The Strike
The return trip from the final day of the life skills competition had come to an end.
First, it was clear she was a prostitute.
Next, I needed to figure out exactly which trade Han Chae-kyung had worked in.
Given her age—born in 1988—office-building work had come to mind first.
“Joo Sung-hyun Jwagwan?” (73 / 887 / 1 year and 6 months ago)
But saying she was an office girl when her Partner Count was only 73…
“I know that Joo Sung-hyun Jwagwan fulfilled your duties as a staff member in the legislative team. If that woman spreads a plausible fake news story in the local community, it could cause serious problems, right? I know that too, and I’m pointing it out.”
“Empty talk. I never took it seriously. The councilor said ‘prostitute.’”
“Of course not.”
Among the 73, I had to exclude her current husband. And if she had two boyfriends before becoming a prostitute, that would bring the total down to roughly 70.
If she had really worked in an office, the number should have been far higher.
Office work was optimized for high turnover, high-end or mid-low price.
If she worked three days a week during the semester and five on breaks, averaging 2.5 to 3 clients per day, that added up to about 500 clients a year.
Since no one worked the full year, even with holidays, it would still be around 400.
Even if she mostly had regulars, that would accumulate at least 200 a year.
“Joo Sung-hyun Jwagwan. The woman who insulted me… I still remember her appearance and manner of speech.”
“Appearance? She looked ordinary.”
“Ordinary? What do you mean by that? Round-neck knit? Just a T-shirt? What about her hairstyle?”
“Councilor, please calm down.”
“…I never got excited.” (73 / 887 / 1 year and 6 months ago)
The woman sitting in the backseat while I drove, the one who had driven me here, had too few numbers to be an office girl.
Even if she took in just 70 clients at an office, she couldn’t afford luxury brands. Considering she attended school normally, room work would have been difficult too.
So how had she sold her body?
With only slim knowledge, it was hard to guess. How could someone with just 70 clients afford such extravagance?
“Joo Sung-hyun Jwagwan? Then let me ask you one thing.”
While I was still pondering, Han Chae-kyung kept pestering.
“Councilor, how about just forgetting it all…”
“Could you be held responsible if the fake news blows up?”
“…”
“Somehow or other, remember everything. Her appearance, her speech patterns. Even small details.”
I was letting her build her own anxiety.
Seeing the word “somehow or other” come from her mouth, it had worked so far.
It was also evidence that she believed the lie I had invented.
In truth, I had only spent a few hours gathering footprints left by Han Chae-kyung and people connected to her through school or past connections, then planted them to look real.
I hadn’t even committed any illegal acts while searching the data.
Had she truly believed she could hide her past as a prostitute forever?
Of course. If she thought that, she could run for election and boldly post photos in a bra doing yoga…
‘Ah.’
A sudden thought had surfaced in my head.
How had Han Chae-kyung lived a luxurious life after only selling her body to 70 men?
And now I understood why she was so excited about asking the “informant” about appearance and manner of speech.
“Joo Sung-hyun Jwagwan. Don’t ignore people…!”
“Councilor.”
Right after arriving at the city council building, I slowly turned to look at her.
She looked like someone who ran a private Pilates lesson shop in Dongtan 2 New City.
The vibe was a bit off, but it fit. Slightly elegant, but not too much—someone who had done prostitution but didn’t carry the smell of it.
There was a perfect way to handle this type.
‘Sponsor.’
Strictly speaking, it was a mix of condition and sponsor.
Some might think a condition girl was just a condition girl and a sponsor was just a sponsor, but transactional sex didn’t have clear boundaries.
A 150,000-won condition meeting could evolve into a 400,000-won monthly sponsor, and some women repeated short-term non-exclusive sponsors—eating and laughing with the sponsor while listening to gossip—until they made a good profit…
This was it. It had to be a mixed sponsor.
“Councilor Han Chae-kyung. Let me say one thing.”
“Tell me.”
“The woman said… that she enjoyed luxury thanks to the councilor. Of course, it was said in a sarcastic tone.”
As I calculated internally at the word “luxury,” Han Chae-kyung blinked several times…
But soon her gaze calmed.
She seemed to be digging through the candidates, figuring out who had scratched her.
‘Exact hit.’
Sponsors, especially those in their mid-to-late 40s, liked to do certain things.
They acted as a young sponsor’s “boyfriend,” showed off their presence to other sponsors, and casually splashed money on them.
I didn’t know why they did it. They were just idiots.
I had guessed a few of those kinds existed among Han Chae-kyung’s clients and thrown the line…
“Insane bitch.”
I had hit it again. The moment I heard the small curse slip from Han Chae-kyung’s lips, a strange thrill ran through me.
The number I had been given at the start was only three digits.
It had felt a bit high to call it “only,” but anyway, it was the moment I had started with that number and uncovered that Han Chae-kyung was a prostitute who worked in that trade.
“Councilor?”
Han Chae-kyung looked at me with hazy eyes. Her mind was half gone.
“Joo Sung-hyun Jwagwan… you’ve worked hard.”
