Translator: Nox

Chapter 110

110. A Rat in a Trap

2023.08.18.

Whether she was startled by the words I spat out or by the confession I threw at her, So-eun wore an expression as if something inside her was shaking. Then, she grabbed whatever she could reach and swung the pillow lying on the bed.

Thwack, thwack. Tae-joon willingly took the hits from So-eun, but soon snatched the pillow away with ease. It wasn't hard to let her hit him, but he was frustrated that the pillow blocked his view of her face.

The vicious look he saw after taking the pillow was so fresh that his head tingled even in the midst of it all. He almost laughed.

Finally, I've found you.

I was afraid I might never find you. I was afraid all of this would be in vain.

I was afraid I'd become a fool forever.

But I met you, I touched you, so that's enough, I thought.

"I've never seen anyone as ruthless as you."

"Then you don't have to see me."

"How can I not see you when you're like this?"

I thought I could not see you.

Tae-joon also started with a premise. That we wouldn't work out. That it would be a relationship with an end. He doesn't regret the feelings he had then. Because that's what allowed him to start. But now everything is different.

Neither you nor I can ever escape.

Once she lost the pillow, she didn't think about attacking again. The fierce glint in her eyes had already subsided. Feeling her energy waning, he glanced at the clock and saw that it was time for our miss to have her meal.

"You haven't eaten, have you?"

"......"

"Let's eat. Let's eat and talk again."

"I'm not eating. How can I eat with you?"

"I'll feed you."

Tae-joon, finding a room service menu that So-eun didn't even know existed, nonchalantly ordered room service.

"What are you doing so shamelessly in someone else's room?"

"I must have learned shamelessness from Han So-eun. Give back the watch you took."

When he attacked with a good weakness, she quickly shut her mouth again. Although her embarrassed expression was cute, Tae-joon didn't want to cause her unnecessary heartache, so he revealed everything he knew.

"I know how much you know. I also know that you gave the watch you took to Grandpa."

"......"

"You don't have to listen to Grandpa anymore. I quit the company too, and if we're not involved in work, I'm a stranger to Grandpa."

At Tae-joon's explanation, So-eun let out a disbelieving laugh.

He asked for the fastest food to be delivered, and room service arrived quickly. Tae-joon received the tray from the employee, set the food on the table, and then brazenly called So-eun.

"Let's eat."

"......"

"I feel like I'm going to collapse too. Because of you. I haven't been able to eat anything until now."

The woman, who seemed determined not to sit at the same table, hesitated at the words that he felt like he was going to collapse and that he hadn't been able to eat anything.

"Can you see that I've lost weight?"

So-eun blinked her reddened eyes.

"There's no need for a diet. I lost 5 kilos after you left. I've probably lost more now, right?"

"......"

"Come on. I can't eat until the owner comes."

The steps that seemed like they would never move gradually approached.

I became choked up again.

You're the kind of person who doesn't leave the weak. I should have shown you a weaker side of myself. Then you wouldn't have left so far away.

So-eun finally took a seat in front of Tae-joon at a few cunning words that evoked sympathy. But she picked up a fork, still turning her head haughtily as if she wouldn't look at him.

"This means you should eat quickly and leave."

"Okay. Thank you."

"But why do you keep speaking informally?"

"It's American style. Because it's America."

"Then will you use honorifics again when we go to Korea?"

"I should."

"Huh."

"If you don't like it, you can drop it too."

"Okay. I understand."

"......"

"Eat quickly and leave."

The hand that had reached out to clear the food returned with a tightly clenched fist.

Why are you so cute again? Seriously.

"I'm not leaving."

I wanted to touch her flushed cheeks just once. Forcibly maintaining distance was killing me even before I tasted the food. My hands were twitching, and the area from my abdomen to my esophagus was so hot that I had to take deep breaths secretly to avoid being called a pervert.

Yes. I searched so desperately for this you. Because you're the only one in the world who can make me like this.

Unaware of the bubbling heat inside him, she began to ignite her determination to provoke him again.

"This isn't love. Director Kim is making a big mistake right now."

"......"

"It's because Director Kim met me when I was young. Because I'm like Director Kim's childhood friend."

I said I knew how much you knew, and that was the excuse you came up with.

"It's because Director Kim met me when you were having a hard time. Your heart can be hungry too. Anything tastes good when you're hungry. So you eat anything, and you vaguely think that the first thing you ate was incredibly delicious."

"......That's a line I've heard a lot."

"Director Kim, you're obsessed because you're caught up in a delusion. You need to get out of it now."

"I'm just destined to be like this."

I didn't believe in fate, but at some point, I realized it. That there would be no other choice now.

From the beginning, that was Kim Tae-joon's fate. Like a game that was already programmed, he had simply overcome the predetermined path and arrived here.

