MH Ch 2

Mok-gyeong chuckled, muttering in such a light tone that Hwa-ran almost doubted if she’d understood him correctly. However, his Adam’s apple violently twitched as he quickly drained his soju glass. Watching him, Hwa-ran felt her throat burn, too. Well, she had ever since she sat across from Mok-gyeong. It was strange.

“So, if I reject her, what do I get?”

“From your reaction, you didn’t even know who she was, so it doesn’t matter if you reject her anyway.”

“I could accept her even if I didn’t know her. If you want this.”

Mok-gyeong expressionlessly raised his hand. Then, he made a circle with his right thumb and index finger, and diligently… poked it with the index finger of his left hand. Even Hwa-ran, who was pretty clueless about sexual expressions, knew that hand gesture meant sex. And a very vulgar and blatant kind, at that.

Hwa-ran immediately frowned when she saw the gesture. She knew he was a delinquent, but she didn’t think he’d have no boundaries at all. Mok-gyeong just solidified that image.

“A girl who wants to hook up is practically falling into my lap. Why would I refuse? I was actually in the mood to get some tonight.”

“…You’re truly disgusting.”

“What do you expect from a cheap country bumpkin thug drinking soju and beer in a dive bar like this?”

“I never expected anything, but you’re even worse than average.”

“Haha.”

Mok-gyeong laughed with the freshest smile you could imagine. Again, it was a smile that completely mismatched the place, the smell, and everything he said.

“Sounds like little sis has been with a lot of guys, to be able to calculate an average.”

“…”

“But if you mess up your stats, you’ll get an error. You might expect something and then get completely screwed over and suffer.”

In that case, it might be better for a person to show their true colors from the start. Mok-gyeong delivered a warning that wasn’t quite a warning, then downed the rest of his drink.

“Just so you know, I’m really good at low-class stuff.”

“…Ugh, I didn’t ask.”

“Just so you know. Maybe your taste is as trashy and low-class as mine, so we’d get along just fine.”

Mok-gyeong leaned back slightly against the chair and tilted his chin. Even that small, confident gesture thickened the air. He was overtly displaying his sexual desires. It was even more unnerving that he wasn’t embarrassed by it; he was confident.

Hwa-ran held her breath and quickly retreated.

“I have no intention of doing that. I’ll handle my own relationships just fine, so mind your own business.”

“While you interfere with mine?”

“That’s…”

“Until now, I just figured I’d reject her anyway, but after getting nagged by you, little sis, I’ve had a change of heart. Now I absolutely have to grab someone and do something tonight, won’t I?”

Hwa-ran felt a throbbing headache. She’d clearly stirred up trouble by coming here. Regret washed over her, but she couldn’t pretend she hadn’t come all this way. Now, Mok-gyeong looked like he’d satisfy his curiosity by finding Chae-ah himself, if only to see Hwa-ran’s face contort and flip him off. And Chae-ah would probably giggle and say anything was fine.

Hwa-ran absolutely could not stand to see that. Especially if Mok-gyeong was just looking for a casual hookup, she had to stop him even more.

“My sister wants to hook up just as much, but she’s low-class in a different way than you are.”

“Oh yeah? In what sense?”

“She said she’d have sex with you without a condom and get pregnant right away. She’d even drug you if she had to, just to get you into bed. She thinks she’ll marry you and make her life better. If you play along, she’ll live comfortably and just have fun, but if you don’t, she’ll squeeze a ton of divorce settlement money out of you.”

“Hmm. A bit presumptuous, indeed.”

“To add to that, she’s the kind of woman who casually says, ‘If he really doesn’t listen, I’ll just sue him for sexual harassment. Maybe getting tangled with me will make him think differently.'”

“Hmm…”

“She hasn’t succeeded yet, but as a criminal, she’s malicious and dumb. Especially for casually blabbing her plans to everyone.”

Mok-gyeong silently nodded. Chae-ah’s intentions weren’t just impure; they were sacrilegious. Truly like a gold-digger. As a woman, Hwa-ran didn’t particularly like that word, but there was truly no other way to describe it. She was sickened by her family’s vulgarity. She would have understood if Mok-gyeong had jumped up and puked right then.

But Mok-gyeong was just calm. He should have been offended that someone would imagine and plan such things about him, but he seemed completely unbothered. Instead, he looked like someone who was used to such treatment. As if he’d been treated like a sperm donor more than once.

Facing his unreadable, mysterious face, Hwa-ran quietly mumbled, “Even though my sister says she likes and loves you a lot, the definition and expression of that love are abnormal. Frankly, it’s unpleasant. Disgusting.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“So, you won’t gain anything from getting involved. No matter how low-class you are, our blood is even viler. People with no bottom line have no shame.”

It was practically spitting in her own face, talking about how shameful and embarrassing her family was. As if Chae-ah’s vulgarity would rub off on her, her sister.

