Chapter 5 : Seo-yoon’s Home Visit

The everyday life of Half Sauce Half Fried.

Clu-clu-cluck.

His comb had grown with dignity and he had the great presence of a Korean chicken. He strolled around the yard catching earthworms as a delicacy.

"Seo-yoon, your meal is here."

His life of peacefully living without any threats to his life while sharing Seo-yoon's meal was utterly joyful. The joy of sitting between well cultivated bonsai and drowsing off! With his belly full and his back warm, there was nothing more to wish for in his daily life. As Seo-yoon stroked him affectionately, he even rubbed himself against her.

He was living as happily as a chicken can live.

However, Seo-yoon was always sorry for him.

'I'm sorry I can't be here with you.'

That was because Half Sauce Half Fried was alone when she was in the capsule or at school.

Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck.

Half Sauce Half Fried shook his head back and forth as he walked around in the hospital's yard.

Seo-yoon thought, 'I will bring... a friend for you.'

* * *

Midterms, the festival, and the sports meet had ended, and now there were just a little over 2 weeks until summer vacation.

Lee Hyun grumbled endless complaints. "What kind of university is like this. Can't university be shortened to 3 years, or 2 years, like with military service time?"

Seeing as he had to keep paying the expensive tuition for another three and a half years, his future was dark. A convict's feelings about reducing jail time in a concentration camp or prison would be like this.

"Even if I graduate university, it's not like I get graduation pension, it won't guarantee me employment by a foreign company, and it won't provide me with free lifetime medical insurance either..."

An endless reflection on the impracticalities of university was unfolding.

As he looked at the bars, capsule rooms, and the restaurants on the main street in front of the university, he became worried about the education world and the even the nation's future.

"There should only be farmland or a tidal flat in front of a school. When you're hungry, you can help with the elders' rice planting and get a snack to eat, and in the fall you can help with the harvesting as well. A tidal flat... is always valuable food storage. You can hitch a ride on a boat and go pull up the net, too."

On a tidal flat, a single shovel would secure food. You could catch things like fresh oyster and octopus and eat them dipped in chili paste. Since you could also catch fish by casting a net utilizing the ebb and flow, it was killing two birds with one stone!

"There would be no need to build a separate cafeteria..."

It could be called a symbol of rural education. College students enjoying fis.h.i.+ng while reading, and friends.h.i.+ps that blossomed while boiling spicy fish stew. In front of the university, instead of bars, salons, clothing stores, and nail art stores, a fis.h.i.+ng discount mart would do.

As usual, Lee Hyun went to the gra.s.s plaza during lunch time and ate the lunch lying on his seat. Seo-yoon was sitting next to him, eating lunch together.

Lee Hyun picked up a side dish with chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

'Yep, it's delicious.'

The lunch that had started from kimbap had extended into sus.h.i.+, and today it was grilled short rib patties.

'It's warm. It hasn't even cooled yet.'

Lee Hyun didn't even know about the lunchbox being installed with heat rays for keeping the food warm. He was just happy that he could try eating ribs without expense.

'So this is the taste of short rib patties.'

In his middle school and high school days, he couldn't use the school cafeteria because he didn't pay the lunch fee. Even so, of course he couldn't go without eating, so he secretly snuck in and took in a lunch tray. He had pa.s.sed his school days surrept.i.tiously eating the stealth food that didn't go down comfortably.

How envious he was when his cla.s.smates were tearing into lunches that their parents had made with their utmost.

"..."

Seo-yoon slightly bit her lips as she was watched Lee Hyun eating happily. It seemed like she would briefly smile. Her smiling face could make a person happy, but the chance to see it was truly rare. Still, Seo-yoon's cold and frozen expression, like when he had made the first G.o.ddess Freya statue, had almost vanished.

Seo-yoon had even brought barley tea; she poured it into a cup and handed it to Lee Hyun.

"Mm, thanks."

After taking one sip of the barley tea, Lee Hyun spoke begrudgingly, "Don't just eat vegetables; do you want to eat 1 patty too?"

Nothing is given for free. She wickedly calculated to pretend kindness by pouring him barley tea because she wanted to eat the patties too!

'Though it seems she's become a little nicer recently...'

