The Blocked Path and the New Net
The office corridor stretched endlessly under the fluorescent lights, and as I stepped into the open-plan space, a plastic coffee cup sat waiting on my desk—exactly where it always was.
The single crisp black dot on the lid’s edge was positioned with pinpoint precision, identical to yesterday’s mark.
At the far end of the hallway, my eyes locked directly with Ha Eun-seo’s.
She flinched, then quickly lowered her gaze as if nothing had happened at all.
No ordinary greeting passed between us.
Instead, the moment I sat down, my phone vibrated with a heavy, deliberate thud against the desk.
[Ha Eun-seo: Manager]
[Ha Eun-seo: About the thing I did on the phone last night……]
[Ha Eun-seo: I was really like a crazy bitch……]
[Ha Eun-seo: I’m too embarrassed to even look at your face straight today]
I read every preview in the KakaoTalk notifications. Not a single character of a reply left my thumbs.
It was calculated, vicious read-ignoring.
Eun-seo had interpreted my cold silence as a deliberate avoidance born from shame over the obscene acts she had committed yesterday.
Because of that emptiness, her movements slowed with every rise from her chair.
Not slow in the ordinary sense. Her eyes had been completely stolen, leaving her mind vacant.
Before moving, she always stole a glance into my corner first, then only then did she rise.
It was morning meeting time.
Seo Jae-won called out across the room while flipping through his PT slides. “Eun-seo?”
No reaction.
“Ha Eun-seo?”
Her answer came a full beat late. “Ah, yes!”
That dull, mechanical repetition of the sound echoed through the meeting three times without fail.
Jae-won’s narrowed eyes finally locked onto me.
Seo Jae-won: Yo, Han Si-woo. What the hell did you do to Eun-seo again?
Han Si-woo: I was working.
Seo Jae-won: That’s what you’re supposed to be doing.
He shot me a narrow-eyed glare that carried clear meaning.
Seo Jae-won: But why the hell is Eun-seo acting like she’s completely zoned out today?
I simply let a thin, mocking smile curve my lips and pretended I had no idea.
Jae-won’s teasing remark had sharpened and cut deeper than yesterday’s.
The PT materials streamed across the projector screen and onto Jae-won’s laptop.
Even in the chaos, Eun-seo’s fingers moved frantically as if she were taking notes with pen in hand.
Yet her gaze kept flicking—sticky, insistent—toward my corner.
I deliberately avoided meeting her eyes.
Then, unable to resist, her starving stare snapped back to my face like a magnet.
Strange.
I had issued no hypnotic command, yet the woman’s gaze followed mine on its own.
This was the landscape that had fallen perfectly into my control.
Just before lunch, KakaoTalk notification after notification chimed.
[Ha Eun-seo: Shall we eat lunch together today]
[Ha Eun-seo: I feel strangely like eating alone……]
I read-ignored her completely.
I set the phone down on the desk.
My palm burned as if it would burst.
The wet, gasping sounds of Ha Eun-seo’s pussy rubbing herself against the phone last night still rang crystal-clear in my ears.
I couldn’t bring that raw need into the office.
Inside these walls, I had to pretend nothing had changed and shield myself behind the eyes of others.
That was the rule.
Yet strangely, the colder I grew in my usual distance, the deeper she crawled into my territory like a desperate bitch in heat.
Around four in the afternoon, an email from the Planning Team Leader arrived.
[Please submit a precise numerical report by the end of today.]
Three separate Excel files were attached.
Jae-won left a single cool “” in the internal chat, then sprang up from his seat.
Seo Jae-won: Shit, we’re all staying late today. I’m out first! You guys work hard!
He grabbed his bag without a second thought and left.
Ha Eun-seo stayed seated.
She stared fixedly at the monitor’s numbers, yet her pupils were desperately searching the narrow gap between partitions—only for me.
A moment later, a pop-up message appeared in the corner of the screen.
[Ha Eun-seo: Manager, I’ll stay too]
[Ha Eun-seo: The Planning files are too much]
The corner of my mouth twitched, nearly breaking into a laugh.
It wasn’t about the files. It wasn’t even about staying.
It was a clear declaration of submission: I’ll be beside you.
After seven in the evening, the vast office emptied with terrifying speed.
Only the distant sound of the cleaning cart’s wheels echoed coldly down the hallway.
