Chapter 10
With both hands shoved deep into the pockets of her thick varsity jacket, Byeol walked through the cold night.
She had no choice if she wanted to drink beer.
That jerk knows I don’t have a car. He could’ve at least picked me up!
There were barely any taxis around, and few drivers were willing to come for a fare that was only one kilometer away.
No—asking them to would just be a nuisance.
By the time she reached the hill leading to the Parapara Hotel, she spotted Tae-kyung’s car parked at the entrance and hurried her pace.
Using the small flashlight in her hand, she climbed the stairs.
For some reason, a chill ran down her spine tonight.
Feels like something’s going to jump out…
Trying to overcome the fear, she deliberately stomped her feet harder, and her footsteps echoed loudly through the abandoned building.
When she reached the third floor, she found Moon Tae-kyung fiddling with a machine about the size of a shoebox.
Wearing earbuds and completely absorbed in what he was doing, he grinned and pressed a button.
A bright image suddenly appeared on the empty wall.
He had brought a projector.
As he opened his laptop and searched for a file, Byeol shined her flashlight toward him.
Shielding his eyes with one hand, Tae-kyung finally looked up and smiled.
“You made it.”
He looked healthier than the last time she’d seen him.
Apparently, his agency had been making him work out ten hours a day for an image transformation.
Hmm… his body’s gotten impressive.
The moment Byeol appeared, the cats that had been hiding in the distance came running over and circled around her.
She pulled four bags of cat food from her pocket and fed them.
“If you’re buying drinks, couldn’t you at least buy something expensive? Why is it always beer?”
As she grumbled her way over, Tae-kyung handed her a sheet of paper.
“Expensive drinks next time. If anyone finds out I came all the way to Samcheok, I’m dead. Anyway… what’s this? Did you borrow money from loan sharks?”
“What are you talking about? Loan sharks?”
Byeol unfolded the paper he’d given her.
As the folded page opened, the ridiculous words almost seemed to float before her eyes.
She could practically hear the letter’s author reading it aloud in her head.
It began with:
And ended with:
Since I have wasted three out of the past five months searching for you, calculated as four hours per day at 400,000 won per day (31 days × 3 months), I hereby demand compensation for damages. Defendant Lee Byeol must compensate not only for my emotional distress but also explain why she lured me with pleasant lies and trampled upon my sincere feelings.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Seeing Seo Woo-hyun’s signature at the bottom, Byeol crumpled the paper into a ball.
Meanwhile, Tae-kyung had started a movie.
Noticing Byeol trembling with rage, he casually rested a hand on the back of her head.
As if by habit, she leaned lightly into his touch before unleashing a string of curses that couldn’t possibly be repeated aloud.
“Ahhh! @#$%&*#!@#!!”
“So… you really did borrow from loan sharks.”
“I said I didn’t!”
“Then what is it? It’s obviously not a love letter. Don’t tell me you mortgaged your house?”
“It’s not even my house! It’s my parents’!”
Still looking unconvinced, Tae-kyung clicked his tongue and took two beers from the cooler.
“Here. Drink. Your life’s always one disaster after another.”
“Ugh, this is so irritating! What’s wrong with this guy?”
“You know him?”
“If I didn’t, would I be this mad? Try improving your reading comprehension instead of memorizing scripts all day.”
“Ouch. Right in the heart.”
As if he’d prepared everything beforehand, Tae-kyung set out a bag of crispy sweet-and-spicy fried chicken and pulled up a chair.
He picked up the remote.
“Movie and beer with fried chicken. Nothing beats that.”
“If you’re going to do this, just go camping. You’d probably be good at it.”
“I’ve tried. The problem is there’s nobody to go with. You’re really never coming back to Seoul? Aren’t you getting bored here by now?”
“No.”
“Oh, come on. I’ve got every piece of camping gear imaginable. Let’s go camping together. This projector’s part of the setup too.”
He proudly pointed at the projector.
“Moon Tae-kyung. Please… make some friends. Stop dragging your big sister out every time you’re lonely. I’m a very busy person.”
