Chapter 54
“Anyway, I have no intention of forgiving you, so don’t think we’re friends just because you apologized.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Baek Yeong nodded lightly. He didn’t seem hurt in his pride at all; his demeanor remained completely composed.
“There’s something else I want to ask. Is it okay? I don’t mind if you suspect me of being a spy. And if you don’t want to answer, feel free to refuse.”
Baek I-hae turned her gaze to her laptop and moved her hands as she asked. Baek Yeong also refocused on his work as he replied.
“Go ahead.”
It was a straightforward permission.
“You said kidnapping me wasn’t your own idea, so whose was it?”
Baek Yeong was the leader of the Baek faction. The organization’s name and the status window both confirmed that.
She was genuinely curious about who could have suggested the idea to someone like him, leading to her abduction.
‘Whoever it is has influence and could be a threat to me, so it wouldn’t hurt to know.’
Baek Yeong’s hand paused for a moment, as if he hadn’t expected Baek I-hae to ask that.
He seemed to ponder, lightly tapping the paper with his index finger, before finally speaking.
“The person who created the Baek faction.”
“Wasn’t that you? You named the organization after yourself with such overflowing self-love.”
“…Absolutely not.”
[Baek faction leader, Baek Yeong-nim’s favorability decreases by 3.]
Oh. Now that she thought about it, maybe he had a lot of dissatisfaction with the organization’s name.
‘Well, if it were me, I’d hate it too if it was something like I-hae faction or Baek I-hae faction.’
She had always found the name oddly mismatched with his usual image, but it turned out someone else had come up with it.
‘But who?’
Since it used Baek Yeong’s name, it was clear they had a close relationship with him.
“Your parents?”
For example, a mentor or family.
Seeing Baek Yeong nod at her question, Baek I-hae continued.
“Running an organization as a family—sounds like you get along well. And putting your name in it shows they must really cherish you.”
“Family. Family, huh.”
Baek Yeong let out a small laugh. Baek I-hae, assuming it was like the close relationship in Seo Do-gyeom’s family, brushed it off casually, but soon her body stiffened.
[Baek faction leader, Baek Yeong-nim’s favorability decreases by 10.]
‘Landmine.’
Baek I-hae instinctively sensed that the keyword “family” held a deeply negative meaning for Baek Yeong. Far more than she could imagine.
“I’m sorry.”
She apologized hastily, and only then did Baek Yeong lift his head to meet her eyes. His gaze seemed to ask, “For what?” and Baek I-hae swallowed.
This was the moment to choose her words carefully to prevent his favorability from dropping further.
“Not every family carries only positive meanings, and it seems like I made you uncomfortable.”
“I was smiling.”
“Well… the atmosphere felt a bit subdued!”
Baek Yeong erased the slight upturn at the corners of his mouth and stroked his chin. He looked as if he hadn’t expected her to see through his inner thoughts, which left her a bit flustered.
In reality, without the status window, his expression had been so natural that she wouldn’t have suspected a thing.
“You’re quicker on the uptake now compared to before.”
Baek Yeong neither affirmed nor denied it outright. But there was no way she didn’t recognize that his words were an implicit affirmation.
“That’s good progress, Baek I-hae. I don’t dislike people who are perceptive.”
Despite saying that, Baek Yeong’s favorability didn’t change. Maybe she should just be satisfied that it hadn’t dropped further.
“My father wants to kill Seo I-heum, so he’ll try to use you again.”
“If he orders it, will you… kidnap me again?”
“Probably.”
“You don’t like it, so why follow his orders? …Are you in a situation where you need help?”
Baek Yeong looked at Baek I-hae with a peculiar expression. Only then did she realize she was being nosy and clamped her mouth shut.
Worrying about a gangster when he wasn’t even an ordinary person—it was absurd even to her upon second thought.
‘But if just bringing up the topic caused his favorability to drop, that means it’s not just ordinary dislike.’
If it had been someone else, she might have offered more active help. But the other party was Baek Yeong.
As Baek I-hae mentally shook herself to snap out of it, Baek Yeong, who had been watching her steadily, handed over a stack of papers from the corner of the desk and said,
“Could you shred these for me?”
It was an unspoken way of saying he didn’t want to continue the conversation on this topic.
