Chapter 16

“Let, let go of me.”

Because of the dark-clothed men surrounding the two of them, no one else would be able to see that she was sitting on top of Kwon Ki-joo’s thigh.

But when Lee-jin began to feel something other than the muscles in Kwon Ki-joo’s thigh shifting beneath her, she felt like she was losing her mind.

What was hardening and growing in bulk beneath her hips was definitely a different piece of flesh.

“Shouldn’t you give me a little time to be moved when my lifesaver is right in front of me?”

“This isn’t the time to joke around, Boss.”

“Then what time is it? We just went right up to the edge of the Samdocheon (T/N: Samdocheon is a mythical river in East Asian Buddhist folklore that separates the world of the living from the afterlife) together and came back, so is it time for us to fall into a blazing love?”

To get away from him, since he seemed intent on not letting her go and only kept grinning, Lee-jin hit Kwon Ki-joo’s solid chest with her fist.

Ugh, as soon as he willingly accepted the pathetic provocation and loosened the arm wrapped around her waist, Lee-jin quickly got up from Kwon Ki-joo’s thigh. Then, patter, something fell from her body.

The moment she realized it was burst garbage and filth, Lee-jin made a face. What should originally have hit Kwon Ki-joo had all ended up falling on Lee-jin because she had thrown herself over him.

Lee-jin looked through the people who had stepped back toward the place where the pile of garbage had been earlier.

‘Lee Wonjae, I’m really not letting this slide.’

It was obvious to anyone that it had not been an explosion meant for killing, but more like a malicious prank, since it seemed only the surrounding trash had burst.

To Lee-jin’s tense ears, it had sounded like an atomic bomb going off, but in reality, the wreckage scattered on the road was so pathetic that it made her wonder whether she had really needed to shove Kwon Ki-joo at all.

Once again, Lee-jin’s face turned red.

Wonjae had probably lowered the level to more or less a warning, thinking of Lee-jin’s safety while she was there with him. Not knowing that, she had thrown herself over Kwon Ki-joo without a second thought, and she felt pitiful.

Maybe the reason Kwon Ki-joo had been so calm was that he had instantly understood it was nothing much. Maybe the reason he had looked at Lee-jin with startled eyes was not because of the explosion, but because he had been surprised that she had thrown herself at him in a dangerous moment.

“Song Lee-jin, are you okay?”

While she was brushing the smelly debris off her body, Manager Kang asked in a worried voice.

At the gentle nuance, something she was hearing from him for the first time, Lee-jin hurriedly nodded.

“Yes, I’m okay.”

“You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“Not yet.”

“Shouldn’t you go to the hospital?”

Kwon Ki-joo, who was still sitting on the road just as he was, cut in between the two of them as he asked. Judging by his expression, it seemed he knew better than anyone that there was no need for that.

“For someone who gets beaten up on the ring as part of daily life, this much is nothing. It’s not like I hit bare ground, either.”

“That’s true. Since the champion threw herself over me and used herself as a mattress.”

Grinning, Kwon Ki-joo finally stood up. As his large body rose and stood in front of her, Lee-jin suddenly felt dizzy.

Kwon Ki-joo’s motions as he brushed away the bits of debris that had gotten on him—though no one had really asked—looked only languid.

“Thanks to you, I’m fine too. I’m telling you so you won’t worry.”

Kwon Ki-joo spoke in an openly teasing tone, then turned his gaze and slowly looked around the surroundings once. Because of the untimely explosion, a crowd of murmuring people had gathered in front of Havana and inside the alley.

Watching all of it with a leisurely expression, Kwon Ki-joo stretched a hand behind him, and Manager Kang hurried over and placed a cigarette in it.

The moment white smoke flowed past his lips, Kwon Ki-joo’s gaze turned to where the pile of garbage had been.

Without saying anything in particular, Kwon Ki-joo simply smoked as he looked at the wreckage. As though trying to determine whether it was a simple accident, someone’s prank, or something aimed at him.

Just as Lee-jin, whose insides were needlessly burning beside him, was about to say something, Kwon Ki-joo turned his head back.

At some point, the smile that had been hanging around Kwon Ki-joo’s mouth had vanished without a trace.

“Find them.”

