Vol 1 Ch 17

CEO Jang had been quiet for a few days. He was really nowhere to be seen, as if he had left town. I found myself thinking it would be nice if he had run into some bad luck and gotten mugged somewhere.  

 

During his absence, I spent most of my time watching TV. Like someone obsessed, I flicked through channels, looking for news, anxiously checking to see if any noteworthy incidents had occurred. 

 

As usual, I was changing channels with the remote when a sudden call came from the front desk. They said I was being called to room 420. I hung up and began to get ready to go. I slowly moved my hand and quietly sighed. He called people so suddenly whenever he felt like it. Even when I was alone in my room, I couldn’t properly relax. 

 

As I got off the elevator, another one on the opposite side opened, and Lee Hyewon stepped out. Normally, I would have greeted her warmly, but since we had already shared an awkward moment before, Hyewon just gave me a brief nod and pushed a tray towards room 420. 

 

As she was passing through the corridor, the tray’s wheel got caught on a corner of the wall. Hyewon struggled, trying her best to dislodge the wheel. Watching her silently from behind, I reached for the tray handle.  

 

“Let me push it,” I said.  

 

Hyewon, looking flustered, shook her head.  

 

“No, I can do it.”  

 

“It’s fine,” I insisted. I gave the handle a firm pull, and the wheel popped free from the wall. Hyewon, who had stepped back, gave me a small bow of thanks. 

 

“Shall I just take this in?” I asked.  

 

“Oh, yes,” she replied. As Hyewon was still new, she wasn’t tasked with entering rooms. After telling her that I’d take it from here, I pushed the tray with the bottles toward room 420.  

 

“Room service,” I announced as I knocked on the door, waiting for a response. Feeling eyes on me, I turned to look down the hallway. Hyewon, still watching me, flinched and quickly turned away.  

 

The door opened from the inside. I shifted my focus from Hyewon and pushed the tray into the room. Inside, there were men around CEO Jang’s age, gathered around several tables, playing poker.  

 

“Good evening,” I greeted them, my eyes scanning for CEO Jang, but he was nowhere to be seen. Feeling slightly confused, I was suddenly addressed by CEO Kim.  

 

“Ah, the pretty one’s here,” he said. I gave a small, uncomfortable bow to him.  

 

“Hello,” I replied.  

 

CEO Kim offered me the glass he was holding. To avoid upsetting him, I politely declined. He took a sip from his glass while his gaze traveled slowly up and down my legs. Muttering under his breath, he placed his glass on a passing server’s tray.  

 

“At least you can still walk,” he said.  

 

“…”  

 

“After hearing those m**ns, I thought CEO Jang might’ve ripped off one of your limbs.”  

 

A man I’d never seen before widened his eyes and asked, “CEO Jang?”  

 

“There’s been a rumor going around that CEO Jang has been keeping a boy toy lately,” someone else commented. “Is that the one?”  

 

CEO Kim let out a suspicious chuckle and answered with a sneer. Raising his empty glass, he addressed me again.  

 

“Come here and pour me a drink.”  

 

“…”  

 

All eyes in the room were on me. “Hurry up, come over here,” he said, grabbing my wrist and forcefully pulling me towards him. I couldn’t resist him. I could have shaken him off, but I was too afraid of the power his money held.  

 

He swept everything off the cluttered table with one arm. Glasses fell to the floor, shattering. He lifted me onto the now-empty table. Reluctantly, I picked up the bottle and poured him a drink. His glass filled with amber liquid. Raising it to his lips, he drained it in one go.  

 

“Ah,” he exhaled with disgust. “It tastes better when the pretty one pours it,” he mumbled, continuing to stroke the back of my knee beneath the tablecloth. He was doing exactly what CEO Jang had done in front of him. 

 

With empty eyes, I stared at his grotesque face. I wanted to take the small straight glass and stab it into his throat.  

 

CEO Kim’s disgusting advances continued for days. For almost a week, he called me out daily. The locations varied—lounge, clubhouse, or a shaded rest area—but the things he did were all the same. 

 

He would grope places like the back of my knee or my forearm, make sexual remarks about me, and demand unreasonable things. He’d ask me to sing, dance, smile, or sit with my legs spread wider.  

 

When I sat there like a stone, biting my lower lip, the others would laugh uproariously at my expense.  

 

Yesterday, CEO Kim called me to a rest area known as the ‘shade.’ After getting drunk at a regular restaurant and causing a scene, I was forced to deal with him all night. His eyes wild, he stood in front of a crowd of over twenty people, pulled down his pants, stuck a whiskey bottle between his legs like it was his p**is, and shook it as if he were urinating.

A stream of alcohol surged out of the bottle’s opening, slithering like a serpent and soaking my face and body. Around me, I could hear voices laughing madly. Some were rolling on the floor, clutching their stomachs from laughter, while others banged on the table, all of them filthy accomplices in this.