Geunmokjaheuk (Near black ink, one becomes black). Hwa-ran didn’t want to keep words like sex, condoms, sexual harassment, and lawsuits in her head, but as long as Chae-ah was around, she felt unpleasantly stained by her vulgarity. If it were friends, it’d be “birds of a feather,” but with family, it was a “nature” thicker than water.

So, even while talking about Chae-ah, Hwa-ran honestly wanted to jump up and leave right then. Her voice trembled, devoid of pride.

“So, if you just want to sleep with a woman, you could just go with those friends who were sitting here earlier…”

“But are you perhaps similar to your sister?”

“…Me? Suddenly?”

“Yeah. Suddenly.”

“Why that, all of a sudden?”

“If your sister looked like you, I wouldn’t mind getting bitten by a gold-digger for once.”

“…Huh?”

Mok-gyeong stared at Hwa-ran, scanning every inch of her body as he spoke. His expression was too serious for it to be just a cheap joke. Hwa-ran, on the other hand, couldn’t control her expression.

What kind of garbage is he saying? Did he not just hear what I said about my sister? I thought I made it pretty clear she was the worst of the worst. But he’d be interested if she looked like me… Does that mean what I think it means?

Hwa-ran narrowed her brow but answered obediently.

“…We look very different. Different mothers.”

It was a blessing or a curse that they had almost nothing in common, even down to their names, where only their last name matched. Chae-ah had short brown hair, while Hwa-ran had long black hair. If Chae-ah was a puppy, Hwa-ran was a fox. Chae-ah was short and petite, cute, but Hwa-ran was tall and sharp-looking, exuding an unapproachable aura.

While Chae-ah loved to play loudly outside, Hwa-ran preferred to quietly read books at home. While Chae-ah would fall for and then get over male actors every time she watched a new drama, Hwa-ran would rewatch one movie every day, losing herself in the eyes of a single protagonist.

Not just looks and personality, but food, movies, songs—every preference. Truly, there was nothing similar about them.

No. Or was there?

In the sense that they both prayed for each other’s unhappiness, enough to ask for favors behind each other’s backs, perhaps both had the same vile blood running thick in their veins.

Suddenly, Hwa-ran let out a hollow laugh. She had thought they were so different, and she had lived wanting to live a completely different life. But the thought that they might be very similar in the most important way filled her with a sense of emptiness. Especially with Mok-gyeong sitting in front of her right now.

But Mok-gyeong, whether he knew her inner thoughts or not, murmured, “Oh dear. Then there’s only one option left: little sis.”

“…What’s that?”

“The kind of woman who doesn’t fit in a bar like this, which makes her even more attractive.”

Mok-gyeong said without an ounce of hesitation. “A woman whose voice is proper but whose words are unexpectedly dirty, making her interesting. A woman who seems indifferent to the world, but whose insides are hotter than anyone’s.”

“…”

“And yet, she’s so proud and aloof that I want to force her into the same low-class mud and make her crawl on my waist. There’s only one ermine.”

“An ermine?”

At that moment, all the noise in the bar seemed to cut out. The animal “ermine” was so out of left field that Hwa-ran missed the chance to get angry at his vulgar and blatant words.

“So, you do it instead.”

“Do… what?”

“The confession, I mean.”

From the very beginning until this moment, Mok-gyeong had no interest in Chae-ah. He was only interested in the small, beautiful woman who had run away, scared of her name. Whether that interest would quickly fade and be tossed aside like a cigarette butt on the street, or whether Mok-gyeong himself would get lost and it would continue in a chaotic and evil way… that was something no one could guarantee.

“Then I’ll reject her, saying I have a girlfriend. To your beloved sister.” Mok-gyeong said it with the kindest, gentlest face imaginable. But Hwa-ran knew there was a devil beneath that facade, trying to enchant her.

“Why… why should I do that? I asked you for a favor, but I also told you about my sister’s plans. I was actually warning you!”

“Well, it doesn’t matter what your sister tries if I don’t fall for it. And since both the sister and little sis were kind enough to tell me the plan… thanks for that.”

“Ah.”

Only then did Hwa-ran realize her mistake. Who was calling whom stupid? They shared a common trait: casually revealing important and valuable plans.

Hwa-ran bit her lower lip and nervously swept her hair back. Her dry hair rustled through her fingers.

“Your bargaining is so righteous and clumsy. Cute.”

“…Damn it.”

“Even your cursing is cute.”

Mok-gyeong chuckled, enjoying Hwa-ran’s irritation. His eyes looked even more amused as he watched her hair sway.

“But I’m giving up a hole I could pound without a condom. I need to get something in return, right?”

“Ugh, seriously.”

“I absolutely have to get a new girlfriend today. Whether it’s a gold-digger… or a gold-digger’s little sister.”

This was a trap. A horribly sweet-smelling trap, just for Hwa-ran.