Vol 4 Ch 5

That evening.

I pushed against CEO Jang’s chest as he tried to pull me into his arms.

A crack formed in his otherwise impassive expression.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

A cold voice reached my ears.

I didn’t answer, just breathed heavily.

The man clicked his tongue.

“You’ve known all along that you were being watched.”

His icy words made it clear that he had seen me destroying the lenses.

Suppressing the tremble in my voice, I spoke.

“…At the very least, you shouldn’t have done that in my mother’s hospital room.”

I stared straight at him.

I could accept it in the ceiling.

I could accept it in the bookshelf.

But not there.

Even as I searched through the baskets and touched the plant pots, I had desperately hoped—prayed—that at least that much was just a gesture of goodwill.

But he had crushed my expectations without a second thought.

His dark, lifeless eyes locked onto me.

They looked the same as always.

A deep, languid indifference swirled in them.

Instead of feeling remorse, he seemed more annoyed by my defiance.

That empty gaze seeped into me like bile, burning bitterly inside my chest.

“…CEO, I…”

I clenched my hands tightly over my lap.

“I’m not your pet.”

CEO Jang’s brows furrowed.

“No, Seo Yewon. You are mine.”

Something was off.

“I took you in.”

The sky is blue. The earth is round.

He spoke as if his words were just another undeniable truth.

“……”

“……”

His hand reached toward me.

I tried to pull away, but he was relentless. He yanked me closer, effortlessly pulling my robe down. Under the bright light, my bare chest was fully exposed. The man’s eyes trailed over my exposed body. A cold sneer formed on his lips.

“Covered in all these marks, and yet you say this body isn’t mine.”

My body was bitten all over, not just on my nape but down to my wrists. Every single mark was made by CEO Jang. I was completely drained by the man who dared to claim ownership of my body just because he’d left a few marks on it.

“…I’m not yours, CEO.”

“Then what are you?”

The man, holding onto his last shred of patience, asked again.

“What the hell are you, Seo Yeowon?”

“…A whore.”

“…What?”

A shadow fell between CEO Jang’s elegantly arched brows. The air turned ice-cold in an instant.

“A whore, a slut, a filthy rag.”

With each word that escaped my lips, his expression grew darker.

“…Are you not going to shut your mouth?”

He grabbed my chin. His hands were so large that, except for my eyes, half of my face was covered by them.

“A fuckhole.”

The pressure on my lips made my pronunciation unclear, but the meaning was unmistakable. His lips pressed together, leaving not a sliver of space between them. A faint grinding noise came from close by—his teeth clenched so tightly in frustration that they scraped against each other.

I spoke in a flat tone.

“Those are the names you gave me, CEO.”

I couldn’t understand why he was so displeased. He was the one who called me that first.

Our gazes clashed fiercely.

After much internal struggle, a tiny bit of expectation crept into my heart. Perhaps, among all the emotions CEO Jang was pouring onto me, there was at least one that resembled kindness.

Maybe our relationship had changed, even just a little.

My chest swelled slightly. A feeling of ascent, similar to climbing an uphill road, slowly filled me.

But just as I was basking in that weightless feeling, I suddenly lost my footing and plummeted to the ground.

“Because I brought you here.”

His dry expression and detached tone, as if he were merely handling an object, snapped me out of my foolish dreams in an instant.

…Kindness, my ass.

He only wanted to keep a closer watch on me. It was just an extension of the way he’d treated me before—like a dog.

What had I been deceived by?

What had I been expecting from him?

This was who CEO Jang had always been.

I turned to head back to the room where I usually stayed.

Normally, he would have grabbed my wrist by now, but this time, he didn’t.

His broad shoulders rose and fell sharply. He seemed to be steadying his breath, suppressing his anger.

“…….”

“…….”

I entered the room and pushed the door shut.

Sliding down against the closed door, I curled up on the floor.

I felt hollow, as if my stomach was empty. Was it because I had clung to a meaningless hope?

The sense of loss I felt was even greater than before.

All the time I had spent agonizing and reaching conclusions on my own suddenly felt laughable.

From that incident onward, a strange tension lingered between us.

We still ate together and shared a bed, but the little conversation we had before dwindled even further.

Whenever CEO Jang wasn’t around, I stayed in my designated room. I did nothing but lie there.

I endured nightmares and hallucinations alone, gritting my teeth through them.

He was only a few steps away, but I never wanted to return to his arms again.

I forced myself to remember how much I had once despised him.

***

After keeping watch over my mother with the housekeeper, I stepped out for a moment.

“I’ll be right back. Just making a quick call.”

I entered the phone booth and dialed a number without hesitation.

The thirteen digits were already burned into the back of my eyelids.

I’d received so many relentless calls that I had memorized the number against my will.

—”Yes, this is Dalbit Capital. Speak.”

A familiar, detestable voice flowed through the receiver.

Hatred surged up inside me, but I swallowed it down and forced myself to speak.

“…It’s Seo Yeowon.”

The person on the other end immediately recognized me.

—”Well, if it isn’t Seo Yeowon.”

“…….”

—”Been a while, kid. You still going to that school in Seoul?”

I’d assumed he’d be furious, given that I had vanished without a trace.

But surprisingly, the loan shark sounded almost pleased.

He rambled on uselessly over the phone—about how people from Seoul couldn’t be trusted, how a country bumpkin like me would get scammed before I even realized it.

The bastard who had saddled us with gambling debt had the nerve to give me a lecture.

As I watched the call timer tick away with each passing second, I decided I had no time for this and cut straight to the point.

“I want to start repaying the debt, even a little. Where should I send the money—”

—”Huh?”

A strange grunt came through the receiver.

—”Kid, you already paid it off.”

His bizarre reaction was followed by an even more bewildering statement.

For a moment, I couldn’t process what I’d just heard.

I dumbly repeated myself, convinced I’d misheard.

“What?”

—”I thought your whole damn family had skipped town. Went looking for your relatives, but they swore up and down they had no idea where you were. Damn near drove me insane.”

I heard him spit on the ground.

—”Then one day, I got a call. The guy asked how much you owed, principal and interest. I screamed at him, told him to pay up immediately, and then—bam! The money was wired instantly. Nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Someone had called?

I knew for a fact that it wasn’t possible, but I still had to ask.

“…Was it my uncle?”

—”Hey, Seo Yeowon. I knew right away it was your uncle’s voice.”

“…….”

—”I was wondering if this bastard won the lottery or if he got lucky working at some karaoke bar. If you’re gonna do something like that, you should’ve asked me for a proper introduction….”

What the hell is this? I slammed my forehead against the telephone booth. I wanted to pretend I knew nothing and just hang up, but there was no way I could ignore it.

“…When?”

—”When else, you idiot? Let’s see… one, two, three, four… yeah, it’s already been five months.”

I counted back five months, folding my fingers one by one. Only after clenching my fist did I realize I had dropped the phone.

At that moment, CEO Jang’s voice shot through my mind.

“A snot-nosed rookie like you, even if you’re offended, you don’t let it show.”

The man deliberately slows his tempo.

“No past to speak of, like he just rolled in from nowhere—makes a guy curious.”