Chapter 48
Lee Chan couldn’t possibly not know Yugyeom’s schedule, so it seemed odd for him to ask such a question at this point.
Lee Chan blinked his eyes rapidly, and his face seemed even redder than when I first saw him.
“Could you answer quickly? My waist feels like it’s going to snap.”
There was something off. It was a good thing I didn’t answer right away.
I raised the corner of my lips and slightly bent my waist.
“Do I have to?”
Lee Chan’s face wrinkled.
“What am I supposed to do then? A sturdy waist is my charm. It looks like it might snap any minute now.”
“Isn’t my charm point my glowing face?”
…But that’s not the point right now, is it?
He seemed even more determined not to let me off than when I said I didn’t want to answer.
“How about we do this instead? We each ask a question we’re curious about. But I’ll ask mine first.”
He chuckled and flicked his curly hair with his fingertips. After a brief hesitation, Lee Chan nodded decisively.
“What are you curious about?”
“We planted a doctor in Baekcheon, right?”
Lee Chan narrowed his eyes. I glanced briefly at the guards outside before whispering lowly as I pulled out a jacket.
“Did we plant a doctor in Baekcheon as a spy?”
I had thought about asking Lee Chan this ever since we met.
Betrayal was an inevitable keyword in the noir genre. Even though Angel showed me a picture of his brother, you never know.
Lee Chan seemed to be rummaging through his mind for a moment, then suddenly squatted down like a dog.
After a moment of silence, he raised his head abruptly.
“Oh! I remember. Is he still alive?”
I felt somewhat relieved at Lee Chan’s words.
No, I felt genuinely relieved. If he had lied with that innocent face and shed fake tears, it would have been quite a betrayal.
“He’s doing well.”
“Surprising. I thought he was already dead and buried under the sea.”
Lee Chan’s reaction clearly indicated he was referring to Angel.
I smirked and glanced outside the store. Angel was standing next to the guards.
‘He consistently dislikes me.’
I furrowed my eyebrows and brushed my blonde hair aside. Then he walked away with the guards.
I was surprised and quickly turned around.
“Hey! Where are you going… No, I should go.”
“What? Answer before you go!”
Lee Chan grabbed my ankle with both hands. I tried to shake him off, but he wouldn’t let go.
I pretended to drop the jacket I was holding by mistake. Then I pretended to pick it up, squatting down in front of Lee Chan.
“I came to meet Yugyeom.”
“Yugyeom didn’t tell me?”
Lee Chan’s eyes narrowed.
At that moment, I heard the sound of the store door opening behind me. It was the moment when I was about to stand up to make sure Lee Chan wasn’t visible.
Bang!
The handbag strap was grabbed and pulled, causing me to lose my balance and hesitate to sit down towards Lee Chan.
Our eyes met through the jackets.
“I can guess who you contacted, but it wasn’t Yugyeom who suggested we meet.”
The eye contact was serious. I blinked slowly and finally managed to utter a word.
“What?”
“He’s sick today and can’t move. It’s his annual sick day, so he wouldn’t have made any plans.”
Although there were questions burning on the tip of my tongue, I couldn’t say anything more and stood up.
After hanging up the jacket I was holding and turning around, I met eyes with Angel walking towards me.
I casually changed my steps while swallowing my breath.
“I don’t see anything I like here. Let’s go somewhere else.”
“You want to keep shopping?”
I smiled wryly at Angel, who was carrying shopping bags in both hands.
I stepped away and erased the smile from my face as soon as I reached Angel and the guards behind him.
Yugyeom didn’t contact me?
I chewed on my lips and turned on my phone to check the message again.
[That night, I think I was drunk and came to see you.]
No one else knows about the night when Yugyeom came to see me while drunk.
Unless Yugyeom told someone else directly…
Is it a trap?
I thought of several possible scenarios, but none of them promised a hopeful future.
If Yugyeom is sick once a year, there’s something suspicious about it. It could be around the anniversary of the trauma he experienced.
So, if Lee Chan’s words are true, did Yugyeom send someone else in his place because he couldn’t move due to sickness?
