MS Epilogue part 1

“Wow, daebak. It’s really Euncho-ssi.”

Euncho had just closed her locker in the employee locker room. The staff members all gathered around her when they recognized her. Euncho straightened her name tag on the uniform she hadn’t worn for several months and smiled at them.

“Hello.”

“I heard you’d be returning to work! Are you feeling better now?”

“Of course.”

“I heard you got into an accident. Was it a car accident?”

“Yes, well, something like that.”

The memory of the blinding headlights from half a year ago flashed through her mind. Even as the employees made their way to their own lockers, they couldn’t take their eyes off of Euncho.

“We were really worried. We thought Euncho-ssi was going to retire.”

“Aren’t I too young to retire?”

“Aigoo, of course you are!”

“But I never expected you to take half a year off.”

“Neither did I. I’m so glad the hotel reinstated you back to your post after all that time.”

Of course it did. It was a direct order from the hotel owner, so how could anyone object? At times like this, the CEO’s influence was truly amazing.

“Euncho-ssi, be honest. You felt nervous about it, too, right?”

“Of course. I couldn’t stop shaking as I submitted my leave of absence.”

As she let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, everyone burst into laughter. The atmosphere in the room was bursting with joy due to the reunion, but it briefly quieted down as they all started getting changed into their uniforms. 

Last winter, after the chaos, Euncho submitted a leave of absence. It was Ki Taeju’s suggestion. Of course, he didn’t start with the leave of absence.

‘Why should I quit my job?’

At some point in the past, Ki Taeju urged her to quit her job. He said it offhandedly like, ‘I’d be fine with it if you quit.’ At the time, she thought he was joking, but looking back, she realized that he was serious the whole time.

‘You work because you need money, right? You can just spend my money.’

‘No…’

‘What, do you want another credit card?’

‘I wonder why you are so eager to make me unemployed…?’

She couldn’t help but ask playfully because Ki Taeju’s attitude was so serious.

She had a vague hunch as to why he was doing this. Seeing her and Ki Cheonju in the same place must have made him quite anxious. This must have been his way of trying to block out anything that could be a source of that anxiety. But still… wasn’t this too extreme?

Euncho glanced at him in disbelief.

‘Money is money, but I also like to work.’

‘Aren’t you the one who’s always saying it’s better to speak the truth?’

‘Well, do you think that’s all? I like hanging out with my colleagues, and there’s also a sense of satisfaction when I see the money I earned through my own hard work.’

When she said this, Ki Taeju rubbed his chin while holding a cigarette in his mouth. Then he answered in a brisk voice.

‘Then I’ll just give you the hotel, so you can be the new owner. You’ll feel satisfied just sitting there as the money rolls in.’

Had it always been this difficult to communicate with him? The conversation took an awkward turn. He tried to hide his worries, but if she just listened quietly and didn’t do anything, he would really lock her up somewhere.

‘No thank you. You know that’s not what I mean. I didn’t endure all these years just to quit like that. I’m going to work for a long time until I die. There’s a saying these days, ‘hell-hold’. It means to hold on like hell. I’m literally going to hell-hold until the end.’

‘What…’

It seemed that both sides were frustrated by the difficulty in communication. Ki Taeju looked at her with displeasure. Euncho buried her face into his chest and whined.

‘My mom was so happy when she found out I got a job…’

As expected, Ki Taeju grew quiet as soon as she brought up the topic that made him weak.

‘If I quit my job, how am I going to face her as I live at home! Even Ahjussi won’t be able to cover for me. She’s going to keep nagging me, asking me why I quit a perfectly fine job. Then I have to tell her I was hospitalized, and, uh, it’ll become very complicated. My head will explode.’

‘You can just stay at my place.’

Ki Taeju spoke absentmindedly, breathing out the smoke from his cigarette. Euncho sat up and answered back.

‘Okay! So I can just keep working at the hotel and spend time with you like I’m doing now, right?’

‘We were talking about my place, so why are you bringing up the hotel? Is that my house?’

‘Huh? Isn’t it?’

‘……’

‘…It’s not?’

‘What kind of guy would call the hotel his home? I have my own house.’

Euncho was genuinely surprised.

‘Y-You have a house?’

Ki Taeju laughed as if he were genuinely incredulous.

‘Sometimes, I wonder how you see me.’

‘Then… why did you keep staying at the hotel?’

