Free Web NovelEven in his fluster, Nagao carefully picked out five rings made from magic stones.
‘Of course he nabbed the expensive ones.’
As soon as he left, wearing the five rings and the watch, Joo Seowon’s voice dropped into something grim.
“...What the hell was that?”
“You can throw in a watch.”
“Hey! Why are you giving away my watch—”
“Keep your hands to yourself. Where do you think you were touching?”
The moment I brought up him grabbing my thigh, the mouth that looked ready to argue snapped shut. But after a beat—apparently realizing he did have something to say—he opened it again in a wounded tone.
“Hey, I...!”
“What?”
“I didn’t know!”
“Ha...”
Obviously. You’d better not know—if you knew and did it anyway, that’d make you a freak.
I left him to babble nonsense and stood.
“Let’s go.”
“Hey, but seriously... was that— you know—right?”
“Seowon. Get a grip.”
“You don’t get to say that to me— I’m coming.”
We headed outside, grabbed a taxi, and returned to our place. On the way back, I ran through the plan.
‘Contact the woman, and if she sets off alarms, bail. Secure a second-day invitation if possible... Best case, we solve everything today.’
Variables... there were always damned variables.
I looked out the window: tall high-rises slid by in rows. After a moment of watching, I turned to Seowon.
“......”
“What.”
He jerked his head away the second I looked at him. Forehead pressed to the glass, his hands kept twitching like he wanted me to notice.
‘He never even flinches around other people.’
If anything, he acted weirder when it was just the two of us. Whether that meant he was paying attention or what... who knew.
Since he’d turned fully away, all I could see were his ears. I stared at them for a second, then dropped my gaze to his wrist—bare now that the watch was gone.
A little later, before we went back into the hotel, we stopped at a nearby dim sum place to eat. Seated and wiping my hands with a wet towel, I took in the interior.
‘Feels like a trip.’
When was the last time I went abroad for fun? While I entertained that pointless thought, I asked Seowon—who’d opened the menu—
“Got anything you want?”
“Something spicy. If we eat a bunch of these, it’s gonna get heavy.”
The awkwardness from the taxi was gone; back to normal, he dove into choosing.
“I don’t like spicy.”
“I know, idiot. I meant for me.”
“You’re gonna burn a hole in your stomach.”
“...Do you have health anxiety? No—if you take such good care of yourself, why do you keep throwing yourself into danger like you want to die?”
“Quit whining. Order. I’m hungry.”
I left the choices entirely to him and sipped the lukewarm tea. Soon he’d mixed a spread of dim sum with wonton noodles and put in the order.
After that, a brief silence. I scanned the wall art with my arms folded, then took the phone out of my pocket and set it on the table—the used phone we’d just activated.
His gaze dropped straight onto it.
“...You’re going to contact her now?”
“Yeah.”
“Shouldn’t you at least check who she is first?”
Ordinarily, fair point. Right now, useless. In a foreign place, how exactly were we going to run a background check on a stranger? Seowon had objectively impressive skills, but this was in the realm of impossible.
He must have realized he’d said something dumb, because he added quickly,
“...I mean, it’d be hard.” freewebnσvel.cøm
“Not hard—impossible.”
“I know! I’m just saying it’s suspicious.”
On that, I agreed. I nodded.
“Me too.”
He stared at me like I was being ridiculous.
“And you still want to contact her?”
“Suspicious and curious aren’t the same.”
She’d said to get in touch before three in the afternoon; if I was going to do it, now was the time. Thinking it over, I asked,
“That second-day invitation... what was his name. Wang Tiansin? Is he answering?”
“...Last I heard from him was when we got here today. Nothing since.”
Then I should reach out. We needed as many possibilities as we could get.
I ended the debate and powered on the phone. I had the messenger ID memorized. From “njmft23,” shift each letter forward one, each number back one?
miles34.
The meaningless letters became a word you could read in a second.
‘Miles?’
Writing the ID that way—factoring in that whoever took the slip might trash it—was a meticulous touch.
I opened the messenger, input the ID, and started a chat.
[Lydia Lin]
The display name was the one she’d given: “Lydia Lin.” Who knew where “miles” came from.
