The Hidden Room
“Having relations on a regular basis is the solution Ms. Han Seoyeon needs.”
The moment I finished speaking, Han Seoyeon twisted her upper body toward me while still seated in the chair and stared up at me blankly.
Then she said it without the slightest hesitation.
“Sex?”
I nearly spat out whatever was in my mouth and barely managed to keep my composure.
Han Seoyeon, on the other hand, simply blinked after blurting out something so blunt.
“Yes.”
I had meant to answer, “Yes, sex,” but the second word simply refused to leave my mouth, so I left it at that.
Han Seoyeon lifted one corner of her mouth.
“I already have sex regularly.”
“..?”
She barely touched her husband, yet she had sex regularly? That meant there was another man. She was having an affair and treating it like nothing.
Turning her torso back to face forward, Han Seoyeon continued as if it were the most ordinary thing in the world.
“You think my husband doesn’t meet other women? At an age when his sex drive is still raging, unless he’s a eunuch he’s definitely running around glued to some other bitch.”
So this was the show-window marriage I’d only ever heard about. She had met Lee Mikyeong at a couples’ social gathering; in public they played the loving pair, and the second they turned their backs they became complete strangers.
I kept kneading her shoulders in silence while Han Seoyeon did all the talking.
“I’m not telling you my secrets just because you fixed Hodu. Everyone already knows anyway—the butler, my husband, all of them.”
That was why she could drop a topic like this so casually.
“I’ve got some pretty decent partners, so you don’t need to worry about that part.”
Damn.
To become a partner for a woman like this, how good-looking would a guy have to be? Tall, celebrity-level handsome, and young on top of it. He would hang around with women like Lee Mikyeong and work off all the lust they’d been storing up.
More than ninety percent of men would skip every other consideration and gratefully mix flesh with a woman who looked like her, so snatching up any man she wanted probably wasn’t hard at all.
“I see…”
“Why? If I didn’t have partners, were you planning to take care of it for me, teacher?”
I flinched as if she’d read my mind. Sensing my hesitation, Han Seoyeon let out a low chuckle.
“If you thought curing Hodu meant you could have me, you were dreaming. Do you have any idea how high my standards are?”
“I’ve never harbored any such thoughts. I was merely trying to offer a few pieces of advice.”
“Fine. Then keep going.”
“Excuse me?”
“You said a few pieces of advice. You’ve given one, so give me the rest.”
I spun my thoughts as fast as I could.
I started hunting for an excuse, then realized there was no need to overthink it and gave myself a mental high-five.
“That’s all I can assess in your current state. Now please lie down on the massage bed.”
“Ah, right. I stood the folding bed against the wall, so just take it down and unfold it. I’ll have the butler help you. I’ll go change.”
“Yes. You’ll need to put on a gown that’s easy to remove.”
“Easy to remove?”
“Yes. I only massage bare skin.”
“…Ah… I see. Well, it doesn’t matter. I already heard a bit about it from Mikyeong unnie.”
“That’s fortunate. Some people refuse because of that part, so I was a little worried. I’m glad.”
Han Seoyeon crooked one corner of her mouth in a sly smile.
“Like I said earlier, I’m not that easy a woman.”
“W-what do you mean…”
“Puhah! I meant it’ll be hard to open my wallet. I’ll compensate you for today’s work, but I’m not going to swipe my card just because I heard Mikyeong unnie’s stories. Why are you getting so flustered?”
“…I thought you were speaking in the same context as before.”
“Think whatever you like. I’ll go wash up and change.”
Hmm.
Things were not going to flow as smoothly as I’d hoped.
After I treated Hodu she had seemed quite open with me, but all of that had been an act.
Han Seoyeon was reading every corner of my mind as if she were sitting right on top of my head. Was it because she had so much experience with men? Or simply the result of meeting so many people? Either way, it was not good news for me.
From everything I’d seen so far, the simpler a woman was, the easier she spread her legs and opened her wallet.
Han Seoyeon was going to need something more shocking. What method would work?
Before long the butler came in and set the massage bed neatly in the center of the reception room.
