T/N: Added spoiler for unsavory text so you can continue reading
On Monday morning, Professor Lee Chan hurried to work.
He felt like he would go crazy if he did not immediately relieve the stress that had built up the day before, so he entered the building at a faster pace than usual. But then some strange middle-aged woman blocked his way and spoke.
“Here, try some green juice that’s good for your body. We’re in a promotion period right now, so it’s free.”
“I’m fine.”
He tried to give a rough answer and move past her.
But the green juice woman tore open the green juice pouch, stuck in a straw, and held it right in front of Lee Chan’s chin.
“Judging by the look of you, you seem like a professor doing very important work. Try this once. You’ll be bursting with energy today. I don’t give this to just anyone. Hohoho.”
Gulp, gulp.
Because Lee Chan worked hard to maintain a gentlemanly public image, he could not deal with the green juice woman with a scowl, so he drank the green juice.
“It tastes good, doesn’t it? If you think of it again later, please sign up for our green juice, Professor.”
And with that, the green juice woman disappeared.
Bang!
Professor Lee Chan swallowed the bitter aftertaste of the green juice and roughly opened the lab door.
Seeing that the professor’s mood was already serious from Monday morning, Daeseon instinctively hunched his shoulders.
He had no way of knowing what kind of absurd order the professor would give today.
“What happened with the research project we applied for last month?”
Ah, Daeseon had been planning to say it when Professor Lee Chan was in a good mood.
Gulp. Daeseon swallowed and barely answered.
“It was rejec…ted.”
“What?”
Lee Chan had been planning to divert the research funds from the newly applied project, if it passed, and use them for his father-in-law and mother-in-law’s cruise travel expenses.
He had also thought that once he appeared on broadcasts and became famous, he would be called here and there to give lectures, and he could quickly make up the money with those lecture fees.
After all, people said lectures requested by major corporations were worth whatever price you named.
Today, he had simply planned to relieve the stress that had built up while meeting his in-laws over the weekend.
But from the very start, it felt like things were getting twisted.
“What the hell are you bastards doing?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Who did the paperwork?”
“…….”
“…….”
When I ask a question, the kids answer. That simple rule was not being followed.
He was already furious enough that money had flown away right in front of his eyes, and now these bastards would not even answer? They dared to ignore him?
“Are you confident you can handle the aftermath? You’re not answering me right away, huh?”
When Lee Chan shouted as if roaring, Jueun, who choked with a hiccup, answered in a voice that seemed to crawl into the ground.
“Yeongsu… oppa.”
“I knew it. Jeon Yeongsu, you bastard. Get out here right now.”
Yeongsu felt wronged and afraid.
In truth, Daeseon and Jueun had done the paperwork. He had been excluded from important work for a long time already.
But even if he answered that Daeseon and Jueun had done it, it was obvious the violence would come back to him.
If he said Daeseon had done it, the reason would be that he had failed to support his senior properly. If he said Jueun had done it, the reason would be that he had failed to help his colleague.
Jueun knew that too, which was probably why she answered like that.
“Still… I’m scared.”
It was learned fear.
Whenever he saw Professor Lee Chan’s face as the man shouted with a harsh expression, his knees naturally went weak.
This was not a fear he got used to over time. It was a fear that grew larger and larger.
Because the intensity of the harassment kept getting stronger.
Glance.
Jeon Yeongsu looked at the hidden camera Reporter Lee Hyeonwook had installed before leaving.
“By Monday, Professor Lee Chan’s eyes may have gone wild. We’ll capture that on video. If the situation becomes urgent, I’ll definitely step in, so trust me and act the way you usually do. Professor Lee Chan will be finished soon.”
A few days ago, with the help of alcohol, he had squeezed out courage he did not have and barely managed to say a few words.
He had never even had a proper conversation with a person named Reporter Lee Hyeonwook before.
He had only thought of him as someone renting a place in their house…
But it felt so reassuring, and he was so grateful.
“…Yes, Professor!”
After taking a deep breath, Jeon Yeongsu approached Professor Lee Chan.
“How are you going to take responsibility for this situation?”
“Pardon?”
“The research project fell through because of you. You blew the research funds our office needed, so I’m asking how you plan to take responsibility.”
It was forced logic.
Research projects were not something you could win just because you applied.
On top of that, Professor Lee Chan was not even researching a field the current administration was paying attention to.
It was perfectly possible to fail and be rejected, yet he was spouting nonsense that did not even sound like words.
“You have caused our lab a very large loss. In short, you owe me a debt.”
Smack.
Before Jeon Yeongsu could even understand what Professor Lee Chan’s absurd claim meant, he saw stars flashing before his eyes.
Lee Chan had begun slapping Jeon Yeongsu across the face indiscriminately.
“You, smack, from now on, smack, to this lab, smack, don’t come to work, smack.”
Every time Lee Chan spat out a phrase, his palm flew too.
Yeongsu’s body curled on its own, and he covered his face with both arms, but.
“Lower your arms. Otherwise, something stronger is coming.”
What stabbed into his ears was something even more absurd.
For a moment, he looked at Daeseon and Jueun, but they did not try to stop the professor. They would not even look at Yeongsu.
That kind of turning away was what had made Yeongsu even more isolated. But in that moment, Yeongsu saw the hidden camera Lee Hyeonwook had installed.
Blink.
A tiny red light flashed.
It was the sign that recording was going well.
That light became a great comfort to Yeongsu.
It gave him the strength to stagger back to his feet.
“I’m sorry, Professor…”
Thud.
After taking off his wristwatch, Lee Chan drove his fist into Jeon Yeongsu’s cheekbone.
“Sorry? Then I’ll tell you how you can repay that sorry feeling. Daeseon, bring me a sheet of paper and a pen.”
