Chapter 24: The Decision

Choi Taehyuk threw his phone onto the sofa after yelling. The loud sigh that followed made me flinch, but I still couldn’t open my mouth. I lowered my head and clenched my hands neatly resting on my knees. I felt sorry, scared, and ashamed—like I might cry. You idiot. How could you forget that? It’s a matter of life and death, and you can’t keep your head straight, making others worry about you. And on top of that, you’re cursing under your breath. You pathetic fool. You stupid bastard. You blockhead.

No matter how much I berated myself, it didn’t ease my mind. The gaze burning into the back of my head was painful.

“I’m sorry…”

Nothing would change by saying this, but I still whispered weakly. At the same time, I sensed Choi Taehyuk moving and squeezed my eyes shut. If you’re going to hit me, I hope you don’t hit too hard.

But contrary to my expectations, his hand stroked the back of my head soothingly. His hand was so cold against my head that I bit my lip to keep from crying.

“Start by explaining why you were at Min Seonwoo’s place until that hour.”

“…Huh?”

“I tracked your phone’s last location before it died—it showed Min Seonwoo’s place. What were you doing there long past your quitting time?”

After an uncomfortable silence, Choi Taehyuk leaned back again. The slightly relaxed atmosphere from earlier was gone—it suddenly felt like an interrogation.

But I told you I work at Min Seonwoo’s place, didn’t I…? And what’s this about tracking? I glanced at Choi Taehyuk’s face—he looked extremely displeased. Why? His attitude puzzled me, but since I was in the wrong, I just answered his questions.

“No, I ended up working late, and it was too late to come home, so they told me to sleep there…. The waiting room is really well-equipped, so it’s not bad to sleep there! So I just slept there and came back.”

At my rambling explanation, Choi Taehyuk pressed for more details—what kind of work kept me so late that I couldn’t even come home, whether Min Seonwoo knew about it, and so on. After prying into even the most trivial things, he finally threw a question that caught me off guard.

“While you were working, did you happen to see anything strange in that waiting room?”

“Huh?! How did you know? There were tons of them!”

My eyes went wide in surprise.

“As expected. You didn’t actually use any of them, did you?”

…Ouch. That stung a little, but I quickly nodded. It wasn’t wrong.

I did try on the maid uniform from the strange items in the waiting room—but that couldn’t be helped, so it doesn’t count. And the drug… that wasn’t in the waiting room. So I didn’t use anything from there, and I didn’t use it because I wanted to—so that doesn’t count either.

“The drug?”

I’d only thought it, but Choi Taehyuk casually tossed out that piercing word. I stared at him in shock.

“You just said ‘drug’ just now… No, never mind. It’s a kind of mind-reading. Don’t worry about it and just answer. What drug?”

He started to say something, then waved his hand as if annoyed and said something absurd. Mind-reading. Mind-reading? That thing Gungye supposedly used—the mind-reading technique? And Choi Taehyuk can do that?!

“Kim Jinho! Pay attention and answer quickly.”

“Hyung, can you really read minds? Like, actually read people’s thoughts?”

“Huff—. This is my fault for giving you an opening to deflect. Stop being clever and just answer the question.”

Ugh, seriously—he’s not actually using mind-reading, so how does he know what people are thinking so well? I was already regretting my internal sass from a few minutes ago, and now I was sassing internally again. At the same time, I was racking my brain hard on how to get through this crisis without making things worse.

I can’t tell him about yesterday—it’s too embarrassing. The moment I firmly resolved that, Choi Taehyuk gave me another firm warning in a terrifyingly cold voice. See what happens if you lie this time too.

…Right, honesty is the best policy.

“What do you mean I’m lying? Earlier I just said that impulsively because you seemed so angry—it wasn’t premeditated.”

I tried to look as sullen as possible, hoping to cool Choi Taehyuk’s anger even a little—but it had no effect. Hah, I never thought I’d have to tell someone about that with my own mouth. Feeling a headache coming on, I wanted to press my forehead—but instead I just clenched my fist once and opened my reluctant mouth.

“Actually, I’ve been having dinner with Seonwoo hyung before leaving work lately. Yesterday I went to the kitchen to cook, and there was a glass bottle on the sink.”

I glanced at Choi Taehyuk’s reaction as I spoke. I wanted to stop right now, but judging by his murderous expression, I really had no choice but to tell everything.

“…It was a bottle about this big—what was it called? Ah! It said it was a vitamin supplement, so I should dissolve it in water and drink it. So without any suspicion, I mixed about two-thirds into Seonwoo hyung’s water and one-third into mine, and we drank it.”

