Desperate for a Catch (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 7
There were days when I once wanted to become someone like Kang Da Hee. I respected her, admired her, and wanted to be just like her.
“Hi? I hear you’re the strongest among this year’s recruits?”
“Me?”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Kang Da Hee. You’ve seen my face plenty, right?”
“Yes, yes.”
Just like the intensity of that first meeting, she always led the way in everything.
“Yoon Woo Yeon, don’t rely on the teleprompter—just read it.”
“What?”
“If you lean on that thing, you’ll never improve. Just organize a few words in your head—that’s all you need.”
“But, sunbae, how am I supposed to memorize all of this? There’s no time.”
“Quiet. Do as I say. PD-nim, please turn off the teleprompter.”
Two years ago, during Yoon Woo Yeon’s first live news broadcast alongside a male anchor, Kang Da Hee came to watch—and right in front of Yoon Woo Yeon, she turned off the teleprompter.
With barely five minutes left before going live, Woo Yeon’s mind went completely blank.
Even though she’d prepared thoroughly, she believed it was impossible without the teleprompter.
It wasn’t her solo broadcast, and it was obvious this would negatively affect her male co-anchor as well.
Seeing Woo Yeon clenching her lips tightly, Kang Da Hee patted her shoulder.
“You’re Yoon Woo Yeon—the junior I value most. Don’t you ever forget that.”
That day, Woo Yeon delivered the news so flawlessly it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she flew through it without a single mistake.
When she lifted her head after delivering the closing line and bowing, Kang Da Hee gave her a big thumbs-up.
The title of the first solo female anchor, the most trusted journalist for four consecutive years, the woman of this era beloved by all.
Kang Da Hee was once that kind of person.
I wanted to walk the exact same path as my dazzlingly brilliant senior.
But when I realized that the senior I’d thought was a noble swan was actually someone worn down in a foul, muddy swamp, what I felt was betrayal.
Woo Yeon looked at Kang Da Hee with icy cold eyes.
Facing her senior—whose face had now become unbearably ugly—she uttered words cruel beyond measure.
Her voice was as clear and sharp as when delivering the news.
“Sunbae, do you really believe anything in this world lasts forever?”
“What?”
“Nothing is eternal. Everything you’re doing will eventually collapse.”
“…….”
“Why exhaust yourself over a sandcastle that’s about to crumble? What meaning does that love even hold for you?”
Kang Da Hee took another swig of alcohol. Though afraid of Woo Yeon, who held her secret, she also wore an expression of strange resignation.
“You don’t know anything.”
“That’s right. And I don’t want to know.”
“Yoon Woo Yeon, have you ever truly loved someone?”
“…….”
“No, I thought so. How pitiful.”
“It’s late. I’ll call you a taxi—let’s just go home now.”
As always, it ended with Kang Da Hee’s tears.
After soothing her as she sobbed uncontrollably, Woo Yeon finally got her into a taxi, handing cash to the driver and reciting Kang Da Hee’s address.
Standing still and staring blankly at the taxi fading into the distance, Woo Yeon remained dazed for a while.
The wind was cold.
“…Excuse me, Ms. Yoon Woo Yeon?”
Turning around, she saw the man who had been seated to Kang Da Hee’s right in the room just now shyly pulling his hand away from the coat lapel he’d just touched.
Though it had been incredibly difficult to move the now utterly drunk Kang Da Hee alone, Woo Yeon had only permitted the man’s help as far as the club’s entrance.
Outside, there were too many onlookers, and she didn’t believe accepting further help would benefit either her senior or herself—so she’d firmly dismissed him.
Then why was he acting like he knew her now?
What did he want?
Woo Yeon narrowed her eyes.
“What do you need?”
The man, who had just been playing shy, suddenly changed his expression.
“I’m Yoon Jin Ho. Same surname as you, announcer Yoon Woo Yeon.”
“So?”
“I’m your fan.”
Woo Yeon struggled to find an appropriate reply.
He looked young—early twenties at most, maybe mid-twenties—and bit his lips tightly,
as if genuinely proving he was a real fan.
Woo Yeon’s gaze lingered, silently assessing him.
He was handsome.
Not in the same way as Cha Tae Kyung, but undeniably closer to the face of a model or a rookie actor.
“Are you an actor?”
He nodded, seemingly pleased that she recognized him.
“Yes, that’s right. I’m still a newcomer.”
“How do you know Senior Kang?”
“I don’t know her personally—it’s the guy I came with. We’ve been acquainted for a while.”
Woo Yeon’s expression went completely blank.
“I see. Good luck with your work.”
She walked past him indifferently, but perhaps because of his youth, the man refused to give up.
“Wait! Ms. Yoon Woo Yeon! Next time… if it’s alright, could we meet again?”
As he reached out to ask for her contact information, Woo Yeon ignored him—annoyed that he couldn’t even tell the difference between an announcer and an anchor.
“No. That won’t happen.”
“But maybe another time—”
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
“You said you’re an actor, right? Then I assume you understand the rules of this industry.”
“…….”
“You need to manage your image carefully. It’s really not a good idea to ask someone like me outright for a meeting or contact info—especially as a newcomer, you should be extra cautious.”
“Oh.”
Woo Yeon turned away coldly.
She walked quietly down the dimly lit street for a while.
Why did she end up thinking of that man after snapping at some greenhorn kid?
Damn Cha Tae Kyung.
The memory of his lips kept sticking in her mind, sticky and persistent.
