Lee Hyun-woo, watching the stage with a satisfied face, thinking he did his best to help.
Seeing the three people enjoying themselves, he smiles and realizes once again how amazing youth is.
Even though several songs have played, they show no intention of coming in, burning their youth on stage.
He thought they might keep dancing until it was time for blues again.
But even after staying on stage for a long time and the blues time returning, the three showed no intention of coming in.
Seeing them lightly shaking their bodies and talking, he wondered if they would hold out there longer.
It was then.
“Hyun-woo, I’m here.”
Kim Ah-young appeared.
“Oh? You’re here?”
Seeing her, Lee Hyun-woo quickly called over a passing waiter.
“Please set up another table nearby.”
“Sorry?”
“It’s a bit awkward to join this table, so please set up another table. I’ll cover both tables. When they come here later, tell them I paid and that they can eat whatever they want.”
“Oh, yes, sir. Understood.”
The waiter, looking at Lee Hyun-woo and Kim Ah-young, seemed to think another booking was successful and bowed with a peculiar smile.
After a while, another table was arranged.
As soon as they sat down, Kim Ah-young opened her eyes wide and asked.
“Did you come with someone?”
“Yeah, my younger brother’s friends.”
“Is it okay to do this?”
“They’re having fun booking. But I can’t dance well, so I was bored, but it’s good that you came.”
Hearing the words “younger brother’s friends,” “booking,” “bored,” and “good that you came,” Kim Ah-young’s eyes changed every second.
Ultimately, she smiled brightly.
“I actually can’t dance either.”
“But where is your bodyguard?”
“Oh… I told him to stay out of sight.”
“The same bodyguard from before?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“You’re making your bodyguards work hard because of me.”
“No, it’s because of me.”
As before, curiosity began to grow in Lee Hyun-woo’s chest.
Will the love between the chaebol daughter Kim Ah-young and the bodyguard Jung Jin-sung blossom in this life as well?
‘Hopefully not.’
Strangely, although he couldn’t explain the reason exactly, he hoped the two wouldn’t end up together.
But relationships between men and women are unpredictable.
Isn’t the proof right there with Oh Min-woo and the two women they didn’t know a moment ago having fun on stage?
“They’re having a good time.”
“Who do you mean?”
“Oh, my younger brother’s friends. I’m glad they seem to be hitting it off with those women.”
“But do you come to this nightclub often?”
“No, this is my second time.”
“Oh….”
“I’m not used to it yet, but someday I want to learn to dance and relieve stress excitedly.”
“I see.”
“What about you?”
“Me? Oh, me too. But I’m not good at dancing.”
That was true. Actually, he had learned a different type of dance.
A type of dance he could never show here.
“Then should we, the ones who can’t dance, just have fun out there?”
“…….”
“Come on, let’s go!”
Suddenly standing up, Lee Hyun-woo grabs her hand in case she backs out.
Kim Ah-young’s heart beats slightly faster.
The tactile feeling when their skin touched was ‘tingly.’
Of course, in a good way.
‘It’s amazing. Whenever I meet him, I have new experiences.’
Soon, led by Lee Hyun-woo’s hand, she entered the stage.
Boom boom boom, the exciting music hit her eardrums.
She moved her body unconsciously.
In front of her, Lee Hyun-woo was also moving his body, and contrary to his claim that he couldn’t dance, he seemed to be keeping the rhythm well.
Kim Ah-young smiled shyly and said.
“You’re good at dancing.”
“What?”
“I said you’re good at dancing!”
“Yeah, you too. You’re good at dancing.”
“I’m talking about you, not me!”
“Okay, okay. I got it!”
Seeing Lee Hyun-woo not understanding well due to the loud music, Kim Ah-young giggled.
Honestly, she felt good.
Not just because she liked Lee Hyun-woo and was happy to be with him, but because this moment of stepping out of her own world felt fresh to her.
As she felt more at ease, her body followed the music better.
Eventually, they played on stage until they were exhausted, wondering if it was okay to use up so much energy.
As Lee Hyun-woo said before, it felt like all the stress she had accumulated was flying away.
She expressed this to Lee Hyun-woo when they returned to the table.
“All my stress is gone!”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really. I’m glad I came here.”
Kim Ah-young had always lived a life conscious of others’ eyes.
She had to meet her parents’ standards, engaged in a fierce psychological battle with her brother, and tried to be a role model for her two younger sisters.
It was the same with the core members of the group and the management of Seorabeol Hotel; she studied hard to show that she wasn’t a parachute appointment.
How would the employees who saw this as unfair have felt?
All of this naturally built up psychological stress.
“Then let’s come here from time to time.”
“Really?”
“I feel good hearing that your stress is relieved. Cheers to that!”
“Cheers!”
When Lee Hyun-woo raised his glass first, Kim Ah-young quickly picked up her glass and clinked it.
As she swallowed the cool beer, she felt someone approaching.
“Hyung….”
“Oh, yeah.”
“The girls left.”
“Really?”
Kim Ah-young widened her eyes.
Seeing him talking to Lee Hyun-woo, it seemed to be the younger brother’s friend he mentioned earlier.
“The waiter said you would cover the drink bill.”
“That’s right.”
