Chapter 5
The elevator heading for the CEO's office.
A faint reflection appeared in the closed doors.
"...."
Park So-young silently looked at her reflection in the mirror.
After standing still for a while, she slowly raised a hand and touched the arms of her glasses.
Slide.
She took off the black, thick-rimmed glasses that had been hiding her face.
Just taking off her glasses changed her appearance completely.
The cool, plain office-worker look disappeared, revealing a softer face.
This time, she untied her hair.
Swish.
Her long, straight hair, which had been tied tightly back, fell to her waist.
The slight breeze in the elevator stirred her hair.
After fixing her hair for a moment, she touched the collar of her shirt with her fingertips.
One button.
Then another.
As the shirt buttoned up to her neck opened slightly, the pale, slender line of her neck and a hint of cleavage came into view.
Next, she lowered her gaze.
An H-line skirt worn about a handspan higher than usual.
It was only a small difference, but it gave her a completely different look.
Finally, she lightly rubbed the perfume on her wrist against the nape of her neck.
A faint floral scent spread through the air.
"...."
In the mirror stood not Assistant Manager Park So-young from Human Resources, as everyone at work knew her, but a different woman.
It embarrassed her to say so herself, but Park So-young was quite pretty.
During college, there had been so many guys confessing to her that counting them would have been pointless.
Things hadn't been much different when she first joined the company.
Company dinners, collaborative projects with other departments, even the company messenger.
People had approached her whenever they got the chance.
That was why.
At work, she deliberately avoided dressing up.
She always tied her hair neatly and wore minimal makeup.
She wore loose shirts that didn't show off her figure, and even put on glasses so she wouldn't stand out.
She didn't want to invite any unnecessary misunderstandings.
She also hated being judged for her looks instead of her ability.
She'd lived that way ever since joining the company.
But.
"...Ha."
A low sigh escaped her.
In the end, she was heading to the CEO's office dressed up to look as beautiful as she could.
For the sake of the man she loved.
She was choosing the very approach she'd always hated most.
'...How is this any different from being a prostitute?'
The tip of her nose stung.
She felt tears welling up before she knew it.
She wanted to get off the elevator right then and run home.
But she couldn't.
She thought of Lee Jun-ho.
His overseas assignment, and the despair in his voice.
'So-young... What am I supposed to do now?'
Those words kept echoing in her ears.
Park So-young bit down hard on her lip.
Her eyes reddened, but she forced herself to swallow her tears.
'Just this once.'
Truly, just this once.
Once this was over, she would never even consider something like this again.
Ding.
The elevator stopped.
The top floor, where the CEO's office was.
Park So-young took a deep breath and slowly started walking.
It was just as she spotted the imposing CEO's office door at the end of the hall.
Bang!
The CEO's office door flew open, and three or four female employees came tumbling out.
"S-Sir! Please, just give us one more chance!"
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"
One female employee rushed out with one of her shoes missing.
Another hurriedly straightened her disheveled clothes.
All of their faces were deathly pale.
Then a thunderous shout from inside the CEO's office shook the hallway.
"Get out of my company!"
Bang!
The door slammed shut again.
The female employees milled about in front of the office, not knowing what to do.
The hallway, its door now shut, was filled only with a chilly silence.
Park So-young, realizing what had happened, froze with her eyes wide open.
'...Why?'
If this was the Kang Tae-seong she knew...
This kind of thing... should never have happened.
*
I'd forgotten this was the world of an eroge.
Thinking about it, that made sense.
Ever since possessing this body, I'd been living without a moment to catch my breath.
At six in the morning, as soon as the alarm went off, I'd get up and change into my workout clothes.
I ran on the treadmill with this flabby body and lifted weights until I was gasping for breath.
It was the same after work.
By the time I got home after my evening workout, I was often so exhausted I barely had the energy to shower.
The moment I threw myself onto the bed, I'd close my eyes and open them to find it was already morning.
During the day, I was too busy with work.
I went over every report brought in by the secret audit team and compared them with the materials submitted by the Audit Office.
Who had embezzled money, who had taken kickbacks from a partner company.
I was too busy sorting through the employees to set aside any time during the day.
Since my life had become an endless cycle of going back and forth between the gym and the company...
I'd naturally forgotten what kind of world this had originally been.
'An NTR eroge.'
Remembering the game's genre made me let out a hollow laugh.
A dating sim full of all kinds of bad endings.
And the villain at the center of it all had been the original Kang Tae-seong.
But at least I was different now.
I'd done nothing but exercise and run the company.
I hadn't once encountered the sort of situation you'd expect to see in an erotic game.
Maybe that was why.
The events of the past few hours had been enough to completely upend my common sense.
"Sir... Could you please show me mercy just this once?"
She was the first employee.
A new hire who was only twenty-six.
"Pleeease, sir, just let me off this once. Okay?"
The moment she entered the office, she begged in a cutesy voice for me to let her off, and then she slowly started taking off her clothes one by one.
"Would this... be enough?"
"W-What are you doing?! Get out, right now!"
I was startled and sent her away.
