Chapter 54
Chapter 54
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 54
Chapter Title: First Partner (1)
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"Se-young."
"What."
"Don't you think it's about time you got married?"
Oak Family headquarters.
Se-young furrowed her brow at the words that reached her while sorting through the piled-up documents. She set down her pen and glared at her older sister.
"I've told you, I'm not getting married."
Lately, Seo-hyun had been showing an unusual interest in her little sister's marriage prospects.
Just focus on your own work. Why is she so obsessed with marriage?
Seeing her sister's reaction, Seo-hyun chuckled.
"Hey, Se-young. Marriage is ~no big deal. Once you try it, you'll love it."
"I'm telling you no, so why are you being such a pain?"
"Wouldn't it be great to marry some promising young heir from a good family and forge a connection?"
Lee Se-young shot her an incredulous look.
"You know exactly what I'm going to say, right?"
"Yeah."
"Get lost, you crazy bitch."
As Lee Se-young flipped her off, Lee Seo-hyun burst into laughter and headed toward the office door.
"Hit me up if you change your mind~"
"Yeah, never gonna happen."
-Thud.
The door closed. Se-young scratched her head in frustration and let out a sigh from the overwhelming stress.
Fucking marriage.
Inter-family marriages. The Oak Family's unique growth strategy.
There was a reason Se-young despised arranged marriages.
The story was tangled in quite complex circumstances.
Matchmaking, or in technical terms, grafting.
Just as medieval nobles seized political gains through marriage, the Oak Family had reaped numerous economic benefits from arranged marriages with other families.
It was an aggressively pragmatic approach.
Possible only because the Oak Family's Wood People carried thick World Tree blood. Setting aside ethical issues, it was undeniably intelligent.
Families eager to thicken their World Tree lineage needed the Oak Family's blood. As a result, the Oak Family had become quite prestigious despite its size.
But growth demands sacrifice.
Se-young's older sisters had all been used as political tools, one after another.
From childhood, she had witnessed the family's horrors firsthand, to the point where she half-hated it.
Who would be happy being born as a political pawn?
Se-young shredded a nearby document in a fit of rage.
-Rip! Rip!
Only after turning a meaningless sheet into confetti did she manage to calm down.
I climbed this high precisely because I didn't want to marry. And now they want me to? Give me a break.
She didn't want to be a tool. More precisely, she refused to end her life as mere fodder.
To escape that quagmire, young Se-young had to prove her worth.
She closed her eyes, recalling those days.
She desperately studied history and academics. She honed her combat skills and stole lessons meant for adults.
To rise high, she had to be more ruthless than anyone.
She had to be rotten to the core.
Seize what she wanted.
Even killing was fine.
Her somewhat broken worldview fueled her growth. Freed from ethics, she committed plenty of despicable acts.
Even if it ended badly,
escaping the fate imposed by her family was enough.
In truth, she had escaped being a tool. She proved her abilities to the family and secured a high position.
See? I'm a woman who can do it.
But the joy was fleeting. Once in the seat, her mind wasn't at peace.
It started in high school, perhaps.
The guilt she had forcibly ignored suddenly surged up.
Unlike other criminals who grew numb to their evil, she never adapted—in fact, it tormented her more.
Every night after work, hallucinations plagued her, and she dreamed nightmares without fail.
Even now, when she slept, faces of those who bled because of her occasionally appeared.
Maybe that's why it hurt so much.
Deep down, Se-young hoped someone would punish her.
Back then, she was deep in depression. A childish thought that punishment might lighten her burden, even a little.
Her peculiar kink stemmed from stumbling upon a porn video of forced submission, which sparked her fantasies.
Having earned so much resentment, it didn't matter if she was taken by force.
And the secretly blooming lust.
A mix of tangled thoughts probably turned her into this "whatever happens, happens" mess.
She's out of her mind. At least, that's how Se-young sees herself.
I'll die before I marry.
Even saying that, she secretly wondered if anyone marrying her would be unfortunate.
She's already broken beyond repair—what gains would there be in marrying someone like her?
"You just ruined my mood."
Se-young decided to wrap up today's work.
She tidied the documents roughly and headed to the terrace, naturally lighting a cigarette.
-Flicker.
A flame bloomed at her fingertip, glowing red at the cigarette's tip.
A sudden thought crossed her mind.
"I wonder what Si-heon's up to."
The guy who might be the first and last man she'd share her body with in this lifetime.
Thinking of the mask he wore brought a bashful smile to her lips.
She didn't know why she thought of such a guy so fondly.
Probably related to her kink.
It started as a stimulating encounter.
As usual, driven purely by gain, she caught the scent of a precious item called a Tree Pill and tried to take it from him.
