Hye Rim’s gaze at her flashing phone was filled with irritation.

Yeo Jin, heading to the kitchen to prepare a simple breakfast, looked at Hye Rim who had just woken up from dozing on the living room sofa. She probably wasn’t in a good mood since someone had disturbed her nap, as she struggled to wake up in the morning.

“Who?”

“Manager Oh Se Jin.”

Yeo Jin also frowned at the words that followed as Hye Rim tossed her phone onto the sofa.

Yeo Jin was a lawyer affiliated with IF Management along with Hye Rim, and also her closest friend.

Hye Rim, who joined IF first, recommended Yeo Jin as a lawyer to IF, and they had been working together for several years. Their combination was quite famous in the industry.

Hye Rim moved quickly to prevent minor disputes involving the artists she was in charge of, and Yeo Jin neatly handled all legal measures.

Thanks to this, while Hye Rim was known as IF’s power player externally, Yeo Jin, working in IF’s legal team, had a thorough grasp of the company’s inner workings.

“Why? Has he still not come to his senses?”

“Does he look like someone who would come to his senses?”

Yeo Jin shook her head as she watched Hye Rim pick up a well-toasted piece of bread while standing in front of the island counter.

“Well, old habits die hard.”

“You can’t fix that habit. What can you give to Oh Se Jin anyway?”

“What are you going to do?”

Hye Rim sighed deeply as she watched Yeo Jin drinking coffee.

Oh Se Jin was a skilled performer. However, the hands that created those beautiful melodies were always busy in other ways.

When incidents occurred, Hye Rim would step in to smooth things over, and when the press threatened to report or file lawsuits, she would use the contract to tie their hands and feet.

This pattern was possible because all the women Oh Se Jin touched were staff members. As a result, as sordid rumors spread, the situation reached a point where staff members avoided working with him.

Until now, it had been possible to smooth things over with the support of Apeceche’s chairman, who was an early co-investor in the management company, but the problem was that the chairman’s heart had changed recently.

The persistent harassment was a problem, but Oh Se Jin’s hand tremors had become noticeably more frequent. They tried to regard it as a psychological issue and overlook it, but it seemed the chairman didn’t see it so simply.

The chairman, a severe perfectionist, didn’t tolerate even the smallest flaw. To Apeceche, who pathologically hated imperfections, Oh Se Jin’s hand tremors were a huge problem.

Eventually, the chairman halted all support for Oh Se Jin at once and completely withdrew from IF Management.

Hye Rim had warned him about this matter directly, without beating around the bush. So now, depending on what he did, it would determine whether he would be immediately thrown out or continue for the remaining contract period.

“I told him we’d terminate the contract if he caused trouble again, but there’s no response. We’ll have to terminate it.”

Hearing Hye Rim’s sharp response, Yeo Jin recalled Oh Se Jin’s contract and calculated the remaining period. She wondered what could be done with a year still left on the contract.

“We can only terminate if something happens. We can’t do it without reason.”

“That guy will definitely cause trouble, one hundred percent.”

Yeo Jin tilted her head, looking at the confident Hye Rim.

“How come?”

“Because he forced a trip to Korea to find another backer.”

Yeo Jin mulled over the business rankings, wondering if there was a company in Korea that could match Apeceche, but there wasn’t one with that much influence.

There was CH Group at a similar level, but the group’s power players weren’t very interested in the arts sector.

“Who does he have in Korea?”

Hye Rim smirked at Yeo Jin, whose eyes were shining with curiosity.

Hye Rim had bluntly told Se Jin that if he had no intention of behaving, he should find another backer. After seeming to ponder for a few days, he suddenly decided to go to Korea.

She thought he might be turning his eyes to Korea since he couldn’t find staff to work with here due to the rumors.

But he made the baffling choice of Song Rim over the reaching Argon, and even designated a manager, showing an incomprehensible course of action.

Hye Rim was dumbfounded, thinking Se Jin had lost his mind, but when she saw the manager’s name, she changed her thinking.

