Kapitel 3: Chapter 02 - A Dish Best Served Cold
"Uuu….uuu…"
I have to admit: fixing some younger man's problems was not really in my agenda. However, the look of sheer desperation on the young man's face as he wallowed in what I could only imagine was rather shameful self-pity in the McDonald's was rather remarkable, even for someone as detached as me. Actually deciding to get involved required a few seconds of silent deliberation, too, as I was unsure whether this was really worth my time or not.
"Are you quite alright, young man?" I asked at long last as I turned around in my seat to face the weeping man.
The young man hesitantly looked up from his half-eaten, tear-soaked meal to stare at me quizzically. Hmm. Didn't seem to speak English. Unfortunate, that – but considering I was the tourist in this equation, not unexpected.
"You. Alright?" I asked in broken Korean. This time, the young man's eyes flickered in recognition and he mumbled what I recognized were apologies – likely realizing at long last the scene he was making. Mentally rolling my eyes, I withdrew a handkerchief from my jacket and offered it to him. "You. Alright?" I asked again.
The young man stared at the handkerchief for a moment before taking it and bowing his head in gratitude and proceeding to clean his face with it. I made a mental note to ask for a paper bag from the cashier to transport it back to the hotel for cleaning later.
Annoyingly, the young man kept mum about his woes – which, in retrospect, was actually quite reasonable. After all, why would you confide in a total stranger you'd just met in a fast-food restaurant kiosk? Unfortunately for him, I was bored and had ran out of places to tour in the city, but really didn't want to go back to the hotel just yet. Who knows? Maybe I'd get a decent sob story out of this.
Playing the sympathy card even further, I offered to buy him a new meal to make up for the tear-and-snot-soaked food before him, and he gratefully, if shyly accepted after some feeble protesting I was able to wave aside. Already, that raised some red flags – the boy was far too complacent and weak-willed. Not for accepting a meal from me, but because it was remarkably easy to just wave aside his protests. Clearly, he wasn't used to standing up for himself.
I could empathise, I suppose.
Slowly, as he ate, I introduced myself and managed to coax some information out of him. He was called Mi-Noo (I actually had to check myself before I snorted in amusement, which would've decidedly been not cool in this situation), he had recently entered university, but was now contemplating dropping out and moving back home.
Intriguing. I hadn't ever heard of a case of college burnout happening this fast. I knew such a phenomenon happened, certainly, but never this quickly. Had his courses really been that bad?
"It's not the classes," Mi-Noo explained. "It's…nevermind. It's nothing."
I may be clueless about many things, but even I could've picked up what he was laying down, even if he refused to actually say the words. I had to admit, though, it was rather disappointing – here I was expecting some interesting life experience relating to negative classroom and college environments, and it turns out that this boy is willing to give up a college education for a….
"Girl?" I asked flatly.
The way he flinched violently at the word, he might as well have rented out the largest neon sign in the world and have it flash "YES!" ad infinitum. I had to actually restrain myself from rubbing my forehead in frustration as I could more or less guess where this was going. The young man had likely fallen for some girl, they'd gone out, and she'd dumped him. Or maybe the relationship had never taken off because she'd rejected him and being around her was too painful for him because of the amount of emotion he'd invested in the one-sided crush.
Either way, predictable and boring.
While I was already thinking about how best to excuse myself and go ask the cashier for that to-go bag for the filthy hanky I now had, I figured it would've been polite to at least see this through to a summarized end.
"Dumped?" I asked.
Mi-Noo surprisingly shook his head. Not scenario A, then.
"Rejected?"
Again, a head shake. Not scenario B, either? Odd.
I narrowed my eyes at him. The two most likely situations had been ruled out, then – and I was fairly sure he was actually answering my questions and not shaking his head in refusal to answer me. Clearly, he was still emotionally raw to the extent that his control over them and his ability to think rationally was very weak.
"Cheated?" I asked. Oddly enough, while Mi-Noo did flinch, which should've confirmed the guess, he also shook his head.
Admittedly, I was now a little intrigued. What kind of situation involved cheating of some kind, but also wasn't cheating? Cuckold play gone wrong? No, the kid didn't seem the kind….
Mentally, I weighed my options. The reasonable thing to do here would be to offer him some condolences, tell him things'll be alright, convince him not to drop out over some girl, and then go back to the hotel and work on my article – after all, Hodges did always complain that I left my side of the articles we co-wrote to the last minute.
