Chapter 19

Not even knowing what she was saying herself, Lee-jin nearly rambled incoherently. She did not even dare look at Kwon Ki-joo, lowering her head to hide her feelings.

It was so embarrassing to spell out in such detail that something which meant nothing to him was, to her, the event of a lifetime. Since Kwon Ki-joo did not answer, it felt as if her heart was shrinking even more.

“I knew you were innocent, but I didn’t think it was to this extent?”

When Kwon Ki-joo finally said that, Lee-jin slowly lifted her gaze and looked at him. And, just as expected, she was startled again.

She had thought he would be annoyed, but unlike his mocking tone, Kwon Ki-joo was smiling. With eyes that looked thoroughly amused.

“If I’d known it would be like this, maybe I should’ve stripped everything off and rushed at you. I’m actually pretty confident about my body, you know.”

“No, that’s not……”

“It’s a shame, but well, if feelings matter that much to you, then I suppose I should back off here.”

“……”

“If you go around following men so carelessly, this is the kind of situation you’ll end up in, Song Lee-jin. So don’t just go following anyone who asks. There aren’t many men in South Korea as gentle as I am.”

As he said that, Kwon Ki-joo lightly flicked Lee-jin on the forehead.

“Ow.” 

While Lee-jin raised a hand and rubbed her forehead, Kwon Ki-joo went back and sat down on the sofa. Then he asked Lee-jin, who was still dazed,

“By the way, shouldn’t we eat something? Since samgyeopsal is out of the question now, should I just order room service?”

Looking at Kwon Ki-joo, who was so utterly calm as if what had just happened was nothing at all to him, Lee-jin had no idea what sort of expression she was supposed to make.

Were those eyes that had looked as if they might pounce on her at any moment all fake? Had he just been teasing her?

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Leaning loosely back against the sofa, Kwon Ki-joo asked again as Lee-jin still stood there. Looking at him now that he had returned to his usual expression, Lee-jin thought that, at the very least, Kwon Ki-joo had not been planning to toy with her lightly for a single night.

She had no basis for it. She simply felt certain.

“Um, I’m not really hungry. If there’s something you want to eat, Boss, then go ahead and order.”

“Not really, me neither. In an hour, I’ll have to drink heavily.”

At Kwon Ki-joo’s words, Lee-jin forced her unsteady legs to move and sat down on the sofa across from him. Her eyes, looking at Kwon Ki-joo, could not quite face him head-on and kept drifting around for no reason.

“That staff member said the laundry would be done in about an hour, so once I get my clothes back, I’ll be on my way too.”

“Is there really any need for that? Stay and relax. The hotel has a sauna, and there’s also a fitness center and a swimming pool. Then if you get hungry later, you can even order dinner through room service.”

“No. I don’t think there’s really any need for that.”

“Why, are you scared I’ll get drunk and come back here again?”

It seemed Kwon Ki-joo had no intention of making a plaything out of her, but also no intention of missing a chance to tease her.

If that was the case, Lee-jin figured there was no need to keep playing along timidly, so as if she had never been flustered at all, she fixed her hesitant gaze back on Kwon Ki-joo.

“As if. I’m not your type anyway, Boss.”

“My type?”

“You like glamorous women, Boss.”

“Ah, glamorous.”

As if pronouncing a word that suddenly felt unfamiliar, Kwon Ki-joo rolled it around in his throat, his gaze slowly trailing downward from Lee-jin’s face in a teasing manner. Then it stopped exactly at her chest.

Lee-jin slowly drew her shoulders inward as if taking in a breath. The lips of Kwon Ki-joo, letting out a short laugh, somehow looked oddly suggestive.

“You should remember more than just that. Sometimes I also like women who smell like soap……”

“Don’t go changing your taste so carelessly.”

When Lee-jin cut him off without even realizing it, Kwon Ki-joo burst out laughing.

A stalker who chased after him because of his face, yet still respected her favorite’s type. Even she had to admit that her position was a little ridiculous.

