However.
“I think I’ll need some time to think for a while. Both me and Narae-ssi.”
“D-Director!”
At Taerim’s one sentence, Wonyoung’s mind went completely blank.
“Director, no! It’s a misunderstanding! I really didn’t do anything…….”
“That’s the problem. If you say it’s a misunderstanding, I feel like I’ll stupidly believe you again.”
For the first time since the earlier quarrel with Taehyeok, Taerim looked directly at Wonyoung.
And then he plunged an ice-cold dagger into Wonyoung’s heart.
“But right now, I don’t want to believe you.”
“……Director…….”
“So…… give me time.”
Taerim frowned painfully each time he spoke as if his words had thorns in them, but to Wonyoung, who was shocked by Taerim’s statement, his suffering expression didn’t register.
[Your heart aches so much from Taerim’s cold attitude. Your status has become ‘Sadness.’]
At that moment, miserable tears welled up in Wonyoung’s eyes. Insisting it was the fault of the stupid status effect, Wonyoung quickly turned around lest Taerim see his tears.
“I understand.”
In front of him as he turned around, a single notification window floated.
[‘Kyung Taerim’s’ affection has greatly decreased.]
* * *
―But right now, I don’t want to believe you.
Recalling the words he heard a few days ago, Wonyoung frowned. Then what should I have done? What should I have done to not disappoint Kyung Taerim?
‘Well, there was no ending notice. So it’s not a case where the game ends completely like last time.’
Wonyoung tried to erase his complicated emotions and rationally analyzed the current situation. After all, this was a game, and he had two characters remaining. He almost reached an ending with one of them…….
“Fuck.”
In the end, Wonyoung cursed out loud and rolled over. He felt like an idiot for not being able to treat the game as a game.
That day, after parting with Taerim and returning home, Wonyoung turned his entire house upside down. And deep in the closet he’d never searched through, he found a stack of documents.
It was material with Taerim’s detailed profile and background written on it. And on the back page, along with Taerim’s schedule, something was circled largely with a highlighter.
17:00 OO Hotel Grand Banquet Hall.
Wonyoung didn’t stop and thoroughly searched his phone. Everything from call records that existed before the play started to spam texts he’d casually skipped over. It was to find the connection with Taehyeok. But what he found was a text containing unexpected content.
[This is Deputy Manager Jang Seungmin from StarMoney Loan. The 100 million won loan under Narae-nim’s name has been fully repaid on your behalf. Thank you.]
‘……There was another debt?’
It wasn’t just the 100 million won borrowed from the gangsters. There was another 100 million.
‘Kyung Taehyeok repaid it on my behalf. Before the play started.’
Everything Kyung Taehyeok said was correct. All of Taerim’s suspicions were right. Narae was a person Taehyeok sent to dig out Taerim’s weaknesses.
Wonyoung was devastated. Soon, Taerim would learn about this too.
Then all his actions up to now would become lies. He couldn’t even imagine the sense of betrayal Taerim would feel from this.
But in the end, this was all because of the game and system that didn’t give him information. Wonyoung immediately confronted the system.
―It was information not given from the start! Isn’t this disadvantageous to the player!
―Ah, well, that’s…… I’m not really sure what happened either.
―If you don’t know well, does that make it okay? Do you think that’s an excuse?!
Watching Wonyoung press him with reddened eyes, the System fidgeted restlessly before saying.
―I-I’ll raise the affection level again for you. Not for free, but with a light mission. Like just calling the character. How about a reward of around 300 instead? If you do well, you could go straight to the ending!
At those words, Wonyoung’s heart sank instead. He didn’t want to forcibly obtain Taerim’s affection in that way. Such a thing…….
As if Taerim was just a scrap of data. As if Taerim’s heart was just a number.
As Wonyoung stood silently in a daze, the System chattered on about something. Wonyoung couldn’t hear any of it.
In the end, Wonyoung made a decision.
‘Let’s give up.’
Let’s give up on Kyung Taerim. He could pursue one of the other two. Anyway, clinging to Taerim would only further deepen his wounds.
Wonyoung tried to think that way, but he absolutely couldn’t.
He didn’t even have the courage to go to the company and had been taking sick leave for several days now. At this rate, he’d get fired. That might be better.
‘I’m going crazy.’
He’d considered calling Taerim several times, but when he couldn’t even go to the company, there was no way he could make the call. Wonyoung realized for the first time that he was a coward.
He’d never had this kind of human relationship before. They were all just business or superficial relationships.
That’s why Wonyoung was even more at a loss. Because these were the first connections he’d made while always being alone. Because they were the people who made him decide to prioritize his own emotions for the first time.
He was afraid. Heo Wonyoung, who had always been alone, was scared of losing that warmth.