Next was a married woman in her mid-thirties, a section chief.
Like the new hire before her, she'd come to ask me to show her mercy.
"I'll repay you with my body. Please, just spare my husband..."
As she said that, she immediately exposed her underwear.
'Ugh...'
As expected of a married woman, she was incredibly bold.
It had been months since I'd properly relieved my urges, so I was a little pent-up... but I made no exceptions.
This company was mine now, and my company couldn't tolerate this kind of corruption.
"Get out."
"Sir, why...?"
And it was the same after that.
They'd repay me with their bodies, they'd always liked me, they thought my bear-like appearance was handsome, and so on...
Even though they had nothing to do with this major purge, quite a few female employees came to my office hoping to cozy up to me and curry favor.
By this point, I was dumbfounded.
"What kind of world is this?"
What on earth was wrong with the moral standards in this world?
Even in the world I'd lived in, there were people who tried to curry favor with those in power.
Stories about entertainment and influence-peddling appeared in the news all the time, after all.
But even so, they didn't come on this openly like they did here.
They all seemed to assume they should use their bodies to win me over, and that of course I'd accept the offer.
Watching their reactions made me feel like I was the weird one.
'This game's way more perverted than I thought.'
Well, that's what it took for the story to progress.
For the original Kang Tae-seong to steal other people's lovers, the right kind of background had to be in place.
Under normal circumstances, Kang Tae-seong would have accepted every one of them.
The corruption probably wouldn't have been exposed in the first place, but if things had gone this way, he would have slept with them and turned a blind eye to their misdeeds.
"This company's a complete mess."
Where should I even start fixing it...?
I was lamenting with a click of my tongue when—
Knock, knock.
I heard someone knock on the CEO's office door.
The secretary's voice followed immediately.
"Sir, Assistant Manager Park So-young from Human Resources is here."
'Another one?'
I let out a brief sigh, then said,
"...Tell her to come in."
*
The CEO's office door slowly closed.
Only two people remained in the spacious office.
Kang Tae-seong spoke without looking away from the documents on his desk.
"What brings you here?"
"...."
Park So-young's lips merely moved.
Now that she was actually here, all the words she'd prepared vanished from her mind.
The image of the female employees who'd just run out of the CEO's office in tears kept coming back to her.
'What on earth were those people...?'
"...Assistant Manager Park?"
Kang Tae-seong called her once more.
"Ah... I..."
Park So-young finally came to her senses and bowed.
"I'm sorry."
Kang Tae-seong gave a brief nod.
"I'm a little busy, so please get to the point."
"...."
Park So-young clenched her hands tightly.
Her fingertips had turned white.
"...Please cancel Assistant Manager Lee Jun-ho's assignment to the overseas branch."
For an instant, the corners of Kang Tae-seong's mouth lifted ever so slightly.
"...!"
At that faintly mocking expression, Park So-young's heart sank.
Kang Tae-seong leaned back in his chair and spoke calmly.
"That's impossible."
"...Sir."
"The disciplinary action was decided based on sufficient grounds. Is there any reason to reverse it?"
"But Jun-ho oppa..."
"He violated company regulations."
CEO Kang Tae-seong was firm.
"Could you please give him just one more chance? I'll... do anything."
Kang Tae-seong looked at her for a moment.
He looked into her tearful eyes, then let out a deep sigh.
"...There is one way."
"...!"
Park So-young's head snapped up.
'Here it comes.'
She knew this was what he would say in the end.
Her heart began to pound violently.
'Just as I thought... People don't change that easily.'
Slowly, Park So-young closed her eyes.
Her trembling fingertips moved toward the buttons of her shirt.
'If I can save Jun-ho oppa, this body is nothing...'
Her fingers were just about to grasp the first button.
Kang Tae-seong furrowed his brow.
"...Assistant Manager Park."
"...Yes."
"What are you doing?"
"...Pardon?"
At his icy voice, Park So-young immediately froze.
Kang Tae-seong sighed with an incredulous expression.
"Button up your shirt."
"...?"
"That's not the way I meant."
"...What?"
"I acknowledge Assistant Manager Lee Jun-ho's abilities."
Kang Tae-seong slid the personnel file on his desk toward her.
"That's why I didn't fire him. I gave him a chance to return if he gets results at the overseas branch."
He looked straight at Park So-young.
"However, someone has to make up for the gap his absence leaves."
"..."
"I was going to hire someone new, but... how about this?"
Kang Tae-seong continued, twirling a pen.
"Assistant Manager Park, produce enough results to make up for the losses and the work left undone because of Assistant Manager Lee Jun-ho."
Kang Tae-seong raised the corner of his mouth as he spoke.
"If you do, I'll consider ways to shorten his overseas assignment."
"...!"
Park So-young stared at Kang Tae-seong blankly.
"That's the method I was talking about."
Park So-young felt her face grow hot.
It was an unexpectedly generous offer.
What on earth had she been thinking just moments ago?
Shame at having been willing to use her body so carelessly and relief washed over her all at once.
Unaware of what was going through her mind, Kang Tae-seong simply picked up his documents again.