‘Why do you think?’

Ki Taeju pinched Euncho’s cheek. Judging from the painful pinch, he must have been quite dumbfounded by what she’d said. Euncho stroked her throbbing cheek and stammered back.

‘Uh, was it… because… of me?’

Ki Taeju answered her with a steady gaze. He crushed the cigarette butt in the ashtray and spoke up.

‘For now, stay at my place and rest. It’s not like you can work right now with a face like that.’

‘Yeah, I guess that’s true…’

The bruises on her face hadn’t fully healed yet, and it was still difficult to run around due to the poor condition of her ankle. Therefore, as Ki Taeju said, it would be impossible to return to work right away. After agreeing to the leave of absence, Euncho was discharged from the hospital and went to live at Ki Taeju’s house.

She expected to stay for a month. She only planned to rest for a month, but Ki Taeju’s house was a lot cozier than she’d expected. The exclusive VIP hotel suite was luxurious, but it was nothing compared to his main home.

The scale of it made her realize that he truly was an executive director of a large company. It wasn’t just the size. From the interior to the home appliances, there was nothing ordinary about his house.

She would often see celebrities on TV saying they would hate to leave once they moved into a home they spent a lot of money on. She could completely understand how they felt. It was so scary to think that she could live in a house like that for the rest of her life and never leave. 

Euncho spent a month in that house, rolling around, eating, sleeping, and devoting herself to rest. A month later, when the bruises on her face had disappeared and her throbbing ankle had completely healed, she planned on returning to work.

At least, that was the plan.

However, after four years of hard work, the one-month break was like sweet honey to her.

She could sleep in late, she didn’t have to tie her hair so tight that it pulled at the scalp, she didn’t have to struggle with her makeup every morning, and most of all, she didn’t have to worry about dealing with guests, which made her feel a lot more physically and mentally relaxed than she thought.

Euncho thought, ‘Maybe I’m suited to be a freeloader.’ She also had a creeping suspicion that Ki Taeju knew this and brought her to his home with that in mind.

Additionally, because Ki Taeju was now busy with taking care of her safety, she didn’t even have to worry about her own wellbeing.

After having decided to keep her by his side, Ki Taeju’s next line of business was to uproot and eradicate the remaining members that had supported Ki Cheonju. He told her he planned on turning the company upside-down for the next several months.

He swept through the company on a grand scale, pulling out the rats who had sent information over to Ki Cheonju while he was in Shanghai, especially the ones who had continued Ki Cheonju’s business methods back here in Korea.

He suggested she stay quiet for at least a year because the outside world might become noisy due to this matter. Realizing that he was compromising with a leave of absence instead of retirement, Euncho had no choice but to agree.

How could she defy him when he was doing all of this for her own safety?

But there was a limit to just rolling around. As time went by, half a year passed, and each day gradually became boring. The humiliating feeling of becoming a useless human also played a part.

One morning, Euncho woke up in a daze and sat on his lap as she tied his necktie for him. She suddenly spoke up.

‘I think I need to get back to work now.’

‘……’

‘I’m not saying this to ask for your permission. I’m an adult. I have the right to make my own decisions.’

‘Very funny.’

Although he answered like that, Ki Taeju still gave the order to the hotel and permitted her to return to work. With that, Euncho’s work situation was sorted out.

Therefore, a week ago, Euncho was safely reinstated at the Eatons Hotel.

Of course, this whole process was kept a secret from her mother. From her hospitalization to her stay at Ki Taeju’s house during her leave of absence.

She made excuses to her mother, telling her that she ended up moving in with the colleague who had been letting her stay at her place. While staying with Ki Taeju, Euncho would only go out on occasion to have a meal with her mother to continue this deception.

“Then does this mean you will be returning to the lobby desk, Euncho-ssi?”

Moonju asked as she changed into her uniform behind her.

“Ah, I decided to continue working at the EFL.”

She told Ki Taeju she’d do this in exchange for her reinstatement, so nothing could be done. It would have been nice to rotate back into the front desk in the lobby like before, but Ki Taeju would not compromise on this matter.

Although he had successfully finished getting rid of the threats within the organization, there were still threats that could come at any time in any way. Therefore, he told her to keep her post at the EFL, which was relatively quiet and safe. What is the point of working in that lounge when you were the only customer? When she asked this, Ki Taeju came up with a clear and simple solution.