Unaware that the person secretly leaving the lunches was Seo-yoon, Lee Hyun acted like a person given an enormous power.

Seo-yoon shook her head to and fro. She was full just watching him eat.

Lee Hyun asked once again. "Then two patties...?"

"..."

"Should I give you th-three?"

Just how much was she aiming to squeeze out of him with a single cup of barley tea, she was frowning!

There was once a time when he had shared lunch with Seo-yoon and she had eaten

his

kimbap at random.

Memories of that time kept popping into his head.

Lee Hyun sighed. 'I'm not a petty person. I should give sometimes too.'

When he was a kid, he had once gone to his friends holding just a spoon and had gotten a meal. As he recalled that plaintive feeling, he was able to understand Seo-yoon's perspective.

"Just eat comfortably. Since I've never eaten much meat... I mean, because I don't like it that much. Eat as much as you want."

Lee Hyun picked up one of the patties and put it in on top of Seo-yoon's rice box.

Seo-yoon carefully opened her mouth and ate it.

It was such a lovely sight that it could s.n.a.t.c.h one's senses away.

After staring at that sight for a moment, Lee Hyun ate the patties too.

Munch munch.

He couldn't give her much of a side dish as tasty as these patties.

"Why is this so delicious? What kind of meat melts in the mouth, it melts."

The sight of him holding the ribs in both hands and tearing into them after telling her to eat as she wished!

Lee hyun emptied the lunch box cleanly, leaving not even a single grain of rice behind. Of course, he even left behind Seo-yoon's share of one patty at the end. He had finished it off so cleanly that he was pleased with himself.

'She'll have no complaints if she eats three patties.'

Then, as usual, he pulled out the note that had come with the lunch to read it.

"Will she tell me thanks for eating happily today too? Even if I don't know who it is, she is a truly warmhearted lady."

But the were words written on the note Lee Hyun pulled out were different from the usual ones.

I have a request.

Do you have time today after cla.s.s?

It was the summons of the veiled mystery angel who made him lunch.

How tastily had he eaten the food she had cooked. His mouth filled with saliva when lunch time rolled around. Thankfully enough, he had even gotten to eat short rib patties today.

Seo-yoon was observing Lee Hyun's reaction with bright eyes.

"I was curious about who it is, this is good."

With a thankful heart, Lee Hyun wrote his reply.

My cla.s.s in the business hall on the 3rd floor, room B07, ends at 4. Please come if you can.

* * *

When cla.s.s time neared its end, Lee Hyun became a little wary.

"What kind of woman is she really?"

Looking at her cooking skill, she was impressive.

"Her faults are that she uses luxury ingredients too unsparingly and that she only uses a brand-name lunchbox, but I don't think she'll be a bad woman."

Lee Hyun had already created his mystery angel in his imagination.

"Huhu."

Including Choi Sang-jun, Park Soon-jo, and Lee Yoo-jung, others had heard of the mystery angel who packed Lee Hyun lunch. Since she would finally appear today, it was a prime chance to resolve their curiosity.

Choi Sang-jun shook his head knowingly. "C'mon, hyung! Can't you tell at a glance? There's no way a girl who brings lunch like that is decent. That's not normal in the world these days. Yoo-jung, aren't I right?"

"To be honest... it

is

strange that she hasn't shown herself until now even while putting a lunch box in the same place for over a month. Don't expect too much, oppa."

"Hyung, you heard what Yoo-jung said, right? A mystery angel is something that only shows up in fantasy stories. She could even be a spinster professor or someone who came from a social service community."

Even so, the smile on Lee Hyun's lips did not go away.

That she would make a meal for him had great meaning to him.

"A person who put her all into making a meal for someone else... there's no way that she's a bad girl."

Lee Hyun's personal relations weren't all that normal either. Give as much as you receive. Since she had packed him lunch, he had simply come to the obvious conclusion that she was a good kid!

"Then, good work today. Come back with all your a.s.signments finished."

The professor left the cla.s.sroom and the students organized their bags one by one. However, there were still students gathered in the area around Lee Hyun.

"What kind of person do you think will really come?"

"Just watch it be an old person. It might even be a student from the physical education department."

