By Zephyria 
The female boss twisted her lips upward.
“Suck him dry, right down to the marrow, while you still can.”
Claiming this was advice given out of pity, the woman scanned Eun-myeong up and down. He felt as if he were a piece of sashimi being graded for quality.
“Who knows when the hearts of those cocks-with-legs will suddenly change?”
He felt as if he were laid out on a cutting board, being sliced. It felt as though his skin were being peeled away, like fish scales fluttering to the ground.
“I mean, that bastard actually rolled up money inside his business card and gave it to my lover, can you believe it?”
Hoo, hooo. She kept blowing on her fingernails. The smell of nail polish stung his nose.
“He’s not even a male whore, yet he’s so cheap, right, darling?”
She seemed to be talking about the story he had heard before. She had mentioned that the man had laid hands on the sashimi restaurant owner’s lover. He had forgotten about it for a moment, but recalling it now made him wonder how such a person could even exist in the world. At this point, he felt resentful of his own heart for liking the man.
“I heard he saw them a few times even after going up to Seoul.”
At those words, Eun-myeong’s movements came to a dead stop. Strength drained from his slender arms, and they slumped downward.
“Obviously, since you weren’t there, he must have looked for another piece of meat.”
Eun-myeong stared at the woman, entranced. His eyes were utterly swept by shock. At the same time, he reacted with internal denial, insisting that couldn’t be true.
“That can’t be… He clearly said he’d be too busy working once he went to Seoul.”
To the woman, whose life was dreadfully boring, this provided a rare, surging sense of pleasure. My god, how long had it been since she felt such joy? While she was dying of delight inside,
“You didn’t know,”
she wore an expression of utmost pity on the outside.
“He’s probably under immense pressure to go on blind dates these days. That’s how it always ends.”
Eventually, tears welled up in Eun-myeong’s large eyes. Seeing those shimmering, teary eyes was, as expected, an aphrodisiac.
“If that bastard dumps you, do you want to come to this auntie?”
The woman slowly admired his pretty face. Seeing how she felt this perverted pleasure from trampling on the weak, it seemed her roots truly lay in that direction.
* * *
A restaurant was operating on the 13th floor of the
“Welcome.”
The staff waiting in front bowed in unison. Then, an employee dressed in a sophisticated suit approached.
“I will guide you to a window seat.”
“Oh, yes.”
Eun-myeong blushed deeply, looking awkward. As he hesitated, the man stepped forward first, cutting through the staff. His demeanor was so relaxed and natural, as if he had been born to reign over others.
Eun-myeong trotted after him like a goldfish following its owner. To make matters worse, his hair was even more disheveled than usual today, making him feel like a fool and stripping him of his confidence.
Feeling completely intimidated, he pulled his crossbody bag toward his stomach to hide it. The old, frayed fabric, the grime in the buckle, the rusted zipper. It was as unsightly as he felt, and he was ashamed.
“I will provide the menus here.”
As he sat down awkwardly, they handed him the menu.
“The signature dish of our Top Golden Restaurant is the steak paired with caviar; the texture and flavor are very special and…”
What… what is he saying? Eun-myeong, staring at the menu, fell into confusion. Everything was written in curly letters that he couldn’t understand.
“The caviar, which is said to have the world’s most sexy taste, is of such high quality that customers from all over the country seek us out.”
The manager smiled smoothly. If it was a “special menu,” there were plenty of those at the Emperor’s Palace Seafood, but the price was on a completely different level.
“Then two of the steak with caviar, one duck breast steak, truffle ravioli… and a bottle of red wine that pairs well with these.”
The man rattled off a list of menus that Eun-myeong didn’t even recognize.
“Yes, thank you. We will have them ready shortly.”
The employee left with a kind smile, and before long, the plates began to arrive one by one. The man first took care of the caviar steak.
“I’ve been working so much lately that my physical condition is a mess.”
Shiny black eggs were paired with the meat. The man scooped up some caviar with his fork. He used his index finger to catch the ones about to fall and popped them into his mouth along with the meat.
Munch, munch. The carnivore in the sophisticated suit demolished the meat, moving his strong jaw.
“Mm.”
He hummed, as if the taste were excellent. Blood dripped from the meat… Just watching it made Eun-myeong feel overwhelmed, and he smacked his lips. The man even sucked his index finger with a loud slurp!
“Caviar is good for stamina.”
Then I think you can stop eating that… The man smiled wickedly at Eun-myeong, which felt truly cruel. To Eun-myeong, he looked far too energetic. If anything, it was Eun-myeong who was being drained of his energy day by day.
“Ah, yes…”
Eun-myeong replied reluctantly. He felt a chill, and his cheeks, covered in fine peach fuzz, crumpled.
