The Decision
Han Chae-kyung slowly tilted her head, as if carefully studying my reaction.
After glancing at her face, I suddenly spoke up.
“Councilor. Have you actually sold your behind to how many men so far?”
Even if I was speaking informally, this was still the words of a public official.
A city councilor.
She might seem trivial, but she was still a public official. Han Chae-kyung was not just any city councilor; she was a promising candidate aiming for further advancement.
“Public Official Joo Sung-hyun. What did you just—”
“How many men?”
“Are you serious? I’m asking because I’m genuinely curious.”
“Then let me ask again. How many times have you received regular or irregular financial support and provided sexual services? If the term ‘sexual services’ makes you uncomfortable, I’ll use ‘private meetings that include sexual relations’ instead.”
Even in my somewhat polite manner, Han Chae-kyung seemed to have calmed down.
Her eyes didn’t tremble, and she didn’t force a smile. She simply stared at me with a face that looked like it was saying, *What the hell is this guy?*
After a few seconds of silence, Han Chae-kyung pulled something from her pocket—a voice recorder with noise reduction.
“I prepared this because I got a real beating from Min-sun earlier.”
“Why show me that?”
“To answer your question.”
She activated the noise-cancellation device, sat down, and crossed one leg over the other.
It wasn’t difficult to read her expression. *…How did I end up in such humiliation? How did Public Official Joo Sung-hyun hear about any of this? Even if he did, the way he’s acting now isn’t right…*
Han Chae-kyung looked as if she wanted to throw everything away. Yet she opened her mouth anyway.
“At first, it was when I was in my first year of university.”
“I asked how many men.”
“Just listen, Joo Sung-hyun.”
She cut me off sharply. Her mental strength was solid.
“The man was a doctor. Now he’s the director of a nursing hospital. Want me to tell you who he is?”
“It’s fine. There’s no way it’s just one or two.”
“…” (73 / 887 / 1 year and 7 months ago)
“So?”
The words that finally came out of her mouth weren’t actually answering my question.
“Lease cars, gift cards, gifts.”
“…?”
“I’ve never received cash. By the way, the lease cars were registered under the name of a staff member working at the hospital, and the luxury items and jewelry I received were sold at used shops right after the relationship ended, then converted to cash to erase any traces.”
“You didn’t do account doubling?”
“Of course I did. Do you think I’m stupid?”
She’d jumped into politics after handing out her behind to seventy-three men—that itself was stupid—but the way she was talking now, she didn’t seem stupid at all.
And…
I could tell what kind of twisted purpose lay behind her deliberately wrong answers to my question.
*Just listen for now. That’s enough.*
If I somehow got persuaded, I could turn this in a way that saved her. I wanted to give her that much chance.
She’d already reached the position of deputy speaker of the city council as a sponsor girl.
“Just listening.”
Even if she might have been persuaded, I still wanted to hear her out.
“I never went to the same hotel twice or had videos taken.”
“You were twenty years old then?”
“Yes. That’s when I started being careful.”
“Then tell me about the exit strategy you used while doing this. High-class sponsors sometimes don’t end cleanly because of topping—personal emotions attached. The risk I’m worried about is exactly that.”
“Topping?”
Han Chae-kyung was now genuinely smiling as she looked at me.
She still didn’t dodge the question.
“If my funding suddenly dropped or if I started showing too much emotional attachment, I’d end things. The men who end things just because of money… first they prepare modest gifts. Expensive but reasonable luxury items.”
“Tie pins, maybe?”
“Yes. I’d deliver the gift, say how grateful I was, and how I could have come this far thanks to him. A warm goodbye.”
“What about men who smoke?”
“…Repression.”
“They suddenly appear in front of their wives or say they want to see the workplace?”
“You know too well.”
I did know. I’d only experienced it from the way these sponsor girls thought.
In any case, it was impossible to deny that Han Chae-kyung had been a capable sponsor girl.
She knew how to handle men—especially older, wealthy men—better than anyone. Now that I thought about it, her husband was sixteen years older than her.
“Public Official Joo Sung-hyun? Even if I run into the men I’ve had relations with before, I can respond coldly. It’s not just talk.”
It was clear why she was saying those words to me.
“Councilor. Are you trying to tell me that the numbers aren’t important?”
“Yes.” (73 / 887 / 1 year and 7 months ago)
“…?”
“Whether it’s ten or twenty, it doesn’t matter to me. If risk control failed, even one sponsor experience could be dangerous. If managed well, twenty could be fine. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
But you’re not twenty—you’re seventy-three. Ability helped you reach this far, but you’re still threatening my political life right now.
*Still, she’s not just bluffing.*
Han Chae-kyung seemed to genuinely believe she could manage her risks at a safe level.
What she’d rushed to do with her friend Kwak Min-sun earlier…
There had only been one person exposed by her weaknesses, after all.
They’d been close enough to consult about the terrible things she’d experienced while living as a sponsor girl, so she’d quickly identified her and taken action.
That’s why Han Chae-kyung was appealing to me.
The biggest risk—Kwak Min-sun—had already been taken care of.
