Chapter 56
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 56
“Nnghh…”
A groan escaped through his clenched teeth.
His head throbbed as if it had been beaten with a hammer, and his stomach churned violently.
Dokyun took stock of his wretched condition, forcing his eyes open to survey his surroundings.
‘The bedroom…’
He was on the bed in the bedroom.
He had no idea why he was here.
‘I’m sure…’
He remembered going out for drinks. He recalled accepting glass after glass from the people flocking around him, and then talking about something with her afterward.
They had a conversation, but he couldn't remember what it was about.
The pounding in his head wouldn't stop, making his thoughts stutter and break.
“Ugh…”
Another sound, like the moan of a corpse, slipped past his parted lips.
He wanted to fall back asleep right then and there, but a nagging feeling that he’d forgotten something important kept his mind churning.
Suddenly—!
Dokyun shot upright.
“Sh-shit…!”
The curse escaped his lips before he could stop it.
A cold sweat trickled down his back.
The events of the previous night, the conversation he’d had with her, replayed in his mind.
—Hey, dude, aren't coins super hot right now?
—Nnnghh…
—So! I was thinking, what if I—what if we—hopped on that trend…!
—Uuugh…
—There's this great opportunity… it's just, so hard to explain in words, you know…?
—Ugh…
—One shot of this and our lives will just blooooom~
The words continued, one after another.
—It feels weird going in alone, and you've got 500 million won, don't you, dude?
—Nnnghh…
—Your 500 mil, my 500 mil… what do you say we become a force to be reckoned with?
She had urged him to invest in crypto.
And then.
‘What did I do?’
Dokyun clutched his head, sweat beading on his forehead as he tried to recall what happened next.
He was sure of it.
‘My head…’
He had nodded.
‘Fuck…!’
His eyes flew open. With a sense of urgency, Dokyun frantically searched the bed for his smartphone.
Finding it under the pillow by the headboard, he fumbled to turn on the screen. A strange icon sat on his home screen.
‘A crypto app…’
The cold sweat was now streaming down his face.
With a trembling hand, he tapped the app. It opened, already logged in.
Dokyun stared at the screen for a moment before his finger moved to tap the personal assets tab.
“Ah, ah, ah…”
The entire screen was a deathly shade of blue.
A blue graph, plummeting in a steep downward curve.
A return rate showing -135%.
“Ugh… ah…”
A hollow gasp escaped his lips, and a wave of despair washed over his entire body.
This was wrong.
Was he still drunk? This couldn't be real. There was no way his assets were tied up in this. No, there was no way his assets could have plummeted off a cliff like this.
Thump.
The smartphone slipped from his grasp as all the strength left his hand.
His breathing grew ragged, his mind going blank.
“Haa… haa…!”
His emotions surged uncontrollably, and blood rushed to his head.
In the next moment, Dokyun staggered out of bed, strode to the door, and threw it open. On the living room sofa, he saw her, clutching her own head.
He stared at her for a moment. Sensing his presence, she looked up at him.
“D-Dokyun, are you awake…?” she asked, her pupils trembling violently as if in an earthquake.
She wasn't using her internet slang or her warrior-speak, but he was in no state to notice.
His head, flooded with blood, was filled with nothing but rage, paralyzing all rational thought.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
His heartbeat grew even more frantic.
No longer able to control his emotions, Dokyun stormed toward her.
“Wh-what…?”
He heard her startled voice.
Snatch—!
In the next instant, Dokyun had her by the collar, shaking her so hard her entire body rattled.
His grip tightened, and a roar of pure, pent-up fury echoed through the house.
“What are you going to do…! What about my money!!!”
He shook her, spewing the rage that erupted from the depths of his soul. A panicked sound escaped her lips.
“W-wait, calm down! Just calm down!”
“Calm down? Calm dooown?!”
Her words only made him shake her harder.
He couldn't calm down.
He couldn't possibly calm down when this woman had gotten him drunk, made him invest against his will, and then lost all his money, only to tell him to calm down. He was filled with too much resentment.
He glared at her, shaking her by the collar for a long moment, when she spoke again.
“W-wait a second!”
Stop.
Her words made Dokyun’s hands freeze.
Deciding to at least hear what she had to say, he glared at her, panting with rage. She met his gaze and continued with an awkward smile.
“W-who are we?”
Snap—.
He felt a wire break in his head.
This woman was still spouting nonsense at a time like this.
His vision practically whiting out, Dokyun started shaking her by the collar again, screaming.
“Who the fuck do you think we are?! A couple of pathetic losers!!!”
“Gack…!”
He heard her choke as he lifted her up by the collar.
But Dokyun, unable to control his emotions, didn't notice. He just kept shaking her and yelling.
“Pay me back! Pay me back, I said!!!”
Another wave of fury burst out.
She started tapping his arm, apparently unable to breathe, but Dokyun, consumed by his emotions, paid her no mind and kept his grip tight.
Suddenly, his eyes grew moist, and tears began to fall.
“What am I going to do…! That was money for my babies!!! What am I going to do with all of it!!!”
He had already planned out how he was going to use that money.
His dream of exploring the Deep Sea with his devastating capital, of building a harem of his own precious, undiscovered novels, was shattered.
His loud shouts were now choked with sobs.
“S-sob… waahhh…”
His body, consumed by sorrow, began to sag. The strength in his hands, which had been gripping her collar so tightly, finally loosened. Finally able to breathe, her eyes darted around before she slapped his hands away and screamed.
Smack—!
“Ugh, for fuck’s sake!”
His hands were knocked away in an instant.
Dokyun looked up, doubting his own ears. He saw her, face hardened, sweating coldly.
“Wh-what?”