Even so, Lee-jin thought once again that she had to be careful inside a sealed hotel room. She had no way of knowing when Kwon Ki-joo might pull her into his arms again and seat her on his thigh.

Lee-jin simply could not forget the sensation of Kwon Ki-joo’s firm thigh muscles tensing, while something foreign and fleshy swelled along with them.

“Well, I’ll decide my own type for myself, and……”

As if he had no intention of joking any further, Kwon Ki-joo leaned the body that had been reclining all the way back forward.

Whenever he leaned toward her, Lee-jin always had the illusion that something like a massive wave was crashing down over her.

“If you don’t plan on eating, then shall we settle our account now?”

“O-our…… account?”

“I was wondering how much my life is worth. No matter what amount you ask for, I don’t think I would be unable to give it to the person who saved my life.”

At Kwon Ki-joo’s sudden words, Lee-jin instantly came to her senses.

Unlike the casually speaking corners of his mouth, the gaze directed at her was strangely persistent and clear. So much so that she thought perhaps Kwon Ki-joo might be sounding her out right now.

Her throat went dry at the thought that maybe, while she had been showering, he had found out about Wonjae. Since Manager Kang had mentioned securing the CCTV footage earlier, perhaps by now he had even learned that Wonjae and she had grown up together since childhood.

“Tell me the amount you want.”

Perhaps he thought Lee-jin’s silence meant hesitation, because Kwon Ki-joo asked again in a somewhat softer voice.

“Would you be satisfied with about the amount I lost at Roxana?”

“……”

“You can ask for more if you want. Thanks to you, I got my life saved without even injuring a fingertip……”

“No!”

Lee-jin hurriedly cut him off. She did not want to hear that talk about saving his life anymore.

Kwon Ki-joo knew it, and she knew it too: it had not been a massive explosion large enough to take someone’s life. She had no idea what sort of words he wanted to hear from her, but there was no way she could stay unharmed after taking a gangster’s money.

“I told you earlier, please stop with this life-saver talk. I overreacted, that’s all. Even if it hadn’t been me, Boss, you wouldn’t have been hurt at all.”

“You don’t know that. If you hadn’t pushed me at that moment, maybe some fragment might have flown at me and taken my sight.”

Kwon Ki-joo’s gaze, his words trailing off in a strange way, stared into Lee-jin’s face as if searching her. Wetting her dry lips, Lee-jin hurriedly continued.

“If you really insist, then let’s just call it even with me receiving this dress. I really, really like this outfit.”

“Just that?”

“It’s expensive.”

She had not checked the label, but since Kwon Ki-joo was someone who thought nothing of 200 million won, she did not think he would have handed her some cheap dress. Even if it had been Manager Kang’s choice.

“My life being worth no more than the price of a single dress is a little disappointing.”

But Kwon Ki-joo gave an unexpected reply, as if he had no intention of backing down just like this.

No, why are you being like this when I’m trying to let you off cheaply.

“It’s not that you are only worth that much, Boss, it’s that my action was only worth that much. So what I mean is……”

She had no idea why she was the one trying to persuade him. Lee-jin kept turning it over in her head, wondering what she could possibly say to make Kwon Ki-joo stop talking nonsense.

“If you think that amount is too little, then just offset it against the amount you lost at Roxana because of me.”

“Offset?”

“You said you lost 200 million won in less than seven minutes. You asked if that much would be enough, so let’s go with that.”

“I’ll recover that on my own. And that’s not money I lost because of you either. So tell me something else.”

Just as she was about to ask why he was being so persistent, Wonjae’s words flashed through Lee-jin’s mind once again.

[If you have to throw your body into it anyway, wouldn’t it still be better to be a savior than a wh*re? It’d also be easier to make use of that.]

Sang-pil’s unrelenting pressure, the title of life-saver that Wonjae had created for her, and Kwon Ki-joo right in front of her saying he would give her whatever she wanted.