Chapter 267 - Strange Business Trip
The gears of daily life were merciless.
The clock hands turned with cold indifference.
Approval documents were piled high enough to stifle the air in the room.
It was right around the time his eyes began to sting from the harsh glare of the monitor.
Onto Minseo's desk, where he had been stamping papers like a mindless machine, a thin, mysterious envelope dropped with a heavy thud.
That was the beginning of the tragedy.
Or perhaps, the entrance to a sweet, terrible trap.
*
Clang—!
The heavy, massive door of the Office burst open with a loud, jarring bang.
Minseo appeared through the gap of the roughly thrown-open door.
"Noo, Noona...? You're suddenly telling me to go on a business trip?"
His tie was disheveled.
His pupils were shaking violently, darting around as if an earthquake had struck his very soul.
His breath was ragged, hitching in the back of his throat.
Minseo was clutching the documents in his hand so tightly it looked like he might shred them at any moment.
Panic bled through his expression, trailing down his cheeks in beads of sweat.
In stark contrast, the scene across the desk was excessively peaceful.
"Yes. You've been working hard lately."
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of a high-end fountain pen nib gliding over thick paper.
Only that light, rhythmic friction filled the quiet room.
It was Hayoung.
She didn't even bat an eyelash at his sudden, frantic intrusion.
Without taking her eyes off the documents, she continued speaking in a soft, relaxed voice.
"Don't think of it as a business trip. Just go and get some rest."
"A—a business trip... where on earth am I even going?"
His lips felt parched and burning.
Minseo swallowed hard. His voice, trembling slightly, was already completely caught in Hayoung's rhythm.
Finally, the pen stopped.
Hayoung slowly raised her head, her gaze locking onto Minseo.
"A while ago."
Her red lips curved into a slow, deliberate arc.
"We visited a completed Resort once, didn't we?"
In that instant.
A dangerous timer was triggered inside Minseo's mind.
Tick.
With that sound, memories of an infinitely embarrassing and primal nature flooded in like a broken dam.
Heat surged to the top of his head.
A flush that started at the nape of his neck instantly swallowed his ears, blooming into a bright crimson glow.
It was an unstoppable physiological reaction.
And for good reason—the conditioned reflex triggered by the word 'Resort' was far too intense.
The memories engraved in him like Pavlov's dog were defined entirely by sticky, lewd acts.
The outdoor Hot Spring late at night, where steam rose in dreamy clouds.
The searing sensation of bare skin overlapping on smooth, moisture-slicked tiles.
The secret, explicit game of Tag played while running barefoot over the plush Guest Room carpet.
The moment he was caught from behind while trying to flee and slammed against a cold wall.
The beast-like breaths that hot-huffed wetly into his ears.
Even the sandy beach at dawn when no one else was around.
That night when he was swallowed whole and toyed with at every turn, with the crashing waves as his only soundtrack.
Resort = Lewd acts.
This was an absolute formula carved deep into Minseo's bones.
"Pfft."
The silence was broken by Hayoung's light laughter.
She set down the documents and tilted her head, resting her chin on her hand.
"Why? Is your face that red because you're remembering some 'fun' memories?"
Hayoung's gaze deepened as she admired Minseo's burning cheeks.
A mischievous, dizzying smirk spread across her lips.
It was the smile of a predator coaxing prey trapped in a jar.
"N-No, it's not like that!"
Startled, Minseo hurriedly waved his hands in denial.
Ahem!
He let out a series of exaggerated fake coughs and tried to look anywhere but at her.
He was barely holding onto the thread of his sanity, suppressing a heart that felt like it might explode.
"But why go there again so suddenly? And by myself?"
"You can just go for a light visit."
Hayoung leaned back into her chair and elegantly crossed her legs.
"What you have to do is simple. Just move around like an ordinary person on vacation. Check the Resort's facilities, the service, the attitude of the staff. If there are any shortcomings, I want you to find them meticulously."
"......."
"Besides, except for a few high-ranking people at the Resort, no one will recognize you. Perfect anonymity is guaranteed."
Only then did Minseo's stiff shoulders relax slightly.
"Aha."
A sigh of relief leaked out of him.
A game of Secret Royal Inspector disguised as a commoner.
It was a plausible justification to go and experience firsthand whether the Resort was running properly.
But no matter how oblivious Minseo was, he could tell.
Behind the orders lay the sweet consideration of a 'Paid Vacation' that Hayoung had secretly arranged for him, knowing he'd been drowning in work lately.
"Noona... thank you so much!"
Overwhelming emotion surged like a tidal wave. The tense anxiety and ominous foreboding that had weighed him down just moments ago evaporated without a trace.
Patter, patter.
Minseo walked around the desk with light steps and rushed into Hayoung's arms like a large dog excited to be praised by its master.
With his broad shoulders hunched over, he rubbed his cheek against her shoulder.
He was practically wagging his tail, seeking her sweet scent and warmth.
"Do you like it that much?"
Hayoung looked down quietly at Minseo, who was burying his face in her chest and acting full of aegyo.