On the other hand, I was bored and technically still on vacation. I'd already visited the places I wanted to visit, spoken to my local acquaintances, and pretty much accomplished what I'd wanted to do, with several days to spare. So, rather than being holed up in my hotel for the next three days, acting like some kind of slug and lounging in my hotel room, why not look into this situation? It could be fun and, considering Mi-Noo was technically a stranger, I could always excuse myself at any point if it turned out boring.
The decision really wasn't that difficult, in the end. Excusing myself briefly, I went to get the to-go bag for my filthy hanky and stuffed it in my outer jacket pocket. After that, I went back to the wallowing Mi-Noo and practically ordered him to go get some drinks with me, insisting in my broken Korean that I'd hear him out.
It turned out to be pathetically easy to get him to spill his guts after a single drink. As emotionally devastated as he was, even just a small shot glass' worth of rum was enough to get him to spill the beans. Initially, it was a pretty boring story of childhood friends promising to marry one another as children – infantile, but sweet, I supposed – which ended in a rather spectacular heartbreak as he realized that the girl had now become interested in another man.
"I see," I said as he wound down his story. It had taken some alcohol in his system to reveal that he actually did know English but had been too shy to use it. All in all, he was pretty decent at it, too. "You do realise that, in the end, who she chooses to be with is her decision, right?"
I watched amusedly as Mi-Noo nursed his glass pathetically, hunched over the table. "Of course," he answered softly. "I mean, she's always been popular. And pretty. Part of me knew it was always going to end up like this."
Well, at least he was self-aware enough on that end. "Then, and sorry for how this might sound, shouldn't you have been more mentally prepared for this sort of situation?"
Mi-Noo actually raised his eyes to meet my gaze and glowered. Surprising. It was probably the first sign of anger I'd seen in the young man.
"I was prepared to be rejected," he ground out. "I was not prepared to be humiliated."
Oh?
"How so?" I asked. "Did she mock you in public?"
My younger friend let out a bitter laugh. "I wish," he answered before taking another swig of rum. I motioned the server for another bottle. At the rate we were going, Mi-Noo was going to need to get his stomach pumped by the time the bar closed. "That might've actually been easier to handle."
I honestly didn't see how, but I guess cultural norms really did vary wildly between countries. God knows being rejected and mocked in public back home would've meant pretty much rock bottom.
"I don't follow," I admitted.
"She never explicitly rejected me," Mi-Noo explained before giving a drunken hiccup. "God, that would've been fine on its own. But nah. They couldn't even do that. Bunch of assholes."
Interest piqued. "They?" I parroted.
"The guy she's with. And his other girlfriend."
Oho. Spicy.
"I admit this is my first time coming to Korea, but are such relationships normal?" I asked, knowing full well the answer was no.
Predictably, Mi-Noo slammed his glass into the table, prompting a concerned look from the waitstaff that I waved away with a pleasant smile. "Of course not!" he snapped, exactly as I'd intended.
"So, what happened?" I asked, redirecting his anger back to the incident.
"I entered the university hoping to reunite with Ji-A. She'd promised to wait for me when we graduated from high school," he admitted as he ran a hand through his short hair. "But we'd lost touch after I failed to enter the first time around and she changed her number over the year we'd spent apart. Being new to the university, I wasn't sure where or how to begin looking."
I nodded along to his story, occasionally taking a sip from my own glass of rum. Not the best brand, but decent.
"And then this chick, Sae-Hyun or whatever, she sees me looking at a picture of Ji-A and me we'd taken at graduation and told me she could help me find her. That she knew her."
Pretty vanilla so far. Still, there was an unease building in my stomach I couldn't quite place.
"But instead of bringing me to the dorms or whatever, she brought me to this apartment. I figured they were roommates."
I think I could see where this was going. "She was shacking up with the other guy?"
"…I think so," Mi-Noo said at length. "Honestly, I couldn't really wrap my head around what was going on."
I cocked my head to the side. That was a weird thing to say. "What do you mean?"
Mi-Noo's gaze rose again to meet mine. "It's not that she and her boyfriend answered the door and I realized they were together. All three of them practically forced me inside and then made me watch as they had sex."
Okay. That was fucked up.
"You didn't protest?"
Mi-Noo averted his gaze. "I tried, but…"
Ah, right. Shy personality, introverted. Unlikely to voice much opposition in the face of more dominant, extroverted personalities. Probably the result of years of social isolation and bullying due to a timid personality.
"That's not the worst part."
Holy cow. It gets worse?
"They made you watch them having a threesome and that's not the worst part?" I asked skeptically.
