‘It’s not even a bomb I made. It’s Cha Jaehyun’s fault.’
After not being seen for 3 months, he suddenly appeared before me. To a deserted place where people don’t go, no less. Since when has he been following me—this is a bad omen.
“I thought we finished talking back then. Didn’t you also meet with the Chairman last time? What more do you have to say? A scar that will last a lifetime remains on my forehead because of whom, so stop with the petty threats.”
“You’re as prickly as ever.”
“There’s a limit to how much I can tolerate. Think about it. If I had left such a scar on you, do you think I would have stayed still?”
“…Hearing you say that, you’re not so bad either.”
Crazy bastard, as expected, we can’t communicate. Was it wrong to come to such a deserted place alone in the first place? Lee Dojun is slowly approaching me with his gaze fixed on me. I’d rather Seo Hanryul suddenly appear and make a mess, but by now he would have gone back to filming, so there’s no one who would come looking for me.
“Ha… You’ve been quiet for a while.”
“The reason I was quiet for a while is, as I said, because Jaehyun-ssi was my lifesaver.”
“Remove your hand.”
“Now your body seems completely healed, so we should start soon, right?”
“Start what?”
“Don’t think about playing dumb.”
Lee Dojun, who had approached right in front of me before I knew it, gently swept back my bangs. After carefully checking the scar on my forehead, he gently grasps my chin. I thought it would pass quietly like this, but Lee Dojun is starting to cross the line again.
“Stop it, really. Don’t you have a conscience?”
“Speaking informally isn’t bad either.”
“You’re the first crazy person like you I’ve seen in my entire life.”
“Crazy person. I’ll take it as a compliment.”
Shameless bastard, I’ve been patient enough. Even when I speak informally, his expression doesn’t change at all and he leisurely responds back in informal speech. It’s so natural that it looks like we’ve been speaking informally for a long time.
“We finished talking last time. I saved you. How long are you going to do this?”
“You’re quite angry. You know what? Getting angry only makes you look more ridiculous.”
“Crazy bastard, don’t make me laugh. Are you going to do this forever over that pathetic photo? Enough already.”
“Want to end it?”
“Obviously.”
Lee Dojun skillfully pushes me toward the wall and whispers softly in my ear. The sight of being cornered is nothing but pathetic. Vicious bastard. I need to calm down. First, I need to get this guy off me. I need to get to where there are more people.
“Ha… Aren’t we civilized people in our own way? Stop this ridiculous act and let’s go out and talk. I don’t even know what you’re doing right now.”
“You’re using formal speech again. Something must have suddenly bothered you. Are you scared?”
“Fine. Move aside. I should stop talking.”
As expected, he doesn’t budge. He seems to have no intention of leaving this space. In this annoying situation, I roughly pushed him and escaped from the corner. If I leave first, he can follow or not.
“Stop there.”
‘You think I’ll stop?’
It’s not like he’s training a dog, yet he calls out to stop me in a low voice. But I have absolutely no reason to be intimidated. Get angry or throw me in jail—do as you please.
‘How did he even get to the filming location? This is driving me crazy.’
“Let go of this.”
“I’ll end it the way you want. It should be a tempting proposal for you too.”
“What?”
End it? I don’t believe it, but I’m interested. It seems like a lie but he looks serious, so I thought maybe I should listen once, pretending to be crazy.
‘Right, I’ve already seen this much, so there’s nothing I can’t hear.’
“Ha, what is it? Let’s hear it.”
* * *
“Are you joking right now? I was stupid for having even a shred of expectation. Fine. I’m an idiot for being tempted to hear such stupid talk.”
“I think it’s a proposal with nothing bad for you from your position.”
Lee Dojun proposed a meeting at a hotel as a condition to end everything. Though he says it’s a simple meeting at a hotel, I could clearly see his ulterior motives, so I couldn’t accept the proposal.
The original work comes to mind. In the latter part of the novel, Seo Hanryul and Lee Dojun met alone at a hotel under the pretext of a date and spent a night together—I don’t want to think about it any further. Why a hotel of all places?
“Fine. I’m not stupid either, and I won’t get fooled twice. Knowing what you’ll do…”
“What are you thinking? You’re more devious than I thought. I have no ulterior motives. I’m saying let’s set a day, meet, and organize everything. This ambiguous relationship is uncomfortable for you too. Don’t you have a lot to resolve with me?”
“If we’re just going to talk, is there a need to meet at a hotel? Are you telling me to believe that right now?”
While pulling an obvious trick, he’s reversing it to make me look like the weird one—what an absurd bastard. The expression he’s showing now is deviousness itself. It’s obvious what he wants to do to me at the hotel without even looking.
“I don’t know what you’ve been imagining on your own, but put aside the misunderstanding.”
“Anyway, I don’t like the hotel. Change the location and I’ll consider it.”
“You know too. I absolutely hate crowded places. There’s no particular reason. Think carefully. I’ll end everything. Isn’t that good from your position?”
It is a tempting proposal. If I meet him just once at the hotel, I can organize everything. That is, if I can defend myself against Lee Dojun at the hotel. But it’s questionable whether he’ll really end everything. If he says something different later, I’ll be the only one frustrated. If I steel myself to meet this guy at the hotel, get all my energy drained, and even get scammed, there would be nothing more infuriating than that.
“Fine, let’s say we meet at the hotel. But there’s no guarantee you’ll keep your promise.”
“Have I ever broken a promise?”
…He hasn’t broken a promise. It’s also true that there were no problems when I obediently followed what Lee Dojun wanted. But the attitude of this guy, who has treated me worse than a toy until now, saying he’ll end everything with one meeting at a hotel is very suspicious. This is like a trap set up openly to be caught in.
“You haven’t broken one. But I think this situation is different. A promise can be broken at any time. You caught one ridiculous weakness and have been joyfully toying with a person until now, and you’ll organize everything with one hotel visit? Would you believe it if you were me?”
“Then don’t do it. If you have a brain, it would be strange not to do it. It would be the optimal opportunity to organize everything. …If you hadn’t saved me, I wouldn’t have even given you this opportunity.”
“Are you talking about opportunities to me while saying such things right now?”
While making a disgusting proposal, he’s rather raising his voice. At the same time, my heart begins to lean toward his confident attitude. Since I always met with him alone anyway, it’s just the location changing to a hotel.
‘Thinking about it, it’s not different from before.’
Since I pushed him away when Lee Dojun came on to me at home last time, I judged that if I respond well this time too, there shouldn’t be a problem.
“Keep that promise. If you say something different later, I won’t stay still then. Even if I end up going to prison, I won’t go in nicely alone. I’ll grab your ankle until the end.”
“As long as you keep your promise.”
“We’re just talking. Don’t even dream of doing anything weird.”
“What’s something weird? I’m really curious what you’ve been thinking since earlier.”
He asks me teasingly with that hateful expression saying he knows nothing. Snake-like bastard, once he bites, he doesn’t think of letting go.
“Fine. I’ll do it. Send the location by text.”
“It’s nice when you come out obediently.”
“This is really the end now. When we meet then, everything is over. Don’t even think about appearing before me anymore.”
“Those words are quite painful.”
Lee Dojun gives an ominous smile. While worrying whether I’m rushing into a huge trap thinking I’m right, I also judge there’s nothing to fear thinking that if he does anything wrong, I can just go all out too.
Since he said with his own mouth that he won’t do anything weird and will end it with conversation, if he demands anything more than that, I can just shake it off and leave.
‘Right, this is really the last time.’