“……”

I reeked of alcohol, like someone who had been fully submerged in a vat of it. Droplets of alcohol clung to my eyelashes before dripping onto the floor. I scratched at the mark they left with my short nails.

I rolled my tongue inside my mouth. …F**king b**t**d. He really was a F**king b**t**d. Unlike CEO Jang, who evoked anger and frustration, CEO Kim made me feel a visceral disgust. It felt like being submerged up to my neck in a cesspool. Just looking at his greasy, oil-slicked eyes made nausea rise up inside me.

As soon as I returned to the hotel, I scrubbed my body vigorously, as if erasing the repulsive grease of CEO Kim that lingered like a plague.

It had been an unbearably long day. Just as I finally let out a sigh of relief, a bloodstained figure appeared out of nowhere, quietly watching me from the darkness. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on me. I sat curled up against the headboard of the bed, quietly watching him before eventually burying my face deep in my arms.

I tried to sleep in that uncomfortable position. Sleep came over me slowly, like a wave, pushing me down onto the sheets.

***

In the daylight, that irritating phone rang again with a *ring ring*. Half-asleep, I j**ked my head in agitation at the piercing sound of the call, like someone suffering from a neurosis. I shook my head as if to rid myself of impurities, like shaking a sieve, and only after the ringing abruptly stopped did I snap out of it.

I crawled on all fours from the bed to the nightstand. Gripping the now-silent phone, I fretted, wondering, *What if it doesn’t ring again?* Thankfully, or perhaps unfortunately, the phone started ringing once more. I hastily grabbed the receiver and pressed it to my ear.

“…Hello?”

A voice flowed from the receiver.

– “Did you sleep well?”

…S**t. That smug voice belonged to CEO Kim. As I remained silent, the man chuckled and got to the point.

– “…Hey, I’m in room 420. Come over and liven things up. It’s just a bunch of guys here, and it’s dull and boring.”

Listening to his sleazy, sly voice made the words *”you F**king b**t**d”* rose up to my lips. I almost opened my mouth to spit out the profanities that had built up in my throat like phlegm.

“…I!”

Then, suddenly, CEO Jang’s warning to “watch your behavior” echoed in my head. Leaning against the nightstand, I clutched my head. Then I tried to calm myself. *CEO Kim is CEO Jang’s client, CEO Kim is CEO Jang’s client.*

Whether or not CEO Kim was CEO Jang’s client was none of my business, but CEO Jang was an unpredictable man. If he found out that I had offended his client, he might make my life difficult.

I let out a quiet sigh of resignation and muttered into the receiver.

“…I’ll be right there.”

I weakly set down the phone. Even as I showered and changed into a fresh uniform, I repeated to myself over and over again, *CEO Kim is CEO Jang’s client, CEO Kim is CEO Jang’s client.*

Room 420 was already noisy from outside the door. I clenched my fist, then loosened it, hesitating to knock when the door suddenly swung open from the inside. Standing behind the now-wide-open door was Lee Jinseok. He smiled smoothly and whispered in my ear.

“Sorry, Suwon. He told me to bring you in right away.”

He lightly placed his palm on my shoulder and guided me into the room. Inside, a mess of people and liquor bottles were tangled together. At the center, seated in a large chair, CEO Kim, his body puffed up as large as possible, gestured to me.

“Oh, you’re here? Come over and sit.”

Lee Jinseok gave my back a gentle push. As I took a step forward, CEO Kim grabbed my wrist and yanked me towards him. He sat me down on the wide armrest of his chair, like someone proudly displaying a trophy in a glass case.

“Let’s see, our pretty girl doesn’t have a drink, huh?”

As he searched for an empty glass, he picked one up from the table cluttered with trash. The glass contained a revolting mixture of unidentifiable liquids. CEO Kim tilted his head back and drained it in one gulp. He tapped the empty glass and handed it to me.

“Here, take a drink.”

“…I’m fine.”

Even though I’d already told him several times that drinking and smoking were prohibited while on duty, either his memory was poor, or he just didn’t care. He kept offering me drinks every time. I quietly repeated in my mind a vulgar phrase CEO Jang often used, *”idiot.”*

After downing his drink, CEO Kim started groping me. At first, he pretended to check the pocket on the left side of my uniform, but soon he was openly fondling my chest. I bit the inside of my cheek hard.

The men in the room were all wearing expensive-looking watches and adjusting high-end branded belts as they cracked stupid jokes. Usually, whenever CEO Kim spewed some nonsense, the others would either agree with him or burst into laughter. It felt like there was an invisible hierarchy in this room, even though we were all in the same space.

And, naturally, I was at the very bottom. CEO Kim shook his glass at me, rattling it.

“The glass is empty.”

I picked up the bottle and poured liquor into his glass. Gulp, gulp, he drank it down, rummaged through his wallet, pulled out a wad of bills, and shoved them into the pocket on my chest. The sharp corner of the crisp bills scratched against my chest.

“A tip for our pretty one.”

