Chapter : 06
Yumin swallowed her fear and walked faster.
Once she reached a relatively large road, she abruptly turned around.
The car that had been following her screeched to a stop.
Was it really following me?
As Yumin glared at the car warily, the rear passenger window rolled down.
“Wow, you’re pretty quick to notice.”
It was Representative Kim Byungtae.
“Hah.”
Yumin let out an irritated sigh.
She had come outside to wash away the unpleasant feeling clinging to her, but running into Byungtae only made her feel even more contaminated.
“Get in for a minute.”
“No.”
“You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
Yumin sighed quietly enough for only herself to hear before speaking.
“Do I look crazy enough to get in? I guess you’ve already forgotten that you tried to drag me away by force earlier. Is your face covered with a hundred meters of iron plating or something?”
“Keu.”
Representative Kim clicked his tongue and began clapping.
“The more I see you, the more charming you are.”
Yumin frowned as though she had heard something she absolutely didn’t want to hear.
“But who was that bastard earlier? Your boyfriend?”
“……No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. You said he isn’t?”
Yumin clenched both fists as she watched Representative Kim leer at her, slowly looking her up and down.
“Earlier…”
“Hm?”
“Earlier, I ended up going on that blind date with you because my big family pushed me into it.”
“Hmm?”
“But I haven’t agreed to anything with my big family. I’m saying I have no intention of having a second date with you or marrying you. So I hope we never have to see each other again.”
Yumin gave him a small bow to make it clear that she meant she never wanted to see him again, then turned around and started walking.
“I just came from meeting Yun Bosal.”
At that moment, she heard words she couldn’t ignore.
Yumin stopped dead in her tracks, and the car slowly pulled up beside her.
The moment she found herself face-to-face with Representative Kim in the back seat, he curled his lips unpleasantly and asked,
“Don’t you want to know why your big family is trying to marry you off to me instead of your cousin? Turns out it wasn’t a coincidence.”
Yumin wet her dry lips with her tongue.
She was curious.
She didn’t believe in shamanism, but if someone was wishing for her to die in their place, wouldn’t that leave anyone feeling disgusted?
She wanted to know for certain whether what she was thinking was correct.
“I’ll tell you, so hurry up and get in! We can go somewhere and have an early dinner, and I’ll tell you everything.”
Yumin shook her head as she remembered Byungtae trying to drag her away after handing her the hotel room key earlier.
Would I be crazy enough to walk straight into the tiger’s den?
“Forget it. There’s somewhere nearby where we can talk. If you want to tell me, then follow me.”
Yumin abruptly turned her head forward again.
Then she walked toward the piano academy where she worked.
There was a small snack bar near the academy that she frequently visited.
If they talked there, even if Byungtae tried to hurt her, the owner would call the police.
As Yumin wondered what Byungtae was going to tell her about her big family, she soon arrived in front of the snack bar.
“Huh? Teacher Yumin, today isn’t your workday.”
The owner, who was stirring tteokbokki with a ladle at the outdoor cooking station, greeted her.
“Hello, ma’am. I came out for a little walk. Could I have one serving of tteokbokki?”
“Sure. Go sit down.”
Yumin answered the friendly woman with a faint smile and quickly went inside the shop.
The woman brought over a plate of tteokbokki, and Kim Byungtae slipped in behind her.
The owner, sensing someone behind her, turned around and jumped in surprise.
“Oh my goodness! You scared me!”
“Why are you so surprised, ma’am?”
“You’re such a big, round fellow, yet you walk around so quietly, like a ghost without feet. Of course you’d scare me.”
The owner reacted even more sharply to Byungtae’s abrasive tone.
Byungtae cleared his throat awkwardly, lightly tapped the woman on the shoulder, and quickly sat down in front of Yumin.
The owner raised her eyebrows and looked at Yumin as though she couldn’t believe this man was with her.
“Yumin…. Do you know this guy?”
Yumin gave an awkward smile.
“Yes. We just have something to talk about.”
Without answering, the owner went outside, then quickly returned and placed something in front of Yumin.
It was a bowl of steaming fish-cake broth.
“The broth is freaking hot.”
Then she leaned forward and whispered into Yumin’s ear.
“If he tries anything funny, just pour it all over him. I’ll be your witness. Anyway, what’s a young teacher like you doing with someone like—”
“I can hear you, you old lady.”
