Chapter 42: An Offer Too Good to Refuse

“Hey, wake up.”

“…”

“I said, wake up!”

When Tae-young didn’t even pretend to hear him, Yeon-ho yanked the blanket he was wrapped in. Yet, he couldn’t completely snatch it away.

Tae-young stubbornly clung to the edge of the blanket, refusing to let go.

“What are you doing? Can’t you see I’m sleeping?”

Tae-young growled, no longer able to feign sleep. His face was swollen from slumber, yet he was still enviably handsome.

Since his colored lens seemed to have come out, one of his eyes was amber.

“Your lens fell out.”

“Lens? No wonder my eye felt so damn gritty.”

Tae-young appeared unaware that he had slept with his lens in. He blinked both eyes alternately before pulling out the remaining lens and tossing it into the trash can.

“You throw trash like… No, never mind.”

Was there anything more foolish than expecting common sense or manners from Han Tae-young?

Yeon-ho began preparing for work, his only wish for Tae-young to leave quickly. Though he had to rush to work and couldn’t wash his hair, he couldn’t skip brushing his teeth and washing his face.

Standing before the worn-out sink, Yeon-ho lathered soap and vigorously scrubbed his face. During his idol days, he’d used cleansing oil and cleansing water, but now, a single bar of soap handled almost everything.

In truth, his current circumstances meant he should wash his hair with soap too. Instead, Yeon-ho used shampoo—not supermarket shampoo, but a brand favored by hair salons.

These products weren’t bought with his own money; they were gifts from Eun-hee, a hair salon designer.

Yeon-ho, wiping his wet bangs as he exited the bathroom, suddenly widened his eyes. Tae-young, whom he’d assumed would have left the house while he was showering, was still sprawled on the floor.

What’s more, he had even stolen Yeon-ho’s pillow to rest his head on.

“Aren’t you going to leave? If you’re awake, hurry up and get out of my house. Why are you still lying around?”

Stunned by Tae-young’s brazenness, Yeon-ho picked up Tae-young’s clothes and threw them onto his body. The garments reeked of barbecue, an offensive smell, but Yeon-ho couldn’t care less.

“Damn it, what’s that smell?!”

Tae-young, having caught the scent, roughly shoved the clothes away as if he’d been attacked. Yeon-ho picked them up again and threw them at Tae-young’s face.

“Ah, shit! What the hell are you doing?”

“I have to go to work, so put on your clothes and get out. You’re not a stubborn child, so how many times do I have to tell you to leave before you understand?”

“Did you wake me up for such a trivial reason?”

Tae-young glared at Yeon-ho, his eyes fierce as a malevolent spirit. A moment ago, his irritation had been like a child’s tantrum, but now, he seemed poised to throw a punch.

“Trivial? Do you think other people’s livelihoods are insignificant and laughable? Well, that’s because…”

“Don’t jump to conclusions about things I didn’t say. I haven’t uttered a single word about your profession.”

Tae-young quickly changed his stance. Although he was ill-mannered, he seemed to realize he had almost crossed a line.

“What I was going to say is, what does it matter if I’m sleeping or not when you go to work?”

“Of course it matters. This is my house.”

“Don’t lie. This isn’t an inn; it’s your house?”

Tae-young scanned the room, then looked up at Yeon-ho with a skeptical expression. Yeon-ho found Tae-young’s words rude, yet he felt no inclination to get angry.

It was true that his rooftop room was so shabby it wouldn’t be strange to mistake it for an inn.

“No, it’s not.”

Instead of offering a lengthy explanation, Yeon-ho pulled socks from a drawer and put them on. Tae-young watched Yeon-ho quietly as he sat on the floor, then slowly closed his eyes.

Yeon-ho was flabbergasted, wondering if he was being toyed with.

“Han Tae-young!”

“Don’t shout. My head already aches from a hangover, and you’re making it throb even more.”

Tae-young had no intention of getting up, continuing to babble with his eyes closed.

“I get that this is your house and that you have to go to work, but I don’t think you have any reason to wake me up.”

Yeon-ho unconsciously clicked his tongue at Tae-young’s audacity to continue lounging in a house that wasn’t his.

“Who’s going to lock the door when I leave? Don’t even talk about a digital lock. We don’t have one here.”

Tae-young slyly opened his eyes and uttered another statement designed to provoke him.

“You don’t need to lock the door. There doesn’t seem to be anything worth stealing in this shack anyway.”

“Then why don’t you leave this house? Do you like it that much here? If an inn is your style, why don’t you just go to a real inn?”

“I can’t. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to fall asleep there.”

This made no sense to Yeon-ho. If you’re sleepy, you sleep—why worry about whether you *can* sleep?

“I have to sleep as much as possible when I’m drowsy. I don’t know when I’ll be able to fall asleep again because of my insomnia.”

Yeon-ho was considerably taken aback by Tae-young’s confession of suffering from insomnia.

