Translator: Nox

The Woman Who Stole My Flower

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

20.

“Wait, then could it be that Yeon-seo-ssi……?”

“Could it be what?”

Pointing at Yeon-seo’s flinching face, Ho-jin said,

“Could you look like Jooheon’s first love?”

Yeon-seo gasped along with him. Could that be it?

“Do you really think so?”

If that was the case, it explained what happened that night. Because she resembled his first love, he was drawn to her the moment he saw her, and even when she clung to him to sleep together, he couldn’t bring himself to turn her down.

“Then could that be why he asked me to marry him, too? Because I look like his first love?”

“Well, could be. Since that woman never showed up no matter how long he waited.”

It would almost be better if he kept her around out of hatred to get revenge. Being treated as a stand-in for his first love—nothing could be worse than that.

Yeon-seo clenched her fists tightly anew.

“I have to find that woman, no matter what.”

Ho-jin chimed in with a voice full of determination.

“All right, I’ll help you too!”

*

Lately, everything the guy did was strange.

He was staying in Korea under the pretext of injury and rehabilitation, but the truth was that Jooheon’s ankle was already completely healed. In other words, he needed to sign with a new club as soon as possible, build chemistry with new teammates, and play even one more match to regain his match fitness. Yet out of nowhere, Jooheon insisted on commuting to work at the company where he served as an endorsement model.

Since his resolve was unshakeable, the agency had no choice but to indulge him, but this was crossing the line. Bringing up marriage with a one-night stand, of all things!

For the sake of his duties as an agent, he had to knock some sense into him. Full of grim resolve, Ho-jin opened the door to Jooheon’s office and walked in.

“Jooheon-ah. What on earth are you thinking……?”

Before he could even finish the sentence, Jooheon cut him off.

“Give me just one month.”

Though he said give me, it was clearly an ultimatum rather than a request.

“I’ll only go into the office in the afternoons. I’ll keep up my morning training, so don’t worry.”

“Then when on earth are you going to sign with a new club? Are you quitting football?”

His manager was tearing his hair out, but instead of answering, Jooheon asked an utterly out-of-the-blue question.

“How do you seduce a woman?”

“……Did you just ask me that?”

When Ho-jin blinked and asked back, Jooheon nodded.

“Hyung, you’ve dated before.”

Wait, what was this guy talking about when women lined up for him even if he just stood still? Truly unable to understand, Ho-jin asked again.

“Why would someone like you, Jooheon, even need to seduce a woman?”

“Because she isn’t interested in me.”

Ho-jin eyed Jooheon with deep suspicion.

“Is that really a woman? Not a guy who just happens to look infinitely close to a woman?”

When Jooheon shot him an annoyed glare, Ho-jin quickly switched questions.

“No, I mean, who on earth are you trying to seduce?”

“She’s outside.”

“Jung Yeon-seo-ssi? Then what about your first love?”

Jooheon repeated the same words.

“Like I said, she’s outside.”

Ho-jin puzzled over the words for a moment before finally realizing what Jooheon meant.

If that’s the case……!

Good heavens, that woman was actually a real, living person! Ho-jin’s heart hammered against his ribs.

“Are you sure? She doesn’t even seem to know she’s that woman, though?”

“That’s because she doesn’t remember me.”

“Doesn’t remember? You?”

“I must have a forgettable face. Perfectly easy to wipe from memory.”

With a face that looked as though a master sculptor had carved it with the full devotion of a lifetime, Jooheon muttered bitterly. It made no sense, but Ho-jin tried hard to convince himself that it had been ten years since they first met, so maybe it was possible. After all, prosopagnosia—face blindness—was a thing, wasn’t it?

Then again, Jooheon’s appearance must have been vastly different when he first arrived in the UK. He was fifteen centimeters shorter back then and skin-and-bones skinny, so she might truly not connect the dots that he was the same person.

“Then why didn’t you just tell her the truth, that she’s your first love?”

“And if I do?”

Jooheon shot back bluntly.

“She has zero interest in me. What good would telling her do other than getting me dumped on the spot right now?”

Ho-jin recalled the conversation he had had with Yeon-seo earlier.

“I suppose you have a point. Seeing how she said she’d rather die than marry you.”

“She told hyung that too?”