The moment he gave the short order in a cold voice, the crowd of black suits immediately scattered under Manager Kang’s command.

Standing beside Kwon Ki-joo as he smoked slowly, Lee-jin prayed the whole time that both Wonjae and Han-gyeong would be safe.

“I don’t suppose you’re in the mood to go eat dinner anymore?”

If she stayed still, she felt like she might unconsciously start glancing around for Wonjae, so she kept her head lowered and busily brushed only the filth stuck to her clothes when Kwon Ki-joo asked her that.

Maybe some food waste had been mixed in, because it seemed like a sour smell was coming from her hair.

“Yes. Dinner, next time…….”

“That said, I can’t exactly just send away the person who saved my life like this.”

Kwon Ki-joo exhaled the last of his smoke and flicked the finished cigarette to the ground as he spoke.

The way Kwon Ki-joo looked her over without smiling was rather frightening. He always wore an expression as if he knew everything.

Tense, Lee-jin swallowed dryly and hurried to pile up excuses so she could escape.

“I look like this right now, so let’s just go home today and have dinner some other time, Boss. And I am absolutely, absolutely not some lifesaver, so please don’t think that. From the looks of it, some old trash must have rotted and burst, and I overreacted.”

“Rotted trash……. Well, I suppose that could be the case. Still, the fact that in that moment you thought to save me is pretty moving, and it wouldn’t do to just let this pass.”

No, let’s just let it pass, please.

Before she could even swallow back those words rising up to her throat, Kwon Ki-joo’s gaze swept over Lee-jin’s filthy state.

Lee-jin was feeling bleak, wondering just how ridiculous she must look with the bruises on her face not yet faded, when Kwon Ki-joo, after watching her for a while, continued again in a calm voice.

“Shall we move somewhere else first?”

* * *

Standing beneath the shower as warm water poured down and washing her hair, Lee-jin tried to sort through everything that had happened to her this evening. Including Wonjae, who had gone ahead with things without discussing it with her and without telling her anything.

All sorts of thoughts crossed her mind, including whether Sang-pil had started to suspect her and was no longer sharing the plan with her.

Even while leaving with Kwon Ki-joo, Lee-jin did not dare try to look for Wonjae. She did not know how Kwon Ki-joo, who was giving this and that instruction beside her, would take her darting glances around.

[For now, it’d be better for you to wash up a little, right?]

The place they arrived at in Kwon Ki-joo’s car, far too expensive for someone dressed in filthy clothes to even ride in without feeling undeserving, was a hotel not very far from Havana Club.

Until Manager Kang, who had arrived first, held out the room key, Lee-jin had to face the appalled looks of people passing through the lobby.

She felt she could tell her condition was quite bad even without looking in a mirror.

[Even covered in trash, you’re still pretty, so don’t worry.]

At some point Kwon Ki-joo had relaxed his cold expression, and he joked as he took off the suit jacket he had been wearing and draped it over Lee-jin’s shoulders. Instead of any foul smell, a faint fragrance came from the jacket hanging loosely around her. Somehow, the unfamiliar cologne made her think of Kwon Ki-joo.

Besides herself and Kwon Ki-joo, four more people, including Manager Kang, rode in the elevator going up to the top floor.

Except for Manager Kang, who kept irritably pushing up his glasses, they were all hulking thugs, and riding together with them, Lee-jin suddenly began to worry whether following Kwon Ki-joo had really been the right decision.

What in the world had she been trusting to come all the way here so readily without putting up even a single protest?

[Use the bathroom in the bedroom. Manager Kang asked the concierge to prepare a change of clothes, so they’ll bring them up soon.]

As soon as they entered the suite, Kwon Ki-joo said this while pointing at the bedroom door. After confirming that only Manager Kang had followed them inside and the rest of the large men had been left standing outside the door, Lee-jin obediently nodded.

When Kwon Ki-joo, who had been saying something to Manager Kang in a low voice, began undoing the buttons of his dress shirt, Lee-jin quickly went into the bedroom.

Her reflection in the warm bathroom mirror was not so much the worst as it was just……. shabby.

It occurred to her that the people passing through the lobby had stared at her not simply because she was dirty, but because it was strange to see someone standing in the middle of a hotel lobby looking so noticeably pitiful.