But Yugyeom doesn’t rely on others for revenge. If he wanted to kill me, he would do it with his own hands.
So why?
Why would he send someone else on a day when he’s in such bad condition that he can’t move?
Something doesn’t add up. My head felt like it was going to explode.
For now, I need to get away from here as quickly as possible.
“Come to think of it, maybe we should stop shopping here?”
Angel nodded with a pale face.
“I’ll go get the car.”
There was still about an hour until the appointment time. I could only hope that my unknown appointment partner wouldn’t be too diligent.
I scanned my surroundings carefully as I walked. There were too many people to search for someone I knew.
On the other hand, if someone wanted to find me, it would be like shooting fish in a barrel. It was inevitable to stand out when several men in black suits were accompanying me.
“Um… Miss.”
Then Angel grabbed me. I turned around feeling anxious.
But my anxiety doubled when I saw Angel’s face.
“There seems to be a problem with the car.”
—
Thud!
A fist slammed onto the table. Clang. The fork Angel was holding fell to the floor.
“Where should we try?”
There’s no way a perfectly fine tire would suddenly get a flat.
Thanks to that, I was stuck without being able to move.
I thought about calling a taxi, but there’s no way they could have predicted that I would take a taxi.
How would they even know to flatten the tire? They’d have to pay off the taxi driver too. What if there was an attack while I was in the taxi?
This situation seemed very intentional, and I relayed it exactly to Jiwoon, who said he would come pick me up himself. I could trust Jiwoon to handle it.
For now, I was waiting for Jiwoon in the midst of a crowded food court.
With so many people around, they wouldn’t dare to shoot.
“Where are you…”
If they knew about the car I came in, they must be watching me even now.
I absentmindedly tapped the table with my finger and turned on my phone.
It looked like Yugyeom. The tone, the content, even mentioning something only we would know.
Since the message came right after Yugyeom put the jacket on me, it was likely someone who was there. Or someone who was there made a call as soon as I left the restaurant.
“Ugh… I don’t know.”
It was already 7:40. Jiwoon shouldn’t be here for another hour.
If it’s come to this…
I looked at Angel sitting in front of me, then glanced around at the bustling crowd before pressing the send button.
[Let’s meet at the 10th floor food court.]
Since they already knew I was here, sending a message like this wouldn’t make much of a difference.
I just didn’t want to cower and hide.
I was so curious and eager to see that face that I felt like I was going crazy.
Who could it be?
Kang Taejun? Someone I don’t know?
No, maybe…
“Where does it hurt?”
My mood, which had been low, suddenly lifted.
I looked up from the table.
“Does it look like it hurts?”
“Yes. Your face looks like a cursed doll.”
Angel said calmly.
I felt strange. A cursed doll? That’s a phrase I’ve never heard before.
But there was an ambiguity in denying it; I was ready to curse someone.
“Are you worried?”
Angel confidently stabbed a strawberry on top of a cream cake with a fork and put it in his mouth.
“If you go back looking like that, my neck will be in danger.”
I chuckled dryly and picked up the pretty chocolate decorating Angel’s cake.
“I would’ve been touched if you had just pretended to worry.”
Angel’s gaze followed my hand as I picked up the chocolate.
“You’re living quite a tiresome life too.”
I grinned broadly and chewed on the chocolate as if to show it off.
Angel frowned, but soon he seemed resigned and put down his fork.
For some reason, I felt like I had become the culprit. I decided that I should order another cake with lots of chocolate and started to devour the remaining cake with gusto.
“Miss.”
Angel’s voice cut through my thoughts and interrupted me. Without realizing it, I stopped the train of thought that had been spiraling out of control and looked up.
The clock behind Angel showed exactly 8 o’clock.
In that moment, whatever calm facade I had been holding onto was shattered.
“Oh-“
It was perfectly timed, as if rehearsed.
The voice came from right behind me. The husky voice pierced through the surrounding noise and echoed directly into my ears.
As I tried to turn around abruptly, my head was caught in a strong grip.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is Sid. I hope you liked it<3
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