Embedded Files
Psst! We're moving!
Seo Mu-won.
He had lived a life with only a faint sense of possession.
Whenever Seo Hae-seung threw a fit, rolling on the floor and demanding something, he would hand it over without much resistance. He could always buy the same thing again—or something better. He had never dwelled on the meaning of owning something. He had never considered it an act worthy of such contemplation.
And yet, the unexpected encounter at the company’s founding anniversary completely upended his nervous system.
From the moment he stood behind his father, his eyes modestly cast downward.
No, in truth, from the very moment she happened to enter his line of sight, his attention remained fixated on her.
She was a strange woman.
There was nothing particularly remarkable about her, yet she inexplicably kept drawing his gaze. Perhaps he had failed to mask his interest, for the president of Modern & Bills personally brought his daughter forward.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Ahn Hae-soo.”
A soft, graceful voice. The tone suited her neat and delicate face perfectly. It was almost as if it brought a hint of freshness to the otherwise dreary banquet hall.
After exchanging brief pleasantries, he turned his attention to someone else.
And yet, Seo Mu-won habitually looked back. As if relying on muscle memory, his gaze searched for that woman. Unlike himself, who kept turning his head, she only showed him her cold, unyielding back—an image that ignited a strange heat within him.
He wanted to go to her, grab her shoulders, and force her to look at him.
No, it wasn’t such a rational desire.
When he realized that what he truly wanted was to tear apart the skirt she was wearing—that what he craved was what lay hidden beneath it—he felt a chill run down his spine.
His body, betraying the extreme fastidiousness he prided himself on, felt foreign.
That night, for the first time in his life, Seo Mu-won experienced an erection induced by arousal.
Even nocturnal emissions had never fazed him, but that night, he stood beneath the cascading water of his shower, gripping his cock, shaking it for what felt like an eternity. Hours had passed, yet in the dimming fragments of memory, only thoughts of her remained vividly intact.
Her lowered eyelids, the faint redness around her eyes, the high bridge of her nose, the delicate lips that briefly revealed her tongue when she spoke. Her finely sculpted features formed an unparalleled beauty.
And beneath the branded fabric of her clothing—her pale, slender limbs.
The more he imagined the unseen, the clearer the image became, the more undeniable the arousal. His stiffening member once again pressed against his lower abdomen.
It was absurd.
The beginning of a truly maddening fever.
After finishing his early morning workout, he headed to the kitchen for some water before going to work.
Seo Hae-seung sat alone at the large dining table, dressed in his school uniform, eating breakfast before leaving for school.
Standing at the island counter, Seo Mu-won poured himself a glass of water and glanced at his younger brother.
He had heard that she was the same age as Hae-seung.
She was so young.
No matter how much time passed, the fact that he had committed such an indecent act toward someone so young disgusted him. His usual impassive expression and immaculate attire barely concealed the filth festering beneath.
He had also learned that she was in the same class as Hae-seung.
“If there’s anyone decent, try getting along with them.”
Hae-seung blinked in surprise, unused to hearing such unsolicited advice about socializing.
“It might be useful later.”
Afraid that the true meaning behind his words might be exposed, Seo Mu-won hastened his steps, swiftly leaving the kitchen.
Useful.
What a laughable word.
No matter how he looked at it, the “usefulness” he spoke of seemed to apply not to Hae-seung, but to himself.
Seo Hae-seung appeared to have gotten a little closer to her.
But that changed nothing.
From the beginning, there was no real connection between them.
A working professional and a student. An adult and a minor.
The gap was simply too vast—too long, too distant.
Their brief encounter at the company’s founding anniversary had been nothing short of a miracle, and since then, there had not even been a thread-thin chance of their paths crossing again.
“Hello, Director Seo. Do you remember me?”
That is—until her father, President Ahn, visited the company, seeking investment.
An opportunity for connection had landed right at his feet.
He recalled Hae-soo, standing neatly beside her father.
Seo Mu-won, contrary to his usual meticulous approach, didn’t evaluate the business prospects, success rates, or background information. Instead, he approved the investment on the spot.
He hadn’t realized that this decision would only make his desires more wretched and depraved.
Investing in Hae-soo’s father’s company didn’t bring any drastic changes.
She remained a student attending classes, and he remained an investor in her father’s company.
While there was now a thin thread of connection, it was too weak to be significant.
“Director, sir.”
A secretary cautiously approached him as an executive meeting wrapped up.
The others had already left the conference room when the secretary handed him a document.
