TTS Vol 1 Ch 6.3

Right next to the gaming hall was an old cafe. It was the kind of place that might be better described as a dabang¹ than a cafe.

Park Chigyeong ordered a hangover coffee containing oriental raisin tree extract, and Taeri got a parfait. It was a drink Park Chigyeong had ordered on his own accord, completely disregarding Taeri’s stated intention not to drink anything.

Taeri stared discontentedly at the long chocolate stick perched atop the parfait glass brought by the elderly cafe owner, then shifted her gaze to Park Chigyeong.

Park Chigyeong, sitting on an old sofa covered in a tacky, mismatched floral print, smoothly downed his coffee, the taste of which she couldn’t even begin to discern, and and then placed the empty glass on the table with a clink.

He fumbled in his pocket, pulled out a cigarette pack, and gestured with it toward the cafe owner. It was a silent question about whether smoking was allowed. Seemingly having received permission, Park Chigyeong pulled out a cigarette and clamped the filter between his teeth.

With a flick, he spun the lighter wheel, igniting the tip of the cigarette. He inhaled, and the crimson ember flared. 

She watched Park Chigyeong bring the cigarette to life with a series of smooth, practiced movements, when suddenly, whoosh, he exhaled a long plume of smoke directly into her face. 

Asshole.

Park Chigyeong smirked, watching her through the haze of smoke as she scowled in disgust and waved her hand in the air.

“Did it hurt?”

It was the start of a shitty conversation.

She wanted to retort, asking if he thought she wouldn’t be hurt after he’d so rudely forced himself on her the first time, but she didn’t even have the energy for that now. So she simply replied, “Yes,” hoping to cut the conversation short.

Taeri was now figuring out her own way of dealing with this man. She knew that keeping her answers short with “yes” and “no” and ending conversations quickly to get away from him was the best strategy in many ways.

“Hearing you say it hurt makes me feel needlessly sorry.”

If he felt sorry, he felt sorry. Why add the superfluous “needlessly”?

She was thinking about how even his apologies were just like him, when he, seemingly looking for an ashtray, roughly stubbed his cigarette out on the table and spoke in a different tone than usual.

“At least answer my calls. Do I have to come all the way here when I left my phone behind?”

“If it was that urgent, you could have left a message. I would have checked it eventually.”

“No, don’t talk to me like that right now. I’m barely holding back.”

He looked at her. It was a look that suggested he might kill her right there and then.

His silent gaze was suffocating her. Taeri, finally grasping the atmosphere, adjusted her tone to a more respectful one, albeit with a noticeable fakeness.

“I apologize, Prosecutor. I was very ill. I couldn’t answer the phone.”

Prosecutor. 

Park Chigyeong rolled the word “Prosecutor” around his tongue as if a child savoring a new word, then stubbed out the remaining ember of his cigarette into the table with a smirk. His jaw twitched, looking momentarily ferocious.

Park Chigyeong pulled out another cigarette from his pack. Repeating the same actions as before, he lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled his answer along with the smoke.

“You answer some calls, ignore others. So, Kang Taeri, your body chooses when to be sick depending on who’s calling? What a convenient excuse.”

What nonsense is he talking about now? 

As she frowned, trying to understand his words, Yijoon’s words from earlier suddenly came to mind.

‘Your voice sounded weak… I’m glad your complexion is better than I feared.’

Did he perhaps overhear that? Even if he did, was it something to interrogate her about like this? She stared at him, bewildered, when his hand shot out, seizing her jaw with a brutal force.

“Ouch!”

An involuntary moan escaped her lips as the sudden pain of her jaw being twisted forced her mouth open. Park Chigyeong, seemingly enjoying her agony, tightened his grip and spoke.

“Overturning a finalized ruling against a major corporation seems like child’s play to you, Kang Taeri.”

“Ugh…”

“We haven’t even begun, and you’re treating it all like a game. Do you really want to get your father out? How dare you ignore my calls when you don’t even know what news I have. Did you think that once you spread your legs for me, it was all done? That you could just leave me to deal with the shitstorm while you’re thinking ‘I did my part’?”

“Uh…”

Staring directly at Taeri writhing in pain within his grasp, Park Chigyeong puffed on his cigarette, continuously exhaling grey smoke that resembled exhaust fumes.

His face, reflecting his tangled emotions, appeared and disappeared intermittently through the smoke.

She thought his face resembled a rambling rose bush. Yes, now that she thought about it, he was like a rambling rose to her. With alternating leaves, sharp thorns along the edges, and a stem that so easily climbed over the fence that was Kang Taeri… a rambling rose.

“Answer my calls. It’s not a polite way to treat someone who’s offering to help you.”

She wasn’t sure if not answering his calls warranted this level of anger, but thinking from his perspective, he might have had urgent information about the case. 

Fine. With that shitty temper of his, ten days was a long time to wait. 

Reaching a simple conclusion made her feel strangely relieved. Though, in truth, she was simply too exhausted to argue and just wanted to end the conversation quickly and leave.

“I’m sorry, Prosecutor. I’ll answer your calls from now on.”

Once she yielded, Park Chigyeong’s grip on her jaw, which had felt like it would crush it, gradually loosened.

“Let go. It hurts.”

At her clear request, his hand finally released her jaw. She rubbed the sore spot with the back of her hand when Park Chigyeong held out the long chocolate wafer stick from her parfait.

“You look pale.”

Open your mouth. 

He spoke with his eyes, with a look that threatened to grab her jaw and force it open if she didn’t comply. Just like that night, when he’d thrust his erect penis in front of her lips.

Taeri obediently opened her mouth, and his hand moved smoothly, pushing the chocolate wafer stick inside. The sweetness coated her tongue, and a wave of nausea momentarily hit her. She hadn’t eaten properly in days, and even this sweetness was something she couldn’t handle now.

When Taeri turned her head away, unable to take any more bite, she heard him chuckle. Feeling like a fool for falling for his manipulation, disgust welled up inside her.

What a fucking asshole.

“I did a lot of thinking during the past few days while you were ignoring my calls. What should I do about this? What should I really do about this impertinence of yours?”

The smile vanished from his face, replaced by blazing anger.

“There will be times during the case review when I need to contact you urgently. If you keep blocking my calls like this, how am I supposed to make any progress?”

He suddenly reached behind him and grabbed his wallet. He opened it, pulled out a wad of cash, and placed it on the table. It seemed like compensation for the cigarette burn marks he’d left on the table earlier.

“If you’re going to act like this, why don’t we just live together until the retrial is over?”

“… What?”

“What? Does the suggestion of living together piss you off that much?”

He asked casually, a smile plastered on his face. It was a forced smile, anyone could see that.

“But what can we do? I just told you. Overturning a finalized ruling against a major corporation isn’t child’s play. The process ahead be more difficult than you think. It’ll be arduous. If he’s truly been falsely accused, do you think they’ll just sit back and do nothing? The company’s reputation is on the line. They might threaten or intimidate those trying to overturn the ruling. Wouldn’t it be dangerous for you and your mother to live alone in that small, shabby house? That place where safety is nowhere to be found.”

A chill ran down her spine as he spoke about her house as if he had been there.

Had he perhaps met her mother without her knowledge?

If he had met her, what kind of conversation would they have had? 

What would he have said about her? 

Would he have said something like, ‘Your daughter willingly laid herself down for me to prove your husband’s innocence. You have raised such a filial daughter,’?

His intentions were clear. He seemed satisfied with that night. That’s why he wanted to keep her close, to spread her legs whenever he pleased. She hated it. She hated entering his territory.

Like a small spark turning into a raging inferno, her simple fear swelled, transforming into immense terror.