IDTE 14

Chapter – 14

“Eat more, Minha. You look like you’ve lost weight.”

Kim Gun, noticing the stiff expression on my face, quickly wiped the smile from his own.

“Sorry if I sounded harsh.”

It was the first time I’d seen him look serious.

“I meant what I said about being honest. But I think I got the order wrong. I should have been honest first.”

The soju glass he lifted again was so clear, yet why couldn’t people’s hearts be transparent like this liquid?

“I think I could become good friends with you, Minha.”

“Why?”

“If people have similar goals, even yesterday’s enemies can be today’s friends, right?”

This time, I was the one who scoffed.

“No, I don’t think my goals could ever align with yours, Gun.”

“Why not?”

He still wasn’t smiling, but there was a trace of amusement in his voice.

“I guess it’s because I’m the same kind of badass as you?”

Despite calling himself a gangster, Kim Gun’s gentle, handsome face showed no trace of pain.

“Minha, do you want to get close to Lee Hyun? I’ll give you one piece of advice. If you want to get close to someone, just look at their weaknesses. Once you know that, it’s easier to approach them.”

The transparent liquid kept wetting the mouth of a person whose inner self was far from transparent.

“But when you see someone’s weakness, you start to care about them. Strange, isn’t it? That’s when you have to keep your wits about you.”

“I don’t think Lee Hyun has any weaknesses.”

“Hyun is lonely. There’s no one he can truly trust around him. The rest is up to you. Go and approach him. That’s the most practical advice I can give you.”

“Hmm…”

I answered reluctantly. Something about his strange advice made a certain part of me uncomfortable, even though I didn’t need to hear it.

“…Join Sungjin Capital.”

“What does that mean?”

“Think of it like a casino. Lots of money, lots of dirty work. But you might be able to get what you want all at once. I can’t say what will happen when you leave, though.”

His light brown eyes scanned me.

“The easiest way is to get the ticket from Hyun. The picture is the prettiest that way, too.”

A heat rose to my ears. It felt like he’d read the private plan I had never voiced aloud.

“You’re saying a lot of strange things tonight. But I don’t like casinos. I hate crowded places.”

“That’s fine. You can just play quietly with me somewhere else.”

As always, Kim Gun put on a warm, friendly smile.

“So, try to get close to Hyun. Just treat him like you treated me, and it should be fine.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“Oh my, Yoo Byun! Fancy seeing you here!”

A familiar voice cut through the conversation. I turned to see a few people from the corporation standing there.

“Senpai… what are you doing here?”

“This place is famous for its food. I’m a regular.”

As I moved to stand, flustered, Kim Gun was quicker. He stood first and greeted them smoothly.

“Hello! I’m Kim Gun.”

“Oh! Minha, is he your boyfriend?”

Cheerfully chatting with them, he neither confirmed nor denied anything.

The place quickly became lively.

The unexpected meeting abruptly ended that evening. I never got the chance to ask Kim Gun what he truly meant.

“Maybe you can get what you want all at once.”

It felt like a hint quietly given before a treasure hunt.

But why Kim Gun?

Come to think of it, if he belonged to Sungjin Capital and had been friends with Lee Hyun since childhood, it makes sense that he would naturally be wary of outsiders like me.

That was exactly the contradiction I had sensed in him since the day we first met.

But now, it felt like he was handing me the key, saying, “The materials you want are inside Sungjin Capital. Woo Hyun and get them yourself.”

Or… what if this is a trap? What if he and Lee Hyun are working together, and I’m just walking into it like an innocent pawn?

Sleep came reluctantly, carrying me into a hazy dream.

Voices called out to me. I wanted to respond, but I couldn’t.

Why? Why can’t I speak?

A scratchy, foreign sensation crawled along my skin around my mouth. I searched for a mirror, and there it was—a large mirror.

Ah… I had no mouth. My dream self was screaming silently, mouthless.

―How have you been? Yoo Minha here.

I deleted the message I had written. After some hesitation, I decided to contact Lee Hyun anyway, thinking it couldn’t hurt to try.

Even if I ignored Kim Gun’s advice, I had no other sharp options.

If I did nothing, I would remain a lonely person living a sterile single life in someone else’s home.

The problem was… I had no idea how to start the conversation.

Any message I sent had a near-100% chance of being ignored by Lee Hyun.

“Yoo Byun, expecting a message?”

One of the seniors from the restaurant yesterday approached with a suspicious smile.

“Did you get home okay yesterday?”

“Yeah, thanks. And my eyes got a treat too. Tell him thanks—your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Even weirder then. Wouldn’t your eyes wander if he were in front of you?”

“It’s just… I had something to ask him. That’s why I had dinner.”

Dinner. I remembered a sociological term I’d read somewhere: hostile coexistence.

You fight but don’t sever ties. You maintain minimal interaction. Like a table where a knife and a spoon coexist.

Alright, I’ll relax. I’ll send a message as casually as I did to Kim Gun yesterday.

―Let’s grab a meal sometime. Byun

Ah… no.

Because I was nervous, the sentence came out wrong: “Let’s grab a meal sometime, Yoo Byun.”

Even if it were sent to a boyfriend, it would seem awkward.

I tried to distract myself and think of a way to fix it, but no good idea came.

Then—

―?

It was Lee Hyun’s reply. A single punctuation mark, yet it felt like seeing him again after a long time.

Maybe the typo was so absurd that he couldn’t ignore it. Knowing his temper, he likely thought I was mocking him and replied in anger.

―It’s been a while. Want to grab a meal together?

I quickly replied before he disappeared again. A message from my friend Minjeong appeared at the top of the screen:

―I looked up that weird dream interpretation. Don’t do it. Whatever you’re about to do, just don’t. Feels off.

I sighed for the umpteenth time while cooking instant soup.

I had expected Lee Hyun to ignore or refuse my invitation, yet he agreed.

What made me uneasy was his reply: he wanted to come to my house tonight.

Going out to eat with him would be suffocating, but sitting alone in that quiet house was an even tighter kind of suffocation.

Since I suggested the meal, I had to at least make the food look presentable.

So, here I am, trying to make instant soup and rice somehow look like a proper meal.

“Yoo Minha, at this rate, you’re becoming the perfect wife.”

I muttered to myself, bitterly tidying up, when faint keystrokes echoed from a distance.

Clack-clack—

Heavy footsteps approached. My heartbeat quickened with every step, and my mouth went dry.

“What is it?”

A low, cavernous voice I hadn’t heard in a while.

Turning around, there stood Lee Hyun, wearing a deep navy dress shirt.