Chapter 48
[Baek Yeong’s information is automatically viewed.
Favorability: 10
Trust: 0
Obsession: 0]
Baek I-hae blinked slowly at the status window floating beside Baek Yeong before closing the door.
Once that unlucky face vanished from her sight, it felt like she could finally breathe freely.
‘Why is that bastard here?’
His still-pretty face annoyed her, and that favorability rating of 10 grated on her nerves too.
She should tell Ye Eun-seol she’s quitting the part-time job or ask to switch locations.
“And I should report that there’s a criminal here while I’m at it.”
“That would be a bit troublesome.”
Baek I-hae blinked slowly again. Baek Yeong’s face appeared as he opened the door.
It had only been a year. Yeah, just one year—people don’t change that drastically.
His long hair, loosely tied back and just brushing his neck, with strands falling loose in a way that looked sexy.
His slender jawline, his long downturned eyelashes—overall, he gave off a strong impression of being pretty for a man. But while his face might hide it, his body was different.
‘Seo Do-gyeom has a good body too, but he’s still a student, so he has that youthful vibe. This guy’s an adult, I guess.’
Baek I-hae scrunched up her face in a deep frown.
‘Damn, he’s exactly my type.’
Seo Do-gyeom was handsome too, but if she had to pick, her taste leaned toward Baek Yeong.
Of course, she’d never say that out loud.
“You’re not about to say something like, ‘Did I accidentally say my inner thoughts out loud?’ are you?”
Baek Yeong asked with a blank expression. Was it a question or sarcasm?
Baek I-hae kept her face stern as she looked up at him and replied clearly, word for word.
“I said it on purpose so you could hear.”
Baek Yeong fell silent for a moment. Then, after glancing around the quiet hallway, he opened the door a bit wider and said :
“Come in for now.”
“Why should I? I have no intention of working with you, so close the door. I don’t want to see your face.”
“……Your personality’s changed.”
Baek I-hae let out a scoff of disbelief.
Your personality’s changed? That’s what he has to say?
‘Is that all you’ve got?’
He’d approached her with ulterior motives from the start, so maybe he didn’t feel any guilt. In that case, he could at least act shamelessly.
But what was that line supposed to mean! It felt like he was looking for the old Baek I-hae who tried so hard to look pretty for him, and it made her grind her teeth.
‘Who do you think planted this trauma in me, making me unable to trust people carelessly anymore!’
Without replying, Baek I-hae turned away. She didn’t want to exchange any more words.
First, she’d leave the building and call Ye Eun-seol. Maybe Ye Eun-seol didn’t even know about Baek Yeong’s presence.
If she didn’t know he worked here, she might fire him later. Of course, that alone wouldn’t satisfy her, so maybe she’d tell Seo I-heum too.
‘No, if he finds out I ran into Baek Yeong here, he might start assigning Do-gyeom or organization members to escort me every time I go out.’
It would be the same with Seo Do-gyeom.
Groaning inwardly, she started walking away when her waist was grabbed. Those long, pretty fingers she’d once admired were now wrapped around her waist.
Before the shocked Baek I-hae could react, her body was pulled backward. In the blink of an eye, she was inside the office.
“Crazy.”
Baek I-hae hurriedly pinched the back of the hand wrapped around her waist.
She hated having her waist grabbed, and the way it made her stand as if nestled in Baek Yeong’s arms irritated her even more.
She pinched his skin with as much malice as she could muster, and even a gangster like him couldn’t help but flinch and pull away.
Quickly putting distance between them, Baek I-hae didn’t hide her displeasure as she said:
“You kidnap people like it’s breathing? Just like a criminal.”
“I just brought you into the room.”
“Forcing an adult man on a female student who didn’t consent.”
“……If you put it that way, it makes me sound bad in a different sense.”
Insisting that wasn’t his intention at all, Baek Yeong now looked a bit flustered.
Though Baek I-hae’s words were true, they could easily lead to a serious misunderstanding.
He let out a sigh and said:
“I heard the name of the person who’d be assisting with work starting today and thought it couldn’t be. It’s not a common name.”
“Why are you here, mister? A gangster doing company work?”
Mister.
The twenty-six-year-old in his prime fell silent for a moment.
Truthfully, no one would call him “mister” based on his age, but she was being spiteful. And Baek Yeong knew that.
Baek I-hae slowly looked around the room. She was curious if other organization members, including Chai Ryeong, were there.
Had he noticed her behavior?