It contained information regarding the business Modern & Bills was conducting with Sung-jo’s investment.
More precisely, it warned that the primary materials used in Modern & Bills’ latest project were likely to be subject to export restrictions starting next month.
Thanks to Sung-jo’s global subsidiaries, they had obtained the intelligence ahead of time.
“What should we do?”
Seo Mu-won rubbed his temple as he stared at the document.
Even now, despite the pressing issue at hand, all he could think about was the company president’s daughter—not the company itself.
He was no fool.
He knew that the thirst he felt for her was fundamentally sexual.
And yet, it only deepened, with no sign of fading.
The situation showed no improvement whatsoever.
Still, from Seo Mu-won’s perspective, he couldn’t simply act on impulse.
The more one was born with, the more one had to consider.
Above all else, there was his marriage to think about—his eventual duty to continue the family line.
Never, not even once, had he envisioned marriage with Hae-soo.
Sung-jo had already endured a vicious battle for succession.
Chairman Seon had sired illegitimate children all over the place, providing numerous heirs with excuses to claim their share of the company.
It had been a war—a pack of hyenas diving headfirst at a fresh kill.
Through that petty, narrow-minded bloodbath, he had barely managed to safeguard the legitimacy of his own lineage.
For Seo Mu-won, marriage was an essential tool for maintaining power.
A marriage of equal standing was paramount—more than anything else.
Hae-soo’s status was not lacking. However, it could not be said to be sufficient either. If one were to judge whether it was adequate or inadequate, it leaned far more towards the latter. Modern & Bills was a business that had only just begun to see the light of success, and it was in no position to compare itself to Sungjo, a corporation with a long-standing lineage.
“What should we do?”
The secretary’s question stirred an ominous storm in his heart.
Seo Mu-won wanted Hae-soo.
It was a desire he could not deny.
If Hae-soo had come from a family that was far more lacking, he wouldn’t have hesitated like this. He could have used that as an excuse to approach her. But she was the daughter of a family that, while not part of the upper echelons, still belonged to the middle ranks. It was clear that if they met and their relationship progressed, marriage would inevitably become a consideration.
If only she had nothing, possessing her would be so much easier.
The cruel thought that he had no intention of marrying her whispered in his mind. And just as such a base impulse took root, a situation arose where he could dictate the fate of Hae-soo’s family.
“Withdraw it.”
“Pardon?”
The secretary, surprised by the decision after seeking his opinion, reflexively questioned him. When Seo Mu-won turned to look at him, he quickly regained his composure and added,
“But Modern & Bills is a private enterprise with weak capital. If we withdraw our investment, their financial situation could deteriorate. If things go wrong, they might even go bankrupt...”
“Are you suggesting we should not withdraw?”
“No, I will follow your decision, Director. I just wanted to mention it in case.”
Despite the secretary’s warning, Seo Mu-won made the decision to withdraw the investment. It was the first moment in his life when a desire for possession took hold of him. It was then that he came to a realization.
It wasn’t that he had never experienced possessiveness before—it was just that he had never wanted anything this much.
Ideals and reality are different.
After encountering Hae-soo, Seo Mu-won came to deeply understand this truth.
Seo Hae-seung, who had hoped to be of some help in connecting them, was suddenly sent abroad for his studies following an incident at a social gathering. As soon as his brother disappeared, Modern & Bills collapsed, just as the secretary had feared. Once its first venture failed, it continued to stumble without a chance to recover, ultimately facing bankruptcy, as was typical for privately owned companies with weak capital.
President Ahn went missing, and his wife passed away from suicide.
The ending was far more tragic than Seo Mu-won had anticipated. But, in accordance with his desires, Hae-soo was now left with nothing.
The younger brother he had once deemed utterly useless had, unexpectedly, formed a close bond with Hae-soo. Using that as a pretext, Seo Mu-won arrived at the funeral home. However, upon actually seeing Hae-soo, he found himself unable to bring up his brother.
Seeing Hae-soo, dressed in mourning black and standing alone at the funeral, forced him to face the sins his desires had wrought.
At that moment, when he handed her his business card, he also instructed his secretary to classify all documents related to the investment withdrawal as confidential and ordered their immediate disposal. It was a clear sign that he understood better than anyone else that no one should ever learn of the truth behind it. More precisely, one particular person should never find out.
And so, he waited.
The business card and the absurdly large condolence money were signals.
An unsolicited favor, extended despite their lack of acquaintance.
He had expected her to accept it. He had hoped she would.
