Substitute Chapter 9

The rain, which had been pouring like an early monsoon, stopped all of a sudden.

The sky cleared wide open, but for so reason, Jiwon felt heavy. Even though this was his second interview — a rare second chance — he didn’t feel excited.

Must be because of the pain in my arm, he thought casually, and headed to the sauna to wash up.

Rembering how they’d said this round would be even more explicit than the first, he got a full-body scrub, too. They’d said there would be no nudity, but he couldn’t trust that one hundred percent. After the scrub, his condition improved a little.

He pushed his bangs back, revealing his forehead — and a surprisingly decent-looking face.

He locked eyes with a man who looked familiar, almost painfully so. A face that resembled soone he missed dearly. Familiar, but sohow strange.

The wave of grief hit without warning, and he swallowed it down, forcing a bitter smile.

Downing not just coffee but even an energy drink to force his condition up, Jiwon put on a suit — sa ti slot as the first interview — and boarded the express bus to Yongnam City. The traffic was just as bad. Whether there had been an accident or not, the roads were more congested than usual.

He grew anxious about being late. Sitting in his seat, he craned his neck, watching the road situation anxiously. Thankfully, the jam cleared sooner than expected, and he arrived in Yongnam earlier than he’d thought. He nearly missed his stop and had to get off in a hurry. Pulling up his map app, he searched for the Gangnam Building.

Like the other office buildings nearby, the Gangnam Building had been recently built and looked sleek and shiny from the outside.

The mont he stepped inside, the sll of paint and thinner hit his nose. As expected, the building was still under final construction, and there wasn’t even a reception desk set up yet. There was security, but with so many workers going in and out, no one tried to stop him.

The elevator’s interior — even the floor — was covered in green felt. His black dress shoes, freshly shined with polish, landed on it silently.

It was the top floor again. No need to check the signs. The entire office space was open. The high ceilings made it feel like there was nothing to block your view, almost like he was floating in midair.

Jiwon stepped confidently into the felt-covered office, intending to look around more carefully. Only once inside did he realize there was a mirror. A mirror so massive it covered an entire wall — he had mistaken it for open space. Behind the mirror, there was a door. That must’ve been the actual office.

Just as he reached for the handle, soone said, “Interview?”

Startled, Jiwon turned around. He hadn’t heard any footsteps because of the felt.

It was that thug from before.

“You’re early.”

He checked the ti — twenty minutes ahead.

During the first interview, he’d spent so ti filling out the visitor log and getting a pass from the front desk, but since there was none of that today, he’d arrived earlier than expected.

“Should I co back at the appointed ti?”

He asked cautiously, but the thug just nodded toward a room marked “eting Room.”

Jiwon checked his appearance, then opened the door.

Inside was the monkey-faced man who had greeted him last ti.

“You’re early?”

He said the sa thing as the thug but welcod Jiwon with open arms.

“Wasn’t too hard to find, was it? Hot, huh? But what can you do — sumr’s gotta be hot, right?”

Monkey didn’t wait for an answer — just rambled on as he pleased. Jiwon nodded half-heartedly, figuring it’d be more awkward to stay silent.

The eting room was exactly the sa as last ti: a single chair placed facing the entrance, with a sliding door behind it. Above [N O V E L I G H T] the sliding door, the sa sign hung: Conference Room.

“You’ll have to wait a bit here. The interview’s still in progress. Want so water?”

“No, I’m fine.”

His throat was bone dry, but he didn’t want to drink anything they gave him.

Who knew what was in it?

“All right, then.”

Monkey walked with a spring in his step into the conference room, then returned a mont later.

“Sign here.”

It was another nondisclosure agreent.

Looked like Monkey would be handling the docunts instead of Horn-Rimd Glasses this ti.

Just like before, Jiwon read it carefully before writing out his full na and stamping it with his thumbprint. Monkey, who had been waiting with a tissue, exchanged it for the docunt. As Jiwon wiped off the ink from his thumb, Monkey disappeared back into the conference room.

Left alone, Jiwon let out a deep breath that made his shoulders rise and fall.

So soone was in there right now, being interviewed.

There was only one door, which ant he would naturally see the previous interviewee’s face. And, of course, his own face would be seen, too.

It made him uneasy, but his curiosity about the other person was greater.

Before he realized it, he kept glancing back. Maybe he could catch a sound, any sound, from behind that door — but he heard nothing.

He sat with his back to the sliding door for a little over ten minutes.

Then — srrrk — he heard the door slide open. He instinctively turned his head.

Huh?

His mouth fell open the mont he saw the other person. A man who looked just like him was walking out. So much so that he wondered if it was a mirror. A man who looked exactly like him.