Just before, in the hotel room, Eun-myeong had tried to give the man his salary envelope, but the man suddenly claimed he felt depleted of energy lately. He said that in times like this, one must nourish the body with sturgeon eggs to bring the energy back up, and thus he had brought Eun-myeong here.
The man claimed he finally felt like he could breathe again and ate his fill, but Eun-myeong didn’t know if the food was going into his nose or his mouth.
From time to time, he rolled his large eyes to gauge the man’s mood. He had to bring up the main point soon, but it would be a disaster if he irritated the man and caused a plate to break. He had to wait for a moment when the man seemed unconditionally happy.
“…”
Fortunately, the man had a relaxed face, like a sated lion. He seems to be in a pretty good condition right now… Eun-myeong fumbled in his bag, pulled out the salary envelope, and held it out again.
“Boss, here.”
Despite the envelope being presented, the man didn’t give it a single glance. Jjangja would have gone crazy at payday and counted every single bill. Regardless, the man simply stared intensely at Eun-myeong.
“And also.”
Only after swallowing hard did he bring up the words he had truly kept in his heart.
“And I think the mister-guards can stop following me now. There won’t be any more dangerous situations.”
He added a small comment.
“Because the other customers are feeling uncomfortable.”
Actually, the customers’ discomfort was secondary.
He had happened to overhear the aunties whispering. They were having a theoretical discussion in their small rooms, saying that no matter how you look at it, Eun-myeong seemed to be hounded by debt collectors and that they should report it to the police before something terrible happened.
Eun-myeong let out a gasp and covered his mouth with his palm. The man was someone with more than a few suspicious points; it would be a disaster if a police report were actually filed.
“Ah.”
The man let out a casual exclamation. He gripped the neck of the wine glass filled to the brim and drank it all in one go—gulp, gulp, burp… He slammed the glass down on the table and muttered.
“Right, of course.”
Then, he wiped the corner of his mouth with a white cloth and smirked. There wasn’t a shred of a smile in his eyes, which made Eun-myeong’s spine chill for no reason.
“I’m not the kind of person who engages in such insidious behavior.”
He said that marking territory was something only amateurs did, and he would dismiss the thugs immediately.
“Anyway, once I go back to Seoul, everything will be within my sphere of influence.”
At the sudden mention of “Seoul,” Eun-myeong paused for a moment.
“That is…”
He trailed off. Soon, Eun-myeong shouted the words with his eyes tightly shut. His eyelashes trembled like aspen leaves.
“About following you to Seoul… please let me think about it a little more…”
Screech, screeech. The fork scraped the plate violently with a chilling sound.
“Why.”
It was a question asking for a reason, but the ending tone was excessively low. At the sound that vibrated low in his chest, Eun-myeong momentarily thought the man was digging into his eardrums with an excavator.
“Do you want to stage a protest against me?”
Eun-myeong naturally wanted to follow the man. However, there were too many things weighing on his mind right now.
“I’m a bit worried about Noona, and if I go to Seoul right now, I have to look for a job, and I don’t think there are many things I can actually do.”
Above all, the words he heard from the sashimi restaurant owner yesterday remained in his head like a thorn.
“Then I won’t be able to clear my debt right away…”
Only then did the man grip the salary envelope lying to the side. Squeeze. He gripped it fiercely, regardless of whether the paper bills were being crumpled.
“What do you mean, Baby can’t clear the debt? There are so many things you can do once you get to Seoul.”
He smiled slyly and leaned his upper body back. Then, he patted his thick thigh.
“Come sit here, and I’ll knock off 50 million from your debt.”
The hand of the employee pouring water froze. He looked clearly surprised, but he quickly regained his smile and hurried away as if escaping, leaving behind a final, “Enjoy your meal.”
“I told you to come here.”
He says he’ll knock off 50 million won from the debt if he sits on his lap once—it’s not like it’s 5,000 won. How could he just… 50 million won…
Eun-myeong was struggling to death just to pay back less than 2 million, yet the man handled such a huge sum as if it were a toy.
A feeling of profound insult and misery naturally washed over him.
Watching that behavior, the advice given by the sashimi restaurant owner came to mind. She told him to take advantage of the situation since he didn’t know when the man’s heart would change. She told him to act like a fox and suck him dry down to the marrow.
But Eun-myeong didn’t want to do that. That would make him no different from a kept mistress. Eun-myeong didn’t want to defile his pure feelings. He stubbornly bit his lip and refused.
“…I don’t want to.”
“What?”
The man’s face instantly turned fierce. It was a reaction typical of him, as he absolutely hated it when someone defied his words.