And yet, Hae-soo never reached out to him.
As he waited for a call that never came, Seo Mu-won, for the first time in his life, learned what it meant to feel anxious.
Obsessive cleanliness was, in essence, a form of compulsion. And compulsion, in essence, was linked to control.
From a young age, he had to wash his hands whenever he touched something unclean. If he couldn’t, he had to endure an unbearable discomfort, as if insects were crawling over his skin. That was why he always carried a handkerchief, and whenever he felt that loathsome sensation, he would immediately wipe down the affected area. It was a form of control, created by his irrational mind.
But this tendency was not limited to his hygiene.
Most of Seo Mu-won’s life had been dictated by control. From childhood, he had drawn clear lines between what was permissible and what was not. As the eldest son of the Sungjo conglomerate and its future successor, this was expected of him.
Moreover, in order to maintain his own control, controlling those around him was also necessary. Until now, this had never been difficult. His status had always ensured that he could make it so.
Unpredictable variables in his surroundings triggered his compulsions.
To eliminate such variables, he had, at times, done things that went against his conscience. And having lived that way for so long, he had become disturbingly fixated on it.
‘Mu-won, don’t be like that. One day, you’ll be trapped by your own schemes. You need to learn to value people.’
In a world of power-hungry adults who clawed at each other like wild beasts, his maternal grandmother was the only one who had retained a semblance of humanity. Before her passing, she had spoken those words to him, her aged hand stroking his own. Her touch was warm, yet that warmth failed to reach his heart. Warnings unrecognized at the time were nothing more than words that drifted past his ears like the wind.
He could have reached out first and offered help, yet he remained silent and waited. It was because of this wretched need for control. He believed that stepping forward to assist Hae-soo would mean losing control.
She had to be the one to ask for help. He could not be the one to seek her out. Because he did not consider her a prospective wife, he had to maintain the upper hand in this relationship. That compulsion had taken root deep within him.
Only by holding the reins would it be easier to control her.
But this time, things were undeniably different from before.
Even though losing her mother and living alone must have been difficult, there was no word from Ahn Hae-soo. If it were anyone else, they would have either patiently endured the situation or dismissed it as worthless, but Hae-soo could do neither. Even after committing the sin of trampling on his conscience, his desire for possession remained vividly alive.
And so, on a rainy night.
His reason, having reached its limit, led him to where she was, against his own will.
He knew very well that this was a terrible move in terms of securing the upper hand in their relationship, yet he couldn’t suppress the impulse. The main gate outside the small room where she lived was left half-open. He passed through it and stepped inside. The loosely fitted door was ajar just enough to allow him to peek inside.
“Ahh… Haah….”
The silent steps of his shoes came to an abrupt halt, as if nailed to the ground. A woman’s moans echoed from inside, sending a chilling sensation down his spine.
“It hurts… Ugh, huh….”
“Haa.”
“Ah, take it out, take it out…!”
“Take it out? I just put it in.”
“Ugh, huu….”
“Relax a bit. I’m about to come….”
Even though he was shielded from the rain by the eaves, his entire body felt ice-cold. His heart, too, seemed to freeze in an unbearable chill. His usually cold and sharp eyes widened slightly. The reason lay in the intertwined figures on the yellow linoleum floor. The man’s dark-red organ was repeatedly thrusting into the woman’s round opening, an obscene sight straight out of a vulgar pornographic scene.
“How the fuck am I supposed to fuck you when you’re this tight? Shit… It feels good, though….”
“Uuuhng…!”
He wanted to deny it, but he couldn’t.
The sultry moans, the long legs wrapping around the tattooed side of the man, the owner of this house. There was no need to push open the door and step into that depraved act to confirm it—he already knew. It was Ahn Hae-soo. Ahn Hae-soo was currently tangled up with a man in a filthy, depraved mess.
An indescribable sensation surged up like a burning fever, clawing at the back of his head. It felt as though an unknown fire was consuming his insides. Every time the man moved his hips in a smooth rotation, a thick foam of lewd fluids squelched between them.
His feet silently retreated.
Disgusting.
That was the first thought that came to mind.
His obsessive-compulsive aversion to filth erupted indiscriminately. The fact that Hae-soo was the target of this repulsion only amplified the impact. For the first time, something he had always meticulously planned and controlled unraveled in the most abhorrent manner.
He turned his back immediately. As if he had never been there in the first place, he got into his car without hesitation. Soon, the vehicle sped out of the neighborhood. The only trace of his presence was the faint stain of rainwater on his shoulder.
