Your Sweet Breath (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 5
“…Why are you here, Team Leader Han?”
At Sam Young’s question, San slowly straightened his body.
Then, he turned his head slightly and calmly gazed at Kang.
“That’s a good question.”
“…”
“Why am I here, indeed?”
Most people would be flustered when caught off guard, yet he showed no sign of it at all.
She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her forehead.
…This is a disaster.
Was it too much to ask him to discreetly hide himself somewhere?
Then again, it was hard to picture him squeezing himself awkwardly between piles of clothes.
Whose fault could this be? Clearly, it was her own for overthinking things.
A short while later.
The three of them sat side by side on the living room sofa.
An uncomfortable silence hung heavily in the air.
Sam Young kept his lips tightly shut, glaring pointedly at San, who, indifferent to the scolding, sat with one leg crossed over the other, calmly sipping freshly brewed coffee.
He hadn’t immediately clarified that he hadn’t hidden there of his own volition, yet neither had he offered any plausible excuse on Kang’s behalf.
In the end, the explanation fell to her.
“Don’t misunderstand, oppa.”
The truth was, she’d hidden him precisely because Sam Young knew all too well how clumsy she was with people and how closed-off she tended to be.
It had taken quite some time for her to grow close to Sam Young, and she remembered clearly how long and hard he’d worked to bridge the distance between them.
And yet, she’d just let a man she’d seen only once into her home so casually?
Under normal circumstances, this would never happen—so Sam Young’s suspicion wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
And there was something else.
She hadn’t wanted Sam Young to find out that CEO Hwang had offered him the apartment upstairs for her personal security.
After all, it took him over an hour each way to visit Kang’s place, and it felt deeply unfair that, after all that effort Sam Young had made for her, it was San who received this special favor instead.
Besides, stories about nightmares and such were things only she knew.
She’d opened her mouth to clear up the misunderstanding, yet found nothing substantial to say in her defense, so she ended up nervously clawing at the innocent sofa instead.
Eventually, San, who’d been quietly observing the situation, spoke up.
“I’ve moved into the apartment upstairs, and I dropped by to pay my respects—ended up having a cup of coffee.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Sam Young snapped at him, as if ready to bite.
“You moved into the apartment upstairs?”
“Yes. On CEO Hwang’s recommendation.”
Sam Young’s expression twisted.
CEO Hwang’s recommendation? That selfish man wouldn’t do something so considerate—his face clearly screamed that exact thought.
“Uh, oppa… for the record, I told him to come in first.”
Seizing the opening, Kang quickly added her voice, and his face darkened further with a second wave of betrayal.
“You told him to come in first?”
“Yeah. I thought you might be startled if you ran into him unexpectedly—he came by to greet me and let me know he’d moved in…”
She gestured toward the cake box sitting on the island countertop.
“I’ve never done close protection before. I was just curious how we’d end up living together, and I figured it’d be better for both of us if we were clear on things beforehand.”
If it hadn’t been Sam Young, she’d have let the misunderstanding slide.
After all, meticulously explaining herself like this really wasn’t her style.
Fortunately, after hearing both their accounts, Sam Young gave a resigned nod and let the matter drop.
It was understandable he’d misinterpreted the situation, but now that he’d heard their explanation, it wasn’t worth overreacting or interfering further.
Of course, he still shot San a sharp glare—for showing up unannounced at an odd hour of the day, carrying an entire cake, no less, under the guise of “paying respects.”
Just then, Kang suddenly remembered something and exclaimed,
“Oh, right! The first-aid kit!”
She fetched it from a drawer in the dressing room and began tending belatedly to Sam Young’s wound.
“Oppa, you really need to go to the hospital—this is serious.”
“It’s fine. Don’t make a fuss over something like this.”
He put on a brave face—San was right there, after all—but his trembling hand betrayed his bravado.
Noticing this, San casually remarked,
“The cut looks pretty deep. You’d better get to a hospital before it’s too late.”
“I’m fine.”
A defiant dimple appeared on his face as he refused the suggestion.
San almost let out a chuckle at the sight.
But sensing it wasn’t the right moment to laugh, he moved his fingers from his chin to cover his mouth.
Naturally, Sam Young’s mood soured even more.
Even that small, elegant gesture made him look like something out of a painting.
Caught in the subtle tension between the two men,
Kang, oblivious to the undercurrents, scolded him,
“What do you mean, ‘fine’? Your flesh is just dangling there!”
Sam Young inwardly screamed.
Just dangling flesh? The mere thought sent chills down his spine and made it feel even more painful.
But his pride wouldn’t allow him to show it now—not in front of that infuriatingly composed man who’d remained calm the whole time.
So, he slightly overacted.
“Hey, I’m the guy who stayed perfectly fine even after getting a hole in my forehead. Compared to that, this is nothing…”
“…”
He’d meant to reassure her, but the words landed like a bucket of cold water, utterly ruining the mood.