I had expected him to leave right away, but instead he leaned in as if giving me a quiet tip.
“Don’t get too close to Madam outside of work.”
“…I have no intention of that anyway, but I’d still like to hear the reason. Why? Is there some problem with Ms. Han Seoyeon?”
“Madam is… not in her right mind.”
At least by my standards, speaking of one’s own employer that way was a pretty bold move. Did that mean he was that worried about me? Of course there were other possibilities—maybe the butler was in love with her and lying out of jealousy, or maybe her husband had asked him to drive off any man who got close.
This is enough material for a whole novel.
I write such outlandish stories that every kind of plot ends up spilling out.
I couldn’t hold back my curiosity and asked him.
“What do you mean by that? When we were talking I didn’t sense anything that strange.”
“…Just keep my words in mind. If you get any closer, you might not be able to get out.”
Huh?
Looking properly now, the butler seemed quite young. Age aside, the important thing was his face. He wasn’t wearing makeup, yet his features were sharp and distinct, his jawline clean without a trace of fat, and his eyes bright and clear like a deer’s. It was the face of a pretty boy who would look perfect in women’s clothes.
I had no hobby of studying men, so I hadn’t noticed until now, but he was seriously handsome.
“Butler, how old are you?”
“Twenty-five.”
“Ah. Then how long have you worked here?”
“Almost three years. I came straight after I finished my military service.”
“Then you must know Ms. Han Seoyeon pretty well.”
“Well, yeah.”
I asked the questions casually, but my real thoughts were elsewhere.
Twenty-five and starting work right after discharge meant he had either taken a leave from university or never entered one at all. Working here for three years suggested he was fairly satisfied with the job—yet that didn’t line up with what he had just said.
So I reached a conclusion.
This butler was probably one of the partners Han Seoyeon had mentioned.
House management is normally left to someone with experience. Why hand the entire household to a greenhorn like this? To work him and milk him at the same time, of course.
I tossed a probe at his retreating back.
“Ms. Han Seoyeon must be giving you a hard time.”
“Pardon?”
The butler whipped his head around to look at me. I hit his blank face with another well-timed shot.
“Ms. Han Seoyeon is certainly charming. But from what I saw earlier, it didn’t look like she treats you with much care. You must have fretted quite a bit inside.”
“I… don’t know what you mean. I’ll be going to do my duties now…”
“Yes.”
Go far away. Faaar away.
After the butler left I counted to ten in my head, then cracked the door open and peeked outside.
No barking from Hodu, so the butler must have taken him out for a walk. I walked through the interior of the mansion.
The place was so enormous I wondered whether houses like this even existed in Korea. How much money would a person need to live somewhere like this?
In the space that could be called a living room, a massive carpet covered the floor. Mahogany furniture chosen for the interior design filled the house with a rich, varied feel, and the walls held giant frames containing gorgeous paintings I couldn’t identify.
From a recessed corner on the left came the sound of running water and soft humming, so Han Seoyeon was showering on that side. Then what was on the right?
I couldn’t restrain my curiosity and walked down the right-hand corridor.
A few of the rooms were firmly locked. Others opened easily; most of those were storage rooms packed with clothes. One room held only a bed and nothing else—probably a rest area for the staff who worked here.
When I finally reached the dead end, I found a door that looked thoroughly secretive.
It was much smaller than the others, the kind of door that belonged to a tiny storage closet at a glance.
There was no reason a door like this would be unlocked, but I tried the knob anyway.
Click.
The door opened.
Curiosity flared again. I stuck my head inside and looked around.
It was too dark to see anything.
But what was this familiar smell? A scent I had encountered somewhere before—familiar and yet not quite familiar.
Ah. It was Han Seoyeon’s scent. Her fragrant smell mixed in a strange, intricate way with several other odors, creating a bizarre aroma, and even that complex blend felt oddly familiar to me.
I pushed my body farther in and searched for the light switch.
When I flipped it on, I was literally startled out of my skin.
Click—
I quietly turned the light off again and slipped silently back to where I was supposed to be.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
That single word was the only thing that would form in my head.
Is this woman actually insane?