Chapter 12: The Blind Date That Asked For An Affair

At those words, Jin-yeop let out an involuntary hollow laugh.

Age is just a number, the heart is what matters—was that what he was trying to say?

It was nonsense.

“I don’t mean to criticize your choice of a matchmaking agency itself, but honestly, I’m questioning why you made this choice in the first place.”

“That is…”

As if swallowing his words, Eun-ru narrowed his brow and just rolled his eyes.

‘Ah, he’s cute.’

Jin-yeop unconsciously muttered that to himself before suddenly snapping back to his senses.

“It’s laughable, but to put it bluntly, I’m a soon-to-be divorcee.

I’m someone who requested a match even though I’m still legally married… a kind of crazy person.”

As he conveyed his situation as objectively as possible, Eun-ru frowned and spoke.

“You must have your reasons.”

“Yes, I do.

Reasons.”

“…..”

“Not that it’s the kind of situation Lee Eun-ru-ssi would understand.”

“Couldn’t I be of help?”

“I’m not shameless enough to brand a young person as an adulterer just because I think they might be helpful.”

Jin-yeop put his coffee cup down with a clink and added expressionlessly.

“Meeting me right now would be an affair.

Someone older would probably have realized that immediately.”

“…..”

“The person I need is someone who wants something objective from me badly enough that they wouldn’t care about being labeled like that.

In short.”

Jin-yeop took a deep breath in and out.

“I need someone to use each other for our own mutual benefit.

Not some destined partner.”

Destiny—was there a more wretched word than that?

Where in the world was destiny?

Things just happened, and people called it destiny.

He too had once considered his meeting with Jung-hoon as destiny.

A handsome man acting like he’d die for him, and he was the crazy bastard who desperately wanted to explain it with the word destiny.

“I don’t know what Lee Eun-ru-ssi is in such a hurry for… but as someone who’s already failed once, let me give you some advice: you don’t need to cling to a partner that badly.

Not yet, anyway.”

“…..”

“Ah, well.

Unless you need money, that’s different.”

Jin-yeop chose to dismiss Eun-ru as a way to shake him off.

A method to easily push someone away while hurting them.

Forcibly ignoring the wave of guilt, Jin-yeop grabbed the document and rose from his seat.

Before the regression and even now, Jin-yeop’s mind was filled with only Kang Jung-hoon.

The obsession to be loved and the desire for revenge were just two sides of the same coin.

Either way, it was better to adapt to what he couldn’t escape.

There was no need to invite someone with their whole future ahead of them into this quagmire.

It was enough for him alone to go to hell.

“I think you’ve understood enough, so I’ll take my leave.

If you need quick cash, contact me through the planner.

I’ll introduce you to an agency.

Even without going this far, Lee Eun-ru-ssi is someone whose value is whatever you name right now.

An agency deposit would be more than enough to put out any immediate fire.”

The body that had been lightened by the guiding felt heavy again, like waterlogged cotton.

Being harsh to someone still didn’t suit his nature.

The wrongdoers were Jung-hoon and the Tifone manager who conspired with him, yet he’d ended up lashing out at an innocent person.

He took a cold step forward, but seeing Eun-ru’s crushed expression made him feel not just complicated but dirty.

With mental fatigue accumulating, exhaustion washed over him instantly.

He needed to go home and sleep.

As he passed by Eun-ru, a sudden sharp, loud noise made him turn his head.

There was the overturned chair, knocked over when Eun-ru had shot up from his seat, and Eun-ru with a somewhat flushed expression.

‘This is going to be an earful.’

Eun-ru’s gaze seemed to hold a kind of anger, and Jin-yeop turned toward him resignedly.

He looked ready to unleash a stream of insults, and listening to them was the least he could do.

But Eun-ru strode over, looked down at him, and the words that came out completely defied Jin-yeop’s expectations.

“Do it.

The affair.”

“What?”

“I want to have an affair.

Use me however you want.”

“…..”

“Except for my age, everything matches, right?

A-class or above, high match rate.

And I want to ask you one thing.”

“…..”

“Do, do you dislike my face that much?”

***

Eun-ru remained at the cafe after Jin-yeop left.

With a somewhat playful expression, he recalled the corner of Jin-yeop’s mouth twitching as he barely suppressed a laugh at his question.

Eun-ru, now sitting slanted on the sofa with his legs crossed and chin propped on one hand, looked like a completely different person from before.

After a long silence following Eun-ru’s question, Jin-yeop had instantly hidden his facial agitation and put on a deliberately relaxed expression as he spoke.

