Contract (3)
It was one of those days when my new-hire training with LS1 was nearly at its end.
The call dropped out of nowhere. It was the first time Kwon Jeonghee had summoned me since I joined the company.
"So. Is the work treating you all right?"
She asked it from the sofa across from me, in her office.
I had been staring at her without blinking. My answer came out short.
"Why did you call me?"
"Oh my, why so prickly? I went out of my way to worry about you.... Is someone giving you a hard time?"
"......"
At the sight of her smiling with that shameless face, I swallowed the curse that had climbed all the way to my throat. Like it or not, she was a superior perched so high above me I could barely see her. I had a mountain of things I wanted to throw in her face, of course. I simply had no desire to pick through them one by one.
I crushed the anger down and let the words out low.
"...Is this what you brought me here for?"
"Hm?"
Privately, I had guessed that Kwon Jeonghee placed me on LS3 on purpose. According to Lee Soobin, LS3 had never once functioned properly. The members of Valkyrie had refused the LS team's "support" the entire time, so I was certain she knew about my history with Ban Soyoung and had stuck me on Team 3 deliberately. If that weren't the case, the way she had been looking after me all this time wouldn't add up.
"Is that why you went after my mother?"
At that, the corner of Kwon Jeonghee's mouth lifted, slow.
"Maybe I should have sent you to another team."
"......"
"You're learning the job on Team 1 right now, aren't you? Unexpectedly... is that more your taste?"
I only stared at her, saying nothing. This was no time to play along with idle jokes.
Jeonghee, for her part, seemed to find the reaction amusing. She let out a little giggle and shifted where she sat.
"Well, if I'm being honest, I didn't see it turning out like this either."
"......?"
"But the timing lined up just right, so I sent you to Team 3. No other meaning to it, all right?"
Then she put on a suggestive look and smiled in a way that meant more than it said.
"Fate's a funny thing. ...Isn't it?"
I didn't understand what she was getting at. I only watched her, brow drawn tight. Her tone made it sound as if looking out for me and sending me to the LS team were two separate matters.
But whether that was true or not, one thing was certain. She had sent me to Team 3 on purpose.
Kwon Jeonghee slumped back against the sofa and spoke as if it were nothing much.
"Anyway. There's something I'd like you to take care of over there."
"...On Team 3?"
"That's right."
Something seemed to come back to her, and a note of pure disgust crept into her voice.
"You know the Valkyrie girls don't have much left on their contracts, right?"
A recontract?
As it happened, a certain rumor about Valkyrie had been circulating inside the company. Less than a year remained on their contracts, and the renewal was hitting a wall. Even if Valkyrie was something like TI's mascot, once business was involved, friction wasn't exactly strange.... According to the rumor, even the company itself didn't know what the problem was.
"Those bitch dogs. Raised them from nothing, and they don't know the first thing about gratitude.... Tch."
Kwon Jeonghee clicked her tongue as if she didn't even want to think about it, and flicked a glance my way.
"So you're going to have to help me out."
"...Pardon?"
"I'll give you the contracts. Get those bitches to sign them."
The order was so far from anything I had expected that, for a moment, I just gaped.
A recontract...? ...Me?
It was absurd.
"What are you talking about?"
"Exactly what I said."
"...How?"
"That's for you to figure out."
"Pardon...?"
Kwon Jeonghee stretched her long legs, planted her bare feet on the table, and went on as if she were bored.
"Butter them up, sweet-talk them, seduce them—do whatever you like. All I need is the renewal."
I couldn't believe it. She was dumping a job the company itself couldn't pull off onto a nobody employee like me.
This is what you brought me for?
Only then was I sure why I had been assigned to LS3. Just as I had half feared: because I was close to Ban Soyoung, she had thrown me in and told me to figure it out somehow.
Crazy bitch.
Using my relationship with Ban Soyoung like that stirred a hard surge of resistance in me. She, meanwhile, tossed out the next line as if it were nothing, empty of any shame.
"Oh, and while you're at it, straighten their heads out so they never get any other ideas again. They're only like this because they don't know what a man tastes like. Give those holes a good poking and they'll be so into you they'll come trotting after you."
"...Watch your mouth."
Kwon Jeonghee snorted and sneered.
"Why? You're good at that sort of thing."
"...!"
She watched my face go rigid and pulled the corner of her mouth up in a grin. I kept my mouth shut tight and only glared at her.
"Think positive. Our girls are a lost cause, I'll grant you... but they're unused, so the taste shouldn't be half bad. And the bodies are nice."
"......"
"Think about it. Bitches other men couldn't even dream of in a lifetime, and you get to keep them under your heel."
I had been clenching my fists, enduring with everything I had, and in the end I cut her off.
"That's enough."
Kwon Jeonghee smiled, round and easy, and sent me a long, steady look. That gaze, as if it could see straight through me, sent a sharp spike of disgust welling up.
"...If you're finished, may I go back down?"
Kwon Jeonghee nodded without a word.
I left the room that way. On the elevator ride down, the last thing she had said drifted faintly around my ears.
Back at LS3, I dropped into my chair. A sigh leaked out on its own.
"...I'm losing my mind...."
My head already hurt from learning this bizarre job, and now, of all things, I was supposed to land a recontract. The thought that I had gotten myself tangled up in something seriously wrong would not leave me. In the end, it was all because of my power.
