Racing Toward Midnight
Late at night, hurtling toward midnight. In the empty marketing department office, only a pale glow leaks from Seo Harin's desk. The massive document screen fills with tens of thousands of data cells—an overwhelming, violent workload no single rookie could finish, even pulling all-nighters for a week. Trapped in the enormous snare Kim Manager had maliciously dumped on her, Harin hammers the keyboard without even catching her breath.
"Hic... haa."
Hot tears finally spill from her bloodshot eyes. No matter how roughly she wipes them with the back of her hand, her vision keeps blurring. The numbers on the screen twist like grotesque, wriggling bugs. Endless despair, with no end in sight. A desperate ache to lean on someone, to wail madly and be comforted. Harin stares blankly at her smartphone, slumped in the corner of her desk. Her lover, Kim Junho, struggling with formulas while getting chewed out by seniors. She wants to hit call right now, scream Oppa, I'm dying here. I can't take it anymore. But the cruel reality—that her pathetic plea won't shave even 1 percent off this horrific mountain of work—crushes her wrist.
Time races on mercilessly. Crushed by hopelessness and fear, Harin finally buries her face in her hands and sobs quietly.
"Hweong... hng. What do I do? I can't... I just can't."
Her slender shoulders tremble like a pitiful rabbit caught in a beast's trap. At that exact moment, as her wretched cries slice through the silent office air—
"Working so late. What's going on?"
A low, chilling baritone from beyond the partition. Harin startles violently, snapping her tear-streaked face up. At the end of the dark office corridor, a towering man in a perfectly tailored black suit approaches without a sound. The company's top powerbroker, a married man—the Executive Director, Park Minhyuk.
A thick, sensual woody scent chokes the stale dust of the office, overwhelming her senses. The arrival of an overpowering male aura and absolute authority. The moment she faces this perfect lifeline, the last taut thread holding her sanity snaps pathetically.
"E-Executive Director... hng... hwaaang."
Harin stumbles up from her chair, instinctively collapsing into him like a child, unleashing her sobs. Any flimsy notion of maintaining superior-subordinate boundaries has long evaporated in the face of her utter isolation.
That desperate, defenseless flood of tears. Minhyuk furrows his brow in feigned surprise, but deep in his gut, a savage, predatory grin spreads—the thrill of perfectly seizing his prey's leash.
"Employee Seo Harin. What on earth happened? Why are you crying like this?"
He hurries over, wrapping his strong arms around her staggering shoulders. Her face buries into his broad, hot chest. Subtle yet blatant skinship. But Harin, drowned in sorrow and despair, doesn't even register the dangerous thrill of being in a married superior's embrace. To her, he's the only massive shelter hiding her from that hellish crush. Clutching his suit jacket with both hands, she sobs like a beast in his arms.
"Calm down first. People might see—come with me."
Minhyuk keeps his arm around her slim shoulders, leading her to the deserted pantry at the corridor's end. In the dim, enclosed space, he seats her, pours a cup of warm water, and places it in her trembling hands.
"Here. Take a sip and breathe deep. Tell me slowly what happened. I'll listen to everything."
His voice, the gentlest, most perfect tall uncle in the world. Harin gulps it down amid hiccups and spills every injustice from Kim Manager.
"Hic... Manager said... by tomorrow... compile all the other departments' closing data into a report. Hng... No help, impossible alone even in a week. If I mess up, the whole department..."
Cold, calculated fury flickers in Minhyuk's eyes as he listens.
"That lunatic Kim Manager finally crossed the line. Dumping entire inter-departmental closing data on a rookie? That's blatant abuse of power and pathetic tyranny."
A man perfectly voicing her grievances, unleashing icy anger at her boss. Watching him rage on her behalf, Harin feels the massive lump in her chest melt away like snow.
Minhyuk steps right up to her chair, kneels on one knee to meet her eyes.
"Employee Seo Harin. Shut down your computer, grab your bag, and go home now."
"Y-yes, Executive Director... but if I leave now, tomorrow morning Manager will—"
Harin pales, waving her hands. But Minhyuk gently yet firmly clasps her small, trembling ones in his massive grip. His overwhelming body heat surges through her cold fingertips, igniting her veins.
"Piling impossible tasks on a rookie is entirely the superior's incompetence and negligence. Tomorrow morning, I'll grab that bastard by the throat and end it. Don't worry about a thing—go home easy. I'll take full responsibility."
