A Choice Between Two Evils (1)
“…Huh?”
The expression of the man whose fist Min Yewon had caught flickered with panic—but only for a moment.
THUD!
With an enormous crash, his body, which had spun half a revolution in midair, came slamming down onto the floor.
It was loud enough to draw the attention of everyone inside the café, so naturally nearly every patron watched the man sprawled on the ground in silent silence, each wearing their own expression. Cursing under his breath, the thoroughly humiliated man fled the café.
…Honestly, he should have known when to cut his losses and walk away. Why can't some people tell when a moment is theirs to intrude on and when it isn't?
Then again, seeing him up close like this, his raw physicality really is inhuman.
Even the original novel mentioned that if Jo Jin-hyun hadn't intervened, he would have had more than enough skill to enter Cheonmu Academy without a hitch. And with a main weapon like a double-bladed spear, there was no way his physical capabilities could have been anything less than exceptional.
Of course, that meant subduing a woman like her by force was completely off the table. No matter what artifacts I had, I wasn't going to beat someone like her by burning through a single barrier.
Not that there are many heroines or villains Lee Seonho could beat in a contest of raw physical ability in the first place.
Besides, none of that really mattered. What truly mattered was how I could make her build up feelings for me—and how desperately she would come to need me.
Just because the target happened to be a villain didn't mean the approach changed. Though it certainly wouldn't be the gentle method I'd used on Eunju or Isabel.
“A-are you all right, sir?”
“I'm fine. Nothing damaged, really.”
“And I'm just glad it's quiet again, so don't worry about me.”
Accepting the employee's thanks for defusing the situation, I quietly returned to my seat.
Dropping a smooth line here like “Well, since fate's brought us together, why don't we chat?” would be the truly cheap route. Doing something like that with all eyes on me would make me look no different from the sleazy guy who'd just embarrassed himself and bolted out the door.
Even if only because of her mission, Min Yewon would have no choice but to nod along if I made a move—but the one in a hurry here wasn't me. It was her.
I sat back down and pretended to check my smartphone while sipping my americano, and before long, Min Yewon quietly slid over with her tray and settled in across from me.
“Ah, thank you for helping earlier… th-thank you.”
“Hm?”
“D-do you have a girlfriend? I-if not, would you like to talk for a bit… with me?”
…She really can't act to save her life.
Come to think of it, someone who can't even lie properly was never going to manage a convincing performance.
Still, watching her seize the opportunity placed right in front of her showed she wasn't a total idiot.
Even if, per Jo Jin-hyun's plan, this was supposed to be her chance to seduce me—but was actually her chance to betray Jo Jin-hyun and become my female slave instead.
Well, that beats suffering as a cog in a criminal organization only to get dumped in the end. That alone makes it a good deal for her.
There's a saying, after all—if you're going to be a slave, better to serve a great house than a hovel.
Already picturing Min Yewon in my head wearing a collar and crawling around naked, I kept my composure as best I could and carried on the conversation.
“A beautiful woman like you striking up a conversation with me first? I should be honored.”
“W-well, I am pretty beautiful, I suppose.”
Min Yewon set her tray of honey bread and coffee down in front of me as if I'd merely stated the obvious.
Come to think of it, bringing her tray over before I'd even given permission meant she hadn't factored the possibility of rejection in at all.
Which spoke to how confident she was in her looks. Even Cha Eunju—a gloomy shut-in—was well aware she was pretty, so there was no way Min Yewon wouldn't be.
“Y-you're Lee Seonho… a-ah…!”
“Yes?”
“N-no, wait, that's not what I….”
“……”
“I-is that the coffee you like? Ah, the americano.”
“…Oh, yes. I drink it fairly often.”
Certainly, she was clumsy at lying, but she still shouldn't be making slip-ups like that. Blurting out my name right off the bat nearly gave away the fact that she already knew who I was.
Thankfully, she managed to smooth it over. My carefully orchestrated “natural encounter” almost came apart at the seams.
“What's your name?”
“…Min Yewon.”
“Pretty name. I'm Lee Seonho—an incoming freshman at Cheonmu Academy.”
“I'm an incoming freshman at Myeongwol Academy.”
“If you're not a retaker, then we're the same age. If you don't mind, could we speak casually?”
“Sure? That'd be easier for me too~.”
Casting off that ill-fitting formal speech, Min Yewon's expression loosened into something more relaxed.
Whether it was the tension melting away or simply too much brainpower burned on sugar, she barely managed a few lines of conversation before popping a piece of honey bread into her mouth and savoring it.
Nom nom.
“Mmm~!”
…Well, seen like this, she was secretly kind of cute.
But in the original novel, she was a villain who would go on to press the protagonist harder and harder as time passed, so I couldn't let my guard down.
For reference, in the original, her constant entanglement with Jo Jin-hyun bloomed into romantic feelings for him, pushing her even deeper into loyal servitude—eventually devoted enough to carry out orders for crimes and murder without hesitation, all for his sake.
Which, in other words, meant she was capable of becoming that same kind of devoted slave for me. The plan to tame her and make her mine hadn't been wrong at all.
We passed the time on meaningless small talk until about half of the honey bread in front of Min Yewon had disappeared—mostly her chattering away while I nodded along.
“You're secretly pretty fun, you know? At first you looked so boring I had second thoughts~.”
“You were the one who wanted to talk because I helped you earlier, remember?”
“…Th-that's just how it came out. A-anyway, since fate brought us together like this, should we exchange numbers? Give me your phone. Come on, your phone.”
“Sure. Your phone too, then.”
The moment I called out her slip of the tongue, she scrambled to change the subject, and we swapped smartphones to save each other's numbers.
