The Sexy Webtoon
Shin Yena came back to work.
She'd been caught with her secret, and still she'd decided to return.
"Feeling any better?"
"Huh…?"
"You said you were sick. The CEO mentioned it."
"Ah…! Yes! I'm fine now! Thank you for worrying about me! And I'm really sorry…"
"Don't be. If you were sick, there was nothing you could do. Still, next time, give me a call too, okay?"
"Yes!!"
After answering with that bright energy, Shin Yena snuck a glance at me from across the room, then scurried off to her desk.
And I stayed slumped over mine, thumb endlessly scrolling up the phone screen.
Because I was sharing in Shin Yena's secret little hobby now, too.
"It's just a smut webtoon…"
Why Are You Doing This, Boss?
The story went roughly like this.
A newly appointed CEO who had orchestrated the company's financial collapse from the shadows and then swallowed it whole.
A brand-new female employee who showed up for her first day as his secretary, knowing nothing.
The staff sided with the powerless former president whose company had been stolen out from under him, and they plotted to take it back. Once the new girl learned the truth, she joined their plan.
Her role: gather information from the CEO's closest circle to dig up the corruption behind the takeover.
No one was better positioned for that job than the secretary herself.
"So that's what she was talking about in the break room. They left out the handsome son of the old president who falls in love with the heroine, though."
The handsome president's son Shin Yena had mentioned never appeared in this webtoon.
Instead, the heroine stumbled onto the new CEO's secret rendezvous.
He caught her watching, and from that point on the plot was pure formula.
The CEO cornered her, demanding to know why she'd been spying. She couldn't push him away, and he forced himself on her.
After that it was all the same: the unrelenting CEO dominating her, the heroine gradually being broken in, every scene dripping with sex.
"Ugh, my eyes…"
I set the phone down and stretched.
"Nnngh…!!!"
The desks around me sat empty.
The managers had taken their actors out on schedule.
The only people left in the office were President Hong Mincheol in his office and the management support team clustered on the far side.
"Ahem! Is there anything I can help with?"
"Nothing much today, CEO. We're fine. More importantly — have you finished the book I recommended?"
"…I should, yeah."
I sank back into the chair I'd just left and picked up one of the books piled high on my desk.
The Language of Accounting for CEOs.
"Ah… just the title is putting me to sleep…"
So I swapped it for another.
A Businessman's Logbook.
"……"
If it were a pirate's log instead of a businessman's, I might actually enjoy it.
Maybe I should just go back to what I was reading.
After a brief internal debate, I picked up my phone again and started binge-reading Why Are You Doing This, Boss? from the beginning.
But something felt off.
Like someone was standing right behind me.
"……"
"Wah!! Wh-when did you get here?!"
"CEO…! Can I talk to you for a second…!!!"
It wasn't the kind of thing a new hire should say to the boss, but Shin Yena gritted her teeth and dragged me out.
The moment we stepped into the hallway, she grabbed my arm and hauled me into a corner where she'd already been waiting.
"Why are you reading that at the office…!! We agreed to forget everything…!!"
Right. We'd made a deal yesterday.
Wipe clean everything we'd seen of each other.
She would come back to work. I wouldn't have to worry about my secret getting out.
That was the agreement.
"I was just looking."
"That's not the point — why are you looking at it…!!"
"People put it up for people to read. So I read it. As one of the readers."
"Unbelievable…!!"
The way she looked so genuinely angry flipped a switch in me.
How to put it — like an uncle who just can't resist teasing his sulking niece a little more?
Thud—
I took one step closer. Shin Yena's eyes went wide and she shuffled backward.
"Wh-what are you doing…?"
"Nothing. Not yet."
"What…?"
"Was the heroine Yena, and the CEO me?"
"N-no, it wasn't…!"
"Then why are you so tense? You look just like the heroine right before the CEO takes her for the first time."
"When did I ever— hup!!"
I leaned in, bringing my face closer and closer. Shin Yena sucked in a sharp breath, squeezed her eyes shut, and clenched both hands into fists at her sides.
Just like the heroine who couldn't put up any resistance at all.
Poke—
"……"
At the light tap of my finger against her forehead, Shin Yena carefully cracked her eyes open again.
"Just kidding."
"You…!! That was so mean!!!! How could you joke about something like that— mmph!!!"
I covered her mouth.
Then I pushed her straight toward the door of another office.
Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep—
I punched in the code fast. The locked door swung open, and I caught Shin Yena as she stumbled inside, following her in.
"Whew… thought we were about to get caught…"
"Wh-what is this…?"
"I heard Manager Jinwoo's voice. Looks like he stopped by the office for a bit."
"Huh…?"
Ah. She might not know.
It felt a little weird saying this when I wasn't even the one involved, but I had to clear up any misunderstanding about what I'd just done.
