DDOS 12

Chapter 12

Ki Seung-do had clearly said, “I don’t mind if it’s late.”

But was it really appropriate to knock on a man’s bedroom door in the middle of the night just because he had said that?

Yeo-eun had been standing in front of Ki Seung-do’s bedroom door for quite some time, debating whether she should knock or not.

Once again, it was Ki Seung-do who gave her the answer.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah!”

Startled by the sudden voice, Yeo-eun let out a short scream and dropped into a crouch.

She had been so absorbed in wondering whether she should knock that she hadn’t even noticed someone approaching.

Naturally, Ki Seung-do was also the one who held out a hand to the woman sitting on the floor.

He was wearing glasses.

“I think you just cursed at me in your head.”

Seung-do held out his hand to Yeo-eun.

Yeo-eun stared at his hand for a moment before taking it. She cautiously tried to get up, but her body was suddenly and effortlessly pulled to her feet.

“Ah.”

A sound escaped Yeo-eun’s mouth that was neither an exclamation nor a gasp.

He was too close.

Because of the hand that had pulled her toward him, Yeo-eun ended up pressed against Ki Seung-do’s body.

All the ceiling lights in the hallway were off, leaving only the sensor lights that responded to movement.

The dim light fell across the man’s face, creating striking shadows.

“Please let go.”

Before Yeo-eun could even process the situation, she released his hand first.

Her fingertips felt hot as they fell away.

“You startle pretty easily. I shouldn’t scare you next time.”

Unlike Yeo-eun, the man continued speaking as though nothing had happened, completely unfazed.

Feeling as though she was the only one who had been unnecessarily startled by something so insignificant, Yeo-eun pretended to be unaffected and spoke.

“I finished my work too late. I was going to talk to you early tomorrow morning……”

“I’m still working.”

Was that why he was wearing glasses?

Ki Seung-do, wearing thin, round glasses, had on a comfortable-looking sweatshirt and slacks.

He wasn’t wearing his usual pitch-black suit.

Seen like this, he seemed a little less dangerous.

Just an ordinary man who had a lot of work and looked somewhat tired……

No.

He still wasn’t ordinary.

“You work until this late.”

“Yes. I have a job, too.”

Ki Seung-do threw her own words from the elevator back at her and checked the time on his wristwatch.

“I didn’t expect we’d end up having this conversation so late, either.”

Seung-do had also finished dinner and lost track of time while looking over documents.

He had assumed the woman would have gone to bed long ago, so seeing her hesitating in front of his bedroom door had been somewhat surprising.

But he didn’t particularly dislike it.

“I’m free right now.”

Ki Seung-do stood in front of the door beside the bedroom.

“This isn’t something we should discuss in the bedroom. Let’s go to the study.”

“……”

“After all, secret conversations are usually held at dawn.”

He deliberately said it in a teasing, suggestive tone.

The woman’s expression immediately hardened, and she walked straight into Ki Seung-do’s study.

It was amusing.

In Yeo-eun’s eyes, having learned about the world mostly through movies and dramas, a study was an extremely dangerous place.

Even in the drama she had been correcting and translating just moments ago, a murder had just taken place in a study.

All kinds of secrets in the fictional world were bound to be hidden inside studies.

But Ki Seung-do’s study was different from Yeo-eun’s brief imagination.

There was no old-fashioned, heavy desk, nor were there decorative books that no one ever read.

Instead, a desk and chair with sleek, clean lines stood in the center.

Perhaps he really had been working, because several documents and a tablet PC were spread across the desk.

In front of the desk, there was a table suitable for reading, along with a sofa and a recliner arranged harmoniously.

The books on the shelves were somewhat unexpected.

The bookshelves covering the walls were filled with books from all kinds of fields, ranging from comic books to science books.

There was even a small cinema room on one side of the study where he could watch movies.

“Is something strange?”

Apparently, Yeo-eun had been looking around the study too obviously.

Although she had crossed the threshold while extremely tense, the unexpected sight had momentarily distracted her.

Blaming herself for losing focus, Yeo-eun answered in a small voice.

“You seem to like books.”

“Well, I haven’t read all of them.”

A lie.

Even at a glance, it was obvious that every one of them had been handled by their owner.

“Do you like books? Does someone who translates have to like books?”

“……”

“I just like them.”

A child who grows up alone tends to make dramas, movies, and books their friends.

Of course, among those, Yeo-eun liked books the most.

But they were also difficult for her to obtain.