Mi-Noo again laughed bitterly. "I wish."
"Alright, I'll bite. What was the worst part?"
"When Ji-A called me a precious underclassman, but then said I was, as a man, trash."
Well, fuck her.
Honestly, I had been about ready to dismiss this as a typical case of "Nice Guy" syndrome, but that had definitely crossed a line. For this girl to reject Mi-Noo would've been perfectly fine – she was, after all, free to love whoever she loved and associate with whomever she wanted. Even her kinky threesome arrangement was, while odd, still morally acceptable to me.
However, her actions towards Mi-Noo, and that of her boyfriend or whatever he was, were morally unacceptable. If she had wanted to reject him, she could've just said so before he'd been dragged into watching a threesome and then insulting his worth as a human being.
"I see," I said at length, after having him recount the story two more times, from start to finish, as detailed as he could. While I didn't relish having him relive the incident over and over, I needed to be sure that he wasn't lying and that the facts of the story were consistent over multiple narrations.
Fixing him with a flat stare, I pondered my next moves. I could just give him some solid advice and leave things be, or I could get more involved. Making a few calculations in my head, I figured I could wrap this whole thing up before my flight back if I chose to get more deeply involved. Hmm.
"Do you want my help?" I asked him.
Honestly, it all depended on Mi-Noo. Even if I wanted to get involved, it wouldn't do much good if the victim wasn't interested in receiving my help.
My young friend looked up from his glass and stared at me quizzically. "With what?" he asked. "Getting Ji-A back?"
"No," I shot that down fast. "I can't guarantee that kind of outcome, and to be honest, she doesn't sound like the type of girl who's worth the effort."
"But—"
"Childhood crush aside, Mi-Noo, she literally called you trash," I reminded him. "Let's assume, by some fortune, that together, we managed to get her to fall for you. She's already proven that she sees certain types of people as trash. Meaning that if you ever slipped up, she would start seeing you that way again. Only, that time, I wouldn't be around to help – and, honestly, why would you want to expend so much effort in keeping around a woman who's prone to that kind of horrible attitude towards people?"
Mi-Noo stared at me, wide-eyed, mouth gaping.
"Moreover, based on what you've told me, her type clearly appears to be the dominant, extroverted type of guys who seduce and use women as they please," I analysed. "You are not that type of person, and, honestly, I find that far more admirable."
"But…"
"It's not sexy?" I finished for him. Mi-Noo blushed, but then nodded. "Obviously. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. A healthy relationship is based on mutual respect, understanding, and love, Mi-Noo. The sex part is important, sure, but a healthy relationship isn't hierarchical. It's mutual. If you like dominant play and the like, that's fine, too – but it's always based on mutual respect. This dude…"
"Choi Shi-Hoon," Mi-Noo supplied.
"Whatever," I said dismissively, "he doesn't view the women he's with as his equals. He sees them as his toys. The relationship those girls have with him will peter out eventually as he tires of them and looks for newer, younger girls to replace them."
"Shouldn't…shouldn't we tell them that, then?"
I shrugged. "They're in college, aren't they?" I asked rhetorically. "They are adult women, Mi-Noo. Seduced or not, they made their choice to be with a person who doesn't respect them. Someone who enjoys proving his manhood not through his accomplishments and moral rectitude as a person, but rather through sexual dominance. They are fully responsible for choosing to be with him and the consequences that brings."
"T-Then…what did you mean by help?"
I smiled at him. "I can't help you get with either of these women, nor do I especially want to, but I can make them apologise for how they treated you," I said. "And not just some trite, dismissive apology that they'll walk back the minute we're out of sight, but an apology that'll hit them so hard they'll never mess with you again."
Mi-Noo eyed me warily – I couldn't blame him. "Are…are you planning on hurting them?"
"Not physically, no," I answered simply. "If you're concerned about committing any crimes, rest assured – that's not what I'm offering."
Mi-Noo went silent as he regarded me for what seemed like ages, but only really lasted five minutes – during which time I had another glass of rum.
"And you really can get them to apologise?" he asked softly.
"I can."
"You can make Ji-A regret calling me trash?"
"Yes."
Again, he went silent for another minute. "I don't want anyone to get physically hurt," he said.
"As I said, I'm not going to physically harm them. Well, unless they attack me first – in that case, I'd only be engaging in self-defence."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Mi-Noo took a deep breath as he made up his mind, but I already knew his answer. He was simply too predictable.
"Then, I accept. What do you need from me?"
I smiled.
Knock, knock.
