LNMBU 06

Chapter : 06

Nayeon narrowed her eyes in puzzlement and tried to get a better look at the man.

‘Did I see him wrong?’

But the club was far too dark, thick with cigarette smoke, and the chaotic lighting made it impossible to see clearly.

The man leaned against the second-floor railing and stared down at her for a long while before turning around and disappearing.

“Nayeon!”

Just then, Hyesun introduced her to two stylish-looking men.

“These oppas want to know if we’d like to drink with them. Wanna hang out together?”

It seemed the men had approached them and asked to join their table while Nayeon was looking toward the second-floor railing.

Nayeon hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

Today, I came here determined to meet new people and have some fun as my real self…!

With a firm resolve, she answered,

“Sure. Let’s join them.”

The men each took a seat beside Hyesun and Nayeon.

One of the club guys leaned close to Nayeon’s ear and shouted over the music.

“When did you get here?”

Had anyone ever gotten this close to me and whispered in my ear before? And a man, at that…

Her trembling hand tightened around her glass.

“I-I just got here.”

“How old are you? You’re so pretty. I’ve never seen anyone this beautiful before. I guess I’m lucky today.”

“……!”

Nayeon’s eyes widened.

“I’m… pretty?”

She had always been teased as “ugly Im Nayeon, the girl who looks like a boy.” Yet after coming out in public as her real self, a complete stranger was telling her she was beautiful.

Nayeon was stunned, but her heart swelled with emotion.

“Of course you are. Don’t you hear that all the time? You must be sick of being called beautiful by now.”

“……N-No. This is the first time I’ve heard it.”

“Haha. You’ve got quite the sense of humor. Wanna go out and dance?”

Apparently very taken with her, he couldn’t take his eyes off Nayeon as he took her hand and stood up.

“Ah, wait…”

“It’s okay even if you can’t dance. I’ll lead you.”

The club guy grabbed the hesitant Nayeon and led her onto the dance floor.

He naturally placed a hand around Nayeon’s waist and began moving his body to the rhythm.

Nayeon was so nervous that she stiffened up completely.

“W-Wait a moment.”

“Just lean against me and move to the beat.”

This club guy seemed to be a regular here. He was remarkably skilled at letting himself move with the rhythm.

As the alcohol began to take effect, the club guy wrapped his arm more firmly around her waist and started pressing himself against her more suggestively.

“Eek!”

Startled, Nayeon twisted away.

She could clearly sense the lust in the man’s expression. Goosebumps prickled all over her body.

“Excuse me. I want to stop dancing now.”

“Just stay still. Dance with me a little longer. I want to feel you.”

The club guy pulled her into his arms and refused to let her go. Instead, he closed his eyes with an excited expression, as though trying to lose himself in the sensation.

“Why don’t we just leave together? You can text your friend that you’re leaving first.”

Leave together? Right now?

Wasn’t secretly leaving together at this hour basically an invitation to something like a one-night stand?

Nayeon froze like ice.

No matter how much courage it had taken for her to come all the way here tonight, this was happening far too suddenly.

More than anything, she didn’t want a man she wasn’t interested in.

“Let go of me.”

Nayeon frowned and tried to push the club guy away.

But he pretended not to hear her, hugging her even more tightly and rubbing against her.

“I-I said I don’t want to. Let go of me!”

She raised her voice, but the loud music drowned her words out, and no one around them heard.

“Just stay still. It’s not like I’m going to hurt you. I’m just saying we should go out together and have a little fun…”

The man stubbornly pulled her toward him.

Nayeon suddenly became frightened.

‘Should I have just kept living quietly, avoiding people, never going anywhere, never drawing attention, and always hiding myself with a disguise?’

Just as the club guy roughly grabbed her wrist, a low, deep voice that seemed to rise from the depths of an abyss spoke.

“A woman said she doesn’t want it.”

At the unfamiliar voice, Nayeon looked up—and nearly felt her heart drop.

“Gasp…!”

It was the man whose eyes had met hers from the second-floor railing earlier.

Seeing him up close, she could finally recognize him for certain.

It was Ki Je-hyeok.

The oppa who had given her a ride earlier that afternoon and left her feeling downhearted.

‘Je-hyeok oppa came here? And on the exact day I came here?!’

She had no idea why a man who should have been busy with work had come to a place like this.

Her heart was pounding wildly, but she couldn’t let it show.

Nayeon knew Je-hyeok, but he didn’t know her.

‘You haven’t changed at all. You should eat more.’

Short hair, messy bangs, oversized round glasses, and a painfully thin figure without a single curve.

That was the version of her he had always seen.

There was no way he would recognize her now, with her long, straight hair, glamorous makeup, and sexy outfit.

“What the hell? Who are you?”

The intoxicated club guy glared at Je-hyeok with slightly unfocused eyes.

