Found Out (7)

My hand moved faster than my brain could process. The raw survival instinct screaming that I could not get caught had completely hijacked my rational thinking.

What I was clutching in my hand was none other than the boss’s phone. The reason I’d rather do something this crazy than let him see my Instagram came down to two things.

First, if the boss saw my Instagram handle, he might remember the ID that had sent the DM. Second… I was also tweeting from that same account.

The numbers at the end were different, sure, but anyone could find ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the right one with a quick search. Lately my feed was nothing but photos I’d snapped while bouncing between events, and honestly, I’d rather die than show any of it to people I actually knew. At the same time, I couldn’t just change the handle after grinding out that many followers.

Of course, when I asked myself whether the boss would really bother digging into my profile, the answer seemed like no… but then again, this was the same man who was already two-timing, had still managed to seduce an idol like Seo Jia, and forced her to make a secret account. What wouldn’t he do?

“Um… hey. Suah?”

“…….”

I’d acted on pure impulse, but I had no idea how to clean up the mess I’d made. All he’d done was casually mention wanting to see my Instagram since we were already mutuals, yet I knew snatching his phone like a lunatic was completely over the top. Still, if I’d left him alone it would have followed the textbook route—Instagram search, ID discovery, DM account discovery, blackmail, and then every filthy thing that came after. I hadn’t had a choice.

What kind of excuse would make the boss let it slide?

Cold sweat beaded along my spine as my eyes darted desperately. I swallowed hard and forced out the most believable lie I could manage.

“…Ah, well. I post a lot of stuff on there with my… boyfriend. I’m embarrassed to show it to other guys….”

“You had a boyfriend? First I’m hearing about it.”

“Y-yeah, ahaha….”

“What could you possibly post that’s so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠embarrassing? It’s not like you only upload pictures from going out, right?”

“Ah, that’s… true, but. It’s just… the mood of them is kind of cringy, ahahaha….”

Naturally I avoided the boss’s incredulous stare, licking my lips nervously while the lies kept tumbling out. The fear of what he might search once I wasn’t around was shoved to the back of my mind. If I could just survive this moment, I could change the handle immediately. If I’d known he would pull this today, I would have changed it yesterday. I could always claim we’d broken up and I’d deleted everything.

After throwing the excuse out there, I kept licking my lips, hunting for more ways to stall.

“Fine, I won’t look. Just give me my phone back.”

“Ah… y-yes. I’m sorry….”

“Why are you shaking like that over something so small? What, were you selling drugs on Instagram?”

“Ah, ahaha… Your jokes are really something….”

“Anyway. I’ll buy you a meal later, so let me know when you’re free. We can eat with Haeun too.”

“Yes, yessir….”

The boss flashed an oddly friendly smile that didn’t suit him at all, then smoothly plucked his phone from my hands hidden behind my back. The moment I saw him pocket it and head into the gym, I wiped the cold sweat from my arms, let out a huge sigh of relief, and frantically pulled out my own phone to change the ID.

From mizua to countrybumpkinsua.

It was such a lame, rural-sounding handle that I hated it, but this wasn’t the time to be picky. Only after confirming the change did I finally slump into a chair, stroking my still-pounding chest as the tension drained away.

…Ha, fuck. I really thought my heart was going to give out.

But when I imagined what would have happened if I’d actually been caught, that seemed far more terrifying. I gulped down the coffee in my tumbler, let out a long “phew,” and tried to steady myself.

Once I’d calmed down a little, though, something felt off and a strange feeling settled over me. The ones who got caught posting lewd pictures on a secret account and had to delete it were the boss and Jia—so why was I the one trembling like a leaf…?

Ah, no no. …If I get caught, they’ll just ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠drag me into it too. That can’t happen. Nope. No way.

…Why is that bastard acting like that?

I didn’t have time to press him while I was rushing to finish everything, but once the day’s work was done, the questions rose like smoke. Just what the hell had she posted on Instagram to make her react that way? Tongue flicking out, eyes refusing to meet mine, practically screaming I’m lying. There was no way she’d done anything bad enough to warrant that kind of obvious panic.

If anything, I was the one who owed her.

“Hmm.”