“There are no others. They don’t even know I’m here to begin with.”
“……That’s even weirder. Why are you pretending to be a normal person all alone? You’re the top guy over there.”
He was the head of the Baek faction, so he was the boss of the gangsters. For someone like that to be doing company work.
‘He has this big room all to himself, so he doesn’t seem like just a regular employee.’
Surely he wasn’t from a chaebol family like Ye Eun-seol. That would kind of sting.
“You don’t need to know that much. Since you’re already here, how about working and earning some money while you’re at it? I’ve already prepared the tasks for you.”
It was the moment Baek I-hae was about to spit out another refusal.
[Main Quest Activated!
‘Let’s achieve 50 Favorability and Trust with the Leading Supporting Character, Baek Yeong!’ has begun.
Time Limit: Within the Summer Vacation Period]
‘What? Why do I have to raise this bastard’s favorability and trust…!’
Baek I-hae flared up in anger, on the verge of immediately arguing with the status window.
As always, the rewards and penalties appeared one after another.
But unlike before, they came with some rather bold benefits.
[Upon Success: Hidden Ending Route Unlocked, Minimum Favorability (20) Increase for Baek Faction Members, Fame +30
Upon Failure: Seo I-heum Favorability -50, Seo Do-gyeom Favorability -70, Seo-yeol Favorability -5, Luxurious Confinement Life (Limited to Vacation Period)]
[!Hidden Ending!
If an ending other than the Happy Ending is achieved, the soul will immediately return to the original world.]
‘……What?’
In a way, wasn’t this Baek I-hae’s ultimate goal?
Baek I-hae’s pupils shook violently. Baek Yeong, oblivious to the reason, was looking down at her eyes.
But Baek I-hae didn’t know.
That ‘viewing the ending’ was an act only the ‘protagonists’ could perform. And what that truly meant.
***
Baek I-hae, who had been silent, eventually accepted Baek Yeong’s proposal. He seemed puzzled by her sudden change in attitude, but he still appeared welcoming.
Though now he wore a blank expression, no longer forcing fake smiles.
“Excel work is the main task, but it’s fine if you’re not good at it.”
Baek Yeong taught her the job. The closeness as he explained while looking at the laptop bothered her.
“I wasn’t expecting much anyway. I wasn’t planning to give you anything important.”
Her heart, which had impurely started to race for a brief moment, calmed down the more Baek Yeong spoke.
‘Was I blinded by infatuation back then? Or was it all an act? Now that I see it, he’s a total jerk.’
Fortunately, the tasks he explained weren’t too difficult. As he said, they weren’t important either.
It was just transferring minor documents into Excel, applying filters to sort them, and then checking if everything was entered correctly.
There was a lot of it, but it was at a level a student like Baek I-hae could handle sufficiently. That’s probably why they hired a part-timer.
“But why the sudden change of heart? You were acting like you’d leave any second.”
Baek Yeong asked while staring at the laptop. Back then, he’d used polite speech, saying it was more comfortable.
Baek I-hae considered ignoring him, but now he was someone she’d inevitably see every day.
She let out a sigh and replied weakly.
“I’m not here because I want to be, so don’t talk to me while I’m working. Is it okay if I wear earphones and work?”
“Doesn’t matter. It’ll mostly just be you and me working here anyway. More than that….”
Baek Yeong’s gaze turned toward Baek I-hae.
Come to think of it, the two of them had quite a few similarities. Both had uncommon surnames, and while most people had black hair, they possessed brown locks.
Baek I-hae met his eyes, which were a lighter shade than her own.
“……Never mind. Ask if there’s anything you don’t know.”
Baek Yeong looked at her like that before swallowing the words he was about to say. She wasn’t particularly curious.
Whatever came out of his mouth, she’d only doubt if it was sincere or not. It was easier to just learn the work in a businesslike manner.
‘But no matter how tempting the rewards are, this is ridiculous. Having to raise the favorability of someone whose face alone makes me angry.’
The rewards were one thing, but the penalties were on another level.
‘The penalties being that severe… it must be anticipating the situation where it’s discovered that I met Baek Yeong at my part-time job and didn’t mention it.’
That would explain why Seo I-heum’s favorability dropped so drastically.
Baek I-hae swallowed the sigh that threatened to burst out. She moved slowly, as if forcing herself to do something she didn’t want to, and Baek Yeong glanced at her like that.
Perhaps unaware of it himself, his gaze didn’t easily pull away.