I fought down the urge to save her contact as Master and typed in the plain name Lee Seonho instead before handing her phone back.
“Here you go~!”
“…What's with the heart after my name?”
“Who knows? What do you think it is?”
She was really working hard to reel me in, huh.
I'd have to change it to something else once I got home. Wouldn't do for Cha Eunju or Kim Isabel to see it and get the wrong idea.
No doubt Seo Woojin got hit with this exact offensive from Min Yewon in the original story, too. When a girl acts this flirtatious out of nowhere, there's hardly a man alive who wouldn't be taken in.
In the original, it didn't work on him because his awakening ability was “the power to grow stronger the more he is loved”—and true to form, his ability showed no change whatsoever despite her shameless fawning. So it went.
By the time we'd talked enough about each other to feel reasonably acquainted, I discreetly made a “phone ringing” sound under the table—as if a call from someone else had just come in out of the blue.
“Ah, sorry. Let me take this call.”
“Sure, sure. Don't mind me~.”
Pretending to answer a call that didn't exist, I began calmly performing my half of a conversation with some unseen person on the other end of the line.
…While talking about something Min Yewon absolutely could not afford to ignore.
“Hello, Chief Eun Soyeon.”
“……”
“Ah, yes. Wait, it's already out? That was fast.”
“……”
“Oh, yes. You mean that man with the two-block haircut, sunglasses, and the grown-out beard, right?”
“……?”
I recited, loud and clear, the appearance of the mysterious man who'd ordered her to seduce me—and from that moment on, Min Yewon began eyeing me with faint suspicion, her attention riveted on my side of the call.
She probably didn't catch the name Jo Jin-hyun, but she would remember that description without a doubt. Plenty of men had a black two-block haircut, but add black sunglasses and a stubbly beard, and the look became distinctive enough.
Once I confirmed she was hanging on every word of my imaginary call with the Chief, I raised my voice slightly, as if inviting her to listen, and laid the information out in the open.
“Yes, yes. Ah, the transfer records?”
“……”
“About two weeks ago, one hundred million won was suddenly transferred from an account believed to be one of Jo Jin-hyun's burner accounts…?”
“……!”
Tremble… tremble-tremble…
“And the account holder is… M-Min Yewon? Wait, her real name? Not some business registration or anything like that?”
“……!!”
Tremble-tremble, tremble-tremble-tremble…
As if startled by what she'd just heard over the phone, I turned my head—only to lock eyes with Min Yewon, who jerked back in alarm and quickly averted her gaze.
This much was more than enough to plant the seed of fear before the real conversation even began.
Once I set the mood like this, the rest of the talk could be steered exactly where I wanted it to go.
After all, the only reason Min Yewon is cooperating with Jo Jin-hyun right now is to hide the fact that she's tangled up in a crime.
The moment she learned her actions were only digging her in deeper, she'd drop him without a second thought.
And the proposal I was about to offer her was, in fact, a way to sever her ties with Jo Jin-hyun entirely.
…Though of course, the unavoidable cost of that severance would be a spot in my stable of slaves. She'd just have to accept that.
“Um… understood for now. Since nothing about the transfer is confirmed yet, I'll just keep it in mind. Yes, thank you for letting me know.”
“Hah… haaah, hoo….”
Tremble… tremble-tremble-tremble…
By the time I wrapped up my call with the imaginary Chief, Min Yewon was fidgeting restlessly, her leg bouncing hard enough under the table to rattle it.
Her head was surely churning through every possibility by now.
Could that one mistake she'd made really have dragged her into a criminal investigation? How on earth did I know about her relationship with that man—and about the hundred million won transferred into her account?
Her face begged me not to suspect her. Fat chance of that.
“Yewon.”
“…Wha—yes?! Ah, Seonho! I, um, something urgent just came up, so I should really get going—”
Scrape.
Sensing that something had gone terribly wrong, Min Yewon scrambled up from her seat like she was running for her life.
If she bolted from here and ran straight back to Jo Jin-hyun, things would get very messy in more ways than one—so I deliberately called her back in a grave voice.
“Sit down, Min Yewon.”
“Sorry! I'll contact you again later, so today I'll just—”
“Sit. Down. Run out of here now, and you might actually end up a criminal.”
“…A c-criminal?! Wh-what are you talking about, I've never done anything that ba—!”
“Lower your voice. People are staring.”
“Hup!”
At my words, Min Yewon clamped both hands over her mouth and glanced around frantically, suddenly conscious of every gaze in the room.
I held her gaze with a grave expression, and alongside my most serious performance, I delivered the “proposal” I'd prepared.
“First, calm down. Whether or not you're actually involved in something dirty, if you play this right, I might be able to help you.”
“…H-help me…? Help me with… what…?”
“Well. That depends entirely on how honest you're willing to be with me. I happen to know the police chief who covers this district personally. He's also someone I recently spoke with regarding a terrorist by the name of Jo Jin-hyun.”
“……”
“Now, if—and this is purely hypothetical—if it turned out you really did take money from this terrorist, there's a chance I could smooth things over on my end and make it as if it never happened.
But if you run out of here in a panic, there's nothing I can do for you. So choose wisely. Because if you do, I'll have no choice but to tell the Chief that you appear to be connected to this terrorist, 'Jo Jin-hyun.'”
I forced Min Yewon into a choice between two evils: side with me, or side with Jo Jin-hyun.
On one side, a ruthless, nation-spanning terrorist. On the other, a Cheonmu Hunter Academy student with suspected ties to the government and the police.
“Wh-what am I supposed to do…?”
One side's destruction was already a foregone conclusion—which meant, in practice, she only ever had one choice.