Episode 8

“Well, I guess to handle VVIPs, you’d have to sell off something as basic as your real name.”

It seemed he had glimpsed the message Haemi had sent earlier. Sohee’s lips twisted bitterly, feeling the weight of an ugly misunderstanding.

“Who knew you had a knack for this sort of thing, not just a pretty face.” Gye Wonho chuckled softly, his barbed words sliding into Sohee’s left ear, lodging like thorns in her heart.

“I…”

“How many do you handle in one night?”

Facing his mocking expression, something deep within Sohee’s chest grew cold, freezing over. She cut off mid-sentence, her face etched with a resigned familiarity. Right, wasn’t she used to this kind of treatment by now?

What would change if others misunderstood her as a woman who sold herself for money? He was here to collect his debt—why should she need to justify herself to him? That loathsome despair, following her all her life, made surrender come easily.

In a life where resignation was easier than struggling to break free, having nothing, nothing to lose, only a shred of pride to cling to…

A hot lump rose in her throat. Pressing her fingernails hard into her palm, Sohee regained her composure.

“Whatever I do to make money, it’s none of your business. I’ll be a bit late on the principal, but I won’t miss the interest.”

Her eyes burned, but she forced herself to maintain a steady expression. She spoke clearly, stepping over to retrieve an envelope from deep inside her desk drawer, where she’d hidden it. Had he searched the place, he might have easily found it, right where she left it. A thought flashed through her mind—it might have been better if he’d just taken it and gone.

“Here. Satisfied?”

Sohee, unable to meet his gaze, handed over the envelope of money. When he didn’t take it in the lingering silence, she hesitated before slipping it into the outer pocket of his coat.

“And… the electric bill… did you pay for it?” she asked, though she already knew the answer. Of course, he had taken care of it. She didn’t know why he’d go to the trouble of peeling off the overdue notices plastered to her front door or why he’d pay the ballooned electric bill months behind.

“There was no need for that. I’ll add it to the interest next time,” she said.

A smirk flitted across Gye Wonho’s face.

“But I thought you were struggling?”

Sohee’s frustration twisted her heart, and an acidic remark slipped out.

“I can just ask my clients for bigger tips, can’t I?”

Sohee, looking down, suddenly became aware of the dead silence in the room. Cautiously glancing to her side, she saw him watching her intently, his usual relaxed demeanor wiped away. As their eyes met, he exhaled a sharp breath through clenched teeth.

“You’re a bit too mouthy for someone your age.”

He muttered, reaching out to grab her chin and forcing her to look at him. His lips held a faint, unreadable smile, but his gaze was sharp, as though honed to a razor’s edge.

Reflected in his eyes was a fragile, almost tearful expression—so pale and desolate, it hardly looked alive. Sohee struggled to suppress her tears, afraid to show her vulnerability to him, to reveal the frailty she tried so hard to hide.

“You don’t know anything…”

Sshe whispered, fighting the despair that only wanted to survive.

“Did I say anything wrong? If you’re my creditor, then do your job—take the money and leave.”

She endured this ruthlessly, clinging to life. Choice had never been kind in her world. There was only the bad and the worse, the awful and the unbearable. From birth, Sohee had carried nothing but poverty and misfortune, given no other option but to grit her teeth and breathe.

Her father, stricken with liver cancer, had taken his own life to escape it, and her mother had fled to escape the drunken rages he would unleash upon her. But Sohee, abandoned and left to fend for herself, never learned how to run from her misery. Even her body, the one thing she possessed, felt like little comfort.

“Nothing to worry about, right? Whether I’m out here servicing every bastard or selling myself?” he sneered.

“Yes, that’s right. I just want to be rid of this debt and live like everyone else. I’m not ashamed of working here,” she replied firmly.

His mouth curled into an open, derisive smile as he studied her.

“Then I guess you’ll be free of it in no time. Who could possibly refuse that face?”

With an air of disdain, Gye Wonho tossed two remaining condoms onto the floor.

