When The Phone Rings

Chapter 24

‘He doesn’t know the blackmailer is me, so why is he saying such things?’

Heeju’s face clearly showed signs of confusion.

“There won’t be any divorce.”

Sa-eon’s frosty voice cut through the air. He frowned as though even the thought of it filled him with irritation.

“Scandals, rumors, or any sort of pathetic failure is intolerable. I can’t stand the idea of my name being tarnished. It’s just how I’m built.”

The intensity in his gaze was almost obsessive, laced with a cold, biting resolve.

‘But still…’

How could anyone spend their whole life with someone they didn’t even love?

The image of her father reduced to an empty shell of himself, surfaced in her mind like an old scar.

I can’t do it.

She clenched her fists under the table as a symbol of resolve.

“So, you better prepare yourself.”
‘For what…?’
“Prepare to protect what’s yours— your livelihood, your place.”
“…!”

“Don’t just spit it out. Make sure you swallow it all the way down.”

He pushed the plate, urging her to eat.

“From tonight on, you’ll sleep in my room.”
“…!”

Heeju couldn’t breathe.

“If we keep living like this, we’ll just end up blaming each other as guilty spouses. Disturbances can easily tear us apart. I’m sure even the teenage Hong Heeju has learned this from somewhere.”

He looked at her with a sly, knowing look.

Abruptly, he got up from the chair and moved closer to Heeju.

“When I took your phone, I happened to see something interesting”
“…”
“You seem to have saved my number under quite an amusing name.”

Realisation seemed to hit her.

‘Oh no!’
“‘Business Husband.’”

He slowly enunciated the words, almost savoring them.

It was a name she had cynically chosen to remind herself of her situation, to keep her expectations and disappointments in check. Hearing it aloud, though, made her cheeks burn with embarrassment.

“Well, I suppose I should live up to this ‘business relationship.’”
“…!”
“Accompany me to the 70th-anniversary event for ‘Sankyung Daily’. We should put up a decent show.”

Without warning, he raised the hem of his shirt.

The sight of his hard abs filled her vision. As Heeju instinctively turned her head away, he caught the back of her head.

The edge of his shirt, carrying his scent, grazed roughly across her lips.

“Making me wipe the milk off your lips like a baby’s…”

Baek Sa-eon was rubbing away the white traces on her upper lips with deliberate motions.

His expression was indifferent, yet his hands were strangely meticulous.

Heeju was stunned and her eyes glued to the sharp lines of his abs and the visible dip of his pelvic bones. Unconsciously, she gulped at the temptation.

Sa-eon’s eyes darted to the clock, and with a frustrated click of his tongue, he backed down.

Without hesitation, he turned and strode toward the bedroom, roughly crumpling his soiled shirt in his hand.

“…”

When alone, Heeju touched her stinging lips. He had rubbed them so thoroughly that the skin around them had turned red.

 

***

 

After Baek Sa-eon left for work, Heeju finally felt the tension drain from her body.

Lying sprawled on the sofa, she absentmindedly touched her still-throbbing lips before suddenly getting up.

“I should at least do the dishes…!”

Trying to shake off her thoughts, she opened the dishwasher cheerfully.

Ring! Ring!

Her original phone, which she hadn’t seen in ages, began to ring.

Although she had set the ringtone herself once, it now felt strangely alien.

Considering her widely known selective mutism, there were hardly any people who would dare call her directly.

‘…It must be Mom.’

The life that had briefly returned to her face quickly faded.

Her mother’s calls rarely required a response. They were just one-sided barrages of nagging before abruptly hanging up.

But this time, the call was from a blocked number. As she stared at the screen, the call ended, only for the phone to ring again moments later.

< Blocked number. >

It was the same caller.

Heeju picked up the call with trembling hands.

— “Sis, don’t make me lose my patience. Pick up right away from the next time.”
“…!”
— “As you know, I’m not exactly a patient person.”

It was the kidnapper. Heeju froze as though dunked in cold water.

“That 2 billion won Baek Sa-eon promised you…are you going to take it?”

The blunt question left her speechless. It confirmed her suspicion that he had been eavesdropping on their calls.

“By the way, I can set you up with an untraceable offshore account. But before that—”

The kidnapper let out a sinister chuckle. Heeju shuddered, instinctively brushing at her ear as if to shake off the unsettling sensation.

“Let me tell you something good. I’ll reveal his real job to you…Baek Sa-eon’s true occupation.”
“…!”

Baek Sa-eon’s ‘real job’?

“What do you mean…?”
“Exactly what it sounds like. Not the honorable position of a Blue House spokesperson, but the shadowy work he’s truly involved in. You could use that to blackmail him for real. You can finally bring him down.”
“…!”