‘I can just start staying there again.’

In other words, he would return to being the only customer.

“Ah, that’s right, Euncho-ssi. Would you like to go eat some dessert after work?”

“Dessert?”

“Yes. While you were away, a cafe opened up in front, and it’s famous for its delicious desserts.”

“Then I don’t think I can refuse.”

After giving her a definite answer, Euncho left the locker room with the staff who had also finished changing into their uniforms.

“But isn’t it quite hot today?”

“Aigoo, seriously. I can’t believe how hot this summer is going to be.”

Euncho quietly listened to the conversation of the employees walking in front of her. She looked at the sunlight streaming into the hotel through the skylight.

It was already summer.

Summer had returned once again.

* * *

After chatting for a while, she belatedly checked the text message from Ki Taeju. Today was the day he returned from his three-day business trip. Judging from the fact that he’d arrived at the airport three hours ago, his flight would probably land in about two hours.

Additionally, his texting manners were still the same as always.

Euncho chuckled as she looked at the clear, simple text. To put it bluntly, he was horrible at it. His wording was absolutely abysmal.

She knew that this was Ki Taeju’s way of putting in effort.

He was the type of person who found texting to be very frustrating. He said it would be much simpler and faster to resolve things with a call instead of typing out every letter.

‘Text messages have their own unique flavor. There’s the excitement of waiting to see if the text I sent has been read or not, and the excitement of wondering what you’re going to write in your reply.’

When she told him that there was a flirtatious element to text messages, he looked at her as if she were crazy. Although he reacted that way, he must not have completely ignored her because he would sometimes send her text messages like this.

Therefore, this was his way of putting in effort.

“Euncho-ssi, are you heading home?”

“Ah, there’s something I need to take care of at the hotel, so I’m going to stop by before heading back.”

“Really? Aigoo, how tiring.”

“It’s okay. Everyone, get home safely!”

After bidding them farewell in front of the cafe, Euncho headed back to Eatons Hotel.

As the owner, Ki Taeju occupied the entire floor lounge. She returned to the suite where he stayed and went into the bathroom to wash up. After checking to see that there was still an hour left until ten o’clock, she dove into the bed.

She wrapped herself in the blanket, and her eyes grew blurry.

She looked out the same window that was once streaked with the autumn rain nearly a year ago. Half of the window was filled with the city view and the other half showed a crescent moon hanging in the sky. The sky was already pitch black, so the only thing sparkling through the window was the lights of the building and the reflection of the moonlight on its windows.

The soft light was perfect for falling asleep, but Euncho reached out and turned on the bedside lamp.

Actually, Euncho thought there wouldn’t be any side effects from that terrifying night. No, she hadn’t even consider the fact that there could be any side effects at all.

She thought only main characters in the movies experienced things like that, and that it only existed for the sake of dramatic development in the plot or a ridiculous anecdote.

But not long after she was hospitalized, she couldn’t dismiss it anymore. Whenever she fell asleep, she’d wake up with similar symptoms. Every time she woke up, she’d be covered in sweat, and the parts of her body that had been injured by Ki Cheonju would throb in various ways. Especially her ankle.

As if he had expected Euncho to react this way, Ki Taeju stayed by her side every night.

Whenever Euncho had difficulty calming down from the nightmare, she would be comforted by his embrace. He would soothe her by rubbing her back and giving her lukewarm water to drink. Without asking her what she had dreamed about or whether she was scared, he would simply wrap her in his warmth and affection.

Only then did Euncho realize that these kinds of things didn’t only happen in the movies. She was one of the few who had escaped unscathed without a single bullet wound, but she was still trapped within the dark, sticky shadows.

The nightmares came in all sorts of ways.

No matter how many times she’d blink, her surroundings were pitch black. There were times when she’d hear a torrent of gunshots pouring down around her. There were times when she’d see Ki Cheonju climbing on top of her, his face twisted and swollen like a lump of mud. Sometimes, someone would forcefully grab her chin and try to shove dozens of pills down her throat.

Every time this happened, she’d realize that what she had experienced was not normal. At the same time, she also realized why Ki Taeju had been so sensitive when it came to her own safety. Why he had suppressed his desire to see her and merely circled around her.

It didn’t just end with the kidnapping.

Even if she were lucky enough to survive a disaster, she didn’t know what kind of side effects it would cause.

