Chapter 20: Should I Carry You Around in My Pocket?

Lee Young returned home in Sa Hae’s car, then stomped all the way up to the second floor. She slammed her bedroom door shut behind her and disappeared inside.

She was making it painfully obvious with her entire body that she was sulking.

“She still has a long way to go.”

Sa Hae clicked his tongue softly and muttered.

His words were rough, but there was no hatred toward Lee Young in his voice.

Sa Hae knew perfectly well that the reason behind her irritation wasn’t anger at all.

She was hurt.

“Go inside and stay with her.”

Sa Hae tossed the words toward Tori, who was looking at him.

Tori stared at Sa Hae for a moment before climbing the stairs.

Sa Hae headed straight for the minibar out of habit, picked up a bottle of whiskey, and poured it into a clear glass, his expression displeased.

The reason he drank despite never actually getting drunk was simple.

He wanted to lie to himself that he was drunk.

Han Tae-yi?

At first, Sa Hae had simply disliked seeing Lee Young smile while looking at that innocent face.

‘What the hell is that brat doing, trying to enchant her?’

That had been his thought.

But after exchanging a few words with him, Sa Hae realized that the inside of that polished face was even more rotten than the face itself, which he had wanted to tear apart.

“Every damn thing is getting tangled up around her.”

Thinking that, Sa Hae knocked back the amber liquor in his glass and headed into his room.

Some time later, Sa Hae changed his clothes and came back out, then climbed the stairs to the second floor.

There was no hesitation in his steps.

He moved as though he were simply doing something that needed to be done.

Knock, knock.

“I’m coming in.”

“Don’t come in!”

After his knock, Lee Young’s unmistakably sulky voice came from behind the door.

Sa Hae didn’t care.

Since when had he ever cared about something like that?

“Don’t come in, I said!”

“Let’s sleep together.”

“…What?”

At Sa Hae’s single sentence, the fierce look in Lee Young’s eyes softened instantly.

She had been lying facedown on the bed, turning only her head to glare at him.

“Let’s sleep together.”

“…Huh?”

“Are you going to make me repeat myself?”

Watching Lee Young repeatedly answer in confusion, Sa Hae walked inside and sat down on the edge of the bed she was lying on.

“Tsk. If I’d known this would happen, I would’ve bought a bigger bed.”

“Y-you’re really going to sleep here?”

“Why? Is that not allowed?”

Sa Hae looked at Lee Young as though he couldn’t understand what the problem was, then lay down beside her.

The bed was nowhere near large enough for two people, but Sa Hae looked completely unconcerned.

Lee Young rolled her large eyes as she stared at the man lying beside her, seemingly forgetting that she had been upset with him only moments ago.

The sudden fluttering in her heart was probably an automatic and perfectly natural response, she decided.

Lee Young straightened herself and stared at the ceiling.

At some point, Tori had apparently come in and curled up on her stomach.

Lee Young absentmindedly stroked Tori’s fur, as though trying to brush away the uneasiness filling her.

“Um, Mister.”

“What?”

“Nothing…”

Lee Young couldn’t bring herself to turn her head and look at Sa Hae.

If she did, she knew she wouldn’t be able to look away.

Thoughts of Tae-yi and the hurt she had felt because of Sa Hae disappeared in an instant.

The simple fact that Sa Hae was lying beside her was enough to make her heart pound.

Her mind was completely occupied by one worry.

‘What if he can hear how loudly my heart is beating?’

“You gave him your number earlier.”

“Mr. Han Tae-yi?”

“Yeah. That bastard.”

“Yes, I did.”

At Lee Young’s answer, Sa Hae abruptly sat up and looked down at her.

Then he reached over and picked up Lee Young’s phone from the small bedside table.

“Why?”

“…”

“What is it? Huh?”

Instead of answering, Sa Hae stared at Lee Young’s phone.

And after some time had passed like that, the phone suddenly began ringing loudly.

Sa Hae calmly looked at the screen, then raised his index finger to his lips.

The gesture told her to be quiet.

Lee Young nodded and covered her mouth with both hands.

“Hello?”

Sa Hae answered the call and switched it to speakerphone.

The voice that immediately came through the phone was Tae-yi’s.

“Ms. Lee Young? You answered, right?”

It wasn’t the bright voice she had heard at the bookstore.

His voice was damp with emotion, carrying a strangely vulnerable quality that tugged at one’s maternal instincts.

“Tell me you answered… Please? I want to hear your voice, Ms. Lee Young…”

Completely unexpected words spilled from the other end of the phone.

