‘I like you…’
Yugeom went down on his knees and let out a shuddered breath.
Tears of his overwhelming emotions fell, leaving a stained trail, and Hawon’s eyes that looked down on him were deeper and darker than ever.
‘I like you, Boss…’
Hawon’s long fingers slowly grazed through Yugeom’s hair that shone in the moonlight.
A finger ran down his ear and pale cheek, which blushed a bright red, and lightly lifted Yugeom’s chin, which made his tearful gaze look up at Hawon.
His eyes were like glass beads that would break the moment their gazes met.
Wrinkles formed on Hawon’s otherwise smooth forehead as he witnessed this sight.
‘I know I’m not supposed to do this… gasp!’
As his lips were blocked from voicing the emotions he had been denying and denying, tears leaked through the cracks within him.
The crying Hawon pushed Yugeom away.
Away. Further away.
‘Haa…’
He leaned against the wall as if all the air had been sucked out of him then let out a drawn-out sigh.
The end of Hawon’s gaze was still stuck on the lips that glistened with saliva.
In the darkness that loomed over them, the man in Hawon’s arms radiated deep yearning.
‘The first time – the first time I saw you.’
‘…’
‘I knew I would fall in love with you.’
The words akin to a child’s clumsy confession tickled Yugeom’s ear.
‘And I knew that when you raised a gun at me.’
Hawon tilted his head and smiled languidly as their shadows overlapped again.
‘That this was how we would turn out.’
***
“Hwaa…!”
The dream that ended as if it was being dragged out evaporated into unconsciousness and disappeared.
The sunlight shone brightly on my heavy eyelids. I blinked my stiff eyes a couple of times until my vision gradually became clearer.
It didn’t take me long to realize that the place where I was still lying on was a luxurious bed that seemed like it could occupy more than half of the studio apartment I had lived in for the past three years.
The end of my slow gaze moved towards the IV needle in the back of my hand, and only then did my last memory rush in like a tide.
‘Gyahhhhhh!’
‘Miss? What’s wrong?!’
‘Who are you? Is that really a gun?’
‘It’s dangerous. Miss! Get down from there, now!’
A memory that shouldn’t exist. I covered my mouth before I could scream.
What the hell happened!
To reiterate the cause of this mess, here’s the memory of the day before waking up in this bed.
Twenty-five years old. I was about to graduate, and I was busy with my assignments that day and had run a little in the morning.
‘To drink and die! Cheers!!’
To be honest, I ran quite a lot. Seeing that my memory is hazy, there’s some things I forgot.
When I came back to my senses, I was lying there like Alice from Alice in Wonderland for the first time.
My room could hardly be called a ‘room’ as it easily passed as five times the size of my 324-square feet small but cozy room back home.
At first, I thought this to be a dream, and then I thought I was kidnapped by a human trafficker.
But then I touched a vase, making it accidentally fall to the floor and smash into pieces.
‘Miss, what’s the matter?!’
Only then did a scream come out of my mouth as I saw men carrying guns come in through the doors.
‘Could you please come down from there… please, Miss!!’
I think I was standing on the windowsill, holding onto the lace curtains, crying and screaming for a long time.
Brutal scenes from noir-genre films crossed my mind, with dozens of those stories containing black suits and guns alone.
And then… Why did I faint, again?
I tried to think of the most important part of my memories, but I couldn’t think of anything more about the night before I fainted when I ran wild.
Something important. I think I was forgetting something very important.
Knock, knock.
I heard someone knocking. I quickly got out of the bed and headed towards the window.
“Oh, my.”
I didn’t mean to jump back. However, the scenery outside the window was something I never saw before fainting, so it made my heart beat strongly.
Beyond the large window where sunshine poured in was the endless blue sea behind exotic structures. The sight of the sea sparkling like jewels was, in particular, pretty amazing.
“The windows are locked.”
I then heard a strange voice. I thought my heart would burst out of my chest.
When I looked out the window, the knocking stopped, so I hadn’t noticed when the door opened. I turned around in surprise and saw a man standing there, looking at me with a tired expression.
He wore a black suit like the ones the men wore in my memory before fainting, but he had a different aura from them, perhaps because his appearance looked warmer.
“Who are you?”
There was a hint of alienation in the voice that was used for screaming before, but my head was not relaxed enough to think about it.
Frustrated by my question, the man’s eyebrows furrowed, but he spoke in a calm voice as if he instantly realized something.
“Perhaps you don’t know me. I’m Jiun. I’ll tell you that I am Boss’s secretary.”
Jiun? Boss? What…
His speech had a calm tone, but my head was quickly filled with a trillion question marks. I almost asked what kind of bullshit this was, but that unfortunately could not come out of my mouth.
I stared blankly at his calm eyes for a moment. He was patiently waiting for my response.
And at that moment, a ridiculous imagination came across my mind.
‘No way.’
I vigorously shook my head for all but one second.
‘If I had drank again, I was certainly not human.’
This is crazy. Just imagining it.
However, it was as if I found a piece of puzzle that fits perfectly, even though I knew that it was nonsense, and I began to think of more things that fit this incomprehensible development.
I couldn’t believe it.
It shouldn’t be like this.
“Jiun, are you good at shooting? You pretend to be a smart secretary, but you’re actually an excellent sharpshooter.”
