Trap (1)
Trap (Part 1)
"Oppa. Do you know what this picture is...?"
"Th-that..."
A trembling voice mumbled through parted lips.
There were sentences I could say to naturally brush this situation off - like "It's nothing, what is that?" - but I couldn't easily utter them.
How long do I have to keep deceiving her while convincing myself it's for Ye-rim's sake?
And if I don't deceive her, what exactly am I going to do?
The thought I originally resolved - to honestly confess everything and overcome this together with her - and the opposing argument to compromise and bow to reality once again clashed chaotically in my mind.
To be blunt, it wasn't really a significant picture.
It was only because I experienced the situation myself, because I was the subject of that photo, that I recognized it at a glance.
From a third-party perspective like Ye-rim's, she wouldn't be able to tell if it was a person's thigh or just some pattern engraved on an object.
'But...'
"'That' what? Do you happen to know what's in this picture, oppa? ...No, I'm not interrogating you or anything! I'm just curious, just curious, hehe~"
It's frustrating.
Not in the accusatory tone like last time, but Ye-rim's expression - forcing a smile with extreme patience because she's so curious but afraid of hurting me again by guessing what that picture indicates - was utterly frustrating to me.
"If you're not interrogating me, then why are you showing me that?!"
I was startled by my own irritable tone that slipped out unintentionally, but it was already after I'd spoken.
'Frustrated with Ye-rim...?'
I must be crazy!
I made all the wrong choices, and I'm frustrated that Ye-rim didn't notice?
Oh, you fucking "pure fool" bastard, Kang Cheol!
Apologize to Ye-rim right now, apologize!
Can't you see that hurt expression?!
'I need to apologize... I need to...'
My mouth wouldn't open.
I don't belong in this world.
I was just an ordinary young man who was quicker than others at reading situations and enjoyed gender-reversal novels.
I signed the contract with a light heart, thinking I'd meet this girl, that girl, and enjoy sexual fantasies to the fullest - not because I came here to overcome adversity like some novel protagonist.
'I'm tired now...'
I love Ye-rim - that was sincere.
But I'm not such an amazing person that I could endure this harsh situation just because of that one emotion called love.
"So-sorry, oppa..."
I should be the one apologizing, but Ye-rim was doing it instead.
Pathetic.
If I hadn't had Ye-rim all this time, I wouldn't have been able to endure this world as I have - and now I've made those words come from Ye-rim's mouth...
"No, Ye-rim. Today, today I'm just not feeling well. This isn't something you should apologize for."
I really wasn't feeling well physically.
I was addicted to that ridiculous drug called the aphrodisiac, and in that state, I was brutally raped by Selena.
Both my mind and body had reached their limits.
"So. I'm going to rest at home today..."
A unilateral order for a guest to leave.
I'm not the protagonist of a novel.
But if it's for the woman I love, a real man would jump in even knowing there's a trap waiting.
"O-okay, oppa... Then I'll come see you tomorrow morning!"
With a sulky expression, she nodded her head, then forced a smile like before and waved her hand as she went out the front door.
And my true intention was...
'I'll meet Selena. And...'
I'll settle this...!
And at that time, I shouldn't have made that choice.
I should have either honestly confessed to Ye-rim or found a way to avoid this situation.
Stupidly, I deluded myself into thinking I could fight and win against Selena, and by the time I realized things were going wrong, it was already too late...
-----------------------------
"Huhuhu~ Everything is going according to plan~"
Selena smiled as she eavesdropped on the entire conversation between Kim Ye-rim and Kang Cheol.
It was a pity that Kim Ye-rim hadn't discovered the brands she left on Kang Cheol's body, but it didn't matter.
If Ye-rim didn't discover them herself, she could just send the original photos stored in her smartphone and show them - Selena was aiming for only one thing.
Ding-ding~
Right on cue, a text arrived from Kang Cheol, her target. Maintaining her smile, she checked the message.
[Where are you. Meet me right now!]
"My, so full of intensity~ Huhuhut~"
The message content clearly showed he was furious.
And it was the reaction she had anticipated.
Kang Cheol was truly a mysterious man.
It was as if he wasn't a man from this world but had come from another world.
Ordinary - no, even quite exceptional men would typically cry bitterly or become broken when their purity was taken or they were threatened, but Kang Cheol instead fought back harder the stronger his opponent became, and even now, instead of relying on his lover, he contacted her alone to settle things.
Now, then.
How should one break such a resilient man?
She had used so many methods until now.