What followed was a monotonous and dull existence.
Life after letting go of Hae-soo could only be described in those terms. Monotonous and dull. In reality, nothing had changed compared to before, but the mere act of deciding that one person no longer mattered turned everything to grayscale. Even so, he never considered seeking her out again. He had never once reclaimed something that had already been tainted.
That’s why the encounter at the hotel was entirely unexpected.
“Hyung.”
Seo Hae-seung, who had temporarily returned to the country due to a problem during his studies abroad, had brought her with him. Evidently, he had been harboring impure desires all along, as his true intentions were now on full display. Within his arms, he held her—Hae-soo, whom he hadn’t seen in so long. As soon as he recognized her frightened expression, a buried memory peeled back, revealing itself. The image of her writhing under another man, moaning like a wanton whore…
Before he could react, his brows furrowed in displeasure. Just the fact that her body had brushed against his own made it feel as though a disgusting, moldy stain had begun to spread. Snatching the handkerchief offered by his secretary, he briskly dusted off his chest. His indifferent gaze met her trembling eyes. No matter how he looked at them, they were eyes pleading for help. Even from a distance, he could roughly gauge what had transpired just by the way Hae-seung’s arm was wrapped around her waist.
“There’s an important meeting with investors today, so don’t cause any trouble and stay quiet.”
Even so, he did nothing to help her. She was no longer his concern. That was what his rationality dictated. And yet, after taking just a few steps, he unconsciously turned around. Hae-soo was no longer in sight, having already been dragged away by Hae-seung. The desperate plea in her eyes lingered in his mind.
A sickeningly vivid afterimage.
Indeed, Ahn Hae-soo was an unusual existence.
After their unexpected reunion, he once again found himself engaging in irrational behavior. Upon learning that she had started working at the hotel restaurant, he ordered her to be assigned exclusively to the VIP room. And then, he made a point of visiting that very room whenever she was on shift. Unconsciously, his gaze always sought the nape of her neck. The clearly visible bruises on her skin served as undeniable proof of how wanton she had been during her encounters. And the partner of her debauchery was none other than his own blood relative.
‘Did she cry the same way when she was with him?’
When he had distanced himself, he had been able to manage his thoughts. But now that she was in front of him again, it was impossible to think straight. Just like at the company’s founding anniversary event, his mind was being dragged around against his will, unable to let go. Each time he brushed aside her turtleneck to trace her delicate neck with his fingers, a contradictory desire welled up inside him. He found her utterly filthy and obscene, yet at the same time, he wanted to witness her in the throes of passion again.
Above all, the exhaustion clearly visible on her face unsettled him deeply. It was obvious that she was struggling to handle his brother. And that was why he now had the perfect opportunity to shape the situation exactly as he had once envisioned. He could completely save Hae-soo. He had the power and position to do so.
He already knew she had been tainted.
However, as if to show that the possessiveness that had surfaced for the first time in his life had not disappeared but had merely been buried beneath his own compulsions, it reared its head again the moment Hae-soo appeared before him.
“Do you need my help?”
And so, he found himself wanting to grasp her at least once.
To uncover the true nature of this maddening desire that burned him from within.
“The traffic is quite heavy.”
Secretary Han, gripping the steering wheel, spoke while keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead. Seo Mu-won, who had been reviewing approval documents on his tablet PC during the ride, lifted his head at the remark. Just as Han had said, the road was packed with cars stretching in both directions. They had been caught right in the middle of rush hour.
Setting the tablet PC down on his lap, Seo Mu-won pressed his fingertips against his temples. The migraine that had started creeping up on him some time ago had now taken root, refusing to subside.
‘It has been confirmed that CEO Lee of Daeyoung Construction has taken her.’
Yes, it had started ever since he received that report.
Though, in truth, he hadn’t even needed the report. He had been at the scene himself.
Like a wildflower that would snap with the slightest gust of wind, the frail woman had stood there, soaked in the rain, before recklessly throwing herself into the raging sea of emotions. The moment he saw her, he had instinctively swung the car door open and bolted forward—only to be beaten to it by someone who had already taken the plunge ahead of him.
The two entangled figures had tumbled together onto the muddy ground, their bodies rolling over each other before sharing a kiss beneath the downpour. He had seen it with his own two eyes. It had been a scene worthy of a movie—fierce, passionate—and yet, to him, utterly repulsive.
Because he had realized in that single moment that the matter had already been decided.
