Chapter 47
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Ahead of D-Day
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Lunchtime rolled around, and I headed to the quiet corner table at the cafe near the office, our prearranged spot.
I ordered from the menu and fiddled with my phone. It wasn't long before Park Mi-na stepped into the cafe.
She glanced around cautiously before approaching and sitting down in front of me. Her shoulders were hunched up tight.
"...You called for me, sunbae."
There was still fear laced in her voice, but she no longer bothered playing the sweet, gentle junior from before.
"Yeah. How'd it go with what I told you to do?"
I took a sip of the Americano on the table and asked indifferently.
"Haa. This is just hopeless."
Mi-na irritably swept her bangs back and let out a deep sigh.
"That Son Jun-hyeok guy is totally off the rails. He didn't even listen to what you pointed out at that last meeting."
"Hmm."
"He doesn't seem to care what the buyer actually values, and he's just packaging the materials for show. The meeting's coming up soon—what's he planning to do if he screws it up?"
Mi-na curled her lip as she spoke.
Come to think of it, he'd always been the type obsessed only with surface-level results.
If Son Jun-hyeok was digging his own grave, that was the best news I could ask for.
And if I used the app here to dig a little deeper into his weaknesses...
"Got it. Anything else?"
"Nothing much besides that..."
"Tell me anyway. Anything at all."
At my urging, Mi-na hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
"Really, nothing. ...At most, he's just being a nuisance over and over."
"A nuisance?"
"Ha. Acting all high and mighty like he's the project lead or something."
Mi-na suddenly scowled and raised her voice.
"I don't know if he's always been like this, but he keeps casually touching my shoulder or telling me to fetch him coffee."
She must have been pretty fed up these past few days, because she'd apparently forgotten that the one who'd trampled her mercilessly was me—and she poured out her complaints.
Maybe she'd half-resigned herself to her situation.
After all, I was probably the only one left she could vent to, like it or not.
"And to top it off, my body's been heating up out of nowhere lately. It's driving me insane..."
Mi-na, who had been venting enthusiastically, trailed off mid-sentence.
Her gaze naturally drifted to my face.
"Sunbae."
"Yeah?"
"You've done enough already."
"Not sure what you're talking about."
Her face twisted at my sly tone.
"Don't play dumb. I know it's you messing with me again."
This is why I hate quick-witted types.
Just as Mi-na said, the reason her body's been acting up was me.
Nothing too elaborate.
I'd simply suggested her into a state where she got sexually aroused easily.
And at the same time, made it so she absolutely couldn't masturbate.
It'd torment her day by day, sure.
"Please fix it soon. It flares up at the worst times—I'm seriously going crazy."
"I'll decide that. You don't get to give me orders."
"Is tormenting people that fun for you?"
I watched her intense reaction with interest, then replied calmly, as if granting a favor.
"Just hang in there a bit longer. Once this job's wrapped up nicely, I'll satisfy your body until it's overflowing with exactly what it craves."
She seemed to catch the lewd intent behind my words perfectly—her face flushed with a mix of contempt and bewilderment.
"...Hmph! Who said I wanted that? Forget that crap—just end this damn situation already."
Even as she snapped sharply, Mi-na unconsciously touched her slightly flushed cheek.
Looks like her body was reacting honestly, even if her mouth kept complaining.
"Haa. So, what's your next move? I get that you want to screw over Son Jun-hyeok."
Mi-na sighed briefly and changed the subject.
She glanced at me carefully before asking timidly.
Her expression was full of dissatisfaction, but a different emotion flickered through compared to before.
"Well."
"You're targeting Team Leader Kang too, right? With something similar to what you did to me."
Mi-na's eyes held more than simple curiosity—fear, resignation.
And maybe even a hint of solidarity, a complex mix.
"Hng."
Had treating her a tad nicer these past few days given her the leisure to pry into this?
Instead of answering, I set down my coffee cup and spoke coldly.
"Just focus on what I've assigned you. Don't worry about irrelevant stuff."
"...Tch."
At my curt attitude, Mi-na clicked her tongue softly but didn't press further.
Looks like she'd need a proper attitude adjustment later.
"Keep reporting, especially any mistakes Son Jun-hyeok makes. Got it?"
"...Yes. Understood."
Mi-na replied in a mosquito-like voice.
I had no more business with her.
I stood up without lingering and left the cafe.
On the way back to the office, I reviewed the plan once more.
D-Day was the buyer meeting in a few weeks.
Steering the situation wouldn't be too hard, but at the crucial moment, it'd all come down to my own abilities.
So I needed to maximize every skill I had for it.
Focus, eloquence, charisma.
Mastering those in the short term was realistically impossible.
'But this changes everything.'
I felt the cool touch of my smartphone in my pocket and recalled the hypnosis app.
Just imagining the upcoming meeting day brought a natural smile to my lips.
A suffocating tension woke her before the alarm.
It was the day of the meeting with the Japanese buyer that would decide the fate of the project she'd poured weeks into preparing.
Forcing her heavy eyelids open, the familiar bedroom ceiling came into view as always.
She'd had strange dreams all night.
The contents were a jumbled mess, but the bizarre heat lingering through her body upon waking, along with the throbbing sensation in her lower abdomen, stuck with her.
A mix of shame and duty-bound emotions she'd grown numb to wrapped around her.
'Must be from exhaustion...'
It had been like this the past few days.
