Chapter 23

But because of just one young woman, Song Lee-jin, who said she wanted to help because it pained her to see him bleeding profusely like that himself, Kwon Ki-joo was now doing things he normally never did, over and over again.

By the time he thought that he had known this would happen from the moment she had, as if it occurred to her only now and then, asked him to find out how she was living, it also felt like it was already too late.

“Rather, just keep her around for a while, have your fun, and throw her away.”

“Why are you trying to turn me into trash? Manager Kang, you know well enough that I’m not that kind of person.”

“I’m saying this because there’ll be nothing good from keeping her by your side.”

“You’re nagging too much.”

“That’s because……”

Manager Kang’s words cut off abruptly there. It was because he had seen Ki-joo’s face, which had already gone cold and expressionless.

Manager Kang knew better than anyone that this was the point at which he had to back off, but even until the moment he turned his body and faced forward, he did not forget to mutter to himself.

“I’m telling you, you’re really going to regret this.”

Manager Kang’s muttering, like a middle-aged man drenched in the rain, brushed past his ears.

Ki-joo, like someone whose heart had been stolen by the scenery outside the window, merely let his gaze rest quietly on the things passing by. Other than his body being somewhat tired from moving around according to a packed schedule, his condition was fairly good.

[I like you, Boss, but f-for my first time, I want it to be with someone I’m dating. With someone who likes me.]

He suddenly thought of Lee-jin, who had been trembling all over and yet still managed to say everything she wanted to say in the end. She looked to anyone like someone with no experience with men whatsoever, and somehow even the way she thought was exactly like that.

His plan to deal with her moderately and then remove her from in front of his eyes had also been blocked by her sudden talk about being a bodyguard.

[It’s a better way to see you for longer, Boss, than spending one night here and being thrown out.]

Even though he knew full well it was only an excuse, for a moment his heart had still wavered at those words. Because he was curious what it would be like to be able to see her longer. It was certainly something he did not usually do, so it was understandable that Manager Kang would worry.

Even so, Ki-joo thought lightly, Well, something like this is no big deal. He had lived busily all this time, so he thought it might not be so bad to keep one amusing distraction by his side.

So, thinking that Song Lee-jin was no more than a temporary source of amusement to him, Ki-joo closed his eyes. What he had to think about was not just one girl with wide-open eyes staring at him.

* * *

“Not bad?”

Kwon Ki-joo, who had been looking her up and down from head to toe in a swaggering posture, said with a smile. As if Lee-jin, clad entirely in black from the shirt and jacket to the pants she had bought online, was cute.

Ki-joo, whom she was seeing for the first time in several days, had slightly red eyes, as if he was tired.

“I’m used to only seeing your hair down, so seeing it tied up that high feels new. How should I put it, you look strong? Like I can entrust my life to you.”

“Thank you.”

It was obvious he was teasing her, but Lee-jin answered obediently. It was extremely uncomfortable because there were far too many eyes watching her besides Kwon Ki-joo’s.

All of them were looking at her as if to say ‘no, why, why is that here, what on earth is she going to do.’

“Come to think of it, have you all introduced yourselves to each other? This one is the dedicated bodyguard who’ll be responsible for me starting today.”

And even though he obviously was not unaware of those looks, Kwon Ki-joo calmly added fuel to the fire with an unbothered face.

“Yes, we’ve already greeted each other.”

“Everyone, take good care of my new bodyguard. If you people ostracize her and she ends up holding a grudge, then my life will be as good as over that very day, so conduct yourselves properly.”

Saying even things he had no need to say, Kwon Ki-joo showed Lee-jin a bright smile. Completely unaware of her thoughts that if he kept embarrassing her like this, maybe it would be better to just punch him cleanly once and quit.

This morning, Lee-jin had gone to work for the first time.

Manager Kang, who surely must have already known Lee-jin’s cellphone number long ago even though she had never given it to him, had called yesterday evening and asked whether she had changed her mind.

