Instead of answering, Ha Joon on the other end of the line let out a low breath. At the sound of Ji An’s voice, his speechlessness and all the anxiety he had imagined faded.
He should have been a bit cruel. How could he manipulate a person’s heart like this?
He could let it slide just this once. Because it was the first time.
With a firm tone, Ha Joon briefly conveyed his intention.
Where are you? I’ll pick you up.
So, Yoon Ha Joon, why did you have to pick me up all this time? Could there have been an error in our relationship?
Ji An began to be curious about things she had never mulled over before.
It’s natural because we’re old friends. She felt like she had been justifying all sorts of things with those words.
Shaking off her thoughts, Ji An responded calmly.
“It’s So Min’s house. Yu Jin is here too.”
Call me when the drinks are over. I’ll be working in the meantime. Let’s go home together.
“Why go together? I don’t even have a house there now. I’m going to stay with So Min for a while. I’ll find a house gradually.”
Let’s talk in person. ……Keep your phone on.
Ji An tried to calm her heart and reply succinctly.
“If you have time, let’s have a meal. I have something to say, too. We can meet next time.”
…….
“I’m hanging up now. The kids are waiting.”
Ji An hung up the phone without waiting for Ha Joon’s response.
Only after she hung up did she realize she had never cut off his call first, and her lips covered with her hand widened in surprise.
When she returned to the living room and handed over the phone, Yu Jin asked with her eyes. What had been decided.
In all of Ji An’s big and small affairs, Ha Joon was always there and that question was natural to those who knew the fact.
However, Ji An wished that question would no longer be natural. She smiled faintly, but she hid her true feelings.
So Min, who had been lying on the table, sat up abruptly and called out to Ji An.
“Hey! Kim Ji An. You! Listen carefully to what I say.”
Even though she was getting drunk, So Min soberly asked. She disliked Ha Joon, but she also didn’t like the relationship between the two getting twisted.
“Ha Joon said he thinks he knows what you mean to him. What about you? What does Yoon Ha Joon mean to you? Do you know why Ha Joon is doing this?”
Meaning? Ji An’s thoughts circled around the same place, as if trapped in a complex whirlwind.
‘What did I mean to you that you said you think you know?’
To Ji An’s spinning thoughts, Yu Jin offered a clear answer.
“Is it important why Ha Joon is doing this? It’s your thoughts that matter, Kim Ji An. Whatever you do, do what you want to do. I’m serious.”
Ji An lifted a glass filled with a mix of soju and cola and downed it in one go.
She must have wanted a situation like this. But her heart was chaotic hearing about how Ha Joon had been frantically searching for her, even enduring harsh words.
And to top it off, he had even called So Min to keep track of her return date from Jeju.
She downed another glass, her mind in turmoil. She wanted to blame her troubled heart on the alcohol.
It was the day Ji An was supposed to return from Jeju, and all day, Ha Joon had been waiting for her call.
Her phone was still turned off, but there was a vague hope. But as the afternoon turned into evening without a call, his nerves became more on edge.
Unable to wait, he called So Min and unexpectedly heard Ji An’s voice.
It felt as if his heart, which had fallen to rock bottom, had shot up to the sky.
And yet.
Ji An was the first to end the call.
‘Eat well and work hard now that you know.’
The person who had always pressed the end button first after hearing those similar words was Ha Joon himself.
He loosened the knot of his tie and lowered his gaze to his laptop.
“It’s only been a month.”
He reassured himself, dismissing the abruptly ended call as insignificant, ignoring his highly strung nerves. And he vehemently denied the disparity between his wired nerves and reality.
It’s just a mood swing.
But he couldn’t focus on work, his thoughts remained fixed in one place.
The changed words and actions of Kim Ji An.
Ha Joon opened his desk drawer, took out a cigarette, and swiveled his chair half a turn to take in the vibrant city lights.
The series of gestures—opening the box he was tapping on the desk and taking out a cigarette—had become rigid.
“Damn it.”
In the end, he bit out a curse.
‘Why don’t we go in together?’
The moment he heard those words from Ji An, what overtook him was anxiety.
It took him just five minutes from the time Ha Joon put on his jacket and left the office to start his white sedan.
He couldn’t figure out the reason for his anxiety, and the only way to fill the monthlong absence was to see her.
At the main entrance of Gold Liverpool.
As Ha Joon hit the brake, the sedan slowly came to a halt on the curb in front of the sidewalk blocks. He pressed the number one speed dial button.
