After breakfast, a ridiculous new rule was announced: every morning and evening meal would be shared together as a family.
And somehow, that “family” included Baek Ihae—the supposed fiancée-to-be.
‘The food is great, but eating between those people feels like I’d get indigestion.’
She would have much preferred having meals brought to her room so she could eat in peace.
With that declaration, Seo Ihum turned and walked away without another word. Of the three left behind, Seo Yeol was the first to speak.
The way he whipped around to glare at her looked exactly like a feral cat baring its claws.
“I hate people like you the most!”
After throwing out only what he wanted to say, he stormed upstairs. Ihae watched his retreating figure with distant eyes.
‘Should’ve told him I hated him too. Too late now. I’ll let it slide since he looked kind of pitiful earlier.’
Sighing, she headed toward the elevator—only for a hand to suddenly grab the back of her uniform collar.
“Ghk—!”
The rough yank nearly choked her.
“What the hell was that?!”
“Wait.”
“Use your words before your hands! Why even have a mouth if you’re gonna act first?”
Did he think she was some stray mutt?
Grumbling, she rubbed her sore neck. Even then, Seo Dogyeom didn’t look remotely apologetic.
He simply stared blankly at her.
Ihae snapped irritably, “Why did you call me?”
“You’re poor.”
“…Seriously? Is he turning into his little brother now?”
Her face began twisting into a scowl when Dogyeom continued calmly.
“Let’s go buy clothes. Father gave me a card. Said to get you shoes and whatever else you need.”
“What’s the spending limit?”
“None.”
The firm answer instantly brightened her expression more than anything else had.
“Let’s go!”
“……”
“What are you standing there for? You said we’re going.”
Thinking that a family this rich probably wouldn’t care how much she spent, she happily hummed to herself—but Dogyeom remained standing still.
Was he telling her to go alone?
Just as she walked back toward him to take the card—
“Don’t smile.”
[Baby Gangster, Seo Dogyeom, is calming his nauseous stomach.]
‘Should I punch this bastard and run?’
What kind of reaction was that to someone smiling? Without the status window, she might’ve mistaken it for him falling for her smile!
Card or pride.
Baek Ihae clenched her fists tightly before forcing the smile off her face.
“Okay then, Dogyeom. May I leave now?”
Her expression had gone stiff, though her voice remained excessively cheerful.
“……”
Dogyeom silently nodded.
[Baby Gangster, Seo Dogyeom’s stomach has settled. Condition restored to normal.]
Damn him.
Grinding her teeth, Ihae swore never to smile at him again.
Her anger disappeared almost immediately after Dogyeom brought her to a department store.
She’d been nervous the whole ride there, especially since they even brought a chauffeur along—but apparently all they were doing was shopping for clothes.
Any brand. Anything she wanted.
‘As a joke, I pointed at a bag worth tens of thousands of dollars, and he immediately headed for the register. That nearly gave me a heart attack.’
Realizing he truly meant it, Ihae instead bought several outfits within what she considered a “reasonable” price range.
Shoes, bags, stationery—she bought everything she wanted without restraint while Dogyeom quietly followed beside her the entire time.
“You’re kind of unexpected.”
“What is?”
“You don’t seem interested in shopping. I thought you’d get bored fast and tell me to hurry up. Or at least wait somewhere else until I finished.”
The chauffeur was carrying all the bags anyway, so there was no real reason for Dogyeom to stay with her.
“I’m not interested.”
Unlike her colorful outfit, he wore a plain black T-shirt and black slacks.
For a high school student, his absurdly long limbs alone attracted attention. Or maybe it was the strange atmosphere around him.
“But you are.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“Just because I’m not interested doesn’t mean I can force you not to be.”
Baek Ihae blinked slowly.
There was no trace of deceit in the black eyes peeking through his hair.
‘W-What was that? Why is he suddenly flirting?!’
Her heart skipped for the briefest moment.
Afraid he might notice her reddening face, she quickly turned away.
“Then do whatever you want!”
“Sure. You’re a guest Father asked me to take care of.”
A guest. Right, of course.
Letting out a long sigh, Ihae told herself she’d imagined things again. But the lingering flutter in her chest refused to disappear completely.
A day passed like that.
Nothing particularly special happened, and breakfast was still eaten together with the taciturn Seo family. The innocent food remained delicious, at least.
