It's Clear He Likes Me...!
Seo Jia first met Kang Taeseong around the time she turned seven.
"You should say hello, Jia."
Her father, Chairman Seo Inwook, smiled as he pointed to the boy standing beside him.
"This is the son of Daddy's friend, Kang Taeseong."
Then he turned to the boy.
"Taeseong, this is our Jia."
"Hello."
The boy greeted her clearly and properly. He was much taller than his peers, but the extra weight gave him an overall round, soft impression.
"Taeseong is thirteen this year, I believe?"
Chairman Seo Inwook said with a smile.
"Jia can call him Oppa."
"...Oppa?"
Young Seo Jia's brow furrowed sharply.
Seo Jia had been an exceptionally clever child from a young age. Taking after her father, she was quick with calculations and skilled at reading people's expressions and the atmosphere around them. The problem was that she was too clever—she was picky about people.
Seo Jia judged others thoroughly by their value. Unchildlike, she instinctively distinguished who would be useful to her and who would not. Through that lens, the conclusion seven-year-old Seo Jia reached was:
Not great.
She stared up at Kang Taeseong.
"...Hmph."
She pouted her lips and said,
"You look like a pig."
"...!"
Chairman Seo Inwook's face flooded with embarrassment.
"J-Jia!"
But Seo Jia felt not the slightest sense that she had done anything wrong. She had simply spoken honestly. Young children cannot lie, after all.
To young Seo Jia at that time, Kang Taeseong was someone she had no reason to treat well. He was not handsome. He was not fun. And he did not have more money than she did, either. He was a bit taller, but with his flabby, chubby build, even that failed to impress her. That was young Seo Jia's assessment back then.
Kang Taeseong, however, paid no mind to her sharp reaction.
"Jia, want Oppa to give you a piggyback ride?"
"...Hmph! What Oppa?"
Seo Jia pointed a finger at him.
"You're just a pig!"
Thinking about it now, she wanted to kick her blanket in pure mortification.
Why did I act like that...?
How could she have been so rude at such a young age? But what was more surprising was Kang Taeseong. He never got angry even once—not even at the harsh words of a child six years younger than him. He patiently endured her difficult, easily sulky personality, always soothing her, always playing with her. He even followed behind her so she would not get hurt.
She had not known then just how mature that was.
After puberty, when she began to understand the world a little, Seo Jia realized there was no one in the world like Kang Taeseong. More precisely, the world was full of people who only acted like Kang Taeseong.
"Jia, I like you the most."
"Yeah, me too."
"Jia, how is your skin so clear? I'm so jealous!"
"...You're pretty too."
But once they turned away from her—
"Isn't Seo Jia kind of annoying?"
"She acts like being the daughter of Seohan Group makes her everything."
"Hey, hold back. We have to stay on her good side if we want anything to come our way."
Those kinds of words reached her ears. It was all a mask. People's smiles, goodwill, kindness—they were all directed at Seohan Group. People did not like the human Seo Jia. They liked the only daughter of Seohan Group. The only ones who truly cared for her were her family, including her father.
...
No. Actually, there was one more.
"Oh. You're here? How was school?"
Her childhood friend, the one she had grown up with since she was little. Kang Taeseong.
"I pulled a golden Pikachu this time. Isn't it sick?"
Even at twenty-five, Kang Taeseong had not changed a bit. Pulling cards with weird characters drawn on them—Perkiman or Pukimon or whatever—and grinning about how he had pulled something good. Completely different from other chaebol kids his age bragging about what car they had bought or what celebrity they had started dating.
"Idiot...."
"What."
Kang Taeseong looked a little shocked, but she meant it. Honestly... he really did seem like an idiot. But that idiotic side was what she liked. Even as a chaebol, he was not greedy. He did not try to read the mood of the only daughter of Seohan Group. He was simply consistent, like a pine tree. That was why she liked him.
"You pig! I told you to lose some weight!"
"Ack! Don't poke me! That hurts!"
She jabbed his side repeatedly, grumbling for no reason. While inside she thought:
Maybe... it would be better if he doesn't lose weight.
She hoped Kang Taeseong would not lose the weight. She wanted him to stay exactly as he was. That way, no one else would recognize this man's true value.
"...Pig."
"Why, why! Stop poking. Your nails are long—it really hurts."
"Don't you have a girlfriend?"
"How am I supposed to get a girlfriend?"
Kang Taeseong scratched his head and laughed.
Lie.
Seo Jia knew that was a lie. If Kang Taeseong put his mind to it, he could date as many women as he wanted. He was a chaebol too, after all. In fact, other chaebol heirs changed girlfriends at the drop of a hat. In contrast, Kang Taeseong was different. He hated even bringing up such topics, and he looked pitifully at people who talked about women like trophies.
