MHLM 12

Chapter 12

“Ji Min-chae? Oh, that girl we met at the club? I heard you still see her once in a while.”

“Ten percent is pretty sweet, though. But do you really think she’ll pay it back? What if she just disappears with the money?”

“Why would she? She’s just been busy with auditions lately.”

Han-gyu spoke confidently, but the truth was, he was worried about it too.

Han-gyu had liked Min-chae the moment he saw her. And he thought Min-chae felt the same way about him.

Then she had acted so sweet and asked to borrow money, even offering such a high interest rate. There was no way he could resist.

So he had lent her part of the profits he had made from selling some of his coins.

Even now, he vaguely believed that such a kind and pretty girl wouldn’t just run off with his money. Still, just in case, he had taken some precautions at the time.

“Even if she does, I’ve got a way to deal with it. I secretly took her ID while she was drunk. If she doesn’t pay me back, I’ll tell her I’ll send it straight to those guys who do voice-phishing scams.”

Even if that didn’t work, Han-gyu intended to find some way to get his money back.

Hoping to make another big score, Han-gyu stared intently at the chart on his phone.

One night, So-yul had late-night ramen with Tae-min for the first time.

Tae-min had cooked it himself, and it was surprisingly delicious.

At home, her family had always made a fuss about the smell of ramen, so she had never even been allowed to cook it at night.

For something that started with me being forced to pretend to be Min-chae unni, everything is going almost too well. Is this really okay?

The delicious late-night meal with Tae-min made her so happy that she actually found herself wondering that.

The next morning.

“I was worried my face would be all puffy from eating ramen before bed, but I guess it’s not that bad.”

So-yul muttered as she adjusted her clothes in front of the mirror in the dressing room.

“Thank goodness. I was worried I’d look like a steamed bun.”

She gave her reflection a little smile before leaving the bedroom.

She was going downstairs to have breakfast with the whole family, as was the rule in this house.

As always, Tae-heon was waiting for her outside the door in a perfectly tailored suit.

“Ah, good morning.”

So-yul greeted him politely, feeling her heart race helplessly.

Living as Ji Min-chae really does seem bad for my heart in more ways than one.

“Good morning.”

Tae-heon gave a small nod and answered briefly.

Even that restrained movement somehow made him look as handsome as a model.

So-yul headed downstairs with Tae-heon.

“You enjoyed your late-night ramen last night?”

As they walked down the stairs, So-yul had been secretly sniffing the mature, pleasant scent coming from Tae-heon when his question made her jump.

She stopped abruptly.

“How did you know?”

“Know what?”

“That I ate late-night ramen last night.”

I thought my face wasn’t swollen.

Or had that just been wishful thinking?

Was her face so puffy that anyone could tell she’d eaten ramen the night before?

Is the steamed-bun face I imagined actually the face I’m wearing right now?

So-yul covered her face with both hands. She was so embarrassed that she could feel the heat rising in both cheeks.

Tae-heon’s lips moved as if he were about to say something, then pressed firmly together.

Was it just her imagination?

The corners of his lips seemed to curve ever so slightly.

“Anyone could have known.”

What? That shocked So-yul even more.

That means my face is so obviously—

So-yul’s mouth fell open.

With both hands covering her cheeks and her mouth hanging open, she looked just like Munch’s The Scream.

“I saw you yesterday.”

“Huh…?”

“I saw you eating ramen with Tae-min last night. I saw it myself, so of course I know what you ate.”

When Tae-heon had returned home the night before, the smell of ramen and the sound of So-yul and Tae-min’s voices had unconsciously drawn him toward the dining room.

“It’s really delicious, Young Master!”

“Ahem. I am pretty good at making ramen, aren’t I? Then I’ll make it for you whenever you want it from now on, Sister-in-law.”

“Then I might bother you every single day, Young Master.”

“Oh! Then we’ll eat ramen together every single day? I’m totally in!”

At Tae-min’s easygoing reply, So-yul had smiled brightly.

The smile she showed Tae-min had looked completely at ease.

Tae-heon had watched them for a moment, thinking the two of them seemed to get along like children, before going upstairs to the second floor.

So-yul blinked.

What? So it wasn’t because my face was swollen…

“Y-You should’ve told me that sooner….”

So-yul mumbled, her face red with embarrassment.

Tae-heon started walking down the stairs again, and So-yul followed him.

