WeTried Translations
Translator: NEET_Romulus
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Dropped into the Ending of a Trash Show as an Extra ◈
Chapter 13: Misunderstanding
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Kim A-ra squeezed her eyes shut.
So this was how it ended.
Would her life always mean groveling at someone’s feet?
Now that it had come to this, memories of the childhood she desperately wanted to forget came flooding back.
“You lowborn bitch.”
“They say blood always tells.”
At the Kim clan estate, she had always been an outsider.
Her father had never seen her as his child. She was nothing more than a useful chess piece he could discard at any time.
While the children of his legal wife lived easy lives with golden spoons in their mouths, Kim A-ra had to constantly prove that she was worth letting breathe, eat, and survive in this family.
In other words, that she was a useful woman.
She slept less. She studied until she felt as though she would cough blood.
She met her family’s contempt with scorn and ruthlessly crushed her rivals.
JD Group.
Only after reaching its summit had she finally been able to breathe easy.
No one can look down on me now. I hold my own fate in my hands.
That was what she had believed.
But she had been mistaken. Reality was cruel.
No matter how desperately a businesswoman like her struggled, before the power of hereditary aristocrats, she was nothing more than a wallet.
“I will stand at His Highness the Crown Prince’s side.”
That was why she had set her sights on the Crown Prince.
Not for some laughable reason like love. She needed the umbrella of the Imperial House and the safest place beneath it. She needed the status and power of becoming Crown Princess.
But that stupid, pathetic Crown Prince had ruined everything over one woman.
What was so special about that woman?
The Crown Prince had been utterly obsessed with a woman who had nothing but a shred of pride and her tears.
The place she had wanted so desperately. The power she had craved.
Watching that woman wield all of it so easily, without considering the consequences, Kim A-ra could only grit her teeth.
So this is why I ended up like this.
Villainess.
More than one or two people had called her that. They called her a venomous spider who would stop at nothing to take what belonged to others.
Fine. Let’s admit it. I became cruel to survive.
She had struggled so desperately to avoid ending up like this, to avoid the humiliation of stripping naked before someone.
...And yet I got caught in a vicious snare.
There was no way out. One word from the Emperor, and she would be dragged to the execution ground and vanish like dew. Her father would discard her without the slightest hesitation.
Her only lifeline was...
“Become my dog.”
As expected, the Emperor was her only option.
Kim A-ra thought she understood what those words meant.
After all, she had seen plenty of ugliness in these circles, whether she wanted to or not.
A dog.
A dog that warmed the nights of the powerful, was thoroughly violated, and discarded once it had outlived its usefulness.
She would now follow in the footsteps of countless powerless people.
Still, she had taken off her clothes.
She had to survive, even if that meant surrendering first and offering up her body.
“...”
She opened her eyes.
Prepared for the gaze of the man who would greedily rake over her body.
But then...
“What the hell is this crazy bitch doing?”
Lee Jin’s voice was full of disbelief.
Kim A-ra jerked her head up.
Lee Jin was not looking at her naked body.
He simply looked as though he had seen something he never should have, frantically waving his hands with the expression of a man who had just bitten into shit.
For the first time, confusion appeared on the Emperor’s face. He had pressed her relentlessly without losing his composure until now.
Under any other circumstances, she might even have felt a strange sense of victory.
“Pardon...?”
A foolish sound slipped from Kim A-ra’s lips.
Lee Jin pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a long sigh.
“Who told you to take your clothes off?”
Unlike when he had been pressuring her, he had even reverted to formal speech.
“But... you told me to become your dog. I thought this was what Your Majesty wanted...”
“This is driving me insane.”
Lee Jin irritably tapped the table.
“Am I crazy enough to sleep with Kim Yang-han’s daughter? Do you think I have nine lives?”
“...”
“Just get dressed. Seriously.”
Her mind went blank.
What?
She blinked once. Then twice.
The situation began to piece itself together in her mind.
Become my dog.
It meant he would make her submit and use her as his hands and feet.
He meant for her to become a filthy hunting dog who funded slush funds, manipulated public opinion, and dug up information on the Kim clan.
