“Lee Ji Wan! Where are you going! Ah, where are you going!”

The lobby of the theater where the number of passing people had noticeably decreased as the musical began.

Hwa Young’s booming voice filled the hall.

The person he was urgently chasing after was none other than Ji Wan.

Hugging her bag tightly and running out quickly as soon as the lights went out, she looked as if she was escaping at a glance.

But she wasn’t running away.

She is now on her way to the grim reaper who has been waiting for her for an hour.

“Hey! Are you really going?!”

“Of course I’m really going! Did you think I’d fake-go?!”

“Those tickets were hard to get! It’s evidence that I cared to show you!”

“So what! Why are you showing that to me!”

Hwa Young and Ji Wan didn’t stop arguing even while chasing each other.

Ji Wan, thoroughly annoyed at the one-sided Hwa Young, was in a situation where she was cutting off even the ends of her words.

Hwa Young looked at her with eyes that couldn’t understand her at all, then started running a little faster.

Then he firmly grabbed her wrist as she was about to press the elevator button.

“Why! Does Joo Tae Sung throw a fit when you’re with me?!”

Hwa Young’s question that completely missed the point.

It was enough to scratch Ji Wan’s already sharpened nerves.

“Do you think I’m leaving because I’m afraid of Joo Tae Sung?”

“If not, why would you run out in such a hurry!”

“Ha, wouldn’t anyone run out? We’re not close enough to sit side by side and watch a performance, and we’ve only met once. How can you just drag me here!”

“We’ve met twice. Once at the department store, once at home.”

“Ah, that’s the same thing! It’s the same as dragging someone along one-sidedly!”

Ji Wan shouted at Hwa Young, who kept missing the important points.

Hwa Young seemed to turn his head for a moment at her shout, then looked back at her and asked incredulously.

“But… I’m Do Hwa Young?”

Oh my, he must really be crazy.

Ji Wan let out a hollow laugh as she looked at Hwa Young, whose ego was too inflated.

But she immediately hardened her expression again and shook off the grabbed wrist with a snap.

At her hostile attitude, an earthquake trembled in Hwa Young’s pupils.

“Did you just shake me off? When I grabbed you?”

“Aish, so noisy.”

“Do you do this to Joo Tae Sung too? Or what, did Joo Tae Sung say I’m too attractive so don’t associate with me at all?”

“Right. I should contact Tae Sung.”

While Hwa Young kept asking seriously, Ji Wan was only rummaging through her bag saying she would contact Tae Sung, not even answering.

This was the first time someone had treated him like this.

Do Hwa Young, born with a vibranium spoon in his mouth, was a fanfare everywhere he went, especially welcomed by women.

But this woman in front of him was far from welcoming, treating him like an annoying bug…

‘Is she meeting Joo Tae Sung because she’s so blind to everything else…!’

Just as he was thinking this.

“Ah! This is driving me crazy!”

Ji Wan stomped her feet and got angry once more.

Hwa Young, who had been dazed by the treatment he was experiencing for the first time, was startled and stepped back.

Ji Wan glared at Hwa Young as if she would eat him.

“My phone is gone! I must have dropped it at my seat! Ah, what am I going to do!”

This was also the first time a woman had been this angry at him, except for Choi Yu Ria.

Flustered, Hwa Young stuttered as he protested.

“Th-that’s not because of me.”

“What are you talking about?!”

As soon as those words ended, Ji Wan approached Hwa Young with aggressive steps.

“Who brought me here in the first place! This is all because of you, Mr. Do Hwa Young! You know?! Even if I die by Joo Tae Sung’s hands, it’s all because of you!”

Hesitation―

Hwa Young stepped back at her fierce momentum.

This wasn’t why he brought her here.

The original plan was to appear as a surprise, show her something nice, feed her something nice, dress her in something nice, and leave a good impression…

It seems the first attempt at “seducing Joo Tae Sung’s woman” was a major failure.

As much as he hates to admit it, Joo Tae Sung who married such a honey badger of a woman seems somewhat impressive.

* * *

“You can’t enter now.”

“Th-then…”

“You’ll have to wait until the break time.”

“What? Really? When is the break time?”

“You still have 45 minutes left.”

“Haah…”

Ji Wan, who was immediately stopped by the staff guarding the theater door, let out a long sigh.

Immediately after, she glared at Hwa Young behind her.

His eyes were so much like a male lion’s that Hwa Young unconsciously gulped.

“What are you going to do?”

Ji Wan asked.

Hwa Young answered as haughtily as possible, pretending not to be intimidated.

“What should I do?”

“Contact Joo Tae Sung quickly now.”

“That bastard? Why should I?”

“Explain that you unilaterally dragged me here, so I couldn’t go to the appointment, and now I can’t go because I lost my phone because of you, Mr. Do Hwa Young.”

“That sounds like I’m apologizing.”

“Then you should, shouldn’t you?”

Now even her words have gotten shorter.

You’re only a month younger than your Joo Tae Sung. No wonder you’re Joo Tae Sung’s wife, you’re just as rude.

Hwa Young thought this but decided not to say it out loud.

Because he realized that the bag in that woman’s hand was harder and heavier than it looked.

But still, he couldn’t just call Joo Tae Sung and confess like in a confessional.