Her eyes curved softly.
Her slender, smooth fingers reached out and slowly ran through Minseo's soft hair.
The stroking touch was infinitely gentle, and a peaceful, warm silence seemed to fill the Office.
However.
In every perfect hunt, the Leash is tightened when the prey is most at ease.
"You're really cute."
As Hayoung whispered softly, a ruthlessly sharpened dagger flew from between her red lips without mercy.
"But. You're not going alone."
"Eh?"
Minseo, still held in her arms, lifted his head. His wide eyes blinked.
"Then... who am I going with? The Chief Secretary?"
"I told you to go disguised as an ordinary person, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"In that undercover identity..."
Hayoung's finger lightly brushed the tip of Minseo's chin.
"You are a married man."
"M-Married..? All of a sudden?"
Minseo just blinked. His face was naive, not yet grasping the situation.
"Who is the partner?"
Hayoung paused for a moment. Her red lips opened, shaping the three most cruel syllables in the world into the air.
"Yoo Ji-won."
"......What..?"
In that instant.
It felt as if the temperature in the Office had plummeted below zero. The air froze solid.
Beeee—
A terrifying tinnitus rang sharply in Minseo's ears. The shock made his breath hitch and his heart stop for a beat.
"Under your undercover identity, you and Yoo Ji-won are already married. A husband and a wife."
Hayoung added, still gently stroking Minseo's hair.
"So, the two of you—with Yoo Ji-won. Just the two of you. Have a nice trip. Make it feel like a real vacation."
Her eyes were unreadable depths. Her eye-smile was folded so prettily it made his spine crawl. She drove the stake in so nonchalantly, as if she were merely asking what he wanted for lunch.
"What?! D-Does that even make sense?!"
Minseo sprang up like a coiled spring, practically screaming. His face had gone white, like a wax doll.
"Noona, you know very well that Yoo Ji-won and I are on... awkward terms! No, it's not even just awkward! I think she actually hates me!"
His face was pitiful, looking like he might burst into tears at any second. He looked ready to drop to his knees and beg. Yoo Ji-won. An absolute ice witch who looked like she wouldn't bleed if you pricked her. A cold gaze and a chilling voice. She was someone who made his breath hitch and his knees tremble just by making eye contact in the hallway. An undercover couple's vacation with a woman like that! This wasn't a vacation; it was a walk to the gallows.
"Noona, please... I'll die, I'll really freeze to death!"
It was the desperate wailing of a cow being dragged to the slaughterhouse. But Hayoung didn't even listen. Instead, she tilted her head as if the situation were merely interesting.
"Then you can use this chance to get close."
"Noonaaa—!"
"Oh. For your information."
Her cold voice cut him off.
"There's only one room, so the two of you will have to sleep together."
Boom!
The final blow. It was a cruel confirmation kill that cut off Minseo's air. Whether it was a double bed or twin beds—such trivial details didn't matter. The fact was there was only one room. An enclosed space. A locked room with nowhere to run.
"I'm really going crazy......."
A groan mixed with a hollow breath leaked through Minseo's trembling lips. His legs felt so weak he thought he might collapse. A bolt from the blue. A lightning strike from a clear sky. No metaphor was enough for this despair. Alone with that terrifying ice witch. In one room. A vacation where they had to spend the entire night together. Just imagining it made his vision spin.
Minseo, barely scraping his reason together, asked as if grabbing a single thread of rope at the edge of a cliff.
"But... does Ji-won know about this?"
Undercover couple. One room. Sleeping together. There was no way that fastidious, cold woman would have consented to this insane plan. However.
"She doesn't."
"Eh?"
The answer was far too clear and cheerful.
"Th-Then when are you going to tell her?"
Minseo's pupils began to vibrate even more violently. Anxiety rose in his throat like a tidal wave.
Hayoung pulled her back away from her chair and leaned forward toward the desk. From between her lips, a command like a death sentence fell.
"You have to tell her, Minseo."
"......What?"
"You're the superior. So, everything I said today. Every single word, without missing a syllable, must come from your own mouth. Deliver the news to Ji-won."
Rumble, crash.
It was the sound of the complacent world Minseo had been precariously supporting completely shattering into pieces.
"Got it?"
"Noo, Noona... if I say something like that, she might actually beat me to death... Have you ever seen someone kill with their eyes..?"
Minseo, pale as a ghost, clutched his forehead with both hands and let out a pained groan. The future looked pitch black. He couldn't even imagine himself approaching Ji-won and saying, 'We have to pretend to be a couple and sleep in the same room.' But.
Even that tragic, desperate despair was nothing more than a cute little performance in the eyes of Hayoung, who held all the cards.
"Heh."
Hayoung let out a joyful smile, looking like she might start humming. As if there were to be no more compromise, she withdrew her gaze without a second thought. Once again, she elegantly gripped the high-end fountain pen on the desk.
Scratch, scratch.
Leaving Minseo behind as he was pushed toward the pits of hell, only the cold yet cheerful sound of the pen nib, scribbling a signature across the documents, filled the quiet Office.