But she had mistaken it for an order to become his partner for the night and stripped without even being asked!
In front of a man she had never met before, the supreme ruler under heaven.
Whoosh.
Blood rushed to Kim A-ra’s face.
This went beyond embarrassment. It was a crushing humiliation unlike anything she had ever experienced in her life.
“Ah...!”
Kim A-ra instinctively crossed her arms over her body.
Nothing remained of the cool, haughty expression of the JD Group chairwoman.
Her ears and neck flushed bright red as she bent down with trembling hands to pick up the clothes scattered across the floor.
“I, I...”
The words came out wrong.
Even if she wanted to make an excuse, she could not think of what to say.
Lee Jin, still looking dumbfounded, asked her,
“Did you honestly think I was pulling this stunt because I wanted your body?”
“N-No! Never...!”
Kim A-ra cried out in panic.
“I misunderstood... I misunderstood Your Majesty’s intentions. I apologize.”
Her voice shrank away. She wanted to find a mouse hole and hide in it immediately.
She was the chairwoman of JD Group. Kim A-ra, who had endured every hardship and wielded influence across the business and political worlds, had done something this idiotic.
“Just get dressed already. Before someone comes in.”
Lee Jin said irritably, turning his head away.
“Yes, yes! Right away...!”
Kim A-ra hurriedly pulled her dress back on.
With trembling hands, she tugged the fabric up and pushed her arms through the sleeves.
But there was a problem.
The dress had a zipper running deep down her back, below her waist.
Her secretary had zipped it up when she put it on. But there was no one in the room except herself and Lee Jin.
Please, go up.
Kim A-ra bent her arm behind her back and grasped the zipper pull.
But her fingers had gone weak from nerves.
Her sweaty fingers kept slipping off the narrow zipper pull.
Zzzzt. Zzzzt.
In the silent office, only the pitiful metallic scrape of the zipper teeth echoed.
The zipper, halfway up, had caught on the thin lining and would not budge.
“Haah...”
Cold sweat ran down her back.
She tried pulling harder, but only damaged the fabric. The zipper showed no sign of moving.
She could not do it alone.
When the delay dragged on, Lee Jin, who had been facing away, abruptly spoke.
“What are you doing? Protesting?”
“N-No! It’s not that...”
Kim A-ra’s eyes reddened.
Tears welled up from humiliation.
In terms of sheer emotion, this moment was a hundred times more terrible than nearly being executed for treason just moments ago.
She bit down hard on her lip.
She could barely bring herself to speak, but she could not remain standing in the Emperor’s office half undressed.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Kim A-ra turned toward the Emperor.
She held the zipper behind her back and bowed her head deeply.
“Um...”
Her voice was barely louder than a mosquito.
“What?”
Lee Jin turned around with a frown.
Kim A-ra could not bring herself to lift her head.
Her voice, which had never trembled when signing contracts worth tens of billions, now shook like an aspen leaf.
She squeezed her eyes shut and whispered in a tiny voice.
“Y-Your Majesty...”
“Speak.”
“The zipper... the zipper in the back... could you zip it up for me...?”
Heavy silence fell over the office once more.
* * *
This is driving me insane.
Lee Jin stared at Kim A-ra.
Is this woman determined to set me up?
There were not many things the newly enthroned Lee Jin could rely on.
One of them was legitimacy.
But if some bizarre scandal got tangled up in this, he would be completely fucked. It would be the kind of scandal he could never recover from.
What meticulous calculation.
Looking at her face, red as a beet, he was not entirely sure, but Lee Jin did not trust Kim A-ra by nature.
At most, he half believed her.
Even so, he still held the initiative. In practical terms, nothing had changed.
Maintaining his composure, Lee Jin pressed the bell.
“Secretary Seo Yu-jin. Come in at once.”
“Y-Your Majesty! Wait...!”
Kim A-ra tried to stop him in horror, but it was already too late.
The heavy office door opened, and Seo Yu-jin entered with her usual cold expression.
Then Seo Yu-jin stopped short.