Ugh. For an allegedly handsome dude shacking up with two allegedly hot girls, they sure lived in a hovel. The apartment complex the offending trio lived in smacked of lower-middle class, which was surprising, given that Mi-Noo had told me that Ji-A came from an upper-middle-class background and that the lover and his other girlfriend all seemed quite stylish.
I crinkled my nose as a familiar scent seemingly emanated from the door. God above, how much sex must've they had over the past few hours for the smell to be so pungent? And here I'd thought that Koreans had a reputation for cleanliness and good hygiene – there was no way any of this was remotely sanitary.
I really should've brought a face mask, or at least gloves. I bet if I had a black light the interior of the apartment would light up like a Jackson Pollock painting.
Ah, and there's the moaning. Clearly, still going at it. Honestly, if it weren't for the traumatized young man they'd left in their wake, I'd have probably been quite impressed by their sex drive. And, obviously, also somewhat repulsed. While sex was fun and something to enjoy, excessive promiscuity was not just unhealthy, but also kinda gross.
Knock, knock.
This time, I knocked louder. There was a ringer, sure, but considering the occupants, I really didn't want to put even a knuckle on a surface they'd touched. Inside, I could hear someone swearing, as well as what sounded like two indistinct, female voices. I smirked. Apparently, I'd interrupted their sex romp at what was probably a rather enjoyable point.
Hmm. I wonder if the dude would answer the door in his boxer shorts the way he had with Mi-Noo? It would certainly speak volumes as to his douchery.
Patiently, I waited at the door as I heard some ruffling inside and then heavy footsteps stomping towards the door. As I heard the footsteps grow closer, I reached into my jacket and fiddled with my phone there.
"Who is it?" a rough, male voice asked through the door. The lover, probably.
"My name is Dr Stark," I answered politely, figuring there was no need to hide the fact that I knew Korean from these people. "I have business with a Miss Ji-A, Miss Sae-Hyun, and a Mr Choi Shi-Hoon, whom I've been told live here."
"Never heard of you," the male voice behind the door answered after a brief pause.
"I'm not surprised," I answered in kind. "I've recently been hired by a Mr Mi-Noo regarding a recent incident involving the aforementioned."
I heard an audible, female gasp then. Probably unintended. It was followed by the guy swearing softly.
"What does that loser want?" the man demanded.
"I would much rather speak face to face," I said calmly, all the while trying to restrain a smile. Predictable moron.
"Well, I don't care what he has to say," the man declared arrogantly. "Fuck off."
I audibly sighed. "Very well," I said with a long-suffering tone. "Then I suppose I shall be seeing all three of you at your expulsion hearing."
Predictably, that actually caused a reaction as I heard the two women inside shriek and the guy stumble into the door. Within a split second, the door was open and, sure enough, the guy and his two partners were standing there, shocked looks on their faces, in a state of half-dress.
"Ah, I see I interrupted something," I said as I slowly averted my gaze, pretending not to know. "I can wait here while you dress, if you prefer."
Honestly, that would've been best, considering that the pungent odor of sex from before was now hitting me full-on with the door open. Unfortunately, my targets were far too self-involved to realise any of this.
"No, please!" the young woman with black hair – Ji-A, I presume – pleaded, reaching out and pulling at my arm. "Come in!"
Her lover looked at her shocked as I allowed myself to be led into the apartment. I really wished she hadn't, though. If the smell outside had been bad, it was positively nauseous inside. I had to work hard not to show my disgust, but even then, I made a mental note to burn these clothes as soon as I could – they would probably be unsalvageable after five minutes spent in this environment.
As Ji-A led me to the living room – which was rather sparse, considering three people lived seemed to be living here – I noted that the boy-toy and his other girlfriend had vanished into what I presumed was the main bedroom. Probably to get dressed.
"C-Can I get you anything?" Ji-A asked politely as I took a seat on the couch, dearly hoping it was clean.
"No, thank you," I answered calmly. "I have other errands to run, so if we can get this over with quickly, I would much appreciate it."
Polite, but firm. I then made a show of eyeing her state of dress.
"And, with all due respect, and I understand we are in your home, but underwear and a buttoned shirt are not exactly appropriate wear for the discussion I am here to have with you three," I pointed out.
Ji-A blushed a deep red as I pointed out her state of undress and quickly excused herself, leaving with me with my thoughts. I could hear the trio discussing something heatedly in the bedroom – the audio insulation in this apartment really was a joke – but I ignored it in favour of doing some quick visual research on the trio based on their apartment.
