MWFL 2

2. Feeling Like Trash

Get out.

Shin-woo flicked his chin toward the door as if to say the words out loud.

“Yes. Understood.”

An overly polite voice slipped from the woman’s lips. Her eyes remained completely calm, without a trace of fluster.

With that, Ha-rin broke off the intense eye contact they had been locked in. She immediately swung the passenger door wide open.

With a cold expression, Shin-woo silently watched the back of her round head as she stepped out of the car without the slightest shift in her composure.

“Hyung. It’s snowing out right now. Don’t you think this is a bit too much? Taxis rarely come by here.”

“So what? What do you want me to do about it?”

“You should take this up with the Chairman. Why take it out on an innocent person?”

Shin-woo glanced out the window. It was freezing cold, and the snow was falling even harder than before, dumping thick flakes everywhere.

“Ah, damn it. This is so annoying.”

She might be in cahoots with his father, but Dong-goo was right—the person he actually needed to confront wasn’t Ju Ha-rin.

Just as he was debating whether to have her get back in—

SLAM!!

A deafening noise shattered the quiet, shaking the car violently.

Shin-woo’s eyes snapped open, and his face instantly twisted into a harsh scowl. For a split second, he felt like his heart had dropped straight to the floor and bounced back up.

“Is she insane?! Do you have any idea how much this car costs?!”

After slamming the car door so hard it nearly shattered, the woman calmly began walking along the bridge.

“Hey. Just drive.”

“What?”

“She’s walking fine on her own. Leave her be.”

She was a woman he was never going to see again anyway.

“What are you doing? I said go!”

Fretfully stomping his feet, Dong-goo finally put the car back in motion.

Shin-woo stared stubbornly straight ahead. But the moment the car brushed past the woman, he darted a quick glance out the window.

At the same time, his brow slowly furrowed.

Walking with her eyes fixed straight ahead, the woman’s face was completely devoid of anything that could be called emotion.

It was only normal to be angry, or at the very least annoyed, right?

Ever since the moment they met, her consistently calm and blunt attitude had been rubbing him completely the wrong way.

“Who on earth is she?”

When Shin-woo muttered to himself, Dong-goo stole a glance at the back seat through the rearview mirror.

“She’s extremely famous in the sports agency industry. Discovering star athletes and closing top-tier contracts are just the basics for her. She’s sent more than ten players abroad to foreign leagues, regardless of the sport.”

Assuming Shin-woo was asking about her background, Dong-goo spilled out the explanation without taking a breath.

“Who said I asked about that?”

“Hyung, what are you actually planning to do?”

“About what?”

Unlike the visibly worked-up Dong-goo, Shin-woo just wore a indifferent expression.

“Just quietly follow the Chairman’s wishes.”

“Does this look like a simple agency contract to you?”

Dong-goo, who had opened his lips to say something more, shut his mouth tight.

“This is a setup by a father who’s blinded by ambition and willing to sell out his own son.”

“…”

“And I have zero intention of playing along.”

Left completely speechless, Dong-goo pulled his eyes away from Shin-woo in the rearview mirror.

“I’m not being petty for no reason, so don’t bring it up again.”

Instead of answering out loud, Dong-goo gave a single nod.

“Still… I think it would be good for you to apologize to Director Ju Ha-rin.”

“…”

“Anyone can see you were just taking your anger out on her, Hyung.”

“I know. Me too.”

Dong-goo’s eyes widened in slight shock. It was unexpected for a man who rarely admitted his mistakes so easily.

“I just don’t like her eyes.”

However, a strange excuse quickly followed.

“What’s wrong with her eyes?”

“I don’t know. Just… anyway, yeah.”

What on earth is he talking about? Dong-goo slowly shook his head.

Even after knowing him for five years, Shin-woo remained a complete mystery.

After tossing and turning under the warm blanket for quite some time, Shin-woo suddenly sat straight up.

“Haah. This damn jet lag.”

It was currently 6:00 AM in Korea, which meant it was around 4:00 PM in New York.

The time he had gone to bed last night coincided with when he would usually start his morning training.

He hadn’t been able to sleep a wink, but more than that, his body felt stiff and heavy from skipping his workout.

He finally kicked off the blanket and headed to the living room.

Gulping down a glass of cold water, he slowly surveyed the apartment, which easily looked to be over 3,500 square feet.

The inside of the house was fully equipped with every amenity an athlete could possibly need.

In a spacious room formed by knocking down the wall between two rooms, rows of weight training equipment resembled a high-end fitness center. One side of the room was even fitted with a sauna and a steam room.

