# Chapter 22
“What’s your name? I’m Olivia!”
“I’m Derek.”
‘Olivia my ass.’
The woman who introduced herself as Olivia looked at the innocent lamb in front of her who had fallen completely for her charms.
This was a high-end cocktail bar where a single drink easily commanded a price in the hundred-thousand won range. True to its expensive prices, the interior was furnished with ultra-luxurious decor, and the breathtaking view of the entire city visible through the floor-to-ceiling windows was a bonus. The kind of place where casual tourists or outsiders would hesitate even to enter.
No one would know the woman’s real name. Olivia was nothing more than a name to be used and discarded after a day. Her daily routine was consistent: approach naive idiots and extract money or valuables from them.
Pathetic men who couldn’t control themselves around her face fell into her schemes one hundred out of a hundred times, and the income she collected each time was quite lucrative. No, perhaps “lucrative” was an understatement—”astronomical” might be the more accurate description.
Her operation was fairly simple but always successful. The success rate of her operation approached 100%, probably largely thanks to her perfect appearance.
First, she’d scout locations where rich men might frequent. Then she’d search for targets with eagle eyes, approaching them naturally with a sweet demeanor.
Occasionally there were men who tried to act expensive, but even they were sufficiently handled within five minutes. Looking at men who gawked at her with stupid expressions and didn’t know how to act, the woman thought men were utterly pathetic creatures.
After lowering the target’s guard somewhat and judging they had become friendly, she would continue to ply them with alcohol. Just before they were about to pass out, she’d offer one more drink—the final glass containing sleeping pills. Already drunk, the target could never refuse that last glass offered with a flirtatious smile.
Once the target collapsed after drinking the final glass, the game was over. She would take the man to a hotel, then strip him of all valuables on his body.
Sometimes, men resistant to the drug would wake up in the hotel and try to pounce on her. But that was no problem. The woman never operated alone; she worked as part of an organization.
Those who tried to misbehave all received severe punishment from men so strong they could take down three or four guys with one hand.
And now, the perfect prey had entered her sight.
An Asian man who arrived alone in a flashy Ferrari. Clearly wealthy, and alone too. The absolute ideal target.
‘Oh, he’s actually not bad-looking?’
The woman thought the target that caught her eye wasn’t half bad. There were hardly any men who impressed her, but this case was different. However, the man’s impression didn’t seem like he would be easily manipulated.
‘This won’t be easy.’
While continuing to observe the man sitting alone at the bar and considering how to approach him, she decided to test the waters.
“Of course!”
The man’s reaction was unexpected. His first impression gave off a sharp, wolf-like feeling, but as soon as she spoke to him, he couldn’t take his eyes off her, just like any other target she’d hooked before.
Any ordinary man would have thought, as expected, but this time was different. The woman found the man smiling at her with his eyes to be rather cute.
The more she conversed with him, the more intense that feeling became. Unlike his cold first impression, the man before her was exuding a puppy-like charm.
The way he responded to whatever she said with bright, sparkling eyes grew increasingly endearing the more she observed him. Unlike the low-quality idiots she’d met before, he had an innocent quality that made her want to torment him even more, awakening her sadistic tendencies.
‘At this rate, he’s really not bad.’
The woman liked the man more and more as his cheeks flushed pink. She even thought it wouldn’t be so bad to spend a night with him.
The woman sprinkled a different drug into the last drink instead of sleeping pills. She did it with such skill that no one else could see. Then she offered the glass containing the red liquid to him. The man was about to drink from his glass without the slightest suspicion.
‘Cute guy, I’d like to strip you down once.’
Just as she smiled faintly at the thought of her mischievous intentions while watching the man smiling and about to drink his alcohol…
“If you don’t want to go to the police station, you’d better get out of my sight right now.”
Suddenly, an unexpected obstacle appeared before the woman. An uninvited guest had shown up. She should have stopped him earlier when he briefly said he was going to make a phone call. The woman realized her mistake and felt belated regret.
She quickly composed herself. After all, the intruder was also a man. She thought she might be able to smooth things over by pretending to be innocent with her face, playing it off somehow.
“Oh really? Fine. Then why don’t you try drinking this alcohol yourself?”
But the intruder was not to be underestimated. No, he was an opponent she could never defeat from the start. The woman’s sleight of hand was very good. When she continued to deny everything, the man sternly placed the glass in her hand.
‘Fuck, is this guy actually a cop? I’ve wasted my time today.’
Looking at the unfamiliar man who remained unmoved despite seeing her face, the woman felt fear. She thought that if she continued to confront this man here, she might really end up at the police station.
To destroy the evidence, she downed the alcohol in one go, then quickly hurled the empty glass toward the intruder and swiftly left her seat.
* * *
After stopping his morning cooking duties, Jaehyun once again vanished like a ghost. Almost as if it were planned.
