🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 13
“Ah, wait, excuse me.”
Yeo Jaekyung tore her gaze away from Seo Taejoo and quickly pulled her phone out of her bag.
The sound had been a notification.
After hurriedly silencing it, Yeo Jaekyung apologized calmly. A faint blush had crept onto her cheeks.
“Ahem. The mood was nice just now, so this is unfortunate. My curfew’s coming up.”
She even furrowed her brows as if regretful.
“You really are…”
Seo Taejoo pressed a hand to his forehead in disbelief.
Seriously, there would never be another woman like this in his life.
But curfew?
He asked incredulously,
“What are you talking about? It’s only eight o’clock. We’re supposed to go for round two, aren’t we?”
Checking the time, Yeo Jaekyung answered in a stiff tone,
“I appreciate how you feel, Seo Taejoo, but we’ll have to save our next date for another time. Like I said before, my family is pretty strict.”
What?
Seo Taejoo suddenly felt the back of his neck tighten.
When had she gone ahead and advanced their relationship all by herself?
He immediately protested.
“What? Since when do you know how I feel? If someone heard you, they’d think I’m some guy devastated because you’re leaving.”
I’m not disappointed at all, okay?
But Yeo Jaekyung looked completely mistaken.
“I understand, but don’t get worked up. Seo Taejoo, I know you’re disappointed.”
Stop nodding like you understand everything! Stop!
Dumbfounded, Seo Taejoo snapped,
“Who said don’t go and grabbed onto your pants begging? Go, then! I’m not disappointed at all! Get home before curfew and rest well!”
How dare you make me look pathetic?
Yet her response remained unchanged.
“Okay. Then I’ll go. I had fun today.”
Without blinking, Yeo Jaekyung turned around.
Hey! Just because I said go, you’re actually going?!
Flabbergasted, Seo Taejoo hurried after her and shouted,
“Have you thought this through? If you leave like this, do you really think there’ll be another date for us? Huh?”
Do I look that easy to you?
Yeo Jaekyung frowned and looked back.
“…You told me to go.”
“…”
Looking at him like that, he had nothing to say.
In the end, after hesitating for a long while, Seo Taejoo burst out,
“What I mean is… just take my car home!”
The two walked toward where the car was parked.
The whole way, Seo Taejoo grumbled at Yeo Jaekyung.
“Are you sure the place you go to is Korea University and not some private kindergarten? Even elementary school kids these days don’t have a nine o’clock curfew. They’re too busy running between cram schools.”
Glancing sideways at her, he added,
“In other words, your situation is worse than an elementary schooler’s.”
“Could you stop picking on someone else’s family curfew? It’s not something I can control.”
She answered calmly.
A back alley near the university district. A street where students’ drunkenness, passion, alcohol fumes, and the smoke of grilling meat all coexisted.
He felt like he was only now starting to get a clue about this woman.
And now she had to go home.
Drop dead before you even make it ten ri, Yeo Jaekyung.
Seo Taejoo stared at the round back of her head as she walked ahead.
Even the back of her head looked perfectly measured with a ruler. The upright way she walked was undeniably Yeo Jaekyung-like.
Suddenly amused, he snorted.
“Yeo Jaekyung, if there were a competition for acting innocent, you’d win the gold medal. How exactly do you manage your image all the time?”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought you were just proper and quiet, but every single thing you say hits like a direct shot and leaves people stunned. That’s a compliment.”
“…In a free democratic country ruled by law, what is there that people can’t say? As long as it doesn’t harm others.”
“…”
“And if you mean image management, it’s just that Hanlim’s PR team works hard.”
Yeo Jaekyung paused briefly and looked back at him.
“When I do one thing, they exaggerate it into ten and report it. That’s their job. You were the same until a few years ago, weren’t you, Seo Taejoo?”
There was a strange thorn in her words.
She was talking about the fate of children born into chaebol families.
Quietly, Yeo Jaekyung began,
“…That’s why I always found you fascinating, Seo Taejoo.”
Summer nights near the university were strange.
Even without a drop of alcohol, they made people reveal feelings they’d kept hidden.
“I always thought—you really go out of your way to cause trouble. There can’t be much that Taegwang’s legal team wouldn’t be able to cover.”
Not drunk.
Just intoxicated by the atmosphere of the night.
“To me, Seo Taejoo, you always looked free. So different from me, who can’t move an inch from where I am. That’s why you fascinated me…”
I envied you.
Whatever reason forced you to become a delinquent overnight—
The choice you made, because you had the courage.
You were so different from me.
…That’s why when my mother mentioned your name, I felt relieved inside.
If it were you. Maybe, if it were you—
You might understand me.
No matter what selfish choice I make.
Seo Taejoo, if it’s you…
The streetlamp flickered.
Seo Taejoo stopped walking and stared at Yeo Jaekyung.
Their eyes met. Hearts crossed paths.
