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Chapter 3
Charge Me Up
“Kiss me just once!”
As these unexpected words tumbled out of a stranger’s mouth, Ho-rang’s face crumpled like a piece of paper.
A woman he was meeting for the very first time was asking him for a kiss. Not with a “I fell for you at first sight,” or “I’ve liked you for a long time,” but blindly demanding, “Let’s kiss.” Ho-rang was so utterly dumfounded that he couldn’t even laugh.
Seeing his expression instantly sour, Bo-bae gripped the tie she was holding even tighter, as if it were her only lifeline. At that exact moment, Ho-rang let go of the hands supporting her.
“Aaaaaah!”
Trying desperately to hold onto his tie so she wouldn’t fall, Bo-bae ultimately failed to keep her balance and landed hard on her rear.
“Ouch!”
But her pain lasted only for a fleeting moment. Her desperation far outweighed the ache, so she scrambled back up and approached Ho-rang again.
“A kiss is a bit much, right? I mean, kissing someone you just met for the first time… I agree that’s a bit out there. Then what about a hug? Just once.”
Bo-bae shamelessly threw all embarrassment to the wind and spread her arms wide toward Ho-rang. Ho-rang glared down at her with icy eyes.
He knew the world was full of free-riders looking for handouts everywhere, but in all his life, he had never seen anyone quite like this. She wasn’t asking for money—a kiss? A hug?
Deciding that wasting even a second on this ridiculous squabble was a waste of time, Ho-rang brushed right past her.
“What a total lunatic.”
“You can think I’m crazy, I don’t care! So please, just give me a hug once, okay?”
Bo-bae clung to him relentlessly, until Ho-rang—unable to take it any longer—snapped at her.
“Are you out of your mind? Why on earth should I hug someone I just met today?”
“You might not know this, but nowadays strangers hug each other all the time. Free hugs—you’ve heard of that, right?”
“I don’t participate in unproductive acts like that. And even if I did, I would never do it with you.”
“Why?”
“What?”
“Why won’t you do it with me?”
When Bo-bae asked with eyes filled with utter disappointment, Ho-rang felt even more flabbergasted.
It was bad enough that after rescuing a drowning person she was demanding a reward, but asking for a kiss? What kind of woman was this?
“Haven’t you ever heard of ‘give and take’?”
“Give and take?”
“Expecting something in return when you offer nothing—isn’t that the mindset of a thief?”
“…”
“If you get it now, move out of my way.”
As Ho-rang spoke cold words and attempted to walk past her, Bo-bae called out.
“What if there is something in return?”
“What?”
In her entire life, she had never seen a man who felt nothing upon touching her. That was why Bo-bae was desperate for this man, and why she couldn’t just let him walk away. She had to hold onto him no matter what.
“You said give and take, right? What if I give you something? If I do, will you kiss me then?”
Ho-rang found this equally absurd. Offer something to a man who lacked for nothing in this world? “Ignorance breeds courage,” as the saying went, and she was the living definition of it.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because there is nothing in this world that you could possibly do for me.”
“Still, isn’t there a chance I could do something for you?”
“Look at me. Does it look like there’s anything you can offer me?”
At those words, Bo-bae looked the man up and down.
A visual more like a celebrity than actual celebrities, an extraordinarily luxurious suit and watch, and even an assistant who looked like his secretary.
The man was right. Just at a glance, he clearly possessed so much, while Bo-bae had so very little.
“Do you understand now? The gap between you and me?”
Bo-bae nodded at his question, but even so, she couldn’t just let him go like this. She had to try everything she could until the very end.
“Then maybe out of humanitarian consideration…”
“Why should I?”
“With a heart of love for humanity…”
“No.”
“If you would just kiss me once…”
“No! Absolutely not! That will never happen, so even if we cross paths again, don’t pretend you know me! If we ever meet, stay 1 meter—no, 10 meters away from me!”
Ho-rang spoke icily, turned around, and walked away.
