The Prelude to Counterattack
They passed the time before the food arrived with light conversation, trading questions about each other. Nothing so formal as personal details — just tastes, hobbies, the small things people offer up when they are still strangers.
"Wait, what? You like games?"
So-hee's eyes went wide the moment Dong-hyun mentioned he enjoyed gaming.
"Why? Do I not look like someone who plays?"
"Well... I just didn't think you would. Games, I mean."
Dong-hyun couldn't help laughing. He was a hardcore gamer — that was the entire reason Serién had chosen him — and here she was, telling him he didn't look the type.
Only a single day had passed in the real world since he'd met Serién, and already he could feel himself changing into someone else.
Every time a new dish arrived, So-hee let out a little gasp of wonder.
"W-wait, hold on. Let me just take one picture."
She powered on her camera for every course, capturing each plate as it came. The plating was exquisite — every garnish an artwork — and her eyes couldn't stay still.
Our chef at home actually cooks better than this... though I suppose this isn't bad either.
Dong-hyun felt nothing in particular. These were dishes he could have whenever he wanted. What filled his mind instead was Yuria.
Maybe I should learn to cook while I'm here and make something for her.
The food in Yuria's world was primitive compared to this one. Picking up a few techniques here didn't seem like a bad idea at all.
"So why did you suddenly ask me to dinner?"
So-hee choked as if the question had gone down the wrong pipe. Dong-hyun passed her a napkin, and she managed to stop coughing.
"Ah... I don't even know. Would it sound strange if I said I was just... drawn to you?"
The truth was that Lee Su-jin's appearance had sparked a flash of childish rivalry in her — but the evening had been so enjoyable she was glad she'd acted on it. What Cheon So-hee didn't know was that Emperor's Charisma was still in effect. The longer they talked, the better she felt.
Dong-hyun found himself liking her answer. No pretension, no performance. She had a bright, easygoing nature, and a certain unguarded roughness that sat well with him.
The mood stayed warm through the entire meal — and why wouldn't it? Dinner with a woman as beautiful as Cheon So-hee was never going to be a chore, and So-hee, for her part, sank deeper into Dong-hyun's charm with every exchange. Wines paired to each course arrived alongside the food, and before long both of them were riding a pleasant, gentle buzz.
When the meal was over, Dong-hyun picked up the check and headed for the counter. So-hee caught a glimpse of the bill in passing — it came to nearly a thousand dollars. He paid it without a word and walked back as if nothing had happened. The message was unmistakable: he had the kind of money that let him spend that much on a woman he'd only just met.
"How was the food?"
"It was... the best thing I've ever eaten in my life. Thank you. Really."
"Where do you live? I'll take you home."
Night had already settled in by the time they stepped outside.
"You will? I'm in Eunpyeong-gu. Nokbeon-dong."
"Is that right? Perfect. I'm in Seongbuk-dong. That's not far at all."
While they were talking, a designated driver provided by the restaurant approached and bowed.
"Good evening. I'm your driver. I'll bring the car around."
"Yes, please."
A moment later the car pulled up, and the two of them slid naturally into the back seat. The driver handled the luxury import with the easy confidence of someone who did this for a living — and he'd even tilted the rearview mirror up so the back seat was out of sight. A considerate touch.
In the dim quiet of the rear seat, sitting side by side, their conversation thinned on its own. Cheon So-hee, who had been running on high voltage all evening, carried a different kind of atmosphere now.
Her heart was hammering. She had never trembled like this over a man — not once — and yet something about Dong-hyun set him apart from everyone else.
Is this what love feels like? Why am I shaking this much?
She wanted to lean her head against him. She almost did. But they had only met today, and the fear that he might think she was too easy kept her still.
"Are you tired?"
"Y-yes?!!"
So-hee had been lost in her own head. The sudden voice made her jump, and she turned to stare at him.
"You just went quiet all of a sudden."
"Ah... yeah. I think the wine's hitting me a little?"
She couldn't exactly admit she'd been daydreaming, so she went with that.
"If you're tired, you can lean on me."
"Huh? Is that really okay?"
"Of course."
She had been wanting exactly that. The moment he offered, there was no reason in the world to refuse. She had been waiting for those words.
So-hee shifted a little closer and rested herself against his shoulder. For someone who looked almost slight, Dong-hyun's shoulder felt solid — reliable. Leaning there, she found a scrap more courage and reached out, taking his hand in hers.
Dong-hyun turned to look at the woman resting against him. So-hee gathered what was left of her nerve, and still leaning on his shoulder, she kissed him.
