Promotion Desire — Very High (3)
Lim Jiwoo climbed back into the car with hesitant, fidgety movements.
"Wherever we're headed, we should eat first. Aren't you hungry?"
"Ah — yes! Yes, food… Yes, let's have a meal."
Just like that. The moment I mentioned eating, Lim Jiwoo lit up like a new hire accepting a General Manager's dinner invitation.
Ten times.
If the remark I'd written into my own profile actually took effect the way it was supposed to, Lim Jiwoo was going to have to endure me all night long. Being able to torment her like that was a win for me, sure — but it also meant I was going to be up half the night myself.
And I was hungry. We were doing all this to live well. Might as well eat first.
I got Lim Jiwoo settled in the passenger seat and drove us to a restaurant the company crowd went to all the time. When we arrived and I tried to park, the spot was a little awkward.
"Sunbae, sorry — would you mind getting out first? The space is tight. It'll be a pain to climb out once I'm in."
"Ah, yes, yes."
I let her out first, then wedged my car into the narrow space by force. When I finally finished parking and stepped out, she was still standing there.
"You could've gone inside ahead of me."
"No, how could I…"
Lim Jiwoo had waited the entire time I parked and got out of the car. This was the same woman who used to call me up in a rage on freezing winter days to demand why I wasn't there yet — and now she was laughing that awkward little ahaha, as if she were a completely different person.
"Let's go in, sunbae. You'll freeze out here."
"Yes, yes. Let's go in, Woojin-ssi."
I walked into the restaurant with her as if none of this were strange, and every office worker in the middle of dinner turned to look at Lim Jiwoo. People grabbing a quick bite before heading home. People eating fast so they could get back for overtime. People planning a drink before they called it a night. There were all kinds of company employees in that place — and even among them, Lim Jiwoo was in a league of her own.
A fox-like face that snagged the eye with a sly, knowing allure. A tall frame in the upper five-sixes, with the proportions to match — and curves that swept in generous lines without ever breaking that balance. A woman like that, doing this:
"Ah, please sit, Woojin-ssi."
"Sure."
"And… just a moment."
As if giving me the seat first weren't enough, she set out the spoons and chopsticks the way you'd attend to a superior. A flicker of curiosity passed through the room — who was I, that a woman like Lim Jiwoo would wait on me like this — but it didn't last. Their attention slid right back to her.
That was how overwhelming she was.
"What would you like, sunbae?"
"I'll have… whatever you're having, Woojin-ssi. No — what are you getting?"
"I was thinking galbitang. How about you?"
"Then I'll have the galbitang as well. Excuse me—"
Lim Jiwoo's charm was absolute. She knew it, too, which was exactly how she'd managed to live so comfortably at the company. In a way, that was probably why her Promotion Desire had been so low. She never had to try that hard. People did things for her. She could coast and still assume she'd rise just fine.
But now.
"Do you come here often, Woojin-ssi?"
"Not often, exactly. Sometimes I stop in for a meal before overtime. How about you, sunbae?"
"I come by… occasionally. Next time you're coming, let me know. We should eat together."
She was groveling. She was uncomfortable. She was awkward. All of it sprang from a single thought: she had to make a good impression on me.
If she kept wearing that face, she was going to give herself indigestion. So I eased her Promotion Desire down — just enough that she could eat in something resembling comfort, without losing the deference she owed me.
The setting dropped, and whether or not it was the exact right number, it was close enough.
"Hooo…"
Lim Jiwoo looked at the galbitang as it arrived, her expression easing — just a little — into something almost comfortable.
After the meal, I paid.
"Th-thank you for the meal, Woojin-ssi…"
"Don't mention it. It's just dinner."
"But I should have been the one to treat you, and instead you…"
"It's fine."
This was the reaction I'd wanted to see once. Lim Jiwoo kept dipping her head at me as if I were her superior, just because I'd covered the check.
But.
"Shall we go, then."
"……"
The moment I let her know this was no longer the time for that, the face she had not dropped even once — awkward as it was — went stiff.
In that case…
Back up.
"Are you not coming?"
"Ah — no, I am!"
I cinched the comfortable atmosphere tight again, and Lim Jiwoo snapped her spine straight like a brand-new hire.
"I'll go pull the car around. While I do that, would you book us a motel nearby?"
"Yes. Understood…"
"I'd appreciate it."
So this was what it felt like. To make a "request." I had never known how good it felt to dump work on someone under the guise of a favor — the exact thing Lim Jiwoo used to do to me.
I was a proper Assistant Manager at a major corporation, sure. But an Assistant Manager without Lim Jiwoo's particular brand of charm didn't even rank as high as a decent new hire. Same logic as the military. Sure, there's a private under the PFC — but nobody touches the sacred new guy. It's always the convenient PFC who gets called in.
I pulled the car forward enough for her to get in. The moment she settled into the passenger seat:
"Did you book it?"
"Not yet, I'm sorry. I was looking for somewhere decent nearby…"
"Hmm… You could just grab anywhere. This is taking a little long."
"I'm sorry."
So this was why people were into power-trip stories. Watching Lim Jiwoo grovel even after she'd climbed into the passenger seat, I felt the knot she'd spent so long tying in my chest finally start to come undone.
Anyway. I couldn't keep the car sitting in a restaurant-district road at rush hour, so I decided to circle the area until she finished the reservation.
About five minutes later.
"I booked it."
"Would you put the address into the nav for me?"
"Yes. One moment."
She entered the address of the motel she'd reserved. I confirmed it was a five-minute drive and pressed the accelerator just a little harder.
When we caught a red light, I turned my head to see what she was doing.
"……"
She seemed quietly tense. Both hands locked around her phone, she was doing nothing but staring out the window.
