BRF Chapter 10

Under the twilight of the city, his dark eyes gleamed captivatingly, illuminated by the bright lights spilling from the bus stop advertisement.

“Oh…”

Flustered, Eunseong took a step back. The man reached out and gently tugged on her elbow, preventing her from colliding with someone rushing towards the bus stop.

“Do you work around here?”

He didn’t look like a typical office worker worn down by a long day. A clean scent of soap emanated from him, as if he had just showered.

“I was just passing by, and I happened to run into a certain woman who’s been ignoring my calls.”

The man spoke casually, as if it were nothing. Perhaps because he seemed so at ease, Eunseong felt her lips drying with a strange tension. She hadn’t been ignoring his calls.

“What a coincidence.”

Her calm question, laced with disbelief, belied the involuntary flick of her tongue across her suddenly dry lips.

The man’s gaze lingered on her moistened lips. His eyes, tinged with a deep violet, were both hot and cold.

“You sound like you’re saying it’s not a coincidence.”

A smile spread from his lips to his eyes, softening his sharp features. Even a faint smile warmed his expression remarkably.

Eunseong stared up at him, momentarily mesmerized. Her lips moved as if of their own accord.

“And if it isn’t?”

“I think you know the opposite of coincidence, Reporter.”

The man quipped, his handsome face nonchalant. His relaxed and playful demeanor subtly stoked Eunseong’s competitive spirit.

It felt like she was engaged in a word game with a stranger on the street, someone she hadn’t even exchanged names with.

“The opposite of coincidence is inevitability.”

Eunseong answered confidently, without a shred of doubt. But having said that, she had essentially agreed that their meeting wasn’t a coincidence, but inevitable.

Though she felt like she had fallen for his rhetorical trap, Eunseong lifted her chin slightly, telling herself she had simply stated a word.

One corner of the man’s well-defined, red lips curled upwards. A deep, lopsided smile spread across his face as he murmured,

“How unoriginal.”

The fact that the opposite of coincidence was inevitability was even in the dictionary.

“If you find the opposite of coincidence being inevitability unoriginal, do you have something more creative?”

Eunseong, provoked by the younger man’s informal speech, dropped the honorifics. The man frowned slightly, gazing at the distant road. The city lights subtly reflected on his playful face, as if he had thought of something amusing.

His gaze, which had been fixed in the distance, shifted back to Eunseong, piercing her with his stare.

“It was intentional.”

Eunseong couldn’t close her slightly parted lips. The man’s gaze was as forceful as a truck running a red light, about to crash into her.

“Excuse me?”

Though she had heard him perfectly well, she asked again, dumbfounded.

“I intentionally passed by here, intentionally ran into the woman who’s been avoiding my calls, and intentionally pretended it was a coincidence.”

“Let me correct you. I never intentionally avoided your calls.”

“There haven’t been any special reports in the past week, have there?”

“Even without breaking news, being a reporter is a busy job. I apologize for not contacting you.”

The man who had claimed to be curious about Kang Eunseong had called and messaged her multiple times.

“May I report a case of social injustice?”

Eunseong nodded slightly.

“The world has become so cold. I lament the state of Korean society, which used to be so full of warmth.”

The man sighed dramatically, as if disappointed.

“I saved someone at a cafe last week. That should warrant a dinner invitation, but instead of repaying the favor, she ignores my calls.”

Eunseong had become the ungrateful person who had forgotten kindness.

“Well, that’s…”

A sigh escaped her lips.

“I saw your missed calls in the middle of the night. I meant to reply to your messages after finishing my assignments, but then another incident happened… and if I contacted you after the news, it would have been too late…”

Explaining herself, she felt a bit wronged. And she thought she understood why she had never dated. For Eunseong, who prioritized her work above all else, contacting a man naturally fell to the bottom of her to-do list.

“I apologize. I didn’t mean to ignore you. I didn’t expect you to actually come looking for me.”

She wanted to tell him that coming to find her was a bit much, but she held her tongue.

“Buy me dinner tonight.”

“I can’t tonight.”

“Do you have plans?”

Eunseong had a dinner appointment with Director Cheon Sarang.

“Oh, I see you have time for dinner appointments, despite being so busy. Did that person save your life twice?”

Eunseong was speechless. The timing of Cheon Sarang’s call had simply been fortunate.

“I apologize.”

She had no excuses.

“If you’re sorry, buy me dinner.”

“I told you I have a prior engagement. Let’s do it another time. When are you free?”

