TCDBL 03

Chapter : 03

For a moment, silence descended over the entire café as if it had sunk beneath the water.

Cough, cough.

The cough of the flustered friend broke the silence. Apparently, the bombshell statement he had thrown out had been loud enough for him to hear.

“……!”

Oh no. What do I do?

Faced with such a brazen and blatant demand, Yoon Seol froze on the spot.

But unlike the elegantly curved line of the man’s lips, his sharply slanted eyes held not the slightest trace of a smile.

He was serious. This was no joke.

Wait. He was a virgin?

“Vir… virgin? Th-then, that means……”

That night was his first time? Really?

She couldn’t believe it. Do-geon had been far too skilled and natural.

After doing all sorts of things to me like a beast and practically devouring me down to my bones, he was… Ah. No way.

And, and it was my first time too, but I’m not asking him to take responsibility for it…!

Reading the doubt and confusion in her eyes, Do-geon let out a hollow laugh.

“Yeah. My virginity. My first night. Do you want to keep making me bring it up embarrassingly?”

The man grinned, his expression not the least bit embarrassed.

“……”

“Your answer.”

“Would you rather just sue me…?”

That seemed to be the only way to escape this ridiculous proposal.

Although she had briefly imagined continuing her relationship with Do-geon, now that he was actually making such a demand, she felt completely at a loss.

If he had made this proposal the day after they spent the night together, perhaps… she might have accepted.

She had kept discovering unexpected sides of the man she had thought was nothing but frightening, and little by little, she had been opening her heart to him.

But now was not the time to become immersed in such soft, sentimental feelings.

There was something far more difficult and important that she absolutely had to accomplish.

She was at a point where even if she threw every last bit of her pitiful self into it, it still wouldn’t be enough.

“Tell me to sue you.”

Do-geon’s eyes narrowed as he repeated her words.

“Yes. I’d rather be charged with theft, and then, um—”

“What else? Aggravated rape?”

Startled, Yoon Seol shot to her feet.

“No! I mean, why, how could you…! It wasn’t ‘aggravated’…!”

“For me, the fact that you climbed on top of me was a pretty special circumstance.”

It was a horrifying way to put it. All the strength drained from Yoon Seol’s body, and she plopped back into her seat.

Meanwhile, Do-geon calmly adjusted his crossed legs and folded his arms.

“Oh, and one more thing.”

What else is there?

Half resigned, Yoon Seol merely blinked quietly.

“If you’re going to put a price on it, evaluate it accurately. Whether my virginity is worth ten thousand won, or minus three hundred euros.”

Haah. This is hopeless.

Yoon Seol squeezed her eyes shut.

“Judging by how you reacted when you didn’t believe I was a virgin, I assume you were satisfied too. And give me feedback on why you rated it so poorly.”

Virginity, virginity.

She had no energy left to be flustered by his endless talk about virginity. Her flushed head drooped.

“Seol-ah. Seo Yoon Seol.”

The low voice of the man who had pushed her to the limit was surprisingly gentle.

“I warned you, didn’t I? You got properly bitten by a crazy bastard.”

Without permission, his hand reached over and lightly patted her soft cheek.

“Just accept it. You’re going to be the crazy bastard’s girlfriend.”

Having said exactly what he wanted to say, Do-geon rose to his full height. Yoon Seol’s dazed gaze followed him upward.

With the sunlight behind him, the man buttoned his suit with one hand, looking excessively immaculate.

It was hard to believe he was the same man who had been tormenting her with all that talk about virginity moments ago.

“You’ve been working hard without fooling around. I like seeing that.”

He straightened Yoon Seol’s slightly crooked nameplate and gave her a faint smile. Then he walked past her.

She thought he was going to leave the café just like that.

But Do-geon sat down at a table a short distance away.

Why isn’t he leaving? Surely nothing even more embarrassing is about to happen.

Just as an ominous feeling washed over Yoon Seol—

Jingle.

The entrance door opened, and someone Yoon Seol had seen before walked in.

“Oh, boss! Hello.”

The person whom Hye-won greeted cheerfully was the owner of the real estate agency on the same floor.

“Oh, hello, young lady! Sorry, I’ll say hello properly later! I have an urgent appointment!”

The owner came rushing in, looked around, then spotted Do-geon and hurried over to him with a delighted expression.

“Oh my! Nice to meet you. You’re the owner who contacted me, right? You said you wanted to buy this building.”

Did I hear that correctly? What is that man buying? This building…?

Gasp.

Even Yoon Seol could hear Hye-won’s incredulous reaction. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who had heard it correctly.

“You’ve made an excellent choice! This building is small but incredibly valuable. There’s a hospital, pharmacy, academies—everything! Even as someone who’s lived in this neighborhood for thirty years, I can tell you there’s nowhere hotter than this!”

The real estate agent excitedly launched into an explanation of all the details.

“Well then, shall we take a look around? I’ll point out all the investment opportunities for you!”

“No need. Just send the contract to my secretary. I don’t have time.”

Do-geon raised his left hand and checked the time.

“Pardon? Ah, yes, but you should still look around carefully to check whether there are any defects in the building and how good the location is—”

“The contract.”

Do-geon narrowed his brows as if telling him not to be a nuisance.

The real estate agent instinctively recognized the apex predator in front of him and immediately changed his attitude.

“Yes, yes! I’ll contact the seller and get everything prepared.”

