This Bastard Again—! (1)
Yet again, the same early morning.
Harin forced her stiff, aching body upright and hurried through her commute routine. As the undisputed ace of Y Asset—and the one and only (sucker of a) secretary to CEO Han Yuri—her day was always doomed to start a little earlier than everyone else's.
Haa… I really, really don't want to go to work today…
Arriving at the office, Harin traded the usual light greetings with the staff and settled into her seat.
"Good morning~"
The handful of employees were already glued to their monitors. The boss might have been a nightmare, but it was probably thanks to these diligent people that Harin had somehow managed to endure this slave existence at all.
Still, she's been sticking around the office a lot more lately, so that's something…
Even if that very fact had doubled Harin's own workload, the company had—paradoxically—been running more smoothly than it had in years.
She's still focused on other things, sure…
But at least she wasn't vanishing from her desk, so approvals weren't piling up, and the work-stopping chaos caused by her unpredictable stunts had gone down.
Of course, that just means the CEO herself is the one with a headache…
It was all because of that damned Han family mess, but the results were the results.
Please… please… just let this peace last without anything blowing up…!
Harin prayed with everything she had. She knew better than anyone that Yuri had zero interest in the chairmanship, which made the Han family's relentless pressure all the more frustrating and absurd.
The CEO—no, Yuri—doesn't even care about that stuff! Why do they keep hounding her like this?!
Silently hurling every curse she could invent at the Hans, Harin began sorting through the day's task list and the stack of approvals she needed to drag out of Yuri.
That was when it happened.
Bzzzt—
The phone on her desk vibrated once, short and sharp. The screen lit up with a familiar name—or rather, the name only she would recognize:
Why is she texting at this hour…?
Fighting down a bad feeling, Harin opened the message.
"…?"
Short. Blunt. Final.
Harin stared, certain her eyes were lying. She rubbed them hard and checked the screen again.
The same eight little words sat there, laughing at her.
Harin's face slowly crumpled.
"…Ah."
A short, broken sound escaped her. Her shoulders sagged.
And a moment later—
"AAAAAAAGH—!"
A raw, soul-rending scream tore through the entire office. Harin clutched her head with both hands and collapsed face-first onto her desk.
The other employees glanced over, then exchanged silent looks.
…Boss isn't coming in today, huh.
Looks like it. Stay at least two meters away from Harin today.
OK. Do not even make eye contact.
While they conducted their silent conference, Harin was still howling.
"Han Yuri, you absolute psychopath—! I! I worked overtime last night—how many times did I tell you I needed those approvals today?! You walking human disasterrrrr!"
She cursed the version of herself from mere minutes ago who had felt sorry for Yuri and wished her peace. Of course that woman couldn't be trusted.
And right then—
BANG!
The office door slammed open and another woman stormed in, face flushed, eyes blazing with murderous intent. It was none other than Seonye.
"Han Yuri, you crazy bitch—!"
Spitting out the exact same line Harin had just used, Seonye marched straight up to her and barked,
"Hey, Glasses Girl! Where the hell is Han Yuri?! Get her out here now!"
"…"
Harin looked up at her with a completely vacant expression. Then, voice trembling, face twisted into the world's most pitiful pout, she answered,
"…I… I'd like to know that toooo…!"
"Haa—! Han Yuri, this crazy bitch is for real—!"
Learning that Yuri hadn't shown up at all, Seonye let out a hollow, incredulous laugh.
Then—
"Out of my way!"
—she shoved past Harin and stormed right back out of the office.
Harin stared blankly at the empty doorway and muttered,
"Sihyun… why on earth did you ever sign with them…"
She couldn't help pitying the poor guy stuck suffering under lunatics like these.
Han Yuri, you insane bitch—how dare you cross that line?!
Seonye floored the gas toward Yuri's officetel, breathing hard through pure rage.
How dare she stab me in the back like that?!
She'd been out hustling yesterday to lock down prep work for the upcoming Cheonryong Group Holy Night banquet, so she hadn't even been able to drop by the café to see Sihyun. Her Sihyun deficit was already critical—and now this woman had the gall to keep him from his part-time shift?!
This morning, the second Luminous opened, she had gone straight there to see him. He wasn't there. The manager said no one had even called in.
That kid never, ever no-showed without a word. Not when he was that conscientious about everything. She had dialed him immediately. No answer. Growing anxious, she called Yuri next. Same result.
So Seonye had bolted straight to Yuri's office—only to find, as everyone now knew, a complete waste of time. The damn woman hadn't even clocked in.
Those two… those two… they aren't doing something together right now, are they?!
An ugly, creeping suspicion hit hard: what if they'd been together since last night?
