Chapter 117

As for her, the only thing left on her body was her check print pajama top with all its buttons unbuttoned, the bra Si-Jin had pushed up revealing her chest bare, and her panties. Although her panties were the only neatly worn piece, not only did they not match with her bra, but were also made of a transparent fabric. The awareness of it made Na-Yool restless.

And as expected the pervert was staring like burning holes through it.

With much effort, Na-Yool picked up her dropped jaw.

“Condoms—”

“I got it.”

She was not even surprised by his thorough preparation. Because, whenever she had done it with him, never once had he awkwardly grabbed his erection to a stop to look for a condom. Naturally, no such thing as an “I don’t have one but can’t we just do it today” either. Still, it was  surprising that he was ready to this extent to have sex with her.

…And as much could be said about that ugly thing raising its head as if about to explode.

Chapter 30 – Thursday afternoon 2:24 p.m.

“Na-Yool, is the Incheon L Town brochure out?”

“Ah, hang on. That’s Seung-Jae’s.”

Hee-Jung and Na-Yool’s gazes simultaneously turned to Seung-Jae’s empty desk.

“When is this punk coming?” Hee-Jung asked while pointing her chin in that direction.

“I don’t know. He was called in for a meeting with the Video Team again.”

“It’s going to take a while then…”

Na-Yool glanced down at her watch and inquired with a conflicted tone, “For when is it due?”

“I have to hand it over to the printing house by 5 pm. And before that, get confirmation from the person in charge. Those people, expecting it to be done in a day!”

“I heard that the previous company they hired for the job wrongly printed it all as ‘Gimpo L Town’. Because they had demands from both cities simultaneously, they got mixed up.”

“That’s one hell of a mistake.”

“The commission came quite at a late stage, and that’s how the committing company itself probably ended up pressed for time.”

“I tell you! Had they not slack off, they would not even have needed our help. Giving out something so money-worthy so randomly…”

“Sorry, one second.”

Na-Yool excused herself at the sudden ringing of an incoming call and rummaged through her bag. Seemingly giving her some space, Hee-Jung bid her farewell with a simple “Call me if Seung-Jae comes back” and disappeared.

An unknown number, again.

Last night alone, there were 4 missed calls. When Sang-Hoon’s mother’s number, which Na-Yool had  deleted just yesterday, continuously called, she had hung up straight away without even looking. Although Si-Jin had kept a dubious look as she did so, he did not ask anything, maybe to not make her feel uncomfortable. Then, at dawn, she marked that number as ‘spam’, and after that…

Like this, an unknown number had been popping out since morning. It might have been that, around that time, the caller realized that they would never be able to talk to Na-Yool from their real number. When she arrived at work, as soon as Na-Yool had inadvertently answered the call from the unknown number and heard the voice of a middle-aged woman calling her name, she immediately hung up and blocked the number. But 30 minutes later, a call from another number came in.

Na-Yool glared at her phone and let out a frustrated sigh. Unknown number or not, it could be a client from a few years ago, or a current business contact. But how could she know without picking it up?

Still, it is not like she has to check it up right now.

It would be great if she could just change her phone number, but she could not and felt frustrated. In her line of work, few were the ones to last long in the same company. She always had to be prepared in case she could not get a job with decent conditions. The clients and personal business acquaintances she had made while working either as a freelancer or a formal employee were all Na-Yool’s assets for such an occasion.

Even if you cannot commit to it now, it is important to prepare for the next step. In the freelance market, where so many can take your place, changing your phone number is a dealbreaker.

Inform your business contacts of your change of number at an unneeded time, and you can expect them to right away forget about it without much interest. Might they be in need of it at some time, they will already drop the idea out of laziness to call you when they remember they must look for your new number.

Truly, very annoying.

The screen that had changed from an incoming call to a missed call changed back to an incoming call. Na-Yool sighed deeply and finally picked it up.

“…Hello.”

– Ms. Na-Yool? This is Kim Na-Yool’s phone number, right?”

“Yes, it is.”

– Whew…Oh dear, you were not picking any of my calls, so I thought you changed your phone number… You would not do that.

“Who are you?”

Na-Yool of course knew who she was. But she was irritated by the fact that the caller naturally expected her to remember her voice.

– I am Sang-Hoon’s mom. You could not have already forgotten me!

“…Sorry, but I have nothing to discuss with you.”

– I do, Ms. Na-Yool. It won’t take long so let’s talk, hm?

“I don’t even want to hear it.”

– I know Sang-Hoon wronged you. You were also very surprised, right? This kid, really, he is not that kind of person…

“Madam, I– ”

– ‘Madam’, how sad… To think you used to call me ‘Mother’ so candidly.

Since Sang-Hoon could never have told her about the situation objectively, there was no way his biological mother would be in the mood to mention this ‘Mother’ so unaffectedly. In Sang-Hoon’s  mother’s voice, which seemed to be trying to soothe her gently, Na-Yool found a hint of disgust.

Of course, this did not feel as baffling compared to what Sang-Hoon had done himself.

– Hearing it from my kid… You don’t know how stunned I am. ‘As a man, how could you create such a mess! The girl said she doesn’t like you, but why did you have to be such a rogue!’. I really scolded my Sang-Hoon a lot, Ms. Na-Yool.

“……”

– Had I personally seen it, be it my son or not, I would have smashed his head a few times. He is so pitiful I cannot lift my face. But it seems he knows how to be ashamed too, he cannot even look up at me. He said that for a while he won’t be able to look me in the eyes.”

“……”

–  I berated him: ‘How bad did you wrong her for the kind Na-Yool to report you to the police! Did I raise you to be a thug only good to be put in jail! ’… But he said he knows. He admitted it. However, Ms. Na-Yool, you know it too, right? My Sang-Hoon, just your name is enough to drive him mad. How frustrated he must have felt to act so recklessly. The both of you even thought about marrying—”

“I never considered it. Even if your son one-sidedly got ahead of himself.”

Take that back, Na-Yool was baffled. So even as a fellow woman, such words could come out to protect one’s son! Na-Yool coldly muttered to herself while writing down a memo for Seung-Jae. She was so irked that she could not sit still.

–  Now that things are like this, I of course understand your harsh tone. But Ms. Na-Yool, you should not take it this far either. To casually turn upside down the life of someone who loved you so much that they would marry you…

“Ask your son who really messed with his life for this so-called love. For me, it ends with the report, and I have nothing more to say.”

–  Ms. Na-Yool, I know well that you don’t really want to ruin Sang-Hoon’s life. You just want to scare him. You were in a relationship after all, so let’s end it peacefully. Hm? Even if you did it in a fit of anger, only regrets will remain for you. Let it go, I’m asking you… If you take it all the way, Sang-Hoon will really be left with nothing. His work and the likes, he will be stuck as a criminal. Please forgive him once. Never ever—