“What a total lunatic.”
Left behind, Bo-bae stared at his retreating back and muttered to herself.
“To think there was actually a man in this world who doesn’t get shocked by me.”
That fact was deeply astonishing and joyous, but the reality was utterly bleak. The only man in the world she could touch was rejecting her with his entire being.
“Right. As if a man is in my destiny. Romance my foot! Let’s just live the way I’ve always lived. Kiss scenes? Fine, I’ll just teach myself how to write them!”
Just as she let out a long sigh and turned around, she caught sight of something glinting on the ground.
“Huh? What’s this?”
Bo-bae picked up the object lying on the floor and examined it.
“Is this a tie pin?”
Come to think of it, she had been holding onto his tie for dear life earlier, so it must have fallen off then.
“Should I use this as an excuse to chase after him?”
As she weighed her options while examining the tie pin, her phone rang. It was a call from the cafe where she worked part-time.
“Yes, Manager! I’m on my way right now. I’m almost there. Ah, I see the cafe! I’m arriving now!”
After hanging up, Bo-bae paced nervously in place.
“If I leave right now, I might never meet that man again.”
But if she didn’t go now, she might get fired from her part-time job. Then how would she cover her living expenses, phone bill, and rooftop apartment rent?
“Agh, whatever! Let’s worry about making a living first.”
Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Bo-bae started running as fast as she could.
“Are you all right, Director?”
Stepping into the elevator, Secretary Yoon asked while carefully gauging Ho-rang’s mood.
His boss had been in a foul mood during the entire drive over, and now some strange woman had made it even worse.
“I am not all right. It seems this broadcasting station lets just about anyone in. Clinging on like some total lunatic.”
“I will be more careful next time.”
When Secretary Yoon bowed his head as if he were a criminal, Ho-rang turned his head slowly and asked,
“Why should Secretary Yoon be more careful?”
“Pardon?”
“It wasn’t your fault. Besides, that’s a job for the network’s security guards. There were ten security guards standing around, yet not one of them even batted an eye. What a bunch of salary thieves.”
Ho-rang was the type of person who could let other things slide, but he could never tolerate money being wasted. He went as far as adopting “Nothing in life is free” as his personal motto.
That was precisely why he had flown into a rage at the woman earlier. Nothing in this world was free, and there had to be a give for there to be a take—yet she had blindly demanded a kiss. In Ho-rang’s mind, it was completely incomprehensible.
Shaking his head, Ho-rang reached down to adjust his tie out of habit, then looked down in surprise.
It wasn’t there. The pin that was supposed to be holding his tie in place had disappeared! He was certain he had been fiddling with it in the car, so he must have lost it somewhere.
“Please step out.”
“Secretary Yoon.”
As the elevator came to a halt, Ho-rang called his secretary in a low voice.
“Go find my tie pin. Right this instant.”
“Cinderella left behind a glass slipper, and that man left behind a tie pin.”
Bo-bae looked at the worn tie pin resting on the table and thought of Ho-rang.
“Who could he be? Why was he completely fine when touching me?”
Her curiosity about the man wasn’t just because of the kiss scene. It was also because of the lingering hope that being near him might help her uncover the secret behind this cursed body of hers.
If she could find out the cause, she might be able to return to being an ordinary woman and live like everyone else. Falling in love, dating, kissing, and… even doing deeper things.
As she was lost in these thoughts, the cafe door opened, and customers walked in.
“Welco—gasp!”
It was that man from the broadcasting station and Director Jang! While she was thrilled to see the man again, she could not say the same for Director Jang.
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to work part-time in front of the broadcasting station.”
She didn’t want to hear him nag about why she wasn’t writing, nor did she want her self-esteem bruised by comments like “working here is why your scripts turn out like that.” She had tried to avoid working near the station, but she had no choice if she wanted to survive. Even this job had been hard to come by.
She wished someone else could take their order, but there was no one else at the counter. Having no choice, Bo-bae bowed her head as low as possible and took their order.
