Chapter 64
It was their first kiss.
For Baek I-hae, certainly, and probably for Seo Do-gyeom as well.
She could feel his body stiffen. Baek I-hae pressed her lips firmly against his before slowly pulling away.
It wasn’t like in the movies, where a first kiss transformed her world.
“Thank you.”
With a bright smile, Baek I-hae offered her thanks to Seo Do-gyeom and stood up from her seat. It wasn’t serious enough to warrant a trip to the nurse’s office, so she planned to head straight back to the classroom.
As she started to walk away, noticing no footsteps following her, Baek I-hae turned her head.
“Do-gyeom, aren’t you coming?”
Only then did Seo Do-gyeom awkwardly turn his head and slowly rise to follow. His movements were rigid, with his left arm and left leg swinging in unison.
‘Did I startle him by suddenly kissing him?’
Overwhelmed by a surge of emotion and joy, she had impulsively leaned in without thinking, leaving Baek I-hae still in a daze herself.
‘Now that I’ve done it, it doesn’t feel like much of anything.’
But seeing Seo Do-gyeom so tense made her feel inexplicably embarrassed.
As they headed toward the classroom, Baek I-hae’s own limbs began to creak awkwardly too.
***
Thud!
With a dull impact, the middle-aged man’s body slammed pathetically into the wall. Groans of pain mingled with desperate pleas for mercy.
“She’s bolder than I expected. I thought she’d come running without a second thought once she found her blood relative.”
Ignoring the man’s begging, the other figure leisurely spoke while placing a cigarette between his lips. The room was filled with burly men surrounding them.
“Jang Chung-won. Let’s see some real desperation here. Are you going to keep building up my expectations only to disappoint me every time?”
Approaching without lighting the cigarette, the man pressed down firmly on the pleading figure’s hand with his foot. Even so, compared to the torment endured so far, this was mild.
It was intentional. A subtle hint that he was still offering a chance.
“Your wife and elderly mother as hostages aren’t enough, I see. How about the daughter living with you, then?”
“……! P-Please, not my daughter……! She’s still so young, please……!”
“What I’d like to say is ‘please’ myself. All I asked was to bring me one teenage girl. What’s so hard about that? Appeal to her sympathy, use some emotional leverage—whatever it takes, just get moving.”
The man bowed his head. Adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses that had slipped down, he stared into the terror-stricken face of his opponent before speaking.
“Bring the daughter.”
This was directed at the men standing behind him.
“……N-No! Please! I’ll pay back the money! I’ll kidnap that girl or drag her here somehow!”
“Shut him up; he’s too noisy.”
“Yes!”
At the bespectacled man’s command, the men moved in unison, swiftly binding the middle-aged man’s limbs and gagging him with a rope.
Tears continued to stream down his dirt-smeared face as he writhed on the floor. Soon after, one of the men who had stepped outside returned with a teenage girl in tow.
“She was tailing us, it seems. We caught her just as she was hiding nearby, about to call the police.”
The man roughly released the girl, and her face drained of color as she hurried toward the bound man.
With trembling hands, she stroked his face, comforting him that everything would be okay—it was a scene where the daughter appeared far more mature than the father.
“I had some hopes for our Seul-gi here; she seemed like someone I could reason with.”
The bespectacled man smiled amiably, but Jang Seul-gi glared at him with venom. It was a fiercer spirit than her so-called father displayed.
“The promised deadline hasn’t passed yet! You said as long as I bring Baek I-hae by then, it’s fine!”
“That’s true, but I never promised to wait patiently in the meantime.”
At the shameless response, Jang Seul-gi ground her teeth. But realizing that raising her voice would only worsen her position, she quickly backed down.
“I’ll definitely bring her. So please, stop hurting my dad. What if…… he dies like this?”
“People don’t die that easily, hmm. Well, alright. Shall I give you one more chance?”
“Th-Thank you! Baek I-hae knows your name, so next time I’ll say Do Ha-jun is looking for her and bring her along! If it’s someone she knows, she’ll definitely come!”
The bespectacled man paused for a moment, then broke into a radiant smile. From his appearance alone, he looked so ordinary and kind that it was hard to imagine him tormenting anyone.
He clapped his hands lightly.
“I’ll give you the chance, but I never said I wouldn’t punish you for disappointing me this time.”
“Mmph! Mmph!”
Jang Seul-gi’s father thrashed wildly in protest, but his opinion was hardly going to be respected.