The rest were just minor annoyances.
So she was telling me to relax and cooperate with her.
“I’ll say it again. The numbers aren’t important.” (73 / 887 / 1 year and 7 months ago)
It was true that the number on my forehead weakened her persuasion.
But Han Chae-kyung seemed to think her persuasion had worked and lightly smiled.
Next, she offered me something as a carrot.
“I’ll personally handle your performance evaluation this year. And… oh, how about this? I’ll let you take a short break overseas through the national basic councilor association. You can come for about a month to train in any place you want.”
“You’ll do that if I just stay silent?”
“And, next year, if I happen to enter the mayor’s office…”
She paused here, stepping closer to me.
Because her *Recent Experience* was from 1 year and 7 months ago…
Surprisingly, she didn’t smell of cheap lotion or urine.
The scent that tickled my nose was a subtle cedarwood afterglow and, most likely, saffron. She must have been using an expensive perfume, as if she were anything but a wealthy person. And it didn’t seem like she was trying to seduce me with her body in any crude way.
“If I enter the mayor’s office next year, I promise. You’ll be promoted to a six-grade political secretary in your first year, and to chief secretary in your second year. You’ll have to go through the process of being hired as a regular employee after retirement, but I don’t think it’s a bad offer, do you?”
Could a mistress really dream of becoming mayor?
Excluding that, it was an offer worth considering. It was an extraordinary favor for me, who had barely been promoted to eighth grade during last year’s regular personnel review. Thinking about how I’d asked her in her face how many men she’d sold her behind to, it was even more so.
From a purely practical standpoint, it honestly wasn’t a bad offer.
I could show my parents, who still live in a rundown two-room apartment, that their son is doing well, and I could escape even from a fifty-thousand-won monthly office.
The possibility of realizing a sponsor girl’s dream…
It wasn’t zero.
*Possible. If I just stay silent and cooperate.*
Even if some unexpected risk popped up that I hadn’t known about (one of the sponsor men I’d eaten suddenly appeared), I might be able to resolve it using my abilities. After all, among those who’d messed around with sex, I had my own strengths.
I felt like I could save her four-tenths.
But I felt like I had to bury that sponsor girl six-tenths.
“It’s not a lie.”
“…Councilor.”
“Think it over. And forget all the rough words I said to you earlier. It’s not because I’m an unprincipled woman. It’s just that I can understand the mindset in which Public Official Joo Sung-hyun said those words. I’ll forgive you this one time only.”
Han Chae-kyung never lost respect for me until the end.
It was all acting, but the effort was convincing. And the sincerity of not wanting to turn me into an enemy was felt. It was worth considering. Of course, I’d have to put a leash on her so she couldn’t stab me in the back later, but still…
“Oh, and Public Official Joo Sung-hyun?”
At that moment, Han Chae-kyung smiled and straightened my collar. And then:
“You mentioned that your father works at Taehwa Transport, right?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe I can find a way to help.”
She mentioned the company my father belonged to.
Taehwa Transport—a transportation company operating about four village bus routes in Annam City.
Her husband was, in fact, the de facto owner. Since the company wasn’t making money, he didn’t seem interested in management, but…
It had a special meaning to me. Why? My father had worked there as a village bus driver for over twenty years and raised me.
*This bitch?*
Joo Jung-chul, 55 years old. Three-time winner of the Kindness and Safety Driver Award.
She was indirectly threatening my father’s job.
She said she could find a way to help with words, but in other words, she could also cause disadvantages. It was an implicit warning to handle it on my own.
Of course, the one who first mentioned that my father worked at Taehwa Transport was me.
She had probably been showing off her power to prevent me from rejecting her proposal. She was advising me to think carefully and decide, since I (or rather, my husband) had this much influence.
I understood.
But I couldn’t accept it.
A sponsor girl dragging up a hardworking transport worker?
Thanks to that, I could quickly decide on my action toward Han Chae-kyung.
“Councilor. Thank you for your kind words. I understood, and I felt the sincerity.”
Originally, my plan had two parts.
To catch her weakness and keep her alive while using her.
Or to use her past cleanly and send her away.
Looking at the woman in front of me now, both options seemed too generous.
In the first case, I would become happy, but Han Chae-kyung would continue to enjoy power for a long time… In the second case, Han Chae-kyung would die socially, but she could live luxuriously with her husband’s money. Even if divorced, she was the kind of woman who would secure her own share.
That’s why I had a method in mind.
A way to dirty my own hands as little as possible and reduce greater pain. And if I acted well, I could even make her cooperate with me until the end.
“Can I get your answer right here?” (73 / 887 / 1 year and 7 months ago)
“Yes. There are still about fifteen minutes until the plenary session begins.”
“…?”
“Time is sufficient. I want you to show it through action, so I can trust you, Councilor.”
But before proceeding with the job, there was something I needed to do.
To make her pay the price for daring to toy with my mouth.
It had nothing to do with the plans ahead.
“If you suck it once, I’ll believe you.”
After confirming that the door was locked, I immediately undid my belt.