[An affair with a kid who’s probably never even properly dated… sounds boring.]

Jin-yeop’s whispering voice still lingered in his ears.

Anyone else might have been offended, but Eun-ru, thinking of Jin-yeop, seemed somehow pleased.

Rather, like Jin-yeop’s expression of barely suppressed laughter at his sudden question about disliking his face, Eun-ru too was barely hiding a smile at the corners of his mouth.

“I guess he likes someone a bit innocent.”

Eun-ru muttered to himself and eventually burst out laughing.

What kind of appearance would best stir his heart?

Throughout the entire ride to meet Jin-yeop, that was all Eun-ru could think about.

He’d requested the most docile person, yet said he needed someone to use each other.

That was somewhat contradictory.

So he’d tried acting a bit sly, and also being recklessly forward.

Jin-yeop hadn’t reacted much to either approach, but whenever he looked visibly troubled or made a sullen expression, there was an immediate response.

If that was the case, there was no problem.

He didn’t even need to act.

From the beginning, if Jin-yeop wanted, Eun-ru could pretend to die—no, he could actually die.

“Disliking my face is a bit unexpected though.”

It was clearly a lie.

The fact that Cha Jin-yeop liked Lee Eun-ru’s face was actually proven.

He’d always been a sucker for anything handsome and cute.

“He seems to have gotten much tougher… but he’s still got a long way to go.”

A person who was excessively kind.

No matter what Cha Jin-yeop said to him, Eun-ru could feel that none of it was truly sincere.

At that moment, an unforgettable memory involuntarily surfaced, chaotically filling his mind, and he swallowed a bitter laugh.

Just as he picked up the completely cold coffee and took a sip, the planner and director, who had long since left the scene, approached Eun-ru and asked cautiously.

“What should we do about future matchings for Esper Cha Jin-yeop?”

They suddenly asked about that, but Eun-ru showed no sign of surprise and turned his head.

“Ah, that.”

“…..”

“Do as he wants.

He won’t find anyone he likes anyway.”

Eun-ru said this and laughed.

He wanted to ask Jin-yeop: if the conditions were right, could he really not care about things like faces?

In his opinion, Cha Jin-yeop wasn’t that kind of person.

If he were, there’d be no reason for Jin-yeop to have fallen for a complete bastard like Kang Jung-hoon.

“Th-then, regarding our acquisition…”

The director, watching Eun-ru hum a tune, opened his mouth with difficulty.

The director and planner looked somehow uneasy, but forced smiles.

As if they had some huge weakness.

“We’ll do the acquisition, of course.

A grand wedding suited for him—I’ll prepare it with my own hands.”

At Eun-ru’s refreshing answer, the director breathed a sigh of relief.

But at Eun-ru’s subsequent icy gaze, he bit his lip tightly.

“Since it’s all business paid for with money, I’m not trying to scold you two, but I think it’s better to say what needs to be said.”

“Yes, yes?

What…”

“Wasn’t it a bit shameless?”

“…..”

“Gaee was the one who first rejected the conditions I presented, and now you’re talking about acquisition.”

The coffee’s no good.

Eun-ru put down his cup and stood up.

“Back when everyone and their mother was jumping at the chance to acquire, you ignored people like me, and afterward, for a few measly coins, you drove someone’s life to this state.”

“…..”

“Now that the acquisition fell through in just one year, and you’re about to get sued by an A-class Esper, you’re clinging desperately, unable to tell up from down.”

“…..”

“Ah, I’m not saying this to you two.

What power do mere employees have?

Just pass on what I said to your superiors.”

“Yes, yes.

We’ll do that.”

The director swallowed hard and nodded.

Was this how small animals felt before a predator?

His legs felt weak, and he couldn’t easily lift his head to face him.

He almost doubted whether this person was really a Guide, not an Esper.

His body trembled from the pressure, making it hard to speak properly.

Yet the face of the person radiating such energy was utterly innocent.

“Still, thanks to you, I have a better idea of what to do.

Seems like he likes cute people.”

Good work.

Eun-ru acted quite politely and left the cafe first.

Only after he was gone did the director and planner relax and slump into their chairs.

“Is the new CEO really a Guide?”

Before answering the planner’s muttered question in a drained voice, the director raised his hand and ordered cold water from the staff.

When the water, filled with ice cubes, arrived, the director and planner, as if competing, grabbed their cups and gulped it down.

Only after calming their overheated insides from the tension did the director heave a deep sigh and answer.

“He’s a Guide.

It must seem that way because he’s S-class.”