The dark circles beneath his eyes somehow added to his charm, and the slicked-back hair paired with the black suit only deepened the dark, mysterious aura surrounding him.
Anyone would have thought he looked dangerous.
And absurdly handsome—far beyond the level of any ordinary celebrity.
His face even resembled Seo Dogyeom’s so much that Baek Ihae found herself thinking that perhaps Dogyeom would grow into this kind of man once he became an adult.
Baek Ihae stared blankly in admiration, and both the middle-aged man and Seo Dogyeom turned their attention toward her. Only then did she realize she still hadn’t answered his question.
He had asked whether she was Baek Ihae.
The answer was obvious.
“No.”
Handsome or not, there was no way she was going to rely on a family this dangerous. She would rather look for a shelter.
At her shameless reply, Seo Dogyeom stared at her intently. His gaze was so piercing it felt like it could bore straight through her profile.
So what?
“You’re saying you’re not Baek Ihae?”
The middle-aged man asked again.
Baek Ihae nodded with complete confidence.
“At the very least, you could’ve hidden the name tag before lying.”
“I picked this name tag up this morning. I’m wearing it as a souvenir.”
“What kind of souvenir?”
“A souvenir for picking up something useless.”
“……”
The man looked at her expressionlessly.
Still, somehow, she thought she caught a trace of bewilderment on that emotionless face.
Baek Ihae glanced sideways at Seo Dogyeom.
He, too, was staring at her without any visible change in expression. Father and son really were identical. Neither of them looked remotely convinced by her lie.
Well, honestly, even Baek Ihae knew it had been a lazy, shameless lie.
“You ramble pointless nonsense exactly like your father.”
And you look exactly like your son with that deadpan expression.
“Though your appearance is a perfect copy of your mother’s, don’t waste my time.”
Oh dear. So struggling desperately to survive looked adorable to him, apparently.
“Your parents’ dying wish was for you to remain under my protection until you become an adult.”
“That’s okay. I’m seventeen. I can live on my own just fine.”
“With what money? You probably don’t even have a house.”
“I can just live in the house I shared with my parents!”
Though she would have to find where that house even was starting now, surely it existed somewhere in Korea.
Baek Ihae rejected him with a bright smile.
‘Why would I trust this place enough to stay here?’
She had no desire to live in a house full of men with terrible personalities. For all she knew, something awful could happen to her here.
The middle-aged man stared at her silently.
She smiled back just as brightly, and eventually he let out a small scoff.
His face was ridiculously handsome.
“I sold your house.”
And with that face, he casually said something insane.
Baek Ihae looked at him with pity.
It was genuinely tragic that someone that handsome apparently had a mental illness.
“How could some random mister sell my parents’ house however he wants? Don’t say ridiculous things.”
At the word “mister,” Seo Dogyeom visibly twitched.
But if he was a mister, what else was she supposed to call him?
The middle-aged man studied her with an odd gaze.
Baek Ihae grinned.
There was no way she was naïve enough to fall for such a ridiculous lie.
Then, as though mocking her, a status window flickered into view before her eyes.
[Name: Baek Ihae
Age: 17
Traits: Recently lost her parents in an accident and is moving in today with a man who was apparently her parents’ friend.
Additional) House sold. Has nowhere to stay. Is broke.
Personality: Introverted]
Baek Ihae glared fiercely at the section labeled “Additional.”
To anyone else, it probably looked like she was glaring murderously at the middle-aged man instead.
‘What? Why was my house sold? And broke? You expect me to accept this when you explain it this terribly?!’
Damn it, if it says accept it, then I guess I have to accept it!
Baek Ihae collapsed to the floor with a thud.
Even though she had suddenly dropped down right in front of him, Seo Dogyeom didn’t budge an inch.
He showed no sign of helping her up and merely watched her with curiosity.
“But if Mister really was such a close friend of my parents and says so, then I’m sure it must be true. Please forgive the nonsense I spouted earlier and kindly take me in. Sometimes I lose hold of my sanity and bark nonsense. Woof woof.”
[Baby Gangster Seo Dogyeom is watching the supporting character’s pathetic tricks with interest.]
Right. So it had been obvious she was scheming.
Still, at least he found it entertaining.
Baek Ihae wasn’t good at lying. She wasn’t particularly smart either.
But she was quick to adapt to reality.
She had suddenly transmigrated into a game, and a mysterious status window had appeared before her eyes. It probably wasn’t lying completely.
