"Ah, this way, this way, it’s this way! My house. Ahaha..."
An adult male's voice echoed loudly in the hallway.
Amidst the repeated words and occasional bursts of silly laughter, the drunkard sounded like an immature son who’d lost control. Gaeul hoped the drunkard wasn’t who she feared, but in a building with only two apartments per floor, the person who got off on the 6th floor was likely the one she had in mind.
She adjusted her slightly askew, thick-rimmed silver glasses, which had slipped while she was lying on the sofa, and pressed the power button on the remote with a resigned expression. Once again, it seemed that her brother, Gajun, five years her senior, had spectacularly lost another drinking contest with Team Leader Seo.
"Just give up already."
He had left the house today, determined to settle the score with the team leader over drinks. Like a hero stocking up on recovery potions before facing a villain, he had taken all sorts of hangover relief remedies imaginable — liquids, jellies, pills — yet still ended up in this state, indicating that the other man was also a formidable drinker himself.
Gaeul opened the refrigerator in the kitchen, took out a face mask, and threw away the packaging. Although Gajun had fallen, her battle was just beginning.
Knock, knock.
The sound of knocking on the front door followed.
"Coming!"
She hurriedly applied the mask to her face, put her glasses back on, and rushed to the front door.
She roughly rubbed the essence from her hands onto her forearms and looked at her reflection in the shoe cabinet mirror. Fortunately, she could still hide her identity with this, but she didn't know how long it would last.
No matter how she looked at it, she knew she couldn't maintain this for long. Should she risk getting her glasses dirtier and try a mud mask next time for better coverage? It seemed she needed to switch to something more effective, but wearing a hat or mask indoors felt too unnatural...
As she opened the front door, a subtle blend of woody and bergamot scents wafted in.
As usual, he stood stiffly at the door with Gajun beside him and a stern expression on his face. Although he possessed a strikingly handsome face that could be the topic of conversation for years, there was something about him that made it difficult to approach while he was sober.
"Here."
He furrowed his brow and tossed Gajun like a sack of potatoes.
Gajun staggered, using both hands to brace himself against Gaeul's shoulder and the wall of the entrance for support. When Gaeul subtly shifted her shoulder, he lost his balance and tumbled to the floor.
After glancing at Gajun, who had collapsed on the floor, she lifted her gaze to find the man watching with an intrigued expression. When their eyes met, the corners of his mouth curled into a smile.
"Interesting."
His voice was deep and clear.
Ever since Gaeul found out he was her brother's boss, she often imagined him at work. She pictured him giving orders with that voice, solving problems, requesting collaboration from other teams, and critiquing Gajun's proposals.
“I’m sorry if my brother caused you trouble again by getting drunk. I’ll have a serious talk with him about it. I truly apologise…”
"Hey, Lee Gaeul."
The voice from behind sent a chill down her spine. She felt a sense of foreboding. Whenever Gajun acted like this, trouble was sure to follow. Gaeul tried her best not to turn around, but Gajun, who had been kneeling on the hallway floor, suddenly stood up and looked at her.
"Haven’t you been using face masks a lot lately? Are they any good?”
“No, it’s not good. This is trash. If my brother uses it, his skin will get ruined.”
Gaeul responded in an overly sweet voice, her forced smile causing the corners of her mouth to tremble slightly.
"That's a lie. I think it’s good."
'Lee Gajun, please. Don't do this here, just lie down on the floor and go to sleep.'
Though Gaeul silently wished for this, Gajun's eyes were already fixated on the mask on her face. With an unfocused look, he smirked mischievously before reaching out his hand towards her face.
"Lee Gaeul, just because you draw lines on a pumpkin, it doesn’t make it a watermelon. [1] If it’s good, I want to try it too.”
"Hey, Lee Gajun. No, brother. Wait. What are you doing? Hey!"
There was a brief but intense struggle, and as always, the victor was Gajun, regardless of how drunk he was. Although he appeared somewhat smaller when standing next to a man, Gajun was still above average in height and had a physique typical of Korean men, making it impossible for Gaeul to overpower him.
Tak.
In the end, Gajun successfully peeled the face mask off her face and slapped it onto his own. Although the mouth hole was over his right eye and the rest was folded awkwardly in various directions, he was so drunk that he didn’t even realise how ridiculous he looked and happily collapsed onto the floor of the entrance.