Just as the agent hurriedly pulled out his phone, telling Do-geon to wait a moment—

“Let’s add a special clause for the tenants here.”

The heavy voice stopped him in his tracks.

“Ah, yes! What kind of clause would you like?”

“No need for the others. I’ll collect the monthly rent from this café myself.”

Do-geon looked directly at Yoon Seol rather than the real estate agent, as though speaking specifically to her.

“Once every two weeks, bring me half of the monthly rent in cash yourself. That’s the special condition.”

“……!”

“If you don’t like it, you can vacate the premises.”

Do-geon pointed firmly downward with his finger before leaving the café. The men accompanying him filed out after him.

“Wow. What on earth did I dream about last night? What an incredible stroke of luck!”

The real estate agent left the café with an excited spring in his step.

“……”

Left behind, Yoon Seol and Hye-won stared blankly at each other.

In the end, unable to withstand Hye-won’s relentless pressure, Yoon Seol told her everything about her connection with Do-geon.

“You met him on your trip to Italy?”

Hye-won dropped the knife she had been using to cut her waffle.

“Wow, Seo Yoon Seol has really grown up. You went traveling and had a one-night stand! And on top of that, you took the virginity of that incredible man?”

“Hey! Stop…!”

Yoon Seol looked around the empty café and put a finger to her lips.

“Shh.”

For some reason, Hye-won was having the time of her life and burst into laughter.

“So is he a Korean-American or something? He was insanely handsome.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then why did he go to Italy? A long-term business trip?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know either.”

“What does he do? You didn’t even know that earlier?”

“Yeah……”

Everyone called him “Executive Director,” so Yoon Seol assumed he was an executive somewhere, but she didn’t know exactly what company he worked for.

Hye-won tilted her head, then hit the nail right on the head.

“But that guy has such a dangerous, sexy vibe. And the people he has around him are like that too. Could he be involved in the underworld?”

“No way.”

“Why not? Italy has organized crime just like Korea. You know, the Mafia and all that.”

Yoon Seol, feeling a little startled, quietly chewed her waffle. In truth, she had been wondering something similar about his identity.

Thinking about her first encounter with him by that nameless lake in Italy, where he had been so terrifying and brutal…

It was certainly possible.

Of course, she couldn’t tell Hye-won that.

“So the mafia executive director suddenly became the ‘lord’ of our building. We absolutely have to stay on his good side.”

Hye-won shook her head, saying she had never seen anyone buy a commercial building the way someone might walk into a café and order a cup of coffee.

“Still, I’m not worried. Yoon Seol will do well, right? The future of our café depends on you!”

“Huh?”

“The landlord is clearly totally into you. You need to repay him for the favor of letting my café serve as his office.”

Yoon Seol waved her hands in disgust.

“Into me? It’s not like that!”

“Yeah, it is. Totally. My gut says so. When he told you to be his girlfriend, his eyes were already half-crazy.”

“That’s only because he’s annoyed that I stole three hundred euros from him.”

“Please. To someone who casually buys buildings on the spot, isn’t three hundred euros basically three won?”

Hye-won seriously advised her that he was probably just using that as an excuse to keep following her around.

“Give it a try. I approve.”

“What am I supposed to try? Stop it.”

“A woman is happiest when she dates a man who’s quietly obsessed with her like that. Hey, compared to the dead fish eyes of that piece-of-shit Lee Jung-woo, this is on a completely different level.”

Lee Jung-woo.

At the name of the bastard who had once promised to marry her, Yoon Seol’s heart jolted.

She had gone all the way to Italy to completely shake off the man who had abandoned her so miserably, and there she had even become deeply entangled with Han Do-geon.

Yet she hated herself for still reacting to nothing more than that bastard’s name.

“I’m so sleepy. I’m going to rest for a bit.”

“What? Even after drinking a venti coffee? Want some more?”

Yoon Seol declined, saying she was fine, then returned to the cozy seat in the corner and lay her head down on the table.

If only everything would turn out to have been a dream when I wake up.

She clung to that futile hope as she closed her eyes.

A quiet residential neighborhood in Hannam-dong.

Do-geon stepped out of the black sedan parked in front of the gate.

As he fastened his suit jacket, he looked at the tall detached house.

“……”

The mansion, resembling a fortress surrounded by thick walls, belonged to his grandfather.

It was a place that always left a bad taste in his mouth whenever he came here, but today was a gathering where he had to show his face.

He was already exhausted. Leaning against the absurdly high wall, he put a cigarette between his lips.

Whoosh.

Just as he was letting his thoughts drift away with the white smoke—

“Do-geon oppa!”

A yellow sports car pulled up, and a young woman dressed flamboyantly in a yellow two-piece outfit jumped out.

It was his younger relative, Han A-young.

Someone who supposedly sells clothes, yet has such terrible taste.

Worrying about the future of Hyunsin Apparel, which she would inherit, he took a deep drag from his cigarette.

“Long time no see! You alive? Oh, right. Say hello. This is my boyfriend.”

Han A-young got out of the passenger seat and proudly looked at the man who came to stand beside her.

Then she linked her arm through his, pressing his arm firmly against her cleavage.

“Nice to meet you! My name is Lee Jung-woo. I’m a lawyer, and I work for the holding company.”

Do-geon glanced down at the man who introduced himself as a member of the holding company’s legal department.