That referred to the martial arts students from the PE department who bowed to Lee Hyun whenever they saw him.

The students who were about to leave the area around the cla.s.sroom door stopped stock still in their positions, as if frozen.

"Hot d.a.m.n! It's senior Seo-Yoon."

"Huh, does she take her next cla.s.s here?"

University of Korea's official G.o.ddess!

Seo-yoon was entering the cla.s.sroom. Wearing an extremely gorgeous green dress, she was carrying a lunch box in one hand.

"It can't be..."

The face muscles of the students twisted. They knew that the person who had packed Lee Hyun lunch was coming today.

"Was the G.o.ddess-nim's lunch mercilessly going into that hyung's mouth?"

"This tragedy!"

The shocked and distressed male students!

Lee Hyun also felt like he had been greatly fooled. While frequently meeting Seo-yoon here and there, much of his initial awkwardness and wariness had decreased. They had gone through the MT (members.h.i.+p training) and the festival, and he could even say that they had become friends of a sort while eating lunch together. Seo-yoon did often hit him on the back of the head, but now he could even let that slide with a laugh.

However, for Seo-yoon to be the owner of the lunchbox, he was inevitably tense.

'With what kind of secret design did she...'

Lee Hyun was suspicious from the get-go. He was guilty for not putting up his guard and being defenseless while eating lunch.

'That's right! That was no good. It was foolish, no different from being fooled by a loan company that says it'll let you borrow money for ten days with no interest.'

A fierce self-reflection on his careless blunder!

Seo-yoon approached and extended the note.

You'll listen to my request, right?

Lee Hyun trembled like an aspen. 'So she was aiming for this moment! And for over 1 month...'

Pigs are also slaughtered after feeding them well. She had made him eat many lunches planned on making an excessive request by seizing that vulnerability!

However, Lee Hyun did not want to live with a debt. Interest would grow on the debt, and eventually it would be a quagmire he could never escape.

"If it's a suitable request within feasibility... I'll listen to it."

As if relieved, she pulled out a note she had prepared beforehand.

Half Sauce Half Fried needs a friend.

"Half Sauce Half Fried?" Lee Hyun tilted his head.

Wasn't that distinctive name pa.s.sed down from the chickens he raised at home?

He soon realized that she was talking about the chicken she had taken at the MT.

"You need a chicken?"

Seo-yoon nodded.

Lee Hyun didn't hide his breath-choking tension and asked again. "A female that can lay eggs?"

Seo-yoon had just wanted to bring him a friend. She hadn't thought of the gender divide in advance. However, since Half Sauce was a male, if it came down to it, bringing a female would be better. Seo-yoon nodded again.

At that, Lee Hyun's eyes trembled. He was forcing himself to resist an incomparably anguished expression.

'A laying female is more expensive... the one we're raising right now in particular is the whelp that ate up half the balloon flower root I picked up in the mountain last time.'

[T/N: Balloon flower root is a common medicinal herb.]

Even so, if he calculated the price of the lunches, a single chicken could be considered fairly inexpensive.

Lee Hyun answered in the affirmative. "Alright. Well... I will bring her tomorrow."

But Seo-yoon was shaking her head.

I want to bring her after seeing her myself.

At the contents of the note that she had prepared beforehand, Lee Hyun thought for a moment and agreed.

"Fine. You can pick her yourself."

He was under the illusion that their relations.h.i.+p lacked trust.

'It seems she wants to pick the best chicken since she's packed many lunches. The most nutritious and expensive chicken.'

The chickens had been raised well to an extremely high caliber. The laying females would even fly around flapping their wings soon after laying an egg. Since they all had about the same value as the market price, he had permitted her to come to his house.

* * *

Lee Hyun walked with Seo-yoon all the way to his house.

The men who saw her on the street stood dumbly and rubbed their eyes several times before staring at her again. Both men and women were unable to take their eyes of them. They looked like they couldn't believe their eyes as they stared at the far too beautiful Seo-yoon. Their gazes stolen by Seo-yoon, they couldn't overcome their curiosity and studied the man who was walking by her side.

'Just what kind of lucky person is walking around with a woman like that?'

Lee Hyun was extremely normal, and was wearing a well worn t-s.h.i.+rt and faded blue jeans.