From what she’d observed so far:
Seo Dogyeom was impossible to read.
Seo Ihum seemed considerate on the surface but clearly wasn’t emotionally invested.
And Seo Yeol growled at her every time they crossed paths.
Even so, Seo Ihum constantly reminded them that she was a “guest” and warned them not to mistreat her.
Which meant she had no choice but to walk to school side-by-side with Dogyeom every day.
It was torture. They barely even talked.
‘Is it because I’m sitting next to this guy? Nobody comes near me!’
Even in class, the other students only stole glances their way without speaking.
At this point, she was genuinely worried cobwebs might start growing in her mouth from lack of conversation.
The boring lesson dragged on.
She had technically learned this material in her previous life too, but none of it had stayed in her head.
Half-listening, she absentmindedly scribbled on the edge of her notebook.
‘The game revolved around the heroine, so there wasn’t much detail about Seo Dogyeom’s family.’
Still, she knew one thing:
In the game, Seo Dogyeom—the male lead—lost his parents early and entered the criminal underworld.
<I don’t know anything about parental love. My mother died when I was young, and my father, who was murdered during my first year of high school, wasn’t exactly affectionate either.>
Suddenly, a line from the game flashed through her mind.
Her pen froze.
‘First year of high school… Then that means Mister dies this year?’
And not just dies—murdered.
Desperately, she tried recalling the details. Chasing after fragmented memories of the game, she eventually found a clue.
It was during the heroine’s kidnapping arc near the beginning.
The enemy faction realized the heroine was Dogyeom’s weakness and abducted her, putting her through something close to torture.
‘Back then, it was supposed to be an important scene. The moment Dogyeom realized his feelings for the heroine and showed genuine rage for the first time.’
At the same time, she remembered something the villain had said to Dogyeom.
<What a shame. Just like your father, I thought killing her would be easy too.>
The villain had mocked him, saying even he hadn’t expected Seo Ihum to die so easily after being stabbed by the spy planted beside him.
At the time, Ihae had just thought, “Wow, even the villain is handsome.”
Clearly, she’d lost her mind back then.
‘A spy. Which means someone close to Mister was working for the enemy faction. Someone close enough to stab him.’
That probably meant a frequent visitor to the house.
She couldn’t exactly say she liked Seo Ihum.
But she didn’t hate the man providing her with food, clothing, and shelter either.
And knowing someone’s future death while doing nothing about it felt wrong.
‘Besides, if Mister doesn’t die, Dogyeom won’t have any reason to enter the underworld so early. …Couldn’t this guy just be rehabilitated and sent to college like a normal person?’
Honestly, that would probably help the heroine’s future too.
‘Anyway, that’s something to think about later. First priority: save Mister.’
She drew a star next to the name Seo Ihum.
Even his name sounded handsome.
‘Until I can escape, I need someone to provide for me and keep all the dangerous adults around here under control. So he’s important.’
She was deep in thought when a familiar status notification appeared.
[Baby Gangster, Seo Dogyeom, is peeking at the supporting character’s terrible handwriting with curiosity.]
“Hey, why are you reading someone else’s notebook without permission?”
Dogyeom had approached so quietly she wouldn’t have noticed if not for the status window.
Hurriedly covering the notebook, she scolded him in a whisper low enough that the teacher wouldn’t hear.
Despite the criticism, Dogyeom showed no sign of guilt.
He merely stared at her blankly.
“Why did you put a star next to Father’s name?”
Sharp-eyed bastard.
She hadn’t expected him to notice she’d written Seo Ihum’s name.
Cold sweat trickled down her back as she wondered if he’d also seen the words beside it:
“How will he die?”
Because taken together, it looked exactly like Baek Ihae was plotting Seo Ihum’s murder.
So she hurriedly blurted out an excuse.
“Because I’m interested in him.”
“In Father?”
“Yeah. He’s handsome.”
“……You do know the age difference, right?”
“I know. But age is just a number. Besides, the reason I’m hesitating is something else.”
“What are you hesitating about?”
Why was this guy so damn curious all the time?
Too lazy to think of a proper answer, Ihae replied with the first thing that came to mind.
“Becoming your mom?”
“……”
Without a word, Seo Dogyeom slowly leaned back away from her.
