Chapter 27

"Wow. How can a person be that beautiful? You can really tell she’s the daughter of a cosmetics corporate. Her skin is incredible."

After parting ways with Seol Hee, Bo Bae spent the entire walk to the parking lot showering her with praise. Even though Bo Bae had seen plenty of famous actresses while working at the broadcasting station, Seol Hee was more stunning than any of them.

Everything about her was perfect. Her thick hair shimmering in the sunlight, her skin as white and flawless as porcelain, her cheeks flushed like ripe peaches, and her lips that let out a voice as clear as rolling jade beads.

"I’ve seen her in magazines a few times, but she’s much prettier in person. And her hands! They were so dainty. I was startled by how soft they were when we shook hands earlier. Seeing her and Mr. Ho Rang together... You looked like a match made in heaven... Oh my!"

Bo Bae let out a yelp as she bumped into Ho Rang’s broad, firm back because he had suddenly come to a dead halt.

"Ouch. Why did you stop so suddenly?"

As Bo Bae grumbled while rubbing her aching forehead, Ho Rang merely looked down at her in silence. Judging by his sour expression, it seemed his mood, ruined by the "shrimp incident", hadn't improved yet.

She felt bad for thrusting a shrimp at him, but Bo Bae also felt a bit wronged. She hadn't known he had a shrimp allergy, and she had already apologized, yet he was still holding onto that anger.

"Are you still upset about the shrimp?"

At Bo Bae’s words, Ho Rang’s face crumpled messily. Unaware, she continued.

"I’m sorry for giving shrimp to someone with an allergy, but I didn't know you had one, and I apologized. Are you going to keep being pouting like this?"

Ho Rang looked down at her with an incredulous expression.

So, this woman really thinks the reason I'm angry is over a single shrimp? She sees me as some narrow-minded jerk who’s mad just because you handed him something he's allergic to, even though you didn't know?

Ho Rang felt a surge of anger. Not because she saw him as petty, but because she remained utterly oblivious to his efforts and his feelings.

"Do you really think it’s because of the shrimp?"

"You've been in a bad mood since then."

"Sigh."

Now I see why this woman can’t write romance. She has absolutely no intuition. None at all.

"Is it not?"

Even as he felt frustrated, she looked so lovely with her eyes wide and anxious. He wanted to be angry, but the anger just wouldn't come.

He felt like he was losing his mind. He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol today and his mind was perfectly clear, yet the fact that this woman looked so beautiful to him meant he had surely gone crazy.

"Forget it. Let’s go."

"No, why are you leaving in the middle of a conversation? Tell me why you're mad. I won't know unless you say it."

"I'm not mad. It's just..."

As Ho Rang trailed off, Bo Bae pressed for an answer.

"Just what?"

"Compared to Han Seol Hee... you’re prettier."

Bo Bae, who had been grumbling, lifted her head, wondering if she had misheard his sudden remark. He was looking down at her with his usual indifferent expression.

"What... did you just say?"

Bo Bae doubted her own ears. There was no way this man would say something like that to her. They were usually at each other's throats. He wouldn't compliment her, let alone say she was prettier than Han Seol Hee.

When she looked up at him with eyes full of doubt, she met his stoic gaze. It was a face devoid of emotion, yet his eyes... why did they look like that? They looked exactly like the eyes of a male lead in a romance drama. The so-called "romance gaze."

There's no way this man would look at me like that...

Despite the thought, his gaze felt so intense that Bo Bae instinctively turned her head away.

"If you didn't hear it, then never mind."

Ho Rang spoke dismissively and began walking again.

Bo Bae watched his retreating figure and shook her head from side to side.

"I must have misheard, right...?"

That had to be it. There was no way the man who used to yell at her about "trying to make a move with such a meager body" would ever call her pretty.

"Yeah. There's no way. Even if the sky split in two, Baek Ho Rang would never say that to me."

But even as she told herself that, why did she find herself wishing he had said it? Why did the corners of her mouth keep twitching upwards at the impossible thought that the world's biggest jerk had called her pretty?

"Is it just because I heard the word 'pretty'?"

After all, being called pretty is a compliment that makes anyone feel good. Right. Her heart was fluttering and she was smiling simply because she heard a compliment, regardless of the fact that it came from Baek Ho Rang. That had to be it.

