Chew it, bite harder, and spit it out.

"If I open my mouth even once, your political career is over."

Blood oozed out from the tongue bitten too hard.

Hee-joo knew her voice was disguised, but the silence from the other end of the receiver terrified her enough to bite her nails.

No, more brazenly. More crudely.

Speak like a real blackmailer.

"Sh*t… damn it! Didn’t I tell you to meet my demands first?"

Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it would burst out of her chest.

How did someone who had lived without a voice end up like this?

How did she end up threatening someone?

"Are you really okay with being exposed? Even if the public points fingers at you?"

The palm holding the phone had become slippery. It wasn’t her first time making a threatening call, yet she broke out in a cold sweat every time.

She took a quiet breath and steeled her gaze.

A blackmailer’s greatest weapon is audacity.

Self-interest that trumps guilt, arrogance that mocks authority, the impulse to act first and think later, and a single-minded conviction so outrageous it’s almost laughable.

A blackmailer moves with determination. Once started, it has to go all the way to the end.

Until the desired outcome is achieved.

"Hurry up and put things back to how they were! Or should I smear your name in sh*t? A power-hungry bastard like you can’t handle that, right?"

― …

The other end remained silent.

Only the sound of a lighter clicking open and the faint crackle of a cigarette burning served as his response. His calmness was infuriating.

Hee-joo bit down on her lower lip.

"If you keep dragging this out, I don’t know what I might do…!"

Her distorted voice, disguised and gravelly, clawed out like rocks scraping against one another.

Had it been impossible from the start to threaten this man?

The man known as the face of the president, with the most expensive mouth in the country.

The only son of the frontrunner for the next presidency and a spokesperson trusted by the entire nation.

Baek Sa-eon.

For someone like Hee-joo, who had spent years living in silence, every moment facing him was a battle.

But she wanted to escape from him. To be cast aside willingly.

Three years had passed since she entered a loveless marriage, exploited for the joint ventures of her father-in-law, a presidential candidate, and her family, owners of a major newspaper.

The degrading contract bore not the seals of both families but her own body, handed over like collateral.

She was done with a life of suffocating scrutiny.

Even if it meant becoming an illegal messenger!

"If you don’t do as I say, I’ll expose everything! Your filthy, petty past—!"

― Ah.

His voice was cold and slow.

― How sweet.

"…!"

The tone clung to her like nails scratching her eardrums, and she froze.

― Let’s continue this punctual blackmailing in the future as well.

"What the…!"

― You’ve been running a few minutes late lately. Have you picked another victim besides me?

…What is he saying?

― I’m waiting so desperately for my scary blackmailer, after all.

"…!"

― If you cast your net wide, do you think I’ll get mad or not?

I’m the blackmailer here, so what’s this nonsense about nets?

For a moment, she was speechless and dumbfounded. In that time, he had seized control of the conversation.

― It’s already frustrating enough being caught by you. You can’t go making other guys cry, can you? It’s only fun if you pick one person and crush them, isn’t it?

Hee-joo opened her mouth in disbelief but couldn’t find the words.

― I hate people who are late, and blackmailers are no exception.

The sound of him dragging on his cigarette was accompanied by the faint crackle of the filter melting in the embers.

― Naturally, there should be penalties, don’t you think?

"What?"

She unconsciously spoke formally.

― What are you wearing right now?

The overheated phone clung stickily to her palm.

― Let’s start by taking it off, shall we?

As you can see, I’m a wife blackmailing her husband under disguise.

But it seems this man is trying to cheat on "me" with "me."