Choi Taehyuk looked incredulous.

“There’s no way Min Seonwoo would just leave that out.”

“Seonwoo hyung didn’t know. He was in the dining room while I was mixing it in the kitchen. But then, sometime after we finished eating, my body started getting strangely hot! I found out later that it wasn’t vitamins—it was an aphro… drug. And apparently that drug only subsides after swallowing semen, so Seonwoo hyung fed me his se—”

I couldn’t continue. I saw Choi Taehyuk’s hand grip the armrest of the sofa so hard it looked like he was about to tear it apart. Watching his hand turn white from the force, I instinctively felt that I shouldn’t say any more. So I tried to laugh it off and end the story with a “Isn’t that crazy?”—but Choi Taehyuk didn’t seem inclined to let it go.

“What did you swallow?”

“Huh? No, hyung, it’s—”

I waved my hands at the bastard asking with gritted teeth, saying it wasn’t like that—but since we both knew it was exactly like that, it was no use. Having confirmed from my reaction that I had swallowed it, he asked another question.

“Tell me how.”

“Hyung, hold on. Do you really need to know that…?”

I really didn’t want to say that part out loud, so I resisted however I could—but Choi Taehyuk cut me off with a threat.

“Talk.”

And defeated by his murderous expression and atmosphere, I whispered very quietly.

“Through fellatio.”

Choi Taehyuk’s hand finally gripped our sofa like it was about to tear it apart.

What. What part got him so worked up? What is he so angry about?!

So flustered I couldn’t even think of what to ask, I grabbed Choi Taehyuk’s raging hand and tried to stop him. Then, when he finally stood up shouting Min Seonwoo’s name, I wrapped my arms around his waist and legs around him. I looked like a koala clinging to a tree—but he was so furious I had no idea what he might do, so I couldn’t let go. Choi Taehyuk looked down at me, clinging to his side.

“You! Are you naive or just stupid?! What kind of drug like that exists in the world?!”

“Hyung, stop! Shh! Just let it go and move on. I don’t want to think about it seriously.”

Let’s just pretend nothing happened and forget it. I put my finger to my lips—and as if understanding my feelings, Choi Taehyuk calmed down.

I clung a little longer, and when he seemed to have settled, I let go and stood up straight, looking up at him. Smiling brightly at Choi Taehyuk, who was looking at me with an unreadable expression, I added a bit more explanation.

“What’s done is done, so it’s better to accept it quickly and move on.”

I’d managed to rationalize it somehow, so I didn’t want to think about it anymore. Though I spoke in a deliberately bright tone, Choi Taehyuk’s expression twisted even more strangely. But only for a moment—soon returning to his blank face, he said something utterly shameless.

“Quit.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you hear me? I said quit the job. And when you go out, go with the men I assign you.”

Quit the job. He wants me to quit that dream job! I was officially hired just hours ago—what the hell is this bastard talking about?! I might cave on other things, but on this, I absolutely can’t back down.

Not contacting him yesterday was my fault—but cutting off my income is just unreasonable. I couldn’t accept this and tried to firmly refuse—but before I could even open my mouth, he offered an alternative.

“Instead, I’ll give you the same amount you were getting paid. That’s better than being constantly anxious, isn’t it.”

…Uh. That’s actually tempting? Ah, no. I barely stopped myself from nodding, bewitched by the outrageous offer.

As good as that might be in the short term, in the long run, getting a permanent position at Min Seonwoo’s place is far more beneficial. Choi Taehyuk isn’t going to support me for life.

Getting paid to do nothing is everyone’s dream—but throwing away a job that could potentially support me for life just for that is insane. I sighed away my slight regret and shook my head at Choi Taehyuk.

“That would be easier for me, but I’m not going to live like that forever—so I’ll decline. Seonwoo hyung offered me a permanent position today. When an opportunity comes, it’s only right to take it. I’ll be careful not to let anything like this happen again, and I’ll be more cautious when I’m out and about.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Choi Taehyuk placed his large hand on my crown and ruffled my hair so hard it became a mess. His hand moved so forcefully that my head was tossed around—I was dizzy.

“You really have no sense of danger, do you, my stray mutt. Fine. You’re determined to crawl back into that house. I’ll make sure Min Seonwoo understands clearly, so stop talking back and do as I say.”

“…Yes.”

And so, against my will, I became what everyone dreams of—a money-earning NEET.

[TL Note: NEET officially stands for “Not in Education, Employment, or Training”]

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