'Why is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d like that... did he seize some kind of vulnerability?!'

'He's rich! His family is definitely rich. He's either a wealthy person with thousands of millions of Won at a young age or his inheritance is enormous.'

'The power of love is great.'

Looks of jealousy and envy shot at him, but Lee Hyun stood firm whenever that happened. "Appearance isn't everything in the world. The heart is important." He knew Seo-yoon's true ident.i.ty. She was vicious, violent, and even underhanded. The worst, as far as her humanity went!

Even if her face was so pretty that it made breathing difficult, it was absolutely no good if you fell for her because of that.

"Even if a woman can cook pretty well, has a lot of money, is skinny, has a good figure, and is pretty, wears some pretty good clothing, and is smart, it's not necessarily good."

If she was bright enough to get into the University of Korea, then she had to be considered brilliant. Even though they took math together, Seo-yoon solved the practice problems in the workbook way too easily. She was even quick to understand and solve parts that the cla.s.s was going nowhere with.

"In some ways, it's more regrettable for me." Lee Hyun walked with his head held high.

Seo-yoon was unexpectedly following him well. That she wasn't wearing high heels was part of the reason, but her stride was also quite fast. At the simple thrill of going to Lee Hyun's house, her face was flushed to the point where it was obvious. It was her first time visiting a man's house, and she had happy expectations on what kind of chicken she should bring as a friend.

"We're here."

Lee Hyun went into a secluded neighborhood opened his own house's door lock by lock. There were a whole 7 locks on the front door! A separate pa.s.sword and even a card key were required.

As Seo-yoon approached the doorway, Lee Hyun blocked the entrance with his body.

"I'll say this in advance, but you can't go into my house and just touch things. I know where everything is, okay?"

Lee Hyun was suspicious and even treated her like a thief! That was primarily because outsiders didn't often come into his house. Choi Ji-hoon had sometimes visited while meeting Lee Hye-yeon, but she didn't bring him that often after the electronics repairs ended.

Lee Hyun was on full guard.

Seo-yoon nodded. "..."

"Come in for now."

Seo-yoon walked through the door.

Woof, woof, woof!

A big dog the size of a calf swiftly ran over, lay on his belly, and barked cutely. His adorable bark didn't match his large physique.

The charm of Dogmeat, the name that Lee Hye-yeon had given him himself!

Lee Hyun explained hurriedly, "He's a dog we're raising. He's an extremely dangerous fellow, so it's safer to stay back."

When Seo-yoon extended a lovely hand, Dogmeat even wagged his tail fiercely.

A dog's sense of smell is 10,000 better than a human's. He smelled the subdued fragrance of the short rib patties and the smell of the previously departed Half Sauce Half Fried on Seo-yoon and was going to be friendly with her.

Just like when dogs become instinctively wary when they see a dog meat trader, when he saw Seo-yoon, he came running in at the good feeling she gave off and was writhing in welcome. He was prancing around Seo-yoon wagging his tail as he enthusiastically marked his greeting of welcome.

Lee Hyun shouted, "Hey, hey! Stop that, Dogmeat, you're gonna bite someone again, right? Just last week you bit someone and hospitalized them. No. Go away!"

Woof, woof.

Dogmeat just wagged his tail and quietly returned to his doghouse. Even after being falsely accused of having bit someone, Dogmeat was utterly docile.

'A chicken is a few thousand Won at the market, but you can get 200 thousand Won ($~200) for a dog! Not on your life!'

Dogmeat had extraordinarily plump flesh and was exercised, so his muscles were good. They hadn't even sold him when a dog meat dealer came and offered 350 thousand Won (~$350), so there was way too much of a shame to give him to Seo-yoon.

"..."

Seo-yoon approached a wire meshed enclosure with hasty steps. Within the wire mesh, rabbits were hopping around.

Seo-yoon quickly wrote on a note with a pencil.

Can I touch them? This is my first time being this close to a rabbit.

"Go ahead. Ah yeah, be careful 'cause it hasn't been long since the rabbits gave birth to babies."

Babies? Where?

"They're inside the pen."

Seo-yoon looked at the rabbits in fascination, like a kid eating a hamburger for the first time.

