Chapter 9
“A—an adult romance…?” Every time a breeze blew through the slightly opened crack of the window, the curtains swayed back and forth.
Beneath the fluttering curtains, two people were pulled so close together that there was no room left to close the gap, staring intently into each other’s eyes.
Every time Horang exhaled, Bobae’s brown hair fluttered. Over the body of Bobae pinned underneath him, his weight felt increasingly heavy. The heart pressed and crushed by his body battered wildly against her ribs. “Even a contract relationship—I plan to take it deep and intense.” Deep and intense, what? “Would you even be okay with that?”
The kind of contract relationship Bobae had in mind was rated 15-and-over, not restricted to adults. So what on earth did he mean by “deep and intense”? And what were those phrases supposed to signify—things like “an adult romance” or “going all the way”? Could it possibly be…?
Suddenly, rumors about Horang floating around the internet flashed across her mind.[Did you know President Baek Horang’s nickname is the Overtime Man?][The Overtime Man? A boss who makes you work overtime is the absolute worst.][No. They say he’s exceptionally good at his job at night. He lasts intensely and for a long time, making the night feel too short?]
As the internet rumors flickered through her brain, they were instantly followed by an image of herself and Horang entangled together in a flesh-toned spectacle on top of a bed. Two people, feeling each other with sultry expressions, launching into a passionate kiss without anyone knowing who started it, and as they explored each other’s lips, pushing forward toward a deeper place…
Instantly, Bobae’s face flushed bright red. Just imagining it made her head spin and her heart hammer so violently that she couldn’t even breathe properly.
However, unlike Bobae, Horang looked completely unaffected. No, rather, wearing a teasing expression as if he wanted to provoke her even further, he leaned in closer. “What? Are you scared?” “…” “Are you afraid I’m going to eat you up or something?”
As Horang’s low voice brushed against her ear, goosebumps broke out all over Bobae’s skin. When they closed the distance so tightly that not even a single sheet of paper could slip between them, a startled Bobae squeezed her eyes shut.
‘Just how close is he planning to get? Don’t tell me he’s going to kiss me again…?’ Just as all sorts of thoughts were racing through her head, a sneer from Horang landed softly against her ear. “Such a scaredy-cat.” “?!”
Her eyes snapped wide open. When she stared up at him with wide eyes, completely clueless as to what was going on, Horang was already pushing himself up. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to eat you.”
Judging by how high one corner of Horang’s mouth was hitched up… she had been played! As if exacting revenge for the women’s restroom incident earlier, Horang looked utterly delighted.
Realizing belatedly that she had been tricked, Bobae glared up at him. “If you were going to chicken out this much, why on earth did you suggest dating in the first place?” “Who said I chickened out?” “You were shaking in your boots.” “No, I wasn’t!” “You flinch and tense up over a little thing like this, so why do you keep provoking me? You have no idea what I might suggest we do next.” “W-What were you about to suggest we do…”
She wanted to shout loudly to prove she wasn’t scared, but her voice trailed off miserably at the end. Somehow, it felt like he was going to suggest something far more monumental than anything she could possibly imagine.
In truth, Bobae was a total disaster when it came to romance. Thanks to her profession as a writer, she had a bottomless well of theoretical knowledge, but her practical experience gauge was sitting at zero—or rather, practically in the negative.
Unaware of Bobae’s predicament, Horang pushed it one step further. “What if I decide I’m ready to do something way more intense than a kiss?” And if he did? “Then you should ask me to do it. If you do, I’ll grant it. Dating, that is.”
Wait! If it was something more intense than a kiss…? “That just means you’re refusing the contract relationship!”
Only then grasping the true meaning of Horang’s words, Bobae glared at him as he chuckled smugly. “You sure took the long way around just to say you don’t want to.” “I was just giving you time to mentally prepare yourself, weren’t I?” “Oh, my, look at the cat pitying the mouse. Whatever shall I do with such gratitude? Squeak, squeak, squeak.”
When Bobae mimicked a mouse, Horang laughed like he was having the time of his life. Seeing him laugh so hard he had to clutch his stomach, a wave of intense annoyance surged up within Bobae, and she snapped the curtain shut. “Is this really funny to you?” …When my heart is going this crazy.
Glaring at Horang through the curtain, Bobae pressed a hand over her chest. Her heart hadn’t beaten this fast even after running a desperate sprint. It was pounding so hard she genuinely worried she might suffer a cardiac arrest—and all over just a tiny bit of physical touch.
Still, she supposed it was a relief. At least the curtain was there. If she didn’t even have that, he would have caught her looking completely derailed and flustered by a single touch.
