The Temperature Difference with Him (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 8
A flash of lightning split the sky where it met the distant sea. Startled by the thunderclap, Ji An let out a loud scream.
“Dad!”
She clenched her fists and covered her face, causing her chopsticks to tilt apart at odd angles.
So much for expecting some chopstick swordplay.
Seeing Ji An crouched on the floor with hunched shoulders, Dan Woo let out a quiet chuckle.
“Pfft.”
The pitch-black night sky split open again with another flash, followed by an even louder rumble of thunder.
“Eek! Ha Jun!”
Ji An, who had been crouching, flattened herself completely onto the floor. Her voice trembled as she spoke.
“So, you see… it’s just that…”
Her small, frightened back was fully reflected in Dan Woo’s eyes.
Dan Woo’s and Tae Yoon’s gazes collided midair.
It was only natural—he had no idea why a woman was in this house, and waiting for her next words was the only option left.
Ji An raised her voice with effort and continued.
“I mean… with the weather like this, I can’t possibly ask you two to leave, though it seems there might’ve been some misunderstanding.”
“…?”
She sat up to face them directly.
Dan Woo, having decided to hear her out, stepped back and leaned casually against the wall, arms crossed.
“Go on.”
“The owner here hasn’t been answering my calls. I booked a one-month stay, and I’ve already paid. May I ask how many days you two plan to stay?”
“So you’re saying…”
“Yes.”
Dan Woo, who had vaguely grasped the situation, asked in a low voice.
“You mean to say you’re staying here for a whole month?”
He recalled what Tae Yoon had told him earlier:
“It was a standalone unit I’d been using for month-long stays—suddenly popped up as a fire sale, so I bought it.”
Pressing his lips together, he muttered under his breath and turned to Tae Yoon.
“Didn’t you say you changed the password?”
“Oh, that… I was planning to replace the lock system, so… come to think of it, I never actually changed it.”
Tae Yoon covered his mouth as he answered, and Dan Woo shoved his back forward.
Fixing Tae Yoon with a cool, stern glare, he said,
“This lady here. She’s the owner.”
“What?”
“Me?”
Tae Yoon, blurting out at the same time as Ji An, shot Dan Woo a look filled with unspoken curses.
“So you’re saying I’m the owner here?”
Dan Woo nodded calmly and asked,
“Yes. Care to explain? I’d like to understand what’s going on too.”
Tae Yoon straightened up with an awkward cough.
He must be implying he should take responsibility for not changing the door lock code.
After all, he’d handled the purchase as proxy and had personally dealt with the previous owner.
Fiddling with his shirt cuffs, he opened his mouth awkwardly.
“It seems there’s been some kind of mix-up.”
Ji An set down her chopsticks and asked Tae Yoon,
“I entered the password you gave me, and the front door opened, so I assumed this was the right place I’d booked.”
“Ah, right.”
“You said you’d pick up when I called from the airport, but you never answered. I was worried something went wrong.”
“No, not yet… So that’s why you kept calling.”
Tae Yoon, repeating her words back to her, exhaled deeply and raised a hand—asking her to wait a moment.
So he hadn’t answered her calls.
His suspicion proved right—the previous owner didn’t pick up Tae Yoon’s call either.
“You booked online, right?”
“Yes.”
“Truth is, I’m the new owner here. I’ve taken over the property, but it seems an unexpected mix-up occurred.”
Hearing this, Ji An—who suddenly found her position reversed—asked in shock,
“What? What do you mean?”
Awkwardly glancing down at his phone, Tae Yoon gestured toward the detached guesthouse beyond the low wall and asked Ji An for patience.
“Could you wait just a moment? The contract’s in the guesthouse. I’ll need to get in touch to figure this out myself.”
“Sure. Of course.”
Dan Woo let Tae Yoon continue weaving half-truths.
With thunder and lightning raging, he couldn’t very well kick a woman out into this storm.
Once Tae Yoon left for the guesthouse, an awkward silence settled over the house, now occupied only by Dan Woo and Ji An.
As Dan Woo headed toward the sofa, his eyes caught a ramen pot and dried-out pork belly sitting atop the kitchen island.
‘Things got messy, but I should at least let her finish her meal.’
He pointed toward the dining table and said to Ji An,
“Might as well finish eating, since we’re already here.”
“Huh? Oh, right.”
Two more lightning strikes split Jeju’s night sky, and each time, Ji An clutched her head tightly with both hands.
Only when the world quieted again did she finally let out a long sigh.
She turned her stool to face the island counter and stole a glance at the man.
Covering her slightly bulging lips—still chewing—with the back of her hand, she asked,
“Um… your eyes look really familiar. Have we met somewhere before?”