The chairwoman of JD Group stood in the middle of the office, her face red as she clutched the front of her dress.
And far behind his desk, the Emperor sat with his arms folded.
For the first time, Seo Yu-jin’s poker face cracked.
Lee Jin cleared his throat once and calmly gave an order.
“Secretary Seo. It seems Chairwoman Kim is having trouble getting dressed. Go zip up her dress for her.”
“...Pardon?”
“Did you not hear me? Zip it up.”
Seo Yu-jin soon seemed to grasp the situation. She let out a quiet sigh and approached Kim A-ra from behind, her heels clicking across the floor.
Zzzzip.
Seo Yu-jin showed no mercy. She pulled the zipper all the way up in one go, then took a step back and respectfully bowed her head toward Lee Jin.
“Thank you, Secretary Seo. You may leave now.”
At Lee Jin’s dry response, Seo Yu-jin closed the door and left again.
Kim A-ra, who had finally managed to straighten her clothes, turned to Lee Jin.
The Emperor still wore an unreadable expression.
Every powerful person she had met until now had been a pig devoted to their desires.
Whether it was money, power, or anything else, they were the kind who would greedily bite down the moment bait was thrown their way.
But the young Emperor before her was different.
Was that why, even though he held her leash, she did not feel all that bad?
If she had to climb onto a tiger’s back anyway...
She was certain this would be much more favorable to her survival.
“Now that we’re done with that nonsense, let’s get to the point.”
Lee Jin spoke as he swirled his teacup.
“As I declared on the broadcast, I will immediately begin cutting away this country’s rotten flesh. The targets will be the great clans of the capital,[1] who fed off the former Imperial House while wallowing in corruption.”
“My father will not take this lying down. The Kim clan has deep-rooted hands in the business world, politics, the judiciary, and the media.”
“I know. That is why I intend to choose the first target very carefully.”
“And where would that be?”
Lee Jin leaned forward and met Kim A-ra’s eyes.
“JD Group.”
Kim A-ra was not particularly flustered.
Having regained her composure, her mind was turning faster than ever.
Kim A-ra looked directly at Lee Jin and said,
“You intend to throw a smokescreen over today’s meeting.”
“It should be enough to signal to Kim Yang-han that there is no room for negotiation. He will be too focused on that to watch what is beneath his feet.”
“I will have to provide a pretext. A very clear pretext that can serve as justification.”
“Exactly. Is there anyone at your company who needs to be cut loose?”
The moment Lee Jin finished speaking, killing intent flashed in Kim A-ra’s eyes, as though she had been waiting for the question.
“Why would there not be? My father has countless lackeys planted in the company to watch me and take control of it. There are plenty of people who need to be removed, and their accumulated crimes are far from few.”
“Good. I will send the Joint Investigation Headquarters to sweep them all away.”
Lee Jin rose from his seat.
“You will have to go through a rough time for a while, too.”
“At worst, it will be a detention center.”
Kim A-ra looked down at her slender wrists, which would soon be handcuffed, and smiled smoothly.
“Do not worry. I am used to being locked away.”
* * *
The next morning, in the heart of Seoul.
Before JD Group’s headquarters, a skyscraper that soared as though it could pierce the sky, chaos erupted in an instant.
Screeeech!
“What is this? Who are you people?!”
Dozens of vans and military vehicles quickly occupied the front of the building.
Security personnel rushed out and tried to stop them, but...
Even the guards of mighty JD Group could not match the force of heavily armed troops.
At their head, a fierce-looking man strode in without hesitation.
Lieutenant colonel insignia gleamed on the shoulders of his uniform.
“I am Lieutenant Colonel Kwak Ji-hoon, commander of the Temporary Imperial Guard Squadron.”
He held out documents to the head of security blocking his way.
“By His Majesty the Emperor’s imperial decree, and at the request of the Joint Investigation Headquarters for cooperation, the Imperial Guard Squadron will carry out a lawful search-and-seizure operation. We ask for your cooperation.”
Footnotes:
[1] Great clans of the capital: hereditary elite families centered in the capital, influential through long-standing official and family connections.
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