I typed fast.
When we saw each other this morning, you barely ate. Hope you had a proper lunch.
Obviously I didn’t send that in Korean—I translated it to English first.
Just enough for her to know who it was. If she’d handed her contact to others too, she’d be getting similar messages.
‘Better not expose anything like my appearance or name.’
Her reply came just as we were finishing lunch.
Had a great lunch!
(emoji smiling)
If you want details, let’s talk in person.
Partners welcome!
Instead of replying, I slid the phone across to Seowon.
“What.”
He peered at the screen and frowned.
“Partner? Me?”
“Who else.”
“...Sounds like if we don’t meet, she’s not going to talk at all.”
“Maybe she doesn’t want to leave a paper trail?”
“You gonna set it up? What about the rest of today? If we’re attending the party tonight... we have to meet before that.”
I nodded slowly. The “short party” right before the auction began.
‘Like a society party?’
It had been so long since I’d set foot in anything called a party that I’d lost the feel for it.
“Tell her we’ll meet. You pick the place.”
“Somewhere nearby?”
“Nearby... no, she’ll probably want a bit of distance. Ask first.”
“Reply as if I’m you?”
“Mm... no. Reply as my partner.”
“Okay.”
We went back to the hotel, checked in, and headed to the room.
Once we got there, we washed up lightly and looked ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) over the room while waiting for the bags we’d left to be brought up.
“Not bad.”
I’d considered booking separate rooms at first, but if anything urgent came up, being in the same room would be more useful—so I opted for one bigger room instead. Two beds, of course.
I was rummaging through the minibar and tearing into the nuts when the luggage arrived. We dumped the suitcases to the side, and then I heard him call me.
“Seo Jehyun.”
“What.”
“Got the meeting.”
“When?”
“In an hour and a half. A café near the Grand Karman.”
“Works.”
It’d make our route a little annoying, but the location itself wasn’t bad. I tossed my outerwear onto the suitcase, then peeled off the high-neck that was starting to feel stifling and dropped it on top.
“...You going to shower?”
“No, I’m going to sleep.”
If we attended the auction and came back, it would be dawn. If I wanted to be functional, I needed even a short nap. Unbuckling my belt and throwing it on the pile, I told him,
“You should sleep too. We’ll be up till dawn.”
“I’m... okay.”
“You said you were tired earlier.”
“...I woke up.”
He’s going to be dragging his feet later, isn’t he. I gave him a doubtful look, shook my head, and got onto the bed.
“Wake me. Watch the time.”
“...Yeah.”
He was a grown man; he’d manage. I shut my eyes and went under fast.
***
I felt a light tapping on my cheek. Not enough to truly wake me—just ticklish—so I didn’t force it.
After a moment, a hand brushed my hair back from my forehead.
“...Seo Jehyun.”
Almost a whisper.
“We... need to get up.”
I hadn’t felt that tired before lying down, but once I actually slept, I wanted to stay under. Consciousness was halfway back, but instead of answering, I pulled the blanket up. The hand by my forehead vanished instantly.
“...Hey. You told me to wake you.”
“Mmph...”
“What are you doing?”
This wasn’t even waking me up—no wonder it wasn’t working. He gave a short, helpless laugh, then went quiet for a moment and asked softly,
“Are you really tired?”
Do I look full of energy? Too lazy to answer, I just scrunched my brow a bit. For whatever reason, he snickered and asked,
“Push the meeting?”
“...No.”
“Ha...”
“What time is it?”
Even after a short nap, my voice had dropped.
“Three fifty-two. We need to leave at four.”
“...Why is it so dark.”
“I closed the curtains. You want them open while you sleep?”
“Mm... no. Did you sleep?”
“Me... I couldn’t. Want water?”
“No.”
I opened my eyes. Scrubbing my face with my hands, I reached out and turned on the bedside lamp. freewebnøvel.com
A soft light came on—enough not to strain my eyes in the dim room. While I straightened what had to be wrecked hair, I heard him startle beside me.
“Hey, up close...”
“......”
“It’s pretty bad.”
What? Before I could ask, I felt his fingertips touch the skin of my back.
