✽005

A chilling silence enveloped the room. Kang Ju-wan stood frozen, still clutching the wedding invitation, his smiling face stiff as a statue. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, exploding like fireworks before disappearing into confusion.

Did I tell Seoyeon noona to forget about me? Or… didn’t I?

‘If you end up breaking off the engagement, I might reconsider.’

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Oh, shit.

She really did it?!

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Cold sweat dripped down Ju-wan’s back, soaking into his shirt.

Meanwhile, Ki-chul, standing behind him, muttered a quiet but intrigued, “Whoa…” His tone was anything but helpful.

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Ju-wan glanced desperately toward Choi Gyu-hyuk, his wide eyes silently screaming for assistance. Gyu-hyuk, startled but quick to act, stepped forward with a practiced smile plastered on his face.

“Sir, let’s calm down and—”

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“Do I look like I’m not calm? I’m perfectly calm,” the man interrupted smoothly, his tone eerily collected.

“Uh… yes. Of course,” Gyu-hyuk replied, his composure faltering.

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It was clear that the man wasn’t lying—he did appear calm, but that only made him more terrifying. Most people in his position would have already started yelling or smashing things. The fact that he hadn’t was deeply unsettling.

Another heavy silence fell before the man’s lips curled into a cold smile.

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“Imagine that. Getting dumped because of a host from a bar. Life sure is full of surprises, isn’t it?”

The room seemed to freeze over again.

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There was no comeback to such a mocking statement, especially when it came from someone who looked anything but harmless.

The formal tone he used, strangely out of place with his menacing presence, only made things more unsettling. It reminded Ju-wan of how a debt collector might patronizingly console a debtor—except in this case, Ju-wan felt uncomfortably like the debtor.

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Though Gyu-hyuk kept his polite smile plastered on his face, his nerves were on edge. He had dealt with enough dangerous types to know this guy wasn’t bluffing. Nothing good ever came from encounters like this. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out how to get rid of the man without escalating the situation.

Then, the man suddenly let out a soft ah, as if he’d just remembered something.

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“How rude of me. I almost gave you a free conversation,” he said smoothly.

The man casually pulled a wallet from the inside pocket of his suit, rummaged through it, and placed a crisp 1-million-won check on the desk. Choi Gyu-hyuk’s eyes widened in disbelief.

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“Pick a decent bottle of alcohol for me. I’d like to have a long chat with Kang Mi-nam,” the man said smoothly.

For a moment, Gyu-hyuk’s thoughts swirled at the sight of such extravagance, but he quickly steadied himself and tried to respond professionally.

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“Sir, I should remind you that our establishment has a strict no-violence policy—”

“Violence? I hate that sort of thing myself.”

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The man interrupted. He paused briefly, then looked directly at Ju-wan, his lips curling into an unsettling smile.

“Actually, I’d like to have some fun with Kang Mi-nam.”

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“…What?”

Even Ki-chul, who had been quietly snickering in the background, wiped the grin off his face. The three hosts of Eden found themselves thinking the same thing:

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‘This guy’s completely nuts.’

Gyu-hyuk, forcing a polite smile, stepped in quickly.

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“Sir, I’m sorry, but we don’t serve male patrons. I’d be happy to recommend another venue—”

Before Gyu-hyuk could finish, the man opened his wallet again, as if he hadn’t heard a word. He pulled out another 1-million-won check and casually placed it atop the first one.

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“Seoyeon said Mi-nam was something special. But not even for a man?”

This time, he turned his sharp gaze to Gyu-hyuk, pulling out yet another check and waving it lightly in front of his face.

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“Are you sure it’s impossible, boss?”

Gyu-hyuk swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing visibly. Three hundred million won at once—it was an enormous sum under normal circumstances, but after losing the star hosts he’d been grooming, it felt even more significant.

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Without thinking, he turned to Ju-wan, his expression a mix of panic and pleading. His wide eyes seemed to ask, What should we do?

The man glanced around the interior of the bar with an indifferent expression and spoke in a slow, almost lazy tone.

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“Business isn’t doing well these days, is it? Looking around, I can see why. At best, you might be able to scrape together enough for rent… or maybe not even that?”

Ju-wan, the actual owner of Eden, felt a flash of indignation but managed to keep his composure. The man continued, his voice low and deliberate.

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“I even thought about calling up some friends to come and completely trash this place, you know, since I’ve already been jilted.”

Choi Gyu-hyuk’s hand clenched into a fist at those words. As a former high school judo athlete, he wasn’t one to back down from provocations easily. The only reason he hadn’t snapped yet was because of Ju-wan’s strict training in controlling his temper. Still, if it came to a fight, he wouldn’t hesitate—he prided himself on never losing in a fistfight.

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With a deep, steady voice, Gyu-hyuk responded, “Sir, that’s a rather harsh thing to say. You don’t strike me as someone who’d resort to something illegal like that.”

“I don’t do many legal things to begin with,” the man replied casually.

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Ju-wan shot a sharp glare at Gyu-hyuk, silently warning him to keep quiet. Gyu-hyuk, who had been about to retort, immediately shut his mouth.

Ju-wan’s instincts were blaring alarms. People who spoke lightly about violent acts as if they were entertaining were never in their right mind. Before Ju-wan could say anything, the man spoke again.

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“But if Kang Ju-wan sleeps with me, we can call it even. I’ll drop everything.”

The room froze. Both Ju-wan and Gyu-hyuk’s eyes widened in unison.