“The ramen was really good! Have you ever tried Young Master Tae-min’s ramen?”

“No. Late-night meals before bed are an inefficient habit that lowers sleep quality, so I avoid them.”

“Oh, I see….”

So-yul gave an awkward smile.

I wanted to eat it with oppa, too. Just the two of us sitting across from each other in the middle of the night, slurping ramen….

She was happily letting her imagination run wild when—

“You shouldn’t eat it too often either, Ms. Ji Min-chae. Nutrition is important for growth, but getting enough sleep is just as important.”

So-yul stopped dead on the stairs again.

She stared blankly ahead before biting her lip.

Forget about wanting to eat ramen together.

Her eyes narrowed as she glared at the back of Tae-heon’s head.

“Hurry up.”

“…Yes, yes. Maybe I didn’t get enough sleep and didn’t grow enough, because the stairs seem especially difficult today.”

Tae-heon urged her on, and So-yul pouted as she continued down the stairs.

“I can carry you if you need me to. Just tell me. I used to carry Ye-jun quite often, too.”

…Now he’s treating me like Ye-jun?

Wow! Was this man always this annoying?

So-yul opened and closed her mouth in disbelief before simply shutting it.

She already knew that the more she talked, the more she would lose.

Tae-heon glanced at her and smiled silently.

Tae-heon was reviewing the Industrial Safety Integrated Control System report spread across the desk in his executive office.

It was the report on the results of the project he had previously ordered them to put back on schedule.

“Has the first implementation site been decided?”

“Yes, sir. As you instructed, we’ll begin at two locations within this quarter. There will be no further delays to the schedule.”

Tae-heon gave a brief nod as he looked over the roadmap, where the delay markers had disappeared.

“Good. Make sure the implementation data is uploaded as soon as it’s available.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll formally submit it as an agenda item at next week’s board meeting.”

After Manager Choi finished his report and left, Tae-heon put down his fountain pen and leaned back in his chair for a moment.

Then a message notification appeared on his phone.

It was from Jin Seon-mi.

Did Min-chae and I do some autumn clothes shopping today? We did this too.

A photo was attached to the message.

It was a photo of Jin Seon-mi and So-yul taken together in a photo booth.

In the picture, Jin Seon-mi was holding up a V-sign with both hands. It was a pose Tae-heon had rarely, if ever, seen from his usually formal mother.

Beside her, So-yul was leaning slightly toward her and smiling brightly.

Min-chae came out well, right? I’ve never taken one of these before. Thanks to Min-chae, I got to try it for the first time. It was fun.

Yes, it came out well.

Tae-heon chuckled softly as he replied to his mother, who was excited like a young girl. His compliment about the photo was sincere.

They really did look like mother and daughter.

It had been a long time since he had seen his mother smile so brightly. She had lost her beloved first daughter-in-law, along with her second son, in an accident.

But even when I tried to buy something for Min-chae, she kept refusing. I had to insist before she finally let me buy something. You should give Min-chae gifts often, too, so she gets used to receiving things.

Come to think of it, So-yul had been the same way whenever she was with him.

When he had taken her to the department store before, she had kept refusing his offers to buy things. And when they had visited Grandfather, she’d even refused the card…

“Wait. Come to think of it….”

Tae-heon’s eyebrow twisted as he remembered the card.

He had never once received a spending notification for the card he had given So-yul.

That shouldn’t have been possible.

She was twenty-two, after all, and he had given her a card with no spending limit.

Most people would use it at least once, if only to see how much they could spend.

Did I miss the notifications?

Without giving it much thought, Tae-heon checked the transaction history.

“This is…?”

The screen was empty.

He extended the search period to one month.

Still nothing.

He changed it to one year.

Not a single transaction appeared.

“Not even once?”

It was almost absurd for a card with no spending limit to have no transactions at all.

Is she only using the card Grandfather gave her?

But when he had someone check that card as well, there wasn’t a single transaction there either.

“So she really hasn’t spent a single penny from either card.”

Tae-heon gave a small, incredulous laugh and tapped his phone with his finger.

“What a wasteful personality, Seo So-yul.”

Apparently, he would have to say something to her when he got home and saw her face.

That night, after returning home, Tae-heon stood in front of the bedroom.

He raised his hand to knock, but for some reason, the knock sounded unusually hesitant for him.

A moment later, the door opened, and So-yul cautiously peeked her face out.