Chapter 94 (2/2)

In the end, she turned her gaze back down and ma.s.saged her temples with her hands.

“Anyways.”

Seol Jihu continued to talk.

“We established a new relations.h.i.+p back when we last met, and it's true that I'm the one who broke our promise. I have nothing to say other than sorry.”

A long sigh rang out along with the murmuring, 'Golden Rule… Golden Rule….'

Soon.

“…Okay, I think I get it.”

“Kim Hannah?”

“Shut up for a bit. I'm still organizing my thoughts. So what you're saying is that you're justified in partic.i.p.ating in that mission and that you're not addicted. Okay, fine, I get all that.”

Kim Hannah muttered in a somewhat feeble voice, then….

“But you need to know this.”

She locked her fingers together and stared straight at him.

“There is no incident without a problem. But not only are you actively looking for incidents, but you're also walking into them with your own two feet.”

“That's….”

“Quiet. Do you know what I went through a few days ago? You and I are bound by a contract. Your actions have consequences that directly affect me. Whether those consequences are good or bad doesn't matter. I prefer not to be swept into things I can't handle any more than this.”

“I promise. Something like this won't happen ever again.”

“Well, we'll see about that. I'm not the type of person who thinks people can be changed to my liking.”

Kim Hannah told him flat out but revealed a hesitant expression.

“But… looking at you, I'm starting to change my mind. At the very least, the Seol Jihu that's in front of me isn't the gambling addict I know. Right?”

“…Yeah.”

“But you still broke our promise twice. I hate people who habitually break promises more than gambling addicts.”

Kim Hannah leaned forward.

“So… Jihu.”

She grabbed Seol Jihu's hands and held them tightly.

“Don't disappoint me any more than this.”

The pressure coming from her palms seemed to say, 'There won't be a third time.'

“Please, knowing how special you think of me… I don't want to be a fox to you too.”

Kim Hannah's alias was Miss Foxy. Hugo even said she was one of the Six Crazies. Now that he was looking at her like this, he didn't feel like Hugo was joking. He slowly nodded his head, and only then did Kim Hannah let go of his hands.

She glanced at the white envelope on the table.

After a moment of hesitation, she carefully picked it up. Seol Jihu swallowed hard, watching the envelope disappear into Kim Hannah's purse.

'So this is the Golden Commandment?'

Treat others how you wanted to be treated. Seol Jihu trembled as he remembered these words. Until now, he only saw the 'Golden Commandment' in a positive way.

Treat others like gold and you will receive gold. So what will happen if you treat others like trash?

'A double-edged blade.'

He felt like he was beginning to understand the concept of the Nine Eyes' right side. Having finished organizing her purse, Kim Hannah asked.

“Breakfast?”

“H-Hm?”

“Have you had breakfast?”

The air suddenly cooled down. Seol Jihu subconsciously let out the breath he had been holding in. He scratched his head and replied.

“Not yet.”

After leaving the coffee shop, the duo headed to a restaurant. Kim Hannah introduced him to a high-cla.s.s ginseng chicken soup place called 'Chicken Cloud Palace' and ended up watching Seol Jihu eat with a shocked expression.

Nom, nom.

Slurp, slurp, slurrrrp!

He picked the chicken up whole and picked it apart piece by piece. Kim Hannah had never seen someone eat ginseng chicken soup as if it was a bowl of noodles.

“Eat slower. You're going to have problems digesting all that.”

When she filled his empty cup with water, Seol Jihu paused for a moment and gulped it down in one shot. Kim Hannah shook her head, perhaps feeling bad about making him check for her reactions constantly.

“I won't say anything, so just eat. Eat to your heart's content.”

Rather than going back to stuffing his face with chicken, Seol Jihu grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth.

“I have a question.”

“What.”

“Did something happen?”

“…Why do you think something happened?”

“Today, you were a bit more hysterical than usual.”

“Hys… What did you say?”

Kim Hannah eyes turned into daggers. Seol Jihu quickly changed the topic.

“I mean, you said so before. That you went through something a few days ago.”

Hearing this, Kim Hannah's glaring eyes loosened and was replaced by bitterness.

“It's not something to talk about while eating.”

“Don't worry, it won't ruin my appet.i.te.”

Kim Hannah smacked her lips.

“It's just that… I met someone.”

“Who?”

“The First Lady.”

Seol Jihu was about to take another bite out of the chicken but paused midway.

“By First Lady, you mean….”

“Who do you think? She's Yun Seora's older sister.”

“Her? What, did she beat you up or something?”

“She's not like that.”

Kim Hannah chuckled and took out a doc.u.ment the size of an A4 paper from her purse.

“Here, it's 252.5 million won. I sold it for 500 silver coins.”

“Sold what?”

“The ornament you gave me, stupid.”

Seol Jihu dropped the chicken.

“R-Really?”

“Yep. I already converted it to Earth's currency. You understand why, right?”

Seol Jihu was about to shout, 'Of course, I do! It's not like I'm short on money in Paradise!' but he didn't and fell into deep thought. It didn't look like Kim Hannah was all that happy about it.

“Did someone steal the money?”

“I would have preferred that, actually. That way, I would have something over them.”

What was that supposed to mean? Seol Jihu couldn't quite understand what she was talking about, so he decided to just listen for now.

“This problem actually started from you spending the 100 million won I gave you.”

Seol Jihu immediately coughed, and Kim Hannah burst into laughter.

“Anyways, I planned to give this money to you over the course of three years.”

“Three years?”

“Yeah. Like a salary, I planned to give you 4 million every month and give out the rest through various bonuses and benefits.”

Seol Jihu blinked repeatedly before going, “Ah!”

“You were trying to make it look like I got a job! Like Sinyoung's system.”

That was good news for him. When he visited his parents before, he told them he got a job. But the reality was that he would be at a loss for words if they started asking him about it.

Once they began asking questions like 'what company do you work for?', 'let me see your contract', or 'let me see your bank account', they would discover the truth in no time.

But with a fake job, everything would be resolved. Given Kim Hannah's skills, she would have undoubtedly come up with a legit source for the 100 million won she gave him.

“You're really smart when it comes to things like this.”

Kim Hannah snorted at Seol Jihu's compliment and continued.

“Right, I wanted to arrange a secure source of money for you and give you a secure environment so that you wouldn't have to worry about life on this side. So I wanted to push you into a foreign company I trust, but….'