Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Japan Business Trip (5) - Third-Rate Play
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I pressed my throbbing temples and barely lifted my leaden eyelids.
Every joint in my body felt stiff and creaky.
The cause was obvious.
In my hazy memory of how I even fell asleep, the only thing that stood out clearly was those sounds leaking through the flipped blanket.
The beastly moans from Team Leader and that man.
This pathetic, filthy body of mine had forgotten all shame, eavesdropped on those noises, and climaxed alone.
The disgusting stench lingering in the room hinted at what had happened while I slept.
"...Huh?"
Suddenly sensing a presence, I turned my head. Team Leader was already up, staring blankly out the window.
The senior—no, that bastard—was nowhere to be seen in the room.
But what concerned me more right now was Team Leader.
Her vacant gaze floating aimlessly in the air without focus.
Her brows furrowed so deeply it was unsightly.
It was nothing like the woman from last night who had clung to that man, coquettishly sweetening her voice as she cried out.
'What's going on...?'
As I puzzled over her stark difference from yesterday, the sliding door opened, and Okami entered with a bright smile.
"Did everyone sleep well? I hope last night was comfortable?"
"Ah... yes, yes."
Team Leader, who had been nervously biting her nail tips, startled and nodded.
Her voice trembled unnaturally.
"Was the room too cramped, by any chance? You both look so unwell. Did something happen in the night...?"
At Okami's concerned question, Team Leader's shoulders visibly shivered.
She frantically shook her head, waving it off as nothing, but anyone could see her gestures were suspicious.
Okami stared intently at Team Leader's face before straightening up with her gentle smile again.
"Well then, please come to the private room when you're ready. Breakfast is served. Assistant Manager Lee is already there."
For a split second, a blush colored Okami's face as she mentioned that man's name.
Looking closer, her kimono sash was slightly disheveled.
So that's where she slipped off to early in the morning.
Of course. That's exactly the kind of thing that bastard would do.
"Yes, got it. We'll be right there."
Team Leader didn't respond, so I answered for her.
I had no appetite, and part of me wanted to hole up in the room, but that wasn't an option.
We had meetings scheduled at least through today.
Coming all the way to Japan, who knows when we'd return, and wasting it like this without even enjoying it properly.
This was all that man's fault.
I chewed over the face of the man I loathed as I forcibly propped up my heavy upper body.
After changing clothes completely and arriving at the private room, breakfast was neatly laid out.
"You're late, both of you. Come eat before it gets cold."
The bastard, who had arrived first and was seated, savored his meal with an utterly calm and leisurely expression.
Team Leader sat practically glued to that man without being asked.
And it got even worse from there.
"...Assistant Manager Lee, you have sauce on your mouth."
"Oh, do I?"
"How can a grown man be so sloppy? ...Come here, let me wipe it for you."
Where had that anxious morning look gone? Now she was chatting intimately with him and even wiping food from his mouth.
"I like the egg roll best."
"Yeah? Then have some of mine. I don't have much appetite."
"Aw, I couldn't. But maybe Team Leader could feed it to me herself?"
"...Park Mi-na's watching."
"Don't you want to?"
"It's not that I don't... Sigh. Here, ahh~."
The sight of her feeding him her own side dish was utterly ridiculous and bizarre.
Had she completely fallen for that guy last night or something?
But it was in that fleeting moment.
As she fed him and their eyes met briefly.
I didn't miss the emotion flickering deep in Team Leader's pupils.
Unlike her friendly smile and upturned lips, her eyes trembled faintly.
A chilling sense of unease washed over me.
'As I thought... something's off.'
The discomfort I'd felt since morning.
That attitude paired with eyes filled with fear.
The suspicion inside me was slowly turning into a foreboding certainty.
This woman was desperately acting out some role.
After breakfast, we left the inn and headed to the client.
The meeting went smoothly like the day before, but my eyes were fixed on Team Leader.
She couldn't hide her instability throughout, even making minor mistakes during her presentation.
"Team Leader must be tired from her first overseas trip in a while."
That man would chime in with timely humor to lighten the mood whenever it happened.
It wasn't common for such a cool-headed woman to waver like that.
"...Mi-na."
And during the short break after the meeting ended.
As I busily gathered materials, Team Leader quietly approached me.
Her voice was cautious, as if afraid even a passing mouse might hear.
"What is it?"
"Can we talk for a sec?"
It was sudden, but drawn by the desperation in her eyes, I nodded.
Fortunately, that man was busy chatting with the buyers.
We slipped out of the meeting room unnoticed and entered the small lounge next door.
The moment the door closed, Team Leader urgently spoke as if being chased.
"You know about it too, right, Mi-na?"
"Huh? Know what...?"
"That man, Lee Hyun-seong. He's manipulating us."
It was what I'd expected, but hearing it directly from her made my heart sink.
At the same time, her tone and expression felt somehow unnatural.
Like an actor reading from a well-scripted play.
"How did you...?"
"Last night, in the middle of him violating me, I suddenly snapped out of it. I realized all the horrific things I'd been through. It was all that man's doing!"
Her voice shook violently.
Her face, etched with the same confusion and pain I'd endured, carried a subtle offness.
"After that, I stayed sane while he ravaged me all night."
Her eyes reddened with humiliation and rage.
