As Long as It's Not Me
Yoon Ha-young the journalist couldn't come to her senses. First, she'd suffered a massive mental shock from the utterly unexpected encounter. Second, she'd been dragged somewhere in the mansion, surrounded by women, and her clothes were being torn off in real time.
"Kyaaah!! L-let go! Let me gooooo!!!!"
She still had some fight left in her. She pushed back against the women with all her strength, gathering the torn, dangling fabric in her hands to cover her skin. But that only lasted a moment. In the end, with her arms and legs pinned, she collapsed to the floor and could only watch as her clothes were ripped away in every direction.
"Aaaah! Aaaaaah!!!"
It was an overwhelming terror. The shreds of fabric felt like chunks of her own flesh and entrails being torn off. It was just like a scene from a zombie movie, surrounded and devoured by the undead.
"Ah... Aaaah...."
By the time tears welled up and streamed down her cheeks, she lay there completely naked, red marks blooming across her body in various places.
"Time to wash up now."
"Yes, Prosecutor."
The women tossed her straight into the bath right beside them, and every time Yoon Ha-young tried to surface for air, they shoved her head back under. Glub glub glub. They scrubbed her like that. Hands roamed shamelessly over her breasts, armpits, and crotch, scrubbing brutally hard, only letting her lift her face when she was on the verge of drowning.
"Gasp! Ptoo! S-save...!"
She flailed like that, only to be dunked again. After two or three rounds, her fierce resistance completely crumbled.
Splash.
"Hic... H-heuk...!"
Finally released from the bath, she sobbed as she crawled out. Inaeun tilted her head and squatted down beside her.
"Hmm~. You can't give up this easily, Journalist. You're not that kind of person. You can endure it with more grit and stubbornness, right?"
"Ugh.... Uuuh.... Why... why are you doing this.... What the hell...."
"?"
"Prosecutor.... You're a prosecutor of justice.... You said you wanted to create a just world!!!"
Her tearful cry echoed through the bathhouse.
"Yes. That's right."
"Then why!!"
"?"
Inaeun tilted her head again.
"Why do this!! Deceiving me.... Using people.... Lying!!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. I've never lied to you or deceived you, Journalist."
"Wh-what?!"
"Even now.... I'm working tirelessly for justice. Night and day, to build a proper world."
"What...!"
Yoon Ha-young's face flushed with rage. Even in this state, still putting on an act. The nerve of this woman!
"Well, the justice I believe in—,"
Inaeun leaned in close, her face inches from Yoon Ha-young's.
"—is a world where the powerful can trample and ravage the weak as they please."
"Wha...?"
That is justice...?
"And at the same time, a world where I am one of the powerful. Isn't it beautiful? A world where I can toy with lives at my whim."
She prodded Yoon Ha-young's cheeks with her Terminator, squishing them.
"And I kept my promise. I told you, didn't I? That I'd definitely, absolutely bring you before that man."
"!!"
"So why am I hearing complaints about me deceiving you or lying? I've always spoken only the truth to you, and only from the heart."
"Soph...istry...."
"Hehe. That's just it."
Inaeun laughed. It was the face of a devil.
"Justice itself is nothing but sophistry."
While Yoon Ha-young the journalist was being dunked under the pretense of a bath, a completely different scene unfolded in one corner of the mansion.
The waiting room was massive, rivaling a proper office. It was packed with beautiful women. They were all the kind frequently featured in Korean media—the so-called 'stars.' Not quite the absolute top tier you rarely see, but the ones that pop into people's minds now and then, or whose names ring a bell the moment you see their faces. Or the reverse: names that conjure up faces instantly.
Actresses, idols, divas, models, announcers—women from all corners of entertainment and broadcasting were in this huge room, eyeing each other warily and competitively as they changed clothes.
"Whoa.... Why are there so many people here...."
Sixth-year actress Jeong Ga-in stuck out her tongue in amazement as she changed into the outfit she'd prepared. Her usual mask and acting style leaned toward innocent and pure, but the dress she'd brought clung tightly to her body, revealing every curve. And the hem barely skimmed her crotch—that short.
"Well, yeah. With all the agencies blowing up, it's no wonder everyone's flocking to an audition at a company run by the young master of the Goryeo Group...."
It was a brand-new agency, only two months old, but that didn't matter. This wasn't just any place—it was under the Goryeo Group, run personally by the chairman's real grandson, a true imperial heir, not some side branch nobody.
The fact that the grandson was the infamous playboy Gomuyeol of the entertainment world? Hardly relevant. In this industry, there were barely any women who kept their legs closed primly. Sexual favors were inevitable one way or another. So dedicating herself solely to a skirt-chasing young master who didn't shop around? That was a merit, not a demerit.
Click.
One woman opened the waiting room door and entered. She had her long hair in a ponytail, wearing a flight attendant-like smile—stunningly beautiful.
She waited until all eyes were on her, then spoke.
"Looks like everyone's ready. Follow me."
"...."
Gulp.
They swallowed and trailed after her. Leading the group, the ponytail woman continued.
"Everything you see, hear, or experience from now on? You can blab about it all you want. Doesn't matter."
"...Pardon?"
It was unexpected. Usually, they hammered in that you must not breathe a word, right?
"Because the moment those words get out, they'll be buried anyway."
"...."
There it is. A lightly veiled threat.