Night fell over the hospital room. Horang stared intently at his smartwatch. The battery, which had been at 40% when checked during the day, had somehow crept up to 50%.
When he first arrived at the hospital room, the remaining battery level had been a mere 1–2%. After staying with Bobae in the room for three hours, it had charged up to 11%, but the moment he separated from her, it plummeted back down to 9% in a flash. Then, after kissing Bobae, it charged up to 40%, and after a brief subsequent touch, it hit 50%.
Professor Kwak was right. The distance between him and Bobae had an intensely close correlation with the battery charging.
If he moved beyond a certain distance from her, the battery drained, and if he maintained a certain distance, it charged ever so slightly. And the closer he was to her, the better the charge.
Moreover, he had learned one more crucial fact. That was— “When we make physical contact, it undergoes fast-charging.”
What Horang had newly discovered was none other than “fast-charging.” Just like fast-charging a cellphone battery, there was a way to fast-charge his artificial heart battery. And that was— “Physical touch.”
The gaze of Horang, whispering those words lowly, gleamed fiercely in the moonlight.
A few days later. Having finished various checkups and returned to the hospital room, Horang caught sight of Bobae and shouted in shock, “What do you think you’re doing right now?”
Dressed neatly in regular clothes, Bobae replied with an indifferent expression. “Can’t you tell? I’m getting ready for discharge.” “What do you mean, discharge? Why are you being discharged?” “I passed gas, the doctor said it’s fine for me to leave, and I need to get back out there and make some money.” “No, that’s not what I’m asking! Why are you being discharged without even discussing it with me?”
At Horang’s words, Bobae, who had been packing her things, let out an absurd scoff and turned her body toward him. “Listen here, Mr. Baek Horang.”
The look in Bobae’s eyes as she gazed at Horang was cold. It was a gaze entirely devoid of any warmth or emotion directed toward him. “Why on earth should I discuss my discharge with Mr. Baek Horang?” “What?” “What is Mr. Baek Horang to me? We’re total strangers. Mr. Baek Horang, what kind of relationship do we even have?”
Confronted by her aggressive questions, Horang was left speechless. Because every single thing she said was true: her calling them strangers, and her saying they had no relationship—it was all correct. “The one who rejected my proposal was Mr. Baek Horang. Not me.”
That, too, was entirely Bobae’s point. Either way, she had tried to help Horang, and in exchange, she had simply proposed a single condition. And it was Horang who had rejected her proposal.
That meant Bobae had neither the obligation nor the responsibility to charge Horang’s artificial heart battery. “So what else am I supposed to do?” “…” “Our negotiation fell through, and I’m simply returning to my own life.”
For the first time, Horang felt a strange unfamiliarity from Bobae as she calmly laid out logical facts one by one. They hadn’t known each other long, and he didn’t really know much about her, but she felt distinctly different from before. How should he put it—she gave off a vibe that made her hard to approach.
As Horang stood there looking utterly desolate, Bobae handed him a slip of paper. “This is my cell phone number.”
Even so, human lives were on the line; she couldn’t just blindly pretend she didn’t care. She didn’t need to enthusiastically baby-sit Horang, but if he came looking for her out of a desperate need to survive, she didn’t intend to block that, either. “You know the cafe where I used to work, right?”
Horang, who had always held his chin up high like a haughty cat, drooped his eyes downward like a dejected puppy and nodded. “I work there in the afternoons. If you need a charge, come to the cafe and take care of it yourself.”
That was the absolute best Bobae could do. Since the negotiations had fallen through, there was no need for her to meddle, chase after him, and provide him with charges out of the blue. “Take good care of your health, then.”
Leaving that brief farewell behind, Bobae walked out of the hospital room. It had all happened in the blink of an eye. He hadn’t known at all that she was being discharged today, and for her to leave so abruptly— “She’s really walking away without even looking back.”
The moment Bobae completely vanished from sight, all the strength drained out of Horang, and he slumped heavily onto the sofa.
He had enough battery left to scrape by for today, but tomorrow was going to be an immediate problem. “Should I have just told her I’d do it?”
A stupid contract relationship—what was so difficult about it…? Everyone in dramas and novels did contract relationships all the time.
Regretting it a moment later, Horang hurriedly shook his head. There were already enough people eyeing him suspiciously as it was; there was no need to unnecessarily complicate things. As quietly and stealthily as possible, he just needed to wait for the day of his re-operation.
Horang unfolded the slip of paper he had been clutching tightly in his hand. On the paper, eleven digits starting with 010 were scribbled fluidly. “The number’s easy, at least.”
He’d better just memorize it. It would spell disaster if he ever lost the phone. So he’d just commit the whole thing straight to memory.
