Nam Yoo In, who had been in a deep sleep until just now, suddenly woke up.

Yoo In, who had slept soundly without dreaming, raised her body still full of drowsiness.

Then something that had been draped over her shoulder fell off with a thud. Lowering her head with dazed eyes, she saw an unfamiliar black suit jacket covering her legs.

After pondering for a few seconds what it was, Yoo In soon began to look around in astonishment.

The pitch-black dashboard, the faint smell of leather seats stimulating her nose. The darkly tinted windows.

“Gasp!”

The place she had been lying was the passenger seat of an unfamiliar car.

In the interior with almost no signs of use, Yoo In was the only one breathing.

It seemed too careless to be a kidnapping, but the unfamiliar surroundings made Yoo In afraid.

Just as she was trying to recall the circumstances of how this had happened, the driver’s seat door opened with a click and a low voice was heard first from the darkness.

“You’re awake now.”

A cool night breeze and an acrid smell wafted in simultaneously as a tall body crumpled into the seat.

Seeing the man dressed all in black from head to toe with a large build, the stunned Yoo In pressed her body against the door as much as possible, crumpling like a crushed can.

Yoo In asked the man with a dumbfounded expression.

“W-who are you?”

“Don’t you remember?”

“What… remember?”

“This is troublesome then.”

The sharp downcast eyes briefly scanned her wide round eyes and gaping mouth before saying:

“You grabbed onto me and fainted, Ms. Nam Yoo In.”

“What? Me? That’s impossible!”

The large eyes shaking with confusion darted around before suddenly stopping.

A scene that clearly hadn’t been there until just now flew in from somewhere and floated around in her head.

A neat black suit as if cut with a blade. A cold, heavy bass voice. A face she couldn’t stop marveling at for being so handsome.

And the owner of all those things – the man before her eyes.

As her bewildered wide eyes hesitantly landed on his smooth face, the man asked indifferently:

“Do you remember now?”

Yoo In nodded slightly and rolled her large eyes repeatedly with an uneasy look.

She didn’t know what to do as something that absolutely shouldn’t have happened to her was unfolding before her eyes.

Saying it was impossible was meant in that sense. Because she truly couldn’t believe it.

She knew something was wrong from when she was drunk, but she never dreamed the chain reaction would spread like this.

The doubt and distrust that grew on top of the heavily settled sense of dismay was directed at the unfamiliar man who had taken her out of the club and let her sleep in the car when they first met.

“Why am I here?”

“Since the fainted Ms. Nam Yoo In wouldn’t have walked on her own, there’s only one answer.”

Laughter glimmered in the man’s pitch-black eyes that sparkled even in the dim interior.

At his appearance, Yoo In shrunk her shoulders even more but deliberately spoke as if nothing was wrong.

“Why did you bring me out? You could have left me there.”

“On that hallway floor? Ms. Nam Yoo In, do you even know what kind of place that was to say such a thing?”

“The club… wasn’t it? What kind of place was it?”

Come to think of it, the man had said they needed to leave quickly when they met in that hallway too.

She had asked why he was overreacting so much about that dark purple-painted corridor, but the man hesitated for a moment before shaking his head as if it was better not to know and closed his mouth.

Yoo In frowned at the unanswered question and grumbled discontentedly.

“You could have at least woken me up.”

“Do you think I didn’t try?”

“If I didn’t wake up, you could have just taken me to the police station.”

“Why would I do that? Do you think it would have been better if you woke up there?”

“At least-”

I wouldn’t have had to tremble with anxiety as soon as I opened my eyes and wouldn’t have to be alone with you in this confined space.

Yoo In was about to blurt out those words but clamped her mouth shut at the last moment. She didn’t think there was any need to reveal her weakness of being scared.

The man who had been observing Yoo In with interested eyes as she suddenly lost her words asked again.

“At least?”

“…It’s nothing.”

As if he knew what she was going to say even without hearing the answer, the man chuckled.

“Still, isn’t it proper to start with words of thanks in this situation?”

“…”

“I even took off my jacket for you to sleep well and waited outside the car.”

He gestured with his chin at the suit jacket that Yoo In was gripping tightly with tension.

Realizing her unconscious action, Yoo In immediately relaxed her grip, but the already wrinkled jacket couldn’t return to its original state and drooped limply.

As the flustered Yoo In looked back and forth between the ruined jacket and its owner, he frowned and clicked his tongue.

“Oh dear. That jacket was tailored less than a month ago.”

“…Ah. I’m sorry. I’ll pay for the dry cleaning costs.”

“That’s not necessary.”

The man snatched the jacket from Yoo In’s grasp.

Yoo In’s gaze followed the jacket being carelessly tossed onto the back seat, then returned to the driver’s seat where a suddenly serious and stern voice was heard.

“From now on, drink in moderation when you go out. There won’t be anyone to save you like today in the future.”