Absolute absolution from the perfect authority figure. Relief and surging gratitude flood her eyes anew.
"Hic... Thank you. Truly, thank you so much, Executive Director... hwaaang."
Minhyuk pulls a silk handkerchief from his inner pocket, delicately wiping the hot tears streaming down her cheek. Still kneeling, he draws her waist and back into a tender embrace, patting soothingly.
"Employee Seo Harin. From the moment I saw your entry scores, I've been watching, expecting you'd be a core talent for this company. You're sharp and capable, but suffering under an incompetent boss like this breaks my heart. From now on, anything you need, come to me. Don't suffer alone—lean on me."
The sweetest, deadliest whisper of Satan. Harin loses all reason to this overwhelming married superior's kindness, who acknowledges and saves her. She throws her arms around his broad back and nape, clinging tight.
"Hng... uaang."
Her same-age lover, Kim Junho, toiling far away, has long vanished from her mind. That vicious void without him—the massive devil elegantly, lethally fills it, poisoning her soul. Unbeknownst to her, the most depraved female instinct grips a married man's neck.
Meanwhile, in Minhyuk's gut, as he pretends to comfort her in the embrace—the vilest male lust boils madly. The moment she clings back, pressing close, her thin blouse yields her violently ample, overwhelming breasts crushing against his firm chest. The massive, soft heft that jiggles with every breath.
Haa... driving me insane. Even visually stunning, but holding her? Beyond imagination.
Lust darkens his eyes. He aches to lay this beautiful, voluptuous woman—clinging, tear-streaked—on the pantry counter, rip her skirt, and ravage her. But he must endure. For the perfect feast, the prey must crawl to his bed, offering her leash—until then, maintain the kindly hypocrite mask. Oblivious to the devil drooling nauseating hunger above, Harin melts in Satan's arms, addicted to sweet consolation.
A moment later. Bags packed, they slip out together. The night air chills, but Harin's cheeks burn dizzy with heat. In the underground lot, Minhyuk opens the passenger door of his massive black sedan, escorting her.
"N-no, Executive Director. I can take a taxi alone. You've done too much already—I'm sorry."
Harin waves him off, stepping back. But Minhyuk lightly grips her waist, firmly guiding her in.
"It's late. I won't be the irresponsible boss sending a female employee off alone in a taxi. Get in, no arguments."
Irresistible soft control. Door shut, the sealed sedan fills with his thick, heavy scent, paralyzing her senses once more. The car glides smoothly onto the road. Harin clasps her hands on her knees, head bowed.
"Really... I'm so sorry. Making you stay late like this."
Deep guilt and massive debt weigh her voice. Minhyuk chuckles leisurely, one hand on the wheel.
"Nothing to be sorry for. Just think of it as Employee Seo Harin getting lucky—having a slightly better boss above that shitty one. No need to carry any burden."
That casual, cool kindness. But a perfectly calculated lethal trap. The more he plays the selfless adult, the heavier the lifelong debt and blind loyalty roots in her heart. Unseen, her soul brainwashes into the religion of Minhyuk.
Soon, the sedan stops at Harin's studio apartment. She bows 90 degrees repeatedly, vanishing into the alley. Minhyuk stares fiercely through the window at the sensual hip sway under her tight skirt.
Almost there.
Feeling his pants bulge massively, he smiles chillingly. The perfect day to strip that proud beauty's shell and beastly pour his seed inside draws near.
Meanwhile, oblivious that his most beloved girlfriend falls utterly into a horrific devil's clutches—Kim Junho flails in another massive predator's trap.
"Junho, that formula errors out like that. Watch how unnie does it."
"Ah... yes. Got it, Senior Manager—no, unnie."
Late night in the empty Busan office. Yoon Jiyeon stands pressed against Junho's chair, layering her soft, smooth hand over his on the mouse. As she leans in, the massive, pale cleavage in her beige silk blouse assaults his vision. Her thick powdery floral scent whites out his brain. Junho gulps hard to hide his pounding heart, blind to the document.
Her perfect lead—soft smile, overwhelming sensuality—steals the young male's soul. Junho, even forgetting guilt toward Harin, helplessly drowns in his beautiful senior's fragrance.
The cruelest distance. Lips still wet from vows of eternal love, the pair hurtle into the sweetest, most perfect predators' nooses. The night their pure white love corrupts into the most nauseating hue—a flawless, crossed betrayal.