The Suspicious Secretary, Baek Soyun
"After listening to the Association President, it seems I really am too incompetent to hold such a heavy responsibility. Please appoint a more capable successor who can properly control the S-class criminals."
"No, that's not what I meant…."
"To see someone resign over a little argument at a barbecue place makes me wonder who would even want this job. And even if I can't find a replacement, the worst that could happen is getting summoned by the President for a scolding. Isn't that right?"
I had been quietly enduring his reprimands the entire time. The moment I launched that small counterattack, the Association President—who had maintained the air of a refined gentleman—began to sweat.
...This is kind of fun. Is this why people love throwing their weight around?
"Calm down, will you? I'm just saying we should talk about it."
"Aside from the fact that this incompetent fool failed at prisoner management and caused an inexcusable mistake, did you have anything else to say?"
"...Ahem. Please don't put it that way. I fully understand how difficult your position is and how hard you've been working. It seems I momentarily forgot that."
"I'm truly grateful that you remember."
When I deliberately answered in a curt tone, the President cleared his throat several times before finally giving me the response I wanted.
"As for managing the problematic public opinion... the Association will help as much as possible."
"How exactly?"
"We'll treat this incident as nothing more than a simple happening. Since it's still early, a quick explanation and shifting focus to another issue should let us pass it without much trouble."
"Not just this time. I'd like to request your continued assistance if similar problems arise in the future."
"That—"
"Isn't the Prisoner Corps a unit that dedicates itself to the nation? Just as I strive to control the prisoners, I see no reason why the Association shouldn't cooperate accordingly."
Since you asked me to work for the country, you should do the same. Right? ...That was the underlying message.
"Hmm... Ah, I understand. I'll cooperate as much as I can."
"I'll reach out whenever I need help in the future. After all, it's all for the sake of the nation."
The President rolled his eyes for a moment, then let out a small groan and nodded. He should have agreed from the start. Honestly, he should have offered this without me having to say anything.
That aside…
Now that I'd gotten everything I wanted, it was time to smooth things over. Creating unnecessary enemies by being too sharp would do me no good in society.
"However... I'd like to request some material that could help calm public opinion."
"What kind of material do you mean?"
"Visit somewhere for volunteer work soon. Preferably a place with young children. Take plenty of photos and videos together... and make sure the prisoners are well-controlled."
Volunteer work, huh. Would that even go well?
In my head, all I could picture was Calathea lifting children up like juggling pins or Audrey flashing a pistol at kids who were "aesthetically lacking" to threaten them.
"Is there really nothing else besides volunteer work...?"
"Well, any activity that makes the public feel more friendly toward the Prisoner Corps would be fine."
An activity that would make those two crazy women seem approachable to the public…
...I can't think of a single thing.
"Either way, please decide quickly and let me know. ...I'm counting on you."
"I'll think it over."
With that, my private meeting with the now-docile old raccoon came to an end. I left the President's office feeling satisfied. After greeting his secretary and stepping out the door, I ran straight into Baek Soyun, who had been standing anxiously in the middle of the hallway.
"What are you doing here—"
"Boss...!"
Baek Soyun called out to me in a voice wet with tears and threw herself into my arms. Her chest—which was even larger than Calathea's—pressed firmly against my torso with repeated, heavy squishes, yet she showed no hesitation as she buried her face in my neck and rubbed it vigorously from side to side.
"Why are you suddenly acting like this?"
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorryyy...! To hang up when Boss called me... I'm completely disqualified as a secretary yoo...!"
Wow. She was so bothered about hanging up first that she came all the way to the meeting spot?
I let out a silent chuckle so she wouldn't hear, then wrapped my arms around her shaking shoulders. The sensation of what felt like actual melons aggressively rubbing against me was incredibly distracting. Yet Baek Soyun herself didn't seem to notice at all.
"Boss... sniff, I'm sorryyy... Hic, haa... Boss, I'm really, sniff, sorryyy…."
"It's fine. It wasn't a big deal. Did you really come all the way here just because of that?"
"Yesss…."
Baek Soyun was sobbing so hard that she kept making little sniffling noises in my chest. It was secretly adorable.
