Wash Her Clean and Bring Her Back
"Hey. Take that bitch, wash her clean, and bring her back."
The instant Lee Dongwoo's icy command dropped, Yoo Jimin moved as if she'd been waiting for it. Han Seoyeon lay sprawled on the floor in a pathetic heap, having wet herself, and the moment Dongwoo's gaze shifted to Jimin she responded like a loyal dog trained over a long, long time. Not a shred of hesitation. A movement so mechanical it was almost inhuman. Perhaps because she'd been through this more than once already — or perhaps because, somewhere deep down, she'd been hoping for a situation just like this.
She approached the limp Han Seoyeon and hauled her up by the arm, practically dragging her. The reek of urine and the damp, clammy feel of Seoyeon's body were repulsive, but not a flicker of emotion crossed Yoo Jimin's face. All that occupied her mind was the need to carry out Dongwoo's order — and a twisted satisfaction at seeing a friend who'd fallen into the same hell as her.
"......"
Han Seoyeon offered not even a thread of resistance as she was led away. Her vacant eyes had lost all focus, wandering through empty air. The arrogant gleam that had shone in them only moments ago was gone without a trace. She looked like a living corpse.
Yoo Jimin dragged Seoyeon into the bathroom and shoved her roughly onto the tiled floor. Seoyeon crumpled with a dull thud. Then Jimin turned on the shower and unleashed a merciless stream of ice-cold water over her head.
"Ah...! C-cold...!"
Only then did Seoyeon, who'd been completely out of it, scream. Her entire body seized up at the sudden cold, and through the violent shivering, the pain of the brand Dongwoo had seared into her seemed to flare back to life. But Yoo Jimin paid it no mind. If anything, she cranked the water even harder and started ripping off Seoyeon's soiled clothes. She stripped her down to nothing — even the underwear — and Seoyeon's pale, once-luscious naked body was laid completely bare. Wet hair clung to her face in unsightly strands, and goosebumps prickled across every inch of her skin from the terror and the cold.
Yoo Jimin's hands paused as she washed the urine from Seoyeon's lower body. She looked the naked figure up and down with utterly vacant eyes.
"...Ha."
A short, scornful laugh escaped Yoo Jimin's lips. Han Seoyeon. That arrogant, lofty little princess, reduced to a wreck like this. The sight sent a strange thrill through her — a twisted cocktail of kinship and superiority. So you're just like me after all.
The washing was more like torture. Yoo Jimin scrubbed soap into every inch of Seoyeon's body with rough, uncaring hands. There wasn't a trace of sympathy or consideration in that touch — it was the emotionless scrubbing of someone cleaning a filthy object. Seoyeon simply swayed like a doll, taking it all.
At last, Yoo Jimin finished her "cleanup" and opened the bathroom door. Then she hauled the completely exhausted, huddled Han Seoyeon back to her feet. Not a single thread remained on her body. On that pale, smooth skin, the only thing left was the brand carved vividly into her collarbone: LDW.
"Done. Let's go."
Yoo Jimin led the naked Seoyeon along as if it were nothing and headed back to the room where Dongwoo was waiting. The door opened, and Han Seoyeon's wretched figure was laid bare before his eyes. The sight of a princess who'd lost everything was more than enough to put a satisfied smile on his lips.
The moment they stepped out, cold air bit into Han Seoyeon's damp, bare skin. Back in the room, led by Yoo Jimin's rough hand, Lee Dongwoo sat in a chair with a look of deep satisfaction, watching everything. Before his gaze, Han Seoyeon stood in complete, unadorned nakedness. The body that had been caked in urine and tears only moments ago was now clean — but in their place, a bone-deep chill and an indelible humiliation wrapped around her from head to toe.
Barely keeping her trembling body upright, a spark of rage finally ignited in Seoyeon's empty eyes. Her gaze went not to Dongwoo, but to Yoo Jimin standing right beside her.
"...You."
A cracked, hoarse voice. But it was laced with a hatred sharp as a blade.
"Why... did you call me here."
Yoo Jimin's shoulders flinched at those words. She looked away without answering. That silence was enough to snap the last thread of Seoyeon's reason.
"You... you fucking... you're in on it with that piece of shit, aren't you?!"
At that venomous scream, Yoo Jimin reluctantly turned her head. Her face was as empty as someone who'd given up on everything.
"...You think so?"
A lifeless reply. But resignation clung to it — the kind that said, You'll understand soon enough.
"Look. I'm in the exact same state."
Yoo Jimin was practically naked herself. And Seoyeon had already seen her being thoroughly humiliated on that VR screen. But Seoyeon had no intention of accepting that. If anything, her rage only swelled. She hadn't been looking for sympathy.
