A Gentle Intruder (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 4

“Hyung! Hyung. Hyung. Hyung!”

Byung Hoon burst into the house, chattering excitedly. Jae Ho, who had just stepped out of the shower, nonchalantly shook his wet hair and greeted him with a glance. Byung Hoon briefly stared at Jae Ho’s body with newly awed admiration, then quickly snapped out of it and hurried over to get straight to the point.

“Hyung! Did you check the fan cafe?”

“Manager Jeong is here. Go say hello.”

On the sofa Jae Ho indicated sat Jung Min Ho, chief of staff from Taemyeong Group’s secretarial office, flipping through some documents.

Byung Hoon suddenly felt the reality of Jae Ho being a third-generation chaebol heir sink in. He’d almost forgotten, since Jae Ho never talked about his family, but in truth, whenever Jae Ho met people from Taemyeong, his sharp, businesslike demeanor always surfaced without warning.

“Oh! Chief! Long time no see!”

“Yeah. Byung Hoon-ah. It has been a while.”

The three of them sat down on the sofa. Byung Hoon joked about the unfamiliar, shiny L-brand sedan parked outside—was that really the chief’s car?—and Manager Jeong gave a small chuckle and nodded.

“But Chief, what brings you here?”

“I came to give you the quarterly performance reports from the subsidiaries. Heard you were free after wrapping up your shoot.”

Jae Ho frowned slightly.

“I told you not to call me that.”

“How else am I supposed to address you if not as Director?”

“Just call me Jae Ho, like you used to.”

“How can I do that? You’re the heir to Taemyeong.”

Manager Jeong deflected Jae Ho’s mild scolding with practiced ease and replied evasively. Suddenly, Byung Hoon clapped his hands together.

“Whoa. That third-gen chaebol aura—so cool! Lee Jae Ho, heir to the great Taemyeong Group, hid his identity to become an actor, and on top of that, he’s freakishly good at acting too. Hyung, seriously, the more I learn about you, the more you seem like a cheat-code character!”

Byung Hoon gave him two enthusiastic thumbs-up and a playful wink. Jae Ho usually disliked this sort of talk, but somehow, he didn’t mind Byung Hoon’s flattery and just chuckled softly.

“You don’t need to report everything to an outside director. It’s fine. And besides, I have no plans to inherit the group. That’s just something Grandfather says.”

“He’s never made a wrong decision before.”

Jae Ho cut off Manager Jeong’s remark and turned to Byung Hoon.

“But why’d you come over? What about the fan cafe?”

“Oh!”

Byung Hoon finally remembered why he’d barged into Jae Ho’s house, pulled out his phone, and grinned meaningfully.

“Seems like opportunity’s knocking.”

While Jae Ho looked bewildered, Byung Hoon quickly opened the fan cafe, tapped on a recent post, and shoved the screen right in front of Jae Ho’s eyes.

“A chance to reunite with Da Jung unnie.”

[Hey Sweeties! It’s ‘Da Jung Han Jae Ho’! I got a month’s vacation and I’m heading to the sea! I took some time off because of that tough thing I mentioned last time. T_T But I haven’t found a pension yet, lol. If anyone knows of a private pension in Taean available for a month, please let me know! ^^ And for a full, peaceful break, I’ll be diving offline from the fan cafe for exactly one month. See you all in a month!]

Jae Ho’s eyes brightened as he skimmed the post, and the corners of his lips tilted upward. A genuinely warm smile softly enveloped his face. Watching this, Manager Jeong reached out his hand toward Byung Hoon.

“Byung Hoon-ah. Let me see too.”

After Jae Ho read it through twice, the phone was passed over to Manager Jeong. Byung Hoon leaned close to Manager Jeong’s ear and rattled on excitedly—how Jae Ho was finally going to meet Da Jung unnie again, how it had been thirteen years and he was already so nervous, and how weird it was that someone like Hyung, who didn’t look the type, stayed utterly devoted to just one woman….

“Honestly, he looks more like a playboy, right? Just look at him—born to break hearts. Oh! Actually, he’s probably already made tons of fans cry, hasn’t he?”

Manager Jeong barely listened to Byung Hoon’s chatter, but his eyes gleamed with quiet significance.

“Director, I’ll find that Taean pension for you immediately.”

Jae Ho held his breath for just a moment.

In that brief pause, both men present understood exactly how long and how deeply he’d waited. They were Jae Ho’s people—one supported actor Lee Jae Ho, and the other backed Lee Jae Ho of Taemyeong. Both sincerely rooted for his happiness.

“…Could you do that for me, Chief?”

The man who stood confidently before countless cameras now answered with visible nervousness. Byung Hoon gently scolded him in a low voice.

“How many years did you waste just because you insisted on hiding your identity, Hyung?”

[This is the timeline separator]

After finishing her final day at work, Da Jung wrapped up a quick handover and exchanged goodbyes with her colleagues. Though it was only a short farewell, she felt oddly sentimental and hurried out of the hospital without looking back. Kyung Mi, who had arranged to leave together, pulled her car out of the parking lot and came up to the ground level. As soon as the car stopped, Da Jung quickly hopped in.

“Where in Taean?”

“Just somewhere remote. The countryside. There’s not even a supermarket nearby.”

“How on earth did you find a place like that? No one around—that’s worrying again.”

Kyung Mi was concerned about safety.

“Don’t pick some noisy tourist trap. Why go all the way into the countryside? People aren’t as kind in rural areas these days. Don’t go announcing you’re a woman traveling alone—be careful.”

Da Jung nodded. She probably wouldn’t run into any locals anyway.

“Did you book it online? Did you find it through a search?”