As I comforted my secretary under the gaze of everyone passing through the hallway, I felt her arms—which had been wrapped tightly around my back—suddenly clench with force.
"Boss...?"
"What's wrong? Are you done crying now?"
"This mark... on your neck... what is it?"
Damn it. I forgot.
I barely suppressed the urge to curse Calathea's name as I quickly spoke up, worried my innocent secretary might get the wrong idea.
"No, this is just... um…."
"You said nothing happened yesterday. So what is this? You did sleep with them after all. You had sex. Without me knowing, in a place I don't know about, the three of you had lots and lots of sex…."
"It's a misunderstanding, really. I swear I didn't do anything."
Baek Soyun's grip on my lower back tightened to the point of pain—no, quite a lot of pain. Maybe it was my imagination, but her breath against my neck seemed much rougher now.
"You said it had to be me. You definitely said that. It was a lie. Boss is a liar. Liarliarliarliar—"
"Let's move somewhere else first."
I quickly dragged Baek Soyun—who seemed so shocked she kept muttering strange things—into the nearby emergency stairwell. Whatever she was going to say, it wasn't something that should be said right outside the President's office.
"Look, Soyun. Nothing happened, okay? Let me explain everything."
"......"
Baek Soyun stared at me silently, biting her lip as if telling me to continue. Or at least I think she was staring. Her bangs made it hard to see her eyes.
"So, um, yesterday for the last stop of our outing, we went to eat meat. Somehow I ended up drinking too, and…."
"And then you had sex while drunk. With the prisoners you manage. All night long, happily."
"I keep telling you that's not it. I know how this looks, but just listen. I couldn't drive after drinking, so we went to a hotel, right?"
"You could've called a chauffeur."
"Ah, well... that's true, but the problem is that the place I stay is confidential. It would be annoying if it became a topic and caused an incident."
"...And then?"
Baek Soyun's voice had grown chillingly cold, as if she was deeply disappointed in me. I broke into a cold sweat internally and scrambled for excuses.
"Anyway, while I was sleeping, one of the prisoners played a prank. So people would misunderstand, just like this. She's probably laughing to herself in her room right about now."
"So in the end, you're saying you had physical contact in the same room."
"That's just how you're phrasing it. We were supposed to use different rooms, but she snuck in and messed around before leaving. Nothing weird that you're worried about happened. Really."
"...Is that the truth?"
"Yes, of course."
Sorry. That was a complete lie.
"Or did I look like the kind of person who would do those kinds of things with prisoners in your eyes? Hmm?"
"What? N-no, that's not…."
I immediately seized the opening she showed and changed the subject.
"You know, I'm a little hurt. I've always prided myself on living diligently without shame in front of anyone, yet the moment you see a small mark on my neck, you jump straight to misunderstanding…."
"That's not it, Boss! I-I think I made a really unfair assumption... Boss would never do something like that...!"
"No, it's my fault. Making someone who trusts me more than anyone else doubt me is my mistake."
"Boss…."
"So, will you forgive your pathetic boss?"
Baek Soyun pressed herself even tighter against me and nodded her head frantically up and down. Thankfully, it seemed we'd safely moved past it. I'd have to warn Calathea to be more careful next time….
"...Huh?"
The moment I let my guard down, I suddenly felt a moist, soft sensation press firmly against my neck. Then it sucked hard—strong enough that I thought it might hurt—before releasing with a small pop.
"I-it was a joke for me too!"
With those words, Baek Soyun didn't even look back as she hurried out of the emergency stairwell.
"Uh, um…."
Left standing there alone, I gently touched the spot on my neck where the warmth and feel of Baek Soyun's lips still lingered. The exact place that was still slightly damp.
"That really was just a joke... right?"
She had probably felt embarrassed after suspecting me because of Calathea's "joke," so she changed the subject by doing the same "joke." ...Doesn't she need to learn about personal space with men?
I tried to shake off the lingering sensation of Baek Soyun's lips on my neck as I left the Association building and returned to the residence. I shared the details of the meeting with the two of them and asked for their cooperation, but….
Of course.
"Ahaha, Manager♡ You're not thinking of me as some kind of saint just because I've been behaving myself lately, are you?"
"...I'll decline as well, Manager."
The answers that came back were refreshingly firm rejections.