Instead of the offmessage, he heard the call connecting and let out a chuckle. It wasn’t a wasted trip if he could now make a call.
With a click, he heard Ji An’s voice.
Why?
Ha Joon cleared his throat. A low and tense voice flowed out.
“Come down. It’s the main entrance of Gold Liverpool.”
You came here even after I told you not to come?
He calmly spat out a sentence Ji An couldn’t possibly refuse.
“I didn’t get to eat because I was working. I’m hungry.”
Looking down at her phone screen, Ji An furrowed her brows.
Should she believe him? Ha Joon wasn’t the type of person to tell such childish lies.
Lowering her voice, Ji An made a troubled face to Yu Jin.
“Ha Joon is at the front gate here. What should I do?”
“What do you mean what should you do? You should go out. ……See? I told you, right? Ha Joon is a bit different this time.”
So Min opened her eyes wide, going along with Yu Jin’s words.
Even though he knew he was going to get an earful, the fact that he came all the way to the academy made her feel a little sympathetic towards his sincerity.
“It’s a bit pitiful, but he still hurt our Ji An, so forgiveness is out of the question. When you meet him, give him a good one while looking at his face. Got it? Ji An, fighting.”
Ji An fixed her gaze on Yu Jin and gestured to So Min with her eyes. She knew that when they said ‘our Ji An,’ it meant she was quite drunk.
Then she put her phone back to her ear and spoke to Ha Joon.
“Just wait. I’m coming out.”
Take your time.
Wearing sweatpants and a short sleeve shirt, topped with a bulky padding jacket, Ji An trudged through the cold darkness in her rough slippers.
Ha Joon lowered the passenger seat window as soon as he saw Ji An.
“Here.”
Ji An, breathing softly, muttered to herself.
Yoon Ha Joon, why on earth are you here at this hour?
She climbed into the passenger seat, jammed her hands into the pockets of her padding jacket, and leaned deeply into the seat.
The hair clinging to her nape was annoying so she brushed it aside with her hand, then turned her head towards Ha Joon.
She then threw out a resentful statement.
“Why aren’t you eating? What time do you think it is?”
Ha Joon’s lips curled up slightly. His heart relaxed late to her tone of concern.
Ha Joon, who smoothly started the car by stepping on the accelerator, asked while keeping his eyes on the road.
“You said you went to Jeju Island. Nothing happened, right?”
“…….”
“No matter how coldfaced you are, it’s not okay to wander around without a word for a month, especially alone. People around you need to know what’s happening with you.”
“I guess. I should’ve done that. After all, one never knows what might happen to a person.”
Ha Joon, who had been turning the steering wheel, abruptly stomped on the brake.
lu lu lo la ▪️ net (lululola.net)
My Ex-Girlfriend Is The Regent In The Female-dominant World (Male lead transmigrates to the matriarchal world)
Two years ago, Gu Sui picked up a homeless woman in ancient costume from the street.
Apart from occasionally claiming to be a princess from a female-dominant country due to illness, her figure, appearance, intelligence, and martial arts skills were impeccable.
Naturally evolving from roommates to girlfriends, as time went on, Gu Sui found it increasingly difficult to tolerate her queen syndrome.
“Mu Jiulu, can you stop controlling me inside and out? Let’s break up.”
Gu Sui made a breakup call, and since then, he couldn’t find any trace of her.
A year later, Gu Sui, who was planning to move, woke up the next day and found himself in a different place.
“Young Master, today is the day you choose your Wife-master through martial arts competition at Jade Dew Pavilion. Please get up quickly.”
Gu Sui: Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?
As the only son of a general’s mansion in a female-dominant dynasty, the young empress personally issued a decree allowing Gu Sui to select his Wife-master through martial arts competition. Whoever could defeat him could marry him.
Gu Sui: “……”
He didn’t inherit the original owner’s martial prowess, so anyone could defeat him! And what the hell is a Wife-master?
Forced to come to Jade Dew Pavilion, the densely packed women below made Gu Sui’s agoraphobia act up, and his face was full of resistance.
Until he saw the Regent sitting on the second floor, with a smile on the corner of her lips, her eyes wicked and nonchalant.
Hmm… she looked a little familiar.
It turned out that the Regent also found him a little familiar.
Mu Jiulu fiddled with her bone clasp, her deep gaze locked on the man who was out of place in this world.
“Finally, I found you.”
Male transmigrates into female-dominant world
One-sentence summary: What goes around comes around, taking turns in the crematorium