Lee Hyun was OCD about sanitation, so the inside of the mesh was very clean and in good shape. There was a generous heap of gra.s.ses for the rabbits to eat, and baby bunnies with bodies about 2 or 3 fingers wide were wriggling in a shaded corner. Even though they were just babies, they had long ears and their hind legs were moving as if to hop around on the ground!

"Aahhhh."

As if she were singing, an exclamation flowed from Seo-yoon's lips! It was like a pretty and clear whisper.

She clung to the rabbit hutch, peering in with sparkling eyes. Unable to touch the babies because they might get scared, her expression was one of extreme regret.

"You can touch them."

"..."

However, Seo-yoon was unable to readily touch them.

"It's okay. They're babies who haven't even opened their eyes yet."

That wasn't why Seo-yoon was worried, but Lee Hyun put his hand through the mesh and pulled out a baby.

"Here."

When he lowered it onto the back of Seo-yoon's hand, the baby bunny kicked weakly as it wriggled. Seo-yoon embraced the baby bunny as if it were precious and stroked it. But she soon put it back into the rabbit hutch, because the baby bunny might feel anxious.

Even afterwards, Seo-yoon didn't leave the rabbit hutch and squatted there to no end.

'Surely she won't ask me to give her one!' Lee Hyun became increasingly alarmed. His little sister hadn't returned from school yet. 'Alone at home with a girl... I absolutely must be careful!'

A guy and a girl.

It was a preposterous situation.

Lee Hyun said firmly, "Let's hurry and go see the chickens!" He did his utmost to make his intention to pull her away from the rabbits clear.

Seo-yoon wanted to keep looking at the baby bunnies that hadn't even opened their eyes yet. She had fallen in love with the adorable sight of them curled up with the mommy rabbit. The sight of nonchalant mommy rabbit with its cheeks stuffed with carrots! However, Seo-yoon left behind her great regret in order to let the rabbits rest comfortably and went to the backyard where the chickens were.

Clu-clu-cluck.

c.o.c.k-a-doodle-doo!

The Korean chickens were going up trees and flying around like birds. Chicks were toddling about on the ground.

As soon as Lee Hyun and the never before seen Seo-yoon came, they rapidly fled into a corner or above the trees. It was a sight of wholehearted wariness. As they hid in the corners, poked out their heads, and examined the movements of the humans, they didn't intend to come out.

However, through Half Sauce Half Fried, Seo-yoon was familiar with the habits of the chickens. She tore the short rib patty she'd prepared into small pieces and sprinkled it on the ground.

Clu-clu-clu-clu-cluck!

The chickens leapt out of the trees and from the woods like savage beasts and pecked down the pieces. Even the chicks dove in with their small beaks and were tearing into the ribs.

Seo-yoon patted the chickens and chicks. Despite the fact that she was a stranger, they had quickly became friendly through the patties and stuck to her side like burrs.

'They're taking a liking to me.'

Not knowing what to do, Seo-yoon petted the chickens with joyful eyes.

Lee Hyun was distressed. 'The same short rib patties that was in the lunch I ate...'

A life where he had come to eat the same food as a chicken! Even so, at the sight of the nearly expressionless Seo-yoon really having fun being with the chickens, he followed suit and felt good.

She, a girl who had silently stared without being able to approach, was being touched so deeply while being with the chickens that tears were welling in her eyes.

Even Lee Hyun was getting choked up for nothing. 'This feels even stranger than the first time I fried a chicken for my little sis.'

He knew that Seo-yoon wasn't a very bad person. However, that was not easy for him to acknowledge. 'Whether she's a bad person or a good person... she can't be close to me.'

Realistically speaking, they were living in circ.u.mstances that were too different. Lee Hyun could roughly estimate how expensive one of the clothes she wore was well enough. 'Even the brand name clothes that show up on television are over 100 thousand Won ($~100)... with fabric that good, a brand called Dior, and the design, it must be at least 150 thousand Won!'

There was too big a difference in their household situations. A girl like Seo-yoon would like a great guy who Lee Hyun couldn't even compare to. 'A qualified guy will show up.' It was the same with Jung Hyo-rin and other girls.

