The Price of Impulse (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“Why are you acting like that? Did something urgent come up?”
“Yeah. My mother apparently got taken to the hospital emergency room right now.”
“Then hurry and go. I’ll clean up here and leave.”
“Ah, is that okay? There’s nothing much to do anyway. Just take off that guy’s shoes and head down. Okay?”
When Se Kyung said she understood, Seok Joo hurriedly left the room.
Thud. After closing the door, Se Kyung quietly approached the bed, muffling her footsteps.
Tae Jo’s sleeping body was rising and falling regularly.
The necktie that had been tightly choking his neck was now loosely undone, perhaps because he felt stuffy, and whether it was heartburn or a nightmare, his normally smooth brow was slightly furrowed.
She never imagined she’d get to see him sleeping this close.
Se Kyung gently traced his face with quiet eyes.
His long eyelashes and high, straight nose bridge. The sharp jawline and smooth lips made her heart unnecessarily flutter.
When Tae Jo was awake, she couldn’t even dream of staring at him this long.
That was because she was afraid her feelings would be discovered by him. She feared that once he realized the affection she harbored, he might turn away from her.
“…….”
In the quiet dawn, being left alone in the room with the sleeping Tae Jo felt strangely odd.
Shaking her head, Se Kyung erased the strange thoughts blooming in her mind and stood up.
As Seok Joo had asked, she took off Tae Jo’s shoes and loosened the stuffy-looking necktie, neatly folding it and placing it on the side table.
What else should she do?
Wanting to make him even a little more comfortable while he slept, Se Kyung took his phone and wallet out of his pockets and placed them neatly next to the necktie.
“Mmm…….”
At that moment, Tae Jo shifted uncomfortably and let out a low groan.
Seeming thirsty and looking for water, Se Kyung grabbed a bottle of water from the mini fridge and approached him.
“CEO, can you wake up a bit? I brought water.”
Did he hear her? Tae Jo’s closed eyes slowly opened. But still not fully sober, his half-lidded eyes were unfocused.
“CEO.”
Se Kyung called again, but he only waved his hand vaguely in the air and showed no sign of getting up.
He must be really out of it—he even tried to open the water bottle while still lying down.
If he does that, he’ll spill everything.
Before it became a bigger mess, Se Kyung snatched the bottle from Tae Jo’s hand. At that, he frowned one eye in his sleep and turned his head toward her.
“Who…….”
A dry voice escaped Tae Jo’s lips.
Is he finally coming to?
Se Kyung stepped one step closer to check on him.
“It’s me, Se Kyung. If you’re awake, please sit up for a moment. If you stay like that, you’ll spill all the water.”
“…….”
“Hey, CEO?”
Is he falling asleep again?
Se Kyung poked Tae Jo’s arm a few times, then waved her hand right in front of his eyes.
Suddenly, Tae Jo’s hand that had been lying obediently on the bed shot up and grabbed hers.
“……!”
Startled, Se Kyung flinched. Tae Jo’s brow furrowed deeply, apparently annoyed by something moving in front of his face.
“CEO, you need to get up…….”
“……up. So…….”
His slurred words were hard to make out.
Se Kyung perked her ears and stared down at the hand he was holding.
He’s not going to fall asleep like this, right?
Watching him anxiously, Tae Jo moved his dry lips and slowly sat up.
Though even then, his body swayed unsteadily, as if he might collapse again any second.
“Ah.”
When Tae Jo’s body lurched forward, Se Kyung hurriedly caught him.
The sudden contact made her freeze for a moment, but she quickly pushed his body toward the headboard where the pillows were gathered.
“Are you okay?”
Se Kyung cautiously asked while checking his complexion. He slowly rubbed his face several times, as if trying to come to his senses.
“You…… why are you here…….”
Tae Jo looked at Se Kyung with half-lidded eyes. Maybe because Seok Joo had carried him here—he didn’t seem to remember running into her in front of the elevator.