“Yeah. She looked dead set on finding your first love within a month, totally resolved.”

Jooheon replied flatly.

“Then that bought me a month.”

“Ah!”

Only now did Ho-jin understand Jooheon’s ulterior motive.

“So you’re going to stay by her side for a month and seduce her?”

Jooheon nodded.

“It’s the only way.”

Ho-jin wrestled intensely with his thoughts.

Winning the Champions League was back in June, followed by the expiration of his club contract and his return to Korea in July. And now, it was already November.

The Premier League had already kicked off in August and was well into the season. Asking for another month on top of this meant risking throwing away an entire season.

Having a world-class player in his absolute prime waste a whole season was unthinkable. Without stats from the immediate season, it would inevitably impact negotiations when signing with a new club.

Yet Ho-jin knew. Even more than a contract, perhaps even more than his career as a player, this matter was vastly bigger to Jooheon.

How do I convince the agency CEO? Already racking his brain in fierce calculation, Ho-jin spoke up.

“Just one month. I can’t hold them off any longer than that.”

Knowing full well how desperately Jooheon had waited for his first love as the one watching over him all this time, this was the absolute best he could do.

“You have to settle this within a month, no matter what.”

As he reiterated it as if forging a promise, Jooheon nodded.

“Got it.”

The response was brief, but Ho-jin decided to trust him.

“Well, is there any goal you can’t break through? Besides, this one doesn’t even have a goalkeeper.”

After giving Jooheon that bit of encouragement, Ho-jin asked,

“By the way, Jooheon-ah. Didn’t you say something before?”

He had suddenly remembered a story he heard from Jooheon in the past.

“That she was prettier than Jang Won-young and Karina combined.”

To Ho-jin’s eyes, Jung Yeon-seo was certainly quite beautiful. To be honest, when he first saw her, he had thought to himself: He swore it had to be his first love or no one, but she’s certainly pretty enough for Jooheon to be tempted for a night.

Still, if asked whether she was prettier than celebrities famous for their looks, he wasn’t so sure she went that far…….

“You saw her too, hyung.”

Jooheon muttered as if it were intensely frustrating.

“How can someone become even prettier than that?”

With that, he glared at the door with a resentful expression.

“Relying entirely on that face to do whatever she pleases, honestly.”

This guy is truly far gone. His mouth hanging open for a good while, Ho-jin asked cautiously,

“Just what on earth did Yeon-seo-ssi do to make you act like this?”

It seemed certain the two of them had spent the night together, but Yeon-seo claimed she remembered nothing from that night. All Ho-jin had witnessed was the aftermath. The following morning, Jooheon had literally gone wild. He had caused a massive scare by declaring that if they didn’t find that woman, he would rather die than sign with a new club.

Even now, the gaze glaring beyond the door was practically brimming with love and hate. His first love was his first love, but it was also true that he was thoroughly furious. It certainly didn’t seem to be purely because Yeon-seo failed to remember him; just what had happened that night?

Unsurprisingly, Jooheon offered no further explanation. In fact, it seemed Ho-jin’s words weren’t even reaching his ears at all.

“Her face is one thing, but…….”

After muttering under his breath, whatever he was imagining made his ears flush bright red. Coughing awkwardly to himself, he looped right back to his original question.

“So, how do I seduce a woman?”

Why the hell are you asking me that?!

Fuming inside, Ho-jin nonetheless put his brain to work. Surprisingly, the answer came very easily.

“Jooheon-ah. You know how sometimes, you go up against guys who are faster than you or have incredible individual skills?”

Kang Joo-heon was a player praised as a complete hexagon. In all the attributes considered crucial in football—speed, passing, shooting, dribbling, physicality, and even defending—he was world-class across the board.

Yet that didn’t mean there weren’t players who surpassed Kang Joo-heon in one or two specific areas. There were players faster than him, and players who dribbled better. A moment of hitting a wall was inevitable.

“What do you do then?”

When that happened, there was no other way. You had to use superior physicality to have a body-to-body clash.

“What else? If skill doesn’t work, you slam your body into them……”

Jooheon flinched mid-answer. His face took on the look of sudden enlightenment.

“Right.”

Ho-jin emphasized firmly,

“That’s your strength.”