Hwa Young stepped one step away from her bag, and instead asked in a firm voice.

“You’ve been pushing it since earlier, but who told you to treat me like this? Aren’t you a reporter? Haven’t you figured out who I am yet?”

“Do Hwa Young. Eldest son of the LU Group. Director of LU Department Store.”

Ji Wan answered in an equally firm tone.

He was going to introduce himself confidently, but she answered so accurately that he was momentarily speechless.

Still, Hwa Young, who never lost in momentum anywhere, growled, baring his canines.

“Right, if you know that, you should know your place and dare not to me…!”

“Ah, and a huge fan of Joo Tae Sung.”

But Ji Wan didn’t meekly show fear.

Rather, she pinched and twisted Hwa Young’s weakest point.

“Who’s a huge fan!”

“Last time and this time too, you’ve been making all kinds of fuss to get Joo Tae Sung’s attention. What’s that if not a huge fan?”

“Ha, really… you… you really, damn… you honey badger…”

Is there a more humiliating moment in the world than this?

Hwa Young, too shocked to even get angry, was at a loss for words.

Right then.

“Director. You were here?”

A very familiar voice reached Hwa Young’s ears.

The earthquake-stricken eyes of Hwa Young and the sharpened eyes of Ji Wan turned in the same direction at once.

“The person next to you… is Prosecutor Joo Tae Sung’s wife, I see.”

It was a face he had seen briefly at the department store.

Ji Wan, recognizing him, asked warily.

“How do you know me?”

“I’m Yang Je Hyun, Director Do Hwa Young’s personal secretary. Let’s just say I naturally came to know as it’s my job to keep track of Director Do’s movements.”

Secretary Yang extended his hand to Ji Wan.

Ji Wan only looked at the outstretched hand without shaking it.

Instead, her next question was quite sharp.

“Are you two on the same side? I wondered how Hwa Young found where I work, but there was someone who told him? You know this is also a crime, right?”

It was true that he had passed on Ji Wan’s personal information, but Secretary Yang decided to be only half honest instead of revealing the whole truth.

“Today’s events have nothing to do with me.”

“Liar!”

“It’s not related. At all. I just came to pick up Director Do for the next schedule.”

Secretary Yang answered firmly with a serious expression.

This time, confusion formed in Hwa Young’s eyes as he stared at him.

“How did you know I was here…?”

Chairman Choi put a tracking device on your beloved Onyx.

…If he said that, he’d probably call Chairman Choi Yu Ria right away and make a fuss.

Secretary Yang turned completely away from Hwa Young looking at him.

Then he said once more to Ji Wan with a resolute expression.

“As you can see, today’s events have nothing to do with me. So please let me take Director Do without any further disturbance.”

“No, really, how did you come? Who told you? Did some eyewitness account spread or something?”

“…”

“Yang! Answer me! Aoh, who told you, I said!”

Ji Wan looked at the two with narrow eyes.

Since that man always appeared wherever Do Hwa Young was last time, he was definitely the secretary, and seeing Do Hwa Young react like that, it seemed that man was just cleaning up after the person he served.

‘Then is he like Do Hwa Young’s brake…?’

Ji Wan looked over Secretary Yang with serious eyes.

Judging by his neat appearance and serious expression, he didn’t seem to be crazy like Do Hwa Young.

Thinking he might be someone she could reason with, Ji Wan faced him directly and said,

“You really want to avoid a disturbance? Then you contact Joo Tae Sung. Tell him I’m here. That I couldn’t go to today’s appointment because of that person.”

Ji Wan’s nod pointed towards Hwa Young at the ‘that person’ part.

Hwa Young gave Secretary Yang a look asking if he saw that rude attitude.

Secretary Yang let out a short sigh looking at the two, and obediently picked up his cell phone as Ji Wan wanted.

“I’ll contact him. Prosecutor Joo.”

“Yang, leave me out of it. If even the ‘Do’ in Do Hwa Young gets in, I’ll really get a written apology this time.”

“I’ll try to mention your name as little as possible, Director. Will that satisfy both of you?”

Ji Wan nodded first at Secretary Yang’s question.

Hwa Young still couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling but decided to comply reluctantly.

Only after getting confirmation from both did Secretary Yang finally raise his cell phone.

He had known Joo Tae Sung’s number for a long time.

Because when Joo Tae Sung disappeared after getting married, a half-crazed Do Hwa Young kept pestering him to keep calling.

Rrrrr― Rrrrr―

The dial tone rang about twice.

What followed was a low voice he hadn’t heard in a long time.

―Yes, this is Joo Tae Sung.

His intimidating presence transmitted fully even through the phone.

Secretary Yang launched into the main point along with a brief greeting to explain this situation.

“It’s been a while, Prosecutor Joo. This is Yang Je Hyun. Prosecutor Joo’s wife is at L Theater…”

―I’ll see you there.

Click―

A short call that ended before he could finish what he was saying.

A clear chill ran down Secretary Yang’s spine for an obvious reason.

Secretary Yang at this moment, truly.

“What, what did that bastard say?”

With all his heart, truly and sincerely.

“Did you get caught too?”

Wanted to flip over the young master who was snickering shamelessly in front of him.

With the ultimate jiu-jitsu technique he had been training for 30 years since he was 7 years old.