Dramas and movies were available simply by turning on the television, but books couldn’t be obtained unless she bought or borrowed them.

“Come closer and take a look.”

Yeo-eun didn’t refuse and approached the bookshelf.

Meanwhile, Seung-do set some water to boil in one corner of the study.

He hadn’t expected that the things he had prepared for drinking tea or alcohol while looking over documents or books late into the night would actually be used like this.

At the same time, he watched Yeo-eun as she looked through the bookshelves.

The wariness, tension, and worry that had briefly fallen away from the woman’s face made her look clear and pure.

So that’s the look she has when she sees something she likes.

“There are things like this, too.”

Seung-do, who was choosing tea, absentmindedly looked at the “things like this” Yeo-eun was referring to.

“I really like this drama. I watched the reruns so many times when I was young. You have all the scripts.”

They were the script books he had watched together with Kim Hee-jin.

All of Kim Hee-jin’s other belongings had been burned in Hong Kong.

These were the only belongings Seung-do had brought back from Hong Kong.

He had kept them in a box ever since bringing them to Korea, afraid that if Ki Tae-joo or someone else saw them, they might throw them away.

Only after becoming independent had he finally been able to take them out and put them on the bookshelf.

He had never opened them even once since Kim Hee-jin’s death.

The electric kettle, which had been making a boiling sound, switched itself off.

Click.

The small, distinct sound brought the two of them back to reality.

Yeo-eun sat on the sofa Ki Seung-do had indicated.

Ki Seung-do placed the teacup he had brought on the table beside Yeo-eun, then took a seat across from her.

“Have some tea. A friend sent it to me, and it’s pretty good.”

It was almost one in the morning.

They weren’t exactly close enough to sit across from each other with teacups between them and have a pleasant conversation, but the tea had a soft and pleasant aroma.

“Let’s start by talking about what I mentioned earlier. The friend who sent me the tea you’re drinking is holding a company anniversary event in Hong Kong next month. I’ve been invited as well.”

“I see.”

“I’d like Kang Yeo-eun to accompany me as my personal interpreter.”

The man’s proposal was concise.

At first glance, there seemed to be nothing wrong with it.

In fact, it seemed like a very good offer.

It was simply suspicious that the person he had chosen was Yeo-eun.

There was no way it wouldn’t be.

Yeo-eun spoke.

“I specialize in video translation, so I don’t have much experience with simultaneous interpretation. If it’s an important event, I think it would be better for you to go with a professional interpreter.”

Her calm tone sounded like a suggestion, but in reality, she was asking him to explain why he had chosen her.

And that wasn’t all.

On Seung-do’s bookshelf, books in English, Cantonese, and Korean were arranged in roughly equal proportions.

Even if someone was fluent in a foreign language and capable of communicating without difficulty, it wasn’t unusual to have an interpreter accompany them to an official event or an important business meeting.

But there was something about this proposal that didn’t sit right with her.

“As you probably expected, I’ve already checked Kang Yeo-eun’s résumé. I thought it was sufficient.”

Seung-do met Yeo-eun’s clearly wary gaze.

“Saying that I don’t want to make a mistake because it’s such an important occasion would just be an excuse.”

“……”

“To be precise, I don’t need an interpreter. I need a partner. More precisely, I need someone to pretend to be my partner.”

“What does that……”

Seung-do thought that Yeo-eun’s clear expression wasn’t bad either, but this expression was certainly much more amusing.

“Since it’s a special arrangement, the contract terms won’t be bad. I’m saying I’ll pay you a lot of money.”

Her large, round eyes couldn’t lie.

That was the biggest difference between Kang Yeo-eun and Lee Hwa-shin.

“Even if it’s only a fake partner for a few days, wouldn’t it be better if she were someone who was to my taste?”

Even as he said it, Ki Seung-do asked himself inwardly:

Was Kang Yeo-eun really my type?

Was this woman, who looked as though she might disappear at any moment yet struggled desperately to survive, really his type?

“Don’t joke around.”

“I’m not joking.”

The answer came without hesitation, and Yeo-eun’s eyes instantly filled with bewilderment.

He liked the sight of her flushed cheeks.

He especially liked how even the nape of her neck, exposed because she had tied her hair up, had turned red.

I wonder what expression she’d make if her whole body turned red.

Ki Seung-do found himself thinking something he hadn’t even thought of at eighteen.

“Why are you saying things like that to me?”

Her voice trembled faintly.

Why?

Because it’s interesting.

Of course, he didn’t say that.