Clearly, considering the lack of furniture or decorations, the apartment served little other purpose than to have sex. Insofar as idiosyncratic decorations and items were concerned, the most visually apparent object in the room was the large flat-screen TV that dominated the living room I was in. Aside from that, there were no photos or paintings, or even posters on the wall. The attached kitchenette honestly looked like no one had ever used it. Same for the kitchen table. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the trio actually answering the door and me hearing them inside, one could've been excused for believing this apartment was uninhabited.
Any number of conclusions could be drawn from such observations, however. It might be, for instance, that they each had their own apartments elsewhere and had jointly rented this one for prolonged romps. Another possibility was that they actually did live here full-time, but due to the hyper-sexual nature of their relationship, had simply foregone actually decorating or living in their apartment beyond using the master bedroom. The presence of the large TV, for one, seemed to indicate that the male certainly lived here, as given Ji-A's profile based on what Mi-Noo had told me, as well as his experiences with the other girl, it seemed unlikely that they were the owners of the over-compensating device.
My musings were cut short, however, as the master bedroom's door opened and the trio came back.
I honestly had to repress a snort at their audacity.
While the guy was at least wearing a shirt and pants, the former wasn't buttoned up and the latter was barely hanging off his waist. Clearly, something he'd thrown on quickly and then decided to leave practically half-off in order to assert dominance, like some kind of primitive caveman.
The girls, true to their submissive relationship with their lover, had apparently chosen to dress rather skimpily, wearing minidresses that barely reached their thighs and left little to the imagination in terms of their cleavage. Respectable, to be sure, but hilariously transparent. They had likely decided to appeal to my lust to drop the whole matter.
Instead of gazing lustfully, I opted to raise an eyebrow at the picture they presented. That seemed to surprise them, which I took advantage of to open my prepared words.
"Thank you for meeting with me, Miss Ji-A, Miss Sae-Hyun, and Mr Choi Shi-Hoon," I said, nodding to each one in turn as I said their name. "I presume I have correctly identified each of you?"
"Yes, but…"
"How did I know?" I finished for Sae-Hyun, who nodded in surprise. "Obviously, Mr Mi-Noo provided descriptions of each of you, and an old picture in the case of Miss Ji-A for reference."
"Y-You said something about an expulsion, Mr Stark?"
"Doctor Stark," I corrected Ji-A flatly, though with a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "And yes, that is why I'm here," I confirmed.
Shi-Hoon snarled. "That little rat fucker!" he snapped before smirking arrogantly and drapping his arms around his lovers' waists. "He thinks he can get us expelled? For what? Showing him a good time? He should be thanking us!"
For once, I was glad I was naturally emotionally detached, or else I might've actually felt anger.
"For deliberately causing emotional distress by way of bullying, of course," I corrected him.
"Emotional distress?! Bullying?!" Sae-Hyun asked, shocked. "We did no such thing!" she protested as Ji-A and Shi-Hoon nodded.
I cocked my head to the side slightly. "Oh? Then was he incorrect when he said that, upon asking for the whereabouts of Miss Ji-A, an old childhood acquaintance, you did not divulge the nature of her new relationship with Mr Choi, but rather brought him here and then had him witness a sexual encounter between Miss Ji-A and Mr Choi, followed by a threesome?"
"Well, I…"
"And was he incorrect in saying that during her sexual encounter with Mr Choi, Miss Ji-A said of Mr Mi-Noo, that, as a man, he was trash?"
"But…but!"
"But he never protested!" Sae-Hyun objected as she shot up to her feet. "He never told us to stop!"
I fixed her with a hard stare that made her flinch. "I'm surprised to hear you say that as college students," I said coldly as I laced my fingers together on my lap. "Did your schools never teach you that consent and lack thereof is not always expressed verbally? Did any of you actually pause to see whether Mr Mi-Noo was actually enjoying the events taking place before him?"
I watched as the trio exchanged panicked looks as I gradually cornered them. "I see you did not. Hence, from Mr Mi-Noo's perspective, he was brought here under false pretenses and subsequently coerced into participating in a sexual act as an observer against his will."
"He could've left at any time!" Shi-Hoon snapped.
I stared at Ji-A. "Could he have, Miss Ji-A?" I asked archly. "You've known him longer than anyone else in this room, after all. Does Mr Mi-Noo's personality lend itself to such actions?"
I could see her struggling with the answer, knowing that if she denied it, she would be lying, but if she admitted it, she would prove herself to be a terrible person.
"I…"
"Tell him, Ji-A!" Shi-Hoon snapped at her. "Tell him that fucker could've left!"