"You've been suffering the same from Assistant Manager Lee, right? For much longer than me."
"...Yes, that's right."
Relief that someone finally understood my pain mixed with a stranger wariness.
This situation felt too abrupt.
"We can't just let this continue."
Then Team Leader stepped closer, whispering lowly.
"Let it continue how?"
"We can't keep living as that man's toys."
"That's..."
She was right.
But.
"But there's no way. You know the power that bastard has after experiencing it yourself. We can't resist."
At my resigned words, Team Leader's eyes gleamed fiercely.
"No. There is a way. I have an idea."
"An idea?"
"I figured out how that man controls us."
"R-Really?!"
My voice rose unwittingly.
I clamped my mouth shut and locked eyes with Team Leader for seconds, frozen.
Calming myself, I steadied my breath and asked again.
"You really uncovered that man's method? What is it?"
She glanced around before whispering softly.
"His phone."
"Phone?"
"Precisely, an app. Hypnosis app, I think he called it. He's been using that to control us at will."
Hypnosis.
An app, no less.
Who could imagine such a method?
But thinking back, he always had his phone in hand.
Normally, and even during sex.
"How did you figure out it was a phone app?"
"I heard it straight from Assistant Manager Lee's mouth."
"From that bastard himself?"
She nodded at my incredulous question.
"Last night, he thought I was completely in his grasp after what happened, so he spilled it all easily."
'Spilled it easily?'
Even so, divulging something that crucial so casually?
Something felt off.
It was unfolding too smoothly.
But if it was true...?
"So, what's your specific plan?"
"Simple. If he's controlling us with a phone app, we just take his phone. Then we're free!"
"Easier said than done! That cunning bastard would never overlook that! What if this very conversation is part of his scheme...!"
"No!"
Team Leader grabbed my hand.
Her hand was ice-cold and trembling faintly.
"That man loves walking the tightrope. He enjoys watching us struggle! You know that from experience!"
It made sense.
If he'd wanted, we would've been mindless puppets long ago.
But...!
"So we strike while we have that opening! Before he changes his mind and turns us into complete marionettes!"
Her eyes were desperately mad, yet they felt mechanical to me.
Even assuming all this was true.
What if this woman was just using me?
"It's still too risky. If we fail..."
"Mi-na!"
Team Leader gripped my shoulders.
"Don't you want to escape that man? From the endless humiliation and fear? I do too! So help me. We have to get out of this hell together!"
Kang Joo-young clinging so desperately.
I could understand it.
I'd been through the same with that bastard.
"..."
I bit my lip.
My head throbbed with complexity.
Could I trust this woman?
Wasn't this another trap?
"How can I trust you? What if you're still under his control, trying to trick me?"
"...Are you okay with things as they are, Mi-na? You don't want to break free from him?"
Her sharp rebuke stabbed like a dagger.
"Of course not!!"
I shook my head fiercely.
I didn't want to live as that man's slave.
I'd realized it last night.
Staying by him any longer would drive me insane.
"...What do I need to do?"
After agonizing, I resolved to drink the poisoned chalice of hope.
Suspicious as it was, this might be my one last chance.
Relief flashed across Team Leader's face at my answer.
"Tonight, I'll draw that man's attention. Suggest the hot springs or drinks. I'll keep him out of the room somehow. Meanwhile, you find the phone."
"The phone..."
"Yes. Once it's out of his hands, we're free."
It was an insanely risky gamble.
The cost of failure was unimaginable.
But if it succeeded, we'd escape that man.
"...Got it. I'll do it."
With my resolve set, my heart pounded wildly against my ribs.
Sweat slicked my palms.
That night, after dinner, back in the room, Team Leader moved as promised.
She seductively suggested hot springs to Lee Hyun-seong, and that bastard grinned lewdly, accepting instantly.
"Wanna come too, Mi-na?"
He asked me.
I shook my head, feigning casualness.
"No, I'm tired. I'll rest in the room."
Feeling their footsteps fade behind me, I took a deep breath.
Now it begins.
Confirming the sounds fully vanished, I cautiously approached his sleeping area.
'Where could it be... Jacket pocket? Or the bag?'
Steadying my faintly trembling fingertips, I began rifling through his belongings.
No phone in the jacket pocket or bag—not even a shadow.
'Damn! Where is it? Did he take it with him?'
Cold sweat trickled down my spine.
My heart felt ready to burst from anxiety.
Team Leader said she'd buy as much time as possible, but who knew when that bastard might return.
Maybe hidden somewhere else?
I frantically scanned the room, desperately hunting for anything resembling a phone.
Under the pillow?
In the futon?
Not here either.
Where the hell...!
Right then.
A low, cold voice whispered from behind like a devil's murmur.
"What are you searching so diligently for, Mi-na?"
"...!"
My blood froze solid.
All sounds of the world vanished, my heart stopping in ultimate terror.
Before I could slowly turn my creaking wooden puppet head.
"Kyaa!"
A thick arm shot from behind, twisting around my waist and slamming me down from the back.
My vision flipped, and I was wretchedly thrown onto the tatami floor.
"To think the cunning you would fall for it so easily. You must've been pretty desperate, huh?"
From his words, I knew instantly.
It was a trap after all.
A trap he'd set from the start.
But realization came too late.
The shadow of despair loomed over me.