If that’s the case, then as expected.
‘I need to solve Baek Heegang’s problem. To do that, I need to figure out what his problem is.’
As the saying goes, to catch a tiger, you must enter the tiger’s den. Having made that decision, Wonyoung lay down on the bed.
Since there’s no tiger here, he’ll have to wait for the tiger to come, won’t he?
After that, there would be ways to handle it.
* * *
“T-to, today, c-can we… sleep together…?”
The stammering words became so quiet toward the end that they were barely audible. Wonyoung bit his lip and thought. Endure it, this is what you chose.
After staring at Wonyoung for a moment, Heegang smiled slightly and asked.
“Why?”
“…Uh…”
He’d thought Heegang would be purely delighted, but the lukewarm reaction made Wonyoung somewhat embarrassed. However, he soon offered the answer he’d prepared.
“W-well, since I’m in an unfamiliar place… I can’t sleep well.”
“You were fine for the past few days though?”
‘This bastard, is he suspecting me?’
Wonyoung pretended to look troubled and made a sad face while sharply observing Heegang inwardly.
‘Rather than thinking I’m trying to uncover his secret, he probably thinks I’m trying to escape.’
Wonyoung spoke to dispel Heegang’s suspicion.
“I was pretending to be fine. Because I didn’t want to cause you trouble…”
“…”
“It’s okay if we can’t. I, I just tried asking. I can sleep alone.”
If he gives a smile here that’s clearly forced.
“No. Let’s sleep together.”
This is what they call the main character buff! Wonyoung internally cheered and smiled brightly.
“Really? Thank you!”
“I’m the one who should be thankful. I’m making things difficult for you in various ways, but you trust me and wait for me.”
“…Haha.”
Sorry, but if I wait for you any longer, I’m going to die. Wonyoung only answered that way inwardly.
And that night.
[16:33]
After checking the remaining time on the mission window, Wonyoung glanced back at the sleeping Heegang. His phone was on the nightstand next to the bed.
‘He’ll wake up immediately if I get up. He’s constantly monitoring me, despite how it looks.’
If he rustles around alone, it might end before he can do anything. Heegang said he had an early schedule tomorrow morning, so if he fails here, there won’t be a second chance.
After thinking for a moment, Wonyoung squirmed and moved closer to Heegang. And when he got close enough for their lips to touch.
“Heegang, I’m going to the bathroom.”
He whispered into Heegang’s ear. Heegang, who opened his eyes in surprise, burst into laughter. Seeing that, Wonyoung laughed too.
“As I thought, you weren’t asleep.”
“Yeah. There’s no way I could calmly fall asleep next to you. My heart is pounding like this.”
Still a genius at sweet talk. Wonyoung cleared his throat unnecessarily and got up.
“Then I’ll be back.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t fall asleep first.”
“I won’t.”
Saying that, Wonyoung got up and grabbed Heegang’s phone while pretending to grab his own. The room was dark, so it wouldn’t be visible whose phone it was.
The flashlight function could be used without unlocking it. Wonyoung turned on the flashlight and headed to the bathroom.
And as soon as he entered the bathroom, he turned off the flashlight and checked the phone. Thoroughly, it was set with a password, not a pattern.
However, Wonyoung scoffed. Who is this guy? Baek Heegang. Who is Baek Heegang? None other than Narae’s stalker. Obviously, the password would be numbers related to Narae.
‘It’s probably the birthday.’
Judging so, Wonyoung entered the 4-digit birthday. However, the password didn’t match.
‘What? I don’t have time.’
Wonyoung stamped his feet anxiously and tried several more times, but they all ended in failure. One more failure and password entry itself would be impossible for 5 minutes. After worrying, Wonyoung entered 6 digits with a “what if” feeling.
‘It opened!’
Then the lock was released and a wallpaper appeared that was clearly a secret photo of Narae. Ha. Wonyoung let out an incredulous laugh in disbelief. Who would’ve thought it was the birth date including the year. What a terrible guy.
There was no time. Wonyoung hurriedly checked the message history. And immediately, he found a strange text.
[This is the final warning. If you don’t want your secret exposed to the world, prepare 1 billion won. By tomorrow.]
‘What’s this?’
A threat that was chilling just to read. Could it be that Heegang is being blackmailed?
‘By whom exactly? And what secret?’
Wonyoung’s mind was filled with confusion. And amid that, there was also a worrying part.
‘Will Baek Heegang give them the 1 billion won? Don’t tell me… don’t tell me he’s going to completely eliminate them… no way, right?’
Of course, there’s no way the popular actor Baek Heegang didn’t have 1 billion won. It wouldn’t be easy to prepare, but if he wanted to, he could make it. The problem was that he seemed likely to want a more complete silencing.
Isn’t he the kind of guy who grabs tools first whenever something happens? Now that he thinks about it, the fact that he has to leave early tomorrow morning also feels unsettling.