If it had really been Narae, it might have been different. Because he was Heo Wonyoung…… it ended up this way. Wasn’t it a relationship that started as a lie from the beginning? It might have been a natural result.
‘I’m sorry, Kyung Taerim-ssi. I didn’t know I was such a cowardly bastard.’
Wonyoung muttered an apology he couldn’t convey in words and closed his eyes.
* * *
“Hyung, Rae-hyung! Narae!”
Who is Rae that he’s making such a fuss?
Just leave me alone.
“Hyung, wake up. Please?”
Was it because the voice was too earnest? Wonyoung forced his eyes open to let the other person know that the Narae he was looking for wasn’t him. Then he saw a familiar face before his eyes.
“……Ki Siyeon?”
“Hyung! Are you coming to?”
In his hazy state, Siyeon’s cheeks seemed a bit wet, so Wonyoung reached out toward him. But only for a moment.
[Your stamina has been maintained too low. Entering forced sleep mode to restore average stamina.]
After reading that notification, Wonyoung lost consciousness.
When he opened his eyes again, a pure white hospital ceiling greeted him.
“……What?”
Did I faint? As Wonyoung looked bewildered at the hospital bed and the needle stuck in his arm and turned his head, large hands quickly cupped both of Wonyoung’s cheeks.
“Are you okay, hyung?”
“……Siyeon-ah? Why are you here?”
At Wonyoung’s dumbfounded question, Siyeon got genuinely angry, which was rare.
“Why! There was no contact at all, and I was worried so I went to your house and you were collapsed—do you know how shocked I was?”
“I was?”
It was true he was heartbroken over Taerim’s matter, but he didn’t know it was to that extent. Wonyoung gave an awkward smile in apology.
“Sorry. You must have worried a lot.”
“They said it’s malnutrition. You’re also a bit anemic.”
“Uh…….”
How weak, Narae. I don’t know what Siyeon sees in a guy like you.
Wonyoung grumbled inwardly.
“Something happened.”
What could he tell Siyeon? Wonyoung glossed over it like that.
As if knowing everything inside, Siyeon pouted but soon changed the subject.
“The company called.”
“Huh? The company?”
“I said you were sick, hyung. Then they said they understood for now.”
“…….”
“And they called again and said to just rest this month.”
Wonyoung lowered his head. Was it Taerim’s instruction? Silent pressure to leave the company altogether.
But then Siyeon asked pointedly.
“Hyung. Something happened with that irritating nouveau riche, didn’t it?”
“……No?”
Wonyoung answered hastily, but with Narae’s facial muscles, a poker face was impossible. Siyeon said, as expected.
“Liar. That nouveau riche came here.”
“The Director? You mean he came to the hospital room?”
“Yes. I think he came after hearing about it from the company.”
When Wonyoung couldn’t bring himself to ask more and hesitated, Siyeon sighed deeply and said.
“He just stared at you for a while and then left. I almost stabbed his eyes out.”
“Siyeon-ah, nice words.”
“Ah, I know. Oh, come to think of it, he did say one thing. He asked if you knew from the beginning.”
“Knew what?”
“He only said it was about ‘his problem.'”
Wonyoung was silent. He had a guess about what Taerim was talking about. His…… talk about his sense of smell.
He hadn’t known from the beginning. The fact that he didn’t use any perfume at all was somewhat questionable, but he’d brushed it off as insignificant.
But when he asked to be fed fruit, and because of what happened at the family gathering, Wonyoung roughly figured out his problem. He couldn’t smell fragrances.
And strangely, he could smell scents through Wonyoung.
That made him feel even more sorry. After knowing that, finding out he was a spy—how despairing must that have been? His hope was trampled on.
Wonyoung recalled Taerim laughing emptily when he learned that he could smell fragrances if it was through Wonyoung. A sigh was about to escape, but before that, Siyeon made his hand into tweezers and pressed Wonyoung’s plump lips up and down firmly.
“Can’t you just think about me when you’re in front of me, hyung?”
“Mm-mm?”
“I’m the one who saved you, and I’m the one who worried about you the most.”
“Mm-mm-mm-mm.”
Wonyoung nodded hard. His lips hurt.
“Are you reflecting?”
“Mm-mm.”
“And also?”
Also what, you brat.
“Ah, you’re saying Siyeon is too pretty and you like me?”
“Mm-mm, mm-mm-mm!”
“No?”
“Mm-mm-mm-mm!”
“You like me?”
At this rate, his lips might get compressed. Wonyoung hurriedly nodded. Only then did Siyeon smile brightly and release Wonyoung’s lips.
“How can you do this to a sick person?!”
“How can you make me feel hurt like that, hyung?”
He was a guy who wouldn’t lose in a single word anyway. Wonyoung pouted his lips but felt his mood improve a bit and smiled gently.