Her sudden sincerity made his chest stir faintly.
“…That’s all.”
Yeo Jaekyung muttered expressionlessly.
Oddly enough, Seo Taejoo became the embarrassed one.
His foot nudged a random pebble.
“…Are you drunk? Can people get drunk from the alcohol concentration in the air?”
Looking around at the rows of bars nearby, he changed the subject.
“…Forget it. Why am I even talking to you?”
Yeo Jaekyung answered sulkily.
“Anyway, I’m going to keep doing this with you.”
“Doing what?”
“Everything. Things that make phenethylamine, endorphins, and oxytocin appear. I’m going to do all of it with you.”
Pseudo-romance.
That thing where the optic nerves react, hormones are released, and emotions surge.
At those words, Seo Taejoo’s ears turned red.
“Do you seriously not know the difference between things you should and shouldn’t say?”
“Yeah. I don’t. Also, I’m bad at things like metaphors and indirect expressions, so be careful when you talk. I tend to take everything literally, so I might not understand right away.”
“…”
Yeo Jaekyung lifted her chin proudly and added,
“One more thing. I’m allergic to irrationality and nonsense. Keep that in mind.”
“…”
Seo Taejoo stared blankly at her and muttered toward this hopeless engineering girl,
“You were bad at Korean language class, weren’t you?”
“…”
“Be honest. You struggled, didn’t you?”
“It’s not that I was bad at Korean. I was just good at math.”
She answered sulkily.
“Anyway, since I need to get much closer to you from now on, I have a proposal.”
What now?
At this point, her sudden and absurd suggestions weren’t even surprising anymore.
Seo Taejoo looked at her, ready to hear whatever nonsense came next.
“From now on, I want you to pick me up before class every day and take me home after class.”
Hah.
She said it so confidently he was speechless.
Seo Taejoo asked in disbelief,
“Why?”
“Like I said.”
Taking a deep breath, Yeo Jaekyung spoke.
“I’m extremely interested in you. I want to know you better, and if possible, become close to you. I thought staying physically close would be the best way. And you happen to have a car, right? Since we’re both busy people, seeing each other once when leaving home and once when returning seemed reasonable.”
“…”
Seo Taejoo felt dizzy.
Even then, his heart betrayed him by pounding excitedly.
“…Are you hiring a secretary?”
“No. I’m looking for a male friend with a high possibility of advancing to the boyfriend stage.”
…Advancing to the boyfriend stage.
Her blunt words struck Seo Taejoo square in the chest.
The hit landed directly.
Feeling his neck heat up, he replied,
“Do you… understand the concept of speaking indirectly? What kind of woman throws only fastballs with no curveballs?”
“Does that mean… your heart fluttered?”
Ignoring how his cheeks were growing hotter instead of cooling down, Seo Taejoo shouted,
“No!”
Fluttered, my ass!
My heart’s only racing because you’re so absurd!
What a weird woman.
Seo Taejoo grumbled inwardly.
For a moment, he questioned himself for ever feeling flustered around someone like her.
She’s definitely not the kind of toy worth keeping around for long. I should use her quickly and throw her away.
When that time came, he’d discard her cleanly.
Yeo Jaekyung—he’d pay her back double for all the times she’d left him embarrassed.
He took a deep breath and steadied himself.
Get a grip, Seo Taejoo. You’re a delinquent. You’re not some rookie who’d get pushed around by a greenhouse flower like her.
Though Yeo Jaekyung was closer to an artificially cultivated flower from a laboratory than one raised in a greenhouse.
Just as Seo Taejoo finished collecting himself and looked toward her—
“…What? Where’d she go?”
The woman who’d been beside him moments ago had vanished.
“Hey! Yeo Jaekyung!”
He shouted urgently.
More than confusion, concern came first.
Fortunately, he quickly spotted the small, neat back of her head.
She was standing beneath a streetlamp only a few steps away.
Blink. Blink.
The streetlamp flickered every few seconds as though it were nearing the end of its life.
Seo Taejoo hurried over.
“Hey, are you messing around? Why’d you disappear all of a sudden?!”
He grabbed her narrow shoulders and turned her around.
Her body, which had been writing something, turned limply.
“Can’t you see what I’m doing? Don’t interrupt me, Seo Taejoo.”
“I’m asking what you’re doing.”
Yeo Jaekyung didn’t answer.
She just kept typing numbers into her phone.
Seo Taejoo read the words on her screen.
“…Streetlight malfunction report to the call center?”
He frowned.
“Wait—are you seriously reporting a broken streetlight right now?”
“Hold on.”
With a single composed reply, she began entering the identification number written on the streetlamp.
Tap. Tap.
Every finger movement on the keyboard looked meticulous and efficient.
Earlier she moved a signboard out of the way, and now she’s reporting a broken streetlight…
In all his life, he’d never met a woman who reported broken streetlights.
Seo Taejoo was speechless.
Who exactly are you?