The one fortunate thing was that there hadn’t been any particular pressure from Taehan so far. While Woojin thought that the guy was disgusting anyway, so why should he pretend to know more, he couldn’t help but feel annoyed when he remembered how Jaehyun was avoiding even eating meals.
Of course, this Jaehyun character had always been annoying ever since they’d met. But the annoyance he felt this time seemed to be on a different level.
‘Why do I keep thinking about this bastard?’
Woojin realized that even though quite some time had passed since Jaehyun had left the house, he was still constantly thinking about him. And soon he felt disgusted with himself.
I don’t want to think about this bastard if possible. Yet the strange situation where thoughts of Jaehyun kept occurring left even himself dumbfounded.
While thinking about Jaehyun, night had fallen. Looking at the clock, it was well past midnight.
Though irritated at himself for thinking about Jaehyun until just now, seeing the late hour once again brought Jaehyun to mind. The guy always came home before 10 PM.
‘Why isn’t this bastard coming home?’
He found it strange that he was now even worrying about that guy’s curfew. What was he doing in the middle of the night? From Woojin’s perspective, it shouldn’t matter at all whether Jaehyun returned tomorrow, a month later, or never came back at all.
‘Whether he comes or not, what does it matter to me?’
Woojin, deciding this wasn’t worth thinking about anymore, lay down on his bed.
Strangely, sleep wouldn’t come. Unable to do this or that in this odd situation, he decided to pretend to be crazy and call Jaehyun.
“I’m at a bar near the university. I’ll be back late, so Secretary Han should go to bed first.”
Jaehyun answered the phone surprisingly quickly. Hearing his response, Woojin thought there was one thing about Jaehyun that hadn’t changed: his love for alcohol.
The strange thing was, though his voice sounded drunk, he answered the question normally. Who was Jaehyun? Originally a bastard, but when he drinks, his bastard power increases at least tenfold from usual. But this time, he obediently admitted he was at a bar and promptly hung up.
America. Late night. Gun.
Suddenly, specific words popped into Woojin’s head. As soon as that thought came, his body reacted first.
He couldn’t understand why he suddenly jumped up, but his body had already climbed into the car, and his hands were quickly starting the engine. By the time Woojin came to his senses, he was already rapidly heading toward the downtown area near the university that Jaehyun had mentioned.
There were three high-end bars in the downtown area. He didn’t find the guy in the first two places he entered, but he was able to spot him at the last location.
Jaehyun was grinning stupidly at some woman in front of him. While the sight was pathetic beyond words, his demeanor was nonetheless very gentlemanly.
Normally, if he’d drunk that much, he should have been causing an extreme scene with the woman in front of him. Like grabbing her hair or splashing alcohol in her face.
The “drunk Cha Jaehyun” before his eyes was still the same dog, but this time the breed was different. If before he had been an uncontrollable mad dog, now he was closer to a puppy wagging its tail and acting cute in front of its owner. Witnessing this strange scene, Woojin decided to observe him a bit longer.
‘He’s really something. Let’s see how far he goes.’
Woojin immediately recognized that the woman was nothing but a swindler using low-quality techniques. The subtle skinship she attempted while flashing gentle eye-smiles.
The stupid guy didn’t notice this and kept grinning happily. Seeing this, Woojin wondered if he should cancel his thought that Jaehyun had become smart overnight. Cha Jaehyun looked every bit the fool.
‘Of course you would be like that.’
Pathetic. Woojin was about to leave the bar, leaving him be.
At that moment, Woojin caught sight of the woman’s suspicious movement. The sleight of hand that quickly sprinkled an unidentified white powder into the glass. It was like watching the dazzling hand tricks of a magician. No one around except Woojin seemed to notice.
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about. You’ve got the wrong person.”
The woman maintained a calm face and brazenly denied everything while committing an openly public crime. Woojin thought her shallow scheme was truly vulgar. As expected, she was probably relying on her mediocre looks.
“Oh really? Fine. Then why don’t you try drinking this alcohol yourself?”
He delivered his final warning. Contrary to Woojin’s expectation, the woman wasn’t a complete idiot. After throwing the glass at him sharply, she quickly fled. After emptying the glass, as if trying to destroy evidence.
After the woman left, Jaehyun was already out of it. It was obvious what would have happened if he had drunk that last glass.
Jaehyun started berating himself. Not even knowing what danger he had almost been in. The regret of losing the woman before him was openly displayed on his face. He was mumbling something, but rather than seeming angry, he looked like a sulking child whining.
‘He’s completely lost it.’
It was clearly a drunk act, but one that didn’t match a mad dog’s drunken behavior. Woojin was astounded at Cha Jaehyun, whose drinking habits had changed so strangely.
“Young master, it’s late. Let me take you home.”
Woojin sighed once before addressing Jaehyun, who was sprawled across the table.