While drinking with Se Jin occasionally after becoming his manager, he always mentioned one person. It was Jin Yu Ra, the performance planning team leader at Song Rim.

He was convinced that Jin Yu Ra, whom he had loved passionately but broke up with due to family opposition because he was a penniless artist, would still be longing for him.

Se Jin had boasted that he would succeed quickly and bring her back. Who would have thought this Jin Yu Ra was that Jin Yu Ra.

Moreover, Jin Yu Ra was the second child of Jin Hwa Group, ranked third in Korea’s business world.

Knowing this fact, she could guess why Se Jin chose to go to Korea. However, it was uncertain whether Jin Yu Ra still loved him as he thought.

Whatever the case, if he found a good backer, he might be able to make good use of his abilities that weren’t going to last much longer, so she pretended not to know.

Se Jin’s path started to falter because of a wedding held under the pretext of combining CH Group and Jin Hwa Group.

The parties involved were none other than the world’s most sensitive white fox and Se Jin’s passionate love, Jin Yu Ra. The moment that marriage was finalized, she noticed that all of Se Jin’s plans had gone awry.

“There is someone, but it’s turned into a case of the dog who chased chickens now staring at the roof.”

“What does that mean?”

“You’ll see later.”

Yeo Jin shrugged her shoulders and cleared the table, watching Hye Rim enter the bathroom with a sly smile.

Hye Rim smirked at herself in the bathroom mirror.

“I should take this chance to relieve some ten-year-old indigestion too.”

Hye Rim had a debt of gratitude in her heart for Baek Yi Hyun’s help long ago. She wanted to repay it quickly somehow, but there hadn’t been a suitable opportunity. Baek Yi Hyun managed everything so meticulously that there wasn’t even the smallest opening.

Of course, it wasn’t just a debt of gratitude she felt towards Baek Yi Hyun. If he had acted quickly when that harassment occurred, she might not have tasted the frustration and suicidal despair that made her feel wronged.

The act of sending only a video much later, as if doing her a favor after making her suffer so much, made her blood boil enough to blow away any gratitude.

Of course, it was true that she had a narrow escape thanks to his help, and he was indeed her benefactor. However, the timing of that help remained as a love-hate feeling for Hye Rim because it wasn’t appropriate.

“Hmm, I wonder what expression the white fox will make.”

There was a petty mindset hoping he would experience a time of having his blood drained like herself back then, even though she would help Yi Hyun if there was an opportunity.

Yi Hyun supported the drunk Yu Ra and put her in the car.

At some point, Yu Ra’s drunkenness suddenly increased, and she could barely control her body. There were no reports of her having such a weak tolerance, but perhaps due to the change in alcohol type, she quickly became drunk.

“We’ll be there soon. Get some sleep.”

As he fastened her seatbelt, Yi Hyun vowed never to let her drink with anyone else. Drunk Jin Yu Ra, smiling brightly, was so cute and lovable that he didn’t want to show her to anyone.

He sighed softly and adjusted his position in the driver’s seat when Yu Ra’s small lips quivered.

“…want to.”

Yi Hyun couldn’t hear clearly what she said, so he moved closer to Yu Ra.

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“Haa.”

“Yu Ra, are you okay?”

Her eyelids lifted slowly, revealing eyes as black as obsidian, full of intoxication, staring at him.

“Baek… Yi Hyun.”

“Yes, it’s me. Try to pull yourself together.”

“I want to.”

At the clearly heard words, Yi Hyun’s mind became complicated without him realizing.

It was the first time he had dealt with a drunk person since meeting his senior privately in the military. Recalling that terrible incident, Yi Hyun quickly unfastened the seatbelt.

“Do you want me to take you to the bathroom?”

“I want to.”

Seeing Yu Ra repeatedly saying she wanted to, Yi Hyun became urgent. Just as he was hurriedly reaching for the car door to let her out:

“Okay. Wai…!”

“Haa, let’s do it.”

Yu Ra grabbed Yi Hyun’s clothes and lifted her head. The scent of alcohol wafted strongly with her breath.

Her intoxicated eyes seemed to have lost all reason. And within them, desire was writhing.