“Hard? Don’t say that.”
“And this is just in case… I’m telling you…”
“I haven’t leaked the words spoken to the woman in question to anyone. Not because I believed she worked in prostitution, but because I thought an elected public official shouldn’t suffer unjust damage from a vulgar fake news story.”
I’d be careful with my words. I knew exactly what she wanted to hear, so I had struck first.
Han Chae-kyung blinked slowly, powerless.
It felt like she wanted to say more, but she stopped. Had she remembered that I had treated her like shit not long ago?
“Thank you.”
I bowed respectfully as Han Chae-kyung walked into the city council building first.
A prostitute city councilor.
But from now on, I would treat her as just a city councilor on the surface.
***
As soon as I returned to the office, I began plotting the next step.
I had practically obtained a confession from Han Chae-kyung herself…
But evidence was still missing.
However, since I had identified the trade, finding evidence was not impossible. I could see exactly where and how to prick her.
While I stood in the break room for a moment, thinking about where to start.
“Ha… fuck. 21 when I’m not even 21, it’s kind of burdensome.” (10 / 12 / 2 months ago)
The voice of my colleague, Budget Team Park Jung-hyun, came from beside me as he drank coffee.
He was staring at his smartphone, deep in thought.
Park Jung-hyun seemed to be planning to go to an office building soon. He was reading reviews of prostitution on communities like “Double Rental Tour” or “Office Joy.”
This is not the homework room! Nice and kind girls! Body figures!
His number had been easy to interpret thanks to that nonsense.
(10 / 12 / 2 months ago)
That was the number stacked after eating all of it.
What if he got caught…
Getting caught only on buying would end with Jones School plus disciplinary action. But if even one scathing post appeared on the internet, it would lead to dismissal.
Of course, I had no intention of sending Park Jung-hyun far away.
‘I had no reason to drop him into the abyss.’
He wasn’t close, and I hadn’t fought him. He did his work diligently and didn’t engage in political bullshit. No reason to help, and no reason to harm him on purpose.
Just reading office reviews in the break room was fine by me. That was all.
If Park Jung-hyun’s number (11 / 13 / 12 hours ago) appeared above his head tomorrow morning, I would pretend I didn’t know.
…Yeah. Pretend I didn’t know.
If I made up my mind, I could apply the same attitude to Han Chae-kyung.
‘Should I stop here?’
Han Chae-kyung’s number felt a little heavy.
Sponsors back then—men who could buy a 3.5 million won second-hand car for a college girl, bring her friends to a full villa, and send her on overseas trips…
70 men couldn’t all be high-priced sponsors; most were probably condition men, but there were quite a few burdensome humans mixed in.
Thinking about it now, I was also worried about Han Chae-kyung’s husband.
A businessman with some clout in Annam City, an industrial city in the southwestern part of Gyeonggi Province with a population of 600,000. If his wife fell, he wouldn’t be happy.
‘Maybe he’d want to find the one who sent his wife.’
Since I had started, I had the urge to dig deeper.
Or to cleverly use it for profit. The latter was more appealing.
But Han Chae-kyung was busy figuring out who her friend was who had poked her past… so maybe I could just let her suffer alone for now?
There was no law that knowing a weakness meant doing it my way. If I rushed in too fast and things went wrong, I could get hurt too.
‘Yeah. I have to be careful.’
In the end, I had chosen the safe path.
I decided to put the job on hold.
But there was something I hadn’t considered.
[Han Chae-kyung] Joo Sung-hyun Jwagwan. Come to my office right now.
I couldn’t hold back something I didn’t want to hold back.
The next morning, Han Chae-kyung’s KakaoTalk rang at dawn. It was Saturday.
[Han Chae-kyung] It’s not related to legislative work. It’s sorry to call you on a holiday, but come right now.
[Me] Sorry, but I’m not the councilor’s secretary.
[Han Chae-kyung] That’s not it. I think I’ve fallen into a trap. I was supposed to approach carefully, but I was too hasty. Do you understand what I mean?
[Me] I don’t know.
[Han Chae-kyung] Tell me in detail. First.
It seemed like a prostitute city councilor had caused some accident in one night.
And now she was asking me for help.
It was common for city councilors to use private officials from the secretariat…
But calling them on the weekend and involving their personal lives was insane. Especially if the councilor was someone like Han Chae-kyung and me, who already had trouble.
Han Chae-kyung, who should have known that, was calling me.
I didn’t answer the message, and soon a phone call came too…
She was in a hurry, that bitch. I first ignored it.
I hadn’t ignored it out of panic, but because I needed time to think.
Up until yesterday, I had wanted to put it on hold, but the situation had changed.
I had provided the trigger, but Han Chae-kyung had caused the big trouble.
And it was Han Chae-kyung who was trying to involve me.
Not having to risk and build up was not bad. Really not.
Soon after, the second call from the prostitute city councilor came.
This time I answered immediately. And I said:
“Yes. Councilor Han Chae-kyung. I’ve checked the messages, and I’ll leave right away.”