RM 03

Chapter 3

“Just give me one kiss!”

When such an unexpected phrase popped out of a stranger’s mouth, Horang’s face crumpled like a sheet of paper.

A woman he was meeting for the first time was asking for a kiss. And it wasn’t “I fell in love with you at first sight,” nor was it “I’ve liked you for a while”—she was bluntly demanding, “Let’s kiss.” Horang was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even laugh.

Noticing his instantly twisted expression, Bobae gripped the tie she was holding even tighter, as if it were her lifeline. At the same exact moment, Horang let go of the hand he was using to support her.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”

Struggling desperately by holding onto his tie to avoid falling, Bobae ultimately lost her balance and landed flat on her backside.

“Ouch!”

But that lasted only a moment. Driven by desperation rather than pain, she jumped right back up and approached Horang.

“A kiss is a bit much, right? I mean, kissing someone you just met. Even I think that’s a stretch. Then how about a hug instead? Just this once.”

Thick-skinned and shameless, Bobae opened both arms toward Horang, who glared right back at her with chillingly cold eyes.

No matter how many people in this world would sell their souls for anything free, this was the first time in his life he had ever encountered someone like this. She wasn’t asking for money—she wanted a kiss? A hug?

Horang didn’t even want to waste time bickering over something so absurd, so he simply brushed past her.

“Of all the crazy women out there.”

“You can think I’m crazy, I don’t care! So please, just give me one hug, okay?”

Bobae clung to him persistently, and reaching the limit of his patience, Horang snapped at her.

“Have you lost your mind? Why on earth should I hug someone I met for the first time today?”

“You must not know how things work these days, but people hug strangers all the time. Ever heard of free hugs?”

“I don’t engage in such unproductive activities. Or, even if I did, absolutely not with you.”

“Why?”

“What?”

“Why not with me?”

When Bobae asked with eyes full of disappointment, Horang was even more bewildered.

It wasn’t like he had just saved someone from drowning only for them to demand their bundle back—she was demanding a kiss! What kind of woman was this?

“Don’t you know give-and-take?”

“Give-and-take?”

“Isn’t it a robber’s mindset to expect something in return when you aren’t giving anything?”

“……”

“Now that you understand, move aside.”

As a cold-toned Horang tried to bypass her, Bobae shouted.

“What if I do give you something in return?”

“What?”

She had never seen anyone like him in her entire life. A man who felt nothing even when touching her. That was why Bobae desperately needed this man, and why she couldn’t just let him walk away. She had to catch him somehow.

“You said it’s give-and-take, right? What if I give you something? Would you do it with me then—a kiss?”

Horang found this equally absurd. To him, a man who could have anything in the world, she was going to give him something? They said ignorance is bliss, and this was the exact definition of it.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because there is nothing in this world you could possibly give me.”

“Still, who knows? Maybe there is something I can do for you?”

“Look at me. Do you honestly think there’s anything you could do for me?”

At those words, Bobae looked the man up and down.

With visuals more celebrity-like than actual celebrities, an incredibly luxurious suit, a high-end watch, and even an attendant who looked like a secretary.

The man was right. Just by looking at him, he clearly had a lot, whereas Bobae had practically nothing.

“Do you finally understand the difference between you and me?”

At his question, Bobae nodded, but she couldn’t just let him go like this. Whatever she could do, she had to try until the very end.

“Then, perhaps on humanitarian grounds…….”

“Why would I?”

“With a heart filled with love for humanity……”

“No.”

“If you just give me one kiss…….”

“No! I won’t! There is zero chance of that happening, so even if we cross paths again, don’t act like you know me! If we ever meet, keep a one-meter—no, a ten-meter distance minimum!”

Horang spoke coldly and turned on his heel.

“Of all the crazy women out there.”

Left all by herself, Bobae muttered as she stared at his retreating back.

“To think there was actually a man in this world who doesn’t short-circuit when he touches me.”

