“Why does someone who was born and lived in Chicago for so long eat spicy food so well?”
Tae Seo was currently gulping down his second pack of plum-flavored drink. Jae In offered him a napkin soaked in water with a sympathetic look.
“My mother loved tteokbokki. She used to buy the ingredients from a Korean market and make it often. If we didn’t have rice cakes, she would just put in dumplings or ramen instead.”
“…”
“Why did you lie and say you like spicy food instead of just saying you can’t eat it?”
“It wasn’t a lie…”
Having pressed the cold, wet napkin to his reddened lips, Tae Seo finally seemed to have calmed down as he let out a sigh, his breath full of the scent of plum-flavored beverage.
Tae Seo just wanted to share in what Jae In liked. He wanted to see her enjoying delicious food and smiling.
But she didn’t even glance at the mild, normal, or slightly spicy options on the menu. What Jae In’s finger landed on was a bit higher up on the scale: the spicy category.
With two red peppers drawn next to it.
Tae Seo felt like crying and actually wiped away a few tears while eating the tteokbokki.
He had no time to be grateful for not choosing a menu item with three, four, or five peppers drawn next to it, as he was too busy pouring the plum drink into his mouth to soothe his swollen lips and tingling tongue.
“I did it to win your heart.”
“Hmm…”
“It was an effort.”
Jae In tried to suppress her laughter as she handed a bottle of water to Tae Seo, who had calmed down somewhat, and then got up to leave with him.
“You scored some points. But let me tell you how to score more.”
“…What is it?”
After paying, Tae Seo followed Jae In outside. The cool breeze felt welcoming after sweating.
“I didn’t like the car you drove yesterday.”
“The car…?”
Tae Seo looked puzzled as he watched Jae In backing away.
“The car you drove me in when you took me home. That big, black car, I don’t like it.”
The Maybach, which felt rather old-fashioned to the younger Tae Seo, wasn’t actually to his taste either.
It was a company car used for business. He had to use the company car after going to Yeonryudong in the morning and then commuting to work with Manager Kim.
“Kind of too blatantly says ‘I’m a chaebol,’ don’t you think? Next time we meet, come in a different car.”
Just moments before, Jae In almost happily greeted Jo Dae Hoon, mistaking him for Kang Tae Seo. It was an offhand remark born out of that dislike. But Tae Seo, unaware of this fact, burst into laughter at Jae In’s added comment.
“A different car?”
“Are you going to say you only have that one car? I would think you have at least two or three.”
“I only have one car. I’m not really interested in cars.”
Tae Seo’s car was an SUV with a uniquely mysterious blue color. Both the Maybach he had driven yesterday and the sedan he occasionally used belonged to the company, so technically it wasn’t a lie.
“Then buy a new one. I don’t like that car.”
“You talk about buying a car as if it’s buying a toy.”
“Well, I know you’re someone who could buy a car like buying a toy.”
“…That means you roughly know what I do for a living.”
It seemed about time for Tae Seo to check with Jae In. He really liked Jae In’s confidence, but he felt he needed to understand what she truly thought.
“Manager Kim gave me his business card.”
“People usually get surprised.”
Jae In stared at Tae Seo for a moment then smiled as if she found it a little amusing. But Tae Seo didn’t notice as he was looking at her hands. He had been resisting the urge to hold her hand for a while now.
Holding hands would make him want to do other things.
“I’ve received a business card from a crown prince of a country twice before.”
“…”
“One of them even proposed to be his twenty-seventh wife, offering oil drilling rights, I think.”
“I lose.”
Tae Seo’s grumble was met with Jae In’s giggling. The smile spreading across Tae Seo’s face was becoming more and more like Jae In’s.
“My name is Jo Yu Ri. I have something to deliver to the director. Is she in?”
“I’m sorry, but she’s currently out of the office.”
Upon hearing the secretary’s guidance, cracks formed on Yu Ri’s face, which had been beaming with a pretty smile and shining round eyes just moments before.
“…You’re saying she’s not in right now?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Yu Ri knew that Director Lim Hong Jin had come to the office. Yet to be turned away like this, it was an unfamiliar humiliation for her, and her face turned red in an instant. However, she quickly regained her composure and curled her lips into a smile.
She had come unannounced. Perhaps the secretary didn’t even know who she was.
So it was understandable that the secretary couldn’t casually allow someone who abruptly wanted to see the director to enter. Yu Ri couldn’t fault the secretary who was just doing her job, since the director wouldn’t meet with just anyone.
“I am Jo Yu Ri, the team leader of the sponsorship department at Hyunyang Foundation.”
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