...That was why she liked him even more.
"Well, that sounds like you."
Seo Jia said with a snort of laughter.
"You'll have to play with your noona for the rest of your life."
"Why are you noona? You're six years younger than me."
"So what. What, you pig."
"Ack! I said don't poke me!"
Watching Kang Taeseong make a fuss, Seo Jia's lips curled up slightly.
"...Dummy."
He really was a foolish man. Born into a chaebol family yet without greed. Unable even to suspect people. Someone who took treating others well for granted. She liked that purity.
Just wait a little longer.
She could not say it yet. The feelings that had piled up since childhood had grown too big—too much to express with a single confession. So today, too, she just teased him by calling him pig. Poked his side for no reason. Just snapped at him.
...I'll tell you someday.
Definitely.
It was around the time Seo Jia turned twenty.
Ironically, however, Seo Jia's confession never came to pass. Because the world had been turned upside down.
KJ Group collapsed. Chairman Kang Baekho suddenly passed away, and the vast empire lost its center. The fight over succession began. Kang Taeseong's older brothers and sisters started tearing each other apart. The media blared about KJ Group's downfall every day.
In that turbulent time, Kang Taeseong changed noticeably.
"Kang Taeseong, are you okay?"
"...Let's talk later."
The man who used to smile so kindly disappeared. The smile vanished from his face, and his eyes grew more and more hollow. At some point, he started living with alcohol constantly on his breath. Every time they met, he smelled of booze.
"Hey, pig. Don't be like this—come to my house—"
One day when she managed to visit him, Kang Taeseong said coldly the moment he saw her.
"...Get lost."
"...Taeseong."
"Leave. While I'm asking nicely."
What was more shocking was that women she had never seen before started appearing one by one at his side. Linking arms with him, leaning on his shoulder, selling smiles and rubbing their bodies against him. Kang Taeseong had become just like the people he had so despised.
Every time she saw that, Seo Jia's heart crumbled. Even so, she believed.
Taeseong isn't originally that kind of person.
That Kang Taeseong would someday return to the self she knew. She comforted herself that way. But from some point on, Kang Taeseong stopped showing up entirely. He did not answer calls. He never appeared at chaebol gatherings even once.
People said that Kang Taeseong had fallen apart. That he had finally given up on life.
"...Don't make me laugh."
She did not believe it. She did not want to believe it. And so time passed.
...
And now, several years later, Kang Taeseong had accepted Seo Jia's invitation—looking much more put-together than before.
...Just what happened.
He was completely different from his pure former self. He had screwed over Lee Hanul. Cornered Cha Minhyeok. He was not intimidated at all even in a place with hundreds of people watching. Actions he never would have taken before.
...
Should she say he had become more manly somehow? Young Kang Taeseong had been someone who treated everyone well. He would smile and brush it off even if he took a loss—a fool who just grinned even if the other person ignored him. She had liked that side too... but the current Kang Taeseong was different. The confidence that overwhelmed others. The unwavering gaze. The guts to clash head-on with other chaebol heirs if necessary. That side somehow felt cool.
"Heuk..."
Ah, no. What am I thinking. Seo Jia hurriedly shook her head left and right. There was something more important than that right now. The reason Kang Taeseong had appeared before her after several years.
Could it be...
Suddenly one possibility flashed through her mind.
...Because of me?
Seo Jia was half convinced. No—this was certain. The news of her engagement was something no one in the business world could fail to know. The only daughter of Seohan Group's unwanted political marriage. Hearing that rumor, Kang Taeseong had returned—having lost all the fat, building a solid muscular body that anyone would find cool.
Idiot...
Not contacting her like that. Hiding for years, only to finally appear to save her. Like a prince on a white horse appearing at the decisive moment.
"..."
Seo Jia's face flushed red.
...Did Taeseong like me too?
And maybe he still had feelings.
That's right. Taeseong clearly likes me too...!
Otherwise there was no reason for him to come all this way and act so persistently.
Ugh... this pig for real...!
The man who had been so frustrating as a child had become so cool now that he was shaking her heart.
This lovable pig... just what am I supposed to do with him?
Seo Jia's lips curled up slightly without her realizing it. In her eyes as she looked at Kang Taeseong with a flushed face, there was affection she could no longer hide.
How many NTR points will this give me….
Still, it's a limited-edition membership card, one of the few in the country. It should give some points, right?
That aside.
Why is she staring at me so hard.
Seo Jia was staring intently this way.
Is she mad because I suddenly wrecked her party?
Well, that would make sense. Still, since I won the membership card, she'll like it if I give it to her, right? I should apologize when I hand it over later.