Even after stuffing the bills in, his hand wouldn’t leave my chest, creeping inside the pocket. His repulsive fingers grazed the edge of my a**ola. As my n**ple swelled from the involuntary reaction, CEO Kim looked at me and grinned so widely that his white teeth seemed unnaturally bright. His touch was strangely excessive today. As I felt disgusted, one of the others chimed in, flattering him.

“Wow, CEO Kim is so generous! Gonna have to give him some proper service tonight, huh?”

CEO Kim wrapped his arm around my shoulder, showing off.

“Why would I ever want to mess around with a man’s rear? Disgusting. Just thinking about sticking mine where CEO Jang’s has been is a big no for me.”

They burst into laughter again, completely losing their minds. Sitting there, I stared blankly at the table’s edge, lost in regretful thoughts, as if I were stranded on an isolated island.

What am I even doing here? I’m just a caddie, not hired to be some room salon hostess. Does it really say “male p**stitute” on my face, like CEO Jang said? Or are the marks he left on me written across my face like a scarlet letter?

Suddenly, I felt a sharp sting near my chest, as if a knife had slashed through me. It was probably a red scratch left by the edge of the bills. 

CEO Kim, still laughing loudly, reached between my thighs under the table. When his hand, which usually only lingered around the back of my knees, started creeping up to my g**in, I reflexively slapped his hand away. 

*Smack!* The sound echoed through the room, and suddenly, the atmosphere chilled as if cold water had been poured over us. CEO Kim’s hand, now rejected, turned a furious red.

“You little sl*t!”

Enraged by the rejection, he stood up abruptly, raising his hand high. His expression, moments away from lashing out, reminded me of someone else. Faced with violence, I shut my eyes tightly, bracing for the impact. A slap landed sharply on my cheek.

The inside of my cheek throbbed. Even though he hit hard, it wasn’t quite as powerful as CEO Jang’s earlier grip. CEO Kim, breathing heavily, grabbed me by the collar, yanking it up to my nose, making it difficult to breathe.

“I was trying to be nice to you because I pitied you.”

Lee Jinseok quickly intervened, lightly wrapping his arm around CEO Kim’s waist to calm him down.

“CEO Kim, Suwon just doesn’t know any better yet.”

CEO Kim, furious, turned and slapped Lee Jinseok across the face as well. The force of the blow whipped Lee’s head to the side, but he didn’t even flinch. Apologizing profusely, Lee Jinseok offered to get another staff member.

Smiling as if nothing had happened, he then turned to me and asked for more drinks.

“Suwon, why don’t you go grab some more alcohol?”

Still standing in place with a burning cheek, I bit my lower lip. I didn’t want to run away from here like a coward, knowing that I had caused this whole mess.

Lee Jinseok walked over to me and whispered coldly in my ear.

“Hurry up. Don’t make things worse.”

Then, with a smiling face, he returned to sit beside CEO Kim, as if the earlier whisper had never happened.

I slowly went to the wine storage, picked up a bottle, and returned to Room 420. My feet felt heavy, almost as if glued to the ground. Standing in front of the door to Room 420, I noticed that it was slightly ajar. Usually, they had a strict guard posted to prevent entry. Unlike the earlier noise, the room was eerily silent. Cautiously, I stepped inside.

I took slow, deliberate steps. A w**, slurping sound echoed through the room.

The people who had filled the room earlier were gone, leaving only CEO Kim standing in the center with his back to me. His pants and underwear were bunched around his hips, exposing his disgusting b**t crack.

Sensing my presence, CEO Kim reached a hand toward me. I gripped the bottle tightly as I approached.

The slurping noise continued. As I drew closer, I realized someone was kneeling in front of him.

Lee Jinseok, completely n**ed, was clinging to him, s**king on CEO Kim’s sagging s**otum. His cheeks were hollow from the pressure he was applying, causing CEO Kim to tremble like a dog peeing itself.

“Ugh…”

CEO Kim groaned, pulling his pants and underwear all the way down in one swift motion. Lee Jinseok, pressing his face against the rug, lifted his hips, exposing the red inner walls of his a**s.

CEO Kim, holding his p**is like a faucet, stroked it a few times before thrusting it into Lee Jinseok’s hole.

Nausea surged up my esophagus. I clamped a hand over my mouth and stumbled out of the room, gripping the wall. I vomited. Since I hadn’t eaten much, all I did was heave up pale stomach acid. After retching for a while, I rested my head against the wall and slowly slid down to the floor.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh,” Lee Jinseok’s m**ns seeped through from inside the room. I couldn’t move a single step away and heard everything.

I remained frozen with my forehead pressed against the wall, panicking for a long while, before I finally bolted down the hallway. My legs kept giving out beneath me. I forced myself to drag my unsteady legs along, fleeing down the corridor.

I ran, breathless, never looking back, terrified that CEO Kim might chase me, his pants still down. Huff, huff, my breathing grew ragged. My heartbeat pounded wildly out of sync.

Even when I escaped, all I reached was the hotel. A place where CEO Jang could walk in any time.