Screeech—screeech—
Once even that mechanical noise vanished, the real after-hours work began in perfect silence.
To save electricity, half the ceiling lights in the break room clicked off.
In the dim gloom, Ha Eun-seo dragged her chair close and crawled toward me.
Squeak— the wheel’s friction against the tiles echoed unnaturally loud in the quiet office.
Ha Eun-seo: Manager, I’ll do the remaining numbers.
Han Si-woo: I already finished them.
Ha Eun-seo: But if we both look, it’ll go much faster.
She pretended to focus on the screen, yet her eyes kept dropping to my firm fingers and the hard line of my thigh.
The sky-blue shirt. The tight black office skirt. The narrow, unbreachable gap between us.
Finally, her smooth knee brushed against the wheel of my chair and stuck.
Han Si-woo: Move away.
Eun-seo blinked, but she didn’t pull back.
Ha Eun-seo: Why? I don’t want to.
Han Si-woo: Someone’s coming from outside. We’ll be done for.
Ha Eun-seo: Senior Jae-won already went home earlier, right?
Han Si-woo: That bastard doesn’t stay gone after saying he’s leaving.
Eun-seo bit her red lips, hesitated in nervous silence, then whispered in a tiny, trembling voice.
Ha Eun-seo: Last night…… at my place……
I remained silent, eyes fixed on the Excel sheet.
Ha Eun-seo: I fucked myself like a crazy bitch all by myself. You just listened……
My typing finger froze mid-stroke.
The explicit words she spat out today felt like a painful accusation aimed straight at me.
I turned my head and met her wet eyes directly.
Han Si-woo: So you stayed behind out of pure jealousy, hoping I’d pin you?
Ha Eun-seo: Yes. That’s right.
The reply was short, clear, and painfully honest—far more obscene than her usual haughty demeanor, and therefore terrifyingly dangerous.
Eun-seo was already staring straight at me.
Our gazes locked, sticky and heavy.
Then my instinct took over.
Han Si-woo: Act normal, like we always do.
She swallowed hard, then nodded slowly.
Ha Eun-seo: Yes, Manager…… just like usual.
Her words were obedient, but her chair slid closer to my crotch once more. The distance was no longer normal.
The hem of her office skirt pressed fully against my pants.
Eun-seo drew a shaky breath.
Ha Eun-seo: Manager…… Si-woo Manager……
Han Si-woo: What?
Ha Eun-seo: I really don’t understand why I’m doing this…… I can’t stop thinking about you……
Even under hypnosis, she felt the torment of her own actions, yet she didn’t pull away. Instead, her delicate white hand grabbed mine and forced it beneath the hem of her tight skirt.
The flesh beneath the thin fabric was already soaking wet. Her panties clung heavily to her inner thighs, leaving no doubt they would soon give way.
Han Si-woo: Eun-seo.
Instead of answering my command, her thighs tensed against mine.
Ha Eun-seo’s pupils trembled violently—exactly the same lust-drunk look she had worn last night on the phone.
Her face was twisted in painful pleasure, yet the plea “don’t stop” could never leave her lips.
Han Si-woo: You stayed behind just so you could get my cock?
Her white earlobes flushed bright red in an instant.
After a long silence, she gave the smallest, most fragile nod.
Ha Eun-seo: ……Yes, Manager…… Please put your fingers inside me. I want to be filled with you……
The crude vocabulary spilled out without filter.
My hard fingers shoved aside the side of her panties and pushed deep into the obscene slit.
The inner passage was far hotter and wetter than when she had pleasured herself alone at home last night.
Her pussy walls clenched around my fingers, fluttering desperately.
Eun-seo bit back a moan and clutched my broad shoulder.
The sudden movement knocked the keyboard one inch sideways, and a specific cell in the Excel sheet lit up in bright blue.
In front of the cold numbers, Eun-seo’s scorching pussy sucked in my knuckles with a wet, obscene squelch.
Ha Eun-seo: Haa…… Uhh, two…… Please put two fingers, Manager……
While she pressed her waist down to match the depth, her smooth thighs shook.
The pleated skirt naturally covered my wrist.
If anyone outside had looked in, they would have seen nothing more than a normal, passionate late-night worker hunched over her desk.
It was the most dangerous moment.
From the dark hallway beyond, an ominous, indistinct sound drifted.