No matter what she said, she received answers of concession and resignation, so So-eun lost her energy. Tae-joon spoke up, as if he didn't like the way she was listlessly poking at her food.

"You quit your job, what are you going to do here?"

"What's it to you?"

"I'm curious what kind of plan you've made."

"I'm going to get a job at Grape."

"Grape? Grape-uh?"

Tae-joon, stretching out each syllable and pronouncing it sarcastically, finally abandoned his expression of emotional enlightenment and glared.

Grape. The top electronic product brand that has been loved worldwide for decades with the logo of a single grape taken from a bunch of grapes. K Electronics' eternal rival.

"Do you think Grape will accept the granddaughter of the founder of K Electronics as his girlfriend?"

"Who's his girlfriend?"

"You're my girlfriend. I'm not over."

"......"

"I haven't even started."

You said you've never seen anyone as ruthless as me, but you're more ruthless.

So-eun changed her strategy in the face of his stubbornness, which didn't break her heart with any harsh words. She decided to just show him everything.

She felt she had to honestly tell him what reality was like.

"I want to be a normal person."

"......"

"I've never been normal for a single moment. I can never live a normal life if you're around."

"I'll go."

"......"

"I'll go to you. Then it'll be okay. I can throw everything away. Nothing is precious."

"You can't throw away your memories."

Before she could make him realize it, she started to cry first. With her vision blurred, she looked at him resentfully. She sincerely resented the things he was born with.

We will continue to hurt like that, and eventually, we will hurt.

You're going to do that?

"Don't you have the will to overcome that?"

At So-eun's heartfelt outpouring, Tae-joon's expression suddenly turned ruthless. He also had feelings of resentment that he had been suppressing in order to appease her.

"You're going to make someone a wreck like that and then slip away? You don't want to take responsibility either?"

"......"

"You don't want to see me throw everything away and chase after you, and then regret it 10 or 20 years later, do you?"

"Of course not. Who would want to see that?"

"Okay. Then I won't do that either."

Huh!

Why are you suddenly backing down after arguing as if you were fighting?

So-eun's eyebrows furrowed at the tactic.

"I won't say anything about that for the rest of my life. Would that be okay?"

"You're not making any sense."

"Why aren't I making any sense when I'm saying I'll throw everything away for you?"

"You're not that kind of person, Director Kim."

"No, I am that kind of person. I'm someone who can do even more."

"......"

"I can get rid of anything that gets in the way of us. I can."

"Then I must have misjudged you. I can't like someone that scary."

"I don't care. Because I like you."

"......"

"And I'm not your Director Kim. Call me by my name."

I don't know what this is. I'm losing my mind. So-eun thought that if she mixed words, she would only get more involved, so she decided not to say anything at all.

Not even a few minutes after she kept silent, the door opened.

"So-eun, are you okay, huh!"

Hyun-ji, who thought she would be coming in later, froze when she saw the two people in the room, worried about So-eun and returning early.

Tae-joon glared at Hyun-ji menacingly, then cleared the table and got up from his seat.

"I'll come again tomorrow."

"Then I won't be here."

"Then I'll chase after you again."

"......"

"Keep doing that."

You're a rat in a trap now.

His terrifying prediction sent chills down her spine.

Hyun-ji, unable to breathe in the cold air created by the two, only puffed out her cheeks until Tae-joon left, then ran to So-eun.

"What's going on? Why is that person here? How did he find you?"

So-eun told her the story she had been hiding for hours. Where she found Tae-joon, why she came back early today, and why she couldn't hang out with Hyun-ji for a long time today.

Hyun-ji, after hearing So-eun's confession, shook her head repeatedly as if she was amazed.

"Wow, he must have searched all over America. He's crazy. He's crazy."

"......"

"Kim Tae-joon is a really ruthless person."

She had expected her to badmouth him and told her, but she felt strange when she heard the blunt evaluation. So-eun felt pathetic, as if this uncomfortable feeling was lingering affection.

The two cleaned up the mess and went to bed. Hyun-ji, guessing that So-eun would be tired, immediately ended the day. However, So-eun naturally couldn't close her eyes right away.

"But on the other hand."

While staring at the dark void and thinking about the uncertain future, she heard Hyun-ji's voice next to her.

"It's a happy thing to have someone who misses and looks for the person who left so desperately."

"......"

"Of course, that's assuming that both of you still feel the same way."

The slow voice pricked one side of her heart. So-eun felt the pain in her chest and closed her eyes.

And how much time had passed?

Her body was heavy. It felt like something other than her weight was attached. It was as if she was falling to the floor, and then to the lower floor, to the complete bottom, with heavy weights hanging on her whole body, as if a hole had been drilled in the bed.

Hyun-ji, who woke up sensing the hot heat nearby, leaned over and put her hand on So-eun's cheek.

"So-eun......"