To be precise — a man who looked like Kim Jiwon right now. The ssy hair, gloomy expression, lanky build from poor nutrition, tall height, and pale skin.

Goosebumps shot up all over his body.

The other man seed startled to see Jiwon too, but was quickly ushered out by Monkey like he was being chased. The space where the interviewee had passed reeked of a strange, sweet scent. It was an odd enough sll to make Jiwon tilt his head.

Monkey, who had just seen the previous interviewee out, now approached Jiwon with a bright smile. He, too, slled sweet.

“Let’s go in.”

Jiwon stood up, dazed.

“You and I are a lot alike, aren’t we?”

Han’s words ca back to him, out of nowhere.

He had known it already — but he never imagined it would be confird like this.

Monkey led him into the conference room and closed the door behind them. Looked like he’d be staying inside this ti.

“Oh, right. Wear this.”

Monkey handed him a mask. It was the sa type as the one from the first interview.

Still stunned, Jiwon put it on.

The interior of the office was pitch black. He couldn’t see a thing.

“Keep walking, keep walking.”

When Jiwon stopped moving, Monkey cheerfully gave him a little push on the back.

Carefully, Jiwon moved his feet forward, trying not to trip.

A strong buttery scent and a tangy fruit aroma tickled his nose.

“Mmm, slls good.”

Monkey smacked his lips as if there really was food inside.

When they stopped walking at Monkey’s signal, he shouted loudly, “Kim Jiwon is here!”

Almost imdiately, the lights blazed on.

Jiwon’s eyes, just starting to adjust to the dark, were blinded by the sudden flood of light.

He covered them with his forearm and slowly regained his vision — and then he was speechless.

What the fuck is this.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. The source of the sll was right in front of him — a spread of all kinds of desserts laid out across the carpet. Freshly made, just brought in.

There were plates of freshly baked croissants, sausages, and scrambled eggs, along with cakes, fruits, ice cream, and even champagne. Except for the champagne being tilted on a see-saw-like stand instead of sitting in an ice bucket, it looked like a picnic.

That is, if you ignored the torso.

In the center of the carpet stood a man’s torso — the upper body and part of the lower body. Attached to the torso was a massive cock made of jelly. It was so explicit in shape that even the veins were visible.

Staring at a cock — and not just any cock, but one that big — in what looked like an office space, felt deeply unsettling.

Jiwon furrowed his brows and took a careful look around the room. Along the wall behind the carpet was a large mirror, and caras were mounted at each corner of the rectangular rug.

“Alright!”

Monkey clapped his hands, snapping Jiwon back to reality.

“Shoes and socks off, please.”

Awkwardly, Jiwon followed the instruction.

“Give your jacket too. Man, you’ve buttoned your shirt up way too high. You gotta loosen it to at least your chest, like . Or you’ll get indigestion.”

He wasn’t being told to strip completely, so he complied without much resistance.

“Now put your hands behind your back.”

“...Sorry?”

“Hands behind your back. Like when you’re getting cuffed.”

The word handcuffs made his heart drop. Just for a mont — until he saw Monkey holding out a red silk scarf, not actual cuffs. That was a relief.

He brought his hands behind his back as instructed. Monkey tied his wrists with the scarf. It wasn’t a typical knot, but it was tight. His wrists began to sting slightly from the pressure. He tried twisting them just in case — but there was no way he’d get out of it like that.

A trap?

A wave of anxiety hit him.

At that mont, a voice ca through the speaker.

“Mr. Kim Jiwon, please consu the food in front of you. Only with your mouth. Every last bit — leave nothing behind.”

It was the voice of Horn-Rimd Glasses.

He was on an empty stomach, and the amount of dessert wasn’t huge — it didn’t look like it would be too hard to finish it all. If it weren’t for the jelly shaped like a dick, he would’ve already started eating without hesitation.

Jiwon stood frozen in place, so Monkey gave him a little shove, clearly annoyed. “He said eat.”

“It’s expensive stuff. You know the Goguryeo Hotel, right? These were delivered straight from there.”

Monkey puffed up proudly.

Jiwon licked his dry lips.

So, if he ate what was laid out in front of him, he’d walk away with five million won.

And after that?

Would there be sothing beyond the reward money, after enduring this strange-as-hell interview he could’ve never even imagined?

Would he be closer to the thing he’d been chasing all this ti?

Probably.

He’d felt it the mont he saw the man who looked like him. Even if this wasn’t the destination, it had to be at least a turnoff on the road to it.

Thinking that, there was nothing holding him back.

He’d sucked real dicks — so why couldn’t he suck this?

Without a second’s hesitation, Jiwon stepped boldly onto the carpet.