Her sweet tongue slipped into his mouth and found his, the two of them tangling together. Dong-hyun kissed with a practiced ease that left So-hee unable to think at all.
This guy is way too good at this...
She had no idea that Dong-hyun had never dated anyone in the real world, and a small, irrational sting of betrayal flickered through her.
I guess that's just how it is with men who have it all.
She manufactured the slight, felt it, and then accepted it, all on her own. She would have gone further if she could — but the car was already pulling up to her building.
Dong-hyun watched her go, regret written plainly in her eyes, and headed home.
He stood in front of his own enormous house and, as always, felt a flicker of unreality. He had lived here since he was a child, and yet it never quite felt like his.
Inside, Kang Su-yeon was waiting in the drawing room. One look at her face — tight with fury — and he knew this was about what had happened at the company that afternoon.
"You! Do you have any idea what time it is? Why the hell are you coming home this late!"
The moment she saw him walk in, Su-yeon exploded.
"Right now? It's only ten."
"Are you saying you did nothing wrong??!!"
"What exactly did I do wrong? A twenty-five-year-old man coming home at this hour is a problem now?"
Dong-hyun answered her point for point, calm and logical, and it was Su-yeon who looked ready to burst a blood vessel.
"What the hell has gotten into you? You've been talking back since this afternoon."
"I'm just saying what needs to be said. What did I do wrong?"
"Ha! Unbelievable. We pick some stray mutt up off the street, and this is the thanks we get? You ungrateful little shit."
She was angry enough now to stop choosing her words.
"You weren't the one who took me in."
"Fuck! Talking back to every single thing I say! Should I just rip your mother apart?"
"Ha!? Do you even know where my mother is?"
Su-yeon had gone for his dead mother, and Dong-hyun didn't flinch. He stepped in close instead.
"Do you have any idea how few men there are in this family? If I start standing out at the company, who do you think becomes the successor? You? Or that degenerate brother of mine, Su-jin? Think carefully before you open your mouth."
"What? What did you just say? A piece of trash like you is threatening me?"
Panic surfaced in Su-yeon's eyes for the first time. It was a truth she had always known and had always refused to look at — and Dong-hyun had just said it out loud.
On paper, the one who should have inherited the Mugang Group was Dong-hyun's older brother, Kang Su-jin. Unfortunately for him, he had long since fallen out of Kang Mu-gang's favor. Soaked in alcohol and drugs, lurching from one scandal to the next, he had been written off as if he no longer existed. That was the real reason Kang Mu-gang had told Dong-hyun to start coming into the office.
"A threat? Does this look like a threat to you? I've been living like I was already dead. So why do you keep coming after me?"
She swung an open palm at the smirking face that had stepped in so close. But Su-yeon's strike was far too slow for the man standing in front of her now. Dong-hyun caught her wrist out of the air and drove her back against the wall, pinning her there.
"Don't try to do this with force. I didn't take it all those years because I was weak."
"L-let go of me!!"
Su-yeon screamed.
"What do you two think you're doing!!"
The commotion had drawn Son Ga-eun out of her room. She took one look at them and shouted — then strode over and cracked her hand across Dong-hyun's face.
He had acquired Emperor's Charisma. The Lowered Self-Esteem debuff was gone. But the terror beaten into him since childhood did not vanish so easily. For a moment he was so frightened he could barely draw breath.
"You. What do you think you're doing to my daughter? Have you lost your mind? How dare a thing like you?"
Under Son Ga-eun's pressure, Dong-hyun's legs began to shake. But he did not drop to his knees the way he once would have.
"You're not kneeling?"
"I... have no reason to kneel..."
He was as cowed as a man could be, but he forced the words out anyway.
"What was that? This lowborn is talking back to my face?"
"Mom. Teach him a lesson. He even talked back to me. He was acting all high and mighty, saying he'd be the successor instead of Su-jin."
Seeing Dong-hyun shrink, Su-yeon piled on with relish.
"Is that true? Did you actually say something like that?"
Dong-hyun couldn't answer. Son Ga-eun pulled out her phone and dialed.
"Manager Jung? Send some people over. Just three."
Jung Hyeong-jin was Son Ga-eun's secretary. Whenever Dong-hyun talked back or stepped out of line, she would have him call in gangsters to beat the boy bloody. She was doing it again now.
A short while later, three burly men came through the door.
"Drag this bastard down to the basement."
"Yes, ma'am. Come with us."
They took him by both arms as if this were the most natural thing in the world — because for them, it was. They had done it often enough.
But the Dong-hyun standing there now was no longer the same person he had been.