“W-Welcome. What can I get for you?”
“One Americano, and what would you like?”
When Director Jang asked, Ho-rang replied in a businesslike tone.
“I’ll have a decaf Americano.”
“One Americano and one decaf, please.”
“Yes. That will be two drinks, totaling 12,000 won.”
“Sure. Here’s my card… Huh? Isn’t that Writer Na?”
Dammit. Leave it to a director to have sharp eyes.
Bo-bae, who had been making a grimace, instantly wiped her face, put on a bright smile, and lifted her head.
“Oh my! Director Jang! What brings you here?”
“What brings anyone to a cafe? I came to drink coffee. But Writer Na, what are you doing here?”
“Ah, I’m doing a part-time job—”
The moment she was about to speak, Bo-bae’s eyes locked with Ho-rang’s. His indifferent gaze was fixed right on her. In front of a man who claimed he possessed so much that there was nothing she could offer him, Bo-bae didn’t want to admit that she was working part-time because she didn’t have enough money for living expenses and rooftop rent. So, she hastily made up an excuse.
“Ah, well! I was wondering how it would be if the female lead’s profession was a barista, so I’m doing some studying for research purposes! Haha!”
She looked at the man with a fake laugh, but he simply turned his head away with a blank face, completely uninterested.
“Ah, really? Then do your research diligently. I have a meeting to get to.”
“Yes, Director.”
“Shall we, Director Baek?”
Bo-bae glared at Director Jang and Ho-rang as they took their seats, muttering under her breath.
“Cafes are everywhere in this neighborhood, why did they have to come here of all places? But what’s their relationship?”
Judging by the way they were looking over documents and talking, they seemed to have met for work, but the man didn’t look like a TV station employee. That meant she might never see him again.
“Why sit around wondering? I can just go find out.”
Bo-bae slipped the tie pin into her pocket and approached their table under the pretense of wiping down the surfaces.
“Filming starts soon—there won’t be any issues with shooting at the shopping center, right?”
“It can proceed without issue.”
“Then would it be possible to shoot at the hotel next to the shopping center as well?”
“It’s possible. However…”
“However?”
“As much as we sponsor, the viewership ratings must deliver. I cannot tolerate single-digit ratings like last time.”
At Ho-rang’s firm words, Director Jang’s face fell. Even though production teams lined up wanting sponsorship from Taeseong Group, bringing up viewership ratings was a blow to his pride.
“It seems Director Baek doesn’t know this industry very well. Viewership ratings don’t come easy like that. If spending a lot of money guaranteed high ratings, every show would hit 20%.”
At Director Jang’s words, Ho-rang chuckled softly and asked,
“Did I just spend a lot of money?”
“Pardon?”
“I spent an extra, extremely, exceptionally massive amount of money.”
“Ah…”
Left speechless, Director Jang could only bow his head and cater to Ho-rang’s mood.
Meanwhile, listening in on their conversation, Bo-bae’s ears grew as big as an elephant’s. Ever since he talked about “give and take” and having “nothing she could offer,” she knew he wasn’t an ordinary person—but to think he was the CEO of Taeseong Group!
Bo-bae had figured out who he was, but she wasn’t happy about it at all. She was already frustrated that she had nothing to offer him, but finding out he was the CEO of Taeseong Group made her feel like he was one step further out of reach.
“I felt like if I could just kiss him once, the script would practically write itself. Sigh.”
As she let out a long sigh, something flashed through her mind.
“Ah, right. I have this, don’t I?”
Bo-bae pulled the tie pin out of her pocket.
For a man who was the CEO of Taeseong Group to use such a worn tie pin, she had a feeling it was no ordinary item.
“Right. You liked ‘give and take,’ didn’t you? If there’s a give, there must be a take.”
Grasping the tie pin tightly in her hand, Bo-bae looked at Ho-rang and flashed a meaningful smile.