“…”

“No matter how urgent, don’t go into just anywhere and crouch down.”

“…”

“Do you understand?”

Yoo In felt strange at the man speaking as if he were a teacher scolding a misbehaving student.

Did he think he was in a position to worry or interfere because he had brought her drunk, unconscious self and waited until she woke up?

Finding either of those uncomfortable, Yoo In maintained her silence, so the man went a step further and urged her with a “Answer.”

When she still hesitated, Yoo In witnessed his eyebrows rising threateningly and unconsciously gave a small reply.

“…Yes.”

“Good. Now fasten your seatbelt.”

“Yes. What? Why the seatbelt?”

“Aren’t you going home?”

Now the man was assuming she would naturally ride in this car to go home.

His attitude was so natural that she almost went along with it, but Yoo In barely came to her senses and shook both her hands and head, refusing his suggestion.

“I’ll go by myself. I can’t trouble you any further.”

“Ms. Nam Yoo In. It’s 1 AM right now.”

“Yes. I know.”

“Isn’t it too late for a student to be out?”

“What? I’m… I’m an adult.”

As if he had decided to treat her like a child after scolding her like a teacher, the man ignored Yoo In’s words and started the car.

Then he slightly twisted his head and stared at Yoo In with languid downcast eyes, before suddenly smiling gently with his long eye corners curving upwards.

It was clearly the demeanor of someone who knew the power of his smile.

Yoo In froze in place, holding her breath.

“So. Where’s your home?”

****

Late the next morning.

Sprawled on her bed, Yoo In was unable to properly enjoy her leisurely day off that had come after a week, instead thinking about the unpleasant incident from yesterday.

The image of the man smiling brightly kept coming to mind, too vividly imprinted in her head.

And the deep dimple in one cheek that she hadn’t noticed when he smiled slightly.

Feeling deep self-loathing for falling for that smile so pathetically when she was scared earlier, Yoo In hit her head repeatedly.

Still, it was fortunate that she had the presence of mind to give the name of a place two blocks away from her apartment.

But for some reason, the man’s chilling smile when he heard the name of a different apartment in the same neighborhood left an inexplicable uneasiness somewhere in her mind.

“Ah, forget it. Forget it, Nam Yoo In!”

Yoo In rolled around on the bed, kicking her legs at her waist as if trying to bounce everything she experienced yesterday out of her head.

Yes. It was just one of the worst experiences you go through once in your life.

Going to the club. Getting drunk to the point of passing out. The man insisting he saved her.

Let’s bury it all. She wouldn’t go to such places again anyway, wouldn’t drink, and would never see that man again.

All the strange events were over as of yesterday.

After repeating it like a mantra for a while, Yoo In’s noisy mind calmed down and she got up, stretching.

Then suddenly, she was startled to see the white shopping bag on her desk that caught her eye.

“Ah, right!”

Only then did she realize she had completely forgotten about her friends while getting caught up with the nameless man.

Jae Hee would be fine since she had messaged that she was going home, but the fussy Yoon Ji Han would probably be in an uproar.

As she urgently searched the pockets of Jae Hee’s leather jacket that she had hung up carefully, she was surprised to find them empty.

“…What’s this?”

Her phone wasn’t where it should be.

She hadn’t taken it out after coming home last night, so it should be there, but why wasn’t it?

Just in case, she looked all over the room but the small device didn’t turn up.

Yoo In eventually went out to the living room and asked her mom who was resting while watching TV.

“Mom. Have you seen my phone?”

“No, I haven’t. It’s not in your room?”

“No. I can’t find it.”

She idly rummaged through the living room sofa she hadn’t even sat on. Where could it be?

The last time Yoo In remembered checking her phone was in the club room for Jae Hee’s birthday party.

She had no memory of taking it out after putting it in her pocket after sending a message to Jae Hee and Ji Han saying she was leaving first.

Had she put it in the wrong place while drunk? Or had she dropped it while crouching in that strange hallway?

Or if not that…

Surely, surely she hadn’t dropped it in that car.

As the situation started to take a strange turn again, Yoo In was instantly filled with anxiety.

“Mom! Let me borrow your phone. I think I lost mine.”

“What? Where?”

“I can’t remember. Where’s yours?”

Yoo In took the device handed to her and pressed the familiar number. She couldn’t press call right away and took several deep breaths.

She hoped no one would answer. Hoped it had just fallen and broken. She desperately wished for that.

Finally pressing the button, the dial tone rang several times. Drrr- drrr-

Then, shattering Yoo In’s expectations, the sound of the other person answering was heard.

-Hello.

At the same time, Yoo In’s heart sank endlessly downward.

She could tell from just one word. Because the voice was still not forgotten at all.

Instead of Yoo In, who couldn’t even make a breath sound with her mouth clamped shut, the other person asked first.

-Ms. Nam Yoo In?

It was that man from yesterday.