EX Ch 7

“N-No, I’m the victim here. Truly. I was actually being careful and using the allowance you gave me well, you know? Though I stopped writing in the allowance ledger! Even so, I ordered delivery through ‘thrifty delivery’ and didn’t buy useless things.”

“……”

“But strangely, money just kept leaking out. It was constantly short by hundreds of thousands of won, and the credit card bill came out to be double what I thought…”

Anyway, money was a truly strange thing. When spending it without a care, it didn’t feel like I used much, but once I actually received the credit card bill, it was enormous. It wasn’t like I was buying a ton of expensive luxury goods, either. I just bought some things to eat and a few outfits to wear like everyone else, but it felt like I was the only one who became a beggar sitting on a pile of credit card debt. It was a truly terrifying thing.

“So you steal a watch?”

“I didn’t mean to do that…. I, I was getting so anxious because the day to pay tuition was approaching. I thought about doing a short-term part-time job, but you hated that kind of thing. You said weird guys would hit on me.”

“Ah, so in the end, it’s all my fault?”

As the sinner, I eventually decided to keep my mouth shut. Honestly, even if I had done a short-term part-time job back then, I wouldn’t have been able to come up with the tuition. How on earth could I earn millions of won by working just a few days? I had simply hit a backlash after spending money recklessly, and I had blocked it by using Yoon Hyeonjo’s watch as a shield.

Of course, there was also the option of begging Yoon Hyeonjo to pay the tuition instead. But if I did that, I felt it wouldn’t be easy to break up with him again, so I just chose another way. And there was one more decisive reason why I ended up stealing the watch.

“And you’re rich. I felt like you’d understand, for some reason.”

It was that Yoon Hyeonjo was the son of an incredibly wealthy family. When we were dating, I frequented Yoon Hyeonjo’s officetel like it was my own, and his house even had a separate dressing room. Two rooms, in fact. There were dozens of watches worth staggering amounts, and as for shoes, there were so many I wondered if he intended to share them with a centipede.

‘Yoon Hyeonjo, you…. Are you really rich?’

‘Why, if I’m really rich, are you going to marry me?’

I remembered Yoon Hyeonjo chuckling when I asked him so bluntly out of pure shock. Moreover, because his hobby was collecting watches, he always wore a different one every time he met me. From ones worth several hundred thousand won to, occasionally, ones worth hundreds of millions. Anyway, even his hobby was staggering.

And what made Yoon Hyeonjo look even more high-class was his attitude toward watches. He didn’t particularly care if a watch got scratched or bumped into something. My previous boyfriends would treat their things like precious gold and jade, worrying if even a single scratch appeared, but that side was nowhere to be found in Yoon Hyeonjo. His attitude was that people come before objects, not objects before people. Was that why? Those words ended up spilling out…

“A-Anyway, since you’re rich…. You can live well even without one watch.”

At my words, Yoon Hyeonjo immediately grabbed the back of his neck. It was a relief that we had neared the house just in time; otherwise, an accident might have happened. Screeeech! My heart pounded at the sound of the car coming to a rough stop.

“Ah, fuck. My head hurts. Ah.”

“……”

“I feel like my brain is going to split open talking to you. Wow, fuck. Where did your common sense go?”

I sat in the passenger seat next to Yoon Hyeonjo, who was clutching the back of his neck, as quiet as a dead mouse, waiting only to arrive home as quickly as possible. However, Yoon Hyeonjo didn’t seem to have any intention of letting me go easily, and he began to interrogate me with a face full of anger.

“What happened to that watch? Seeing as you’re talking about tuition, did you sell it by any chance?”

“I, I sold it, on Karrot Market…”

“For how much.”

How much did I sell that for? I think I sold it really cheap to get rid of it quickly…

“Fi, five million? Around that much…”

The moment I finished speaking, a furious Yoon Hyeonjo slammed his tightly clenched fist into the horn without mercy. Honnnnk!

“Ah, fuck, fuck!”

Startled by the sharp noise, I curled my body and covered my ears. O-Oh no. He must be angry. I curled up like a pill bug and constantly watched Yoon Hyeonjo’s mood. Of course, even in that moment, I looked back just in case Woosik had woken up. Fortunately, the guy was still sleeping, drunk on the alcohol. While I had my head turned for a moment, Yoon Hyeonjo, who had turned off the ignition, spoke to me in a voice full of resentment.