“No. I posted on Lee Jae Ho’s fan cafe, and someone introduced me to it.”

“That darn Lee Jae Ho. At least he’s been useful for something this once. I thought he just kept taking your money.”

Da Jung silently smiled at the blunt remark. Kyung Mi, ever practical, deeply regretted all the time and money Da Jung spent chasing after Lee Jae Ho.

“No matter how much you like a celebrity, you should just stick to watching them on TV! Yoon Da Jung, get a grip!”

In Kyung Mi’s eyes, almost everything Da Jung did for Jae Ho—sending coffee trucks, meal boxes, even occasionally following him to the airport—was utterly pointless.

“Don’t hate Lee Jae Ho too much, unnie.”

“Oh goodness. Anyone hearing that might think you’re dating!”

“He’s even better than a boyfriend!”

“Hey, that’s only because you’ve never actually had a real boyfriend.”

Knowing Kyung Mi meant well, Da Jung simply smiled and said nothing more.

The evening commute through the bustling city felt like a parking lot. Da Jung gazed blankly at the tightly packed cars outside and left a faint breath on the window. As condensation blurred the glass, she secretly wrote “Lee Jae Ho” when Kyung Mi wasn’t looking—then quickly wiped it away.

She remembered the post she’d made on the cafe a few days ago.

Her request for a Taean pension recommendation had been partly a joke, yet someone among her fans had sent her a private message. Da Jung had been both surprised and delighted—she never expected anyone would actually refer her to a real place.

Lee Jae Ho’s fans were all incredibly kind. They could’ve easily just ignored her….

[Da Jae! I’ll introduce you to the pension my grandpa runs! It’s brand new—just finished construction! He said he can rent it to you for a month since business slows down starting in autumn anyway.]

The username was . Out of habit, Da Jung checked the user’s activity history on the cafe. The account had been registered for several years and showed lots of participation—an excellent, trustworthy member by Da Jung’s standards.

[Thank you so much! Could you send me your contact info so I can get in touch?] [You’ll love it. ^^]

sent her a link to the pension’s website. The clean, serene view of the ocean stretching right in front of the pension immediately caught her eye. She carefully examined the interior photos as well—being newly built, every facility looked perfect. There was simply no reason not to choose this place.

She called the number provided. The warm, gentle voice of an elderly man greeted her kindly, which only strengthened her trust. Moreover, the price was far lower than she’d anticipated.

“We old folks aren’t good at advertising ourselves. Just stay comfortably for a month, and later, if you could leave a nice review online, that’d be more than enough.”

Everything seemed to fall smoothly into place. Such good fortune felt like a gift—she hadn’t dared hope for a brand-new pension within her tight budget.

“Anyway, double-check once more if it’s really reliable before you go.”

“I’ve already verified everything thoroughly, unnie. Don’t worry.”

Da Jung reassured Kyung Mi.

“Then don’t go alone—ask Kyung Jun to drive you there.”

Still uneasy, Kyung Mi repeated her advice several times, even adding regretfully that maybe she shouldn’t have suggested going to the sea at all—staying home to rest would’ve been fine too. Da Jung let out a sigh mixed with laughter.

“Of course I’ll go with Kyung Jun. Do you really think he’d let me go alone? He’s already taken his vacation leave.”

“Good.”

“Ugh. Lee Kyung Jun’s nagging is seriously worse than yours, unnie. He scolded me so much for deciding to travel for a month without even consulting him. Like, who does he think he is, always acting like my older brother?”

“Yeah, that is kind of funny.”

By now, the car had entered a quiet apartment complex. Streetlights flickered on one by one. Between the pools of light, tree leaves trembled, casting rippling shadows that resembled ocean waves—making Da Jung briefly feel as if she’d already arrived at the sea.

Kyung Mi circled the complex once, looking for a parking spot. They lived in different buildings of the same aging complex, where parking spaces were always scarce.

“Go all the way to Building 107, unnie. There’s always a spot there.”

“Ugh. I don’t wanna walk that far…”

Though she complained, there was no other choice, so Kyung Mi drove to the farthest end.

“Wanna grab dinner? You’ll just eat cup noodles again, right?”

“No, I’ll manage on my own.”

Da Jung had to pack a whole month’s worth of luggage. The fact that dinner felt entirely unimportant told her she was probably a little excited. And she didn’t mind this fluttering feeling at all.

[This is the timeline separator]

From where Jae Ho stood by the window, the vast Han River stretched into view. Countless cars lined the evening commute, crawling slowly like a long, tedious string of dots.

“Chief, you double-checked all my luggage, right?”

[Of course. Everything’s packed.]

“Good.”

Still on the phone, Jae Ho turned from the window and walked toward his desk. Inside the dim study, the monitor screen glowed brightly. Jae Ho sat down and moved the mouse to open the fan cafe.

“And the home appliances and furniture—prepared as top-tier, per my last instructions?”

[Absolutely.]

“Thank you for your hard work.”

After hanging up, Jae Ho stared at the monitor for a long while. An irrepressible smile kept tugging at his lips. This restless, tingling feeling—was it excitement, perhaps?

[Everyone! I’m finally leaving tomorrow! ^^ Thanks to one of our Sweeties, I found an absolutely amazing pension! ^^ Our cafe is so precious to me—thank you, thank you, I’m touched T_T I’ll rest well and be back soon!]

Displayed on the screen was a post by a woman whose username was usually shortened by fans to “Da Jae.” The cheerful tone of the message made him smile. She truly suited this bright, happy demeanor—in the past, she’d only posted gloomy updates, which had worried him endlessly.

“Da Jung-ah…”

The man’s voice rumbled softly.

“From now on, only good things will happen to you. Don’t worry.”