No… no way…
Every filthy, horrifying scenario imaginable flooded her head.
—Please don't—!
—Heh… stay still.
—Aagh! Seonye Noona, help me!
That pure, innocent Sihyun, being devoured by that predatory Yuri…!
"NOOO!!!"
Seonye screamed and stomped the accelerator even harder.
And so—
Screeeech—
With a violent shriek of tires, she slammed to a stop in front of Yuri's officetel, jumped out—and froze.
Someone she absolutely had not expected was already standing there.
"…Hey. What the hell are you doing here?"
Seonye's face twisted on pure reflex, wariness flaring. Because the woman in front of her was decked out head to toe in flashy luxury brands, wearing an easy little smile—none other than Yoona.
"Oh my! Min Seonye?"
Yoona waved like she'd just run into an old friend. Her eyes, however, looked anything but glad.
Haa… I'm going to lose my mind.
Seonye's head already ached. One Yuri was more than enough—now this unpredictable maniac had to show up too?
Yoona, utterly uninterested in whatever was going on inside Seonye's skull, smiled like she was enjoying herself and asked,
"Did you put a tracker on our little puppy too? How else would you know to come all the way here?"
"A tracker? What are you even talking about?!"
Seonye bristled. Yoona only shrugged.
"Hmm~ Guess not. Whatever. Doesn't matter."
"Hey!"
Seonye hurriedly blocked Yoona's path as she tried to head into the lobby.
"Where do you think you're going?!"
"Isn't it obvious? To see my puppy."
The shameless answer left Seonye speechless. Yoona gave a soft snort of laughter and tapped her on the shoulder.
"You might want to hurry, though. Our puppy hasn't moved from inside this building in quite a while."
She sounded casual enough, but her eyes held a cold, lethal glint.
"…!"
Seonye wanted to know how Yoona was tracking Sihyun's location, how she knew he hadn't moved—but none of that mattered right now.
Sihyun had been motionless for a long time.
That single fact alone sent her anxiety through the roof.
Her face set hard, Seonye gave a curt nod. Without another word, the two women walked into the building together under a silent, temporary truce.
"Aaaaah~~ I slept so well."
I couldn't remember the last time I'd woken up this refreshed. The bone-deep exhaustion that had been crushing me had vanished like it never existed. Expensive beds really were on another level.
I sat up, stretched the stiffness out of my body, and checked my phone. Well past lunchtime. A whole stack of missed calls.
Ah. I never even texted Seonye Noona or the manager.
Thinking I should at least get out of bed first, I reached for the door handle.
"Alright, time to— …huh?"
The door that had definitely been locked opened without any resistance. Yuri had locked it. I was sure of that.
What the… I've got a really bad feeling about this…
Unease prickling down my spine, I stepped carefully out into the living room—and froze solid at the sight waiting for me.
"Hhk…!"
I sucked in a sharp breath before I could stop myself.
Because sitting on the wide living-room sofa were three women.
Yuri. Seonye. And Yoona.
All three lunatics, gathered in one place. And they all turned to look at me at the exact same time, like they'd been waiting.
…What kind of absolute hellscape is this?
Cold sweat slid down my back. I didn't fully understand the situation, but this combination was a natural disaster. I wanted nothing more than to slam the door, dive back into bed, and pretend to be asleep.
"Oh. You're up?"
Yuri spoke first. As if the chaos from this morning had never happened, she greeted me in her usual blunt, completely unbothered tone.
Then Seonye rushed over with a face that looked one second away from bursting into tears.
"Si… Sihyun…! Are you okay? That bitch didn't do anything weird to you, right…?"
She fretted over me, checking me from head to toe.
And finally, Yoona licked her lips with that signature sultry, dangerous smile.
"Hmm~ Our little puppy… you can't just sleep anywhere like that, you know♡ Your owner was so worried~"
Her voice was playful. Her expression was anything but.
"W… what on earth is going on here?"
I managed to get the words out, looking between the three of them.
Yuri crossed her arms and answered.
"You're the one who should be explaining. What the hell were you doing last night?"
She glared at me, then turned that glare on Yoona.
"And you too, Kang Yoona."
Yoona just shrugged and played dumb.
"Hmm~ Who knows? I just came because I was worried about my puppy."
"I'm asking how you knew he was here."
"Yeah, Kang Yoona! How did you know Sihyun was here?!"
"Heh. Who knows~?"
"Hey!!!"
Watching the three of them start snarling at each other, I pressed a hand to my throbbing forehead and squeezed my eyes shut.
Ah. I'm fucked.
No matter how I looked at it, today was going to be exhausting as hell. My peaceful rest had been over for a long time already.