Dan Woo’s fingers, typing on his laptop keyboard, froze. Ji An quickly added,
“Don’t get the wrong idea—it’s not like I have feelings for you or anything. Your face just seems familiar, but I can’t quite place it. Do you remember me?”
Dan Woo uncrossed his arms, turning to look at Ji An.
She gently rocked her stool back and forth, blinking rapidly.
The way she scratched her nose with her chopstick-holding fingers looked innocent, and her face—waiting for his answer—was clear and bright.
He gave her a brief reply to jog her memory.
“The coffee shop at Riviera Hotel.”
Remembering him, Ji An stiffened her slightly swaying body.
The handkerchief guy?
“Woo Dan Woo! The name that couldn’t possibly be real? Oh shoot… I’m so sorry. My big mouth.”
She burst out laughing, quickly covering her lips with both hands.
Dan Woo found himself smiling too. Her laughter, bright enough to close his eyes against, resembled warm spring sunshine.
“That’s right. Woo Dan Woo.”
“Oh! Wait just a sec—just a moment.”
As the memory returned, Ji An hurried across the living room into the first-floor bedroom.
Moments later, she emerged holding a square envelope made of kraft pulp paper.
“Thank you—for that day.”
Dan Woo turned the envelope over in his hands, untied the decorative string, and opened it.
It was the handkerchief he’d given her at the Riviera Hotel.
Surprised—he hadn’t expected to get it back—he looked at Ji An with curiosity.
Of all places, on Jeju Island, and even carefully wrapped? She must’ve washed and ironed it too.
He asked her,
“You brought this all the way to Jeju?”
“There’s an initial embroidered on it—I thought it might mean something special to you.”
“…”
“Coincidences aren’t common, but I figured we might meet again someday.”
Dan Woo nodded slightly, turning her words over in his mind.
So she’d been carrying it with her all this time.
“It’s not a meaningful handkerchief, but… thank you. For the thought.”
Ji An patted her thighs a couple of times with her palms and gave an awkward nod.
Back in the kitchen, she sat on the stool—her ramen now even more bloated than before.
Truthfully, her appetite had vanished amid this tangled mess.
As she hesitated whether to eat or not, the man asked,
“What’s your name? You already know mine, so it’s only fair I ask.”
“…Kim Ji An. My dad gave it to me.”
Dan Woo nodded and leaned back on the sofa; a cushion beside him toppled forward.
He picked it up, examined it, then looked up at Ji An.
“Oh!”
Ji An let out a quiet gasp.
She hadn’t meant to, but his gesture left her flustered.
It seemed his eyes kept darting between the cushion and her stomach, and Choi Da Som’s words randomly popped into her head.
‘Yoon Ha Jun’s longtime girlfriend, technically—but stuff like this happens all the time… My joke went too far… If he finds out I came here like this…’
“That day—!”
Ji An waved her hands hastily, eager to explain what had happened.
She worried he might say something bad about Ha Jun.
Her words tumbled out, fast and jumbled.
“It’s just—how do I explain this?”
“Never mind. That’s not what I wanted to ask.”
After a brief pause, she spoke again.
“Ha Jun is basically family—like one of those lifelong friends where ‘yours is mine’ and all that.”
She cut her sentence short and blinked at Dan Woo.
Not everyone had that kind of bond, and she considered her relationship with Ha Jun truly special.
As if reading her thoughts, Dan Woo replied,
“I’ve got a guy I’ve known forever—practically like a brother.”
“Oh! Good to know. Ha Jun is exactly like that. He’s so handsome, he’s always swarmed by girls.”
She paused briefly, then added glumly, like a deflated balloon,
“And he’s busy too. So sometimes I step in to clean up his messes. That’s what happened that day.”
Leaning forward, fingers interlaced, Dan Woo asked.
Curious—not usually interested in others’ affairs, but intrigued by this woman whose path kept crossing his.
“You’re close enough to handle those kinds of requests, but not close enough to get married?”
As soon as he asked, he questioned himself.
Why do you care?
He let out a quiet, amused snort, shaking his head at his own absurdity.
Ji An stretched her arms out, waving both hands while widening her eyes.
“Married? What on earth are you talking about? He’s just a friend—has been for over twenty years. …That really is a long time.”
Her words trailed off unfinished. The word “kept woman” had flashed through her mind.
Tears welled up unbidden; she bit her lower lip hard, but her vision blurred anyway.
‘Why don’t we each try living on our own? Quit being a kept woman.’
She’d thought she was angry and hurt by Ha Jun’s words. But now she realized—
it was the words she’d never dared speak aloud that truly ached. Meeting him here, in this unfamiliar place, made everything sharper.
Tears streamed silently down Ji An’s cheeks. No matter how tightly she bit her lip, more kept falling.
Her emotions wouldn’t settle.
