Crossing the Line
"Hello!"
She greeted me in a brighter tone than when we'd first met—no blushing this time—and seeing her act like close sisters with Yoonah put my mind a bit more at ease.
"Yesuh, did you get some good rest?"
Whoa, Yoonah burst out a little late after finishing her preparations, grabbing Yesuh's hands with both of hers.
"Unnie! Of course. Did you have a good time with oppa too?"
Watching the two of them get along so well, I couldn't help but smile warmly. But damn, it felt like the roles had reversed somehow. And Yoonah, you don't have to blush that hard—cut it out. I told you, you're not that good at acting.
"Whoa, looking at your face, you two really had a great time!"
She giggled nonstop, teasing Yoonah relentlessly, and the way they meshed like real sisters was just too cute.
No matter how I looked at her, Yesuh had this baby-faced innocence. Her features were so youthful that I could've believed she was a middle schooler. And these bastards were dragging a kid like her into sexual favors? They were fucking insane.
Sexual favors were shitty enough, but if it'd been with an adult, I probably wouldn't be this furious. Of course, if it involved Yoonah's acquaintance or someone close to me like Yesuh, I'd be raging just the same.
Anyway, no matter how you sliced it, dragging a kid like this into it was unforgivable.
"Are we heading straight to the spot?"
"Ah, no. There's a meeting with the CEO first..."
A sudden meeting at a time like this? It screamed "shut her up for good" more than anything else.
"Alright, let's go. We need to get there early and prep a bit." I regretted not grabbing two recorders and cameras each. We'd probably need to plant something at the CEO's spot too.
"Got any spare mini-recorders or anything like that?"
I turned to Yoonah, who tilted her head.
"Mini-recorder? Why, you planning to record something?"
"The real evidence always slips out best when you're alone, I figure."
I only had one recorder prepped, which made me hesitate. To nail them down at the negotiation table, we'd need solid proof from both sides.
"I'll sort something out before we head to the favor spot. A mini-recorder will do?"
"Camera too, if possible."
"Got it. Let's link up here right before going in."
We set a meetup at a nearby café, and I headed off first with Yesuh.
"Yesuh, you sure you're okay with this...?"
"Manager oppa, I'm really fine. Yoonah unnie swore up and down that this oppa's super capable and will handle everything!"
The manager shot me a slightly distrustful look and an awkward smile. He hadn't seen my skills yet, and I was a total stranger, so being wary was natural. Still, I hadn't expected quite that level of caution.
"Seriously! Don't be rude to the guy helping us!"
Yesuh wedged herself between us, flailing her arms. The manager broke into a fond smile—like an uncle watching his adorable niece.
His wariness wasn't exactly pleasant, but flip it around: it showed how much he cared for Yesuh. No reason to hold that against him when he was protecting someone precious to Yoonah.
"Don't worry, Yesuh. I won't let a hair on her head get touched."
I grinned and offered my hand. He hesitated, then gripped it firmly.
"Take good care of our Yesuh..."
His voice trembled just a bit.
"No worries."
We hopped into the car before any prying eyes spotted us. Yesuh slid in naturally, and our long-yet-short trip to the entertainment company began.
"But will just recording Yesuh be enough to sort this out?"
She'd probably been a trainee since she was a kid, so she'd picked up a thing or two about the world—especially the entertainment industry's ecosystem and how it flowed. And as a rookie without Yoonah-level spotlight, even more so.
"We'll see once we meet him, but don't sweat it. I've got a personal backup plan."
Best case, Yesuh's own recording would wrap it up. But the higher-ups weren't all idiots. The big shots in entertainment—hell, maybe even bigger players—could be neck-deep in this. We'd need ironclad evidence to drag them to the table and reset everything to normal. If not... force would do the trick.
"Keep the recorder on from the moment you go in, and make sure your voice is audible even if it's faint."
"Got it."
No way talk of the favors wouldn't come up. Advice on how to act, whatever—it was bound to slip. The CEO scheduling this pre-meeting screamed he might rope in some heavy hitters. Which meant we had to bite down harder.
We arrived at the entertainment building. I pulled my hat low and got out, keeping my face hidden as much as possible since I was playing day-manager.
"Phew, this is tense."
He came to this place every day, but today it'd feel totally different. As for me...