Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Lee Sin-a (6)
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Mr. Choi announced that he would work out with her too.
Lee Sin-a beamed with delight and replied.
"What's this? The man who always vanishes like clockwork is sticking around? Heh heh."
"Truth be told, watching you has got me motivated, ma'am. I've been slacking on my own routine lately."
Lee Sin-a nodded with a bright smile.
The two headed to the fitness center together.
"Hup... Hoo! Inhale! Hoo...!"
Lee Sin-a stole glances at Mr. Choi as he worked out.
As she'd expected, Mr. Choi had a remarkably well-toned body.
Solid pecs and shoulder lines, back muscles peeking through his tank top.
It was the physique of someone with serious training experience.
"Inhale! Hoo...."
His smaller muscles flexed dynamically with each set.
Lee Sin-a swallowed hard, her eyes roaming over him.
Especially when his nipples flashed through the side of his tank top now and then—it sent electric tingles through her whole body.
'What's wrong with me? Ever since I saw that photo last time, these weird thoughts keep popping up...'
Was it because she was getting more interested in her body?
Or had she finally realized she was a woman too?
The attention from countless men.
The greedy stares they sent her way.
The lewd photos they fired off to catch her interest.
Lately, Lee Sin-a had been getting swept up in it all.
Just like the saying about late bloomers being the wildest, her long-dormant feminine confidence was suddenly rearing its head.
Or maybe it was because she hadn't had sex in nearly three years.
After decades with her husband, she'd lost all sexual desire for him, and they'd naturally drifted apart from intimacy.
But she'd thought it didn't matter.
Her husband understood her heart, always supported her wishes.
Being with him made her feel warm and secure.
Wasn't that the very reason she'd married him in the first place?
"Having trouble focusing?"
Mr. Choi approached her then.
Lee Sin-a hurriedly schooled her expression and forced an awkward smile.
"Oh, uh, just thinking about something else. Haha..."
"Right. Mind if I use the machine next to you?"
"Ah! Sure. I was about to take a break anyway."
Mr. Choi sat at the adjacent machine and began pulling on it.
His ragged breaths and the heat radiating from his body reached her even here.
A strange desire began to sprout in Lee Sin-a's chest.
'Hah. Get it together. Focus. Focus.'
Lee Sin-a shook her head vigorously and pulled on her machine again.
Three days later, in a quiet café.
Lee Sin-a stared at the two men in front of her with a stunned expression.
Then she looked back at the dozens of photos spread across the table.
She couldn't believe it.
"Th-this... this... what the hell... It has to be photoshopped, right? Yeah? Tell me it's photoshopped!"
"...We're sorry."
"This doesn't make any sense! It can't be real!!"
Lee Sin-a yelled, then hissed out breaths—hiss-hiss.
The stares from the people around her.
The agency employees looked embarrassed as they spoke.
"P-please... calm down first..."
"Does it look like I can calm down right now?"
The reason Lee Sin-a was exploding like this?
It was because of the unbelievable photos scattered on the table.
Photos of Lee Ha-young—her son's girlfriend—kissing her husband.
Photos of the two entering a motel together.
Photos of them holding hands.
This had to be a joke.
Why was that girl acting so cheap...?
"Th-this... it's photoshopped, right? Yeah? Tell me it's..."
She was so furious her head spun.
She couldn't think straight.
Her mind felt clouded over.
She was so angry and humiliated that tears streamed down her cheeks.
"No way. There's no way..."
She said it, but she didn't want to believe it. Absolutely not.
Yet the evidence was crystal clear.
Her husband smiling tenderly at Lee Ha-young.
Lee Ha-young with her arms around her husband's neck, kissing him.
Finally, one of the agency employees spoke up.
"We can hardly believe it ourselves. We were tailing Lee Ha-young and... never expected to find this..."
"..."
Lee Sin-a gathered her thoughts.
Should she confront her husband right now?
Or go beat the hell out of that Lee Ha-young first?
Maybe this was why her son had fallen apart.
Her fists clenched tight.
"I'll... contact you later..."
Lee Sin-a stuffed the photos into her bag.
She stormed out of the café and gulped down the night air.
But the heat in her head wouldn't cool.
She ducked into a bar.
"Welcome~"
She ignored the greeting.
She stomped to an empty table, rang the bell, and ordered a bottle of soju.
"Uh... anju?"
"Just give me whatever."
"...Yes, sir. I'll bring our most popular item then~"
The quick-witted part-timer picked up on her mood and backed off.
Soon the soju arrived, and Lee Sin-a cracked it open, chugging it straight from the bottle.
She needed this just to calm her pounding heart.
"Hah.... How could..."
Lee Sin-a wiped her streaming tears with her sleeve and chugged more soju.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't understand.
No—she couldn't believe it even seeing it with her own eyes.
Her husband wasn't the type to do something like that.
He was the man who only had eyes for her.
Why on earth?
