Rumors
After dreaming of Soyeon, my mood didn’t just sink—it dragged me across the floor like something already dead. Seeing her again hadn’t comforted me at all. It felt like she’d handed me hope only to rip it away the moment I reached for it. The empty space she left behind suddenly felt larger than ever.
I could have sworn I’d touched her, felt the warmth of her skin… Yet the memory was already fraying, crumbling between my fingers. The harder I tried to hold on, the faster it slipped away, like water spilling through open hands.
“Ha…”
A sigh leaked out before I could stop it. I still hadn’t eaten, and a faint fever lingered under my skin. I wanted to be alone, but Kim Dayoung kept shuffling around the office, refusing to give me any peace.
She kept coming over, poking my cheek with that annoying little tap-tap of her finger.
“What’s wrong, Magical Girl? Did the forces of evil finally corrupt you?”
Dayoung sauntered over and flashed a mocking grin.
“You’re leaking black aura everywhere. We might as well start calling you the fallen magical girl.”
What the hell was wrong with how I looked? And if we were talking colors, wasn’t she the one dressed in evil’s palette?
I knew answering would only excite her, so I kept my mouth shut and stared straight ahead.
“How are you going to fix my office atmosphere? It’s all gloomy and depressing because of you. Turn it back into the bright, hopeful space it’s supposed to be.”
Like I had any idea how to do that.
“What do you want me to do?”
I turned my head to dodge the hand that kept prodding my cheek.
“Ah—stop it.”
After speaking, I glanced at her nervously, half-expecting a slap. Surprisingly, she didn’t react.
Why did she keep picking fights with me? Was I some kind of squeaky toy to her?
I couldn’t understand it at all.
When she finally returned to her desk, I leaned against the sofa armrest and muttered under my breath.
“You look so relaxed. Go make me some coffee.”
What kind of person drags a sick employee around and then bosses them like this?
To think I’d become a magical girl only to end up running coffee errands.
I went to the break room, stirred a cup with a spoon half-heartedly, and set the paper cup on Kim Dayoung’s desk.
“This is way too bland. Can’t you even do this right?”
“It’s water-based.”
“There’s too much water. Just like you.”
…My head throbbed harder.
After saying it, the corner of her mouth twitched like she found herself hilarious. It was obvious she was watching for my reaction, so I deliberately kept my face blank.
This time I brought her a cup with far less water.
“Now it’s too hot. Are you doing this on purpose?”
“No…”
After that it was too lukewarm, then the powder hadn’t dissolved properly. Nothing satisfied her. Every single thing was an excuse to complain.
Treating a sick person like this… it really was just pure malice, wasn’t it?
And the coffee errands themselves were ridiculous. It wasn’t like she didn’t have hands. The only thing missing was basic human decency.
After enduring endless nitpicking, even I couldn’t keep my mouth shut anymore.
“Some miracle medicine. I’m not getting any better.”
She’d probably just fed me her spit.
Thinking about it again made my stomach churn. The slippery sensation on my tongue resurfaced, leaving my mouth feeling filthy.
Out of sheer defiance, my lips twisted on their own.
“Bullshit.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Being upper-tier must make your ears sharp too.
“Fuck.”
My shoulders jerked involuntarily. To hide that I’d been startled, I straightened my back.
Did she actually expect me to speak politely? If so, that was the height of hypocrisy from a psychopath.
I closed my mouth and pretended I hadn’t cursed.
If I closed my eyes, Soyeon’s face would appear. If I opened them, I saw that infuriating face of Kim Dayoung instead.
Was this some new form of torture?
Just as that thought crossed my mind—
“What?”
Dayoung tapped her pen against the desk.
“Are you upset that I cursed?”
“……”
“If Sujung knew her place, I wouldn’t have to do this.”
The temperature in the office seemed to drop in an instant.
I didn’t answer. Instead, I stared straight at her.
Dayoung looked back at me with a dry, emotionless expression.
“See? Even now there’s strength in your eyes. Can’t you relax them?”
At that moment—
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
Even until the door opened, her sunken eyes remained fixed on me.
“Dayoung-nim, Sohee-nim asked me to check whether Sujung-ssi is with you.”
Dayoung’s secretary entered, spotted me, and froze near the door. Sohee’s face peeked out from behind her.
“Is Sujung here?”
Sohee stood on her tiptoes behind the secretary, trying to see deeper into the office. The moment our eyes met, she pushed past the secretary and rushed inside.
“Why are you still here?”
Sohee approached, grabbed my shoulder, and peered into my face. I could feel Dayoung’s gaze on the hand Sohee had placed on my shoulder.
“Dayoung unnie, can I take Sujung with me?”
A short silence fell.
“…Take her.”
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Dayoung looked away first.
Sohee took my arm and helped me up.
I followed in a daze. I glanced back to see if it was really okay, but Dayoung didn’t even look at us.
As always, I couldn’t read her at all.
Only after the office door closed did Sohee release my arm.
“What did you two talk about? How many hours were you in there?”
“We didn’t talk much. I fell asleep inside.”
“In there? Why didn’t unnie wake you?”
Exactly. I smiled faintly.
It still didn’t feel real that I had escaped that ice-covered room.
Why had she let me go so easily?
Was it because Sohee asked?
If so, the favoritism was too extreme.
The farther I got from Kim Dayoung, the easier my breathing became. Clean air poured down my throat and spread deep into my body.
My mind cleared, the fever lifted, and my eyes grew sharp again.
Calling her spit medicine was ridiculous.
But… it couldn’t be that I actually got better because of that, right?
No. The cause of my illness was Kim Dayoung herself.
It was a stress-induced sickness.
