Chapter 23
“H-Hello!”
I jumped to my feet as I answered the phone.
“Where are you?”
“Sorry, I… forgot to call in advance. You’re not still waiting in the car, right?”
“…Where are you?”
“Ahjin! I’m with Myung Ahjin and Jung Sumin, we came to eat tteokbokki. Right now…”
The lie came out naturally.
I couldn’t let Seo Jinhyung find out about Yeon Jaehyun. Especially not now, right after I had signed the contract.
I had become related to the organization he was trying to destroy. I could never let him find out.
Because if he did, I’d die.
In a panic, I grabbed the bag I had thrown on the floor and slung it over my shoulder. I picked up the jacket and the file containing the contract that were lying on the sofa.
There was no trace of the slow, relaxed movements I had used earlier to spend even a little more time talking with Yeon Jaehyun.
Thankfully, even after hearing my lie, Yeon Jaehyun didn’t say anything.
I gave him a small nod in greeting, then practically ran toward the front door.
‘Damn it!’
I needed to get out quickly, but for some reason my sneakers wouldn’t cooperate today.
Thud!
With my phone and jacket in both hands, I forced my feet into my shoes and lost my balance, slamming my head against the shoe cabinet.
“Ugh…!”
“Saeyeon. Where are you?”
‘Fuck!’
I squeezed my eyes shut.
It was terrifying how Seo Jinhyung kept asking the same question three times in a row without even listening.
I pushed the front door open with my shoulder and raised my voice for no reason.
“At the snack bar! That’s enough, I’m coming now. You come home too.”
Click.
Before the door lock sound even finished, I quickly hung up. Then I immediately called Jung Sumin while pressing the elevator button repeatedly.
“Damn… why isn’t he picking up?”
Normally he replied to texts and calls right away, but today he was making me wait.
Just before I was about to hang up, the call barely connected.
“…Hello.”
“Hey, Jung Sumin! Where are you?”
“Did you call just to ask that?”
“Then what else would I ask? Where are you?”
Silence stretched on.
I wondered if the signal was weak in the elevator, so I turned up the volume, but still heard nothing.
“Ugh, why aren’t you answering!”
I was going crazy from frustration.
I needed to ask if he had met Seo Jinhyung. And if not, I had to ask him to back me up later and say we were together.
“Forget it. I’m hanging up!”
It seemed faster to call Myung Ahjin instead.
I grabbed a passing taxi and called her. Unlike Jung Sumin, it didn’t take long before her cheerful voice came through.
“Saeyeon!”
“Where are you? Did you meet Seo Jinhyung by any chance?”
“Huh? No? I’m at the tteokbokki place!”
‘Thank God!!!’
Since Seo Jinhyung didn’t trust me much, I thought maybe he had met Jung Sumin or Myung Ahjin.
“Is Jung Sumin there too?”
“Sumin? He went home earlier…”
‘Shit….’
Then did he meet Jung Sumin? No way.
‘Ah, I should’ve just used Myung Ahjin’s name only!’
I clenched my teeth while staring out the passing window.
“So you’re alone right now?”
“Yeah! Why? Are you coming? I’m almost done eating… should I order more?!”
It was a cute idea, but I didn’t have the time.
I quickly refused and hung up, then called Jung Sumin again.
This time, he didn’t answer at all.
‘Wow, this bastard?’
Maybe he was busy, but at this timing, it had to be deliberate.
“Here! You can keep the change.”
I said something I thought I’d never say in my life and hurried out of the taxi.
When I rushed into the house, I saw the cleaning lady.
I shouted loudly.
“Is Seo Jinhyung home?!”
“The young master? He came back quite a while ago. He should be in his room…”
“What the hell…!!”
The jacket on my arm slipped to the floor.
‘He came back a while ago? Then he wasn’t waiting in the car, didn’t meet Jung Sumin or Myung Ahjin… he was just messing with me?’
…What was I even doing just now?
All my strength drained away in disbelief.
Only then did I realize how overly dramatic I had been.
Feeling deeply embarrassed, I stood at the entrance without even taking off my shoes, lost in thought.
‘If I think about it, all he did was ask where I was. What was I doing, acting like I got an emergency alert?’
I should’ve just said honestly that I was at a friend’s house.
If he asked who, I could’ve made up some common name. Jihyun. Minji. Something like that.