Shaking off the memory with forceful intent, Seo Mu-won turned his gaze outside the car window. The world beyond was drenched in dull shades of gray. Much like that fateful day, the sky was overcast, heavy with the promise of a torrential downpour. He stared vacantly at the thick clouds, watching them roil and collide, until his gaze unconsciously drifted downward.
His pupils dilated in an instant.
The sidewalk was bustling, likely due to the evening rush hour. The crowd moved hurriedly, leaving no space between them as they brushed past one another. Amid the sea of people, a delicate strand of hair swayed near chest level—a familiar sight, one he had run his fingers through countless times before.
Before he could even process the thought, Seo Mu-won abruptly flung the car door open.
“What the— Director!”
Ignoring Secretary Han’s startled cry, he stepped onto the road, weaving between halted vehicles before climbing onto the sidewalk. His body moved on instinct, pushing through the dense wave of people as he searched for the figure he had just glimpsed.
Numerous curious gazes followed him—understandable, given how he had suddenly emerged from the middle of traffic—but he had no room to be conscious of them now. Scanning the crowd, his eyes locked onto the back of the person he had seen earlier. With a determined step, he closed the distance.
Three steps.
The silhouette grew clearer.
Two steps.
He was close enough to reach out and grab hold.
One step.
He seized the shoulder and turned them toward him.
“Eek!”
“……”
“W-What is it?”
The eyes that had been clouded with an unusual desperation instantly went cold as they met those of a stranger. The moment he realized it was not her, an unbearable sense of discomfort spread through him, as though he had touched something filthy.
He immediately let go and bowed his head slightly.
“I mistook you for someone else.”
The woman, still looking at him in bewilderment, soon disappeared into the crowd.
Only Seo Mu-won remained, as if nailed to the spot, unable to move, sinking into the realization of his own foolishness.
“Director!”
Secretary Han, having finally caught up, called out as he approached. Snapping out of his daze, Seo Mu-won turned and walked back toward the car. As he neared the vehicle parked on the roadside, Han hurriedly rushed ahead to open the rear door for him. Seo Mu-won, gripping the door frame, paused.
“……”
He had thought it was Ahn Hae-soo.
The same hair color, a similar length, even the side profile resembled hers. That was why he had chased after her so recklessly. Without even a moment’s hesitation, he had acted purely on impulse. The sight that now only existed in the realm of his dreams had materialized before him, and he had been utterly helpless against it…
His fingers tightened around the car door. The veins on the back of his hand stood out, his skin appearing almost bloodless in its pallor.
‘There will come a day when you fall into your own trap.’
The words, once dismissed as a fleeting remark, now echoed in his mind with unsettling clarity.
“Director?”
Only now—
Only now did Seo Mu-won realize that something had gone terribly, irrevocably wrong.
He had believed he had never taken a single step beyond the line he had drawn for himself.
Yet his feet had long since crossed it.
That realization clenched around the edges of his heart, tightening with a pain sharp enough to ache. A dull, inexplicable throbbing pounded rhythmically against his chest.
There comes a moment in everyone’s life when they look back on their past.
Would that moment come for her as well?
No... would I even exist in that memory?
A wry chuckle escaped him.
He knew better than anyone just how pathetic he had become.
He, who had despised all things filthy, impure, disgraceful, and vulgar more than anything else in the world, had become the very image of what he loathed—without even realizing it.
But only when it came to her did he become this utterly undignified.
“…Director, we should leave now.”
His secretary had been about to urge him into the car when his voice suddenly faltered.
It was a sight that made him doubt his own eyes.
A single droplet of water slid down the flawless marble of Seo Mu-won’s cheek.
Ah.
In the brief moment his mouth hung slightly open, struggling to make a sound, something landed softly on the crown of his head. A strange, intrusive sensation made his face instinctively tilt upward. The sky, which had remained a dull, heavy gray all this time, had begun to shed droplets of water.
So it was rain.
For a moment, he had thought—just for a moment—that he was crying.
“Please get in. You’ll catch a cold.”
Seo Mu-won wiped the moisture from his face with the palm of his hand.
To others, even that motion seemed as elegant and untouchable as a pristine sculpture.
But inside, he felt nothing of the sort.
Inside…
His secretary shut the rear door and returned to the driver’s seat.
The car began to move, and raindrops streaked across the window.
As the rain fell ever steadily, the world began to weep.
As if it were mourning on someone’s behalf, pouring its sorrow down in torrents.
Google Sites
Report abuse