That fact was astonishing and thrilling, but the reality was utterly gloomy. The only man in the world she could touch was rejecting her with every fiber of his being.

“Right. Who am I to dream of men? Romance my foot! I’ll just live like I always have. A kiss scene? Screw it, I’ll teach myself how to write one!”

Just as she let out a heavy sigh and turned to leave, she noticed something glittering on the ground.

“Huh? What’s this?”

Bobae picked up the item lying on the floor and examined it.

“Is this a tie pin?”

Come to think of it, she had clung to the man’s tie for dear life earlier; it must have dropped off back then.

“Should I use this as an excuse to chase after him?”

As she turned the tie pin over in her hands and began brainstorming, her phone rang. It was a call from the cafe where she worked part-time.

“Hello, Manager. I’m on my way right now. I’m almost there. Oh, I can see the cafe. I’m arriving right now!”

Hanging up the phone, Bobae fidgeted nervously, dancing anxiously on her feet.

“If I leave now, I might never see that man again.”

But if she didn’t go right now, she might get fired from her part-time job. How would she manage her living expenses, pay her phone bill, and cover the rent for her rooftop room?

“Ah, damn it. Let’s put food in my mouth first.”

Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Bobae started running at full speed.

“Are you alright, sir?”

Stepping into the elevator, Secretary Yoon asked while cautiously reading Horang’s expression.

His mood had already been foul the entire ride over, but thanks to some bizarre woman, his boss’s mood seemed even worse now.

“I am not alright. Do they let just any stray dogs and cats into this broadcasting station? What a lunatic woman to latch onto me.”

“I’ll be much more careful next time.”

As Secretary Yoon bowed his head like a convicted criminal, Horang slowly turned his head and asked.

“Why would Secretary Yoon need to be careful?”

“Pardon?”

“It’s not like Secretary Yoon did anything wrong. Besides, that’s what the station security guards are for. There were ten guards there, and none of them lifted a finger. Absolute salary thieves.”

Horang could overlook many things, but wasting money pointlessly was something he simply could not tolerate. He practically lived by the motto, “Nothing in this world is free.”

That was precisely why he had flown into a rage at that woman earlier. Nothing in this world was free, and you only got something if you gave something in return—yet she had brazenly demanded a kiss out of nowhere. It was beyond comprehension by Horang’s standards.

As Horang shook his head dismissively and habitually reached to adjust his tie, he stopped and lowered his hand in shock.

It was gone. The pin that was supposed to be guarding his tie was missing! He was certain he had been fiddling with it in the car earlier, so he must have lost it somewhere.

“Let’s get out.”

“Secretary Yoon.”

As the elevator came to a halt, Horang called his secretary in a low voice.

“Go find my tie pin. Right now.”

“Cinderella left behind a glass slipper, and that man left behind a tie pin.”

Bobae gazed at the old-fashioned tie pin resting on the table, thinking of Horang.

“Who is he? Why was he totally fine when he touched me?”

Her curiosity about the man wasn’t just because of her romance script’s kiss scene. It was because a glimmer of hope had sparked—wondering if being with that man might help her unlock the secret of this cursed body of hers.

If she could figure out the cause, she could return to being a normal person and live like everyone else. She could fall in love, date, kiss, and even…… do even deeper things.

Lost in all sorts of thoughts, she heard the cafe door open as customers walked in.

“Welcome— Yikes!”

It was that man from the broadcasting station earlier, along with Director Jang! While seeing the man again was a welcome surprise, Director Jang certainly wasn’t.

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to work part-time in front of a broadcasting station.”

Wanting to avoid being nagged about not writing and hearing that her scripts turned out the way they did because she was wasting time like this—which severely wounded her pride—she had tried to avoid working part-time right outside a broadcasting station, but she had no choice if she wanted to survive. This job had been hard enough to secure.

She desperately hoped someone else would take their order, but nobody else was at the counter. With no other choice, Bobae lowered her head as far as possible and took their order.

