Chapter 19: I Should Break This Habit for Good

'At least today's better.'

Compared to the Monday when I'd been practically wrung dry before even getting to work, my physical condition was decent. Of course, it was only relatively better—I couldn't say I was in good shape by any means.

[Thursday | 08:41 AM]

"Haaah..."

The thought of how much time was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠left before I could clock out made me yawn reflexively.

'I wanna go home.'

"Good morning, Senior."

A familiar voice came from beside me. I turned my head to see Seo-yun Do standing there, looking down at me.

"Yeah, good morning."

Seo-yun Do, as beautiful as ever. Beneath that, her blouse clung to her ample chest and the mesmerizing curve of her hips. The black stockings too.

With looks and a body like that, she could probably have any man she wanted.

'Who would've guessed she's the type to post chest pics on social media?'

I knew her SNS account and had been observing her for the past few days. Watching her, I'd noticed a pattern—around 11 AM, she'd slip out of the office and post pictures from the bathroom. That was when her updates usually went live.

Afterward, she'd return to her desk and check her phone constantly. Probably gauging reactions.

"Good morning."

"Morning."

'Better get to the backlog.'

I turned back to the Excel sheet on my monitor and resumed inputting numbers.

I'd been typing away without checking the time when I finally glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen.

[Thursday | 10:57 AM]

'11 AM? Time to move.'

I stole a glance at the seat next to me. Sure enough, Seo-yun was getting up, phone in hand.

'Off to take pics, huh?'

It was just a strong possibility—I didn't know for sure. About five minutes later, my phone lit up. A notification popped up.

[SY____0_0 has posted. Today's a special one...]

'She posted.'

I finished the page I was working on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and grabbed my phone, standing up. I was curious what kind of picture she'd uploaded today. Just as I pushed open the door to leave, I felt resistance from the other side.

Through the slightly ajar gap, our eyes met. Seo-yun's and mine.

'Guess she came back after checking reactions.'

It had taken me five minutes to wrap up my work. But if she was already coming back, she must've been done checking responses.

"Go ahead, Seo-yun."

"Th-thank you, Senior."

She slipped past me into the office. Her blouse was neatly arranged—no wrinkles, no creases. She must've double-checked before returning.

I headed straight for the bathroom. It was the only place I could check without worrying about prying eyes.

I locked myself in a stall, made sure the door was secure, and pulled out my phone.

'Let's see.'

I unlocked it and checked the notifications. Amid the flood of ads, I spotted it.

[SY____0_0 has posted. Today's a special one...]

'Different title today, huh?'

I tapped the notification. The screen switched to a loading screen, then Seo-yun's profile appeared.

[SY____0_0]
[Posts: 30 | Following: 0 | Followers: 451]

'Her followers shot up?'

I was sure she hadn't even broken 400 yesterday. Intrigued, I scrolled down to her latest post.

The moment I saw it, I doubted my eyes.

This was nothing like the chest-and-bra shots she'd posted before. This time, her panties and thighs were in full view.

'Does she not realize how dangerous the world is these days?'

I couldn't wrap my head around it. What kind of audacity did it take to post something like this?

[♡ (Likes): 56]

'Reactions are heating up, though.'

I hit refresh. The page reloaded—her followers had jumped to 500. The likes on the post had doubled.

Not that I couldn't understand the hype.

Even I couldn't tear my eyes away from the picture. Anyone else would lose their minds over it. I stared at the photo a little longer before checking the time again.

'It's already this late? Better get back.'

If I stayed away too long, Department Head Kim would definitely find something to nitpick.

I pocketed my phone and returned to the office. As I passed through the hallway back to my team's section, I noticed something.

'Where'd she go now?'

Seo-yun's seat was empty again. She'd just come back earlier. Just as I was about to head to my desk like nothing happened—

"Dae-hoon."

"Yes?"

The department head called me. A million thoughts raced through my head.

"Can you come here for a sec?"

"Sure."

'Why's she calling me all of a sudden?'

I racked my brain but couldn't think of anything I'd messed up. If there was an issue with the documents I'd submitted, she would've called me right away.

As I approached, the department head's face came into view from behind the partition.

As usual, she had her legs crossed.

"Where'd you go?"

"Just the restroom."

"I looked for you earlier, but you weren't at your desk. No big deal, though. Here."

She handed me a stack of documents. A name in the middle of the cover caught my eye.

[Seo-yun Do]

'Please don't tell me she's dumping this on me too.'

A sense of déjà vu hit me.

"Isn't this Seo-yun's task?"

"Yeah. She asked if you could take over."

'You've got to be kidding me.'

"Me?"

"Yeah, she's behind schedule. You can handle it, right? You just wrapped up a project yesterday, so you've got some breathing room."

"..."

What do I do? I really want to punch that shamelessly smiling face. With all my might.

"Hm?"

"...Understood."

I answered, reminding myself that while the office was a battlefield, the outside world was hell.

"Thanks. Just hang in there a little longer."

'A little longer, my ass.'

"Yes."

I took the documents back to my desk.

'Where do I even start?'

My head was a mess. I forced myself to sort through the chaos and started working the mouse. How much time had passed? Seo-yun, who'd been missing from her seat, walked back into the office.

'Where was she?'

"I delivered the documents, Department Head."

"Good job. Keep it up."

"Yes."