‘I have a bad feeling about this.’
But there was no time to think more. If he drags this out any longer, Heegang will notice. Wonyoung washed his hands and came out of the bathroom, returning the phone to its place. When he lay down, Heegang patted his chest and said.
“Sleep well.”
“…”
Wonyoung wanted to ask about the threatening text, but he let it pass without saying anything. Even if he asked, Heegang wouldn’t answer. But as if he could see Wonyoung’s expression in the darkness, Heegang said.
“Rae, it’ll end soon. I’ll finish it all.”
“…Heegang.”
“Just wait a little longer.”
As expected, this bastard was definitely planning to bash that blackmailer’s head in. Of course, this time Wonyoung wanted to agree with that action too, but he couldn’t let Heegang hurt someone.
And though he felt sorry for Heegang, Wonyoung had no intention of waiting any longer.
Because he was getting out tomorrow.
* * *
[05:21]
Now only about five hours remained. Wonyoung anxiously paced back and forth in front of the door.
‘He should be here by now.’
He executed this operation trusting only that person’s abilities, but where the hell is he and what is he doing?
‘It’s been 3 hours since Baek Heegang left. Even if something happened, it would’ve happened already.’
He hasn’t killed him yet, has he? He’s not burying him somewhere, is he? As Wonyoung nervously bit into the cookie Heegang had left behind, suddenly a loud BANG! was heard.
Wonyoung, startled out of his wits, froze.
And then, a familiar voice was heard.
“Narae-ssi, are you inside!”
It was Taerim. But this was the first time hearing such a disheveled voice from him. Wonyoung approached the door, somewhat flustered.
“Director-nim?”
“…Narae-ssi!”
Certain that the person outside was Taerim, Wonyoung asked.
“Did you see my text?”
“Yes. Are you hurt anywhere? Are you okay?!”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. If you could just open the door first, I’d be grateful.”
Actually, last night, Wonyoung had done one more thing with Heegang’s phone. He’d sent a rescue request to Taerim asking for help. Since he was a secretary, he had memorized Taerim’s phone number, so there was no problem.
Wonyoung showed meticulousness by sending the rescue request along with a text telling Taerim absolutely not to reply, then deleting the sent message from the message box.
And as expected, befitting a chaebol heir, Taerim had cleverly come to rescue him.
BANG! BANG! After the sound of hitting the door handle several times, the door opened all too easily. Perhaps because he’d deviated from the ending route, the system’s power didn’t work either.
“…Narae-ssi…”
However, what made Wonyoung flustered was seeing Taerim standing there looking so pitiful and desperate. Wonyoung quickly dropped the cookie in his hand to the floor.
“Director…”
Before Wonyoung could even finish calling Taerim, Taerim pulled Wonyoung into a tight embrace.
“D-Director-nim.”
“Do you know how shocked I was? Suddenly saying you’re locked up, please open the door.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Taerim let out a deep sigh while holding Wonyoung. Wonyoung belatedly felt sorry as if he’d used Taerim for the mission.
‘But if I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have seen me ever again either.’
Wonyoung patted Taerim’s back a few times as consolation and came out of the embrace. Though he’d like to let him enjoy the reunion moment, he had many things to do right now.
“Director-nim, I’m sorry but I have somewhere urgent to go.”
“To Baek Heegang?”
“Uh… how did you know?”
Instead of answering, Taerim glared at Wonyoung as if to say how could he not know. Well, with location tracking and all… this house would be under Heegang’s name.
“…What is this now.”
Suddenly, Taerim saw the shackle on Wonyoung’s ankle and sent an extremely contemptuous look. Wonyoung fidgeted, hiding his ankle behind him unnecessarily even though it couldn’t be hidden anyway.
“Th-this is, uh…”
The sound of grinding teeth could be heard through Taerim’s clenched jaw. He seemed genuinely and tremendously angry.
“Secretary Yang.”
“Yes, Director-nim.”
“Cut this off immediately.”
“Yes, understood.”
Taerim’s attending secretary brought tools from who knows where and cut Wonyoung’s shackle. Seeing the red marks remaining on the white ankle, Taerim frowned.
“Director-nim, then…”
As Wonyoung tried to slip away from the scene, Taerim grabbed Wonyoung’s wrist. It wasn’t strong, but it didn’t seem like it would be easily released either.
As Wonyoung hesitated on how to get out of this, Taerim said something unexpected.
“Let’s go together.”
“…What?”
“I know you’re going to go anyway, no matter what. I don’t know what the circumstances are exactly, but I somehow feel I know you’re that kind of person.”
Though Taerim grumbled discontentedly, “That’s why only those idiots stick to you,” Wonyoung was a bit moved by Taerim’s decision. It felt like having someone on his side, you could say.
“And before that, let’s do something about that outfit first.”
“Ah.”