“Just what now…”
The face of the man named Jiun twisted in confusion.
His cool eyes convinced me that I would get hurt if I went further.
“The bulletproof vest in your jacket.”
But once the questions came to mind, I couldn’t stop the words that came pouring out of my mouth.
“And do you carry two guns?”
“Miss Yeonbyeol.”
I could feel myself losing all control as Jiun said that name.
Even if I didn’t hear any answers, his hardened face was telling me that it was all true.
Jiun approached me one step at a time.
Preoccupied with thoughts that could make my head explode, I didn’t even think about avoiding him.
“How did you know?”
It was only after a shadow fell over my eyes that I realized he had come close enough for me to feel his breath, so I lifted my head.
“My name is Yeonbyeol? Cha Yeonbyeol?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about right now.”
Jiun. Cha Yeonbyeol.
And,
“Baek Hawon.”
Came to mind.
The memory of that night that I forgot.
Back home, while lying on my bed, I fumbled for my cellphone. I then went to the webnovel page as usual.
‘Wow, that’s crazy. Just crazy…’
‘No! Don’t die! How am I supposed to live when you’re dead!’
In the days of my youth where I rolled around, I was half-crazy about romance novels that were close to being fantasy.
I read, read again, and binge-watched multiple series for a while. It was the only joy in my life.
So I was reading that day as well.
“Miss? Where are you going!”
I forcibly ripped my IV off and ran past Jiun out of the room.
‘The Hundred Thousand.’
On the surface, it was a finance company that entered Russia and parts of Europe but mostly had mainland China, Hongkong, Macau, Singapore and Taiwan at its center, yet it was only a front that happened to be as big as a large corporation.
In reality, it was an organization established over several generations that held the backbone of the world in its fist, from casinos to drugs to gun trade.
Its base was on an island not drawn on the map.
Within the island was a building located at its center where executives, including the boss, Baek Hawon, stayed at, which was dubbed ‘The Square,’ and it was extremely difficult to know about the structure because it contained lots of secret information.
It was the same for the original ‘Cha Yeonbyeol’ who was Baek Hawon’s sibling only in name, but I wasn’t her.
‘Alright, I need to confirm.’
I followed the paths that I recalled in my head from reading the novel while running.
The marble floor sparkled in the waterfall-like sunlight between tall stone pillars reminiscent of those of Roman temples. The more I sped through the hallway, the tighter my heart clenched.
The boss had two different offices.
One was officially known to be on the first floor, and the other was known only to those trusted by Baek Hawon, who actually spent most of his time there.
“Miss!”
Jiun shouted from behind, but I didn’t stop moving.
Drops of blood dripped from the back of my hand, which refused to stop bleeding, dyeing the marble red.
<Black hair with a blue hue as if the color of the night was spread upon its strands. Black eyes that held unknown depth. A sharp nose that looked like it had been hewn by sharp waves.>
<No one could have imagined that the head of The Hundred Thousand, called the cruel and ruthless demon, would have such a beautiful appearance.>
I recalled the sentences in the novel that I had read and reread more than ten times.
I was out of breath. Blood continued flowing from the back of my hand where the needle was forcibly pulled out of, but I couldn’t stop. I had to confirm no matter what.
So that I can understand.
I stopped in front of a plain white door, which could be perceived as part of the wall.
“No way. It can’t be.”
I wished for this to be a dream.
However, the cold surface of the doorknob was enough to wake me from my daze, so I let out a trembled breath and turned it.
When I slowly opened my closed eyes, I couldn’t help but cover my mouth.
“…”
The moment I saw the face of the person standing in the space before me, I couldn’t deny it anymore.
This was the world of the novel I read.
It was just like how I imagined and painted it in my dreams.
No, it was beyond that. To the extent that the novel wasn’t enough to express the beauty,
Especially how he was so handsome.
At first, I was thrilled to see the face that God seemed to have made stitch by stitch.
“…!”
But the instant I saw the gun pointed at my face, the most important thing that I had forgotten came back to mind.
“Tell me how you knew about this place.”
The voice that flowed out was cold enough to cause chills. His cool eyes flashed like a beast ready to pounce on its prey at any moment.
The gun that was loaded and could be fired the moment his finger lifted did not move an inch as we made eye contact.
As if cold water had been poured over me, I snapped back to my senses.
I wasn’t possessing a heroine in a novel I read like the common romance fantasy stories I know.
Not even the villainess who will capture the hearts of several men,
and not even a supporting role who would change the fate of the heroine.
“There’s no way Jiun would tell you about this place. Now you’re acting timid?”
Baek Hawon tilted his head and gave a sly smile.
The name of this possessed body is Cha Yeonbyeol.
The first villain who dies during the first meeting of the main characters.
And the title of the novel was ‘The Boss’s Man.’
It wasn’t a romance fantasy that featured a charming prince,
It was the ultimate noir BL novel.
T/N: Noir is a genre about crime and its brutality, so you can guess how dark the “original BL novel” is. No wonder this novel is restricted to age 15+.
I translated the name of the crime syndicate to be “The Hundred Thousand,” but the korean name is actually “Baekcheon.” That very likely has something to do with Hawon’s surname “Baek.” I am not so sure though since this is the only chapter I’ve read so far, so let’s find out about it together!