"Shut up! If it weren't for you!!"
Seoyeon screamed and tried to lunge at Yoo Jimin. But her body, already drained of every last ounce of strength, wouldn't obey. Her legs gave out and she crumpled where she stood.
"If it weren't for you...! If it weren't for you I never would have ended up like this!!!"
Sprawled on the floor, she wailed like a child. That scream was the sweetest music Dongwoo had ever heard. He leaned back in his chair, laughing softly, savoring the tragedy unfolding between the two of them.
Han Seoyeon's wailing, face-down on the floor, finally stopped. She lifted her wet face and swung her hand with everything she had at the cheek of Yoo Jimin, who stood vacant beside her.
Crack!
Yoo Jimin's head snapped to the side with a sharp sound that split the air. Her eyes went wide at the sudden violence, but Seoyeon had already lost interest in her. Eyes mixed with rage and resignation turned toward the room's sole master — Lee Dongwoo. She was a wreck, but those eyes, at least, were not dead yet.
"You didn't drag me here... just for this."
She bit her lip, struggling to push her wet body upright. It was a humiliating posture — naked, slumped on the floor — but she fought to keep the dignity of a four-term member of parliament's daughter in her voice, at least.
"What do you want?"
A desperate calculation flickered behind her eyes.
"...Money? Or is it my family's power you need?"
That was the moment.
"Pfft."
A snort of laughter burst from Dongwoo before he could stop it. He shook his head and rose from his chair.
"Power?"
He approached Seoyeon slowly, a sneer on his face. The shadow that fell across her eyes only deepened the color of her despair.
"Hey, Han Seoyeon. Still haven't figured out what's going on?"
Dongwoo asked in a low voice as he roughly seized Seoyeon's chin. In contrast to the soft flesh caught in his grip, his voice was laced with a contempt as sharp as frost. He forced her head up, and Seoyeon's face — twisted with terror — met his eyes.
"You think I'd do all this over something that pathetic?"
His thumb crushed against her trembling lips, grinding them. Seoyeon let out a pained moan and squeezed her eyes shut. But Dongwoo continued as if her suffering meant absolutely nothing to him. The voice that whispered low was sweet as a devil's temptation, and just as fatally poisonous. He brought his lips to Seoyeon's ear and whispered as if sharing the most terrible secret in the world.
"Listen carefully. I could erase this country's president — and your old man — without leaving a single trace. Right now. In an instant."
It wasn't a bluff or an exaggeration. The absolute confidence in his voice and the icy aura surrounding him proved that those words were an undeniable fact. Faced with a gulf of power she couldn't even begin to imagine, the lifeline of influence that Han Seoyeon had clung to until the very end snapped with pathetic ease.
Dongwoo smiled with satisfaction at Seoyeon's face, gone pale with terror. He released her chin, took a step back, and slowly, thoroughly inspected her wretched naked body.
"There's only one reason I brought you here."
His gaze lingered for a moment on the red brand carved into her collarbone, then returned to her terror-filled eyes.
"Thoroughly. Completely. Without leaving a single piece of you intact."
The corner of Dongwoo's mouth twisted into a cruel smile.
It wasn't a mere threat. It was a declaration of destruction. A cruel, unmistakable sentence announcing the opening act of a hell that had only just begun.
Lee Dongwoo's declaration of destruction crushed Han Seoyeon's mind with absolute weight. The searing pain in her collarbone mixed with the chill wrapping her entire body, tugging dangerously at the last thread of her reason. The shield of power she'd believed in and relied on her entire life — shattered this easily, this meaninglessly. What good was a father who was a four-term member of parliament? The man standing in front of her had just said, as casually as commenting on the weather, that he could kill even the president.
Han Seoyeon barely managed to pull her trembling body together. Terror had risen all the way to her throat, but she couldn't collapse. Not like this. Staking the pride of someone who'd lived her entire life as a ruler, she glared at the devil in front of her.
"...You crazy bastard."
A single phrase that barely escaped her dry lips. It was less resistance than the low growl of a terrified animal. But that sound reached Lee Dongwoo's ears perfectly clearly. The cruel smile on his lips deepened. It was the reaction he'd been waiting for.
"Yeah. I am crazy."
Dongwoo replied lightly and stepped toward her again. He crouched down, bringing himself to Seoyeon's eye level. Up close, his eyes were deep and dark as an abyss with no bottom.
"When I look at bitches like you, I can't help but go crazy."
His hand gently brushed Seoyeon's wet hair aside. The gesture was almost like a lover's caress, and it sent a wave of goosebumps across her skin.