He laughed.
“That’s rich. Says the unemployed woman.”
“Hey, ask my mom. I boosted today’s sales for her restaurant too.”
“My mom borrowed allowance money from me two weeks ago. I even bought her a brand-new car. I keep telling her to stop working, but she won’t listen.”
“She says she’d rather stay active than sit around at home. What’s wrong with that? Besides, my mom envies your mother the most. She always says your mom gets to do what she loves without worrying about her kids.”
“Then why don’t you stop making your own mother worry?”
“Wow… you’re getting more obnoxious every year.”
Their friendship had begun in kindergarten.
Elementary school.
Middle school.
High school.
Even university.
Just because they attended the same schools didn’t mean they shared the same dream.
Tae-kyung had always been handsome.
Ever since childhood, he’d dreamed of becoming an actor, and during high school he’d joined an entertainment agency as a trainee.
All that hard work had paid off.
Now, people said you couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing Moon Tae-kyung.
He was also the main reason Byeol had developed a dislike for perfect overachievers.
Nicknamed “the CEO’s favorite,” he remained her oldest friend, classmate, and the only one she’d kept in touch with all these years.
Different genders.
Yet strangely compatible.
“Sometimes… I wish you were a woman.”
As she cracked open a beer and sat on the sofa, she muttered the words absentmindedly.
Tae-kyung frowned while spearing a piece of fried chicken with his fork.
“What would you even do if I were?”
“So we could go to bathhouses together. Visit saunas. Scrub each other’s backs.”
“You could do that with your mom.”
“My mom? She hates public baths. She won’t even touch water other people have soaked in. That’s why she never goes swimming either. She only went sometimes when Grandma was still alive… I just want to sit somewhere really hot and sweat everything out.”
Rather than answering, Tae-kyung simply smiled and settled comfortably onto the sofa.
He’d recently finished filming a historical drama, so his hair had grown considerably.
He even looked a little tanner.
Glancing at him, Byeol relaxed into the sofa and smoothed out the crumpled paper she’d crushed earlier.
If this letter had been left here…
It meant Seo Woo-hyun had returned after they’d parted ways.
The reality that she’d soon have to leave this hideout finally began to sink in.
Taking a sip of beer, she asked,
“So what brings you here? Why’d you come without your manager? You usually only show up when you’re feeling depressed.”
“I got the role.”
His face brightened.
“I wanted to celebrate. You’re the first person I’m telling. You know that hugely popular web novel everyone’s been talking about? They’re making it into a drama… and I got the lead role.”
He spoke excitedly—
Then suddenly froze.
He’d forgotten that Byeol had cut herself off from all media.
“It’s okay. Bring the VOD over later. Dramas are best binge-watched anyway. Congratulations. It must’ve been the role you really wanted?”
“The competition was insane. The male lead is an amazing character.”
“And… you actually got it?”
Apparently offended by the question, Tae-kyung glared at her and lightly kicked her foot.
“Hey. I’m the BTS of the drama industry. First choice for casting. Didn’t you know?”
“How would I know? I don’t keep up with that stuff. But people are funny. Do they know what you’re really like?”
“Are you crazy? If people found out, it’d be a disaster. Even you couldn’t handle it. Imagine everyone finding out you’re Moon Tae-kyung’s girlfriend. Social media would explode.”
“Ugh. Absolutely not.”
She grimaced and stuffed two pieces of fried chicken into her mouth.
Just then…
The cats, who had been lazily playing after finishing their food, all turned toward the same direction at once.
“…What exactly are you doing in someone else’s building?”
Seo Woo-hyun’s voice echoed up the stairwell.
Low.
Cold.
It reverberated through the empty building.
Startled, Byeol shot to her feet.
“Mr. Seo Woo-hyun?”
Woo-hyun approached them with his handsome face twisted into an unmistakable scowl.
Anyone could tell he was furious.
Even Tae-kyung looked surprised.
He quickly found his cap, pulled it low over his face, and slowly stood up.