Another room housed a video analysis setup to review games and training footage, while the bathroom featured a hydrotherapy pool designed to speed up muscle recovery.

Everything had been meticulously prepared by the agency.

There wasn’t a single space in the house that fell short of perfection.

“Why are they going around changing someone else’s house however they damn well please?”

That only made him more annoyed.

The memory of how he had acted toward a woman he had just met for the first time resurfaced, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

He might have a terrible personality, but he wasn’t complete trash.

If there was one thing he was sure of about himself, it was that.

Yet, he suddenly felt like trash.

He couldn’t help but feel that her excessively calm attitude—so drastically different from his own—was making him dwell on it even more.

“Wait, do I even need to care this much? It wasn’t like freezing weather outside, and she’s not a kid. She probably got home just fine on her own!”

With a confident declaration, he shook off the lingering discomfort he had been holding onto and drained the rest of his water in one gulp. Then, he headed straight for the home gym.

Following his daily training routine, he kept his body moving without rest. After about an hour, his t-shirt was completely soaked through with sweat that dripped continuously from his skin.

Only then did he drag his no longer stiff body toward the bathroom. After taking a long, relaxing soak in the bathtub, he stepped out to find the dark world outside brightened under the morning light.

He changed into fresh clothes and settled onto the living room sofa, where the morning sunlight was streaming in. Then, he dialed Dong-goo’s number.

— Yes, Hyung. Why are you up already?

“I didn’t just wake up; I’ve been awake this whole time.”

— Don’t tell me you couldn’t sleep a wink?

“Yeah. By the way, where are you heading?”

Judging by the echo in his voice, Shin-woo guessed Dong-goo was inside a car.

— Where else would I be? I’m on my way to your place.

“Why?”

— Ah. Well… there’s an interview scheduled.

Shin-woo’s straight eyebrows instantly twisted into a frown.

“Who set that up?”

— Ah… good question.

“Do you want to die?”

— Hyung! Why are you being so terrifying first thing in the morning? I’ll explain when I get there! Hanging up!

Dong-goo’s voice vanished, and Shin-woo threw his phone onto the sofa in irritation.

Honestly, Dong-goo was innocent—his only crime was following his father’s orders.

Scooping up his phone again, he called his father directly. However, the ringtone just kept going, and his father’s voice never came through.

“Dodging my calls, huh? I knew you’d do this.”

His father had obviously heard about his arrival. Normally, he would have reached out first.

Avoiding the phone was a clear, silent message that he had no intention of changing his mind.

He set his phone down on the table with a thud.

“So you want to see who wins this to the very end.”

Just as he let out that twisted mutter, the intercom buzzed.

“Who is it at this hour?”

With a puzzled look, he slowly got up from his seat and walked over to the intercom.

It was a call from the security office.

“Yes, what’s going on?”

— Hello, this is security. A guest has arrived, and we wanted to confirm if we should let them up.

“Who is the guest?”

— They said they’re from Daol Agency.

Shin-woo’s half-lidded, indifferent eyes slowly opened wide.

“Yes, send them up.”

Without a second thought, he gave permission and hung up. Then, he quickly strode back and sat down on the sofa.

This was his chance to shed the label of being trash.

Sitting quietly as he stared at the front entrance, he suddenly wrinkled the bridge of his nose.

“Do I really need to sit here looking like a sinner waiting for judgment?”

He disliked how overly polite his posture was.

He casually crossed his long legs, then leaned his upper body back at an angle against the sofa cushion.

“Right. Like this, I don’t look like a sinner, nor do I look like an arrogant jerk. Perfect.”

After finding a posture he was satisfied with, he looked back toward the hallway connected to the front door.

At that exact moment, the doorbell rang.

The woman had a key card. Naturally, he assumed she would just open the door and walk in herself.

“What? She wants me to go out and greet her?”

Ha—. Letting out a short, dry laugh, he snapped up from the sofa.

“Fine. I’ll do it just for today.”

Muttering discontentedly, he walked over to the intercom screen.

“…”

The space between Shin-woo’s eyebrows slowly creased.

Displayed on the screen wasn’t the woman he had met yesterday, but the unfamiliar face of a man standing there alone.

“Who are you?”

Instead of opening the door immediately, he pressed the call button and asked.

— Hello. I’m Nam Seung-yeop, a manager from Daol Agency.

It seemed Ju Ha-rin, the person he was expecting, had sent another employee in her place.