Must've been running an errand. The sound of her chair creaking reached me as she sat down. I stole glances at her while typing.

Just like the past few days, she was glued to her phone.

'No doubt checking reactions.'

I looked away. About three minutes later, I glanced again. Still on her phone.

'Still at it.'

Time passed, but nothing changed. Every time I peeked, Seo-yun was checking her phone. She was doing it that frequently.

'No wonder she's slow. She's too busy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠focusing on other things.'

Anything worth doing required concentration.

'I was going to let it slide...'

Before being saddled with her work, I'd planned to just observe. It hadn't seemed like it'd affect me.

'This won't do.'

If this kept up, I'd end up doing all of Seo-yun's work.

'I need to break her of this habit.'

How to do that was a question for later.

"You can all leave when you're done. I'm heading out first."

"Good night."

"Thanks for your hard work."

Department Head Kim Da-yeon left, followed by the rest of the team, including Seo-yun. I exchanged quick goodbyes and kept hammering away at the keyboard.

'Almost done.'

I placed the final period on the last sentence of the last paragraph.

"Haa..."

I leaned back in my chair, rubbing my stiff neck.

'Draft's finished. I'll handle the rest tomorrow. It's already late.'

The clock had passed 6 PM and was nearing 7. I double-checked that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the file saved properly before shutting down. Grabbing my things, I left the office.

I was waiting for the elevator when my pocket buzzed.

[Ha-rin Ju]
[You off work yet?]

<Yeah, just wrapping up>

A call came through immediately.

[Emergency, emergency! Oppa!]

"What? What's the emergency?"

Had something happened?

[I totally forgot—I have MT tomorrow.]

"MT?"

Now that she mentioned it, it was around the time university departments usually held their retreats.

[Yeah, with everything yesterday, it completely slipped my mind.]

"How many nights?"

[Gapyeong. Two nights, three days.]

"Taking up the whole weekend."

[Yeah, I feel terrible. We had plans. Maybe I should just skip MT?]

"Skipping isn't an option. It's fine. Have fun."

Her voice was thick with regret.

[...Okay. You get some rest too.]

"Come back safe. Don't get hurt."

'Guess I've got free time this weekend.'

I stared at the call-ended screen. Then, Seo-yun's SNS account popped into my head.

'Blackmail might be the way. If I want to break her habit.'

I started by creating an account—using a random string of letters and numbers I'd never used in my life.

"I'm home."

"Seo-yun, is that you?"

My mom's voice came from the kitchen. Footsteps followed, and she appeared.

"Yeah. Where's Dad?"

"He's having dinner with a client. Did you eat?"

"Of course not."

"Go wash up and eat."

"Okay."

"You seem in a good mood today."

"Do I?"

I headed to my room. As I undressed, I glanced at my phone. I hadn't expected my screen to be flooded with follower notifications all day.

'All I did was raise the bar a little, and suddenly I'm popular.'

Her follower count, which had struggled to break 400, was now pushing 900. But with the rapid rise came anxiety—what if acquaintances or coworkers found out?

'How would they? Out of 50 million people?'

Globally, that number jumped to 7 billion. The sheer volume of photos uploaded daily was in the tens of billions. Even if someone stumbled across my pictures in that flood, they'd never connect them to me.

'Besides, my face isn't even in them.'

I'd only posted shots of my chest, stomach, groin, and thighs.

'Has it gone up?'

Still in my underwear, I headed to the bathroom, checking how much her follower count had grown in the meantime.

'It's gone up again.'

[K | You.]

The sudden bluntness made me frown.

'Who is this? Who talks like that?'

People with no manners were the worst. But my irritation was short-lived.

[K | You're Seo-yun Do, right?]

I froze. The name I never wanted exposed was right there. At least this was SNS—they couldn't see my face.

'Should I deny it? Yeah, deny it.'

They were probably just shooting in the dark. The name matching mine was pure coincidence.

[K]
[You are.]
[Seo-yun Do. Employee at Company.]

'What the hell...'

This was specific. They knew my workplace, my position—this wasn't random.

[Hit a nerve? You've gone quiet.]
[Thought you said it wasn't you.]

<Who are you?>

'A coworker?'

I had no clue. I hurriedly tapped their profile to check the account. Registered today. This was clearly made just to blackmail me.

[Does it matter who I am?]
[What matters is you posting those revealing pics, no?]

<What do you want?>

[Smart girl. Must be all that education.]

[I want two things.]

[First, stop posting revealing pics on SNS.]

'Stop posting?'

I'd expected something more extreme.

[Second, comply with my demands. Whatever they may be.]

The moment I read it, I knew this was the real goal. That last line sent a chill down my spine.

<...And if I refuse?>

[Then tomorrow at work, you'll hear some interesting rumors.]

'Should I call the police?'

As if reading my mind, another message arrived.

[If you report this and an investigation starts, I'll spread the rumors anyway. Save yourself the trouble.]

'This is blackmail.'

This could not get out. Everyone would look at me with disappointment and pity—not just my coworkers, but even my family.

"Tch..."

<Fine. I'll do it.>

I had no choice but to accept.

[Good choice. See you tomorrow.]

'...I need to find out who this is.'

I tapped their profile again, combing through it for any clues to their identity.

"...Seo-yun?"

I forgot all about showering, too busy digging. I didn't stop until my mom opened the door and walked in.