If I just hadn't inherited this garbage ability.
For a while I did nothing but pour out pointless resentment and heavy sighs. Then I pulled my chair in close to the computer. I couldn't sit here lamenting forever.
I turned the machine on and opened the internal files I had been handed during the handover. They were packed with material on the members of Valkyrie....
When I scrolled down, a photo appeared: a woman with black hair loosely tied back, and a bright smile that stuck in the mind.
"...Choi Hyomin...."
Hero name, Shooting Star. After a short solo run of about a month, she had joined Valkyrie. True to the name, she was a physical-type superhuman—a speedster, with extreme velocity and an enhanced body. She was the only member who showed her face often across the media, and as the team's youngest she kept a lively, bright image that made her popular with everyone, young and old. She was close with the other employees too. The one member I might actually be able to get along with.
"Mmm...."
...The problem was what came next.
"Ahn Seohong...."
I moved the mouse and brought the next file up on the screen. A woman with red hair falling to her shoulders and sharp eyes. The row of piercings along the ear that showed, and the tattoo just barely hidden above her collar, caught the eye.
Hero name, Scarlet. A year older than Choi Hyomin, she wielded Pyrokinesis—the power to command fire—and a powerful Healing Factor. The defining trait of this member, who didn't look easy to get close to at a glance, was this.
Among the members, she alone showed a fierce hostility toward men. I hadn't gone through all the material yet, but if they had bothered to emphasize it, it couldn't be an ordinary problem.
...Misandry....
And the problems didn't end there.
I moved the scroll, and this time a woman appeared with a slightly wavy brown bob and a high, striking nose.
"...Na Yujin...."
Hero name, Witch. The same age as Ban Soyoung, she was the team's eldest and the one they called its second-in-command. Her ability was—
Reality Manipulation.
In the most literal sense, she possessed a one-of-a-kind superpower that could remake the world however she pleased. She denied it, but there was a rumor she could bring even the dead back in an instant, without a trace left behind. A truly omnipotent, cheating-level ability.
And yet her profile had an unusual number of blank fields. She was the member the public knew least about, and even the company hadn't fully grasped her—veiled, through and through. Probably the hardest one to get close to.
"...Haa...."
When I scrolled to the last member, a familiar face appeared.
Ban Soyoung. Blonde hair like molten gold drawn out long, and emerald eyes that glittered like jewels. Unlike the others, she was the only one with a neat, formal ID photo attached. Her quiet nature seemed unchanged; after Na Yujin, her file had the most empty fields scattered through it.
...Looking at her face on the screen, a sense of futility crept up on me.
I always thought I'd see her face again someday.
I truly never imagined the meeting would come like this. My head started to throb. Suddenly exhausted, I sank deep into the chair and dragged a hand down my drawn face.
...Damn it....
Kwon Jeonghee's words from earlier surfaced without warning.
She wanted me to use my ability. To bend women to my will however I liked, until they couldn't even think of leaving my side. She wanted me to throw my own life into the pit with my own hands. The way my grandfather had. The way my father had.
...Kwon Jeonghee....
Resistance surged, and I bit down hard on my molars.
I'd rather die.
I didn't want to live a life as hideous as my father's. One mistake was enough.
You think I'll just dance along to whatever you want, you bitch?
I pulled myself together, gave my cheek a light tap to clear my head, and took hold of the mouse again.
I will never do it that way.
Not long after, the new-hire training on Team 1 came to an end. It was around the time my work on LS3 was about to begin in earnest.
"Daehyun."
The office door opened, and a woman appeared. I had been sitting in front of the monitor. I shot up from the chair and offered a greeting.
"You're here."
"Working hard already, this early."
Hair neatly tied back, a crisp business suit. She looked like the very image of a successful career woman, and she held out a small box she had been carrying in one hand.
"Bread from just up the street. It looked good, so I bought a few."
"Ah—no, you really didn't have to...."
"I haven't been able to look after you. Have it later, as a snack."
"...Thank you. I'll enjoy it."
She smiled brightly and sat in the empty seat beside me.
She was Yoon Yeseul, team leader of LS3 and general manager of Valkyrie. More than a month had passed since I joined, and only recently had I finally gotten to know my direct supervisor.
"Come to think of it, I heard you finished your training."
"Ah, yes. It ended yesterday."
"How was it?"
"Uh.... Just, well.... ...I did my best."
At my awkward answer, Yoon Yeseul gave me a pitying smile.
"It's rough, isn't it?"
"Ah, no! I haven't even done any real work yet."
"I understand. Honestly, it isn't an ordinary job. I should have looked after you more, but I haven't had my head on straight lately...."
As Valkyrie's general manager, her schedule was so packed she almost never showed her face in the office. She even had a wedding coming up, so for the time being she was going to be extremely busy.
"Anyway, I'm glad you seem to be settling in. If you need anything, contact me anytime."
"...Yes. I will."
How long had we been catching up like that, after so long? She glanced at the smartwatch on her wrist, then fiddled with her phone and spoke to me.
"Perfect timing. They say everything's ready, so we can head over together."
"...Sorry? Head over where...."
Eyes still fixed on her phone, Yoon Yeseul answered as if I were asking the obvious.
"It's about time we went to see the girls."
!
The moment had finally arrived.
"Shall we? Let's go meet our members."