Gaeul adjusted her crooked glasses and tidied her dishevelled hair after the scuffle. Then she touched her face, which felt rejuvenated now that the mask had been removed.
'There’s no way he’ll recognise me, right? I had heavy makeup on back then, and now I’m wearing glasses. He definitely won’t have a clue.'
She lowered her head deeply, as if to greet him while hiding her face, and then spoke.
"Um, thank you for bringing my brother home again today."
“...”
"Well then, goodbye."
Ha.
A sound between a snort and a laugh was heard.
Feeling a sense of foreboding, Gaeul quickly tried to close the front door, but the man's hand stopped it from shutting.
"Seo Dohyun."
Gaeul tightly shut her eyes. The door, which had been on the verge of closing, slowly opened again under the strength of his arm.
“Why are you pretending not to know my name? I’ve told you several times.”
Seo Dohyun.
She had only met him once, but there was no way she could forget that name. Seo Dohyun, Dohyun, Mr. Dohyun. Every time she uttered those names, she vividly recalled the force of his body pressing against hers. As she shifted her gaze, the muscles in his arms, which supported the bed, seemed to twitch, and with each ragged breath and moan he released, every cell in her body trembled.
Gaeul had an ironclad rule: never trust a man who curses. But the moment he let a curse slip, she reached her climax. The firmness of his body that enveloped her, the warmth, the rhythmic movement of his muscles, the stifling air, and the beads of sweat pooling on their skin where it met her damp intimate parts.
And the subtle fragrance of bergamot mixed with woody notes that he exuded.
The two were never supposed to meet again. No, they should never have crossed paths in any way.
When Gaeul opened her eyes, Dohyun was still standing at the front door, looking at her with an unreadable expression. Their eyes met, and her heart sank.
With a slight ‘pik,’ the corners of his mouth curled into a smirk. He leaned forward, bringing his face closer to hers. No matter how handsome his face was, at this moment, it was not welcomed at all. Gaeul instinctively tried to step back but was blocked by Gajun's legs sprawled on the floor.
Though he had indeed been drinking, there was no trace of drunkenness in his gaze.
"Last Friday night at the Baekje Hotel lounge bar."
“...”
"Not only did you run away after sleeping with me, but you also treated me like a prostitute, leaving money behind as if it were payment, right?”
Her face flushed a deep red in an instant. Gaeul leaned in closely, pressing her index finger to her lips as she whispered urgently to him.
"Shh! Shhhh, my brother will hear. If I get caught, you know I'm dead, right? And 'sleeping with me'? It was just a typical one-night stand."
"What about that cash then?"
"Cash? Oh, that’s the room fee."
"Room fee?"
Dohyun's eyebrows raised sceptically.
At that moment, Lee Gajun's loud snoring echoed from behind her. It seemed the alcohol had finally taken effect, and he had passed out. While it was a relief for now, she couldn't fully relax. Even when Lee Gajun slept like that, he tended to wake up quickly, always getting up to wash himself before heading to his own room to sleep.
'What am I supposed to do now?'
She glanced around nervously, but her mind was completely blank, and no thoughts came to her.
“Anyway, please leave now. And don’t ever come back. From now on, if Lee Gajun gets drunk, just leave him on the street.”
"You seem quite flustered."
"Haha, not at all. Flustered? These things happen once in a while in life. If we choose to forget about it, then it’s as if it never occurred, right?”
Gaeul looked up at Dohyun with a desperate expression, but he only raised one eyebrow, showing that he didn’t agree with her.
"It's not common for a one-night stand to turn out to be your older brother's boss."
"Th-that's true."
"So, who in their right mind would lose their virginity to an unknown man?"
“Wait, what? What do you mean by that? Also, if it’s about that matter, I have something to say too.”
Her already flushed face turned an even deeper shade of red. Gaeul, feeling the heat radiating from her cheeks, briefly averted her gaze while fanning her flushed face.
"The man I was originally supposed to meet wasn't you."
“Either way, I’m still a stranger in your eyes.”
"That may be true, but still..."
"The name you gave that night was Gyeoul, right?"
"I don't remember that well..."
“By dawn, your makeup had mostly worn off, making you look younger than I thought. But now that I know you’re Gajun’s sister, I can’t help but wonder if your age was also a lie.”
"Well..."
Dohyun let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.
He lifted his upper body and stood upright.
"Let's meet again, Gyeoul — no, Gaeul."