“Are you crazy? You’re really not in your right mind, are you?”

“…W-Why?”

When I asked back without any tact, Yoon Hyeonjo, who had wiped his face with his hand, frowned as if he had a massive headache and spoke to me.

“That’s an eighty-million-won watch, fuck. Are you kidding me?”

“U-Uh…”

My mouth hung wide open at the price I hadn’t even imagined. Surely that Mister I met on Karrot Market had said confidently that there was no one else but him who would buy this, and that five million was a high price. Then does that mean I was completely deceived? As I sat there blinking with a stunned face, I heard Yoon Hyeonjo let out a long sigh while covering his eyes with one hand. It was clear he was thoroughly pissed off because of me.

I need to get out. With my heart shrunk to the size of a bean, I quickly grabbed the door handle. Click, click. While I was looking for a gap to run away without even apologizing to Yoon Hyeonjo in the driver’s seat, a low, sunken voice echoed from behind me.

“You really won’t do.”

“……”

“Someone like you is really…”

It seems I really was too much to Yoon Hyeonjo. Well, it would be natural for him to be angry since I sold that expensive watch for a pittance and then acted like he should just deal with it. On top of that, wasn’t I caught dating his childhood friend?

“S-Sorry.”

It was the moment I uttered a meaningless apology with my head hanging low.

“Don’t say you’re sorry. Because I don’t want to forgive you.”

Yoon Hyeonjo coldly cut me off.

“…Okay.”

Feeling awkward, I just stared at the officetel visible through the window and fidgeted with my fingers. I wished he would just tell me to get out now if he had nothing more to say. Preferably, while also manfully forgetting everything that happened between us. While I was avoiding his sharp gaze with such shameless thoughts, the guy broke the heavy silence and spoke.

“Whatever. You come to that cafe tomorrow by three in the afternoon.”

“Me? I, I have a prior engagement tomorrow.”

Why was he telling me to come out? When I quickly used my brain at the ominous feeling, Yoon Hyeonjo spoke with a scowl as if it weren’t an option.

“Don’t give me that bullshit and break it.”

“……”

“If you don’t show up, know that I’ll spill everything to Kim Woosik.”

Hic. My shoulders reflexively shrank at the terrible threat.

“A-About us two dating?”

“It’d be a relief if I only told him that.”

“T-Then?”

When I asked back in anxiety, Yoon Hyeonjo began to list my flaws one after another as if he had been waiting.

“That your personality went to the Middle East, that your economic sense is trashed, that you stole a watch, and that you swap out men at every opportunity. What else is there. Fuck, there’s so much I’m going to get confused, myself.”

My heart throbbed at that. Even so, where was the person who would so scathingly criticize someone who was once an ex? My eyes welled up with red, and I glared at Yoon Hyeonjo with eyes full of resentment.

“…You’re mean.”

But Yoon Hyeonjo didn’t even blink and threatened me.

“Ah, and that we slept together.”

This time in a more vile and petty way. I hid my left hand behind my back, worried he might discover the gold ring Kim Woosik gave me, and glared at Yoon Hyeonjo with tear-filled eyes. Naturally, there was no way it would work on Yoon Hyeonjo. I pressed down on my stinging nose with the back of my hand and mumbled to Yoon Hyeonjo in a voice as small as an ant’s.

“You’re really too much, and you’re wicked.”

“…What?”

“You have no blood or tears.”

At that, Yoon Hyeonjo didn’t even comfort me and simply unlocked the car doors.

“Ha, if you know I’m a wicked guy, then show up. Got it?”

“……”

“And, don’t keep acting like a spoiled child. Because I’m not going to take it anymore.”

I ended up completely offended by Yoon Hyeonjo’s incredibly cold voice. Of course, I knew I wasn’t in any position to be sulky with Yoon Hyeonjo, but that’s how it was. I roughly threw open the car door without looking back. I didn’t give a damn about the well-being of Kim Woosik sprawled in the back seat.

“Hey, Lee Danyeong.”