“We ran into each other out front. Senior Seok Joo had something urgent and left first.”
“…….”
Whether he was listening or not, Tae Jo gave no reply.
Still, he recognized her, so he must be a bit more awake. Se Kyung handed him the opened water bottle.
“Here, drink some water.”
As if reacting to her voice, Tae Jo’s hand twitched.
She placed the bottle in his hand, and Tae Jo unsteadily brought it to his lips.
“…….”
Se Kyung watched him with a worried expression. The water running down his bobbing Adam’s apple was soaking his shirt.
Half went into his mouth, half dripped down his chin.
Oh no, what do I do.
At this rate his clothes and the bedding would all get soaked, so Se Kyung went to the bathroom and brought out a towel.
By then Tae Jo had finished drinking and was clumsily trying to undo his tight shirt buttons, tilting the half-empty bottle dangerously.
“Shall I…… do it for you?”
At Se Kyung’s words, his slow-moving hands stopped dead.
He must have been frustrated that his fingers kept slipping and he couldn’t undo the buttons—Tae Jo roughly nodded.
Swallowing hard at his permission, Se Kyung sat on the edge of the bed. Her fingertips touching his shirt trembled slightly.
What on earth possessed her to say that?
It was too late to take back the words that had already slipped out.
Se Kyung ignored her pounding heart and undid a couple of his shirt buttons.
Through the opened shirt, his wet skin was revealed. Turning her head away, Se Kyung held out the towel she had brought from the bathroom.
“And this……. I thought you could wipe the wet parts……. Ah!”
Whoosh—suddenly pulled by force, Se Kyung’s body swayed. She had told him to take the towel, but Tae Jo grabbed her hand along with it.
Whirr.
In the now-silent room, the sound of the heater felt unusually loud.
Se Kyung held her breath and stared at Tae Jo. The hand he held moved across his face and chest.
After wiping away all the water, he lifted his gaze.
Their eyes met, and she bit down hard on her lower lip.
Her face was reflected in his pitch-black eyes.
“…….”
She had thought there would never be a moment when only she filled those eyes.
As if enchanted, Se Kyung’s body leaned toward Tae Jo. She wanted to see herself reflected in his eyes from even closer.
When her hesitant fingertips brushed his lips, Tae Jo lightly nipped them.
“Ah…….”
Startled by the sharp sting, Se Kyung pulled back. But the hand he held was yanked forward again.
The distance that had widened closed in an instant.
“CEO, I…….”
As Se Kyung nervously licked her dry lips, the corners of Tae Jo’s eyes narrowed slightly while staring at her.
His lips landed on her pulled fingers.
And the moment their lips softly met.
Se Kyung closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Tae Jo’s neck.
* * *
The skin touching her palms was soft.
Her slender arms wound around his neck like vines, and every time their lips collided, the fingers running through his hair brought a pleasant languor.
Tae Jo burrowed deeper into the embrace of the woman holding him.
A sweet scent tickled his nose, and marshmallow-soft lips were sucked into his mouth.
He looked up at the woman with hazy vision.
Her small, lovely lips were whispering something to him.
Wanting to hear her voice, he pulled her waist closer.
His lips moved to the tip of her chin and above her lips. And the moment he took those full lips again…….
Beep beep beep beep!
“……damn it.”
With a low curse, his eyes snapped open.
A terrible pain pounded his temples in time with the loud alarm.
He clutched his throbbing forehead and sat up. It felt like woodpeckers were hammering his skull from all sides.
“Where…….”
Pressing his aching temples, Tae Jo looked around.
Seeing the unfamiliar surroundings, he immediately realized it was a hotel, not home. The problem was he had no idea how he got here.
And…….
“…….”
Lowering his gaze, he frowned at the removed clothes and the bathrobe covering him instead of the blanket.
Just in case, he looked beside him, but the bed was empty.
He turned off the phone alarm and opened his wallet.