"Do you have a boyfriend, sunbae?"
"A boyfriend? Why would you…"
"It won't go on your performance review. I'm just asking because I'm curious."
"No. I don't have a boyfriend…"
A woman like Lim Jiwoo, without a boyfriend… well. It was possible.
Lim Jiwoo was beautiful. Openly, extravagantly beautiful — the kind of beautiful that made even reasonably successful men have to gather their courage before approaching her. Precisely because she was that kind of woman, fewer men might actually come close. The seat beside her could easily be empty.
The reason I found that disappointing rather than fortunate was the same reason I asked the next question.
"When did you break up with your last boyfriend?"
"About three years ago… I think."
"Three years? How long were you together?"
"About six months, I think."
Same reason. I had never once assumed a woman like Lim Jiwoo would still be single at this point.
"Six months… Well, I'm only asking just in case — how far did you go?"
"Just kissing, I think…"
"Kissing?"
Wait. Hold on.
"…And before that?"
"My boyfriend before him?"
"Yes. How far did you go with the one before?"
Something felt off. I asked just to be sure.
"It was all just kissing… that's as far as I ever…"
"…So you've never done it? Not even once?"
"No… I haven't…"
"……"
What the hell was this.
"Why…?"
"I just never felt like I needed to go that far… or maybe I just wasn't drawn to them. So…"
"Needed to?"
"They just weren't my type. They didn't measure up, either."
To become Lim Jiwoo's boyfriend, a man would need outstanding qualifications. Money. Looks. Background. She'd given men who seemed fine in all three a chance, and then, once she actually met them, they were disappointing… Put that way, her lack of experience made a certain kind of sense. It also meant she understood her own power extremely well.
"…And now? Anyone you're talking to? Even casually?"
"No. There isn't."
"Hmm…"
"Why? Why do you keep…"
"Just curious. We're going to be doing this, after all. Even if it's for your promotion, I figured it might be uncomfortable if you had a boyfriend in the picture."
In that case.
"Any plans to start seeing someone going forward?"
"Not really… I don't particularly feel lonely or anything right now. So it seems unnecessary."
"And if a man you actually liked showed up — if you still didn't feel lonely, there'd still be nothing?"
"Unless I liked him a great deal, I think that's how it would go."
If this had been a matter of stealing Lim Jiwoo away from someone, that would have been one thing. But now that I'd decided to make an unattached Lim Jiwoo into mine, I had no intention of handing her over to anyone.
So.
"I'd prefer you kept it that way. You're going to be taking exams with me often from now on, and you'll need to rack up a lot of points. If you've got a boyfriend, coordinating schedules gets messy for both of us."
"Ah, that… Yes."
"And if you maintain this particular point consistently, there'll be bonus points in it for you. Just so we're clear — you'd be better off not trying to lie about it."
"…Yes."
"Doesn't matter to me either way. You're not the only one I'm managing. I've got plenty of other people to handle, and I'm busy enough as it is. You're the one who'd be missing out. Right?"
I was more or less saying whatever came to mind. But once the words were out, a few other people worth managing actually did drift into my head.
"…Huh. That's true."
"Sorry?"
"Nothing. Just talking to myself."
A same-year colleague like a baby kitten. A Team Leader who was technically puppy-faced, though "angel" was closer to the truth. And that deer-faced fucking bitch who snarled the second she saw my face.
I was lining them up in order — the women who had the "qualifications" to become Intensive Management Targets — when the car arrived at the motel Lim Jiwoo had booked.
I parked.
"Shall we."
"Yes…"
We got out and walked into the motel together. She'd at least had the presence of mind to book an automated place, so no one would see us going in. Thanks to that, we walked straight into the room on a free pass.
"Sunbae, you can wash up fir— actually, no. I'll go first."
"Yes. Please go ahead."
The moment I said I'd wash up first, Lim Jiwoo pointed toward the bathroom with a look of practiced deference.
Like a secretary.
A man's shower isn't worth describing.
"Sunbae. Your turn."
"Yes…"
While Lim Jiwoo stepped into the opaque little bathroom — a space that couldn't have been bigger than a closet — I pulled out the HR Management App.
I wanted her irritation to hit a peak while she washed.
I dragged Lim Jiwoo's Promotion Desire down to Very Low — just low enough that she wouldn't go full go ahead, I don't give a shit, but low enough to hurt. That way, while she showered, a question would start chewing at her: Why the fuck am I even doing this? And that question would push her past irritation, all the way into genuine anger at the situation she was in.
Then, the instant she finished showering and opened her mouth to lay into me, I'd crank her Promotion Desire all the way back up to Very High. That was going to be a show.
"Okay."
That took care of the Promotion Desire. Next.
Remark 2 — To receive promotion points, she must satisfy Choi Woojin's stamina. Failure to satisfy Choi Woojin means no points will be awarded.
Remark 3 — |
"Hmmm…"
I sat there turning over how to use this last remark I could still register. What could I write that would let me brag I'd really had her?
The question followed me all the way until the water cut off and Lim Jiwoo finished her shower. After a long stretch of thinking, what I typed in was this:
Remark 3 — Her body is so sensitive that she drips with arousal at the mere touch of Choi Woojin's hand.
A line designed to turn Lim Jiwoo into a complete weakling.
And right on cue.
Creeeak…
Lim Jiwoo opened the bathroom door wearing not a shower gown, but the same clothes she'd arrived in. And sure enough.
"…Haah. Woojin-ssi."
She swept her hair back with one hand, and the look on her face said it all — a big, fat question mark over why she was even putting up with any of this.
But.
"Woojin-ssi. No matter how I look at this, it just doesn't seem—"
"What was that?"
"……"