“What do you mean you haven’t seen her?” Kang Ha-rin’s voice sharpened, her grip tightening around her phone.
“Before Ji-won left yesterday, she explicitly said you two were heading out together!”
On the other end of the line, Shen Huiling sounded genuinely baffled.
“She did? But… I haven’t talked to Ji-won since school let out for the weekend. We didn’t make any plans.”
Ha-rin fell silent.
She lied to me.
Her fingers tightened around the phone as a strange mixture of worry and suspicion settled over her.
Ji-won had never been particularly good at lying to her, and this time, something about the situation felt different.
“Err… I’ll call you back, Huiling,” Ha-rin muttered, the warmth disappearing from her voice.
“Sure. Please let me know the moment you find her! I’m getting worried,” Huiling urged.
Ha-rin forced a stiff chuckle.
“I will.”
She ended the call and stared at the phone in her hand.
A dark, cold frown slowly twisted her face.
“Kang Ji-won…” she whispered to the empty room.
“You are in so much trouble the second you drag yourself back home.”
Ding!
Meanwhile, at a bustling outdoor café nearby, Kang Ji-won set down her iced latte and glanced at her phone.
The afternoon crowd moved around her, their conversations blending with the soft clinking of cups and occasional laughter.
Completely unaware that someone was already becoming suspicious of her whereabouts, Ji-won tapped the notification.
[New Message — Unknown Number]
«Location: Song Restaurant, Private Room 256.
Time: 1:00 PM.
Don’t be late.»
Ji-won stared at the demanding message.
A vivid memory of a tall frame, cold eyes, and an imposing presence immediately flashed through her mind.
That guy…
She pressed her lips together, thinking quickly.
“He actually texted. And he’s expecting me to show up.”
She glanced at the time before looking back at the message.
There was no way she was showing up looking like herself.
She abandoned her half-finished coffee, grabbed her shopping bags, and headed straight back to the hotel.
“Today, I’m putting extra effort into this disguise,” she declared to her reflection the moment she stepped inside.
“He cannot recognize me. Period.”
For the next hour, Ji-won prepared as though she were going on a covert mission.
She applied a sharp wing of liquid eyeliner, contoured her cheekbones to make herself look completely different from her usual soft high-school appearance, and styled her dark hair into voluminous waves.
Opening her closet, she picked one of the boldest designer pieces she’d purchased during her morning shopping spree. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
“If I dress like a high-society woman, there’s zero chance he’ll connect me to a plain high school student,” she reasoned with a confident smirk.
She slipped into a form-fitting, sleeveless black leather mini dress and paired it with towering four-inch stilettos.
Turning sideways in front of the full-length mirror, she admired the result.
The unfamiliar reflection staring back at her looked nothing like the eighteen-year-old student everyone knew.
“Well,” Ji-won murmured, giving her reflection a coy wink.
“I guess this novel did give this character one incredible advantage.”
By the time Ji-won arrived at Song Restaurant, the gold clock on the wall read 2:00 PM.
The restaurant was elegant and unusually quiet compared to the busy streets outside.
Soft lighting reflected off the polished floors, while the faint aroma of expensive dishes drifted through the hallway.
She had deliberately delayed her arrival by a full hour.
Her strategy was simple: make them wait, test their patience, and hopefully force them to leave before she had to deal with them.
Standing outside Private Room 256, she smoothed down her leather dress and raised a manicured hand toward the door.
“They’ve probably stormed out in anger by now, right?” she muttered happily.
Before her knuckles could touch the wood, heavy, disciplined footsteps echoed from behind her.
“You’re quite early.”
Ji-won spun around.
Standing barely two feet away was Lee Jun-ho.
His dark eyes settled on her with the same unreadable intensity she’d noticed before.
Ji-won quickly recovered her composure.
“I’m early? Or are you just late?”
The corner of Jun-ho’s mouth twitched.
“I asked you to meet at 1:00 PM. It’s currently two.”
Ji-won rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
“And what about you? You’re just walking up now!”
Hmph.
Acting like you’re punctuality personified.
Instead of backing down, Jun-ho stepped closer and lowered his voice.
“I have a valid reason.”
His sudden proximity made Ji-won’s composure falter for half a second.
She quickly recovered.
“And what reason is that?”
“Because,” he murmured, his gaze studying her face, “I knew you were going to show up an hour late.”
Ji-wion’s mouth fell open.
Jun-ho didn’t answer.
He simply straightened, pushed open the sliding door to Room 256, and walked inside.
Ji-won remained in the hallway for a moment, completely bewildered.
She turned toward the five men standing behind him.
“What is wrong with him?”
Park Do-yoon merely shrugged and gave her a dry, almost pitying look before walking into the room.
With a sigh, Ji-won pulled herself together and followed.
The private room was spacious, with a large round dining table set with fine porcelain.
Warm overhead lighting illuminated the polished tableware, while the quiet atmosphere made every movement feel slightly more noticeable.
Jun-ho had already taken the head seat.
Most of the remaining chairs were either occupied by tactical bags or positioned awkwardly around the table, leaving Ji-won with only one obvious choice.
The seat beside him.
Seriously?
She sat down anyway.
Kim Tae-hyun cleared his throat loudly, resting his elbows on the table as he attempted to break the tension.
“Alright! Since we’re all seated, let’s do proper introductions first.”
He pointed to himself with a wide grin.
“I’m Kim Tae-hyun.”
He gestured toward the man beside him.
“This is Park Do-yoon.”
“Hi,” Park Do-yoon offered with a brief nod.
“That’s Ryu Do-hyun…”
“Nice to meet you,” Do-hyun said with a grin.
“That’s Baek Min-jae, and lastly, Seo Ji-han.”
Ji-won offered them a polite socialite smile.
“Nice to meet you all.”
Her gaze then shifted to the quiet, imposing man sitting beside her.
She studied him briefly.
Unlike the others, he hadn’t bothered to introduce himself, remaining composed as though the entire situation required very little of his attention.
“And him?”
Tae-hyun blinked and exchanged a quick glance with the others.
“Oh, him?”
He gestured toward the man beside her.
“That’s Lee Jun-ho– our boss.”
Tomorrow chapter is going to be dramatic.
Imagine finding out the guy that was supposed to be your partner in crime bears the same name as the guy who killed you in your past life?
What do you think Kang Ji-won will do?