See? The moment she was out of sight, I recovered immediately.
As I thought that, Soyeon’s face suddenly floated up in my mind.
“Ha…”
They really did look identical. That’s why she kept coming to mind.
I swept back the hair that had fallen across my cheek.
“Are you okay? Feeling dizzy?”
Sohee moved closer to me.
“If you’re going home, want me to walk you?”
She subtly linked her arm with mine and smiled bashfully.
Yeah, cling all you want.
She had pulled me out of that pit of malice. Offering an arm was nothing.
“I’m fine. I can go by myself.”
“…Alright.”
Even after I said I was okay, Sohee followed me all the way to the company entrance.
“Are you really okay? All the way home…”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It’s not like I hurt my leg or anything.”
She looked ready to follow me all the way home, so I quickly cut her off. To prove I was fine, I even lifted my leg.
“See? Perfectly fine.”
Sohee stared at my bare leg for a moment before nodding. Still, she stood there waving until I had completely left the company entrance.
Once my head felt a little clearer, the world seemed brighter for a very brief moment.
That brightness lasted only a moment.
After that day, Kim Dayoung called me whenever she felt like it. Once a day. Sometimes several times.
Since she was a busy woman, she didn’t limit herself to one place.
Calling me to the office had become routine. After battles with demonic beasts, she would drag me to a nearby hotel, or pretend she was giving me a ride only to attack me in the car.
Even the excuse that I was far away didn’t work.
That single command was enough.
It wasn’t to fight monsters. It wasn’t to save people. I had to put on my magical girl outfit and fly just to have sex. The only reason was that Kim Dayoung had summoned me.
The phrase “offering my body” came to mind so naturally. What was I, some kind of sacrifice?
If I said I was sick again, she might try to feed me her “medicine” again, so I couldn’t even protest.
Not that it stopped her from doing it anyway.
Like someone with a twisted fetish, she would spit during the act, and whenever I struggled and said no, she would cover my mouth and force me to swallow.
And what about my own home?
I had told her never to come, but like the psycho she was, she completely ignored me. Without even texting, she would show up and pound on my door.
Without texting, she would suddenly appear and bang on the door, demanding I open it.
When I opened it, she would walk in like she owned the place.
She kicked aside the trash bags and empty bottles scattered on the floor with her toe, not even trying to hide her disgusted expression.
Then she said something like this:
“Want to go to my officetel instead?”
“Sorry?”
“I’m a clean person. Look at this place. Does this look like somewhere people live? It’s small and filthy. Doing it here actually turns me off.”
Then don’t do it and don’t come.
Who asked you to come?
“You reek of alcohol. Look at all these bottles. Are you addicted?”
The alcohol was my escape from the reality of being summoned by Kim Dayoung whenever she wanted.
So yes, it was all because of her.
On top of that, there was my longing for Soyeon, the inescapable reality created by money and her younger sister.
Only when I was drunk could I drift a little farther from those thoughts.
“I like it here.”
This was the only place where I could be alone.
The only place I could lose myself in thought, cry, or miss Soyeon. The only place where I could pretend, even for a moment, that it was truly my space.
I didn’t want to lose that too.
Dayoung looked at my face and let out a small laugh.
“Suit yourself.”
Then, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, she pulled me by the waist. Our lips overlapped effortlessly.
I was growing used to this daily routine. I couldn’t even remember how many times we had done this.
It wasn’t just once a day—sometimes several times. Occasionally we even commuted together.
On days when rough sex left my body aching, I would show up at the company, sit on the sofa in Kim Dayoung’s office, and leave with her when she got off work.
I couldn’t even tell anymore whether I was coming to work or being dragged there just to sit beside her.
When Kim Dayoung called, I followed without a word. At some point my entire wardrobe had changed to suit her tastes.
Why had I ever thought no one would notice?
Had being tormented by Kim Dayoung turned my brain into mush?
These days, scrolling through my contacts had become part of my daily routine.
I pressed the call button on a familiar number, but after a long string of rings, it disconnected.
My little sibling still wouldn’t answer the phone.
Kim Dayoung kept trying to get closer to me, and with every step she took, my mind wore down a little more.
Maybe that was why I hadn’t noticed anything else.
It happened in the company restroom.
I was inside a stall, calling my sibling, when I heard footsteps and voices.
“Don’t you think they’re being way too obvious?”
“Right? I didn’t think about it before, but…”
It was two women talking.
They seemed to be washing their hands or brushing their teeth; the sound of running water continued from the sink area.
I stayed perfectly still, phone clutched in my hand.
“This is like the fifth time they’ve come to work together. Maybe they’re living together?”
“Who knows. But why Dayoung unnie and Sujung? The comparison is too much. Dayoung unnie has everything, and the gap between them is huge, right?”
“Still, Sujung’s face is pretty decent. She has that neat, slightly cold look.”
They were talking about me and Kim Dayoung.
“But haven’t we never seen Dayoung unnie go around with anyone before?”
“Exactly. So Sujung must have seduced her properly. There were quite a few people who liked her secretly, you know.”
I didn’t seduce anyone. And our relationship wasn’t anything like that.
Inside the stall, I bit down hard on my lip.
At first the two women had lowered their voices, but when they thought no one else was in the restroom, they started chatting freely.
If the rumor had spread this far, I couldn’t imagine how widespread it was throughout the company.
How many people knew?
Or were they just speculating wildly without knowing anything?
I smoothed the wrinkles from the white blouse and tight skirt that carried Dayoung’s taste, then opened the stall door and stepped out.
Without showing any wounds.
Like someone who could simply let it slide.
But unlike me, the two women—
When they saw my reflection in the mirror above the sink, they froze solid.