As he stepped out of the bar and onto the street, Team Leader Han, who’d been waiting in the car, opened the back door for him.
Tae Kyung tugged his tie down slightly.
Lately, whenever he saw Yoon Woo Yeon, an inexplicable thirst arose. He twisted open a bottle of mineral water and gulped it down. Team Leader Han, who was driving, briefly glanced back—but Tae Kyung paid no mind.
He recalled the blind date with a woman a few nights ago.
Despite the late-hour arrangement, the woman had been friendly—smiling constantly and asking nonstop questions.
“What should I call you?”
Tae Kyung’s eyes locked onto her.
“Call me ‘President.’”
“Oh, right. President.”
“So let me summarize what I just said.”
“I understood clearly, President—what kind of woman you want, and even the kind of woman you’re determined to marry.”
Though the woman kept talking after that, Tae Kyung found it hard to focus on her.
Clearly interested in him, she was still ultimately rejected by Tae Kyung,
with the absurdly vague excuse that she “didn’t seem to meet his criteria.”
“My apologies for the trouble.”
Tae Kyung turned toward the window. His thoughts drifted simultaneously to his mother, left behind in America, and to the face of a man he now barely remembered—preserved only in a single photograph.
That man had abandoned his loving wife and children and returned to Korea.
Left alone to care for her young son and daughter, the woman gradually grew ill, and last winter, she received a terminal diagnosis.
Though his mother had chosen a life forever distant from the chaebol world, Tae Kyung was the opposite.
Money and power—he craved them, desired them, wanted to devour them all.
He grew up witnessing clearly:
the life of their abandoned half-sister,
the life of a wife shattered by one man’s betrayal,
and the foolish daily existence of a mother who, while tending to her sick children, had neglected herself.
When Tae Kyung declared his determination to return to Korea and live as part of a chaebol family, his mother strongly objected and shook her head.
But she already knew—nothing could break her son’s will.
After all, Tae Kyung had always been extraordinary from birth. Even as a child, he cherished himself deeply.
She only wished that the goal driving his life wouldn’t be the greedy, self-serving Myeong San.
She hoped he would learn love, and because of love, experience pain and tears—and through that, grasp something far more precious in life.
That’s why, before the shadow of death came knocking at her door, she made her final request:
bring her the woman you’ll marry.
“Someone who stirs your heart is enough,” she’d said.
“That would be enough.”
That was why Tae Kyung squeezed time out of his packed schedule to meet women.
His request was simple: just pretend to be his fiancée until his mother passed away.
Pretend, better than anyone else, that they were deeply in love—a devoted couple.
But then, an unexpected variable appeared.
Yoon Woo Yeon—the first turning point ever to enter Cha Tae Kyung’s life.
“Haah.”
Closing the open mineral water bottle, Tae Kyung wiped the trace of water from his lips.
He’d already rejected a second blind date woman for “not meeting his criteria”—yet he’d just proposed dating Yoon Woo Yeon.
Indeed, this was never part of the plan.
He’d intended only to meet her casually two or three times—have meals, share tea, and eventually bring her back to a hotel one day. He’d assumed it would be a relationship ending just like that.
But the moment he saw Yoon Woo Yeon’s face flushed red after their kiss, Tae Kyung decided he wanted her.
That was the calculation Cha Tae Kyung had made today.
Women had always been tedious company in my life—had I ever felt such intense desire to possess someone?
He found it so absurdly amusing that, while stopped at a traffic light, he blankly stared out the window.
“……!”
What caught his eye was Yoon Woo Yeon—the very woman who’d refused him with that aloof yet mischievous look in her eyes.
Though quite a distance away, astonishingly, he recognized her instantly.
She radiated presence even from afar—when they first met in the lounge, when she showed up at his hotel, when she suddenly peeked into that large, empty bar where he sat alone.
Each time, like an unsettling force disrupting everything around her, his lower body throbbed again now.
To anyone watching, there was no doubt it was Yoon Woo Yeon.
Beside her stood a young man. They didn’t look like lovers, but it felt perfectly natural that the man was clearly drawn to her.
After all, with a woman that captivating…
Tae Kyung let out a quiet scoff. Imagining her rejecting his proposal only to drink elsewhere made his blood boil slightly.
Yoon Woo Yeon left the man behind and walked alone down the street. The cold dawn wind fluttered the hem of her clothes.
It looked just like a living painting. Just then, the traffic light changed, and Team Leader Han, seated in the driver’s seat, was about to press the accelerator.
“Wait a moment.”
“Yes?”
Sensing something unusual, Team Leader Han followed Tae Kyung’s gaze. Though he hadn’t known Woo Yeon’s outfit today and recognized her a bit late, he soon identified her as well.
“Should I pull over?”
“No. Why would I?”
After all, hadn’t Yoon Woo Yeon just run away saying no?
Just as he was about to withdraw his lingering gaze with a dry chuckle,
“Ha.”
He suddenly remembered when he’d first met Yoon Woo Yeon.
Team Leader Han called out to him. Though no cars honked behind them in the early hours, they still couldn’t keep blocking the intersection.
“President?”
“That man Yoon Woo Yeon mentioned meeting before.”
“Yes.”
“Look into him a bit more—details are better.”
“Understood.”
“How much longer to the hotel?”
“About twelve minutes.”
“Let’s go a bit faster.”
He quietly curved the corners of his lips upward.
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
So she is missing him so hoping what happens next!