Her heart raced. But she couldn’t let herself be tempted too easily.

“…Why?”
—“What?”
“Why are you helping me like this?”
—“Because I want things to go back to how they originally were.”
“…”
—“I desire the same as you.”

His response was startlingly straightforward, though it didn’t seem like he intended to offer a more satisfying explanation. There was an invisible boundary she could sense he wouldn’t cross.

—“That’s why I want you to win. Negotiating for 2 billion is a stupid deal. Do you really think you can get a divorce with just that?”
“…”
—“Nope. That slippery snake will outmaneuver you. He already has you dancing to his tune.”

Heeju flinched.

—“Baek Sa-eon’s game is all about using information. He’s leading you astray, making you chase after the wrong things. It’s not about divorce… it’s about getting you to settle for the 2 billion and walk away.”

‘As if he had already caught a whiff of something, Baek Sa-eon was moving slyly. He was strategizing to avoid being labeled the at-fault party in the marriage.’

The arrogant husband didn’t doubt for a second that Heeju would obediently go along with his plans. That assumption made her want to scream in protest.

― “But it won’t come for free.”
“…!”

Her lips were slightly parted.

― “You promised to get the words I want to hear from Sa-eon. But do you think it’ll happen in one go?”
“…!”
― “So, before the main event, I’m going to train you a bit.”

Her heart began to pound wildly.

― “I’ll give you Baek Sa-eon’s new weakness. But in return, you’ll…”

She shut her eyes tightly, overcome with a sense of despair.

Heeju felt it instinctively she was now trapped in another tank.

But she didn’t want to give up. She didn’t want to be a pawn for her husband’s convenience. She wanted to be the one calling the shots. When her eyes opened again, they were renewed with determination.
― “How about a controversial comment from the Blue House spokesperson? Something like… foul language.”
“…!”
― “Even better if it’s an unforgivable slur.”

He chuckled as if he desired something easy to achieve. And this turned out to be her first mission.

― “Record him cursing. Then, I’ll trade it with you.”

 

***

 

“I- It’s just so vulgar, so vulgar!”

As Heeju opened the door and walked in, Director Han Joon was groaning theatrically. She knocked lightly on the doorframe to get his attention.

‘Why did you call for me?’

She signed the question, and the director immediately got up from his seat.

“Where did you rush off to yesterday?”
“…”
“Was something wrong?”
‘Everything’s fine.’

Heeju smiled faintly, hiding her true emotions.

The director handed her a file.

‘What’s this?’
“Work. I figured you wouldn’t want to stay jobless forever.”
“…”
“It’s lyrics for a pop song. Take a look.”

Heeju accepted the file and began flipping through it quietly.

But as soon as she read the first line— no, the very first word— her face turned beet red. Her mouth fell open in shock, and Han Joon sighed heavily.

“It’s for that international concert I mentioned.”

[ WXXXXX in this house / Wet AXX PXXXXX ]

She couldn’t even bring herself to read the lyrics out loud.

“Think you can handle it?”
‘Absolutely not!’

With a pale face, Heeju waved her hands.

‘I’ve never seen or interpreted content like this before—ever!’
“That’s why I wanted new ones to participate”

[ FuXXXXX with XXX XXXX ]

‘Ahh!’

This was beyond spicy— this was scorching hot!

Quickly, Heeju crumpled the papers into her bag. Every single word, every line of the lyrics was provocatively explicit and shockingly creative.

The thought of standing on stage and interpreting such content into sign language made her head spin. Just as she was contemplating fleeing, Han Joon stepped in her way.

“Okay, W-Wait!”

He blocked her path, gesturing for her to calm down.

“In that case, take a look at this while you’re here.”

He thrust a tablet in front of her narrowed eyes.

The Blue House’s emblem gleamed on the screen. Heeju, who had been ready to protest, clamped her mouth shut.

It was a recruitment notice sent from the Blue House to sign language centers across Seoul.

The title, bold and prominent, read “Sign Language Interpreter Placement at the Blue House.”

Seeing it, a strange sense of heat rose in her chest.

Noticing the change in her expression, Han Joon grinned.

“I knew you’d like it.”
‘I don’t like it at all,’ she rebutted.

But all she got in response was a scoff.

“Come on, since the days Baek Sa-eon was an anchor and hosted debate programs, you’ve been using political clips to practice your signing. I know everything.”
“…!”
“This is a rare opportunity, and you know it.”

‘But…’

But the person blackmailing that Blue House spokesperson is me…

---

 

TL/N:
I did think the author was distorting Cardi B/ 카디 비 to Kariba/ 카리바 but to think they would hint at ‘WAP’ lyrics!! Unlike other times I won’t ask you to search the song this time.