As he listened, Sa Hae’s expression gradually turned cold.

Beside him, Lee Young looked at him in confusion, her face clearly asking what on earth was happening.

“Can we meet right now? Please? I need you, Ms. Lee Young…”

The moment Tae-yi finished speaking, Sa Hae hung up.

“Crazy bastard.”

“What—what is this? Why is he acting like that?”

As Lee Young asked, Sa Hae watched the phone begin ringing again.

He flipped it facedown on the bedside table.

After ringing for a while, the call finally stopped.

Sa Hae glanced at Tori for a moment before looking back at Lee Young.

“Stay away from that bastard.”

“Why is he acting like that?”

“Because he needs you.”

“Why would he need me?”

At Lee Young’s question, Sa Hae remembered Tae-yi’s face from the bookstore.

Behind Tae-yi, whose eyes could see ghosts, swarms of young spirits had been clustered together.

Every one of them had been baring its jaws as though it were about to devour Tae-yi.

That was also why Sa Hae had kept hold of Lee Young’s wrist at the bookstore.

If he hadn’t been holding her, Tae-yi would have tried everything he could to make physical contact with Lee Young and transfer the spirits clinging to him onto her.

“That bastard. We need to find his dokkaebi.”

“…We should find it. He was practically begging us to earlier…”

“No. I don’t mean find it so we can give it back to him.”

“Then?”

Sa Hae spoke in a low voice.

That pretty, coy-eyed dokkaebi named Okbanji didn’t belong to that bastard.

“Find her and send her back to where she originally lived.”

“Oh?”

“That’s the right thing to do.”

Sa Hae could see what kind of human Tae-yi was.

Even without supernatural powers, if you put the things you could see together like pieces of a puzzle, an answer would eventually emerge, even if it was blurry.

He didn’t need to hear the entire story to figure it out.

Tae-yi’s Banji, the Okbanji dokkaebi, was almost certainly not staying beside him because she wanted to.

She hadn’t stayed with him.

She had been bound to him and escaped.

Or perhaps she was hiding somewhere, pretending to have disappeared.

“That bastard is going to keep contacting you.”

“…”

“He’ll come to the bookstore when I’m not around. He’ll do whatever he can to get his hands on you.”

“Why?”

“Because as long as you’re beside him, he won’t be able to see the ghosts he sees.”

At Sa Hae’s words, Lee Young frowned.

It was difficult to understand, but one thing was clear.

Right now, the only person Lee Young could trust was Sa Hae.

“Th-then what should I do?”

“Stay with Samjokgu as much as possible. And if anything urgent happens, come to me first.”

After saying that, Sa Hae let out a deep sigh, ran a hand through his hair, and stared intently at Lee Young.

Even that didn’t make him feel reassured.

If he could have his way, he wanted to keep Lee Young beside him twenty-four hours a day.

But that wouldn’t solve the problem.

‘Now all sorts of idiots are getting tangled up with her.’

He had known this could happen.

But he hadn’t expected people like this to start appearing around her so soon, and the thought made his chest feel tight.

“Cheon Lee Young.”

“Yes?”

‘What am I supposed to do with you?’

Sa Hae stared at her, thinking that.

“Should I carry you around in my pocket?”

“…Me?”

“Yeah. You.”

If he could grab the Jade Rabbit, wring him out like a rat, and get medicine that could shrink Lee Young down to the size of a finger, Sa Hae wanted to go find him immediately and demand it.

If he could carry her around in his pocket, useless bastards like that wouldn’t be able to get near her.

And perhaps his own mind would be a little more at ease.

“Give me your hand.”

“My hand?”

Sa Hae held out his large hand as though asking for hers.

Lee Young, almost as though hypnotized, placed her small hand in his.

The blue veins standing out beneath her skin caught Sa Hae’s eye.

“What did you do as a child that you didn’t even eat properly?”

“I ate pretty well.”

“This is what a well-fed kid’s wrist looks like?”

His voice was gruff, but Lee Young could faintly sense the concern hidden beneath it.

His words were blunt, but he was worried that she was too thin.

“What are you going to do with a wrist like this?”

“Why are you picking a fight with me?!”

Before Lee Young could finish speaking, Sa Hae’s lips touched the inside of her left wrist.

Lee Young instantly froze as though she had been doused with ice water.

Ignoring her reaction, Sa Hae lingered against the delicate inside of her wrist, where he could feel the bone beneath her thin skin.

“W-what are you—”

Instead of answering, Sa Hae gently pressed his teeth against the soft skin on the inside of her wrist.

“Ah…”

‘Could you not make sounds like that?’

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