He wondered why Tae-young would reveal such a vulnerability when their relationship was practically adversarial. Was he perhaps making up a lie because he was too lazy to leave?

However, Yeon-ho didn’t believe Tae-young was fabricating it. He remembered Park Se-yeon screaming that Tae-young couldn’t sleep without medicine or a woman, back on the day they fought over a woman.

At the time, he had dismissed it, preoccupied with their lovers’ quarrel, but in retrospect, it was a rather serious matter.

‘How long has he suffered from insomnia? Has it been a long time?’

It wasn’t uncommon for celebrities to suffer from sleep disorders or depression. Yet, it was surprising that someone like Tae-young, who lived life exactly as he pleased, also experienced a sleep disorder. How could someone with such an unrefined personality develop a sleep disorder?

‘No. I’m not curious.’

Yeon-ho quickly banished the thought from his mind. It wouldn’t have mattered if he were merely curious, but the idea of letting Tae-young stay and sleep had also crept in.

Privileged people didn’t just easily gain favors; they also easily garnered sympathy. If one wasn’t vigilant, they would soon find themselves desperate to do good for such an individual.

However, Yeon-ho had no desire whatsoever to be a beggar showing consideration for a prince beyond his station. Last night, he had fulfilled his moral obligation by not abandoning Tae-young on the street.

Just as Yeon-ho steeled his resolve to drag Tae-young out, Tae-young abruptly asked, “You don’t want me in your house while you’re gone, do you?”

“Exactly. You get it.”

“Then why don’t you just not go to work?”

‘What is this crazy bastard talking about?’

Just as a curse word was about to escape Yeon-ho’s lips, Tae-young added, “How much do you make in a day?”

Yeon-ho scoffed, seeing right through Tae-young’s intentions.

He was probably trying to persuade him to take the day off by offering him his daily wage, or perhaps half of it.

However, Yeon-ho had no intention of skipping work, even if Tae-young offered to cover his full daily earnings. While resting for an extra day for money might be physically comfortable, it wouldn’t be beneficial in the long run.

It was obvious that the agency would endlessly complain about him taking two consecutive days off.

“Eighty.”

Yeon-ho quoted not his actual income, but the earnings of a legendary rider often discussed at the agency. In truth, even that rider hadn’t earned that much every day; it was a figure reached only once during the peak busy season at the end of the year.

Yeon-ho had never achieved such earnings himself.

Nevertheless, Yeon-ho quoted 80, not to make a quick buck, but simply to shut Tae-young up.

To a successful top actor like Tae-young, 800,000 won might be mere pocket change. The cost of the T-shirt Tae-young was wearing alone far exceeded that amount.

However, even the wealthy dislike spending their hard-earned money. Just as they might splurge on self-satisfaction and ostentation but be stingy when it comes to paying taxes.

Would Tae-young commit the insane act of spending 800,000 won on a rooftop room with no bed, much less a five-star hotel stay? Yeon-ho thought there was no way.

“Eighty, huh.”

Tae-young tapped the back of his hand with his finger. It was clear he was internally flustered but feigning deliberation over whether to accept Yeon-ho’s deal, all for the sake of his pride.

“Don’t even think about haggling. I won’t compromise, ever.”

“I wasn’t thinking of haggling.”

“Oh, really?”

“I’ll give you double your daily wage.”

Tae-young stopped tapping his hand and spoke.

Yeon-ho, mid-shirt change, looked down at Tae-young, wondering if he had misheard. ‘He can’t possibly be serious about giving me double, can he? That would be 1.6 million…’

Even if Tae-young lacked common sense, he couldn’t be so ignorant of the world that he wouldn’t realize 800,000 won was an absurd amount. That left only one conclusion: Tae-young was trying to trick him by quoting double.

Yeon-ho could vividly imagine Tae-young laughing heartily, asking, “Look how excited you are! You didn’t actually believe that, did you?” if he were to ask if he’d really give him double.

“Why the long face? Is double not enough?”

Yeon-ho didn’t answer immediately, instead pulling pants from the hanger. He could maintain an indifferent attitude because he didn’t believe Tae-young would actually pay.

“No.”

“Right, 1.6 million doesn’t quite round out, so it feels a bit off. How about we round it up to a clean 2 million? How’s that, does that satisfy you?”

Yeon-ho spun around as if someone had yanked his ear.

“This is my final offer, so think carefully. It’s not that I can’t give more, but I’d feel like I was being fleeced, and that would sour my mood.”

Tae-young’s amber eyes held a serious glint. Conversely, Yeon-ho’s eyes, as he looked down at him, clearly betrayed his internal turmoil.

‘Is he serious? Is he really going to give me 2 million?’

His heart pounded so fast it made his head throb. 2 million won was far more than Yeon-ho earned in a week.

For the first time, he felt he could understand the mindset of those who ventured into gambling. It was a bait so alluring, he couldn’t possibly resist taking it, even if his mind knew it was a trap.