VSSSP 08

Chapter 8

Mu-gyeong poured wine into the empty glass that Hyeon had set down. She drank half a bottle of wine by herself. At first glance, there was no sign of intoxication on her face, but as the alcohol kept going down, her expression gradually loosened.

Given the situation, she looked pitiful just sitting there.

Hyeon stared blankly out the window. She took another sip of wine, then looked outside again. The city was dark, and the Namsan Tower stood tall, glowing in the night.

Mu-gyeong had brought Hyeon to a wine bar in Itaewon.

He hadn’t even considered the 31st-floor room or the hotel lounge. She probably wanted to get as far away from Laon Hotel as quickly as possible.

Hyeon didn’t ask where they were going. Even here, she drank in silence.

So Mu-gyeong studied her closely.

Her skin was so pale and translucent that blue veins could almost be seen beneath it. Her dark brown hair was loosely tied back, with stray strands habitually tucked behind her ear from time to time.

When Hyeon placed her empty glass down again, Mu-gyeong refilled it and broke the long silence.

“I thought you wouldn’t drink with a crazy bastard.”

Hyeon turned her head away from the window and looked at the man. She knew his gaze had been on her all along.

The events of the day had been so shocking that she still felt dazed. Yet the man silently pouring her drinks had a presence—dense and weighty.

Her thoughts, which had been drifting toward Min-seong and Joo-ah, had long since shifted to him.

When had it started?

When she entered the wine bar?

When she met him in the elevator?

No—something even earlier.

Hyeon fiddled with her wine glass.

“You said you’d buy me a drink.”

A faint smile touched the man’s lips.

“No boundaries, huh? Or is it rebellion?”

He paused briefly.

“A little escape?”

Escape.

Repeating his words in her mind, Hyeon smiled slowly, a beat late.

“Isn’t it supposed to be comfort?”

“I don’t do things like that.”

“Buying a drink for someone who went through something awful is comfort.”

Hyeon lifted the glass and slowly drank the alluring-colored liquid. Through the clear glass, she could see the man. She met his gaze, unable to look away, and swallowed the wine.

Why did he look at her like that?

It was embarrassing—yet strangely impossible to avoid. It was an odd expression, one she couldn’t quite describe.

“I guess it would be more like a celebration drink.”

Hyeon let out a hollow laugh, relieved that his earlier intensity had faded.

“You’re… the secretary, right?”

She corrected herself. He had helped her and was now sharing drinks with her. She couldn’t keep calling him “that guy.”

In a relaxed tone, she asked:

“Do you find this amusing?”

“Do I look like I do?”

“You seem pretty entertained by the spectacle.”

“It’s too common a situation to be entertained.”

His words were neither playful nor entirely serious. That made it hard to respond.

They sounded mocking, almost rude—but his demeanor wasn’t frivolous. It was calm and sincere.

Mu-gyeong asked in an emotionless voice:

“Did you really like that guy?”

Before Hyeon could decide how to answer, he crossed a line.

It definitely annoyed her.

But she had already drunk wine at the restaurant, and now she was drinking again. The alcohol dulled her reactions, and she missed the chance to get angry.

Instead, memories of the two of them surfaced—Min-seong and Joo-ah.

Hyeon gave a bitter smile.

“If I didn’t like him… I wouldn’t have planned to marry him.”

The bitter taste of wine lingered in her mouth.

The man continued to press:

“If you liked him, shouldn’t you have known him well?”

“……”

“Marriage isn’t child’s play. You should consider everything carefully.”

His words carried a faint, scornful edge—almost a lecture.

Hyeon bristled.

“When you’re going to marry someone, loving and caring for each other is what matters most.”

“And do you think he loved you?”

The purely rational question left her speechless again.

But drunk and shaken by the day’s events, she couldn’t muster any composure.

“What do you know about love?”

“I know.”

His brief answer made her eyes widen.

“Really… you know it well?”

“The most useless hormone—an error that makes people foolish.”

Of course.

Hyeon smiled bitterly.

No matter how badly hurt she was, she had always believed in the warmth of human connection. That love was a noble emotion.

Until just yesterday, she still believed that.

“I thought love… was the most precious feeling in the world.”

The man let out a sound like a short breath.

“Was what you went through today not enough?”

“……”

“Do you need to be hurt even more to realize how pointless it is?”

His words struck every sore spot.

Worst of all was that she couldn’t even argue.

She had believed what she shared with Min-seong was love. She had trusted that she understood him better than anyone.

But it had all been an illusion.

She had thought a flower path awaited her, yet she remained stuck on a road of thorns.

Nothing had changed.

Hyeon swallowed a bitter smile and drained the last of the wine.

It tasted even more bitter than before. Without thinking, she licked her lips and swallowed the saliva gathering there.

The man raised a hand.

“Water, please.”

The movement was smooth—natural.

Soon the server brought a glass of ice water and placed it on the table before returning.

The man slid the glass toward Hyeon.

“Drink.”

His tone and expression were cold—almost intimidating. Yet it wasn’t simply cold.

There was something firm and unreadable in his eyes. The same was true of his entire presence.

He was a strange man—someone whose inner and outer selves seemed to match.

Yet perhaps because she had endured such a rough day, Hyeon felt a strange warmth from him.

She wiped the condensation from the glass with her hand and lifted it to her lips, murmuring as she drank:

“You really confuse people.”

The cold water washed away some of the lingering bitterness in her mouth.

“It’s not comfort.”

He sure had good hearing.

“And it’s definitely not a celebration.”

So it wasn’t comfort, and it wasn’t a celebration—then what was it to sit here drinking with a man she had just met?

The earlier words returned to her mind.

“No boundaries? Or is it an escape?”

Wiping her damp lips with the back of her hand, she said:

“An escape.”

One of the man’s eyebrows lifted slightly.

“You said you couldn’t offer comfort, and I don’t want congratulations. They’d only dig at the wound. That leaves only escape… so let’s escape.”

Their gazes met without a gap between them. He had been watching her all along—she knew that.

Because of the icy aura surrounding him, she deliberately avoided his eyes.

When their gazes met, it felt as if someone were pressing down on her throat.

And now it was the same.

Just looking at his eyes made it hard to breathe.

Hyeon blinked slowly.

“There’s a line people say in dramas during moments like this.”

“There are rules for that too?”

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

A dangerous light flickered in the man’s eyes.

But Hyeon, already past her limit with alcohol, couldn’t think rationally. A reckless courage welled up inside her.

“Do you want to sleep with me?”

“Hey.”

“Am I not attractive as a woman?”

The man’s brow furrowed—an expression that somehow still looked striking on his face.

Hyeon let out a small laugh.

“I probably look crazy, huh?”

“Ha.”

The man exhaled.

“Whenever I saw scenes like that in dramas, I thought it was insane. How could someone act so recklessly just because they were betrayed… or so I thought.”

His faint smile disappeared, and a sharp ache surfaced in his eyes.

“But now… I understand those scenes. I understand why.”

She wouldn’t have been in her right mind after confirming her fiancé’s betrayal. Nor was she now. If an escape meant doing something like this—

Hyeon looked at him and spoke in a low voice:

“Do you want to sleep with me?”

Her words hung in the air. The man’s brow tightened again—an expression that somehow seemed almost unsettled.

“You really have no boundaries.”

He stood up from his seat.