She took his body by force, threatened him, shook up Kim Ye-rim to create discord between them.
But the man never yielded, so Selena decided to change her focus.
What was the source of that man's hope?
It was Kim Ye-rim.
Just like a chick freshly hatched from an egg recognizes and follows the first person it sees as its mother, Kang Cheol blindly believed in and tried to protect Kim Ye-rim. Selena decided to stage a scene where Ye-rim, who represented Kang Cheol's hope, would betray him.
"You can do this properly, right?"
The young man who had been silently watching the tablet on the table looked up at Selena's question.
Beautiful black hair that reached down to his waist and black eyes that matched his black hair.
A somewhat petite physique for someone called a young man.
And...
Hehe~
"Don't worry, Selena-nim~"
Even his confident, bright smile that seemed unmanly for a man.
Though clearly a completely different person from Kang Cheol upon closer inspection, the man who had been diligently watching Kang Cheol's broadcasts on the tablet and practicing his mannerisms resembled Kang Cheol.
As if deliberately created to copy the man named Kang Cheol.
"I brought him because his looks and acting skills are quite good, and while he's a bit disgusting, he's not bad."
"I'm flattered by your praise, I don't know what to do with myself hehe~"
A viper from the underworld known for his excellent acting skills.
His physique even resembled Kang Cheol's, so Selena hired this man for a hefty sum.
Exactly...
"So I just need to seduce this woman named Kim Ye-rim while acting like this Kang Cheol person in the video, right?"
"Yes~ Ideally, it would be even better if you could go as far as kissing or sex, but is that possible?"
"Heheh! That's a piece of cake~ I've served madams numbering in the triple digits until now~ I just need to create a situation where it looks like I'm being attacked in the room across the way, right?"
Exactly.
Chang-nam, who sold his body to wealthy clients in the underworld - today he was hired to play the role of seducing Kim Ye-rim, Kang Cheol's lover, or making Kang Cheol mistakenly believe that Ye-rim was cheating with another man!
Snap!
At Chang-nam's frivolous attitude, Selena let out a light chuckle and snapped her fingers.
The wall they were looking at slid open to both sides, revealing the room opposite.
"Kya~ It's still amazing no matter how many times I see it. It looks like an ordinary wall but reveals the opposite room when given a signal - what a miraculous wall! ...Perhaps would you like me to service you first before the plan, Selena-nim? I've studied this Kang Cheol person diligently and can imitate him well."
A special structure that ordinary people wouldn't even imagine.
Though the man was subtly trying to seduce Selena, impressed by the scale of preparations she made with her wealth to obtain one man...
"Don't casually mention that man's name with your filthy mouth. I want to kill you...!"
Contrary to her happy exterior as the situation unfolded according to her plan, Selena growled like a wild beast, deeply angered by her own predicament of still not winning the man's heart despite going this far.
"A-alright! Then I'll come right away when you call for me."
Scramble
The man who had spoken carelessly and almost faced Selena's wrath turned pale and scurried away in a hurry.
Left alone in the room, Selena...
"Come quickly, Kang Cheol~♡ I'll be waiting huhuhu~"
Kang Cheol would never know.
How much she loved him, how broken of a woman she was.
And what would happen to him today...
------------------
"Driver, how much longer until we reach the destination?"
"We'll arrive soon, but young man, are you going to a warzone or something? With a stun gun, pepper spray... I wonder if you're going to catch someone~"
As the taxi driver said we were almost at the destination, I took out the items I brought and was checking them.
The driver looked at me through the rearview mirror with an absurd expression and asked that question.
"I'm going to catch a beast."
Going to catch a person?
'No, that woman is no different from a beast anyway!'
Selena had crossed the line.
She had crossed it before too, but this time she went so far beyond the line that it was impossible to endure.
Not satisfied with branding my body with an indelible mark, she sent such a picture to Ye-rim?
This was a clear provocation and simultaneously a trap.
Just as I'm quick to notice things, Selena was cunning, and her taking such action meant she clearly calculated that I would get angry like this and come to her.
I had to go even knowing it was a trap.
To catch a lion, you must enter the lion's den, so I came fully armed with Ye-rim's father's stun gun - which demonstrated overwhelming power against thugs and proved its effectiveness - and pepper spray whose power I knew from personal experience in the military.
With firm determination not to fall to Selena today no matter what, I entered the hotel she had told me about, and shortly after...
"Ye-Ye-rim...?"
"My~ How could this be? Kang Cheol, leaving you for another man..."
The situation was taking an strange turn...