Lee Hyun made a big decision. "Just pick one. And if there's one you like... you can pick two."

Having been petting the chickens in bliss, Seo-yoon looked back at him with happy eyes. Eyes that asked if he really meant it!

Lee Hyun gazed far off into the distance as he spoke. "Something like a chicken... two or three are nothing."

Unusually enough, Lee Hyun was showing great generosity. That was because trying to make up for the lunch price with a single chicken still made him feel indebted.

Seo-yoon chose three chickens.

Every time she picked a chicken, Lee Hyun's face became bloodlessly pale. 'That one's a laying hen... and Boiled Chicken, and even the plump chick that shows promise for a great disposition later!'

A laying hen was of course a valuable creature. He intended on catching it when his little sister married and brought home a husband in the future. But the chickens would keep reproducing until then, and there were two other laying hens left, so it was okay... Even so, the moment Seo-yoon chose the laying hen, he felt a sadness and pain that broke off a piece of his heart.

Lee Hyun spoke mournfully. "I'll... package them for you."

To make it convenient for Seo-yoon to take them, he tied the chickens' legs and necks with string and connected them to each other. Looking like a chicken sled, it couldn't be any weirder, but Seo-yoon took the string.

She wrote on a note.

I'm truly grateful. Thank you so much for listening to my request even though it was excessive.

"It's nothing. This much is meh. If necessary, one more..." Lee Hyun hastily revised his words. "Next time you can take one more chick."

Really?

"..."

Seo-yoon, who wanted to take one right away when he said she could!

As Lee Hyun conversed via notes, he thought it was a little strange. 'Why doesn't she speak?' He'd originally thought that she was hiding the fact she could speak on purpose to fool with him, but she wasn't. In the MT and the festival, he hadn't heard her speak even once. Even as they ate lunch together, she didn't speak. To be honest, that they conversed through notes after she left a note in the lunch box could be called a tremendous advancement.

'She spoke just one word in Royal Road, but her voice was extremely nice on the ears... it's probably something like her actual voice is really dry, right?'

When Lee Hyun was about to leave the backyard to see Seo-yoon off, Dogmeat approached while whining. Seo-yoon also seemed to think Dogmeat was cute because she wasn't able to move away.

Lee Hyun spoke with a trembling voice. "D-do you happen to like this dog?"

"...?"

"Do you want to... take Dogmeat too?"

Lee Hyun's shocking transformation! He would even give Seo-yoon Dogmeat, who he had cherished and raised for the days of summer.

[T/N: Summer is a popular time for eating dog meat, which is said to energize and revitalize. As a reminder, this is a cultural difference we hope everyone will understand.]

Can I really take him to keep?

"You can. Because it seems like this dog likes you."

More than anything else, Seo-yoon looked delighted beyond measure at the words that it seemed the dog liked her. Surprised and touched, she went as far as to drip tears.

Lee Hyun spoke in a low voice. "This rascal eats a lot, so it's good to feed him often. He'll overturn a food bowl that's too small, so prepare a big one for him, and let him go play in the backyard on rainy days. Don't tie him up at night. He hunts things like mice and weasels. He takes about a 2 hour nap, but if you want to play with him just call his name. He'll wake up. He likes radish and carrots, so give him some now and then..."

Every single word of his explanation was like sending off his lover.

'It feels like my heart is being ripped out.'

Even as he suffered intense agony, Lee Hyun didn't retract his decision.

When giving a gift, you mustn't show a reluctant face. Giving properly was the way to bribe!

'The second and third S-rank difficulty quests... honestly, I think it'll be almost impossible for me to complete them.'

He

was

grinding to raise his Sculpting skill. However, he couldn't guarantee quest success.

'With the alliance with the barbarians, the Power of the Deliverer, and the Sentence of Death, and also a lot of luck, I was able to finish the 1st step of the quest.' He couldn't hope to have always such luck in the quest. 'The 2nd and 3rd steps will be even harder.'

From here onwards, he would be in a desperate and lonely position where he had to go up against the quests with nothing.

'If we could do it together...'

If Seo-yoon partic.i.p.ated in the quest with him, it would be much more rea.s.suring for him.

Thank you very much.