However, Euncho’s condition improved over time.

As Ki Taeju comforted her and soothed her back to sleep every night, the speed of her recovery gradually increased. The frequency of the nightmares used to occur once every two days, but it gradually decreased to once every three days, once a week, and now just once a month.

But now that she had gotten used to Ki Taeju being by her side, she became afraid of waking up in the dark whenever he wasn’t with her. That’s why there was a large lamp next to her side of the bed in the house where she lived for half a year and now here in the hotel.

Euncho dozed off for a moment, surrounded by the dim light illuminating the area around the bed.

Vrrrrr. She woke up to the vibration of her cell phone which was lying on the pillow next to her. She brushed back her disheveled hair and checked the screen with half-lidded eyes.

There was only one person whose caller ID was flanked by hearts on both sides.

“…Yeah.”

— Where are you?

“Hotel…”

She mumbled her answer in a voice that was clearly drowsy.

— Were you sleeping?

Euncho answered his sweet question with a ‘hmm’ and brought the phone away from her ear. She checked the time. The digits ‘10:22’ were written in small letters on the top of the screen.

“Why aren’t you here yet? It’s ten o’clock. You said you’d be here at ten o’clock.”

The fact that no one was by her side made her heart feel cold. The anxiety she had endured when she thought he would leave her one day had developed into a form of separation anxiety. Occasionally, she’d feel a bit depressed from time to time. Especially now that she was waking up alone, the loneliness felt even worse.

— I had to stop by somewhere for a bit.

“Then when are you coming…?”

Amidst her whining voice, laughter came from the other end of the call. She gradually shook off the sleepiness and came to her senses as she talked to him.

— It’ll take some time. More importantly, what are you wearing right now?

What was this geezer up to? It took her a moment to respond to his unexpected question. She glanced down and whispered in a strained voice.

“Me? Just my pajamas… The ones I wear every day.”

— The sky blue ones with the stripes?

“Yeah.”

— Why aren’t you wearing a robe?

Why was he asking something like this? She couldn’t figure out the answer to that question due to her half-asleep state. Euncho decided not to think too hard and chattered as she pleased.

“Just ‘cus. Pajamas are more comfortable.”

— Are you wearing underwear?

“Of course.”

— Check and make sure you’re wearing it.

A question mark popped into Euncho’s head. What… What are you doing? Half flustered, Euncho fumbled around with her hands as she lowered them. She put her hands inside her striped pants. She didn’t have to push them in too deep to feel the edge of the waistband of her underwear that wrapped around her flat lower abdomen. Euncho scoffed at herself for being so nervous about something so trivial.

“I’m definitely wearing them.”

— Then you better take them off.

“Huh…?”

— To have phone sex.

The remaining sleepiness completely wore off. Euncho stared straight ahead, her eyes dim. She rubbed her face into the pillow, feeling feverish for no particular reason.

“What are you talking about… all of a sudden?”

— Take off your pants. And lower the panties you just touched with your hands.

She was about to reprimand him for his absurd behavior, but his low voice coming through the phone momentarily gripped her. A shiver ran from her heart throughout the rest of her body.

Ki Taeju had the ability to instantly draw people into a strange mood. But she never thought he’d be able to do it through the phone. She’d only seen it happen in person.

Euncho gulped, thinking that it was strange how quickly the mood had changed. Perhaps he could hear the tension through the phone on the other end because Ki Taeju began to chuckle. Like ripples on the surface of the water, the sound struck her ears.

“Where are you…?”

Euncho whispered as she slowly lowered her pants and underwear so that he couldn’t tell what she was doing.

— In the car.

“Aren’t you with someone?”

— Yeah. Hyungsik is here.

That was his secretary’s name. Either way, he was with someone right now. It wasn’t a surprise since Hyungsik was the one who drove whenever Ki Taeju went out for work.

“But is it okay to do something like this?”

— Something like what?

Euncho struggled to pull down her pants as they hung around her knees. She answered, ‘Phone sex’ in a low voice, afraid that others might hear.

— I want to go to the hotel right this second and fuck you, so he’ll have to understand this much.

Before she could say, ‘That’s not Hyungsik’s fault. He’s too pitiful.’, Ki Taeju quickly cut her off.

— Did you take off your pants?

“Yeaaah.”