"In this audition, you must show absolute obedience to the young master. No matter what happens, no matter what you're subjected to—absolute obedience."
Gulps echoed here and there.
"And if you pass and become part of Goryeo Entertainment, the same applies afterward. Keep that in mind always."
At the massive door they'd reached, she turned to face the women.
"Absolute obedience."
Yoon Ha-young the journalist, tortured under various pretexts here and there, was dragged along naked, too broken to even cover herself. As the physical torment eased, her thoughts finally began to surface.
What the hell. Where did this disaster even start?
—Ahh, no. I'm really fine. In fact, I'm meeting you, Journalist, precisely for days like today?
—It's because you're righteous like that, sometimes charging ahead without thinking. That's why I make time for you. Seeing you gives me hope for the future.
—I always thought you'd dig up a case like this someday. Like a guided missile, sort of.
'Guided missile....'
Inaeun the prosecutor had said she was hoping Yoon Ha-young would deliver 'a case like this.' Probably one connecting her to the elite upper crust, the untouchable clouds above the masses.
'She built a good image at first.... Then used me.... Turned the dangerous case I brought her into an opportunity to link up with the higher-ups....'
Considering her team leader had been dragged in because of her and ended up as a sugar baby, that made two women connected to that man through her.
'I really was her guided missile....'
To that man, and to Inaeun the prosecutor. A perfect one.
'After that...? She monitored and manipulated my every move?'
She'd plunged into the special investigation. Worked her ass off. Gathered evidence of sexual favors from countless agencies, and the prosecutors and investigators hammered down with it.
But the key players walked free.
'Come to think of it, there was this Goryeo Entertainment.... Goryeo Enter.... Goryeo... Prestige....'
—That thing I mentioned before, can we do it today?
—Leaking the no-indictment list. That's how I'll screenshot it and run the story.
'Rainbow Miracle no indictment.... Goryeo Enter too.... No indictment.... Team leader.... Goryeo Prestige....'
"Ha, haha,"
A laugh escaped her.
—Yes. You're right, ma'am. It's our job. Don't worry. I'll make sure to find whoever started this mess.
—It's a bit short of the mark, but... worth publishing. Strip and send her in.
'That policewoman's here too.... Hahaha.... What am I? Being puppeted like this? Why is everyone around me coming from here...?'
Tears streaked her face. Her mind, already fraying over the past few days, was now properly cracking.
She felt it instinctively.
'Please.... Stop now.... I can't take anymore.... Just stop...'
She didn't want to see any more shocks. She wanted to go back like this. Please just send her home. She didn't want to face whatever lay ahead, that door.
"You've arrived."
A woman with her breasts exposed said it in a flat tone. Just two nights ago, this same policewoman had comforted her warmly, reassured her.
"Prosecutor, you need to dress properly too."
"Ah~. Right."
Inaeun shrugged off her jacket and popped the buttons on her blouse. Then she flung it open, baring her massive breasts. She even removed her bra for full exposure. Only then did the policewoman nod and open the door.
Creeeak.
'Nooo.... I hate it.... Hate it... please...'
Just the door opening felt like someone forcing her legs apart. Shlick, shluuurp, "Ha-ut, haaang! Aaaang!"
Moans leaked from between the doors. The vast room, open enough to feel exposed, was filled with what looked like a hundred women, but the center was completely clear.
"Ahk! Aaaang!"
At the end of a straight path stood a man sitting with his legs spread wide, a naked woman astride him, riding vigorously.
"Wha... what is... this...?"
It hit again. Her blood ran cold, her nerves on edge, the world and her isolating. Extreme dissociation. The sensation rejecting comprehension of the scene before her eyes—it returned.
"How...?"
Not because of the man receiving sex service in arrogant repose. Not the woman shaking her hips atop him. Not even her team leader standing ramrod straight behind them, fully nude with her pubic hair visible.
The whole spectacle, the room itself—it made no sense to her.
Jeong Ga-in, Hong Yun-ah, Bae Yun-jeong, Im Hye-jeong...? Park Hyun-seo and Jeong Na-yeon too...? Huh? Even Mun Ra-hee? What the hell?
Over a hundred women at a glance, and every single one familiar. Actresses, idols, divas, models, announcers.... No matter where she looked, faces she'd seen once or twice. Even the lead actress from a currently airing drama. It felt like every famous female entertainer in the country had been rounded up.
This can't... be real?
Push.
Inaeun shoved her from behind.
"Let's go. Time to greet the Master."
"N-no... I don't want to...."
"Hurry up."
Inaeun grabbed Yoon Ha-young's wrist and pulled her forward. Her bared breasts jiggled.
"Nooooo!!!"
She resisted, but with Im Sua joining from behind, she was dragged along.
"Heeek!!"
As she was hauled forward, the man who'd been quietly receiving his service spoke.
"What're you waiting for? Give her a proper welcome."
The women in the room, who'd been watching like spectators, erupted in applause all at once.
Clap clap clap clap clap!
The massive applause swallowed every other sound in an instant.
"Ah... Ahh...!"
Yoon Ha-young plunged into full panic. Her mind shattered by betrayal after betrayal, shock after shock—now drowned in applause from all sides. Hallucinations and auditory illusions were setting in. It felt like everyone in the room was surrounding her, laughing mockingly while clapping.
'Plea...se.... Stop.... Please stop.... Stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop stop...'
Push.
"Kek."
Before she knew it, she'd been dragged right before the man.