“W-would you like to order?”

“One Americano, and what would you like?”

At Director Jang’s prompt, Horang replied in a businesslike tone.

“I’ll have a decaf Americano.”

“One Americano and one decaf, please.”

“Yes. That’ll be two drinks, totaling twelve thousand won.”

“Right. Here’s my card— Huh? Isn’t that Na-jakka?”

Damn it. If he wasn’t a PD, he wouldn’t have such sharp eyes.

Making a crying face, Bobae instantly swapped her expression for a practiced smile and raised her head.

“Oh my! Director Jang. What brings you here?”

“What brings me to a cafe? To drink coffee, of course. What on earth are you doing here, Na-jakka?”

“Ah, well, I’m doing a part-time…….”

Right as she was about to speak, Bobae’s eyes locked with Horang’s. His indifferent gaze was fixed entirely on her. Before a man who clearly had everything—making her feel like she had nothing to offer him—she didn’t want to admit that she was working part-time just to pay her living expenses and rooftop room rent, so she stammered out an excuse.

“Ah, well, you see. I was studying a bit for research, thinking about whether it might be a good idea to make the female lead a barista. Haha.”

With a fake laugh, she glanced at the man, but he simply turned his head away with a blank, uninterested expression.

“Oh, really? Well, make sure you study hard for your research, then. I have a meeting to attend.”

“Yes, Director.”

“Let’s go, sir.”

Watching Director Jang and Horang take a seat, Bobae grumbled under her breath.

“There are cafes flooding this entire neighborhood, so why did they have to pick this one? But wait, what’s their relationship?”

Judging by the way they were looking over documents and talking, they seemed to have met for business, but he didn’t look like a broadcasting station employee. That meant she might never get a chance to see him again.

“What are you just standing around wondering for? Go find out.”

Bobae slipped the tie pin into her pocket and approached their table under the guise of wiping it down.

“Shooting will start soon. The shopping center shoots should go smoothly, right?”

“We can proceed without any issues.”

“Then, by any chance, would we also be able to shoot at the hotel next to the shopping center?”

“It’s possible. On one condition.”

“A condition?”

“The viewership ratings need to match our sponsorship investment. I won’t tolerate single-digit ratings like last time.”

At Horang’s firm declaration, Director Jang’s face crumpled. Sure, a line of production teams were practically queuing up to get Taesung Group’s sponsorship, but to bring ratings into it? That hurt his pride.

“It seems the president doesn’t quite understand how things work in this industry. Viewership ratings don’t just happen easily just because you wish for them. If ratings followed high budgets, every show would pull 20%.”

At Director Jang’s remark, Horang chuckled and asked.

“Did I simply spend a lot of money?”

“Pardon?”

“I spent a very, extremely, massively large amount of money.”

“Ah…….”

Left with nothing more to say, Director Jang could only bow subserviently and try to appease Horang.

Meanwhile. Bobae, eavesdropping on their conversation, grew ears as big as an elephant’s. She had figured he wasn’t an ordinary person from the moment he talked about give-and-take and having nothing to offer, but to think he was the president of Taesung Group!

Bobae had figured out who he was, but she wasn’t happy about it at all. She was already agonizing over having nothing to offer him, and now she finds out he’s the president of Taesung Group? She felt like he had drifted even further out of reach.

I thought if I could just get one kiss out of him, my script would write itself smoothly. Sigh.

Just as she let out a deep sigh, something flashed through her mind.

“Ah, right! I have this, don’t I?”

Bobae pulled the tie pin out of her pocket.

Seeing a man who was the president of Taesung Group wearing such an old, worn-out tie pin gave her a strong hunch that it wasn’t an ordinary object.

That’s right. Didn’t he love give-and-take? If something goes, something comes back.

Clutching the tie pin tightly in her hand, Bobae looked over at Horang with a meaningful smile.