Eun-seo jerked and froze like ice water had been poured over her, and I stopped my finger mid-thrust, holding my breath.
Thankfully, it was nothing. The cleaning cart had moved on.
Only then did Eun-seo exhale shakily.
Ha Eun-seo: Manager…… you were really startled?
Han Si-woo: Of course. If we’re caught, it’s the end of my career.
Ha Eun-seo: My heart feels like it’s going to explode…… Hic.
Yet even in that terrifying situation, she let out a soft, nervous laugh.
That laugh—completely inappropriate—made the air of the late-night office thicker, hotter, and more dangerous.
She reached for the top button of my shirt with trembling fingertips, but could not unfasten it.
The button remained locked, yet her palm burned with overwhelming obsession.
Ha Eun-seo: Manager.
Han Si-woo: What now?
Ha Eun-seo: Last night at my place…… this at the company feels far more intense…….
Han Si-woo: That’s only natural in the office.
Ha Eun-seo: It’s not just because of that…… Haa.
Their gazes glued themselves together in the empty air once more.
Our lips pressed close like magnets.
I couldn’t tell who moved first—me or the hypnotized Eun-seo.
The first contact was lips, short and reluctant, then separated.
Eun-seo looked up at me quietly, then leaned in herself.
The second kiss was long, deep, and cruelly intense.
Her kiss was clumsy, her breathing out of sync, yet the deeper we went, the more dangerous it became.
I curled my finger roughly inside her.
Unable to bear the stimulation, Eun-seo nipped my lower lip and let out a muffled scream.
Ha Eun-seo: Haaaa…… Uuuugh!
A moan escaped between my lips, startling her. She desperately clapped both hands over her mouth.
Ha Eun-seo: Mmm……! My sounds keep squeaking……
Han Si-woo: Then drop the chair.
Ha Eun-seo: No…… I absolutely won’t.
It was an instant, instinctive refusal.
Even while her mind rejected it, her waist kept pushing down, swallowing my fingers deeper.
Her juices dripped onto my hand.
I looked down at the woman sprawled over my knee.
Had she always been this bold and lewd in front of men? No. Never.
It was only the hypnosis that had broken her open, and that made it even more dangerous.
Ha Eun-seo: Manager…… Si-woo Manager……
Ha Eun-seo: I’m really weird, right?
It was weird. Extremely, extremely weird.
But I said nothing.
I wasn’t in a normal state myself.
Ha Eun-seo: Just a little more…… Please don’t pull out, just a little more, Manager……
The most dangerous plea that could ever leave the mouth of a woman in a corporate office.
One more second. She had never fallen for the sweet trap and ended safely.
Eun-seo leaned in again.
The moment I tried to withdraw my fingers, her soaked walls tightened and pulled me deeper.
Just as her waist arched toward the peak of pleasure, heavy footsteps echoed from the hallway.
This time there was no mistake. The cleaning cart’s wheels were not it.
A man’s dress shoes struck the tile floor with dull thuds.
The steps grew steadily closer.
Eun-seo’s body froze as if drenched in ice water.
My finger remained buried deep inside her wet pussy.
I pulled out without hesitation, jerked her skirt down, and pushed my chair back.
Han Si-woo: Get back to your seat now.
Eun-seo hurriedly straightened her skirt, face pale.
I slid my chair forward, leaned over the monitor, and brought the Excel window into view.
The footsteps stopped right in front of our partition.
A familiar face then appeared from the darkness.
Seo Jae-won.
Seo Jae-won: What? You two still not going home?
My heart lurched violently. Jae-won’s eyes caught Ha Eun-seo, frozen beside me.
Seo Jae-won: Eh? You’re still here too, Eun-seo?
Ha Eun-seo: Ah…… Yes, senior. The numbers aren’t matching.
She kept her head bowed, eyes fixed on the monitor.
Her pale cheeks burned bright red.
Fortunately, Jae-won’s poor sense of timing mistook the flush for simple enthusiasm for work.
Seo Jae-won: Your face is all red—did you overwork? Eun-seo, go home. Si-woo will finish it.
Eun-seo shot me a glance full of anxiety.
Those desperate eyes remembered the rule I had given her earlier: act normal at work.
Ha Eun-seo: I…… I’m almost done, senior.
Her voice cracked. It was dangerous.
Han Si-woo: Go.
I drew a cold, short line.
Only then did Eun-seo grab her bag.