He stared down at her, his expression unreadable. No matter how awkward she felt about meeting Cheon Sarang, her prior engagement took precedence.

“Then I’ll have to report it to a competing broadcasting station. That I was the one who saved Reporter Kang Eunseong… that the news conveniently omitted my story and portrayed Kang Eunseong as a righteous hero.”

Eunseong’s eyes widened.

“You were the one who asked not to be mentioned on the news! I wrote in the newspaper that I was helped by a citizen!”

“That was my intention…. Do you have proof?”

“Probably. If I find the recording of my conversation with your lawyer, it’ll be there.”

Recording all her calls was a habit for a reporter.

“Did you get my lawyer’s consent to record that conversation?”

The man retorted without missing a beat. Eunseong stared up at his dark, shimmering eyes, then called Cheon Sarang. She hadn’t intended to, but she could feel her gaze sharpening as she looked up at him.

“Hey Sarang, it’s Eunseong. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can make it to dinner tonight. Yes, something came up…. I’m sorry, let’s reschedule.”

Sarang, ever gracious, was understanding, citing the unpredictable nature of a reporter’s job.

“Now, shall we go to dinner?”

The man asked in a smooth voice that hinted at the rich aroma of coffee. Her heart pounded in her chest, as if she had overdosed on caffeine to stay awake.

“I have a reservation at a special place just for tonight.”

The man turned and started walking. Feeling as though she was being pulled along, Eunseong followed him.

“Where are we going?”

“It’s too far to walk. Let’s take my car.”

Working as a social affairs reporter and encountering all sorts of incidents and accidents had made her suspicious. This man was very suspicious. Eunseong stared at his broad back without saying a word.

“I won’t bite.”

Just as the man murmured with a chuckle, glancing back at her, her phone rang loudly. It was the rookie reporter from the Gangnam police beat who had given her a situation report about an hour ago.

Something must have happened.

“Yes, what is it?”

– Reporter, have you left work yet?

“No, not yet. Why?”

– I’m not sure if this is newsworthy…

The rookie reporter, still lacking in judgment, seemed flustered by Eunseong’s direct question.

– There’s a man and a woman at the station who came in because of a stalking issue. The detective in charge seems to think it’s a lovers’ quarrel. But I have a feeling…

“What kind of feeling?”

The rookie reporter continued his rambling report, seemingly struggling to articulate the situation.

– The woman reported stalking, but the man is injured. It looks like the woman caused the injury, but the man denies it. The woman initially claimed it was stalking, but then she suddenly changed her story. She said it wasn’t stalking.

This usually meant the situation was almost resolved.

– But I think it was stalking.

“I’ll be right there. Wait for me.”

She sensed an unsettling feeling from the incomplete report. And she felt the same unsettling feeling from the man standing before her, who was now staring at her intently.

“Where are you going?”

“I think I need to go to the police station.”

He looked up at the dark sky and sighed.

“I’m sorry, but I think we’ll have to postpone dinner.”

“Was being a detective your childhood dream, Reporter Kang Eunseong?”

He frowned, clearly annoyed.

“Me? No.”

Eunseong shook her head in denial.

“Then why do you stumble upon incidents everywhere you go?”

That’s a social affairs reporter’s calling. Eunseong grumbled internally.

“If incidents conveniently occurred everywhere I went like in detective novels, I could get a scoop every day.”

The thought alone made her heart race. A busy Kang Eunseong, chasing scoops, was a very desirable image.

The man looked down at her as if she were a psychopath.

“Let’s go. I’ll drive you to the police station.”

And he was offering to drive her to the police station.

“I’m fine. I’ll call a taxi.”

She declined firmly, but the taxi-hailing app was overwhelmed due to rush hour. Three minutes away, seven minutes away, eleven minutes away… Finally, a message popped up saying the request had failed.

He hadn’t moved, still staring down at her.

“Don’t you need to go to the police station right now? If you’re late, another reporter will steal your story. Can you really afford to wait for a taxi?”

When a potential story was on the line, she would even hitch a ride with her enemy. Eunseong finally nodded and followed the man.

His car was parked in a nearby public parking lot. She froze when she saw it. A bright red two-seater supercar with a naturally aspirated V12 engine and doors that opened upwards. It was flashy in appearance and undoubtedly loud in sound.

The thought of going to the police station in that car made her despair. It was the kind of car that attracted attention just by standing still.

A social affairs reporter and a supercar were an incongruous combination.

“Get in.”

He opened the passenger door and said dryly. Eunseong’s mind was in a whirl.