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The man had just referred to Mi-nam as Kang Ju-wan. This meant he’d already done his homework, down to uncovering Ju-wan’s real name.

Realizing how precarious the situation had become, Ju-wan quickly assessed his options. Without hesitation, he dropped to his knees in front of the man and grabbed the hem of his pants, tears streaming down his face. His expression was one of abject misery and terror, as though he were pleading for his life.

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“Hyung-nim, I didn’t mean for things to turn out this way. I’m truly sorry. Please forgive me just this once. I’ve committed an unforgivable sin!”

With a loud thunk, Ju-wan pressed his forehead to the floor. For the first time since entering Eden, the man’s expression shifted—his brows furrowed slightly in distaste.

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“I don’t like this kind of thing,” he muttered.

“I’m really sorry!” Ju-wan cried again, his voice desperate.

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But the man’s face only darkened further. He let out a dry laugh and asked, as if genuinely curious, “Is your kneeling worth more than the cost of rebuilding this entire place?”

“…You can hit me as much as you like, Hyung-nim. Until your anger is gone,” Ju-wan replied, his voice trembling.

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The man’s face twisted slightly, his displeasure evident.

“Still, your face—!”

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Ki-chul began to interject instinctively but quickly shut his mouth, realizing the gravity of the situation.

The man, meanwhile, looked down at Kang Ju-wan with a gaze dripping with disdain.

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“You want me to hit you?”

“Yes,” Ju-wan replied firmly.

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“Hmm… no. I wouldn’t want to touch something so filthy.”

The man stared at Ju-wan as if he were an insect, then suddenly knelt and drove his fist directly into Ju-wan’s nose.

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“Urgh!”

The impact sent Ju-wan sprawling onto the floor with a sickening thud. A sharp crack echoed in the room. Without a hint of emotion, the man brushed off his pants as if swatting away dirt.

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He looked down at Ju-wan, who lay crumpled on the floor, clutching his nose, and spoke.

“I’m giving you a chance to repay the damage you’ve caused your boss and colleagues. And yet, you’re rejecting it?”

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His polished black shoes moved silently until they stopped just inches from Ju-wan’s face.

“Urgh…”

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Ju-wan groaned, barely able to form words.

“Honestly, you’re not sorry, are you? You’re just thinking, ‘What bad luck, running into someone like this,’ aren’t you? Ha!”

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“It’s not like that—”

“Shh.”

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The man silenced him with another swift kick, this time to the solar plexus. Ju-wan gasped and wheezed, pain radiating through his body like fire.

“Take the next three days to think it over,” the man said coldly.

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Grabbing Ju-wan by the hair, he forcibly tilted his head back to meet his gaze.

“And don’t even think about running. Understand?”

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For the first time since stepping into Eden, the man’s smile disappeared, replaced by a chillingly blank expression.

“I’m very glad I met you, Kang Ju-wan,” he said flatly.

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After a tense pause, the man regained his composure and smiled brightly again, this time directing it at Choi Gyu-hyuk.

“My apologies for the scene. If possible, I’d appreciate it if you could help persuade him. After all, you take a cut of your staff’s earnings, don’t you? And you—”

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He turned to Ki-chul, pulling two crisp 50,000-won bills from his wallet and slipping them into Ki-chul’s shirt pocket.

“Why don’t you lend him some advice too? I’m sure you could be persuasive.”

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He casually scribbled his phone number onto a scrap of paper from a nearby notepad and dropped it onto Ju-wan’s head as though discarding trash. The gesture was condescending, as if he were throwing scraps to a beggar.

Whistling a jaunty tune, he walked out the door, leaving it to jingle obnoxiously behind him. Only the sound of the door chime and his footsteps up the stairs lingered in the silence.

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The moment his footsteps faded, Gyu-hyuk and Ki-chul rushed to Ju-wan, who was still sprawled on the floor.

“Hey, are you okay?”

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“Can you stand?”

With their help, Ju-wan managed to sit up, clutching his stomach and muttering curses under his breath. His face was smeared with blood and fake tears, a chaotic mess. Thankfully, his abnormal healing abilities had already started mending his broken nose.

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“That bastard said he wouldn’t hit me, but he hits hard,” Ju-wan growled.

Ki-chul shivered and muttered, “I’ve never seen anyone that insane before.”

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Ju-wan didn’t respond, instead shakily getting to his feet and picking up the scrap of paper the man had left behind.

010-xxx-xxxx. Shin Min-kyung.

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“…Shin Min-kyung?”

Ju-wan muttered, staring at the name scrawled on the note. His fist clenched around the paper, crumpling it tightly.

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‘I’m going to kill this bastard.’

His nose still throbbed as if the bone might give way again any second.

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Meanwhile, Choi Gyu-hyuk, looking close to tears himself, helped Ju-wan onto the sofa and turned to Ki-chul.

“Ki-chul, go to the kitchen and get an ice pack.”

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Ki-chul immediately complied and returned with the ice pack, handing it to Ju-wan. Ju-wan leaned back and placed the cold compress over his nose, hissing slightly at the sensation.

“Hey,” Ki-chul said abruptly.

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“what are you going to do now? Are you going to bolt?”

“…I don’t know. Let me think about it,” Ju-wan replied, his voice heavy.

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“You shouldn’t come back to work for a while. That guy’s seriously unhinged. Did you see his eyes earlier?” Ki-chul pressed, shaking his head.

Ju-wan said nothing, keeping the ice pack pressed to his face as his thoughts churned. For once, the usually calm and controlled vampire looked genuinely unsettled.

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