“Who the hell are you to eye the girl I picked tonight? Get lost.”

But the club guy’s bold voice soon disappeared.

Je-hyeok had grabbed the man’s wrist—the same arm that was wrapped around Nayeon’s waist—and effortlessly twisted it.

“Argh!”

“Didn’t you hear the woman say she doesn’t want it?”

As the man’s wrist was twisted, Nayeon was able to slip free.

“Ah, damn it, let go. Shit. That hurts like hell.”

“Can you hear me better now?”

Je-hyeok asked calmly, his face completely devoid of emotion.

The club guy groaned in pain and, realizing the overwhelming difference in strength between them, grew irritated.

He slowly backed away before eventually turning tail and disappearing.

Standing alone amid the crowd, Nayeon was finally able to breathe properly.

“T-Thank you for saving me.”

She bowed her head slightly to Je-hyeok.

He merely stared at her without answering.

“……”

The man who had always been neat and proper now had three buttons of his shirt undone.

The sleeves were rolled up, revealing prominent blue veins beneath his skin and a long, pronounced collarbone. It was unexpectedly sexy.

She had thought he was the kind of nerd who cared about nothing but studying and work, but this man had a sensual side to him as well.

Seeing this unfamiliar side of him for the first time made her heart flutter.

“……”

Hot men and women passed around them, but he simply continued to stare at her without saying a word.

Why… is he looking at me?

‘He couldn’t possibly have realized that I’m Im Nayeon, could he?’

There was no way he could recognize her after such a complete transformation.

Besides, this was the first time they had seen each other in ten years, and even then, they had only met briefly. He probably couldn’t even remember her voice.

Feeling awkward for no reason, Nayeon nervously bit her lower lip.

When she lowered her gaze for a moment and looked up again, he had already left.

Seeing Je-hyeok heading back up the stairs to the second floor, Nayeon found herself thinking that perhaps he had deliberately come down to save her.

When their eyes had met while Je-hyeok was looking down from the railing, what had he been thinking?

‘Was it just my imagination, or did there seem to be curiosity in his eyes?’

Nayeon had already begun paying attention to Je-hyeok. She kept looking up toward the second floor where he had gone, occasionally scanning the railing to see if he might appear there again.

How much time had passed?

She was getting drunk.

From the vodka Hyesun gave her, and the cocktails the waiters handed out as they passed by.

This night, when she had sneaked out without her mother knowing, dancing wildly on the floor with her friend and having the time of her life—it was unbelievably fun.

It was a true act of rebellion.

Dancing, jumping around, screaming at the top of her lungs.

She linked arms with unfamiliar women and men around her, grabbed their hands, and jumped and danced without a care.

It was fun.

She felt as though something inside her had finally burst open.

It felt like she was rewarding herself for all the years she had spent living under restraint.

“Ah, it’s hot. Nayeon! I’m going to the bathroom. It might take a while, so keep dancing, or go back to our table first.”

“Okay.”

After Hyesun went to the bathroom, Nayeon continued dancing wildly, still swept up in the excitement.

She was shaking her body to the music again when—

A large, tall man suddenly wrapped his arms around her from behind.

“Ah!”

Startled, she turned around, only for an unfamiliar man with gleaming eyes to whisper into her ear.

“Why are you so beautiful? You look like a doll. Wanna leave with me? How many people did you come with?!”

This might be her first and last act of rebellion. Rather than spending the night with a strange man who was showing his desires so openly, Nayeon simply wanted to enjoy the atmosphere and have fun.

So she lied to make him leave her alone.

“I-I didn’t wash my hair today! I-I didn’t even take a shower!”

Earlier, politely turning a man down hadn’t been enough to make him leave, so this time she had resorted to a lie that she thought would make anyone back off.

“Then I like you even more.”

“What?”

But perhaps the man was already intoxicated by something, because he spoke with dreamy, unfocused eyes.

Then he suddenly grabbed her wrist and began dragging her somewhere.

“Let go of me! What are you doing?”

Even after she told him she didn’t want to go, he stubbornly kept pulling, and Nayeon resisted with all her strength.

But wearing high heels, she was no match for the large man’s strength. Her heels dragged helplessly against the floor.

“Quit playing hard to get and come here. Let’s have some fun, pretty.”

Everyone in the club was oblivious to everyone else, eating, drinking, and swaying their bodies in the darkness, completely lost in the moment.

She had come to the club on impulse, but she never imagined it would be this chaotic.

Maybe I really shouldn’t have come here.

‘Maybe I should have stayed hidden, just like always, never drawing anyone’s attention. I only wanted to breathe freely for one single day… Was even that one day too much to ask for?’

Her life felt so unfair and miserable.

Just as fear and sorrow brought tears to her eyes—

Je-hyeok’s face suddenly appeared right in front of her.