“I asked what you’re doing here. I told you to move your things out. Instead, you’ve added more.”
Woo-hyun never took his eyes off Tae-kyung.
Noticing it, Byeol instinctively stepped sideways, blocking his line of sight.
She had no idea that only made him angrier.
“I’m sorry. We were just having a beer…”
“A beer?”
Keeping one hand in his pocket, Woo-hyun stopped a few steps away.
His gaze moved across Byeol’s small face before shifting back to Tae-kyung.
“So… you’re the friend who helped move the sofa?”
Caught off guard, Tae-kyung glanced awkwardly between them and lowered his voice.
“Uh… yes. We thought this place was abandoned. Are you the owner?”
Woo-hyun completely ignored the question and spoke only to Byeol.
“I distinctly remember telling you to contact me. Didn’t you read what I left on the sofa?”
You ask him a question, then ignore him completely?
Byeol awkwardly cleared her throat while clutching the crumpled paper in her pocket.
Thankfully…
It didn’t seem like Woo-hyun had recognized Tae-kyung.
Then again, no matter how famous Moon Tae-kyung was, someone like Seo Woo-hyun probably didn’t watch television dramas.
Still…
Why did he seem so irritated?
Because she hadn’t contacted him after reading the letter?
Or because she’d been drinking here with Tae-kyung?
“Well… I did read it. It’s just… the timing…”
“Because you were drinking?”
“Um… let’s step outside first?”
Conscious of Tae-kyung’s curious stare, Byeol gently pushed Woo-hyun toward the stairs.
After taking only a few steps, however, Woo-hyun stopped and looked back.
“I have something I’d like to ask.”
“Huh? Ah… sure.”
Tilting his head slightly, he asked in complete seriousness,
“The final episode of Cheongbi Aega… Did Ah-hyung, the protagonist, really find his biological mother? It felt like an open ending. I’ve been curious ever since. Did he actually find her, or was the audience just being tricked?”
Byeol’s eyes widened.
She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about.
Tae-kyung, however, immediately understood.
His voice even carried a hint of excitement.
“He found her. Remember the close-up of the clean bandage in the final scene? He already knew the therapist was his real mother, so he deliberately pretended to be injured. The heroine had already treated his real wound beforehand.”
What…?
Why is this man nodding like that?
To her disbelief…
Woo-hyun knew exactly who Moon Tae-kyung was.
Not only that—
He was familiar with Tae-kyung’s dramas.
“So it really was a straightforward happy ending.”
Giving a small nod of thanks, Woo-hyun turned and calmly descended the stairs.
Still stunned, Byeol shook herself out of it and hurried after him.
“Wait! Mr. Seo Woo-hyun!”
His long legs carried him down much faster than she expected.
By the time she caught up with him on the first floor and stepped over the barricade, Woo-hyun had already stopped.
He turned around with a deeply dissatisfied expression.
“It feels like I’ve let guests into my house without even asking them to take off their shoes.”
Wow.
That is… an incredibly accurate description.
Suppressing the urge to applaud, Byeol walked over and pulled the crumpled letter from her pocket.
“How could you leave something like this? At least write something that makes sense. Fine, the illegal occupation part—I can understand that. But what’s all the rest? You seriously spent three months looking for me?”
Her voice was swallowed by the cold night air.
Whenever a passing car illuminated the road, Woo-hyun’s face alternated between light and shadow.
“I told you before, didn’t I? You’re a journalist. Do you know how difficult it is to track down a journalist’s personal information? I managed it. I searched for you with that single goal in mind.”
His voice came closer.
Standing only a step away now, Byeol looked straight up into his eyes.
She’d been arrogant enough to believe she’d successfully run away from every part of her past.
A few people had eventually found her—
But they were people who’d known her for years.
Not a one-night stand.
Unable to understand him, she asked,
“Why are you looking for me? Do you really expect compensation? If you were angry and felt wronged, I already apologized. I said I was sorry.”
For a brief moment, his gaze drifted toward the darkened building.
“Forget that.”
Then he looked back at her.
“Are the two of you dating?”
