Chapter 12: The Last Line I Shouldn’t Have Crossed

“…Premon.”

Over the past month, he had made a large sum of money doing business through Premon.
It was thanks to BraveSeal777 placing high-priced commissions, and if the man requested just a few more recordings, he might be able to cover the remaining shortfall.

Seonyul opened the Premon app.
As he stared at the chatroom that had been silent for over a week, his finger moved as if possessed.

[Do you happen to have anything else you’d like me to record?]

Only after pressing the send button did Seonyul realize what he had done, his face draining of color.

Was that really a non-coercive question?

Judging by BraveSeal777’s personality so far, even if he felt pressured, he might not show it and end up agreeing out of momentum.
He had justified behavior he despised most simply because he was desperate for money.

He couldn’t even bring himself to mention it to people close to him out of shame, yet here he was, thinking about extracting money from someone whose face he’d never seen…

[No, please forget you saw that.]

With a self-loathing expression, Seonyul sent a follow-up message to correct himself.
After Seonyul boarded the train, the read receipt appeared.

[BraveSeal777: I have oneㅛ]

[BraveSeal777: I do]

[BraveSeal777: The whispering version]

There wasn’t a single space between the words, making him look oddly rushed.
Still, Seonyul thought the man was forcing himself to buy something he didn’t actually need and tried to refuse again.
That was when messages started flooding in.

[BraveSeal777: No I really need it]

[BraveSeal777: Please]

[BraveSeal777: I don’t care how much it costsㅠㅠ]

Seonyul tilted his head, the messages making it seem like he genuinely wanted the recording.
Had he coincidentally needed one right when Seonyul reached out?
If so, that would be a relief—but…

When Seonyul hesitated and failed to reply, BraveSeal777 abruptly sent over a script file.

[BraveSeal777: Would it be possible??]

[BraveSeal777: If it’s too long, even half is fine…]

[BraveSeal777: No, even a quarter would be okayㅜㅜ…]

Checking the number of pages, Seonyul began calculating the price.
Twenty… thirty… forty…
T-two million won?
Seonyul’s mouth fell open.
Even after the thirty percent commission, it would still be over 1.5 million won.

‘If it weren’t for the commission…’

Without Premon taking its cut, the money in his hands would come to exactly five million won.

[If it’s not too much trouble, could I receive the payment via a direct transfer? The platform fee is 30%^^;]

[BraveSeal777: Yes!!]

[BraveSeal777: Thank you and I’m sorry…ㅜㅜ]

Despite the shameless request, BraveSeal777 agreed readily, without questioning anything.
If anything, he should have been the one saying thank you and sorry, but hearing it over and over again made Seonyul feel awkward.

[Here’s my number. Please message me here.]

Seonyul sent his personal phone number.
If he was going to receive such a large sum directly without a middleman, it felt only polite to share at least that much personal information.

[Yeon Seungju: Hello, Voice Actor… this is Yeon Seungju. We’ve been trading on Premon.]

[Yeon Seungju: Ah… my ID is BraveSeal777.]

So BraveSeal777’s real name was Yeon Seungju.
Since Seonyul had set his own name as initials, there was no risk of being exposed as a professional voice actor.

Just as he was about to send his account number, Seonyul hesitated.
Come to think of it, didn’t the recipient’s name appear during transfers?
After a moment of deliberation, Seonyul sent his mother’s account instead.

[Yeon Seungju: I’ve transferred it…!]

After receiving confirmation of the deposit, Seonyul sent the remaining amount to his mother.

That made five million won.

The immediate crisis was over.

Even if it meant scraping by until next month’s paycheck.

“Haah…”

Even after securing the money and sending it off, nausea kept churning in his stomach.
He wished this were the end, but it didn’t feel like it was.
There was no guarantee his father would recover, and even if he did, moving to a general ward would bring caregiving and rehabilitation concerns.

His mother said she would apply for subsidies, but there was no certainty they would be approved.
Seonyul knew her well.

She already blamed herself, which meant she would try to take responsibility until the very end.
And he was someone who couldn’t turn his back on a mother like that…

‘Don’t think too deeply.’
‘I can’t help him any more than this anyway.’
‘Just focus on the fact that the urgent problem is solved.’

