This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 199

“Lady… what…?”

Isn’t it said that when a person becomes overly flustered, they become speechless?

Surprisingly, that was exactly the situation right now.

The words stuck in my throat, even though my mouth was wide open, making no sound whatsoever.

“Lady, huh?”

I’m not joking; that was a term I’d never seriously heard before in my life.

Naturally, I was confused, wondering if I had actually heard that correctly.

“Oh, could it be…”

Had she mistaken me for Chae-rim?

Perhaps that was possible.

It didn’t mean that Chae-rim was a lady, but there was a considerable age difference between us.

She was ten years younger than Dogun and eight years younger than me.

It was so absurd that the thought had crossed my mind for just a moment.

So, who could it be on the other side of the door?

The feeling of confusion had completely taken over my mind, pushing aside any previous questions I had, since the answer seemed so obvious.

A voice so unfamiliar that it struck me as odd belonged to someone with enough credibility to enter Dogun’s household?

No matter how much I thought about it, only one person came to mind.

It had to be that girl who had rushed in and caused a scene just yesterday.

“What was her name…?”

Oh right, Bora, wasn’t it?

From what I heard yesterday, she used to be in the same class as Dogun and Yoonseo when they were little kids in kindergarten until she awakened her talent at a young age and went her separate way…

To be honest, when I first heard that story, I couldn’t believe such coincidences existed.

But now, with what had happened yesterday, I couldn’t help but think, what kind of girl was that, and wasn’t that a declaration of hostility towards me?

If that was the case, there was really no need for me to try and get along.

After all, it was the same target that both sides needed to protect, and I was already deep in thought about that point, so I thought it was better this way.

With this, I could simply treat her with indifference, and there’d be no trouble in that.

If the Association brought it up as an issue, I could just say she started it first.

“That aside…”

I still needed to receive the towel.

Making up my mind about that, I suddenly found her actions a bit laughable.

How dare she show off her strength in front of others?

She was tiny like a kid and probably had never exercised a day in her life!

The reason I had gripped the towel so tightly was for that exact reason.

I didn’t like it, but she was a target I had to protect, so shouldn’t I let her know?

There are people in this world who can act however they want, and some who shouldn’t.

So far, she had been living under the care of Association employees, so it seemed she didn’t realize that.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

After all, she was only two years younger than me, and here she was casually calling me that as a target.

As a little lesson, I yanked my hand back, which was still holding the towel.

As if it was waiting, a soft sound came from the glass door as something lightly bumped against it.

“Ugh…”

“I don’t know why you’d bring this over when you asked Dogun for help… but anyway, I’ll be sure to use the towel well.”

Perhaps it was the pain from hitting the door that made it difficult for me to speak.

Or maybe it was because after being spoiled all this time and suddenly being confronted like this, it freaked her out.

I tried to speak a bit teasingly, but unexpectedly, there was no response.

Only her arm, which had slipped through the door, retreated sadly.

Well, anyway, it wasn’t something I had to worry about, so I hurriedly dried off.

Under normal circumstances, I would meticulously take care to clean myself, but… there was no time for that now.

After all, how could I trust that woman to look after Dogun?

I didn’t know what she might do next.

So, it was better to be quick.

With that thought, I quickly got dressed and dashed out of the bathroom.

And what awaited me was an utterly horrendous scene of labor exploitation.

“Wait… aren’t those all her things?”

Yet she couldn’t even be bothered to move the big ones herself and had dumped them all on Dogun while she struggled with the little ones.

She wasn’t even trying to act weak, so what in the world was she doing?

From that to many more things, there wasn’t just one or two points that bothered me.

So… I decided to break the part about it being just the two of them.

“What’s up? If you have stuff to move, why didn’t you call me?”

Saying that, I naturally squeezed myself between them, worried I hadn’t been able to help sooner.

It bothered me that I had to help Bora with her things, but it was better than leaving the two of them alone together.

“Uh? Are you okay, Senior? You must be tired; you should really rest…”

What made me a bit happy amidst this was that Dogun had stopped his work the moment I squeezed in and was worried about me.

Could it be that everyone was mindful because of what happened yesterday?

“No, no, this is good exercise.”

Dogun’s concern made me feel happy and grateful, but as I said earlier, I couldn’t leave those two alone together.

So, with a smile that said he didn’t need to worry too much, I took whatever Dogun was holding.

“And it’s definitely faster to finish with three instead of two, right?”

What in the world… how did it come to this?

In this atmosphere, which felt like walking on thin ice, I thought.

How had it turned out like this?

When the senior had first arrived and started helping with the moving, it had been awkward but not like this at all.

The incident unfolded while we were deep in moving things.

As usual, the senior picked one of the boxes piled outside and brought it into the house… but as she was coming out of the room that had been decided as hers, Bora reacted very sharply upon seeing her.

It was unspoken, but she acted as if to say, “What are you doing with that?”

It was just that her actions spoke louder than any words.

Her previously cheerful smile vanished in an instant, and her expression hardened as she strode toward the senior, snatched the box from her hands, then turned sharply and went back into her room.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye, and naturally, it would be expected for the senior’s expression to harden too, having been helping to carry things out of goodwill when suddenly she experienced that.

And after that… well, the atmosphere continued like this.

Thanks to that, I found myself awkwardly stuck in the middle.

Putting Bora aside, the senior seemed genuinely upset, as she wouldn’t even make eye contact with Bora after that incident.

Thanks to that, I had to relive a long-forgotten PTSD.

It wasn’t surprising, given that the atmosphere of the company I worked at in my past life had been precisely like this.

You see, the company I worked at in my previous life was a predominately female workplace.

So, it was an environment where I had to be mindful, but back when I was there, a fierce power struggle was unfolding between my senior, who had been gaining influence, and another female who, while not exactly an underling, was still below her.

The situation was so bad that I, stuck in between them, had to endure constant harassment.

“So I quit…”

When I decided to resign, all my friends were shocked, asking why I would leave such a good company, but they had no idea of the terror I felt every morning.

And the atmosphere from then seemed to transcend dimensions, manifesting in the house I was currently in.

“Hahaha…”

It was then that I couldn’t help but chuckle inside.

“Uh? What’s going on? I just stepped out for a moment, and why does the atmosphere feel like this?”

Just then, a savior came to break the suffocating tension as she swung open the front door, her hair seemingly more vibrant than ever.