She tried to console herself, blaming the fatigue from all the project stress.
But the fragmented memories popping into her head unbidden weren't just from work pressure.
'That time in the conference room... And the next day in the break room too...'
While doing her makeup in front of the bathroom mirror, Joo-young hurriedly shoved the memories aside.
Assistant Manager Lee Hyun-seong's audacious, downright shameless demands.
And the moments she'd helplessly yielded to them under the pretext of boosting her subordinate's morale.
'No. Don't overthink it.'
Joo-young shook her head sharply.
It was just... Yeah.
As team leader, it was an unavoidable measure to manage her team member's morale and ensure project success.
A bit extreme and unreasonable, sure—but hadn't Lee Hyun-seong become noticeably more motivated and improved in his work since then?
If so, then it had worked.
Her reason, deeply eroded by the suggestions, desperately repeated self-justifications to ignore her broken reality.
Only she herself didn't notice how precariously her reflection's eyes wavered in the mirror.
After changing, Joo-young stepped into the living room and spotted her husband, Park Min-cheol, sitting at the dining table as usual.
In front of him sat two cups of coffee, apparently brewed by him.
His pajama-clad form and hollow eyes were the same as ever, but the sight eased some of the dust accumulated in her heart.
"..."
As Joo-young sat across from him, Min-cheol silently pushed one cup toward her.
The warm steam rising from it seeped into her fingertips.
"Thank you."
Min-cheol just stared down at his coffee instead of replying.
But that small gesture gave her courage.
Maybe today, this suffocating relationship could see a tiny change.
"Min-cheol. Any plans for today?"
Joo-young's voice was gentler than last time.
"Dunno."
Min-cheol's voice lacked energy too, but it wasn't as sharp as before.
"No word yet on those resumes you sent out last time?"
"Nope."
"Then how about applying to some other places today? Or looking into that video editing course you were interested in before..."
Joo-young suggested carefully, trying not to provoke him.
But the response was icy.
"Video editing? What good's learning that now? It's all pointless."
Deep defeat weighed in his voice.
Joo-young's heart sank, but she didn't want to be swept up in negativity today of all days.
Today was important.
She wanted to cling to some hope.
"No, don't say that. You're still young. And besides."
Joo-young forced a bright, upbeat tone.
Her eyes held anticipation and anxiety for the meeting today.
"This project we're handling—upper management has huge expectations. If it succeeds, my position at the company will change. Our situation will get way better too. So you could..."
But before Joo-young could finish, Min-cheol snapped his head up.
His eyes were bloodshot with despair and rage.
"You..."
"Yes?"
"How much more miserable do you need to make me before you're satisfied?!"
Bang!
Min-cheol slammed his coffee cup down hard on the table.
Brown liquid spilled across the surface, but he ignored it.
"You think I want to be like this? Waking up every morning is hell enough—why do you have to rub it in?!"
"M-Min-cheol, calm down. I was just thinking of you..."
"Thinking of me? Is that why you're so thrilled to brag about your success story?"
His voice rose uncontrollably.
His shouts, tangled with anger, self-loathing, and inferiority, echoed through the living room.
"Seeing you every day is torture for me. Every time I see you succeeding, do you know how pathetic I feel?"
"I-I didn't mean it like that..."
"And yet you keep going on every day... Don't I look ridiculous? A husband leeching off his wife's money—must be hilarious and embarrassing for you, right?"
"N-No..."
Joo-young bit her lip as her husband's sharp emotions battered her.
Always like this.
The same exhausting pattern repeating.
She knew his pain better than anyone, so even her sincere words...
They always stabbed him as the deepest dagger.
"You think I like this either!"
In the end, Joo-young erupted with the emotions she'd held back.
"Can't you see I'm carrying all the debt and living expenses on my own?!"
She knew she shouldn't, but it was too late to gather the spilled feelings.
"I feel like I'm fighting a war every day too! But you're holed up at home all the time... What more do you want from me?!"
"Then what? Should I just divorce you?! Is that what you want?"
"Don't say that!"
Emotions exploded back and forth violently.
Words wounding each other flew like blades, piercing their hearts.
What remained after the long fight was frigid silence and deeper despair.
Unable to overcome his anger, Min-cheol finally stood and retreated to the bedroom without a word.
"Haa."
Joo-young gripped the now-cold coffee cup with trembling hands.
A person she loved, yet resented to death at the same time.
Where would the end of this relationship be?
'...Focus. I have to succeed today.'
Joo-young barely gathered her shattered heart like scattered glass shards.
She downed the remaining coffee in one gulp and headed out the front door.
All the way to the office, Joo-young's mind was more chaotic than ever.
The pressure to make the project succeed.
The extreme fatigue from the fight with her husband.
And amid all that turmoil, thoughts of Assistant Manager Lee Hyun-seong kept surfacing vividly.
With the important meeting ahead, she found herself strongly wanting to rely on him without realizing it.
His sharpness and insight from the meeting a few days ago.
And that overwhelming presence that had dominated her.
It gave her anxious heart a strange sense of stability.
'Assistant Manager Son Jun-hyeok should handle it fine, but maybe I'll need him after all.'
Her subconscious, eroded by suggestions, already recognized Hyun-seong as a key variable.
As she stepped into the elevator, her footsteps carried not just anxiety, but a grim resolve she couldn't quite understand herself.
Today would be another irreversible turning point in her life.