When she answered no, he let out a long, very long sigh.

[Boss came back today, so come to work starting tomorrow. I’ll send you the address, so for now come there by 10 in the morning.]

Lee-jin, who came looking for the address Manager Kang had sent, ended up a little surprised. It was precisely the highly suspicious-looking private loan office of Kwon Ki-joo that Wonjae had recently additionally found.

Wonjae had said that this place, which was being run with a front Boos in charge, seemed to be Kwon Ki-joo’s cash cow. That it looked like all the money Kwon Ki-joo moved gathered here and then dispersed from here.

But Lee-jin felt slightly uneasy that he had called her to a place like this. Contrary to Wonjae’s guess, if it was a place that did not matter even if shown to just anyone, then there would be no important safe or anything like that.

Lee-jin had thought that she should tell Wonjae that this place probably was not it after all.

Even so, unlike how it looked from the outside, the inside of the ‘A-One Finance’ office was fairly sophisticated and neat. If you did not know better, you might mistake it for an ordinary company.

Of course, the people sitting in front of the desks did not look like that at all.

[It’s an employment contract, so read it and sign it.]

When Manager Kang said that with quite an annoyed look, Lee-jin was surprised once again. She had not known that a thug hiring her would go so far as to use something like this.

Seeing Lee-jin’s expression, Manager Kang told her that things might become troublesome later otherwise.

Nodding, Lee-jin signed the contract, written in roughly difficult language, that specified a one-year contract period. Perhaps because she knew that whether she signed it or not, the time given to her was not all that much, she was not very worried.

After signing like that and greeting the people who looked at her with suspicious eyes, Lee-jin had nothing to do.

Manager Kang told her that from now on she should come in around 1 in the afternoon and wait here until Kwon Ki-joo appeared. Today, Kwon Ki-joo only showed up at the office leisurely after 5 in the afternoon.

“Please take care of me from now on, Song Lee-jin.”

“Yes, Boss.”

“By the way, Manager Kang, did you issue a gun to my bodyguard?”

At Kwon Ki-joo’s words as he turned around to ask, Lee-jin was so startled that she let out a gasp. While Lee-jin grew tense inwardly, wondering if she really had to carry a gun too, Manager Kang replied with a deeply displeased expression.

“That’s enough, Boss. She’ll believe you’re serious.”

“Ah, if you hadn’t said that, Manager Kang, she would’ve fallen for it. You really have no sense of humor.”

Kwon Ki-joo, sounding quite regretful, stared fixedly at Lee-jin again. For some reason, he looked to be in a good mood today.

If he was originally the sort of person who enjoyed this kind of joke, Lee-jin thought she would have to stay sharply alert.

“It won’t be all that hard to follow me around. The difficult work will be done by these big guys here, so you just have to look at my face.”

“If that’s the case, then just fire me.”

At Lee-jin’s bold remark, not only Kwon Ki-joo but the others as well, including Manager Kang, looked at her with surprised eyes.

It was not that what Lee-jin said was shocking, but rather that it was astonishing to see such a tiny girl dare to speak back to Kwon Ki-joo with irritation mixed into her defiance.

“You hired me because I asked you to, but if you’re going to treat me like dead weight, then just pay me the one-year salary and end it. You were planning to give it to me as money from the start anyway.”

At Lee-jin’s answer, Kwon Ki-joo smiled with an intrigued look, as if to say, look at this.

Lee-jin had no intention of getting by without effort. Even if she was lacking, she wanted to do her share. That way she would also draw less suspicion.

“Don’t you think I picked a good bodyguard? At this rate, I think I’ll live for a thousand years and ten thousand years.”

Kwon Ki-joo, who murmured that calmly toward Manager Kang, looked at Lee-jin with a satisfied expression.

He looked cheerful from beginning to end. Whether it was that a side of him she had not known when she watched him from afar was only now properly coming into view, or that things had gone well on his trip to Hong Kong and Macau and so he was in a good mood, she did not know, but anyway.