Chapter 1 – The Shameless (Part 5)

“Miss.”

The chauffeur, who opened the backseat door, called out to Soo-yeon, who was huddled and quietly crying. Soo-yeon wiped her wet face with her palm and got out of the open car.

She walked into the hotel restaurant, dressed in a velvet dress, as directed by the chauffeur. She was simply returning to her place. However, even though she was walking on two feet, it felt like she was walking a tightrope. It seemed like if someone just gave her a little push, she would fall over and have an excuse to cry her heart out.

“This way. Have a good time.”

Following the staff, she was led to a private room inside. And inside, a familiar man was sitting. The moment she saw Hee-tae with his mischievous smile, she heard the sound of her precariously maintained heart wavering. It was him again. Seeing Soo-yeon silently crumble, Hee-tae spoke.

“You look like you’re sick of seeing my shitty face again.”

“…….”

“Were you expecting an old geezer and got surprised by a young and fresh guy? I found out that you are four years older than me.”

Soo-yeon hadn’t checked who she was going to meet on the blind date. She wasn’t interested and thought the result would be the same no matter who showed up. However, she was sure that Hee-tae wasn’t the original person supposed to come to the blind date. Instead of running away, Soo-yeon walked inside. Hearing the staff close the door with a snap, she sat down in front of him. Hee-tae took out a business card from inside his jacket and placed it on the table.

“I should have introduced myself before saying I was turned on. You always talk about money when you see me, so we never had a proper introduction.”

“I don’t need it.”

“Take it when it’s given. You should at least know who I am so you can sue me if things go south.”

Soo-yeon looked down at the business card Hee-tae offered with indifferent eyes. On the black background card, the golden letters read [ML Capital Jang Hee-tae, Executive Director]. The title and company were likely just a front, and he could be doing who knows what in reality. However, it was clear that he had enough influence and position that President Chae, who valued profit, would permit him. But to Soo-yeon, he was nothing more than a loan shark who had been attached to her ex-boyfriend. She pushed the business card back toward Hee-tae and said,

“I’m no longer involved with Lee Min-jun.”

“Oh, you broke up?”

“I don’t think there’s any reason to report such things to you.”

“Why not? I should at least know if the woman I’m on a blind date with is seeing someone else behind my back. We might get married, you know, darling.”

Instead of responding, Soo-yeon just stared at Hee-tae. He seemed, at a glance, like someone who had nothing to do with marriage—just a frivolous type. Even coming to this blind date was probably just another one of his countless amus*ments. This kind of person was someone Soo-yeon would never encounter in her life. It was purely because of Min-jun that she had come face to face with someone like Hee-tae, so she spoke to him as if cutting him off.

“We broke up, so don’t come looking for me anymore.”

“Tell me why you broke up. After feeding and supporting a broke and dumb guy, why did you dump him?”

“Why….”

Soo-yeon opened her mouth to answer but choked up. Her overwhelmed emotions made it hard to get the words out. She couldn’t say the simple words of asking why he was questioning her like this, and what she had done wrong to deserve it.

It wasn’t as if Soo-yeon had done something wrong to maintain such a relationship. She had fallen for a man who had fallen apart, and she had done her best for him, only to end up like this. It wasn’t that she had abandoned him. She had been abandoned after all her efforts. She had been abandoned for the sin of not letting go, even though she knew the relationship was destroying her.

“Do you think I’m a joke?”

The sharp words that she couldn’t say to Min-jun burst out of Soo-yeon’s mouth. The thought of how stupid she must look to Hee-tae, a third party, for being dumped after such dedication made her sick. She had coldly rejected Hee-tae’s advances, only for her devoted boyfriend to betray her. She couldn’t bring herself to say that she had broken up because she couldn’t continue seeing a man who had cheated on her. That was the one thing her remaining pride wouldn’t allow. Hee-tae leaned towards her with a relaxed expression and replied,

“If I thought you were a joke, I wouldn’t bother coming to this blind date. Isn’t my effort admirable?”

He had never put this much effort into getting someone into bed. He had seen countless bodies beneath clothes and had a rough idea of the limits of the sweetness that could be obtained through s*x. Yet, he had come to this place, pushing aside another man, just to see her tiny face contort. Lately, Soo-yeon’s existence had been as entertaining as s*x for him. Soo-yeon looked at him coldly and asked,

“Are you that desperatet?”

“Oh, you’ve got a talent for making vulgar words sound elegant.”

Hee-tae burst into hearty laughter at Soo-yeon’s words. But Soo-yeon did not find it funny. Her emotions were precariously held in check, threatening to overflow. If he prodded her just a bit more, she felt she might either cry or explode in anger. She couldn’t define this surging emotion as either anger or sadness. Hee-tae answered nonchalantly.

“If you had given me your number back then, I wouldn’t be this desperate. You’re the one making me keep chasing after you, Chae Soo-yeon.”

Hee-tae didn’t tire of the cat-and-mouse game with Soo-yeon. Bringing someone to the brink and stripping them of their soul was what he did best. He felt it was worth it to come to such a bothersome place because watching Soo-yeon glare at him with eyes that looked ready to burst was incredibly arousing. Even if she hadn’t broken up with that foolish man, his morals wouldn’t have stopped him from having s*x with her. But seeing her look at him with a wounded face after their breakup made his heart race. Hee-tae added a leisurely, vulgar comment.

“If you glare at me like that, I get hard.”

Soo-yeon exhaled sharply and turned her head away. It had been almost a year since she last had s*x with Min-jun. He always said he couldn’t get it up in front of her because he felt so inadequate. But the last thing she saw before they broke up was another woman’s shoes in Min-jun’s doorway. She couldn’t understand why she had waited for a man who claimed he couldn’t get it up in front of her but had cheated on her with another woman.

“If I sleep with you…”

Soo-yeon turned back to Hee-tae and began. The fruit of the love she had nurtured with all her heart had rotted inside. She realized that no matter how much she tried to maintain a relationship against everyone’s opposition, it wasn’t something she could do alone. There were things in the world that effort alone couldn’t overcome.

Realizing this filled her with a sense of futility and exhaustion. If the last thing she had seen before the breakup hadn’t been another woman’s shoes, she might not have said this to Hee-tae.

“…Will you leave me alone?”

Hee-tae had seen many people who cried their eyes out after breaking up, only to return to their miserable state. Whatever had happened with that foolish man, Soo-yeon’s elegant face looked more haggard than before. Now she was telling him to take what he wanted and leave. This was an opportunity. A despicable and dirty opportunity to exploit the cracks in a love that even poverty couldn’t break. Standing before the moment he had been waiting for, Hee-tae smirked and replied,

“If you let me have enough, I’ll leave you alone.”