"I…he…he could've…left…" she slowly said.
Ah, it always felt so good when a plan came together. Raising a hand as my other subtly went into my jacket pocket and fiddled with my phone again, I caught their attention. "I should mention that I've been recording this entire discussion and uploading it to a website to which Mr Mi-Noo has access," I said with a cold smile. "And that I intend to present the recording to the university authorities, alongside psychological evaluations showing that Mr Mi-Noo could not have realistically been able to leave given the significant emotional stress you put him through."
Bingo. Horrified faces all around – none more so than Ji-A.
"You…you bastard!" Shi-Hoon yelled as he shot to his feet and menacingly advanced towards me.
I stayed calm, of course. For all his flashiness, the boy wasn't really a threat to me. "Do calm down, Mr Choi, before you do something that you'll regret," I told him firmly.
Snarling at me, he lowered his face to my level and glowered hatefully. "Oh yeah? Like what?" he dared me.
I smiled. "Well, aside from the fact that laying your hands on me would constitute assault, which is a crime, I have also left instructions that, should something happen to me, your families are to be informed of not just what happened during this discussion, but every little detail of your living arrangements."
That managed to freeze him, and with good reason. While Choi Shi-Hoon certainly played the part of debauched playboy, the truth was that his family was nothing like that and, according to some snooping, were actually quite traditionally minded. More importantly, they were still financing his living arrangements and university tuition, believing he was behaving correctly and getting good grades. While the latter might be true, the former certainly wasn't.
"You…how…?"
"Welcome to the digital age, Mr Choi," I said coldly. "It's rather amazing what you can find on social media."
I then looked at Sae-Hyun. "Your father's profile was particularly sweet, Miss Sae-Hyun. All those posts about how proud he was of his diligent daughter – the first in the family to go to university."
And then Ji-A, who paled as my eyes found hers. "And you, Miss Ji-A. The golden girl of your neighbourhood. The most popular girl in your graduating class. I wonder, how might they react to hearing how you've chosen to live your university life?"
I stared down Shi-Hoon last. "I imagine daddy might have a problem with how his money is going into financing a round-the-clock orgy, no?"
Naturally, said daddy would, given that he worked as a mid-level bureaucrat for the government. If the son of such an official was found to be living so amorally and was on the verge of expulsion due to bullying charges, it would shame the family intensely enough that his father's job security would come into question.
Shi-Hoon recoiled from me physically, stumbling back into his loveseat as Ji-A and Sae-Hyun collapsed to the ground, the magnitude of their mistakes crushing them.
Smiling coldly, I leaned forward to look at each of them. "You really should've thought this whole arrangement through better, you know," I said with a tinge of cruelty. "It's one thing if you're not attracted to someone like Mr Mi-Noo. That happens. However, when you deliberately traumatize others for kicks, you should realise there are consequences. Especially when people like me get called in to sort things out."
"Who…who are you?"
I shrugged. "Me? I'm a bored tourist who had some time to kill," I answered honestly. "Mr Mi-Noo confided in me after I asked what was wrong, and your actions pissed me off enough to get me involved."
"Then…you had nothing to do with this!" Sae-Hyun yelled at me. "Why help that loser?!"
"Because I don't need to be related to a matter to want to do the right thing," I answered calmly. "I live honestly, by my own code. You hurt someone, that someone needed help, and my code demands I help. It's that simple."
I allowed them to wallow in their misery for a moment before deciding to go for the kill. "Now then, with that out of the way, how about we talk about how we're going to proceed from here on out. After all, I imagine none of you want me to leak your current arrangements."
That got their attention.
"What do you want?!" Shi-Hoon asked through gritted teeth.
I smiled. "It's very simple," I answered before pointing to the two girls. "Your relationship ends. Right now. Either you move out, Mr Choi, or they do. Whichever works, I don't particularly care. However, you are to effectively terminate your relationship for good."
"What?!" Sae-Hyun shrieked as Ji-A stared, gobsmacked. "You can't do that!"
"Shut up!" Shi-Hoon snapped at her, shocking both girls. He then turned back to me. Predictable. "Go on."
"Shi-Hoon!"
"I said, shut up!"
Already falling apart. So much for true love. "The second request is that you issue a public apology to Mr Mi-Noo on campus," I relayed. "Though you do not need to divulge the details of the incident."
"So, we just apologise and that's it?" Shi-Hoon asked.
"That's correct," I confirmed. "Though I imagine that Mr Mi-Noo will want a sincere apology rather than a quick and dismissive one."