No matter how crazy Seo Jinhyung was, would he really check that thoroughly?
‘…He probably would. Damn it.’
Then what was the right answer?
My head felt complicated.
Just imagining Seo Jinhyung finding out about Yeon Jaehyun made my heart drop.
Even though, according to the original story, they would meet someday anyway. I knew it was a meaningless fear, but still.
‘No. More precisely… I don’t want him to find out that there’s some kind of connection between me and Yeon Jaehyun.’
It would probably be hard to hide Yeon Jaehyun’s existence no matter what.
But the fact that there was something between him and me—that was something I could hide. And had to hide.
Of course, right now, even if I hung around that insignificant loser, no one might care.
But what if later that loser was revealed to be an S-class White Killer?
‘With Seo Jinhyung’s personality, there’s no way he’d leave it alone.’
His mind was twisted, and his ability to act and gather information was unmatched. He might even find out that I had signed a contract with the Association as Yeon Jaehyun’s secretary.
If that happened, it wouldn’t be strange if I lost my head earlier than in the original story.
‘Fuck, should I just report Seo Jinhyung to Yeon Jaehyun now? I’m officially related to them now, so maybe they’d believe me even without proof.’
…No, think about that later.
Right now, nothing has actually happened.
There’s no reason to risk my life to report Seo Jinhyung.
Maybe what I did just now was close to the right answer.
If I wanted to keep my relationship with Yeon Jaehyun hidden from Seo Jinhyung, even if it looked pathetic, this was probably the best way.
‘…Wow, what am I even saying? This is annoying.’
I let out a hollow laugh at my endless self-justification.
My tangled thoughts contradicted themselves and sounded almost like nonsense.
Nothing could be an excuse.
Whatever it was, I had to admit that I had been irrationally scared of Seo Jinhyung just now.
Step. Step.
The distant sound of footsteps grew closer.
“You’re home early? You could’ve stayed longer with your friends.”
When I looked up, the man who had made me so anxious was standing there.
“……”
Seo Jinhyung looked at me with the same voice and expression as always.
I was still afraid of him.
Afraid enough to panic over a small lie and cause all that chaos.
My thoughts were so tangled that I didn’t even understand why I had acted that way.
“Why are you just standing there? Want me to take off your shoes for you?”
“…You crazy bastard.”
“Not crazy bastard. Oppa.”
But the moment I saw Seo Jinhyung smiling at me so casually—
An indescribable sense of relief washed over me.
Only then did I feel like I could breathe again.
After admitting that everything had been my overreaction, it was embarrassing—but my heart felt lighter.
‘Maybe I’m forcing him too much into the frame of a madman.’
Faint light slipped through the curtains.
When I checked my phone, it was almost morning. Endless thoughts had kept me awake all night.
Because of that, unlike my usual barely-on-time routine, I finished getting ready early and went down to the living room.
Mom looked surprised.
“You’re becoming a high school student now.”
I shrugged.
Her face immediately turned cold.
“No. You stayed up all night, didn’t you?”
“Tsk.”
She knew me too well.
“Where’s Seo Jinhyung?”
“You should call him Jinhyung oppa! How rude.”
“Where’s oppa?”
“Here.”
It was Seo Jinhyung’s voice.
When I turned my head, Seo Jinhyung and Uncle were walking out from the study hallway together.
I froze at the unexpected double appearance and awkwardly bowed.
“G-Good morning…?”
“At this hour? What brings you down so early, Saeyeon?”
Uncle and I looked at each other in confusion.
“Did something happen?”
“No…”
It was an innocent question, which made me feel even more embarrassed. It was my first time coming down this early, fully prepared.
‘So Uncle leaves for work at this time.’
I didn’t know. It was only about a 30-minute difference, yet I had never once run into him on a weekday morning.
Even during vacation, when my sleep schedule was a mess, I had never seen him leave for work.
“Oh my, it’s nice to see the whole family together in the morning.”
Mom’s artificial laugh clearly tried to smooth over the situation.
“By the way, Jinhyung, why are you here, Saeyeon?”
A natural change of topic. As expected, she was skilled.
You’d need that level of skill to capture the chairman of a major corporation.
“He just wasn’t around.”
“Oh my. You’re not a little kid. Do you like Jinhyung oppa that much? Hohoho.”
That was a bit too much.