“They heard that and drank without any burden, and then they were gone.”
Disappointment was evident in his voice.
“But who is this woman…?”
“Oh, introduce yourself. She’s my friend. Kim Ah-young. Ah-young, this is my younger brother’s friend, Oh Min-woo.”
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“Sit down. Since things turned out this way, let’s just drink.”
“Yes, let’s.”
As soon as Oh Min-woo sat down, he looked at Kim Ah-young and immediately started with a flattering comment.
“Is it natural for a kingka to meet a queenka?”
“What are you talking about?”
“It just seems natural that a handsome guy like you has such a pretty friend.”
“Ah-young is indeed pretty. But I find it hard to accept that I’m handsome. You can be honest since I paid for the drinks.”
“I was being honest. I’m not someone who would sell my soul for a drink bill.”
“Then you must be drunk.”
“I’m getting a bit tipsy. So please understand if I say something wrong.”
The last part was directed at Kim Ah-young.
She smiled and nodded.
But then Oh Min-woo started asking bold questions, using his drunkenness as an excuse.
“Are you two just friends? It seems like there’s something more.”
“No.”
“It doesn’t seem like ‘no’ to me.”
“You really are drunk. Don’t twist things around and talk about something else.”
“Well, if I keep talking, things might not progress anywhere. Got it. Then what should we talk about? Oh, how about Nostradamus? I think I struggled for days because of him.”
Since this was true, Lee Hyun-woo chuckled.
Oh Min-woo had been working on IP tracking prevention measures under the guise of protecting personal information.
On the other hand, Kim Ah-young showed curiosity.
“Do you struggle because of Nostradamus?”
“Oh, you don’t know about this. Hyung, can I talk about it?”
“Go ahead. You’ll talk even if I stop you.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
Nodding, Oh Min-woo explained what had happened during that time to her.
But after hearing everything, Kim Ah-young’s question took a different direction.
“Does the internet need to be fast?”
“Yeah, our portal has become quite heavy because of the ads these days. Many users complain about the slow speed.”
“So, will it be faster if the ADSL mentioned in Nostradamus’s blog is applied?”
“I believe it will be at least 100% faster.”
“Listening to your conversation makes me curious about who this beautiful friend of yours is. It feels like she knows about Nostradamus’s blog.”
“Yes, I know about it.”
Seeing Oh Min-woo interjecting in her conversation with Lee Hyun-woo, Kim Ah-young admitted straightforwardly.
Oh Min-woo asked again.
“May I ask what you do…? Do you work in this field?”
“No, not really. I actually work at a hotel.”
“A hotel? Which one?”
“Seorabeol Hotel.”
“Wow, you work at a great place! Are you at the front desk?”
There was no need to answer this, but wasn’t he Lee Hyun-woo’s younger brother’s friend?
Seeing the situation so far, it seemed not bad to get along with his younger brother or his friends to get closer to Lee Hyun-woo.
“No, I work in the strategic management office.”
“The strategic management office?”
“Yes, to be more specific, I’m the director.”
“……!”
An exclamation mark appeared in Oh Min-woo’s eyes.
Thinking he must have sensed it by now, Kim Ah-young finished with a smile.
At the same time, she pondered.
‘Making the ADSL faster will benefit the portal?’
Then I should find a way.
Her thoughts had to stop there.
Lee Hyun-woo stood up again, seemingly disliking the idea of talking about work at a nightclub.
“Come on, let’s go out!”
“Call!”
Leading the way, followed by the two people behind him, how could she just stay put?
Kim Ah-young also stood up.
‘By hanging out with Hyun-woo, I get to do things I haven’t done twice now.’
The first was a beer hall, and the second was a nightclub.
And both could be evaluated as the ‘most fun’ experiences in her life.
But maybe because she had too much fun?
Like the last time, she missed the timing to pay.
It’s nothing, but that night, when she got home, Kim Ah-young thought deeply.
‘Since I’ve been treated twice, I should repay with something big.’
She turned on her computer and opened the internet.
Perhaps because of what Lee Hyun-woo said earlier, it felt quite slow.
The start page was, of course, Jungle.
Her hands tapped the keyboard.
‘Nostradamus….’
Having roughly skimmed through the third blog post before, this time she looked at it carefully.
Then she accurately inputted it into her mind and had Park Min-sook investigate the related matters the next day.
“You want me to find out if 【Korea Electric Power Corporation】 actually considered ADSL?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Sorry, but can I ask why you’re curious about that?”
“Well… the internet has been slow lately, and it’s annoying.”
“Sorry?”
“I mean because of the slow internet. More precisely, the current internet in our country has the nature of public goods. So, if we’re running it with the taxes we pay, there’s no reason not to use a faster method if there is one. Therefore, I want you to find out if 【Korea Electric Power Corporation】 actually considered ADSL, which is evaluated to be much better than ISDN by 【Korea Telecom】.”
Being highly educated, she grasped this quickly.
Park Min-sook couldn’t help but be swayed by this logic.
Actually, it might be more accurate to say she let herself be swayed knowingly.
‘But why does our lady want to know this?’
She didn’t know what she intended to do, but she could roughly guess who she intended to do it for.
So she let out a small sigh.
“Sigh.”
