Binary Choice (2)
Min Ye-won took her seat carefully, eyes brimming with anxiety, silently begging me for salvation. The way she immediately tried to draw a line the moment she sensed something might cost her — it was so very like her, in more ways than one.
"Let's get the situation straight first. Do you happen to know this man?"
With that, she pulled up a photo on her phone: a man in black sunglasses, sporting a beard, caught on CCTV. It was the picture I'd received from Police Chief Eun So-yeon back at the amusement park. I'd obtained it under the pretext that I'd contact her right away if I ever spotted Jo Jin-hyun again.
And in the process, I'd also gotten my hands on her direct contact information, as a bit of a bonus. After all, the more incidents I resolved outside the Academy, the more naturally I'd end up entangled with Chief Eun So-yeon anyway.
"……!!!"
The moment she saw the photo, Min Ye-won turned ghost-white and clapped a hand over her own mouth. It was a reaction no one could possibly misread, so I answered in kind.
"Whew. Judging by that reaction, I'd say you do know him."
"N-no, I don't! I-I mean, knowing him isn't the same as being close with him! I've only seen his face twice—"
"That's enough. Keep your voice down. People might start staring. And what if this man is hiding somewhere, watching you right now? You need to be careful with every single move you make."
"O-okay…."
Showing her hard, physical evidence had clearly earned me an extra layer of trust — her reaction said as much. A naturally dim-witted girl, already struggling to think straight under this kind of pressure, would take everything I said from this point on as gospel.
Putting on the grave expression of a genuine police official, I locked eyes with Min Ye-won and pressed the interrogation forward.
"Answer me honestly, Min Ye-won. Either way, you've seen this man before. That much is established."
"…Y-yes, I have…."
"And the money — did you really take it? Or did this man just send it to you out of nowhere?"
"……I took it."
"What was the payment for? Surely he didn't just hand a stranger money for no reason at all."
"……"
"If you don't want to talk about it, we can stop here."
"I-it was during the entrance exam…. Th-there was this…."
"There was what?"
"H-he said he'd give me money if I gave up my Cheonmu Academy entrance exam…."
"He surely didn't offer that much for just that. There are thousands of applicants at Cheonmu Academy. If he made a special proposal to you of all people, there had to be a reason."
"…He said if I abandoned my partner alone in the dungeon and gave up the entrance exam and came out… he'd give me the money…."
"……"
"I-I know it was wrong…! I-I know what I did was wrong, but… it was a hundred million won, you know?! And later I heard that nothing actually bad happened, so… s-so in the end, it's fine, right…?"
…Right. Thank god you're still trash, Min Ye-won. At least that means I won't have to wrestle with any pangs of conscience while training you.
For now, I reacted as if there was nothing to be done about it and went along with her answer. As long as Min Ye-won felt that I was on her side, even this idiot would quietly listen to me and do as she was told.
"Which department was your partner in?"
"……The Recovery Department."
"…I didn't think I could be this surprised, but you really are trash."
"I-I know I'm trash…! B-but honestly, that's not a crime, is it…? I-I mean, she said we were really going into the dungeon, and that scared me a little…."
"Promise me you'll apologize to her someday when you get the chance. If you won't promise, I won't help you."
"I'll promise…."
Not that I had any intention of relying on her promise — I'd force the apology out of her either way.
Under fear and mounting pressure, Min Ye-won was confessing her sins to me bit by bit, and with every admission, she drifted closer to the point where cooperating with me was her only remaining option.
"Good. Let's leave it there for now. From what I'm hearing, it doesn't sound like you're directly involved in this case."
"Wh-what case…?"
"I'll tell you later. More importantly — what did you do with the money? Even if you took it, as long as you haven't spent it, I could still pass it off as a connection that barely exists at all. Then again, I suppose you wouldn't have felt comfortable spending such suspicious money in the first place."
"……Wh-what happens if I spent it?"
"……"
"H-hey, Lee Seonho…? I-I asked what happens if I spent it…. N-not that I did, but… hypothetically…."
Instead of answering, I bit my lower lip and put on a troubled expression, as though Min Ye-won had committed some transgression beyond all forgiveness. I wore the face of someone facing a dead end with no solution in sight, and the anxiety in her heart compounded accordingly.
Scrape—
"W-wait a second…!"
Grab!
"D-don't go, Lee Seonho! You said you might be able to help me…!"
"…I'm just going to the bathroom. I need to think things over by myself, so wait here."
"Y-you're just saying that so you can go report me…."
"…Fine, I'll leave my smartphone behind. Happy now?"
"……Okay."
Tap.
"I'll be back. Wait for me."
"……Alright."
Rather than saying it outright, I let my expression and tone do the work of deepening Min Ye-won's unease.
By deliberately leaving my smartphone behind, I bought goodwill; at the same time, I piled guilt onto Min Ye-won's conscience for having doubted the very person who'd been trying to help her. I planted the seed of a feeling in her chest: what if my careless slip of the tongue changed his mind, and now he won't help me after all?