“Oh my.”

“Hmm?”

Seeing her act coquettishly like a child’s urging made him feel a throbbing below. Yi Hyun unconsciously covered Yu Ra’s eyes with his hand. If he kept looking into those eyes, he felt his barely held reason would snap.

“You’ll regret this when you sober up.”

“Don’t you want to do it with me?”

With her eyes covered and only her lips mumbling, this was torment in its own way. If Jin Yu Ra knew what she was saying, what expression would she make?

He couldn’t help but chuckle at her question of whether he didn’t want to.

For a long time, he had been curious about Jin Yu Ra. His eyes kept being drawn to her, his interest deepened, and he thought it was all just a small curiosity he felt for a friend’s sister.

He thought those feelings would change when the marriage was finally arranged. However, on that first night, Yi Hyun realized. It could never be just according to the contract, and his curiosity had already taken on a different meaning long ago.

Those feelings became even more solid as they lived together. He thought it was just because of the pleasure he was tasting for the first time, but it was a complete misunderstanding and misjudgment. It was a series of moments where he felt he would go crazy with desire just by looking at her every moment.

He felt ridiculous that he might become a true beast because of Jin Yu Ra, who was occupying his mind even when he couldn’t see her.

So the question of whether he didn’t want to do it was absurd. Yi Hyun muttered in a deeply sunken voice.

“I want to roll around with you all day.”

Yi Hyun looked down at Yu Ra clinging to his collar and lowered his lips.

As he delved into her mouth, the faint scent of Yu Ra’s breath no longer smelled of alcohol, but rather spread a deep sweetness. As he probed persistently, as if he was as impatient as her, her arms wrapped around Yi Hyun’s neck.

Yi Hyun briefly bit his lip at her low whimper, as if she had forgotten how to breathe in her drunken state. He then grabbed Yu Ra’s waist and placed her on his thigh, lowering his lips to her neck.

“You know? When I look at you, it’s hard to control myself.”

“Haa.”

Yu Ra’s body twitched at the sensation of her delicate skin being rubbed. All the blood in his body rushed downwards, involuntarily clenching his jaw.

“I want to devour you completely, from head to toe.”

Even at Yi Hyun’s low growl, her half-lidded eyes remained hazy.

Yi Hyun engraved in his mind how those eyes changed in bed at every moment. As if pulling out those memories, he widened his lips while locking gazes with her.

“You don’t know how breathtaking you are when you’re soaked in pleasure, with tears in your eyes.”

The confused eyes, unaware of anything, slowly disappeared and reappeared repeatedly. Yi Hyun grabbed Yu Ra’s buttocks to support her as she was about to go limp, pulling her even closer to himself.

With no gap between them, he felt dizzy. The desire to plunge in immediately and shake her up was about to burst. It felt like the most torturous moment in the world.

Yu Ra’s body slumped, and her face fell onto Yi Hyun’s shoulder. Yi Hyun took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. As he did so, he slowly stroked her back.

“Even though you’ve made me like this and fallen asleep now, I’m not angry.”

Yu Ra had tempted him to the brink and then fallen asleep.

Although it wouldn’t be strange to curse with the leftover desire in this situation where she had seduced him right before his eyes, Yi Hyun felt no anger at all. Rather, he was surprised by the sense of relief that was spreading.

If possible, he wanted to keep Yu Ra at home. So that no one’s gaze could reach her, so that no one could covet her carelessly. However, Jin Yu Ra would never follow Yi Hyun’s wishes.

“You drive me crazy because you never go according to my will. It’s really maddening.”

The tough Jin Yu Ra, who lived cutting off contact as if ignoring Jin Kang Su’s coercion, would cut him off mercilessly if she knew his petty inner thoughts. That’s why he couldn’t do more.

Moreover, he couldn’t yet define what this emotion was.

Whether it was mere possessiveness, or if he was just intrigued by Jin Yu Ra, who was like an unpredictable rugby ball. For now, he just wanted her to keep staying by his side.

“It seems I’ll need time.”

To figure out the identity of this emotion.