Debt Assumption (2)
Kang Juhyuk approaches me. A hulking mass of muscle with a vicious scar carved across his shoulder. He refuses to let go of my ass, lowering his head until his lips brush my ear.
“…I won’t do anything weird. Just live with me. You’d like having a housekeeper around the house, wouldn’t you?”
“Hey, let go…!”
No matter how hard I try to escape, he holds me in place and rubs his face against mine. His cheek had been smooth yesterday, but now it’s rough with stubble, scraping against my skin like a deliberate threat.
“If you keep ordering takeout like this, you’ll get scolded again. Your sister was already complaining yesterday. …I’ve been living on my own for fifteen years. I cook well. As an athlete, I know how to plan proper meals too. And I’m offering to pay rent. Why do you keep running away?”
“You think I don’t know you have some ulterior motive…!”
“Then put up your walls. If I force myself on you, report me. I’ve never forced you, have I? Everything that happened was because you gave permission.”
“When did I ever…!”
“Want me to play it again? That recording of you moaning like crazy while you came?”
He brings up the recording I deleted yesterday and keeps pushing me, his body pressed tight against mine. Despite his promise not to do anything strange, his underwear is stretched tight, and he’s grinding that hardness right against me while his hands roam everywhere.
“If you really hate it, then fine. But I can’t help it either, Haeun.”
“Are you… threatening me right now?”
“How is ‘I can’t help it’ a threat? …I haven’t even said what I’d do.”
I had no desire to live with a man who could whisper terrifying things while nibbling on my ear. I didn’t want to spend even a single day with someone like him. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep properly, constantly wondering when he might barge into my room and pin me down.
“If you just say yes, I swear I won’t touch you first. I promise. Want me to record that too?”
“You’re saying that while biting my ear…!”
“You won’t even take the money I’m offering for free, so what choice do I have? …Are you that scared of me?”
“Of course I’m scared, you bastard!”
“What are you scared of? That I’ll force myself on you? Just report me if I do. Can’t you even do that?”
I shouldn’t have given in to this devil who kept mocking my pride with that wicked smile. But the memories of yesterday still lingered on my body, tormenting me.
“…Or are you scared it won’t be force?”
I knew I shouldn’t fall for such obvious provocation. But my body betrayed my rational mind, stirring with rebellious heat. Why refuse free money to pay off the debt? As long as I didn’t get drunk and say yes like yesterday, I could always report him. What was there to be so afraid of? Was I really the kind of woman who’d let a man like him seduce me?
“Just… let go first…!”
“You’ll let me live here for two hundred a month?”
“I said let go…!”
“Answer first. Yes or no.”
“Fine, I get it…!”
In the end, I nodded over and over, accepting his offer as if bewitched by the devil’s scent. …Even though I could clearly see what Kang Juhyuk was after, why had I agreed? Was it because I was confident he wouldn’t fool me three times? Because I hated how my sister kept ordering me around without ever mentioning the debt? Or because I believed that living with a man like him would at least keep stalkers away?
…Idiot. That bastard is the stalker. What was I thinking, inviting one into my home just to get rid of another?
“You agreed, right?”
“Wait. That’s…”
“What’s there to wait for? No take-backs. Ah, play the recording on your phone. I need evidence.”
“Hey, you crazy— You’re doing this again…!”
“You’re making a contract without writing anything down? If we do it on paper, you might secretly throw it away. So let’s do it verbally. Just words.”
Every time he let go only to shamelessly poke at my weakness, I could already picture the terrifying future ahead. The image of Kang Juhyuk scheming his way into my arms with that smug grin refused to leave my mind.
“Alright, I’ve started recording on my phone too. You record as well. It’s only fair if we both have a copy.”
“…”
I shook my head to clear away that awful future, turned on the recorder, and took two steps back. Holding my phone out in front of me like a shield, I warned him with my stance that I’d scream if he came any closer. …I should have done this yesterday. If I’d recorded everything like he did and shown clear signs of refusal, I wouldn’t be getting pushed around like this now.
“Um… First, who’s the actual owner of this place?”
