IDTE 21

Chapter – 21

An unexpected message arrived for Yoo Minha.

Ever since that day, she had been ignoring the occasional pointless texts that came her way.

She had intended to ignore this one too, but the random typos scattered through the contextless message made her let out a small laugh.

With that much pride, he must be embarrassed to send something like that.

So she replied. Just a single question mark. It was simply a reflexive emotion she didn’t bother hiding.

This time, a neat response came back—without a single typo.

What could possibly lie behind that absurd message? Probably nothing much.

She still had no desire whatsoever to get entangled with him.

And yet, part of her was curious about the intention behind his nervous fumbling. It was nothing more than curiosity. Nothing else.

They could just meet somewhere nearby.

Then suddenly, she remembered the sensation of his chest—stiff and hardened at the edge—against her fingertips not long ago. The lingering scent she had caught from the nape of his neck.

Was he really losing his mind? Or perhaps that day had simply been the strange one?

If she were to face Yoo Minha again in that house, maybe that strange feeling wouldn’t surface this time.

It was too early to jump to conclusions. If it continued to nag at him in this messy way, then he would confirm it.

He had suggested meeting at home, but he hadn’t expected Yoo Minha to be playing house with such ridiculous food.

Honestly, it would have looked more proper to just sit across from each other with a cup of tea.

Off in the distance, the discarded packaging of instant soup and the phrase “5 minutes in a pot” were glaringly visible.

“…There’s nothing special, but let’s eat together.”

“No thanks.”

He meant it. Even living alone, he had never heated up something like that and called it food.

Yet Yoo Minha seemed to be enjoying it, diligently bringing the unappetizing meal to her lips.

Had her lips always been that full? He remembered the way shallow breaths had slipped from that mouth not long ago.

This is driving me crazy.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

He wanted to ask the same thing. Why was she staring at him with those round eyes?

Clinging to the last thread of reason he had, he deliberately sharpened his tone.

He desperately hoped that sharpness would sever whatever it was he felt toward her.

“I’ll get straight to the point. I don’t think it’s necessary for that incident to cause unnecessary conflict or emotional friction between us.”

“What incident?”

“That time, in your bedroom, briefly…”

As her face gradually flushed red, he felt a strange sense of satisfaction.

Maybe he wasn’t the only one replaying that day.

Unbothered by his thoughts, she said something unexpectedly provocative.

She told him to use her.

Well. There were methods he could think of—quite stimulating ones.

But she meant something else entirely. She wanted to be used as a resource for Seongjin Capital. She was willing to throw away her name value.

He laughed. Did she even understand what she was saying?

In front of money, even a perfectly fine person could be crippled. Loan sharks dressed their documents in legal language that made them look pretty, but those papers were full of traps—one mistake and you were done. That was the ecosystem of this world.

And Yoo Minha, who couldn’t stand injustice, wanted to step into that world?

He might as well convert to religion. Though even God would probably reject him.

“Is there a law saying I can’t?”

Yes. That look in her eyes. She wanted something.

Maybe she was searching for more than just a way to survive.

But he wasn’t curious. She would never truly set foot in this world anyway.

Still, he wanted to warn her clearly. If it was an apology for the desire he felt toward her—well, fine. Let’s call it that.

His version of a nice warning: Don’t loiter around dangerous places. Just live quietly, as if you were dead.

Get scared. Shrink back. Then live quietly from now on.

Who knew?

Maybe instead of following through with his original plan to get rid of her, he might let her disappear somewhere quiet.

While thinking that, he finally reached out and touched her lip—where it had split.

Those full lips that had been bothering him. The slickness of saliva clung to them as he gently brushed his fingers over that spot.

For a fleeting moment, he wanted to slide his finger into her mouth. He wanted to feel that slickness on his skin.

As her lips parted slightly, he barely managed to stop himself from crossing the line.

That had been close. Too close.

“…Yoo Minha, be careful.”

“What did I—”

“Be careful. With everything.”

He had to admit it now. Whenever he was alone with her, blood rushed downward.

Ridiculous as it was, his body was instinctively reacting to that absurd woman.

The bewildering realization of something he had never experienced before made his head throb, and he pressed at his temple.

He ended the conversation roughly and left in haste. He needed to get away for now.

“Wait, aren’t you really not eating anything?”

He turned to look at her and, this time, spoke honestly.

“I’m craving something else today.”

He wanted to devour her.

It was dawn, wrapped in endless darkness, yet he couldn’t sleep.

He kept thinking about her moist—no, wet—lips he had touched earlier.

What would have happened if he had bitten them then?

Where had things gone wrong for him? Was this some kind of illness? If so, what kind of ridiculous illness was this?

Despite the direction of his useless thoughts, the heavy presence between his legs grew harder.

“Like a dog in heat… damn it.”

He had no choice. He needed to calm down.

Grabbing himself, he began moving his hand slowly, up and down.

Slowly. Up and down.

What if Yoo Minha were on top of him?

Now that he acknowledged he wasn’t in his right mind, feeling guilty over such thoughts was pointless.

If her soft flesh pressed against him, it would probably make a wet, sticky sound.

For now, only the sound of his own saliva and the friction of his hand filled the room, but in his head he imagined their bodies colliding.

As the imagined movements of her body quickened, so did his hand.

“Ha…”

Her breathing in his imagination grew more ragged. He wanted to kiss her chest as she moved.

The shallow moans in his mind, mingled with the slick sounds of skin against skin, stimulated every nerve he had.

He felt like he was learning for the first time how maddening the faint sound from someone’s lips could be.

Just a little more. A little deeper. He couldn’t stop himself.

After moving for what felt like forever, the endless pleasure finally broke over him.

His whole body slackened. The hardness subsided at last.

Yoo Minha, sleeping upstairs, probably had no idea how he was thinking of her right now.

A bitter laugh escaped him.

Go die somewhere, you crazy bastard.

The next evening, after hesitating, he stepped into the house.

He understood now that his body’s reaction to her was an abnormal mechanism.

Once he acknowledged it, the woman who acted as the catalyst for his body kept lingering in his mind. There was no particular reason.

When he entered, he saw Yoo Minha asleep at the table in the living room, her head resting on her arms.

He remembered that on her first day in this house, she had fallen asleep on the sofa.

He considered carrying her to the bedroom as he had before, but this time he wasn’t sure he would be able to stop himself halfway.

Take it easy. Stop here. Realizing you’re in heat doesn’t mean you’ve decided to become trash who indulges it.

In the end, he gave up on moving her and instead draped his jacket over her.

Yes. Maybe it was better not to look at her like this.

As he was about to head into his room, he heard her faint voice.

“Do I-hyeon…”

Was she awake? He turned back, but her eyes were still closed.

Was he appearing in her dreams?

No. There was no way she’d be dreaming about him.

Surprised at himself for even thinking that, he let out a hollow laugh.

Instead of going into his room, he sat down at the table.

He hadn’t been sleeping well lately anyway. Maybe resting there would make him drowsy.

It absolutely wasn’t because, even from a distance, he could still see that troublesome woman who was distracting him in more ways than one.