I could practically hear the man's teeth grinding to dust. There really was no greater pleasure.
"Is that all?" he asked sarcastically. "Maybe he wants Sae-Hyun or Ji-A to blow him?"
I waved aside the comment. "Nothing of the sort," I answered immediately. "After discussing it at length, Mr Mi-Noo has come to realise that neither Miss Sae-Hyun nor Miss Ji-A are either interested in him, nor is he interested in either of them."
"Bullshit!" Shi-Hoon objected, thumping his fist onto the sidearm of his loveseat. "He couldn't keep his eyes off Ji-A when I was fucking her!"
"I imagine having his dignity and worth as a man insulted by her and being forced into watching a sex act might have erased any estimation he had of Miss Ji-A," I observed acidly, prompting a violent flinch from Ji-A.
"I…"
"Shut the fuck up!" Shi-Hoon yelled at her, causing her to recoil. Shi-Hoon then turned to look back at me. "So that's it? He just wants me to dump these two and apologise?"
"That's correct."
"And in exchange, you won't leak the info or seek our expulsion?"
"Correct."
"Obviously, our answer is no!" Sae-Hyun said, putting a hand on her lover's shoulder. Which he then swatted off immediately to her shock. "Shi-Hoon?"
"Sex is one thing, but I'm not tying my future to you two if it means not having one," he predictably sneered at her. "You're hot, but so are other girls, and they won't lead me to losing everything."
"Shi-Hoon!" Ji-A gasped, horrified.
"You asshole!" Sae-Hyun shrieked as she realized what he'd said. She tried to slap him, only to have Shi-Hoon grab her arm and slap her back, causing her to fall to the ground.
"You knew what this was," Shi-Hoon told her coldly. "Did you think this was true love? That I'd marry you two? Give me a break." He then turned to me. "You've got a deal. Tell that wimpy fucker he'll get his apology from me tomorrow."
I smiled and got up from my seat. Everything was going according to plan. "I'm glad to hear that," I said as I buttoned up my jacket again. I then stared at the girls. "What about you two? Do we have a deal?"
Sae-Hyun could barely speak amidst her tears, while Ji-A tried to console her. Nonetheless, both slowly nodded in defeat.
My smile grew wider. "I will be relaying the good news to Mr Mi-Noo, then. No need to show me out. Good day."
Leaving the shattered trio in the living room, I left the apartment with half a mind to skip my way back to the hotel. Everything had gone so well according to plan that it was incredible – almost as if all three were walking stereotypes unable to think beyond the immediate gains.
That being said, one anomaly in the plan did present itself as I waited for the elevator to get back down to the ground level.
"Wait!"
Surprised, I turned around to see Sae-Hyun, her left cheek still red from Shi-Hoon's slap; and Ji-A standing there. Both looked torn between being devastated, hopeful, and just plain sad.
"Miss Sae-Hyun. Miss Ji-A," I greeted them. "Is there something additional you wish to discuss?"
Both girls looked at each other before turning their gazes back at me. "We wanted to know: Mi-Noo never came up with any of this, did he?" Ji-A asked softly.
"You put him up to this, right?" Sae-Hyun followed up. "The conditions, the evidence, the bullying…all of it."
I smiled coldly as I reached into my jacket and activated my phone's special app. "Of course," I confirmed. "As you well know, Miss Ji-A, Mr Mi-Noo's personality is not typically prone to such thinking. He actually wanted to drop out of college altogether when I first met him."
Ji-A looked shocked at that revelation, but Sae-Hyun scowled. "Why didn't you let him? He could've just gone to another college! He could've started over elsewhere! Why ruin our lives?!"
"Ruin?" I asked archly. "I would say I've rather improved them. You two," I pointed at them, "were in a purely hyper-sexual relationship with a man who, I believe, I just proved never viewed you as more than disposable sex toys. While I'm not one to judge others for enjoying sex, such an unhealthy relationship would've been detrimental to both of you in the long run. In addition, Mr Mi-Noo informed me that you," I pointed at Ji-A, who flinched, "were actually beginning to skip class to keep having sex with Mr Choi. Thus, if anything's, I'd argue I've put you back on the right path."
"That was not your decision to make!" Sae-Hyun snarled.
I stared her down coldly. "Nor was it your decision to make to traumatize a poor young man who'd only wanted to reconnect with an old crush," I countered. "You could've let Miss Ji-A know that Mr Mi-Noo was looking for her. You could've arranged a private meeting between them where she could've rejected him and then carried on with your unhealthy ménage-a-trois. But you didn't. You chose to put him through a traumatic event because it amused you."