“…My sister.”
“Then we’ll explain it to her later. Anyway, you’re the tenant, so you agree to live here together for the next six months?”
“Six months…”
“Two hundred a month, six times—that’s twelve million won. Exactly half a year. I’ll cover living expenses too. How about it?”
“…”
“Don’t just nod. Say it out loud.”
“…Before that, something else.”
“What now.”
It was obvious that if I followed his lead too obediently, he’d twist everything to suit himself. If I was going to let this terrifying man into my home, I needed safety measures first.
“Never, ever touch me. Don’t even try. If you do, I’m reporting you for real.”
“I already said I won’t touch you first.”
“Take out the ‘first’! …No first or anything. Just don’t touch me.”
“Why? Don’t tell me you’re planning to touch me first?”
“I’m saying this because I have no intention of doing that!”
His blatant intention to wear me down until I clung to him was terrifying. …I’d already fallen for it once. No matter how much I swore I wouldn’t be fooled again, I couldn’t feel at ease.
“I can’t agree to that. If you touch me first, I have no intention of holding back.”
“…”
“It’s simple. Just don’t touch me. Honestly, do you think any guy could hold back if a woman with a chest like yours made the first move?”
But the more he kept insisting that I might touch him first, the more my pride flared up in irritation, even as anxiety clouded my thoughts. Did he really think I’d fall for Kang Juhyuk’s tricks and start clinging to him?
“…You. You don’t touch me first. And don’t try any weird schemes either.”
“What exactly counts as a weird scheme?”
“Don’t get me drunk like yesterday and do that stuff again!”
“You drank on your own without me offering. Whatever. Fine.”
In the end, I backed down a little, accepted his proposal, and set up the bare minimum of safeguards. …It’s fine. It’s fine. I’m just a little worked up right now.
“And the room. Use the empty room at the end. Don’t come into my room.”
“Where’s the empty room?”
“The one at the very end. Sleep there. There’s no bed, so you’ll have to figure that out yourself.”
“I’m paying two hundred a month and you won’t even give me a bed?”
“Bring one from your place! Besides, that story about getting kicked out of your house was probably a lie anyway!”
“Ah, you caught me. Fine, fine. I’ll use that room.”
Until yesterday, I’d let my guard down thinking he was normal. From now on, I’d suspect his every move. As long as I kept the recorder on whenever he was around, I wouldn’t end up getting raped like yesterday. And even if it happened, I could report it.
“Alright, let’s say the lines are drawn there. Today’s March 16th. We both agree that until September 16th, I’ll pay two hundred a month and we’ll live together?”
“…”
“Answer me. …Do you need a deposit? Should I transfer the full twelve million now?”
“It’s fine. …I get it.”
For half a year—an unbearably long time—I signed off on a dangerous contract that could upend my entire life, trembling as I did so. …Praying that nothing would happen to me during those six months, I was letting a perverted, trashy, blackmailing rapist devil into my home.
“Okay. Good. As for chores and stuff, we’ll just clean up after ourselves. I’ll handle the cooking since I’m good at it. Got it?”
“…Got it.”
“And the gym—you have to come with me unless there’s a real reason not to. If either of us has plans or work, we report it to the other…”
“Hey, wait a second…!”
“What. If we don’t set these things straight from the start, it’ll be a pain later. How am I supposed to know if you got hurt or passed out drunk with friends if you don’t check in?”
“…”
His strangely practical conditions for a devil made him seem even more suspicious. I’d already gotten his promise not to touch me first, so why did it still feel like he was about to do something anyway?
“Ah, and since we need permission from the owner, you’ll have to introduce me to your sister as your boyfriend. You know that, right?”
“…I know. That much is obvious.”
“Okay. Make some time later. We’ll need to do the move-in registration too. There’s a lot to take care of.”
“…”
As he casually laid out our future like a snake slithering over a wall, I had no idea what kind of scenario he was writing in his head. …I could only hope I wouldn’t become one of the characters in it. Whatever novel that man was writing, it was bound to be nothing but filthy, disgusting porn.