Byungtae tapped the table several times, looking incredulous.
“What’s with those ears of yours being so sharp? For someone your age.”
“Why, you little—”
It was just as Byungtae glared and started to stand up.
Yumin spoke in a heavy voice.
“So what is it you wanted to tell me about my big family?”
“Hoo.”
Byungtae let out a long sigh as though restraining his anger, then sat back down.
“Stop being stubborn and marry Oppa. It’s because I don’t have much time. And if you marry me, your life will be easier, too.”
“…….”
“Your big uncle is a real piece of work. If you live with Oppa, I’ll get revenge on him for you. Hm?”
Yumin barely swallowed her disgust and asked,
“Why is my big uncle such a terrible person? And what kind of revenge are you talking about?”
Byungtae gave a meaningful smile and tapped his index finger against the table.
“You have a cousin, right?”
“Yes.”
“She’s supposedly destined to die young, you know?”
“So?”
“He firmly believes that if he keeps a child by his daughter’s side to take all of her bad luck in her place, his daughter will live a long life. That’s why he had you take expensive private piano lessons for two whole years so you could attend the same university as his daughter, right? Wow. The more I think about it, the more incredible those parents are.”
So, in the end, what she had suspected was true.
Yumin ignored the despair rising inside her and said,
“I think I’ve heard enough. I don’t believe in shamans or any of that stuff.”
“Sure. You don’t have to believe it. But listen. Yun Bosal prays 365 days a year for all of your cousin’s bad luck to be transferred to you, and your big uncle pays her ten million won every month for it.”
“…….”
“Your big uncle is paying 120 million won a year to something he can’t even see. You think that’s all? I’m sure they perform rituals regularly to make sure something bad happens to you, too. How much does one of those rituals cost? Several million won? Then how much are they spending in a year?”
“……Look, whether they do that or not, I don’t believe in—”
“Ah, seriously. Is your brain not working? That’s not the point, baby.”
“…….”
“The important thing isn’t whether you believe in that stuff or not~ okay?”
Suddenly, Representative Kim reached out and snatched Yumin’s fork.
He picked up a piece of tteokbokki, took a bite, and continued speaking casually.
“You need to think about whether people that crazy about shamanism would be incapable of doing anything to you~ Do you understand? Ah, you understand?”
A chill immediately ran through Yumin’s body.
For the first time, Byungtae had said something that made sense.
Simply put, he meant that there would be nothing strange about people who were obsessed with superstition doing something terrible to her.
“You know what? What if you refuse to marry me and, by coincidence, that daughter gets hurt or something bad happens to her? Do you think those people will leave you alone?”
He was right.
If Suji got hurt after Yumin refused to be connected with Byungtae—
They would blame Yumin and torment her beyond anything she could imagine.
“Now you understand, right? So come over to Oppa’s side. Then I’ll pay all your father’s hospital bills upfront~ and completely destroy your big family. How about it? Tempting, isn’t it?”
Byungtae had finished eating the tteokbokki by then, and red pepper paste was smeared around his lips.
Looking at that red pepper paste made Yumin feel nauseous and dizzy.
Just like the situation she was trapped in.
She wanted to see her father.
Should she go to the hospital?
Jaejun put down his empty coffee cup.
He hadn’t even been able to conduct the undercover inspection of the hotel he had planned to do before his inauguration.
He was already on his second cup of coffee.
That was because unexpectedly running into his infuriating first love had left his thoughts completely tangled.
“Young Master.”
At that moment, Yongil, whom he had sent on an errand, returned.
Jaejun furrowed his brow and gestured with his eyes for Yongil to sit in front of him.
Yongil immediately sat across from Jaejun and pulled out the information he had been waiting for.
“First of all, this is Hong Yumin’s home address. She moved somewhere not too far from where she lived during university.”
Jaejun scanned the address written on the note Yongil had given him and asked,
“Does she still live with her big family? Did you confirm that she actually went into the house?”
“Ah…. Well, that’s….”
Yongil hesitated, his voice becoming smaller.
Jaejun slowly raised his eyes to look at him.
“What is it?”
Yongil glanced nervously at Jaejun before handing him his phone, which displayed a photograph.
Jaejun took the phone.
His eyebrow began to rise crookedly.
On the screen were Hong Yumin and the little-finger sitting side by side at the snack bar, eating tteokbokki.
Ah…. Fuck.
“They went for a second round?”