Repeating the mantra to himself, Seonyul leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes.

**********

He arrived at Seoul Station.
Rain still poured down relentlessly from the sky.

Even after transferring to the subway and reaching the station near his place, the rain showed no sign of stopping.
At the exit, Seonyul glanced at the umbrellas lined up outside the convenience store, then passed them by and climbed the stairs.

‘It’s about an eight-minute run home… doable.’
‘They say overseas people just get soaked all the time.’

It was closer to a downpour than ordinary rain, but spending a few thousand won on an umbrella felt wasteful.
Though the temperature had dropped, it was spring, and the weather was beginning to warm.
He was healthy—getting a little wet wouldn’t kill him.
Thankfully, his bag was somewhat water-resistant.
Stuffing his phone deep inside, Seonyul dashed into the rain.

Splash, splash.

Turning into the alley toward his building, he found the uneven concrete flooded with puddles.

No wonder no one had been using this route today.
Going back would take too long, so Seonyul had no choice but to run straight through the water.

“Ugh…”

Arriving in front of the villa looking like a drowned rat, Seonyul wrung out his soaked clothes under the eaves.
No matter how much he twisted them, water kept streaming out.

Giving up, he stepped inside.

With every movement, rivulets of water dripped onto the floor.
Dragging his heavy legs up to the fifth floor, he entered the passcode to his rooftop room.

Beep, beep, beep, beep.
Click.

He wanted nothing more than a hot shower, the electric mat turned on, and a deep sleep—but there was too much to do.
On rainy days, the sound made home recording impossible, so he needed to ask BraveSeal777 to wait.

He also had to start applying for full-time jobs since his situation had worsened and he could no longer keep his daytime hours free for his main work.
Lining up his plans in his head, Seonyul opened the door.

Click.
Click.

Strange.
No matter how many times he flipped the switch, the lights wouldn’t turn on.

Thinking it might be a short caused by the rain, he opened his bag to grab his phone—
when the glow of sunset filtered through the window and reflected off the vinyl floor.

‘…Reflected?’

Since when did the floor shine like that?
Only then did the horrifying scene come into focus.
From the ceiling, not droplets but streams of rainwater poured down, soaking the tiny room.

The bedding.

The clothes.
Even the electronics on the desk.

“Ah, f*ck!”

Seonyul rushed inside and checked his laptop, microphone, and audio interface.
They were already heavy with water pooled inside.
He flipped them over, shaking out what he could.

Then he remembered the tablet PC stored in the drawer and yanked it open.
Water had seeped in there too—the tablet lay submerged, gently sloshing.

He tapped the screen, but it didn’t light up.

Running to the bathroom, Seonyul grabbed a dry towel and wiped everything down, then opened an umbrella and fixed it above the desk to block the falling rain.

‘What do I do now?’

Everything except the items in the bathroom was soaked.
He had no idea where to even begin.

If the rain would just stop, he could at least clean—but it showed no sign of letting up, and the ceiling kept spewing water as if it were riddled with holes.

Swallowing the emotions threatening to burst out, Seonyul pulled out his phone with wet hands.
He needed to contact the landlord.

– The number you have dialed is unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep.

He tried calling several times, all to no avail.

After leaving a detailed message explaining the situation, Seonyul called his mother.
Since he could no longer record, he planned to return the money he’d received from BraveSeal777.

“Mom.
You haven’t used the money I sent yet, right?”

– Thank you, my son.
– The five million came in, so I paid off your father’s health insurance right away.
– But why didn’t you stay for dinner?
– I even bought meat for you.

“Ah—why did you already—!”

– Two million came in under a different name…
– Was I not supposed to use that?
– Oh no, what do I do?
– Did Mom do something wrong?

“No, no. You did well. I’ll hang up.”

After ending the call, Seonyul collapsed onto a damp chair.
Staring at the room turned into a shallow lake, his chest tightened until he squeezed his eyes shut.

How much time had passed?
The sun had fully set.

Having been soaked by the rain, his entire body felt drained of strength.
As the wetness chilled him to the bone, he shivered—but couldn’t bring himself to move.
He didn’t want to think about anything.

Just like this… He wanted to give up.

On everything.