It brought back the incident on set, when he’d taken the falling lighting rig meant for her.
Sam Young instantly regretted his words and hurried to explain.
“Ah, Kang-ah, that’s not what I meant…”
“That’s exactly why I told you to just leave me alone.”
Hearing Kang’s dejected voice made him want to punch himself in the face.
“No, I just… I was worried you’d go skipping meals all day again… That’s all.”
His voice, practically sinking through the floorboards, made Kang smile weakly.
“You won’t die if you skip a meal or two. Just worry about yourself, oppa. And please, try not to get too close to me.”
“What? I’m your manager—how can you tell me not to come near you?”
“Because bad things keep happening to you whenever you’re with me.”
She said it plainly, then offered him an awkward smile.
Speechless, he let out a heavy sigh.
Kang’s clumsy fingers kept bumping against the raw, open wound as she wrapped the bandage, but it was his heart that hurt more.
Sam Young spoke earnestly.
“I’m not leaving.”
“…”
“No matter what happens, I’ll stay your manager to the very end.”
He’d watched from the closest vantage point as everyone else in her life had eventually walked away.
So he understood perfectly well what Kang feared and why she’d said such things.
Knowing his feelings too, she gave a small, wry smile.
From a distance, San—who’d been quietly observing the two—finally spoke.
What a touching scene.
“You two clearly share a very close bond.”
No sooner had he finished than Sam Young shot back,
“Yes. As you can see, we’re very close.”
San gave a light chuckle and nodded.
“It certainly seems that way. Watching you two together is just like…”
Just like what?
Soulmates? Longtime lovers? Family?
Sam Young stared intently at San’s lips, waiting for the next words. After a brief pause, San finally spoke.
“Just like a mother and daughter.”
“What?”
Not “older brother,” not “father”—but “mother.” Kang, who’d been caught off guard, burst out laughing.
Sam Young’s face instantly crumpled in dismay.
Seizing the slight softening in the atmosphere, San smoothly shifted into what sounded like a briefing about his future duties.
It was mostly standard bodyguard work—nothing unusual.
He added that the best way to earn trust wasn’t through endless promises but through action, so there was no need to go on at length.
There was, however, one notable distinction: his “close protection” would apply even outside official schedules.
Just looking at the man standing before them—now their neighbor—it was easy to picture how things would unfold.
Of course, this was surely all decided under CEO Hwang’s orders.
Still, it felt excessive—even for a duty one was obligated to carry out.
“But isn’t that a huge invasion of privacy? Celebrities are human too—we shouldn’t need this level of supervision even on days off.”
At Sam Young’s protest, San smiled faintly and countered,
“If something unfortunate were to happen to Ms. Seo Kang on her day off, Manager, would you take responsibility?”
It sounded as if he were directly referencing the incident from a few months ago—the one that had occurred while Sam Young was away—and left him utterly speechless.
He probably meant to imply that, since their roles were different, Sam Young shouldn’t interfere further.
The tension thickened for just a moment, but San continued unfazed.
“You don’t need to worry too much. Except for special circumstances, I’ll only get involved when Ms. Seo Kang feels she needs me.”
His gaze turned to Kang.
“So, whenever you feel I’m needed…”
“…”
“Just call me.”
That night.
Back at home, Sam Young finished the overdue housework to wrap up the day.
He took down the laundry he’d hung out to dry earlier, folded it neatly, and put it away. He also trimmed the green onions planted in a Styrofoam box, portioned them for different uses, and stored them in the freezer.
After the busy chores, he took out a jar of ginger syrup he’d made himself.
Scooping some into a small metal bowl with a rice spoon, he poured hot water over it.
Stepping outside, the sharp, spicy scent of ginger mingled with the crisp night air.
Sam Young sat on the wooden platform in front of his rooftop room and drank it.
All the while, Han San’s face kept floating through his mind.
“Huh.”
Lost in restless thoughts, he let out an unconscious sigh into the dark sky.
“Well, look at that—what a bright full moon.”
He was murmuring to himself as he gazed up at the moonlit sky when—
Thud.
Heavy footsteps brushed past his ears.
Startled, he turned sharply, clutching his makgeolli bowl.
The rustic charm of the moonlit neighborhood instantly turned eerie with someone’s arrival.
If he wasn’t mistaken, the man standing before him was unmistakably San.
“Team Leader Han—what brings you here at this hour? …Actually, more importantly, how did you even find my place?”
Sam Young blinked in disbelief.
But instead of answering, San only offered an enigmatic smile.
Though not a single breeze stirred, the hem of San’s black trench coat fluttered faintly.
The dim glow of the moon, the scattered lights of the hillside neighborhood, and the figure of a man dressed entirely in black from head to toe formed a strangely surreal sight.
Looking down at Sam Young, who stared back blankly, San spoke.
“You know better than anyone…”
“…”
“…why I came here, don’t you, Manager?”
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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