While she stood there frozen, a rough hand shot out and grabbed her by the hair.

“Have you lost your mind? Do you know how much that bottle you smashed costs?”

The man wrenched her hair tighter and began dragging her away.

“Ow! No. Let go! I said let go! Help me! Someone help me!”

Setting aside her resentment toward the soldier who was just standing there doing nothing, Hari screamed at the top of her lungs for anyone to hear.

But no help came, and she was dragged back into the dark corridor.

Just as despair was settling in and she was beginning to give up, a steady, rapid sound of footsteps came from behind.

Before she could even turn to look, a black military boot shot past her and landed squarely in the man’s stomach.

The man who had been gripping her hair so brutally went down without even managing a proper scream. He writhed on the floor clutching his stomach, still snarling through the pain.

“What the hell, who are you!”

The man who had sent him flying with a single kick walked forward two calm steps, pressed a foot down on his back, and pinned both arms behind him. The movement was so swift and precise that the man on the floor barely knew what had happened.

“She told you to let go. Are your ears stuffed?”

“What is this. Why is a soldier here?”

“A soldier, what the hell, would you call your own family that if they served? Use some respect. Respect. Honestly, the way people in this country treat soldiers is something else.”

The sheer weight of authority in that voice alone was staggering. It was the soldier Hari had asked for help just moments ago.

The man on the floor tried to crane his neck to see his face, but the soldier pressed his boot down harder, keeping him pinned to the ground.

The man who had seemed like a vicious beast when he had a fragile girl by the hair was now helpless and squirming in front of a stronger predator.

“Who are you? Do you know where you are, coming in here like some—”

“Something to say?”

“Oh.”

The male manager who had been advancing with threatening intent, as though ready to use force, stopped dead in his tracks the moment he saw the soldier’s face, as if he recognized him.

He looked back and forth between the two men, then lowered his voice and spoke in a placating tone.

“……That man is an executive of Chayoung Group.”

“Is that so?”

The soldier calmly lifted his foot and stepped back. Then he turned to the manager.

“Good. Then I don’t have to pay for the damages.”

The manager nodded at him as he helped the man on the floor to his feet. The soldier raised his voice.

“Anyone have a blanket or something?”

The manager immediately stripped off his own jacket and held it out.

“No blanket, but here.”

“Not giving it back.”

“Yes, yes. Of course. Understood.”

The soldier draped the jacket over Hari’s shoulders, then closed his fingers lightly around her slender wrist and led her back up the stairs toward the exit.

Having just witnessed a scene straight out of an action film, Hari followed in a daze, her mind blank.

There was no room to feel relieved. Every bit of her attention had shifted entirely to this man.

The moment they were outside, he let go of her hand and said with firm authority.

“Go home. Don’t come back.”

He walked back to the spot he had been standing before, as though nothing had happened, rolled his neck from side to side, and took out a cigarette.

“Exhausting.”

He reached into his pocket for a lighter, and only then noticed Hari still standing there, looking up at him with eyes brimming with tears.

“What. Why are you still here.”

“Well, I just, I haven’t been able to say thank you yet……”

The man had been staring at her with his head tilted, and he took the cigarette out of his mouth.

He removed his military cap and scratched his head, then looked back at her.

Finding herself unexpectedly meeting his eyes directly, Hari felt the breath knocked out of her by the sheer force of his presence.

If you were to turn a black panther into a person, wouldn’t it look exactly like this? A sharp nose that cut straight down from his forehead, a defined jawline. Dark, heavy brows and unusually black irises that gave his undeniably handsome face an air of intense, commanding charisma.

“I’ve never met you before, and you saved me. I’m truly grateful……”

Even with the courage she’d managed to summon, her voice still trembled. And for a moment, something shifted in his eyes.

In a situation like this, Hari found herself absurdly thinking that his gaze was striking. She was so caught by it that she swallowed without meaning to, and the sound of it carried far too clearly in the quiet. She felt her face flush with embarrassment.

“Thank you so much. Really. Sir.”

Hari bowed her head deeply and thanked him again. But he seemed caught on something else entirely, his brow creasing.

“Sir?”

“You’re a soldier, aren’t you?”