A trip to a bathroom I didn't even need — lingering just long enough — was ample time for that anxiety to take root and sprout.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
After taking my sweet time in the restroom for a good five minutes, I came back to find Min Ye-won waiting for me, restless as a puppy with an urgent need to go. She must have glanced toward the bathroom again and again while I was gone — the moment I stepped outside, our eyes met from across the room. Of course, she whipped her head away the instant they did, pretending she hadn't been looking.
My smartphone, which I'd left on the table… as expected, she'd touched it. She couldn't have gotten past the lock screen, but there was no question she'd tried — I'd set it down perfectly horizontal when I left, and now it sat tilted at a forty-five-degree angle.
"B-back already…?"
"Why were you trying to open someone else's phone? That anxious, huh?"
"I-I didn't touch it…."
"Keep lying like that and I won't be able to help you either, Min Ye-won. I'm only trying to help because of the history between us, and if all you do is tell lies I can see straight through, how am I supposed to trust you enough to save you?"
"…I'm sorry…."
Simple-minded, and the type to act on immediate benefit or anxiety without a thought for consequences. If you wanted to split hairs, her thinking was closer to a dog's than a person's — but considering I intended to tame her going forward, that was actually for the better.
Her instinctive avoidance reflexes and petty, vulgar appetites could be corrected plenty well with Suggestion and training.
"From now on, no more lying. You answer me honestly. I need to know exactly how far you were involved before I can decide how to handle this."
"……Okay."
"So — you said you really did receive a hundred million won from Jo Jin-hyun. From this man. How much of it have you spent?"
"About ten million…?"
"Okay, ten million — with a part-time job and student loans, you could manage to scrape that back together somehow…."
"W-wait…. The tuition and dorm fees were around that much, and I spent more after that too…. I-I got a new smartphone, and clothes, and bags, and a bunch of other things, so… a-all together it's probably more like tw-twenty million…."
I'd noticed this in the original story too, but she genuinely has no concept of money. Even setting aside the tuition and dorm fees, burning through ten million won in two weeks was an absurd level of financial sense. What on earth did she buy, and how much of it?
…Of course, thanks to that, things were now in a state where I could demand Plan B without any problem. Whether I should be happy or annoyed about that, I honestly couldn't say.
"…That's not an amount you can pay off with a month or two of part-time work."
"……"
"First, don't touch what's left— actually, no. Send me whatever's left. Right now. If you keep it, you'll blow through it on luxuries and it'll be gone in under two months."
"……Huh?"
"I'll send you my account number on Cocoatalk, so hurry up and open your banking app and transfer it to me. I'll hold onto it until this whole thing is over. I'm just holding it — the moment we finish catching Jo Jin-hyun, I'll give it all back."
"……"
Even knowing it was criminal proceeds, hesitating to hand over money sitting in her own account to someone else — Min Ye-won stole glances at my face and opened her mouth cautiously. I had a pretty good idea what she was about to say, so I pretended to listen halfheartedly and steered the flow of the conversation my way.
"I-I'll be careful with it, I won't spend it, so for now—"
Scrape—
"Fine. Then you can handle the remaining eighty million yourself. See ya."
Grab!
"O-okay! I'll send it! I'll send it, so don't go, Lee Seonho!"
"But you said you'd handle it yourself. You'll manage the money yourself, you'll cut ties with Jo Jin-hyun yourself, and you'll prove yourself that you have nothing to do with that man. For all that you're a piece of trash, Min Ye-won, I was willing to help you out of the history we have — but if you keep this up, I'm at my limit. I can't take it anymore."
"O-okay…! F-from now on I'll really only do what you say, Lee Seonho! I won't argue with anything you tell me, so please don't go…! I-I'll send the money right now, I swear…!"
Min Ye-won clung to me pitifully, looking like a puppy abandoned in the rain. The way she teared up was honestly kind of cute. Yep — for this bitch, abuse-based training really is more fun than pampering.
Of course, all of this was just an act to amplify her anxiety. To make Min Ye-won face the fact that a single word of refusal would end everything — so she'd cling to me even harder.
"Let go of my hand, Min Ye-won."
"Y-you said you'd help me…! Seon—"
"If you don't let go this instant, I'm calling the Chief and asking her to come here right now."
Sliiide….
"P-please, Lee Seonho…. I-I don't want to go to prison. I worked so hard to get into the Academy…."
"……Whew."
Having cast aside even her pride, Min Ye-won clasped both hands together and looked up at me, begging. In front of her, I let out a weary sigh and sat back down, deliberately making it clear that this was her final chance.
I no longer bothered to hide my irritation either. I'd tolerated plenty up to this point, and I was reaching the end of my rope — the display was my way of telling her to get it together.
"This is the last time, Min Ye-won."
"O-okay…."
"If you say one more weird thing, I'm walking out. I still don't know what your relationship with this man is, but I'm going to tell the Chief that you seem to be connected to the terror attack from before."
"…Th-the terror attack…?"
"……Ah, I wasn't supposed to mention that. Just pretend you didn't hear it."
"T-terror…? You don't mean the Neverland bombing from two days ago…? Right? N-no, that can't be…?"
"…I told you to pretend you didn't hear it."
I'd deliberately let slip the information that she was tied to the terrorists, just loud enough for her to hear — and then fanned the flames of her fear.
The more anxious Min Ye-won became, the more I would feel like the one and only rope she could grab to pull herself up out of hell.