Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Olivia's Identity..?
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After school, I met Olivia alone on the rooftop.
Now, to finally free her from her duty as my personal lunch shuttle.
"Hey, Olivia. Thanks, it was good."
I handed her back the cleaned-out lunchbox.
She took it carefully, fiddling with it.
"How was the game?"
"I did great, thanks to you coming to watch. Appreciate it."
".........!!"
Olivia jumped in surprise.
She must've thought I hadn't noticed her.
"You didn't mistake me for someone else, right?"
"It was you in the sunglasses, wasn't it? You stand out too much looks-wise. You should work harder on your disguise next time."
"Ah...."
Even with a sparse crowd, there's no way I could've missed her striking appearance. She seemed embarrassed about getting caught, so I didn't press the issue further.
After a brief silence, Olivia asked about the lunchbox.
"...How did it taste?"
"It was delicious."
"Really?"
She lit up with joy, then hesitated.
Me, who never compliments food, suddenly praising her—she must've sensed something.
I rummaged in my bag and pulled something out.
It was the documents she'd dropped during our first meeting.
"Here, your documents. I'm giving them back for real this time."
"......."
"You met the condition. You satisfied me."
The condition I'd set from the start was simple: 'Satisfy me with your cooking.'
Until now, I'd nitpicked endlessly to mooch extra meals that were way above my pay grade.
Of course, her lunchbox had helped me recover my energy big time before the Cheonghyeon High match.
But even I have some shame. I'd gotten more than my fill, so it was time to call it quits.
Whatever was in those documents didn't matter to me anymore.
I was just returning them with my thanks.
"......."
Olivia stared blankly at the documents.
Her face was lost in deep thought.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Olivia, did that thug get some dirt on you or something?"
Kim Jun-woo, her classmate in the culinary department, asked bluntly after calling her aside, claiming he had something to say. Olivia tilted her head, puzzled by his sudden odd question.
"Why do you think that?"
"It's weird! Why would you suddenly make meals for a punk like that?!"
Only I deserve to eat Olivia's cooking.
Kim Jun-woo truly believed that. That's why he couldn't stand a low-class thug like Geum Seong-muk wedging himself between her and him.
"Kim Jun-woo, it's not nice to talk badly about someone you barely know."
"Don't tell me... you're dating that guy...?"
Olivia furrowed her brow at his words.
His overstepping meddling was thoroughly unpleasant.
"No, we're not involved at all."
"Then why...!"
"Isn't it my freedom who I cook for?"
"Urk...!"
Seeing her dodge the reason, Kim Jun-woo was convinced something was up. He decided to change tactics—bring up Geum Seong-muk's rumors to make her wary of him.
To achieve his goal, he'd hired a Busan info broker to dig up dirt on Geum Seong-muk from his Bujeon High days.
"That guy's infamous for being a total player. My friend says the rumors in Busan paint him as a notorious thug!"
"………."
"He's obviously just trying to use you or get something out of you...!!"
"And you're different, Jun-woo?"
"What?"
He asked again, as if he hadn't caught her quiet murmur. Olivia had a rough idea of the desire lurking in the eyes he fixed on her.
She'd just been ignoring it since it wasn't too overt. She had zero intention of anything beyond classmate status.
"Nothing. See you later."
"W-Wait, Olivia!"
Olivia turned and walked away briskly, leaving Kim Jun-woo calling after her.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'Seong-muk's past.'
She'd acted indifferent, but the words stuck in her mind.
Geum Seong-muk was a famous thug in Busan, and what if that scumbag had leverage over her?
'...Hmm, if it's true.'
There were too many inconsistencies to buy the rumors outright.
If Geum Seong-muk really was the vicious thug described, wouldn't he demand money, her body, or worse from someone loaded like Olivia, now that he had her weakness?
But what had actually happened?
'He just asked for some cooking, and they call him a pervert.'
'Show me what your food tastes like.'
The grand demand? Stir-fried pork.
Even when she botched it miserably, he didn't complain once and was ready to hand back the documents—like her secret meant nothing to him.
This bizarre arrangement had only continued because she'd insisted on satisfying his palate. After a moment's thought, she asked him directly.
"Are you sure you're okay with this? Giving it back just like that."
"Okay with what? It was yours to begin with."
"...You could make me do all sorts of things if you kept holding onto my weakness."
"Sigh, what the hell do you take me for?"
Seong-muk scratched his head roughly.
He firmly pressed the documents into her hand and said,
"No big deal. I just wanted one meal, and it dragged on a bit. I don't even know what's in them anyway."
"What...?"
Olivia's eyes widened in disbelief.
"But back then, you said you knew enough about these documents."
"That was just bluffing. You're surprisingly naive."
"…………."
Olivia was speechless.
She rubbed her forehead for a moment, then asked again.
"Aren't you curious? You had plenty of time to look into it."
"Nope, not curious, and I didn't bother."
"Why not?"
"Everyone has a secret or two they want hidden."
Seong-muk gazed into the distance, recalling his own past.
It wasn't a long time, but as a star player, he'd been hounded by cameras nonstop. Reporters and paparazzi YouTubers lurked around him constantly, like hyenas sniffing for meat.
The moment he gave them even a scrap, they'd tear into him savagely. Right after his devastating retirement, they'd made his downward spiral even worse.
'I can't become scum like them.'
Unless someone like the Chairman broke their promise first and acted like a dog, Seong-muk had no intention of abusing someone else's weakness.
"It went a little longer than expected, but I enjoyed it, thanks to you, Olivia."
"............."
Seeing Geum Seong-muk's easy grin, Olivia was certain.
This man was nothing like the thug from the rumors.
"Hehe......"
A weight lifted from her heart.
She even felt a strange kinship.
'...Seong-muk must've had it rough too.'
Called names like 'Ice Princess' and dragged through endless scandals, even for things she never did. Rumors flew, and people badmouthed her behind her back.
Olivia figured Geum Seong-muk was the same—just misunderstood because of his rough looks.
'He tried to push me away at first because he didn't want more hurt.'
Seeing the disappointed faces after they heard her rumors must've gotten too painful. He looked like a tough beast on the outside, but that didn't mean his heart was the same.
But now she knew.
The warmth hidden beneath that roughness.
'That smile he gave his teammates.'
On the day of the Cheonghyeon High game, after hitting the homer, the innocent grin he flashed at his celebrating teammates. No villain could smile like that.
Olivia reached her conclusion about Geum Seong-muk.
'This man would never exploit someone's weakness.'
Trusting that, she dropped a bombshell.
Revealing the secret she'd hidden so fiercely—the contents of her weakness.
"Those documents are about my fraudulent study abroad."
"……?!"
"There were circumstances, but there was an issue with the process."
Here's what happened.
To study in Korea, you need a certain level of conversational proficiency. But Olivia had faked her documents using her father's name and got approved smoothly.
The papers Seong-muk picked up were proof of her forged language scores.
Now fluent, she'd planned to destroy the originals she'd reacquired through various channels. But Seong-muk had stumbled upon them by chance.
"Ah, got it."
"Do you understand?"
"Yeah. So basically..."
Gulp.
Olivia swallowed hard.
'Is he going to condemn me...?'
No matter the circumstances, coming via shady means was fact.
She braced for him to call her out.
"So, you're an illegal alien, Olivia?"
"………!?!"
Seong-muk's word choice blindsided her.
Olivia reeled in shock.