“Yes.”
Daeseon, who had not moved a muscle while Jeon Yeongsu was being hit, quickly prepared a sheet of A4 paper and a pen and presented them in front of Lee Chan.
“Jeon Yeongsu, you bastard. From now on, write down exactly what I dictate.”
“Yes……”
“I, Jeon Yeongsu, committed a grave wrong against Professor Lee Chan and caused a financial loss of one hundred million won. From now on, I will repay this debt through manual labor, and until then, I will not receive any salary from the lab. May 9, 20XX, Jeon Yeongsu. Sign next to your name too.”
For a moment, Jeon Yeongsu thought he had heard wrong. Because the contents made no sense.
“Why aren’t you writing quickly? Huh?”
But no. He had heard correctly.
It was far too hopeless.
One hundred million won? Manual labor? What kind of nonsense was this?
Thud.
When Jeon Yeongsu did not immediately write the pledge, Lee Chan’s fist flew at him.
“You’re still not coming to your senses? How much do you need to be hit before you come to your senses, huh?”
In that instant, his mind snapped awake.
“Everyone here in this place will help you, Mr. Jeon Yeongsu. The people who made things hard for you will be punished properly. So until then, just play along. We’ll take care of the rest. Professor Lee Chan will be finished soon.”
Professor Lee Chan, who wielded absolute power, would be finished?
Something he had never even imagined in his dreams would happen?
He could not believe it.
But he wanted to believe Reporter Lee Hyeonwook.
Because if Lee Chan came to an end, this torment would also stop.
Fine. Let’s play along.
Let’s trust Reporter Lee Hyeonwook and, for now, do what he asked.
Jeon Yeongsu went to the table where the hidden camera Lee Hyeonwook had installed would record well, and wrote the pledge exactly as Lee Chan had dictated.
“Daeseon, you go get this notarized.”
“Yes.”
Daeseon disappeared from the lab with the pledge Yeongsu had written.
“Yeongsu, listen carefully. That pledge now has legal effect. You have to pay me back one hundred million won. From now on, you’ll do manual labor, and whenever you get your day’s wages, you’ll hand them straight over to me before going home! Got it?”
“Yes…”
Lee Chan admired his own problem-solving ability.
Until now, he had relieved stress by beating Jeon Yeongsu, but that had gotten him nothing.
But what if he stopped spending money on Jeon Yeongsu’s labor costs and made Jeon Yeongsu earn money for him every day instead?
Am I a genius?
Wouldn’t that mean double the money?
At this point, he needed to say something decisive so Jeon Yeongsu could not think of anything else.
“If you don’t keep that pledge, I’ll go to your house and turn everything upside down. Think about what will happen when your one and only mother finds out about this.”
“……Yes.”
“Sue me? Do it if you want. I know someone at one of the country’s top three law firms, so keep that in mind too.”
Ugh.
Around the time he thought that should be enough for Yeongsu to understand, Professor Lee Chan’s stomach suddenly began to rumble painfully.
He wanted to drive a few more punches into Jeon Yeongsu’s side, but he urgently needed the bathroom.
Pudadadak.
It was diarrhea.
“Do I get sick to my stomach every time I see that bastard Jeon Yeongsu, or what?”
Still, well, he would be making money soon, so should Lee Chan go a little easy on him?
After relieving himself as well, he felt as though some of his stress had eased.
But then,
“Huh? What’s wrong with this?”
The toilet would not flush.
Why couldn’t the cleaning staff do their job properly?
If everyone simply handled the work assigned to them, this society would run very healthily!
“Hm? The work assigned to them?”
At that moment, a strange thought flashed through Professor Lee Chan’s mind.
That’s right! The work assigned to each person.
And for me, isn’t that research?
The research needed for food engineering is precisely research on the food of the future.
Lee Chan rushed out of the professor’s bathroom and hurried into his own room.
When he came back out, he was holding an Erlenmeyer flask in a hand covered with a lab glove.
He went straight to the toilet stall he had used, then made a perverted-looking expression and laughed grotesquely.
After leaving the bathroom, he headed to the lab exactly as he was.
For a moment, he felt someone’s gaze on him, so he stopped walking and looked back, but there was no one in the hallway.
Text hidden due to unsavory content per content warning; proceed with care
“Urk.”
Jueun gagged.
She had no idea where Professor Lee Chan had gotten it, but he had brought diarrhea that reeked of feces in an Erlenmeyer flask and was spouting bizarre nonsense.
“As food engineers, shouldn’t we research future food sources? Think about it. Whether because of environmental pollution or war, imagine the earth has become a complete mess and there isn’t a single thing left to eat. Even then, there’s something produced every day. Human feces.”
“…….”
Lee Chan was running wild.
He had gone insane in an environment where, no matter how absurd the things he did were, everyone lay at his feet and cried only yes.
“From now on, we’ll be researching human feces. Jeon Yeongsu, I’ll give you the honor of making the very first start. Try eating what’s in this flask. Hey, Lee Jueun, hurry up and film this.”
“Pardon?”
“I said film it. We have to record the research, don’t we? Don’t make me say it twice. Huh?”
“Yes, yes.”
As Jeon Yeongsu watched Lee Jueun fumble in panic and Lee Chan twitch his mouth in excitement, it felt as though he had seen a basement opening endlessly beneath the floor.
As the Erlenmeyer flask containing (omitted) approached beneath his chin, he felt as if something inside him was about to snap.
That was when it happened.
“Professor Lee Chan, please look this way. Smile and say cheese, if you can.”
Seo Suyeon, wearing the green juice woman’s uniform, opened the lab door and was recording video with a camera in her left hand.
With her right hand, she had a phone to her ear and was saying, “Reporter Lee, I think you can come to Professor Lee Chan’s lab now.”
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