She bowed her head, her back rising and falling with deep, shaky breaths.
“You okay?”
“Yeah… No.”
Ji An’s tears wouldn’t stop—but she looked like she was fighting hard not to cry.
“I’m sorry.”
Dan Woo stood from the sofa and walked over, hearing her quiet sobs.
His shadow fell over her; his voice came close.
“If you need to cry, just cry.”
Perched on the wooden stool, he planted one foot on the floor—his other resting on the footrest—and gently, slowly patted her back with his large hand.
“Real tears… They just spill out sometimes, out of nowhere.”
Her small, trembling back held his gaze.
He remembered his mother’s back, hunched the same way by the sunlit window, face hidden.
She’d always cried silently, until his tiny hands—once clutching her clothes—grew long enough to wrap around her waist.
Patting Ji An a little more tenderly, Dan Woo spoke softly.
“I won’t ask why you’re crying. It’s clearly something hard.”
When his father came down from Seoul for a night and left the next morning, his mother would turn her back and cry.
Whenever he asked why, she always said the same thing:
“My eyes just water in the sunlight.”
Dan Woo himself had never cried from the brightness of sunlight.
Male lead Asks for a Divorce Every Day
It’s not often you come across a plot like this in the female-dominant genre — make sure to check it out!
This is a novel I’m planning to reread as well.
The male lead is strong, skilled in martial arts, and not the usual fragile type you often see in matriarchal novels.
Meanwhile, the female lead is a scientist—rational and logical. Even when she falls for the male lead, she doesn’t let her emotions cloud her decisions.
If you push through the first few chapters, you’ll gradually find the story really intriguing.
It has a mix of mystery, detective elements, and romance.
The author’s writing style is like crafting a puzzle—except they deliberately leave out a few pieces, making it hard to predict what happens next, yet keeping you hooked.
In the end, everything will come together and be explained.
One-sentence summary: Wife, stop playing with beakers and look at me!
In a laboratory accident, research scientist Zhu Wansheng accidentally travels to a matriarchal world. The original owner of the body is an eighteen-year-old only daughter of a wealthy rouge merchant, already married with a handsome young man.
Zhu Wansheng grins: Nice! She always said she was heaven’s favorite granddaughter. After a life of toil in her previous life, she can enjoy blessings in this one.
However, her joy lasts no more than three seconds as bad news arrives: the original owner’s family is about to go bankrupt, and her husband wants a divorce.
Even worse, she’s stuck with a research system full of restrictions.
Zhu Wansheng: ? Is this the destiny of a research dog?
——
Faced with this mess, Zhu Wansheng pours herself a bowl of wine to drown her sorrows. In her drunken haze, her husband arrives.
His figure is imposing, holding a long sword, with a dignified air that captivates Zhu Wansheng.
Gu Yingqing, however, looks at the alcohol-reeking Zhu Wansheng with undisguised disgust and coldly asks, “Divorce or not?” The intoxicated Zhu Wansheng mumbles vaguely, “I think… it’s not… it’s not… impossible!”
——
The next day, after sobering up, Zhu Wansheng is full of energy, rolling up her sleeves ready to make a big move. As for yesterday? She has no memory of it.
Zhu Wansheng is ambitious; a research dog fears nothing!
Upgrading rouge, extracting fragrances, producing perfumes, researching lipsticks… all shall bow to the power of modern technology!
The original owner’s dying rouge shop is revitalized. Her mother is pleased and with a wave of her hand, passes on the family business to her. As she takes control and her experimental results gain popularity, it’s the pinnacle of her life…
——
But there are always those who can’t stand to see her doing well. Jealousy, scheming, assassination attempts – they want nothing less than her life.
The person who has always kept his distance from her suddenly holds her tightly in his arms, eyes full of concern.
She is unharmed, but he falls into a pool of blood…
Zhu Wansheng feels guilty, “I can grant you one wish.”
Gu Yingqing tentatively circles his arms around her, carefully resting his head in the crook of her neck, pleading softly, “I regret it. Can we not divorce?”
Zhu Wansheng: ? When did I agree to a divorce?
[Small Theater]
The newly developed rouge is beautifully packaged, and Zhu Wansheng is eager to try it.
Gu Yingqing suddenly appears: “My lady, may I apply it for you?”
Cool fingertips lightly brush her lips. His Adam’s apple bobs as he leans in for a light bite.
Zhu Wansheng: ?
Gu Yingqing: It smells so good, I wanted to taste it…
On a warm spring day, Zhu Wansheng tries a new perfume: “Spring Night.” Gu Yingqing corners her against a wall.
Warm breath lingers on her neck.
“My lady, from now on, may I test the fragrances for you?”
[Humorous female scientist vs scheming live-in son-in-law male lead]
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