The cash and cards were untouched. Meanwhile his necktie was neatly folded, and the water bottle—half-empty, as if someone had drunk from it—was there.
“This is driving me crazy.”
Looking around the hotel room, Tae Jo slowly tried to recall yesterday.
Yesterday he had dinner and drinks with Daren Baze, the platform CEO who came from the US, and while drinking whiskey he definitely—way—exceeded his limit.
He remembered Moon Seok Joo, who had been there too, dragging him out……
But everything after that was cut off in pieces, as if someone had edited it out.
“Then Moon Seok Joo must have brought me here.”
Tae Jo first checked the messages that had come in overnight. Sure enough, there was a short message from Seok Joo in the early morning saying he had dumped him in a hotel room because he was too drunk.
“But why do I look like this?”
Frowning, Tae Jo scanned the unusually tidy surroundings.
That bear-like guy had neatly arranged the shoes and necktie, which didn’t suit him at all.
The problem was the disheveled clothes, the bathrobe draped like a blanket, and these random stains on his clothes.
Slipping on the slippers, he looked around the room.
When he lightly kicked the trash can under the desk, the empty bin wobbled.
Since it was empty, nothing must have happened.
Looking at his rough reflection in the mirror, he picked up his phone.
He called the contact labeled “Managing Director Kang,” and an irritated voice burst out from the other side.
— What do you want first thing in the morning?
“Bring some clothes from my house. Underwear too.”
— What? Even underwear?
He could hear grumbling on the other end. When asked where he was, Tae Jo gave the hotel name and room number.
“Ah, and buy a bottle of water on the way.”
— Don’t you have money?
The call ended abruptly with an order to buy it himself.
Tae Jo chuckled and put the phone on the bed before heading to the bathroom.
Then suddenly feeling something off, his expression hardened.
His gaze swept over the crumpled towel that looked like it had been used once and the trash can containing balled-up tissues.
And the faint sweet lingering scent.
“…….”
For some reason a chill ran down his spine, and Tae Jo’s face twisted.
* * *
“Am I your secretary or what?”
As soon as the door opened, a shopping bag dangled in front of his eyes. Tae Jo snatched the bag Woo Hyun brought and went back inside.
“Breakfast?”
“Didn’t eat.”
Answering curtly, Tae Jo took off the bathrobe.
People praised it as a David-like sculpture, but seeing another guy’s body with the same parts only hurt the eyes. Woo Hyun turned his head away as if he had no desire to look.
“I heard you drank a ton yesterday. Don’t you need hangover soup? Or should I order room service now?”
“No need. If you want breakfast, go eat outside.”
Quickly changing into a shirt, Tae Jo buttoned it up.
Woo Hyun flipped through the room service menu, then tilted his head at Tae Jo’s somehow unpleasant expression.
“What’s wrong, did something happen yesterday? Why are you in such a bad mood?”
“Just… something feels off.”
Tightening his necktie, Tae Jo glanced at the side table. On top of the neatly folded tie lay a single sparkling earring.
He had found it while coming out of the shower and making the bed.
Just in case, he had called Seok Joo and asked if he had come to the hotel room with a woman yesterday, but all he got was, “Are you crazy, still drunk?”
Well, that bear had dumped him on the bed while he was barely conscious, so what woman? It must have been left by housekeeping.
Either way, it still felt unpleasant.
“Let’s go.”
Stuffing yesterday’s clothes into the shopping bag, Tae Jo fiddled with the earring.
After briefly wondering whether to throw it away, he pocketed the earring too and left the room.
“Bring the car around.”
Handing the shopping bag to Woo Hyun, Tae Jo got off the elevator.
Woo Hyun grumbled about being treated worse than a secretary—now a driver too—and pressed the B3 button.
Confirming the elevator was going down, Tae Jo started walking.
After returning the key and coming down to the lobby, he spotted a familiar face and narrowed his eyes.
“Yoon Se Kyung?”
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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