Jang Seul-gi’s eyes shook uncontrollably. Her gaze drifted to the man’s wrist where his hands met in applause.
The bespectacled man murmured to himself, lost in deep thought, a faint smile on his lips.
“She knows my name, huh……. Interesting.”
On his wrist was a watch with a design strikingly similar to Baek I-hae’s.
***
Meanwhile, oblivious to Jang Seul-gi’s plight, Baek I-hae had become glued to Seo I-heum the moment she arrived home.
It was such an unusual sight after so long that even Old Man Oh and the other organization members watched in fascination.
“What’s gotten into our I-hae this time? Planning to stab me in the back again?”
Seo I-heum asked while reviewing documents, with Baek I-hae stuck firmly to his side.
He was seated in his single-person chair handling work as usual, but there she was, standing right beside him, watching intently.
Worried her legs might ache, he moved to the sofa to continue his tasks, only for Baek I-hae to sit down next to him as if she’d been waiting.
Thinking she might have something to say, he waited, but when she didn’t speak, Seo I-heum finally broke the silence.
Only then did Baek I-hae open her mouth, as if she’d been anticipating it.
“I don’t want to go to my uncle.”
“……Even if that man is your real family?”
“Do you find me annoying?”
Old Man Oh, who had been setting down Baek I-hae’s favorite snacks on the table, sharply inhaled.
The surrounding organization members did the same.
Anyone could see how much Seo I-heum cherished Baek I-hae, yet she asked such a question!
Old Man Oh cautiously gauged the mood, fearing she’d irritated Seo I-heum, but soon relaxed upon seeing his calm expression.
Indeed, imagining Seo I-heum angry at Baek I-hae was impossible.
“Of course not. I wouldn’t allow someone annoying to stay by my side.”
Baek I-hae nodded, acknowledging that. Seo Do-gyeom and Seo-yeol had come to the living room at the call for snacks, only to overhear the conversation unexpectedly.
Since Baek I-hae wasn’t trying to hide it, the two sitting across from them quietly observed.
“I need a family, but just sharing blood doesn’t make someone family. I like it here.”
“Then, would you like to come into Uncle’s house as an adopted daughter?”
Once again, sharp intakes of breath echoed around them. Seo Do-gyeom and Seo-yeol were no exception.
It was such a bold proposal that Seo-yeol shouted in disgust.
“Dad! That’s not right!”
“Why? You always call our I-hae ‘noona’ anyway.”
“That’s…… different from this!”
At Seo I-heum’s questioning gaze asking how it was different, Seo-yeol clamped his mouth shut. Then Seo Do-gyeom spoke up.
“Even if Baek I-hae becomes your adopted daughter, I’ll still like her.”
It was a brazen response, as if daring him to try and handle it. Seo I-heum let out a hollow laugh before replying.
“You refused the engagement, yet you talk a good game.”
“Do-gyeom refused the engagement? An engagement with me?”
“Why would hyung refuse the engagement?”
Seo I-heum’s words were quite a shock, as both Baek I-hae and Seo-yeol pressed him simultaneously. Seo Do-gyeom glared at Seo I-heum, but he only smiled shamelessly.
“Seo Do-gyeom, don’t tell me……. Have you been toying with me all this time?”
Baek I-hae asked half in jest, half in doubt. Before the flustered Seo Do-gyeom could even offer an excuse, another declaration of war descended upon them.
“Then I’ll get engaged to I-hae noona!”
Baek I-hae looked stunned, while Seo Do-gyeom’s face hardened into something terrifyingly cold.
Seo I-heum leisurely observed them before turning to Old Man Oh.
“I-hae noona gets to decide! Between hyung who rejected the engagement and me—who do you like?”
Seo-yeol’s face was desperately earnest. He was still a child, yet so intensely desperate that it made one want to ask why.
Only then realizing Seo-yeol’s feelings, Seo Do-gyeom’s eyes sharpened even more. But Baek I-hae was a bit angry at Seo Do-gyeom for not giving a proper answer.
Getting jealous over Seo-yeol, yet refusing the engagement.
In irritation, Baek I-hae turned to Seo I-heum and shouted.
“Dad!”
Unfazed by the shocked reactions around her, Baek I-hae had called Seo I-heum “Dad” in a fit of anger.
As silence enveloped the room, Seo I-heum looked impassively at Old Man Oh and said.
“In celebration of gaining a daughter, prepare the most expensive wine for a party.”
His command carried a subtle mix of anticipation and excitement.