"Manager Jinwoo has a thing for you, Yena."
"Oh, I know that."
"You know?? How??"
"He makes it so obvious, how could I not…! More importantly, what is going on here?!"
"What do you mean?"
"This! How do you know the passcode to another office??"
"Because this is my office too."
"What…?"
"U-INVESTMENT. This is also my company."
"Huh…? Huhh…?? Wait, no way!! Are you serious??"
There she was — the usual Shin Yena, finally back.
"Pfft. Yeah, I'm serious."
"Whoa…. filthy rich… I mean, you're actually insanely rich! Then give me ten billion won!"
"Our deal ended yesterday, remember?"
"Tch…!! If I'd known, I would've squeezed you for everything…!!!"
"Even if you'd asked to the end, I wouldn't have given it to you."
"Why not?! You've got plenty of money!"
"Why would I pay when there's an easier way?"
"An easier way?"
"Like this."
"Hup!!"
I stepped in again. Shin Yena gasped, went rigid, bit down hard on her lip, and started pounding on my chest.
"Stop teasing me already!!!"
"Ow. Hitting people? Really?"
"Yes, really! Wait…. do you work out…?"
"Wow… you are a genuinely dangerous woman."
"Wh-what's dangerous about me?!"
"So you weren't hitting me — you were feeling me up? Pervert."
"I was not!!"
Shin Yena crossed her arms like a kid and spun her head away. I turned with a quiet smile.
I'd stepped in once when the interior work finished, but this was the first time since then.
If the drama project paid off, or if some other investment landed, I'd hire people here and run the place for real.
I was already thinking about investing directly in music and entertainment companies, not just film and TV.
For now I didn't have the spare capital, so it was just a thought.
"Yena."
"Yes??"
"If you wanted, I really could give you money. Not something as big as ten billion, though."
"I-I wasn't actually asking for it…!"
"I know. You're not that kind of person."
"……"
I turned and looked at her.
From everything I'd seen of Shin Yena so far, she wasn't someone who would go around spreading other people's secrets.
Still, nothing was absolute, so I'd been a little worried.
"You don't really know me that well…"
"I don't. We haven't spent that much time together. But the Yena I know is bright, kind, cute, hardworking, and also…"
"Also what…?"
"Someone I can trust."
"……"
I meant that.
If I hadn't trusted her, I would have at least drawn up an NDA.
A secret rendezvous between a rookie actress and a CEO, and a new hire's secret hobby — those were secrets of completely different weight.
They were never an equal exchange to begin with.
"That's how you get stabbed in the back. Believing people that easily, like an idiot."
"What?"
"My dad was like that too. Because they were friends. Because they were family. He trusted them and got betrayed every time… so stupid…."
"……"
"So if you're going to do it, do it properly! Don't just trust people!"
"You want me to make you sign a nondisclosure agreement?"
"Who said anything about that…?"
"Then what?"
"There's a more reliable method… like what happened to the heroine…."
"……"
The heroine. She meant the webtoon.
The heroine who set out to expose the CEO's corruption ended up broken in, obedient, a loyal little toy who did whatever he said.
Was she telling me to do that to her?
No — was she telling me to turn her into a well-behaved toy?
Ah. Okay.
I got it.
She was trying to pay me back.
For the teasing earlier.
If I got carried away and crossed the line, she'd use that to mess with me.
Fine. I'd play along.
She'd already gone from a girl with weird fantasies to an easy girl who fell for flirting all by herself. Showing a little vulnerability of my own might get us back to something closer to how we used to be.
"What you just said."
"……"
I stepped closer.
Then closer still.
"Can you take responsibility for it?"
"Hup..!!"
Shin Yena held her breath as my face came near, backing up until she hit the wall.
I pressed in even tighter, boxing her in.
Thud—
One hand braced against the wall as I brought my face right up to hers.
Close enough that my lips could claim hers any second.
"……"
"……"
But why wasn't she reacting?
By now she should have been laughing it off and teasing me.
"Yena?"
"……"
At my voice, Shin Yena — who'd been turned away — looked straight at me.
Then carefully closed her eyes.
Just like the webtoon heroine who couldn't resist, overwhelmed by the new CEO, helplessly giving in.
Wait.
Was she actually telling me to do it??
"Yena…"
"If this is another joke…!"
"……"
Shin Yena's eyes snapped open. She stared me down with a look that was firm and, somehow, a little pitiful.
"I really will post it online."
"……"
Then she closed her eyes again.
And whispered.
Just like the heroine in the webtoon.
"CEO… please don't… I… I…. mmph!!!"
And just like the CEO in that sexy webtoon, I covered Shin Yena's lips with mine.
That look. That tone.
She'd meant it.
Ha…. but is this really okay?