“I am. That’s right.”

The innocent girl who had no idea what the problem was just kept blinking her large eyes.

The man let out a weary sigh as if to say there was no point, then slowly dropped his gaze.

Hari rattled on without pause.

“I’m an aspiring actress, and the director completely deceived me and dragged me here against my will. I was shaking and terrified, thinking something terrible was about to happen to me, and then you appeared out of nowhere and saved me. Thanks to you, I’m safe.”

A girl who had just been through something terrible was chattering away like a sparrow, and the man responded with dry sarcasm.

“You talk a lot.”

“I tend to talk more when I’m nervous. Anyway, thank you so much. Sir! I’ll consider you my lifesaver.”

“Drop the sir already.”

He grumbled irritably and tilted his chin toward her.

“How old are you.”

“I just turned twenty.”

“It’s January. Twenty?”

“Yes.”

“Tsk. Barely out of childhood.”

His deeply furrowed expression radiated disgust.

“Pathetic excuses for human beings.”

Despite the harsh words, his voice only sounded appealing to Hari.

Completely captivated by it and standing there in a daze, she felt him pull a handkerchief from his pocket and press it against the back of her neck, still damp with whiskey.

A strange sensation spread from her neck through her entire body, something between a shiver and a tremor.

“Mmm……”

Hari flinched at the odd sensation, and he, who had been dabbing at her neck with casual indifference, seemed to catch himself and paused.

The distance between them was far too close.

Her heart was beating too fast. Fast enough that it actually ached around her ribs, as though they might crack.

“Wipe yourself.”

Unlike Hari, the man remained completely unmoved, handing the handkerchief over without a second thought.

Hari took it reluctantly, and the man looked around.

“Your things?”

Only then did Hari remember she didn’t even have her phone on her. Gwak Sanggu had told her it would be quick and to leave everything in the car, which she now understood had been a calculated move to prevent her from running or calling the police.

“Nothing. I have nothing.”

That was the problem. She desperately wanted to thank him somehow, but she had nothing to offer. Then her eyes fell on the bracelet on her left wrist.

“Oh. This……”

Without hesitation, Hari took off the bracelet and held it out to him.

“I want to thank you somehow, and this is all I have.”

The man couldn’t hide his bewilderment. Understandably so, because this bracelet was a child’s ID bracelet, the kind used to prevent lost children, far too incongruous to be an accessory for a grown woman.

He rubbed his thumb over the engraved date of birth and name, and read her name aloud.

“Yoo Hari……”

Hari explained with a hint of pride.

“My mother made it with everything she had on the day she left me at the orphanage. It’s pure gold, even if it doesn’t look like much. It has real value.”

He let out a long, incredulous sigh and raised his voice.

“Hey. How long have you known me? Why are you telling me something like that?”

“……What?”

“Don’t show your pain to just anyone.”

“Oh, but you’re a good person.”

“No. I’m a stranger, same as anyone else.”

He answered with absolute certainty, shoved the bracelet back at her, and kept lecturing.

“Forget it. Don’t ever set foot in a place like this again.”

“Oh. I told you, I didn’t know what it was and I was brought here by force……”

“Being young and not knowing is just an excuse. Being young is exactly why you should have been more careful. The world is far dirtier and far more frightening than you can imagine. Being deceived doesn’t excuse everything, young lady.”

“……Yes.”

“And you. Be careful around men.”

“What?”

“You said you want to be an actress. As long as you pursue that path, temptations like this will come again and again. The road is hard, and you’ll get tired, and when you do, you’ll want to take the easy way. Even if that moment comes, don’t waver. And if you waver for a moment, turn back. Like today.”

The relentless stream of scolding hit Hari somewhere deep, and tears spilled over.

When was the last time someone had said something like this to her? She thought of her mother, listing every worry she had as she brought Hari to the orphanage. The words were rough, but the warmth underneath them felt the same.

These were tears of being moved, but he mistook them for a reaction to his harsh words and said something unnecessary.

“Crying doesn’t fix anything, so keep your head on straight. If crying solved things, everyone in the world would be doing just fine.”

His matter-of-fact delivery sent a quiet wave through Hari’s heart.