It was so baffling that all I could do was hum. After I watched her leave for the day, I searched her Instagram myself. But unlike the excuses she’d given, it was an utterly ordinary account. Not many people she followed, not many followers, only a handful of photos. There was no trace of the boyfriend she’d mentioned, and I still couldn’t figure out why she’d made such a fuss about not showing it to me.

I couldn’t sense any reason she would lie, and I even wondered if she’d misunderstood and thought I was trying to seduce her. But no matter how I turned it over, that didn’t seem likely, so I stopped speculating. I’d told her several times that the three of us—me, her, and Haeun—should eat together. She wasn’t stupid enough to misread that.

When I set my phone down, ready to stop caring about the unsolvable mystery, I swiped to the home screen and noticed the Twitter notification floating there. I picked the phone back up.

Come to think of it, after the brief exchange with Seo Jia yesterday I’d completely forgotten about it. Last night I’d been busy having sex with Haeun. This morning I’d been busy having sex with Haeun. During work I’d been swamped, so the Twitter account I kept hidden had slipped my mind entirely. Besides, notifications piled up on Twitter for plenty of reasons besides DMs.

But when I opened the app, there was only one DM from Seo Jia.

I almost didn’t understand the message at first, but then I saw the DM I had sent right above it and the memory clicked. It looked like Seo Jia had deduced the culprit after seeing the account that contacted her. Technically we were the ones who had committed the crime and she was the one who had caught us, but from her perspective as the guilty party, the person who caught her was obviously in the wrong.

I fiddled with my phone, meaning to reply even though it was late, when it suddenly vibrated. I nearly dropped it in surprise.

The instant I checked the DM, she sent another. …Had this woman been watching to see exactly when I would open it?

It was a little scary, but I could imagine how terrified she must be, so I simply replied.

Her tone was so sharp it almost sounded like jealousy. But if I had been in her position I probably would have said the same thing, so I didn’t read too much into it. After all, she’d been caught doing dirty things behind the scenes by a man who might do anything, while her fellow accomplice was downstairs carelessly fucking without a care in the world. Of course she’d be pissed.

I had no intention of apologizing, though. I gathered my things, headed to the car, started the engine, and prepared to drive home.

What she sent next was so accurate it was downright eerie. The moment I read it, a chill ran down my spine.

…What the hell? Even if it was the off-season, there was no way she was watching me. Besides, after the scandal we couldn’t be seen meeting outside. I was about to ask how she knew when—

A person appeared outside my car window.

Baggy clothes, face completely hidden behind a mask. Long hair stuffed under a short-cut wig, a hat pulled low. Insoles pushed her height close to 180 centimeters. She tapped on my window with one hand while holding her phone in the other, clearly the one messaging me.

“Hey, you’re scaring me.”

“…Even so, I can’t just get in without asking.”

I opened the back door for the woman disguised as a man. She carefully climbed into the rear seat, yanked off the hat, then peeled away the short wig that had clearly been suffocating her. She pulled out a handkerchief, wiped away sweat, and collapsed across the backseat.

“Hey. Lying down in someone else’s car…”

“I’ll pay for a car wash, so let me lie down a bit. …No matter how dark the tint is, people might still see me from outside.”

The fact that this busy idol had gone through the trouble of disguising herself to come find me and was now hiding in my backseat felt so ironic I couldn’t help but laugh.

“…Why are you laughing? Do you think I came here to play?”

“No, it’s just funny.”

“Stop laughing. …I came because I have something serious to discuss.”

Seo Jia glared at me, openly displeased, and began to criticize me. I already knew why. She had figured out who sent the DM, so she wanted me to deal with the culprit no matter what. She didn’t want to dirty her own hands, so she was borrowing mine.

“Did you really have to come all the way here? If I’d seen the message I would have gone to you.”

“…Kang Juhyuk, you didn’t check for an entire day. Are you messing with me?”

“Ah, sorry. So who is it?”

I kept the conversation going while I considered what kind of price would make the deal fair. Then she dropped a name I had never expected.

“Your part-timer. Hwang Suah. …Almost one hundred percent.”

“What?”

The name was so unexpected I almost wondered if she was joking. But the look in her eyes reflected in the rearview mirror was dead serious.

…For a second I suspected Seo Jia had gone paranoid. But then Suah’s strange behavior from earlier that day flashed through my mind, and the possibility took root.

Of course, even if she really had done it, I wasn’t particularly interested in paying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her back.