“Leftovers from last time? Or do you go through that many in a single day?”

Shame scorched her cheeks as she realized how foolish she’d been, relieved even, to think that it was a good thing he’d bought out Jungsik’s debt. She chided herself—what had she expected? He was no different from Jungsik.

“Why are you even asking? Want to use them with me? Pay up, and it’s yours,” she shot back.

His smirk twisted at the corner of his mouth.

“Thought you were a kid, but it seems you’ve grown up just fine.”

Eyes clouded with a smoldering heat, he fixed his gaze unrelentingly on Sohee, who stubbornly kept her mouth shut.

“So, then. How much is my baby’s ‘worth’ for a night?”

Worth? Sohee had no idea how to answer that. Seeing Haemi, draped in designer clothes and luxury, it was clear she wasn’t earning pocket change. Especially when Haemi had scoffed at her debt, saying no part-time job would ever pay it off, and suggested she do the same work she did.

“F-Five hundred thousand won.”

“What?”

“Five hundred thousand… for a night.”

She immediately regretted blurting out the figure. How could she, of all people, think to ask five hundred thousand won for a single night with a man? She’d asked for a large sum on impulse, but the more she thought about it, the more she shrank inside. She feared how he’d react.

Would he mock her, saying she wasn’t worth that kind of money? Or would he… actually pay it?

Lowering himself to her level, he tilted his head, bringing their faces so close their lips were barely apart. Her heart tightened painfully, a dull ache echoing through her chest. His cool scent, mixed with a potent cologne, wafted through her senses, overwhelming her. She felt as if his gaze, his very breath, scorched wherever they touched.

“Fifty thousand just to spend the night with you?” he asked in a tone laced with disdain, his eyes roving over her as a soft, derisive chuckle slipped out. The warmth of his breath brushed against her lips, making her body go rigid.

“Why so cheap?”

His eyes lingered on her ashen face as his hand reached for her chestnut-brown hair, soft strands slipping through his fingers, falling to her collarbone.

“Hm? Sweetheart?”

He brushed aside the hair from her neck, exposing her pale, vulnerable skin to his languid gaze.

“And you’d go for such a paltry sum?”

The slender, delicate neck, trembling slightly, looked as though it could snap with the slightest touch. His gaze, heavy and intent, stayed fixed there, causing the gentle rise and fall of her throat to become painfully pronounced.

“You let those pathetic bastards with their lousy little condoms poke around inside you?”

“Ah!”

Gye Wonho’s arms wrapped tightly around Sohee’s shoulders, pulling her close to him. Her slender frame was drawn firmly against him as he buried his nose into the soft skin of her neck, inhaling deeply. A low groan escaped him as his sharp nose brushed over her neck, pressing into her tender skin.

As his nose slid along the curve of her neck, grazing her sensitive flesh, Sohee’s eyelids fluttered shut, unable to withstand the strange sensation. A small sound slipped out as she tried to suppress it.

“…Huh.”

Her body tensed, shoulders hunching, shivering with each breath he exhaled against her neck. His warm breath brushed over her sensitive skin, sending waves of heat down to her core. Her lips parted as she exhaled in short, ragged breaths, the warmth of his large hand slipping beneath her coat, fingers tracing the delicate curve of her shoulder blade.

When his hand slid lower along the hollow of her back, her body trembled faintly in his hold.

“Why are you trembling like this when I’m being so gentle?” he murmured.

His hand, gliding over her smooth, slender back, drifted lower, inching toward the waistband of her pants, and Sohee’s whole body quivered. There was no way he could miss her reaction as they were pressed tightly together.

“What’s the point of paying the interest every week?” he said, his voice oozing sarcasm.

“It suits you—you could pay it off with this.”

With a rough grip, his hand cupped her soft, rounded hip.

“Ah!”

“I’ll give you five hundred per night, sweetheart,” he sneered, his mocking tone ringing in her ears. “But only on one condition.”

His voice softened, almost taunting, as he continued.

“I’m your only customer. Just me, got it?”