"Haneul's always angry because of her ability. But when she's with me, she calms down. So she needs me……."
"Yujin."
Baek Sehee's voice dropped lower.
"Have you heard of learned helplessness?"
"……What do you mean by that?"
"When someone is repeatedly exposed to unavoidable situations, even if they have the power to resist, they give up. They accept it as normal. That's what you're doing right now."
"What does that have to do with――"
"And Stockholm syndrome. When a hostage sympathizes with their captor, even forming an emotional bond. That's exactly what you're doing, defending Kang Haneul."
"Ah, no……."
"Kang Haneul isn't a bad person? Is that really your own thought, or did she make you think that?"
I couldn't respond. No counterargument came to mind.
Kang Haneul isn't a bad person. She's just obsessive. She just likes me too much.
That's what I'd thought. What I'd tried to think.
But according to Baek Sehee…… had I been fooling myself?
"You're in no state to make normal judgments right now. Living with Kang Haneul, you've grown accustomed to her control. You know it's wrong, but you've accepted it."
No.
I thought that, but no voice came out.
Baek Sehee slipped the contract back into its envelope.
"Yujin, terminate the manager contract."
"……."
"I'll help you. I can handle it cleanly, legally. The Association is on my side. No matter what Kang Haneul says, I'll protect you."
Protect.
The word echoed in my head.
"I can escort you to a safe place. The Association can block Kang Haneul from approaching. All you have to do is take my hand."
Baek Sehee extended her hand.
"What do you say?"
……………
"I, um…… I need a little time to think."
Moon Yujin stood from his seat.
"It's not something I can decide that easily. Please give me some time."
I hadn't expected him to refuse the outstretched hand.
But Baek Sehee kept her smile.
"……Of course, Yujin. Take your time."
She pulled a business card from her bag.
"My contact info. Phone, email, direct Association line—all here."
As she handed it over, Baek Sehee grasped Moon Yujin's hand. Gently, but firmly.
"Call me, no matter what. Anytime, day or night—I'll pick up."
"……Yes, thank you."
"Don't agonize alone, Yujin. I'll help you. I promise."
Moon Yujin rose from his seat, pocketed the card, and bowed.
"I'll be going now."
"Yes. Take care."
Baek Sehee waved. With a warm, kind smile, enough to instill full trust in Moon Yujin.
Moon Yujin left the cafe.
And immediately—
All warmth evaporated from Baek Sehee's face.
The smile vanished. The concerned gaze vanished. Only cold impassivity remained.
She looked down at her hand on the table.
The hand she'd just offered Moon Yujin.
The hand begging him to hold it, to be saved, to come with her……
That hand, Moon Yujin hadn't taken.
A tightness gripped one side of Baek Sehee's chest. Something clogged, suffocating.
Disappointment. Anger. Incomprehension.
Me, Baek Sehee, an EX-rank Awakener, going this far.
Analyzing the contract, finding legal grounds, even diagnosing his psychological state.
Planning his rescue, preparing a safe place, promising the Association's power.
Offering eternal, safe protection.
Why wouldn't he accept it?
Baek Sehee recalled the moment she first saw Moon Yujin.
In the Association hallway, standing beside Kang Haneul, with a frightened, rabbit-like face.
In that instant, she knew. Moon Yujin was someone who needed protection.
Weak. Innocent. Being used by Kang Haneul.
Trampled.
Unlike him, Baek Sehee was an EX-rank Awakener. She had power. Money. Social status.
So she had to save him. It was obvious. It was right.
But now, she hit a wall.
Why…… just why.
Moon Yujin had defended Kang Haneul. He hadn't taken the hand of salvation himself.
He was under some form of psychological control. Already tamed by Kang Haneul.
Learned helplessness. Stockholm syndrome.
Defending his abuser, mistaking his situation for normal.
Moon Yujin couldn't even make rational judgments on his own. He didn't realize he needed saving.
Baek Sehee's fingers tapped the table.
Then……
There was only one answer.
Rescue him by force.
But there was a problem.
Baek Sehee picked up the file envelope. Containing the copy of the contract between Kang Haneul and Moon Yujin.
Its contents were tantamount to a slave contract. Unfair. Illegal.
But the issue was that this alone wasn't enough.
Legal action would be tough.
On the surface, Kang Haneul had done nothing wrong. The contract bore both signatures. It looked like mutual agreement.
This copy itself…… had been obtained through illicit channels. It wouldn't hold up as evidence in court.
Above all, the party involved, Moon Yujin, was lukewarm. He defended Kang Haneul. He wanted to preserve his "trust" with that anger-management psycho.
In conclusion, the law wouldn't work. She couldn't save Moon Yujin that way.
No choice.
Baek Sehee thought.
Now she had to act more cunningly.
Make Kang Haneul cross the line first.
Reveal her true colors.
Lose self-control and explode.
Go berserk.
Then Baek Sehee would intervene.
On behalf of the Association, physically, in the name of justice.
With clear evidence of an EX-rank Awakener threatening a civilian.
Caught in the act would be even better.
Strip Moon Yujin from that bitch.
And…… protect that pitiful child herself.
Safely, so no one could harm him, forever.
Baek Sehee glanced at the cafe's glass wall.
Moon Yujin, who had left the cafe, was still lingering on the first floor of the Association HQ building.
She plucked a single strand of her hair and sent it flying toward him with psychokinesis.
Now the seed was planted.
The fruit would ripen soon.
All she had to do was harvest it.
Scenes began to form in Baek Sehee's mind.
Kang Haneul crumbling.
Kang Haneul crushed by her own sins.
Kang Haneul, forever barred from approaching Moon Yujin.
In a world without Kang Haneul…… Moon Yujin thanking her.
In a safe place, with a face no longer afraid, looking at her.
Moon Yujin would think of Baek Sehee like this:
The one who saved him. The one who protected him. The only one he could trust.
The one who would guard him forever.
The corner of Baek Sehee's mouth twitched upward, ever so slightly.
But unlike the forced gentle smile she'd worn for Moon Yujin, this one was cold. Sharp.