"...Why would I want to meet you?"
When she met his gaze again, Dohyun’s lips curled into a smirk.
"Did your older brother not mention it? I have a terrible personality."
She had heard it. She had heard it so many times that it was etched in her memory. When Lee Gajun woke up from his drunken stupor, he would probably complain again about how terrible his personality was.
"I have a bit of a tenacious side."
“...”
With a smile on his face, he extended his index finger to tap Gaeul’s glasses.
She flinched.
She reflexively closed her eyes and then opened them slightly.
Although his fingertip had only briefly brushed against her glasses, she strangely felt warmth emanating from the area where they had made contact.
"If something doesn't sit right with me, I have to be a total asshole about it to feel better."
Gaeul swallowed a dry lump in her throat.
"I think I'm doomed."
At this moment, for some reason, she remembered what Lee Gajun had said on the first day he met his new team leader after changing jobs.
"You know just as well as Assistant Manager Lee, how persistent I can be.”
"...What?"
"Even after being beneath me all night, crying and trembling, you still don’t understand?"
"What are you talking about...! A-And it wasn’t just me, you also lost control."
She protested in a hushed tone.
"That's right. We both got pretty wild, didn’t we?"
No matter how handsome he was, how great his body was, how skilled he was in bed, or how successful his career might be, she knew she couldn't get involved with him like this. If Gajun found out, he wouldn't just be shocked — he would have a complete meltdown and immediately inform their parents in Jeju. If that happened, there was no doubt she’d be sent back to her family home in Jeju as soon as she graduated.
"Um, I understand that you like me, but I prefer to remember that night as just a midsummer night's dream, a fleeting moment of pleasure..."
"Pleasure?"
His eyebrows twitched. Dohyun scoffed and replied.
"I'm not chasing after you because I like you."
"Still. I believe that day was quite enjoyable for both of us..."
"It was quite a spectacle how Gaeul devoured my cock as if she were going to cut it off from the base.”
His eyes grew cold and heavy. She gulped nervously as she felt the weight of his intense gaze, which seemed to threaten to swallow her whole.
"After having sex all night long, which we had both wanted, I woke up alone in the morning, and it felt quite degrading to receive such a generous payment on top of that."
"No, that's not it. I told you, that wasn't a payment, it was the room fee…"
"Lee Gaeul!"
It was Lee Gajun's voice. Startled, Gaeul reached out, covering Dohyun's lips with one hand and her own with the other as she turned around. Gajun, who had been sprawled on the floor, was now standing unsteadily against the wall.
As Gaeul was in that position, Dohyun, who was watching her, slyly licked the palm of her hand that was covering his mouth. His soft, moist tongue left a sticky trail on her palm. She looked back at him in shock, her eyes wide. Dohyun, unconcerned about whether Gajun was awake or not, stared at her with amusement and smiled.
That's right. That guy was a pervert.
Gaeul quickly pulled her hand away from his mouth and wiped it vigorously on her pyjama shirt, shooting Dohyun a glare.
"Hmm?"
Gajun, leaning against the wall, glanced between Gaeul and Dohyun.
"What are you doing here, Lee Gaeul? Oh, why are you here again, Team Leader?"
"He brought older brother home again."
Come to think of it, all of this happened because Lee Gajun got so drunk that he couldn’t walk properly and completely forgot the door lock password.
"Team Leader Seo brought me again? Ah, anyway, thank you, Team Leader."
Lee Gajun swayed and bowed his head slightly. The face mask that was haphazardly resting on his face fell off and landed on the entryway with a splat.
“...Well, goodbye. I’ll take my leave now.”
'Please, let's never see each other again.'
As Gaeul pulled the doorknob, Dohyun calmly removed his hand from the door and stepped back.
"See you again."
The front door closed along with an unwelcome response.
Gaeul let out a sigh after hearing the footsteps fade away from the front door and the elevator doors open and close.
"That bastard can really hold his liquor..."
When she turned around, she saw Gajun had already taken off his shoes and was crawling across the living room floor with one sock half off, heading towards his room.
"Haa..."
Gaeul let out a sigh and rubbed her forehead.
It felt like a migraine was suddenly coming out of nowhere.
Translator's Corner:
[1] The saying "if you draw lines on a pumpkin, it doesn't make it a watermelon" means that its original appearance (personality, etc.) does not change no matter how fancy it is decorated.
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