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Chapter 08
A horrifying scene that was hard to tell whether it was reality or a dream.
The sharp smell of blood brushed past her nose.
As if she were trapped in a nightmare, her voice would not come out.
Just then, she heard the sound of running water from the sink.
River appeared from between the thugs.
He calmly wiped his wet hands with a napkin.
When his eyes met hers, he paused.
Then, as if trying to slip out of an awkward situation, he gave her a charming smile.
“They started fighting each other and ended up like that.”
“……”
“If I say that, you won’t believe me anyway.”
He looked so neat and composed that it was hard to believe he had just beaten three grown men.
For a moment, Bada almost believed him.
If she hadn’t noticed the small stain of blood on the left side of his shirt.
“There’s blood on your shirt….”
“Yeah. I bought it yesterday to look good for you.”
He only shrugged calmly.
At that moment, footsteps began echoing in the hallway.
“Damn.”
River frowned slightly, then grabbed her hand and started walking quickly.
Without time to think, Bada let herself be pulled down the emergency stairs.
When they reached the dark parking lot, he found his bike and helped her onto the back seat.
He put a helmet on her head and fastened the buckle.
Only then did she come back to her senses.
“Wait. Why are we the ones running? If anything, those men started it first—”
“Ah, guys like that are usually cockroaches. They move around in groups.”
“What?”
At that moment, a voice echoed from a distant terrace of a building.
“It’s that bastard! Catch him!”
Bang! Bang!
The sudden gunshots made Bada scream and tremble.
“It’s okay, Bada. Let’s get out of here first. Hold on tight.”
He climbed onto the front seat, wrapped her hands around his waist, and quickly started the engine.
Behind them, the rough voices of the men still seemed to echo.
River rode with suspiciously excellent skill, speeding along the coastline.
When everything finally grew quiet, Bada felt something sticky on her hands where she held his waist.
Blood.
It must have been the men’s.
A cold feeling ran down the back of her neck.
What she had seen earlier did not look like a fight.
It looked like a one-sided cleanup.
The image of him joking calmly after knocking down three men like a killing machine flashed in her mind.
Who… is he?
She turned her head slightly.
There was nothing but endless darkness.
It seemed they had shaken off the pursuers.
In a trembling voice, Bada said,
“Stop.”
“What?”
“I said stop!”
The tires screeched against the asphalt as the bike stopped at the roadside.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“You… what exactly do you do? Every time I ask about you, you smoothly change the subject!”
He stared at her in the darkness, as if measuring something.
A drop of cold sweat ran down the back of her neck under his unreadable gaze.
After a moment of hesitation, he spoke.
“…I do public service. It’s hard to explain more right now.”
Public service.
His answer only made her more confused.
The way he had easily taken down three men at once.
In her mind, she pictured the famous spy movie hero in a tuxedo eliminating enemies.
Was he some kind of secret agent like James Bond?
“Still… why did you have to beat them that badly?”
“They insulted you.”
His confession surprised her.
She had thought it was because they spat on his steak and insulted him.
But it was because of her?
“…But to you, I’m just a woman you met today.”
River let out a small laugh.
“They’re small-time gangsters who sell weed or party drugs. They just paid the price.”
Bada took off her helmet and handed it to him, then got off the bike and began walking.
If he wasn’t a spy or secret agent, there was no other way to explain what she had just seen.
A secret agent on official duty.
She had thought such people only existed in movies.
But maybe they existed in real life too.
Then I shouldn’t get involved with him.
“I know you don’t trust me, but I’ll take you home. It’s dangerous to walk alone.”
“Right now, the most dangerous person here looks like you.”
River turned off the engine and got off the bike, pushing it as he followed behind her.
Hearing his footsteps behind her, Bada turned and glared at him.
“I just felt like taking a night walk too,” he said calmly.
Under her sharp stare, he pouted slightly, almost playfully.
“I just couldn’t stand there after hearing them say dirty things about you.”
“Even so, how could you leave them half-dead like that…?”
“Sorry.”
“……”
“But I promise you. I’m not someone who throws punches carelessly. I was just taught that men who speak badly to a lady need to be taught some manners.”
He looked serious as he said it. Was he joking, or not?
“…Who taught you that? Did you take some kind of gentleman class?”
“Something like that.”
Thinking about it, his manners were far beyond ordinary.
Pulling out chairs for her.
When physical contact was unavoidable, touching only the back of her hand or near her elbow.
The way he handled napkins and cutlery was skilled and natural.
Even to Bada, who had worked at an investment bank dealing with wealthy clients, his manners were perfect.
His speech was refined as well—polite, yet carrying a strange sense of pressure.
That kind of natural elegance usually belonged to the top 0.1% who were born into high society.
While she was lost in thought, River spoke again.
“Anyway, I’m sorry for scaring you. When I heard what they said about you, I lost my temper for a second.”
She could not find the right words.
Confusion, gratitude, and fear were all tangled together in her heart.
“Anyway, there are stray dogs around here. It’s dangerous. I’ll just quietly follow behind you.”
“…Okay.”
They walked under the moonlight, keeping an exact distance between them.
If she slowed her steps, he slowed his.
If she walked faster, he matched her pace.
Like a well-trained hunting dog.
As they walked in the night breeze, her restless heart slowly calmed.
Soon they left the coastline and reached the central street.
Even though it was late at night, restaurants and street vendors were still open, and there were many tourists around.
As Bada passed a shop selling resort clothes, she saw their reflection in the mirror.
Her eyes immediately went to the bloodstained shirt he was wearing.
“Take that off.”
He raised an eyebrow at her sudden words.
“Isn’t this moving a bit too fast?”
“……”
“Well, if you tell me to take it off, I will.”
“……I mean we need to do something about that bloody shirt, Mr. Dark Knight.”
He laughed brightly and gave a polite nod.
“At your service, my lady.”
River parked the bike by the roadside and followed her into the clothing store.
“Welcome.”
“Hello.”
The shop owner paused in surprise at the sight of River shirtless and let out a small gasp.
In humid Bali, it was common for foreign men to walk around without shirts.
But River’s broad build and muscular upper body naturally drew attention.