Soothing her racing heart with those thoughts, Bo Bae followed behind him.

~~~~

"What is it? Seriously, what is going on?"

Back at home, Bo Bae buried her face in a soft pillow, playing back the words Ho Rang had said at the department store.

"You're prettier."

No matter how hard she tried to forget it, telling herself it couldn't have been meant for her, the words kept resurfacing.

"I misheard, right? That's it, isn't it?"

But, the words had been too clear, striking her ears with perfect precision to be a mistake.

The Baek Ho Rang she knew was not the type to say things he didn't mean, even with a knife to his throat. He was a man incapable of empty pleasantries or words of comfort, a man who said exactly what was on his mind, and if a truth was unproductive, he wouldn't utter it at all. That was Baek Ho Rang.

So, why did he say it? There was no reason for him to. He didn't need to be polite to her, and the idea that she was prettier than Seol Hee wasn't even a fact. Above all, what would he gain from saying such a thing?

"What could a man who lives by 'give and take' possibly want to gain by saying that to me?"

No matter how much she racked her brain, she couldn't figure it out.

"Oh, whatever! I should just write."

With a fluttering heart, Bo Bae sat down at her desk.

Given how her heart was flopping around like a freshly caught fish, she felt like the words would flow effortlessly today.

While Bo Bae was writing, Ho Rang was looking down at the yard from his second-floor room. To be precise, he was staring at the shipping container in the yard.

Seeing the light still on, it seemed she wasn't asleep yet. A silhouette that had been moving about stopped in front of the desk, suggesting she was writing.

"Haa!"

Ho Rang exhaled deeply as he recalled the day's events.

He found it strange himself. He had snapped at Bo Bae for no reason over something trivial. He was usually prickly, but he wasn't the type to take his frustrations out on others without cause. Yet today, he felt like he had been grumbling, snapping, and bothering her all day long.

"I'm not some elementary schooler..."

His behavior felt exactly like that of a nine or ten-year-old boy. The kind who teases and picks on the girl he likes!

"What? A girl I like? Are you crazy? No way!"

His thoughts spiraled until they landed on the image of a young boy bullying his crush, at which point he began to deny everything.

"First of all, there's no way my maturity level is that of a child, right?"

It was a fundamental error to suggest that the owner of a corporation leading the national economy, a graduate of the country's top university, was at the level of an elementary student. Furthermore, the psychology of a boy bullying a girl is rooted in wanting her attention because he likes her.

"There's no way I could like that woman, right?"

The hypothesis that the great Baek Ho Rang had been irritable all day just to get the attention of that "kiss-maniac" was a logical fallacy.

Yet, why did a corner of his heart feel so heavy? And why did his eyes keep drifting towards that container?

It was a night filled with too many things he didn't understand.

~~~~

"What did you just say?"

Upon hearing the news of Ho Rang’s blind date from Mi Kyung, Assemblyman Choi Tae Sik asked back in a sharp voice. It wasn't because he had misheard. It was an exclamation of pure shock.

"It’s exactly what you heard. It looks like my father wants to become in-laws with HB Cosmetics."

"I know that! But why Ho Rang?! We have our Do Yoon!"

HB Cosmetics was the place Tae Sik and his wife had personally scouted for a marriage alliance. Although it didn't deal in heavy industries like electronics, chemicals, or construction, it was a company that had grown significantly with the global K-beauty trend. More importantly, Chairman Han held a considerable amount of stock in the Tae Seong Group.

If Ho Rang and Do Yoon were to fight for the position of successor to the Tae Seong Group, the winner would be determined by whose side HB Cosmetics took.

The fact that Chairman Baek had personally arranged such an important meeting meant he had solidified his intention to make Ho Rang the successor of the Tae Seong Group.

The shopping center project was proof enough. The core businesses of Tae Seong were still under Chairman Baek's control. In particular, the most profitable subsidiaries, Tae Seong Construction and Tae Seong Motors, were held firmly in his grasp. He had only tossed a single bone, Tae Seong Hotel, to Mi Kyung and Do Yoon.

And yet, he had permitted Ho Rang to take the shopping center. Since Ho Rang was already running Tae Seong Resort, Mi Kyung's side had protested several times, but they were forced to back down with a single word from Chairman Baek.

[If you want to complain that much, do it with your sales figures.]

With that one sentence, both Do Yoon and Mi Kyung were silenced. Sales at Tae Seong Hotel were steadily declining, while the resort Ho Rang managed had seen a visible increase in revenue despite the economic downturn.

Given that he was now moving toward marriage with HB Cosmetics, it was no wonder Tae Sik was fuming.

"I should have dealt with that brat a long time ago."

Over twenty years ago, when he first saw Ho Rang, Tae Sik had a premonition.

'Someday, that brat will become a stumbling block for my child.'

That was when he harbored his first dark intentions.

Ho Rang was never supposed to be part of the Baek family. He was an illegitimate child Jae Wook brought home despite Man Seok’s opposition. Now that Jae Wook was gone, there was no reason to embrace a child of unknown origin.

Yet, for some strange reason, Man Seok took Ho Rang in. Man Seok, who had been screaming that the boy was the one who killed his son, suddenly changed his tune one day and declared he would raise Ho Rang. Everyone was shocked by the sudden change, but there was no swaying the old man once he had made up his mind.

"What's the point of saying that now? It's all in the past."

"We'll have to wait and see if it's truly in the past or not."

Tae Sik responded to Mi Kyung’s words with a chilling smile.