His laughter stirred the air again. He obviously thought it was funny that she had been taking off her clothes while asking all those questions. Euncho rubbed her flushed cheeks and focused on the voice coming from the other end of the phone.

— Spread your knees and move your hands down.

As if to pierce through her expectations, Ki Taeju urged her in a thick voice. Even though he wasn’t in front of her, her skin tingled as if she were facing him. Euncho pushed the hand that had been holding the blanket between her legs. 

— Don’t just touch it. Lie down properly and look at the ceiling. Then spread your legs so that I can clearly see your entrance.

His next command caused a shiver to run down her spine. He spoke as if there was a CCTV camera installed somewhere in this room. It was difficult to follow his orders in her current state. She was lying on her side with her legs crossed.

Euncho took a deep breath before rolling over to face the ceiling. She raised her knees and lowered her hand below her belly button as he instructed. She remembered the time when she secretly masturbated. The secret act on that summer’s day. A day when she felt like she had been dropped in the middle of a subtropical region, humidity soaking the air…

The strange excitement grew even stronger. Euncho spread her legs. The ceiling seemed to spin around her as it stared at her with its sharp gaze.

Her fingers touched her dry entrance.

— Touch your clit.

Ki Taeju ordered in a soft voice as if he knew she wasn’t wet yet. Euncho slightly spread apart her labial lips and gently circled her clitoris that was peeking through with her finger.

After always being rolled around by Ki Taeju’s tongue or sucked until it was almost pulled out, touching it with her own hands caused her back to grow feverishly warm.

— Rub it in a circular motion. Remember how I suck it with my tongue?

“Y-Yeah…”

Since she was holding her phone with one hand, she had to stimulate with her other hand. But it wasn’t difficult at all.

Rather than touching her entrance, she was touching her most delicate erogenous spot first. Her entrance contracted and opened as it gradually grew moist. Because Ki Taeju’s voice was in her ear, it really felt like he was licking her flesh thoroughly until the little nub was exposed. 

— Rub gently and then press down with your fingernails. Like how I bite down with my teeth.

Euncho cast all doubts aside and did as he told her. She gently pressed it in a clockwise manner before scratching the nub with her fingernail. Even though it was something she did with her own hand, she gasped at the stab of pleasure that traveled through her spine.

— Feel good?

“Yeah, ah…”

— Lift your top so that I can see your breasts. Are you wearing a bra?

“N-No.”

— Then I guess I’ll see your nipples right away. Squeeze your breast and see if your nipples are swollen and begging to be sucked.

She was truly caught up in the mood he had created. She could tell by the way she did the things she’d never do in front of him. Euncho grabbed the breast that Ki Taeju always crushed inside his hands and squeezed it until her nipple popped out.

“I-I can’t tell…”

— You don’t even have to look to know. It’s swollen and straining, just dying to be sucked.

He must have been excited too because vulgar, unfiltered words were slowly seeping out of Ki Taeju’s mouth. Rather than wanting to stop him, Euncho gulped as her stomach grew hot.

— F*ck. Your nipples, Euncho. Are they red and perky?

Ki Taeju spoke as if he was seeing something. Euncho blinked. She knew he was saying this to seduce her, and it was very effective. Euncho felt the area between her parted legs grow quite wet, and she silently sighed. Ki Taeju, a man who was very perceptive when it came to sex, seemed to have noticed it and continued to urge her.

— Keep pleasuring your pussy. I’ll suck on your nipples until they burst.

Euncho lowered her hand as if she were possessed. It was strange. Since he was not in front of her, he wasn’t able to suck her nipples. However, the tips of her nipples began to tingle. It was as if they were being teased and crushed by his tongue. She had only heard about phone sex. She often wondered why people did this, but now that she was actually experiencing it herself, she could understand it to some extent.

“Babe… Nnng…”

— What.

“Babe, haa, are you doing it too?”

Euncho rubbed her entrance, now drenched in moisture, with her finger. Ki Taeju snickered as if he found it funny that she had the energy left to worry about that while she was pleasuring herself with her hands.

— Yeah. I took my cock out, and I’m jerking off to your moans.

She imagined Hyungsik-ssi witnessing all this and was about to say, ‘What crime did he commit to deserve this?’, but the words never left the tip of her tongue. He was a man who would let it slide the first time, but if she mentioned another man a second time, he would grow upset and punish her for it.