It didn't go well, and she ended up bound and forcibly taken.
She could have killed him right there, but her lust was at its peak, so she accepted it.
Mouth gagged, until she passed out from exhaustion. Exactly the ideal scenario she'd once craved.
She recalled herself eyes rolled back, unconscious, unknowingly clinging to the man's body.
...For some reason, it embarrassed her.
Damn... yeah. Guess that's what a masochist is.
After that, she was at his mercy.
Their paths crossed by chance, and they shared the common ground of the academy. She ended up being used by him because of it.
But strangely, from their second meeting, her disgust toward him began to fade bit by bit.
Her tiresome kink and broken worldview probably played a part.
Interest sparked. She wanted to watch him quietly, like a flower in a pot.
So she deliberately moved from being a second-year homeroom teacher down to first-year. Sneaking peeks at him.
It didn't take long to realize the guy she thought was the worst was actually pretty good.
Si-heon was considerate enough to brew tea for someone coming home.
Affectionate enough to support a drunkard's shoulder despite his own fatigue,
and cool enough to stake his life on his goals without hesitation.
The more she saw, the more different he was from her first impression.
This guy's really weird.
Sometimes explosively impulsive, then suddenly cool-headed. Cursing one moment, gentle the next.
That inconsistency—
It's like someone implanted an opposite personality into his original one.
At least, that's how it looked to Se-young's eyes.
She trusted her judgment of people.
And if true, Si-heon was definitely on the good side.
Maybe that's what drew her in.
-Whoosh.
She extinguished one cigarette and lit another.
I want to smoke with him.
At some point, she found herself spending part of her 24 hours thinking about Lee Si-heon.
Yeah, no need to deny it.
I like him. Admitting it.
People might scoff that love can't come from rape, but whatever.
She's liked him for a while.
Since before he dropped the mask, when they spent more time together.
-Then just get excommunicated and live with me?
His nonchalant heart-fluttering lines were great. Everything about him was. That's love for you.
I've turned into such a fool.
Love-struck, hard.
Am I really going to hand over my liver and gallbladder too?
-Pfft.
"Why do I like a guy like that?"
The ashtray filled with butts.
"That ugly bastard suddenly became handsome, so he's probably raking in value now, huh? Puhehe."
That guy was surely poking around everywhere by now.
He didn't seem the type, but he was a total hound. Just hope he doesn't touch nobility and get caught.
Se-young stroked her neck. She tugged down the choker on her finger and checked her nape in her phone's mirror app.
A faint kiss mark lingered.
-Ding!
A text notification.
She tapped the screen on her phone to check the message.
Si-heon: What're you up to? Her lips curled naturally into a smile. A warm aura surrounded her, as if the stress had never happened.
Half-lidded eyes tapping happily at the keyboard.
Me: What do you want? Si-heon: ???? Me: You must want something, that's why you're texting, right? -_- Startled by the blunt message, Si-heon went silent for a few seconds before replying,
Si-heon: You know me so well. "Puhehe."
As if playing along.
Si-heon: I contacted you about this quest. Quest? Well, he's a World Tree husband candidate.
From the info Jeong Si-woo provided last time, failing the quest incurs a penalty. Clearing it offers tempting rewards.
The penalty wouldn't be too harsh for a World Tree husband candidate.
No World Tree would deliberately sabotage her own husband. Who would?
Tap, tap tap.
Me: What quest? Si-heon: It's definitely one you can't fail. (Cat emoticon with a serious face) She giggled at the cute emoticon for a moment, then returned to the office to check her calendar.
It was packed solid, day after day.
Only natural for someone of her mid-level executive status in the Oak Family.
"Let's see..."
Se-young grabbed a pen from her desk, humming as she brought the tip to the calendar.
Then—slash—she cut out a chunk of her schedule without hesitation.
Gazing at the now-neat schedule, Se-young smiled in satisfaction, pulled out her phone, tapped the screen, and held it to her ear.
-Rrring.
[Hello?]
"Hey. I've got a favor to ask."
[Y-yes?]
With a voice full of laughter, Se-young said,
"In return, let's ditch work and goof off!"
Something she'd always wanted to say someday.
*****
"????"
I stared blankly at the phone where the call had abruptly ended.
"Cheep?"
Shiba, freshly woken, cheeped as she snuggled into me. I stroked her head while rereading our messages.
No matter how I looked, I hadn't asked for anything.
I hadn't even gotten to the point. How did she know about ditching?
"Shiba."
"Cheep."
"My teacher's getting kinda scary."
Shiba rubbed her cheek against me innocently, oblivious.
Two left ahead.