'How could you? How could you do this? You're her father figure. How could you... with someone so young and innocent...'
-Ring ring ring.
Her phone rang then.
Lee Sin-a glanced at it.
Caller ID: 'Mr. Choi'
Come to think of it, it was time for their YouTube shoot.
-Click.
"Hello...?"
A brief silence.
Then Mr. Choi spoke.
"You don't sound good."
"...Sorry. Something came up, so I need to skip today."
"...What happened?"
"No, just tired."
Silence again.
His breathing came through the receiver.
Then he said,
"...Ma'am. I'm in charge of your son's psychotherapy, and for that, our collaboration is key. If something's bothering you, I can help."
Lee Sin-a fell silent.
She just thought about the man called Mr. Choi.
What kind of person was he?
Thinking back, he had a lot of appealing qualities.
First, his dedication to treating her son was incredibly grateful.
Then, opening new challenges for her and supporting her every step without making it hard—that was touching too.
And he always kept work and personal matters strictly separate, never crossing the line. She liked that.
So, on impulse, Lee Sin-a blurted it out.
"...Wanna be my drinking buddy tonight?"
"..."
Silence.
Lee Sin-a's heart raced a bit.
Finally, he replied.
"Where are you?"
Lee Sin-a and Mr. Choi moved to a second spot.
The second venue was Mr. Choi's villa.
She still wanted to drink more but didn't want to go home, so she'd insisted.
Mr. Choi said,
"I've brought you to my place, but aren't you being too unguarded? It's a bachelor pad."
Lee Sin-a snorted at his gruff words.
"Heh~ You, teacher? Pfft. You don't even seem interested in me anyway. You always just do your thing and leave—what could you possibly~"
"...Have a seat first. One moment—"
Mr. Choi said that and headed to his wine cellar.
He pulled out the top-shelf vintage he'd prepared for today, a vile grin spreading across his face.
'She's almost hooked. Heh heh heh. Don't screw this up.'
How long had he held back for this day?
Suppressing the boiling lust in his chest, pretending to be indifferent—how hard had that been?
Just a little longer.
Stimulate the hole in her heart, leave her defenseless, then fill it with his cock. Game over.
Once he got it in, the rest would be easy.
Mr. Choi tamped down the heat pulsing in his dick and approached Lee Sin-a with the wine.
"Whoa... Isn't this Château Mouton Rothschild?"
Lee Sin-a's eyes widened at the sight of the wine.
Mr. Choi smiled faintly and replied.
"You know your wines."
"Yeah... Are you sure it's okay to open this here?"
"It suits you, ma'am."
Lee Sin-a blushed again.
Even though she was illegitimate, as a member of a chaebol family, she knew exactly how rare and expensive this wine was.
"Here you go."
A wine that could fetch tens of millions depending on the vintage.
Mr. Choi poured it into an empty glass like it was nothing.
Lee Sin-a watched it fill her glass and said,
"What did you do before, teacher?"
"...Same as now. This line of work."
"I don't get it. Why would someone like you work in this shady underworld for pocket change, helping me out...?"
Thinking about it, it was odd.
Mr. Choi's fee was 12 million won.
It seemed like a lot at first glance, but for an expert like him over four months? It was basically charity.
Just his hired trainer and editor ate up most of it.
"More importantly, ma'am. Tell me now. What happened?"
But he never talked about himself.
She didn't even know his real name.
Even now, it was clear he was just extracting the info he needed and planning to send her home.
Feeling a surge of emotion, Lee Sin-a glared at him and spoke.
"Fine. Tell me about you first, teacher. Then I'll tell you mine."
A childish provocation.
An rude remark.
Something the usual Lee Sin-a would never say.
But right now, there was a gaping hole in her heart.
To fill it, she'd impulsively started drinking, impulsively called him, impulsively come to his house.
So now, it was time to impulsively dig into his past.
"We agreed to be drinking buddies tonight. But you've been dodging my questions the whole time, right? Why won't you talk about yourself? Why do you live alone in this huge mansion, why take such chump change for work, why are you so—"
good to me?
She barely swallowed the last words.
Lee Sin-a bit her lower lip.
Whenever things got tough before, her husband had always been there to comfort her...
"Let's have a drink first."
Mr. Choi raised his glass as if proposing a toast.
Lee Sin-a glared at him for a moment, then lifted hers too.
-Clink.
Glasses touched.
They drank the wine.
Mr. Choi savored the aroma calmly and drained his glass.
Lee Sin-a glared at him while downing hers.
She chugged until it was empty and set it on the table.
-Thud.
"Sorry for being rude today."
Lee Sin-a stood up.
She wasn't in the mood to enjoy wine like this.
No—honestly, she was a little mad at Mr. Choi.
She didn't want to think about why.
It hurt her pride.
"When I was in America."
Then, Mr. Choi suddenly started speaking.
Lee Sin-a, who had turned to leave, froze in place.