UR Chapter 68

Chapter 68

—Hey, you’re really selfish and thoughtless. How the hell can you wreck someone’s image that badly?

Before I-bom could even ask “What did you say?” thinking he might have misheard, the blunt curse hit him squarely. Even through the static-laced call, with wind blowing in the background, the sarcasm and irritation in Soo-hyun’s voice came through loud and clear.

Sure enough, he was just like I-jun’s friend—one moment clinging to your sleeve pretending to cry, the next cursing outright when something didn’t sit right with him. For a second, I-bom wondered if it might have been a slip, expecting maybe an “Ah, sorry” or “That came out wrong,” but the other end stayed silent.

There had to be a reason he’d stayed best friends with someone like Kang I-jun all his life. I-bom had overlooked the fact that Soo-hyun was not the kind of person to show consideration either. His fingertips reddened as he gripped the phone.

“…What?”

—No, damn it. I’m saying, how could you ruin my image like that? If the person who showed up wasn’t some scary gangster type but someone who obviously looked like a celebrity, you should have told me!

…Should he have told him? He thought it over, but at the time he hadn’t had the leeway. I-bom recalled that long, tense night when he’d been too nervous to think straight.

Soo-hyun didn’t give him the chance to explain himself and went on talking.

—Ha… fine. Anyway, I really appreciate you going in my place for that blind date I didn’t want to attend. So, what happened? Don’t feed me any crap—just tell me everything in order from start to finish.

His tone was forceful. Opening with a curse to shut down any room for argument was exactly like Kang I-jun’s way of talking. Still, setting aside the irritation bubbling up at Soo-hyun’s attitude, I-bom couldn’t shake the feeling that it was his own fault for not reporting back sooner. Calming his racing heart, he spoke evenly.

“…I didn’t say much. Right after we met, he introduced himself, and he asked if the traffic had been bad. I apologized, and then… I started bringing up the points from that ‘turn-off ranking list’ you told me about, trying to put them into practice one by one.”

—Turn-off list—?

Before he even finished, Soo-hyun’s voice rose. Muffled curses followed, muttered under his breath—whether directed at I-bom or to himself, he couldn’t tell, but none of it sounded pleasant. As the swearing continued, I-bom’s expression stiffened. Clicking his tongue, Soo-hyun spoke coldly.

“Yeah. You told me, remember? Out of the six things you said I had to do to make sure I got dumped, I did at least three of them…”

Before he could finish, Soo-hyun exploded.

—Hey! You idiot!

“…What?”

At the booming voice, I-bom instinctively turned down the call volume. He was already speaking quietly outside the house so I-seol wouldn’t overhear, but getting yelled at this loudly was still a problem.

It was bad enough if they found out he’d gone on the blind date in Soo-hyun’s place, but the thought of his sister recognizing Soo-hyun’s voice and realizing he was being cursed out wasn’t pleasant either. In a small place like Aji Village, I-seol and Soo-hyun knew each other too.

“Hyung, I-seol can hear you. Keep it down.”

—You think I care about some kid right now? Hey, Kang I-bom, you stupid bastard. Ha… is there something wrong with your head? Have you never worked a day in your life? Every time I-jun calls you stupid, I defended you, saying you were just nice. God, I must’ve been insane.

“Hyung, why are you talking like—”

Once the dam broke, Kang Soo-hyun poured his anger out in full. The reins had slipped, and he spat his insults without pause.

—Ha, fuck. You have to read the person before you act like that. The reason I told you to make sure you got dumped was because I was scared some scary gangster-looking guy would show up. Don’t you have eyes? His face screams ‘I’m amazing’ to anyone who sees him! In that case, you should’ve called me right away and handed him over politely. But instead, you cluelessly went and did exactly what I said, what? The turn-off ranking list? What, is this your way of screwing me over?

“Hyung, calm down. Why would you think I did that on purpose?”

Anyone hearing Soo-hyun’s voice through the phone would think he had a split personality, but I-bom decided to try calming him down first. The prickly way he shot his words stung in I-bom’s chest, but what bound them wasn’t emotion—it was reason.

Debt. He hadn’t incurred it himself, but depending on Soo-hyun’s mood, the time he had to spend repaying it in his place could shorten or lengthen. If Soo-hyun got upset and passed the debt somewhere else, the trouble would only grow.

—Hey, which of the six things did you do? Say it.

“…I suggested splitting the bill, ate messily, and broke a promise.”

I-bom folded his fingers one by one.

The man had treated him with a serenity that seemed untouched by any hardship. Even if I-bom had questioned him about how many spoons he had at home, he would have calmly smiled and answered everything. That was why he’d only managed to do those things. Frustration bubbled in his throat.

—Ha, fuck. You made me look like some clueless asshole. Ah—this is bullshit.

“…He was a gentleman. When I said we should split the bill, he flat-out refused and… bought every course meal the hotel offered.”

I-bom spoke evenly.

—And what does that matter? You’re saying you just went and ate it all, right?

Soo-hyun’s reply was sharp. Whatever I-bom said, he twisted it into something negative.

“…He ordered it, so I couldn’t refuse. I really tried to turn it down. Hyung, you shouldn’t… talk like that.”

—Oh, really? Funny, because to me your fake politeness just looks laughable.

“What…”

—I-jun says you’ve been pretending to be innocent while screwing people over since you were a kid, and I thought, no way… but I was right. That refusal crap was just an excuse, and all you cared about was ruining my image, wasn’t it? What, were you so resentful that I made you meet a cat-type predator? I even told you to call me if you thought you were going to die.

“Hyung, are you just going off what my brother told you?”

Fake, pretending to be innocent—it was all just one-sided words and misunderstandings from Kang I-jun. I-bom’s head swam. He knew his brother didn’t think highly of him, but this kind of slander was just unfair.

What had he even done wrong? All he’d done was clean up after Soo-hyun and sit in for a couple of hours on a blind date in his place to refuse it—and for that he was being cursed out?

—No, think about it. Fine, it’s my fault I assumed he was a cheetah beastman. But a predator’s image is still intimidating, right? They’re bigger than canids, with sharper fangs. I freaked out about it and asked you to go for me—so now you’re holding a grudge? I worried about you not dying, and you repay me by screwing me over? And on top of that, you coyly accept his business card?

“I didn’t take his card. Why would I? I went there to turn him down for you.”

Soo-hyun’s relentless rant chilled I-bom inside. If he’d had any ulterior motive, he would’ve acted differently long ago—but he’d never lived with the kind of slyness where you smiled in front of someone and schemed behind their back.

—I-bom.

Soo-hyun’s voice turned mocking.

—For all I know, you could’ve been wagging your tail at him, hoping to land a payday out of this shitty, poor little Aji Village. Who’d guess that someone who looks so innocent is actually loose? Honestly, people say big breeds have big dicks and matching libidos. Maybe you sucked him off and asked for money—who knows?

“What the—?! I would never do something like that! And that’s insulting to him, too!”

—Don’t act like you wouldn’t. You know what he does for a living.

“What? No, you never told me, so I have no idea what he does.”

Then what was the point of sending him in the first place? Soo-hyun didn’t even know what the man did, yet if he asked I-bom, would he expect an answer? And at the crucial moment, he’d fainted—he didn’t even have the man’s number, let alone a business card.

—Wow, you’re really shameless. Kang I-bom, don’t you dare lie to me. If you lie, you’re dead to me and I-jun both.

“I’m not lying. We just had a meal, barely talked at all, and at the end, after I drank grape juice and fainted, he called a doctor to his house for me—and that was it!”

I-bom’s voice rose sharply.