When The Phone Rings

Prologue

The woman had a hard time pouring out the words, “A word from me and your political career will be over.”

Blood had started flowing from where she had bitten due to nervousness.

Heeju knew her voice was being modulated, but the silence from the other end of the receiver made her chew nails in anxiety.

‘This isn’t it. I have to do better and be more vulgar! Like a real blackmailer.’

“Da..m..n.. I told you to listen to my demands first!”

My heart was on the edge of collapsing.

How did she, who had lived without her voice for so long, end up in this situation? How did she end up being a blackmailer?

“Are you really okay with this coming to light? Even if the public points fingers at you?”

Her palms were sweating. It wasn’t her first time sending a threat, but every time was nerve-wracking.

She took a quiet breath and squeezed her eyes shut.

The defining quality of a blackmailer is shamelessness.

Selfishness that surpasses guilt, arrogance that scoffs at authority, impulsiveness, and an exaggerated sense of conviction.

A blackmailer is a squire who cannot move without conviction, so once he starts, he must reach the finishing line.

Until he achieved his desire.

“Hurry up and fix it! Or do you really want me to smear your face with dirt? You think someone power-crazed like you can handle that?”
– “…”

The other side was silent.

Only the sound of a lighter clicking and the faint hiss of a cigarette burning reached her ears in response. The victim was indulging in an unwelcome sense of leisure.

Heeju gnawed on her lower lip.

“If you keep stalling like this, who knows what I’ll do…!”

Her distorted voice came out, rough like gravel.

Was it an impossible task from the start, to threaten this man?

After all, the opponent was Baek Sa-eon, the son of the next presidential candidate, and the spokesperson of the Blue House, trusted by the entire nation.

Facing such a man, Heeju who was unable to speak for so long, felt exhausted.

But she wanted to escape him. She desperately wanted to be cast aside.

Three years had already passed since she entered this unwanted marriage. Heeju was used as a pawn in the joint business of her powerful in-laws and her media mogul family.

It wasn’t the seal of the house that was stamped on the humiliating contract, but her body that was exchanged like a hostage.

She wanted to quit this life, where even breathing brought her constant stress. Even if it meant becoming a blackmailer!

“If you don’t do as I say, I’ll expose everything! Your dirty, cowardly past—!”
– “I see.”

A cold and leisurely voice resounded. His voice was scraping at her eardrums, making her freeze.

– “You can keep making threats like this.”
“What are you…?”
– “You’ve been running a few minutes late lately. Have you picked another victim besides me?”

…What nonsense is he spouting?

― “I’m just here, eagerly waiting for my scary blackmailer.”
“…!”
― “If you’re playing around with others, don’t you think I’d get angry?”

I’m the blackmailer here, so… what “playing around” is he talking about?

I was suddenly at a loss for words. At that moment, the upper hand unknowingly had shifted to him.

― “Isn’t tormenting me enough? Afterall, it’s more fun to suffocate one than trying to lure others.”

Heeju was so shocked, she could only gasp silently.

― “I absolutely hate people who are late, and that includes blackmailers.”

The sound of the cigarette filter crinkling under the heat came through the phone as if he was taking a drag.

― “Of course, there has to be a penalty.”
“What?” Without thinking, she replied in a respectful tone.
― “What are you wearing right now?”

Her overheated phone clung sticky to her palm.

― “I think we should start by taking something off.”

As you can see, I’m a wife blackmailing my own husband in secret.
But it seems like this man is trying to cheat on ‘me’ without knowledge!