However, the next day, as expected, shoulder stiffness and slight soreness due to the small bed would inevitably return.
Even now, Si-yoon was looking at the monitor, feeling that electrifying and pleasant sensation.
At that moment, he heard the sound of someone knocking on the quiet research lab door.
Knock, knock, knock.
Si-yoon checked the time. There was no one scheduled to come at this hour without an appointment.
He went to the door and opened it himself.
As soon as the door opened, a strong scent of perfume stimulated Si-yoon’s nose, and a woman’s slender arms pulled Si-yoon’s neck tightly.
“Oppa.”
Si-yoon could tell who it was just by the voice.
“Ha So-min.”
So-min pressed her lips to Si-yoon’s cheek, and Si-yoon turned his head, pushing her away.
“We’ve only met a few times during your trips to France, so why do you act like this every time we meet?”
Knowing that So-min’s habit was to come off this way when meeting people, Si-yoon found So-min’s greetings rather unpleasant.
“Oh, come on, you’re being sharp.”
“What’s the matter?”
“What’s with the first greeting? Say something affectionate.”
Without inviting her in, Si-yoon grabbed the doorknob and kept So-min outside.
“What’s the matter? I came because I missed oppa.”
Si-yoon intended to end his brief meeting with So-min.
“Let’s go out.”
“Where are we going?”
So-min’s eyes sparkled as if she expected a fancy place.
“In front of the library, there’s a café.”
“Ugh, I don’t like crowded places with lots of students.”
So-min came into the research lab, plopped down on the sofa, and gestured for Si-yoon to come and sit beside her.
Reluctantly, Si-yoon took a seat on the sofa.
“Oppa, I might go to Seoul for a while.”
“Unexpectedly, graduating, huh?”
“Why are you saying it like that? Of course, I’m graduating. My graduation project turned out quite well this time.”
So-min, majoring in fashion design, had a keen interest in her own clothes, but she had no interest in designing other people’s clothes or studying.
For this graduation project, So-min purchased a design draft from a consulting firm and added one or two of her own ideas before submitting it.
“The professor said my graduation project is so good that I should have a show here instead of going to Korea. Do our family members know? They don’t listen. They just want me to graduate no matter what.”
How much of this was true, and how much was bragging?
The professor’s suggestion to debut locally was probably just a boast. And the adults telling her not to be deceived and come back were likely true.
Si-yoon already knew So-min inside out since childhood.
“Without any contact, what’s going on suddenly?”
Although he tried to say it as politely as possible, Si-yoon’s gaze at So-min was not pleasant.
“You’re disappointing. You know how much Director Kim praised me when I was young.”
Out of the blue, Si-yoon stood up and chose a capsule coffee. When boasting started, it was uncertain when it would end. He had to offer at least a cup of tea quickly.
“Oppa, do you remember that? Director Kim and our grandfather talking about becoming in-laws and how pretty they thought I was.”
“When was that, and you’re still talking about it?”
It was a really long time ago.
H.O Group visited the Taehan Foundation-affiliated orphanage every year at the end of the year, bringing sponsorship money and gifts for the year-end event. So-min had visited a few times.
While the children at the orphanage who missed human touch quietly welcomed the visiting guests, So-min was rude and unruly.
Grandfather is the representative, and whether it’s the young So-min or the representative, H.O Group employees treated So-min, the representative’s granddaughter, so well that it seemed indistinguishable. Such a scene didn’t look pleasant even in young Si-yoon’s eyes.
Watching So-min, Director Kim had once embraced her, praising her as he said he wanted her as a daughter-in-law, hoping she would grow up beautifully and kindly. Since that day, it had been just a joke, but even so, So-min and her family still constantly brought up those past events as if they were real, making efforts to establish a connection with the Taehan Foundation.
Instead of the strong scent of So-min’s perfume, the aroma of coffee filled the research lab. Si-yoon placed freshly brewed coffee in front of So-min and, needless to say, went to his desk to check the research materials.
However, the indifferent So-min casually ignored the body language.
“Oppa.”
“Why.”
Without lifting his head, Si-yoon focused on the documents.
“Oppa, have you heard any strange rumors?”
“What?”
Si-yoon was still examining the materials. The rumors So-min brought were always nonsensical.
Some son from a reputable family fell for a girl from an unreasonable family. Someone met and broke up with someone else, only to find out it was a love triangle. Etc.
So-min’s news, picked up from the internet and exaggerated, always seemed trivial to Si-yoon.
“A girl who boldly hit on Si-yoon suffered for days.”
This was relatively mild.
“It turns out Si-yoon oppa is dating a guy, and that guy is supposedly from Chinatown hostess origins.”
These were the kinds of tacky stories So-min brought. Any rumors about Si-yoon himself were predictable and uninteresting.
At least this was bearable.
These were the kinds of tacky stories that predominated. Si-yoon wasn’t curious; he knew better than to care about these kinds of rumors.
“Oh, oppa!”
When So-min pulled out a long tail, Si-yoon finally stopped his eyes and hands from searching through the research material, looking at So-min.
“Why.”
“Aren’t you curious? It’s a rumor about oppa.”
“What is it? Is it about a girl, a guy, or both?”
“There’s a rumor that oppa got married.”
A straightforward question. So-min’s eyes gleamed as if she were determined to hear the answer.
The Villainous Demon Lord Laid an Egg for Her (Female-Dominated)
Several months after transmigrating into a book, Yu Wu found herself facing the demon lord Li You, who could no longer conceal his dragon horns. With one hand on her aching waist and the other gripping a sharp sword, she stared at him.
The demon lord’s eyes were red with fury:
“This is all your doing! Today, I won’t rest until I kill you!”
Yu Wu rubbed her temples. Putting aside the taboo against bloodshed during pregnancy, wasn’t it this very man who willingly walked into her trap that day?!
Warnings:
- Male pregnancy.
- Height ratios are set to mirror typical male-female height proportions.
- Characters include a foot-loving demon lord and an eldest daughter from an immortal family’s concubine lineage.