Luxury foreign cars had parked in a line in front of Lee Hyun's house at some point, unbeknownst to him. Seo-yoon's bodyguards had come and had been on standby. Bodyguards wearing black suits opened a car's back door. The chickens and Dogmeat boarded the back seat. The chickens and dog were enjoying the luxury of boarding a car worth hundreds of millions of Won that even came with escorts and a chauffeur!

Lee Hyun put a false smile on his lips that concealed his bitter inner feelings as he saw her off. "See you. Come play again next time."

At that, Seo-yoon halted from getting in the car, hesitated for a moment, and wrote something on a note.

Can I really come play again?

"..."

Lee Hyun realized that this was exactly what it meant to be 'lost for words.' Didn't that mean she still wanted more even though he had given her so much!

'Surely she won't come again. It's probably just something she's saying out of politeness, like a common saying.'

Lee Hyun nodded. "If you have time, come whenever you want."

Thank you. See you next time.

Seo-yoon got into the car and left with her bodyguards. Lee Hyun, who had been standing still in front of the door, blew out a sigh after the cars left.

He recalled the feeling he'd gotten when he met his wicked bosses while doing various jobs after dropping out of high school.

"Those who have the means are really too much." He had gained a valuable lesson. "Meeting women is really no good."

The expenses of dating! When you meet a woman, money is spent doing this and that. He hadn't bought Seo-yoon a meal or coffee, and it wasn't like they went to the amus.e.m.e.nt park together. However, there was the price of the chickens and dog!

"A woman is the enemy of saving money. Enemy."

Lee Hyun ground his teeth. Animosity towards her was kindling again.

* * *

Seo-yoon's hospital room was reminiscent of an animal farm. Dogmeat was stretched out after eating warm food and meat, and the chickens were freely flying around as they crowed. Even the yellow chick went around the room cheeping.

"..."

Seo-yoon sat on a chair and read books.

"Food Dogs Like"

"A Dog's Lot is the Life of Comfort"

"A Dog Barks for a Reason"

They were guides for raising a pet dog.

Not only did Seo-yoon's hospital room have a private exercise room attached, but it also had 4 rooms, a study, and was even equipped with a home bar where she could drink simple beverages. For Dogmeat and the chickens, it was no different from heaven.

Bark bark!

Dogmeat even barked while looking out the window. Though it wasn't big, he had lived in a house with a backyard, so he needed the fresh air outside.

Seo-yoon prepared to go out. 'The book 'A Dog's Lot is the Life of Comfort,' said you have to walk the dog regularly.'

Seo-yoon put a dog leash around Dogmeat's neck. Dogmeat obediently stayed still as he stuck out his tongue and licked her hand. He was promising his faithfulness to the owner who had dramatically changed his fate as a summer meal!

The nurses looked at Seo-yoon as if it was hard to believe.

"It seems like... she's become much brighter than before."

"Indeed. It feels like her complexion has really blossomed, huh? She was truly beautiful before, but now she could even make a girl fall for her."

The nurses hadn't known that Seo-yoon, who had been closing the doors to her heart despite their countless efforts, would suddenly become better like this.

Cha Eun-hee also had to acknowledge Lee Hyun's qualities on that point. "He's a truly kind man."

The teammates she hunted with in Royal Road didn't spare praises of him.

"His warm heartedness probably thawed Seo-yoon's frozen heart, right?"

She had also heard a lot about Lee Hyun from Jung Il-hun. How many men were there in the world who would be so dedicated to their families! That was why the fact that he spent his life engrossed in Royal Road couldn't be seen as only a fault.

"Seo-yoon forced herself to go to school, but now she's enjoying it. She's really much better."

That she was raising chickens and a puppy was a very positive sign. Cha Eun-hee guessed that if she was pouring out love while raising pets, the day her heart would completely open up wasn't far. Now Seo-yoon had risen to the level of readily expressing herself with notes. There just needed to be a decisive opportunity that would spring open the gates of speech.

"Is it finally time to report to the chairman?"

Cha Eun-hee had to contact Seo-yoon's father. He was always receiving reports about his daughter through her bodyguards. If he heard news that Seo-yoon's heart would soon be healed and that she would even be able to speak, he would definitely be happy.