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Episode 40: True Colors
As soon as I closed the meeting room door behind me, I headed not toward the elevator but toward the emergency stairs.
I wanted, if only for a moment, to shake off the unpleasant whispers and suspicious stares trailing behind me.
As I hurried down the stairs, the cold air stabbed at my lungs, but the heat in my head never cooled.
After crossing the crosswalk in front of the building and entering the café, I was greeted by the clear sound of a bell and the standardized, polite greeting of a part-timer.
"Welcome~."
Barely listening to the voice, my gaze swept the café and stopped at one spot.
The most secluded seat by the window.
Someone sitting with her back to me noticed me and awkwardly waved.
For a moment, I didn't recognize that it was Mina because her appearance was so different from usual.
An ill-fitting, baggy hoodie and sweatpants.
On top of that, a white cap pulled down low and a mask.
No matter how relaxed the company dress code was, it wasn't the kind of place where you could show up in such an outfit without raising eyebrows.
I forgot to even order and walked, as if drawn, to the seat where Mina was sitting.
When I reached the table, I swallowed awkwardly and, trying to sound casual, spoke in my usual tone.
"So, what brings my junior to call her senior out so early in the morning? And what's with the outfit?"
Normally, Mina would have replied playfully with a smile, but she just kept her head down without moving.
Feeling awkward, I dropped the joking tone and sat across from her, asking with concern,
"Is something really wrong? You didn't reply to any of my texts all weekend. Do you know how worried I was?"
Mina seemed to remain silent, but finally, from behind her mask, she managed to speak.
"I… took sick leave today."
Her voice was unusually heavy and subdued for Mina.
I couldn't see her expression because of the hat and mask, but her shoulders were trembling and even her breathing was unsteady.
"Sick leave? Are you sick? Did you go to the hospital?"
As soon as I asked, Mina's reddish eyes, hidden under the brim, looked up at me.
It was the same sharp gaze I'd felt in the office and meeting room several times.
"You seem fine, senior. But every time I think about that night…"
Mina's voice trembled thinly as she trailed off.
"I haven't been able to sleep properly, and I keep remembering what happened then…"
"That night?"
My mind automatically recalled last Friday night.
The jokes and laughter at the drinking party, and then the hot, secret time we spent at the motel.
"At first, I was really confused. I wondered if I'd done something wrong."
Her voice soon became choked with tears.
"I tried to understand. You've always been really good to me, senior."
"Wait, Mina. Hold on."
I unconsciously raised my voice, cutting her off.
A few people in the café glanced over, but quickly lost interest.
"Sorry, but my head's a mess right now because of something else. Can you explain more clearly?"
Lowering my voice again, I asked, and Mina frowned as if recalling a terrible memory.
Her eyes, visible above the mask, trembled.
"That night, I was so drunk I told you to stop, that I didn't want to. But you kept pushing…"
"What?"
It felt like being hit in the back of the head with a blunt object.
If only I'd actually been struck, maybe I could have escaped this harsh reality.
I bit my dry lips and protested.
"What are you talking about? We both wanted to-"
"Senior."
Mina cut me off, her eyes full of deep contempt.
"I was so drunk I blacked out. There's no way I could have made a rational decision in that state, right?"
A hot flush ran from the back of my head down my neck.
The image of her sensually moving her hips on top of me, the sweet words whispered in my ear-all flashed through my mind.
So what I saw that night was just a drunken hallucination or a dream?
"You were always good to me, and I did have good feelings for you. But I never thought of going that far."
I couldn't say another word.
Even the dullest person would realize what was happening by now.
I never thought I'd be the protagonist of a story from the crime section of the news, not a game.
And the other person was a junior I'd trusted.
It was almost comical.
"But I don't want to make a big deal out of this.
If this gets out at work, it won't be good for either of us. I'm already having a hard time with all the rumors…"
Now the puzzle pieces finally started to fit.
The sticky whispers aimed at me as soon as I arrived at work.
The hints dropped by Son Junhyuk.
Kang Jooyoung's cold gaze and unsettling decision.
And now, the woman in front of me, confidently playing the victim.
"So, what do you really want?"
My voice was icy cold.
Inside, anger and betrayal paradoxically made me calm.
"Five hundred."
Mina's tone flipped instantly, like a coin.
The anxiety and trembling from a moment ago vanished; her voice behind the mask was dry and cold.
"If you just give me five million won cleanly, I'll let this go quietly."
She named the amount as if she were talking about a handful of loose change.
-I don't hate guys like you, senior. Guys who are pushovers.
I suddenly remembered what she'd said to me at the bar last Friday.
I really was played for a fool.
I could almost hear Child's mocking laughter in my head.
"And if I can't pay that?"
Mina folded her arms and assumed a cocky posture, as if nothing had happened.
"Then I have no choice. I'll hire a lawyer and formally sue you. For rape."
There wasn't a hint of hesitation in her threatening tone.
Whether she meant it or was bluffing didn't matter anymore.
Whatever it was, it was just meaningless noise to me now.
"…Were you always like this?"
As I asked, I fiddled with the phone in my pocket.
"Who's really at fault here? You're the one who dragged your drunk junior to a motel, aren't you?"
Her shamelessness left me with nothing more to say.
I was only disgusted with my past self for being fooled by her act.
"Anyway, that's all I have to say. Either transfer the money by tomorrow morning or give me your answer."
With that blunt notice, Park Mina started packing her bag.
"If you don't contact me, I'll just file the complaint. Then the settlement won't end at five million."
"Hah."
Even in this ridiculous situation, a laugh escaped me.
Mina looked at me as if she couldn't believe I was laughing.
"…You're laughing?"
Why wouldn't I?
All the questions that had tormented me since this morning were answered so quickly.
"Hey, just let me ask one last thing."
"What is it?"
She replied coldly, not even trying to hide her true colors anymore.
"Did you spread the rumors about me at work?"
"Rumors?"
Mina asked back without batting an eye.
"It seems the whole company knows. Wasn't it you who went around talking?"
"Ha! Why would I do something so stupid? I didn't think you were this petty and pathetic, senior."
I'm sure Park Mina spread the rumors.
No, I'm certain.
I don't know why she'd go around spreading rumors herself, but that's something I can figure out from now on.
"I'll be going now. I'll wait for your call, senior."
As Mina started to get up, I stopped her.
"Wait."
She paused, looking at me curiously.
Meanwhile, I smoothly pulled my smartphone from my pocket and tapped the screen a few times.
I never thought I'd use it on her before Kang Jooyoung.
Mina stared blankly, not knowing why I suddenly took out my phone.
I didn't miss the flicker of greed and relief in her eyes.
Maybe she was hoping I'd transfer the money right then.
[Thank you for launching the Hypnosis App.]
[Some functions of the app have changed.]
[To register a target, have them look at the suggestion screen for five seconds.]
Now, let's have a real "conversation" for once.
With a sly smile, I held out the phone screen toward her.
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