He reached this conclusion after reading about half of it. Objectively, he knew Yeoreum’s capabilities were far better than this, but the script was awkward in more than a few places.
‘She couldn’t display her full skills.’
Tae-seok went to his room, returned with a red pen, and started checking and annotating the script. This habit of directly marking scripts began when he used to review Yeoreum’s drafts.
After a while, he looked at the clock and saw it was past 10 PM. Yeoreum had fallen asleep.
She was curled up, hugging her bag as if it was a part of her.
Tae-seok quietly set down the script and pen on the table. He tilted his head, supporting it with his hand, and observed her sleeping form.
Her long eyelashes lay still, her skin was white and smooth, and her neatly clasped hands occasionally twitched in her sleep.
‘Why did she have to go that far?’
He had many questions, but found it difficult to ask them. And even if he did, he doubted he would get honest answers.
He couldn’t imagine this gentle, pure-faced woman logging onto the National Tax Service website to report him for tax evasion based on the documents found in his house.
Tae-seok, usually imaginative, struggled to picture her as a monster, especially one filing tax reports against him.
‘If she needed money, she should have said something.’
After pleading on his knees, the next day, Yeoreum left. She didn’t just leave; she changed her phone number and moved away.
Tae-seok’s attempt to find her was halted by a tax audit. ‘Tax Evasion Suspicion’ headlines appeared, and the National Tax Service investigation began. He was stuck attending the National Tax Service for a week.
Later, he heard the whole story through Ji Hyun-jung.
“She demanded money for dating Seo Tae-seok. Threatened to release a story if I didn’t pay. Can you believe it? A woman in her mid-twenties, so audacious. But what can we do? In matters of love, we are the weaker party, so we just gave her what she wanted and ended it.”
Ji Hyun-jung said this while showing me a deposit statement. I couldn’t believe it. If she needed money, she could have just asked.
Tae-seok always said he would give Yeoreum anything she wanted, be it money, cars, or even his bank account, and he thought she knew that.
He started deploying people to find her. Then, Ji Hyun-jung added,
“It’s no use, Tae-seok. She’s probably already left the country. Said she was going to the U.S.”
From then on, Tae-seok became obsessed.
“Really? Then I’ll just have to search the U.S. I’ll find her no matter what it takes.”
He poured so much money into an illegal office that claimed to find people, the amount was incalculable. He didn’t care about the cost; he just needed to find her.
It was the first time in Tae-seok’s life something didn’t go his way.
Snapping back to the present, Tae-seok gazed at Yeoreum, softly snoring. He couldn’t let her sleep here forever. As he reached to wake her, her phone rang.
The phone on the table shimmered with light. It wasn’t even on vibrate, as if she didn’t want even a buzz to linger in Tae-seok’s house.
‘Ji-hyeok… could it be Cheon Ji-hyeok?’
The caller’s name irked Tae-seok.
Cheon Ji-hyeok had once looked up to Tae-seok as a hero, but after moving to Pu Entertainment, he openly despised him. This was common knowledge among the staff, to the point where they wondered if the two had fought.
Tae-seok understood why but didn’t bother explaining, just ignoring it. Now, in this drama, they would meet, and perhaps Ji-hyeok was the one calling Yeoreum.
Tae-seok gently shook Yeoreum awake. He wanted to know who ‘Ji-hyeok’ was.
“You received a call while you were asleep.”
Yeoreum blinked away the sleep, and without giving her a moment to fully wake, Tae-seok asked,
“Is it Cheon Ji-hyeok?”
Yeoreum looked at him, confusion written all over her innocent face.
Could she pull out a mask even before fully waking up? At this point, Tae-seok thought her face might just be her true self. However, he quickly closed off his heart.
“I’m asking you. Is it Cheon Ji-hyeok? Answer.”
Yeoreum checked her phone, saw the missed call, and nodded.
“Yes.”
“It’s past ten o’clock.”
Tae-seok’s voice contained discomfort.
“Isn’t it too late to call a writer for work-related matters?”
Yeoreum seemed embarrassed about falling asleep, and wanted to apologize, but Tae-seok kept pressing. The sleep was irrelevant to him.
“Why would he call at this hour? To a lead actress.”
Yeoreum hesitated before speaking.
“I think it’s about volunteering tomorrow.”
“What? Going where?”
“For animal volunteer work. Ji-hyeok and I occasionally do that.”
Tae-seok watched her silently. Even after a nap, her face was tired. With the major script rewrite ahead, she would continue to be exhausted. And yet, she was planning to volunteer with ‘Ji-hyeok’.
It was slightly awkward and irksome.
“Go ahead.”
Yeoreum left without turning back. Tae-seok stared at the empty space for a long time.
An Indifferent Woman is the One Men Desire the Most
One-line summary: The female lead is actually cold-hearted and extremely rational. She has stage-by-stage relationships and won’t two-time, but there will always be someone who secretly likes her.
This novel has the following triggers, so if you’re sensitive to these, please don’t read:
1. The female lead has had many relationships, but she treated each one seriously and broke up properly.
It’s just that the men unilaterally pestered her incessantly. For the female lead, when she doesn’t like someone anymore, she simply doesn’t like them.
(This applies to her relationships with Male Lead 1, 2, 3, and 4 as well, but she’s loyal in each 1-on-1 relationship!)
2. In this novel, Male Lead 2 and the female lead kiss in a car, and Male Lead 1 sees it and beats up Male Lead 2.
The female lead calls the police and sends both Male Lead 1 and 2 to the police station! Male Lead 1 begs the female lead not to break up with him.
3. Male Lead 1 has a gentle appearance but an obsessive personality.
Male Lead 2 has a delicate and soft appearance, slightly green tea-like (two-faced).
Male Lead 3 is a youthful college student and a smart person who has secretly liked the female lead for a long time.
Male Lead 4 is the female lead’s father’s special assistant, a business elite with deep, hidden thoughts.
4. At the beginning of this novel, the female lead has already broken up with Male Lead 1 (Chapter 4) and gotten back together with Male Lead 2 (ex-boyfriend).
5. Enter with caution if you have triggers!!!