Jae-won glanced at my monitor.
Excel, numbers, email.
It looked perfectly ordinary—nothing unusual at all.
Seo Jae-won: You really just do your job. What a bore.
It was not praise.
Seo Jae-won: I’m out.
He walked out first; the door closed behind him.
Eun-seo followed a moment later, bag over her shoulder.
At the end of the hallway she glanced back once more.
When I gave the silent command to leave, she seemed to have decided to obey this time. The elevator doors slid shut smoothly.
I walked straight to the restroom.
I turned on the water.
I scrubbed my hands roughly with cold water, then wiped them again with paper.
Yet no amount of water could ever erase the trace she had left on my fingers.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
The face staring back was the same one I had shown the office every day—normal, unchanged.
We would be exposed if we were caught.
HR, the company chat, Seo Jae-won’s mouth.
Workplace danger was sometimes scarier than police.
There was an even greater problem.
The end of the company did not mean the end of Eun-seo.
Her gaze had already begun to follow me outside these walls.
I could not leave any trace. That was it for today. I could not cross the line again.
I returned to my seat, saved the work, sent the late-night email, and grabbed my bag.
The hallway was perfectly empty. Only the long row of fluorescent lights remained.
Then a woman walked toward me from the opposite end.
Long black hair, neatly cut bangs.
The employee badge hanging at her neck belonged to the other team.
Yoon So-ra.
I knew the name from a chat notice.
The distance between us gradually closed.
Then we passed each other. Our eyes met.
No—only I looked at her.
So-ra did not look back.
She simply walked past me like a transparent person.
Click—click—
Her footsteps faded away.
I turned to watch her retreating back for a moment.
Eun-seo had called my name earlier and sat beside me.
Yet So-ra had shown no interest whatsoever.
We breathed the same air in the same building, yet her reaction was the complete opposite.
That indifference lingered strangely in my mind.
My face reflected in the subway window—normal again.
I would keep trying to live normally today. But the result was anything but normal.
I would not speak the truth aloud. Silence was concealment.
Only when I reached my one-room apartment did I turn on my phone.
Notifications piled up. All from Eun-seo.
[Ha Eun-seo: I left first]
[Ha Eun-seo: Senior Jae-won came]
[Ha Eun-seo: Why are you avoiding me]
[Ha Eun-seo: I remember Manager’s fingers]
[Ha Eun-seo: Am I the only one weird?]
[Ha Eun-seo: Coffee tomorrow?]
My gaze lingered on the last line longer than the one above it.
[Why are you avoiding me]
I started to type a reply, then deleted it. Thorough read-ignoring.
I flipped the phone over.
The ceiling was exactly the same as yesterday.
Eun-seo had crossed the line on the phone last night.
Today she had been stopped mid-motion by footsteps.
People remembered the interruption longer than the end itself. Eun-seo would remember too.
It was correct to avoid her. One more visit from Jae-won would have been dangerous.
Yet strangely, the moment the gaze attached itself, the ability began.
Today I had not called her.
Eun-seo had initiated first—first message, first staying, first chair. Even after I said “act normal,” she had moved closer.
The boundary between my power and her own desire was blurring.
I closed my eyes.
But the face that rose was not Eun-seo’s.
Yoon So-ra. The woman who had passed me without looking.
I had not missed her. I had simply never cared.
I decided not to test whether that indifference would break.
Not yet.
I picked up the phone again and opened Eun-seo’s profile.
The smiling photo.
In the company dinner picture, Eun-seo had leaned toward Jae-won.
Today’s Eun-seo had my fingers inside her.
Same face, different direction.
In the end I did not send a reply.
If I answered, the flow belonged to Eun-seo.
If I did not, she would come again.
Both were dangerous.
So I chose the safer path. That was concealment.
Just before the screen went dark, another message arrived from her.
[Ha Eun-seo: Manager]
[Ha Eun-seo: You won’t avoid me tomorrow, right?]
I read it.
Did not reply.
Yet I could not flip the phone away immediately.
Tomorrow Eun-seo would mark the coffee lid with a dot again.
Tomorrow she would come looking for me.
Conversely, So-ra would pass me by tomorrow as if I did not exist.
The woman who came and the woman who passed. The one I should touch right now had already been decided.
So-ra would not be touched. Not yet.
The screen went black.
The last remaining line was Eun-seo’s single sentence.
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