Maybe staying here was safer than ending up homeless on the streets.
…Or maybe that was another trick.
Whatever.
Baek Ihae gave up thinking about it altogether. No matter how much she thought, her brain wasn’t capable of producing a proper answer anyway.
“……Seo Dogyeom.”
“Yes.”
The middle-aged man called him over.
Seo Dogyeom finally looked away from her and turned toward him.
“Show her to the room beside yours. She seems mentally unstable, so take good care of her.”
“I will.”
No, seriously, what the hell.
She had assumed he was the crazy one, and now he was treating her like she was mentally ill.
Just as Baek Ihae felt herself getting worked up enough to snap back, the man added calmly,
“I’ll inform the others as well, but you are personally responsible for protecting her. If any bastard tries to lay unnecessary hands on that child, kill them if you must.”
“Understood.”
…Excuse me, what?
Who’s killing who now?
Her anger evaporated instantly.
Amazing. The middle-aged man apparently had the talent to cure high blood pressure in seconds.
Still, hearing him specifically order someone to protect her did make her feel slightly relieved.
Though she seriously doubted Seo Dogyeom could properly protect her against a bunch of adults.
“Thank you, Mister!”
Afraid Seo Dogyeom might grab her by the back of the neck and drag her away again, she hurriedly got up and bowed deeply to the middle-aged man.
Her manners were apparently so excessive that even he flinched in surprise.
Well, technically he only frowned slightly.
“I dislike noise.”
Meaning: shut your mouth.
Baek Ihae was quick on the uptake.
She immediately pressed her lips together so tightly even her teeth couldn’t be seen and nodded rapidly. Once again, the man gave her a strange look.
Soon Seo Dogyeom opened the door, and she hurried after him.
After she left, the large man who had been silently standing beside the middle-aged man finally spoke.
“She seems like a rather unusual student.”
“Rather unusual? From where I’m standing, she seems very strange.”
She called a man feared even by adults “mister,” lied shamelessly without blinking—
And she had even glared at him earlier.
“Tell the men downstairs. Baek Ihae is Seo Ihum’s guest.”
With that single statement, his subordinates would understand exactly how they were expected to treat her.
He owed her parents a debt, so he decided he could tolerate this much inconvenience.
‘It’s only for less than three years anyway. Once that time is over, I can throw her out immediately.’
A future awaited him where he would one day ask Baek Ihae if she wanted to become his adopted daughter.
But the current Seo Ihum knew nothing of that yet.
‘Is she thoughtless, or just fearless?’
Seo Dogyeom’s father, Seo Ihum, decided it was probably the former.
“Look, I know I acted weird earlier, but I’m not actually crazy. I just say random nonsense sometimes.”
“……”
Seo Dogyeom was so silent that he hadn’t uttered a single word the entire way upstairs.
Even while she walked through the building under the fierce stares of countless rough-looking men with her head lowered, he showed absolutely no intention of making her feel more comfortable.
‘What a jerk. Your house even has an elevator. I’d already planned out a whole conversation about how amazing that was.’
All the effort Baek Ihae had put into preparing conversation topics so things wouldn’t become awkward had gone completely to waste.
Eventually, she sighed deeply and decided to keep her mouth shut.
Honestly, she preferred silence anyway.
‘I only tried talking because this atmosphere is so tense I thought I’d loosen up a bit. But now that I think about it, Seo Dogyeom isn’t exactly someone I can rely on either.’
She worried she would have to live constantly on guard from now on.
The handsome mister had ordered him to protect her, sure, but she still doubted Seo Dogyeom would really do it.
More than that, she doubted a student like him even had the strength to protect anyone.
‘But if I leave without a house or anywhere to go, I could end up in an even worse situation.’
The status window didn’t seem interested in telling her whether she had relatives on either side of the family.
Though if she had any, the story probably wouldn’t have turned out this way to begin with.
For now, she resolved to search for any relatives or trustworthy adults who could help her and escape this dangerously terrifying house.
Just then, Seo Dogyeom suddenly stopped and turned around.
Naturally, Baek Ihae—who had been trailing closely behind him—ended up smashing her nose straight into his chest.
“Ugh, damn it.”
She cursed instinctively.
She could feel Seo Dogyeom’s gaze on her at the rough language, but honestly, who cared?
Sure, he was handsome, but she had no intention whatsoever of trying to impress the future heroine’s boyfriend.