He couldn't comprehend what he had just heard.
He felt dazed for a moment.
“For… for fuck’s sake…?”
“Eek…!”
As the meaning of her words sank in, Dokyun’s face crumpled in rage again and he lunged forward. She flinched and stumbled backward before hardening her expression and continuing.
“You think you’re the only one who lost?! I did too! I lost money too!” she yelled, pounding her chest with a clenched fist.
“Hah, haah…”
A humorless laugh escaped him. He was dumbfounded.
Was that really something a person says after ruining someone’s life?
Did this person have no sense of guilt?
Feeling a new wave of rage at the sheer absurdity of it all, Dokyun roared again.
“I wouldn’t have lost anything if you hadn’t tempted me!!!”
As he shouted, he charged at her. She let out a little ‘Eek!’ and started running.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going!!!”
Dokyun cursed as he saw her flee toward the back of the living room. He gave chase, but she was surprisingly fast. She had already slipped through a doorway and locked the door from the inside, blocking his path.
Dokyun stared at the door that stood between them.
The door to the dressing room.
Squeeze—!
His fists clenched. Blood rushed to his head, and he began pounding on the door, screaming again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Come out!!! Come out, you bastard!!!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
“I said, come ooouuut!!!”
He pounded on the door for a long, long time.
Click—.
The door opened, and a person emerged from the gap.
Dokyun, still panting with rage, froze as he recognized the person who had come out. The strength drained from his body, and he spoke in a hollow voice.
“…Eun-seol?”
A knit turtleneck, slacks, her hair tied up in a bun, and stylish half-rim glasses.
It was Eun-seol.
“…”
“…”
Silence stretched between them. She looked at him for a moment, then let out a deep sigh and opened her mouth.
“…I apologize.”
Thump—.
At her words, the strength left Dokyun’s body and he collapsed to his knees.
“Ah… ah…”
Meaningless, hollow sounds escaped his lips again as his pupils trembled violently.
Eun-seol watched him for a moment before gently patting his shoulder. The touch brought him back to his senses, and he grit his teeth, spitting out his rage.
His jaw clenched tight.
‘She ran away…!’
That cunning spawn of evil had fled into that body.
His hand rose to cover his face, and a groan filled with grief escaped him.
“Hnnghh…”
Why, why did this have to happen?
He mulled it over and came to a conclusion.
‘It’s my fault… Yes, it’s my fault…’
It was his fault for not being wary of her when she approached him from the very beginning, acting all friendly and spouting her internet slang.
Sadness, grief, regret, despair.
All sorts of negative emotions swept through him. As he knelt there, swaying, Eun-seol, who had been watching him, spoke once more.
“…It’s my fault. I’m sorry.”
Words of apology.
Dokyun looked up at her with empty eyes. She let out another deep sigh and added an explanation.
“That one has been getting into gambling lately, so I had her bank accounts frozen. I figured if she didn’t have money, she’d stop on her own, so I let my guard down…”
She trailed off, pressing her temples with a look of utter exhaustion.
“…I never thought she’d touch your money. I’m sorry.”
The dark circles under her eyes were pronounced.
“The money you lost, I’ll cover it.”
Seeing her offer to take responsibility, Dokyun felt the last of his energy to be angry drain away. He answered in a listless, mumbling voice.
“…No, it’s alright. I should have been more careful…”
Somehow, looking at that expression, he couldn't bring himself to ask for the money.
He felt empty.
Empty and miserable. His eyes burned.
His emotions welled up again.
Dokyun clenched the hand that was resting on the floor and continued.
“You don’t need to take responsibility.”
That’s right. The sinner must pay for the sin.
Dokyun lifted his head from the floor and stared at her with blazing eyes, finishing his thought.
“Because I’ll be collecting it… myself!”
He stared at her, his voice filled with intense resolve. She looked back at him and nodded with a reluctant expression.
“…Alright.”
Her voice sounded somewhat uncomfortable.
Having concluded that this was all the fault of that wretched internet addict, Dokyun steeled his resolve and pushed himself to his feet. Her voice reached him once more.
“Go wait in the living room. I’ll make breakfast.”
Dokyun watched Eun-seol turn and walk away, and only then did he become aware of his own body, twisted with a hangover.
Grumble—.
Focusing on his body, he could feel his stomach churning and rumbling.
He’d been so out of his mind that he’d forgotten his physical state.
He really had drunk too much last night.
“Nngh…”
Dokyun staggered to his feet and watched her walk down the hall toward the kitchen.
Was this her way of comforting him? The realization that she had offered to cook for him first brought a small measure of solace, and he began to trudge after her.
‘Right, she’s a victim in this, too.’
She must have been shocked to emerge into a situation like this.
Unleashing more anger now would only make things difficult for Eun-seol.
It was better to bottle up this rage and unleash it the day that one reappeared.
Having made his decision, Dokyun reined in his simmering anger, grinding his teeth as he composed his expression and headed for the living room.
After a while, sitting on the sofa, he looked toward the kitchen and saw her tossing a bunch of ingredients into a large pot.
He didn't know what she was making, but the smell was quite peculiar, raising a question in his mind.
What was that scent? He thought about it for a moment.
‘…Could it be?’
Was she putting aside her own preferences to make him a spicy hangover soup? He was lost in this touching thought for a while.
He heard the clatter of dishes. She had finished cooking and setting the table. Dokyun approached and looked into the pot.
“Eat.”
He stared at Eun-seol for a moment as she sat down, then looked back at the pot. A feeling of resignation washed over him as he took his seat.
‘Of course.’
It was a very her kind of menu.
The pot was filled with knife-cut noodle soup, generously topped with cilantro.