Baek I-hae couldn’t ask further and stood up from her seat to take the papers. The shredder was located at the end of the hallway outside the office.
It was a welcome errand, giving her a brief escape during this uncomfortable moment.
Baek I-hae hurried out of the office and let out a deep sigh, as if the ground might swallow her up.
‘Is his relationship with his family really that bad? But he still follows orders, so they must have some contact.’
She couldn’t fathom what kind of relationship it was. Moreover, if his parents had ordered her kidnapping, that meant they knew about Baek I-hae as well.
‘Following Jang Seul-gi, another person to be wary of has been added.’
Why were so many people showing interest in someone as insignificant as her?
She entertained the absurd thought that this might be the effect of fame as she headed toward the end of the hallway, only to be assaulted by the acrid smell of cigarette smoke piercing her nose.
It was emanating from the smoking room right next to the pantry where the shredder was located.
“Ah, this is why I hate coming this way.”
She muttered softly under her breath as she fed the papers into the shredder, when she felt a gaze on her from somewhere.
Baek I-hae turned her head absentmindedly and locked eyes with someone in the smoking room.
A beautiful woman dressed in a white suit pants and shirt. A cigarette dangled from her fingertips.
It wasn’t important that she was the source of the cigarette smell.
“I-hae?”
The problem was that the woman was Chai Ryeong.
Baek I-hae’s face turned pale at the unexpected encounter.
‘Why is she here? Baek Yeong definitely said no other members of the organization knew about me, right?’
Should she run? But even if she did, where to?
If anger surged toward Baek Yeong for deceiving and toying with her, what she felt toward Chai Ryeong was sheer terror.
She was the first person whose killing intent the status window had warned about, and the one who had personally locked her in the truck.
The fear from being trapped in the truck resurfaced. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she saw Chai Ryeong extinguish her cigarette and step out.
With each step that closed the distance between them, her heart felt like it was plummeting with a thud.
“Why are you here?”
Chai Ryeong’s gaze shifted to the temporary employee badge Baek I-hae was wearing as she asked.
“Did Seo I-heum send you?”
[The action captain of the Baek faction, Chai Ryeong-nim, suspects you.]
[!Warning!
You are under threat to your life!]
She squeezed her eyes shut.
The situation was different from before. She wasn’t a hostage now, so there was no guarantee for her life.
No matter how much self-defense she had learned, there was no way she could handle the organization’s action captain.
At that moment, a flashy status window she hadn’t seen in a while appeared.
[A sudden quest, ‘Secure the Lifeline Entrusted to Chai Ryeong!’ has been assigned!
Please select from the options the information that will help you escape the current situation!]
She suddenly recalled the random choices that had appeared during the kidnapping incident. Choosing Seo I-heum had allowed her to escape the truck safely, but she also remembered how useless the other options had been.
‘It seemed like the quality of help varied based on favorability.’
The ones she had maxed out favorability with were Seo I-heum and Seo-yeol. Including trust, Seo-yeol had a slight edge.
She resolved to pick an option related to Seo-yeol this time. But as if mocking her, the status window revealed itself again.
[You can select only one option. If not chosen within the time limit, it will be selected randomly.
- Chai Ryeong’s employment corruption]
‘What am I supposed to do with that? It would only provoke her by making her wonder how I knew!’
Baek I-hae hurriedly checked the second option.
[2. Chai Ryeong’s favorability toward Baek I-hae]
It was not just useless but information she already knew. Hadn’t she been horrified before that it was higher than Seo Do-gyeom’s!
Even so, it was just a small number like 15.
At this point, she wondered if the status window was toying with her, yet she desperately pinned her hopes on the last option.
[3. Chai Ryeong’s hair color]
Chai Ryeong’s hair color was obviously black. It was something Baek I-hae could easily tell with her eyes wide open.
Following the time-limited keyword, now these crappy options!
It was clear the status window held a grudge against Baek I-hae for deciding not to part with Seo Do-gyeom.
She ground her teeth inwardly as she thought.
‘Damn it, does it think my eyes are buttonholes?!’
Overwhelmed by the surging frustration, Baek I-hae squeezed her buttonholes—no, her eyes—tightly shut.
…Huh?