"It didn't…!"
"If not you, then Mr Choi. Either way, you are complicit in all of this," I cut her off before turning to Ji-A. "It is not my place to judge you on your taste in men, so I cannot tell you whether you made a mistake or not with regards to not giving Mr Mi-Noo a chance," I said honestly. "However, Mr Choi was definitely a poor choice."
The elevator's ding prevented Sae-Hyun or Ji-A from responding as I turned around and walked right into the compartment and turned on my heel to face them. Both of them looked deeply ashamed, though I could not tell regarding what. Were they ashamed of what they'd done, or that they'd been caught? Time would tell.
"Now then. Good day, ladies. I'll tell Mr Mi-Noo your apologies will be forthcoming tomorrow."
Before either had a chance to reply, the doors closed and I was on my way back to the bar where Mi-Noo was waiting for the good news.
"So, it worked?"
Mi-Noo was all smiles as his video frame wobbled, likely from his excitement. "It did!" he gushed. "Just like you said!"
I smiled back at him as I took a sip from my drink. "Predictable," I concluded.
Just as I'd arranged with the trio, Sae-Hyun, Ji-A, and Shi-Hoon had made a public apology to Mi-Noo at the university cafeteria for what they'd done to him. As expected, they had declined from elaborating regarding what, precisely, they were apologizing for. Not that it mattered, because as I'd predicted, such a bizarre event would have the rumor mill go nuts. With former flames of Shi-Hoon still roaming the university halls, it wasn't long before it became an open secret that Shi-Hoon was something of a man-whore and Sae-Hyun and Ji-A had been his most recent lovers – a scandalous affair on its own – and that this arrangement had somehow been responsible for hurting Mi-Noo.
A situation made infinitely worse as Mi-Noo, as I'd directed, anonymously leaked those rumours to his victimisers' parents, prompting a severe backlash against all three. According to Mi-Noo, Shi-Hoon had been forced to drop college merely a few weeks into the term for "undisclosed reasons," while it was said that Sae-Hyun got an in-person visit from her enraged parents. Apparently, the haranguing was public, loud, and would become something of a university legend.
As for Ji-A…
"I still don't know what happened to her," Mi-Noo said. "She just dropped out soon after Shi-Hoon. My mom said her parents were furious with her and pulled her out, but aside from that, nothing else."
I raised an eyebrow. "Are you still pining for her, Mi-Noo?" I asked.
My younger friend scoffed. "Of course not!" he said, showing a bit more confidence this time. In prior occasions it had been significantly harder to believe him. "It took some time, but I understand what you were saying. We were never going to be a good fit," he acknowledged somberly before smiling once more. "Actually, you're never going to believe this, but I got a date!"
I smiled in pleasant surprise. "Oh?"
"Yeah, she's super cool! She isn't shy like me, but we apparently like a lot of the same things!"
"That sounds great," I said sincerely before taking another sip and eyeing his video feed knowingly. "She asked you out, didn't she?"
He blushed and dipped his head. "Yeah…"
I raised my glass. "None of that, Mi-Noo!" I chastised him lightly. "Be proud! Someone likes you for who you are! Not everyone gets to feel that!"
Mi-Noo smiled widely. "Yeah…yeah!" he agreed before something caught his eye. "Hey, I gotta go. Thanks again for all your help, Dr Stark!"
"My pleasure," I said honestly. "Do keep in touch, and if weddings are ever impending, do remember to send an invitation!"
The young man blushed again before mumbling an agreement and then cutting the feed, allowing me to return my attention to my drink, my office, and the person standing before it.
"Ji-A," I finally greeted her. The dark-haired, Korean beauty had a look of profound shame on her face as I turned to face her. "Apparently, you've disappeared."
"I…"
"Excuses don't really work on me, Ji-A," I told her flatly. "We both know why you're here."
She nodded slowly.
"Say it."
She swallowed nervously.
"I hate repeating myself, Ji-A."
"I…" she stuttered. "I need a job. Please."
"And college?"
"M…My parents refuse to pay for it. I have no money," she said softly.
I smiled as I gestured for her to take a seat. It was fortunate, in a way, that everything in my little sojourn in Seoul had turned out so nicely. Without Mi-Noo's little drama, I might not have gotten my hands on such potential.
"Have a seat, Miss Ji-A. I'm sure we can find you a position based on your...qualifications."
I love it when a plan comes together.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein