Episode 1
‘I like you……’
Yugyeom knelt down under Ha-won and let out a rough breath.
Tears, tangled with overflowing emotions, fell and left a sticky trace, and Ha-won’s gaze looking down at him was deeper and darker than ever.
‘I like you, boss.’
Ha-won’s long fingers slowly ruffled Yugyeom’s hair, shining in the moonlight.
As the finger that came down from the pale cheek through the red ear, lightly lifted Yugyeom’s chin, the tear-filled gaze met Ha-won.
The sound of breaking glass beads when they met eyes.
Wrinkles formed on Ha-won’s smooth forehead as he faced the image contained within those eyes.
‘Even though I know this shouldn’t be happening…… Huh!’
When the lips that released the emotions of denial and denial were blocked, tears flowed through the gap.
Ha-won, who swallowed the rough sobbing, pushed Yugyeom.
Back. Further back.
‘Ha……’
As if sucking in all the air, the leaning body touched the wall, and the lips slowly fell with a sigh-like breath.
Ha-won’s gaze was still on the lips, glistening with saliva.
In the darkness that filled the room, the man clenched in Ha-won’s hand was sparkling tantalizingly.
“The first time, the moment I first saw you.”
‘……’
‘I knew I would fall in love with you.’
The hesitant confession of a childlike love tickled Yugyeom’s ear.
‘And I knew when you pointed the gun at me.’
Ha-won tilted his head, suppressing a lazy laugh, and their shadows overlapped seamlessly once again.
‘I knew we would end up like this.’
* * *
“Ugh…!”
The dream ended, evaporating into the subconscious as if being dragged out.
Bright sunlight poured in through heavy eyelids. Blinking a few times, the view gradually became clearer.
It didn’t take long to realize that this place, where I was still lying, occupied more than half of the small one-room apartment I had lived in for three years.
Slowly, my gaze reached the back of my hand with a needle stuck in it, and finally, the last memory came flooding back like a tidal wave.
“Screaaaam!”
“Miss? What’s wrong?!”
“Who are you? Is that a real gun?”
“It’s dangerous, miss! Get down from there right now!”
The memory was a mess, with no clear explanation. A scream was muffled before it could come out.
What the hell did I do?!
In an attempt to find the cause of this chaos, my memory went back to the day before waking up in this bed.
Twenty-five. I was on the verge of graduating after taking a break in the middle, and that day I had been busy with assignments all day and had a bit too much to drink in the early hours.
“Let’s drink and die! Cheers!!”
Honestly, I drank quite heavily. The blurry memory makes it seem like the film was cut off.
And when I came to my senses, I was lying in a strange place like a princess in a fairy tale.
The room, which was small but cozy in my 9-square-meter sweet home, was so spacious that it was difficult to call it just a ‘room.’
At first, I thought it was a dream, and then I thought it might be human trafficking.
And then the moment the flower vase I accidentally touched fell and broke on the floor.
“Miss, what’s wrong?!”
Only when I saw the armed men coming in through the open door did the scream burst out of my mouth without hesitation.
“Could you please come down from there for now… Miss, please!!”
It felt like I had been standing on the window sill, screaming and crying for a long time while hanging the lace curtains.
Cruel scenes from film noir movies flashed through my mind, and just the black suit and gun alone unfolded dozens of imaginary stories.
And then… why did I faint?
I deeply bowed my head, trying to squeeze out the memories that were cut off at the most important part, but nothing more came to mind about the night I drank heavily, let alone fainting.
Something important. It feels like I forgot something really important.
Knock knock.
I didn’t have the intention of jumping out, but the unfamiliar view outside the window, which I hadn’t seen before fainting, captivated my mind.
Beyond the large window pouring in sunlight, a boundless expanse of blue sea was visible behind the exotic buildings, especially the scenery filled with sparkling sea like jewels was breathtaking.
“The window is locked.”
Then, a strange voice was heard. I thought my heart was going to drop.
I didn’t even know if the knocking had stopped and the door had been opened, I was so surprised that I turned around to see a man standing there with a tired face, looking at me.
The men in black suits from the memory before fainting seemed similar, but the warm appearance of this man gave off a different vibe.
“Who are you?”
Although I felt something strange in the voice that came out like a shout, my mind was not relaxed enough to think about that.
The man’s forehead furrowed in confusion at my question, then he quickly seemed to realize something and spoke in a calm voice.
“You might not know. My name is Jiwoon. If I say I’m the boss’s secretary, you’ll understand, right?”
Jiwoon? Boss? What the…
Although his tone was composed, my mind was suddenly flooded with a billion question marks. I almost blurted out “What the heck are you talking about?” but thankfully, it didn’t come out.
I stared at his calm brown eyes for a moment. He patiently waited for my response.
And in that moment, an absurd thought flashed through my mind.
“No way.”
I vigorously shook my head in one second.
“If I drink again, I’m not a person.”
I must be crazy. To imagine that.
But despite knowing it’s absurd, it felt like finding the perfect puzzle piece that just fits, and inexplicable things that seemed to fall into place began to come to mind.
It doesn’t make sense.
This shouldn’t be happening.
“Jiwoon, by any chance, are you good at shooting? You act like the smart secretary in charge of the brains, but you’re actually really good at shooting, aren’t you?”
“What…?”
Jiwoon’s face twisted strangely.
I was convinced that if I pushed further into his cold gaze, I would get hurt.
“Bulletproof vest under the jacket.”
But as the questions surged in my mind, I blurted out words that shouldn’t have poured out.
“And do you carry two guns with you?”
“Every year, miss.”
I could feel my face turning incredibly pale at the name that came out of Jiwoon’s mouth.
Even without hearing any more answers, his stern face already confirmed everything.
Jiwoon approached me.
Distracted by the exploding thoughts in my head, I couldn’t even think to avoid him.
“How did you know?”
Only after the darkness completely enveloped my vision did I realize how close he had come, close enough for me to feel his breath.
“My name is Yeonbyeol? Cha Yeonbyeol?”
“What the hell are you saying?”
Jiwoon. Cha Yeonbyeol.
And then,
“Baek Hawan.”
It dawned on me.
The fragmented memories of that night.
I came home and collapsed onto the bed, searching for my phone. As if by habit, I went to the web novel page.
“Wow, this is insane. I’m going crazy….”
“No! Don’t die! How can I live if you die!”
Amidst the days when my youth felt like a spinning wheel, I was half-crazed by romance novels that felt like fantasy.
Reading, rereading, binge-reading. It was my only joy in life.
So, that day, I read again.
“Miss? Where are you going right now!”
I forcibly tore myself away from the phone and ran past Jiwoon out of the room.
“Baekcheon.”
Superficially, it was a financial company that expanded from mainland China and Hong Kong to Russia and Europe, but in reality, it tightly held the underworld, including casinos, drug trafficking, and arms dealing.
Its headquarters were on an island not marked on any map.
The building at the center of the island, where the boss Baek Hawan and the executives resided, was called ‘The Square’. It held many secretive pieces of information, making it difficult for anyone to understand its structure.
The original ‘Cha Yeonbyeol’, who was once just Baek Hawan’s sibling, was the same, but I was different.
“I need to confirm, I need to confirm.”
Recalling the contents I read in the novel, I followed those paths as if my life depended on it.
The sunlight poured through the tall stone pillars, reminiscent of a Roman temple, and the marble floor sparkled like a waterfall. As I walked through the imagined corridor, my heart tightened.
The boss had two offices.
One was the officially known place on the first floor, and the other was a room that only the people trusted by Baek Hawan, where he practically spent most of his time, knew about.
“Miss!”
Even though Jiwoon shouted from behind, I didn’t know how to stop my steps.
The blood dripping from my still hand turned the white marble floor red.
“Jet-black hair that seems to spread out the night sky. Deep, unfathomable black eyes. A sharp nose that seems to have been carved by rough waves. No one would have imagined that the leader of Baekcheon, once called a cruel and ruthless devil, would have such a beautiful appearance.”
I recalled the sentences from the novel that I had read and pondered over more than ten times.
I felt suffocated. The blood was flowing so much from the forcibly pulled needle in my hand that I couldn’t stop it, but I had to confirm. I had to understand.
My hurried steps came to a halt in front of the bland white door, a wall that I could believe was a wall.
“It can’t be. It has to be a mistake.”
I wished it was a dream.
But the cold touch of the door handle was enough to wake me from the dream, and I turned the handle, exhaling my trembling breath.
I closed my eyes slowly, and when I opened them, I had to cover my mouth with both hands.
“……”
Right in front of me, when I saw the face standing in the same space, I couldn’t deny it anymore.
This was the world from the novel I had read.
It was just as I had imagined and pictured it, and even more than that. Inadequate to describe its beauty with the expressions from the novel, it was insanely handsome.
Looking at the face that seemed like it was carefully crafted by God, at first, I was overwhelmed.
“…!”
But as my gaze was drawn to the face, I momentarily forgot the most important point, the gun aimed at me that I hadn’t noticed.
“How did you find out about this place?”
The voice that came out was so chilling that it sent shivers down my spine. The cold gaze flickered silently like a predator ready to catch its prey in an instant.
The gun, loaded and ready to fire at the slightest movement, didn’t waver even when our eyes met.
It was like getting slapped with cold water, my mind suddenly cleared.
I wasn’t possessed by the female lead from those typical romance fantasy novels I read.
I wasn’t the villainess who captivates the male lead’s heart, nor was I the supporting character who changes fate and takes the female lead’s place.
“Jiwoon wouldn’t have told you about this place. Are you going to act like a little rat now?”
Baek Hawan smirked with a crooked head.
The name of the body I was currently in is Cha Yeonbyeol.
The villainess who dies during the main characters’ first encounter.
And the title of this novel is ‘The Boss’s Man.’
It wasn’t a romance fantasy with a prince, but a chaotic noir BL novel.
Episode 1
‘I like you……’
Yugyeom knelt down under Ha-won and let out a rough breath.
Tears, tangled with overflowing emotions, fell and left a sticky trace, and Ha-won’s gaze looking down at him was deeper and darker than ever.
‘I like you, boss.’
Ha-won’s long fingers slowly ruffled Yugyeom’s hair, shining in the moonlight.
As the finger that came down from the pale cheek through the red ear, lightly lifted Yugyeom’s chin, the tear-filled gaze met Ha-won.
The sound of breaking glass beads when they met eyes.
Wrinkles formed on Ha-won’s smooth forehead as he faced the image contained within those eyes.
‘Even though I know this shouldn’t be happening…… Huh!’
When the lips that released the emotions of denial and denial were blocked, tears flowed through the gap.
Ha-won, who swallowed the rough sobbing, pushed Yugyeom.
Back. Further back.
‘Ha……’
As if sucking in all the air, the leaning body touched the wall, and the lips slowly fell with a sigh-like breath.
Ha-won’s gaze was still on the lips, glistening with saliva.
In the darkness that filled the room, the man clenched in Ha-won’s hand was sparkling tantalizingly.
“The first time, the moment I first saw you.”
‘……’
‘I knew I would fall in love with you.’
The hesitant confession of a childlike love tickled Yugyeom’s ear.
‘And I knew when you pointed the gun at me.’
Ha-won tilted his head, suppressing a lazy laugh, and their shadows overlapped seamlessly once again.
‘I knew we would end up like this.’
* * *
“Ugh…!”
The dream ended, evaporating into the subconscious as if being dragged out.
Bright sunlight poured in through heavy eyelids. Blinking a few times, the view gradually became clearer.
It didn’t take long to realize that this place, where I was still lying, occupied more than half of the small one-room apartment I had lived in for three years.
Slowly, my gaze reached the back of my hand with a needle stuck in it, and finally, the last memory came flooding back like a tidal wave.
“Screaaaam!”
“Miss? What’s wrong?!”
“Who are you? Is that a real gun?”
“It’s dangerous, miss! Get down from there right now!”
The memory was a mess, with no clear explanation. A scream was muffled before it could come out.
What the hell did I do?!
In an attempt to find the cause of this chaos, my memory went back to the day before waking up in this bed.
Twenty-five. I was on the verge of graduating after taking a break in the middle, and that day I had been busy with assignments all day and had a bit too much to drink in the early hours.
“Let’s drink and die! Cheers!!”
Honestly, I drank quite heavily. The blurry memory makes it seem like the film was cut off.
And when I came to my senses, I was lying in a strange place like a princess in a fairy tale.
The room, which was small but cozy in my 9-square-meter sweet home, was so spacious that it was difficult to call it just a ‘room.’
At first, I thought it was a dream, and then I thought it might be human trafficking.
And then the moment the flower vase I accidentally touched fell and broke on the floor.
“Miss, what’s wrong?!”
Only when I saw the armed men coming in through the open door did the scream burst out of my mouth without hesitation.
“Could you please come down from there for now… Miss, please!!”
It felt like I had been standing on the window sill, screaming and crying for a long time while hanging the lace curtains.
Cruel scenes from film noir movies flashed through my mind, and just the black suit and gun alone unfolded dozens of imaginary stories.
And then… why did I faint?
I deeply bowed my head, trying to squeeze out the memories that were cut off at the most important part, but nothing more came to mind about the night I drank heavily, let alone fainting.
Something important. It feels like I forgot something really important.
Knock knock.
I didn’t have the intention of jumping out, but the unfamiliar view outside the window, which I hadn’t seen before fainting, captivated my mind.
Beyond the large window pouring in sunlight, a boundless expanse of blue sea was visible behind the exotic buildings, especially the scenery filled with sparkling sea like jewels was breathtaking.
“The window is locked.”
Then, a strange voice was heard. I thought my heart was going to drop.
I didn’t even know if the knocking had stopped and the door had been opened, I was so surprised that I turned around to see a man standing there with a tired face, looking at me.
The men in black suits from the memory before fainting seemed similar, but the warm appearance of this man gave off a different vibe.
“Who are you?”
Although I felt something strange in the voice that came out like a shout, my mind was not relaxed enough to think about that.
The man’s forehead furrowed in confusion at my question, then he quickly seemed to realize something and spoke in a calm voice.
“You might not know. My name is Jiwoon. If I say I’m the boss’s secretary, you’ll understand, right?”
Jiwoon? Boss? What the…
Although his tone was composed, my mind was suddenly flooded with a billion question marks. I almost blurted out “What the heck are you talking about?” but thankfully, it didn’t come out.
I stared at his calm brown eyes for a moment. He patiently waited for my response.
And in that moment, an absurd thought flashed through my mind.
“No way.”
I vigorously shook my head in one second.
“If I drink again, I’m not a person.”
I must be crazy. To imagine that.
But despite knowing it’s absurd, it felt like finding the perfect puzzle piece that just fits, and inexplicable things that seemed to fall into place began to come to mind.
It doesn’t make sense.
This shouldn’t be happening.
“Jiwoon, by any chance, are you good at shooting? You act like the smart secretary in charge of the brains, but you’re actually really good at shooting, aren’t you?”
“What…?”
Jiwoon’s face twisted strangely.
I was convinced that if I pushed further into his cold gaze, I would get hurt.
“Bulletproof vest under the jacket.”
But as the questions surged in my mind, I blurted out words that shouldn’t have poured out.
“And do you carry two guns with you?”
“Every year, miss.”
I could feel my face turning incredibly pale at the name that came out of Jiwoon’s mouth.
Even without hearing any more answers, his stern face already confirmed everything.
Jiwoon approached me.
Distracted by the exploding thoughts in my head, I couldn’t even think to avoid him.
“How did you know?”
Only after the darkness completely enveloped my vision did I realize how close he had come, close enough for me to feel his breath.
“My name is Yeonbyeol? Cha Yeonbyeol?”
“What the hell are you saying?”
Jiwoon. Cha Yeonbyeol.
And then,
“Baek Hawan.”
It dawned on me.
The fragmented memories of that night.
I came home and collapsed onto the bed, searching for my phone. As if by habit, I went to the web novel page.
“Wow, this is insane. I’m going crazy….”
“No! Don’t die! How can I live if you die!”
Amidst the days when my youth felt like a spinning wheel, I was half-crazed by romance novels that felt like fantasy.
Reading, rereading, binge-reading. It was my only joy in life.
So, that day, I read again.
“Miss? Where are you going right now!”
I forcibly tore myself away from the phone and ran past Jiwoon out of the room.
“Baekcheon.”
Superficially, it was a financial company that expanded from mainland China and Hong Kong to Russia and Europe, but in reality, it tightly held the underworld, including casinos, drug trafficking, and arms dealing.
Its headquarters were on an island not marked on any map.
The building at the center of the island, where the boss Baek Hawan and the executives resided, was called ‘The Square’. It held many secretive pieces of information, making it difficult for anyone to understand its structure.
The original ‘Cha Yeonbyeol’, who was once just Baek Hawan’s sibling, was the same, but I was different.
“I need to confirm, I need to confirm.”
Recalling the contents I read in the novel, I followed those paths as if my life depended on it.
The sunlight poured through the tall stone pillars, reminiscent of a Roman temple, and the marble floor sparkled like a waterfall. As I walked through the imagined corridor, my heart tightened.
The boss had two offices.
One was the officially known place on the first floor, and the other was a room that only the people trusted by Baek Hawan, where he practically spent most of his time, knew about.
“Miss!”
Even though Jiwoon shouted from behind, I didn’t know how to stop my steps.
The blood dripping from my still hand turned the white marble floor red.
“Jet-black hair that seems to spread out the night sky. Deep, unfathomable black eyes. A sharp nose that seems to have been carved by rough waves. No one would have imagined that the leader of Baekcheon, once called a cruel and ruthless devil, would have such a beautiful appearance.”
I recalled the sentences from the novel that I had read and pondered over more than ten times.
I felt suffocated. The blood was flowing so much from the forcibly pulled needle in my hand that I couldn’t stop it, but I had to confirm. I had to understand.
My hurried steps came to a halt in front of the bland white door, a wall that I could believe was a wall.
“It can’t be. It has to be a mistake.”
I wished it was a dream.
But the cold touch of the door handle was enough to wake me from the dream, and I turned the handle, exhaling my trembling breath.
I closed my eyes slowly, and when I opened them, I had to cover my mouth with both hands.
“……”
Right in front of me, when I saw the face standing in the same space, I couldn’t deny it anymore.
This was the world from the novel I had read.
It was just as I had imagined and pictured it, and even more than that. Inadequate to describe its beauty with the expressions from the novel, it was insanely handsome.
Looking at the face that seemed like it was carefully crafted by God, at first, I was overwhelmed.
“…!”
But as my gaze was drawn to the face, I momentarily forgot the most important point, the gun aimed at me that I hadn’t noticed.
“How did you find out about this place?”
The voice that came out was so chilling that it sent shivers down my spine. The cold gaze flickered silently like a predator ready to catch its prey in an instant.
The gun, loaded and ready to fire at the slightest movement, didn’t waver even when our eyes met.
It was like getting slapped with cold water, my mind suddenly cleared.
I wasn’t possessed by the female lead from those typical romance fantasy novels I read.
I wasn’t the villainess who captivates the male lead’s heart, nor was I the supporting character who changes fate and takes the female lead’s place.
“Jiwoon wouldn’t have told you about this place. Are you going to act like a little rat now?”
Baek Hawan smirked with a crooked head.
The name of the body I was currently in is Cha Yeonbyeol.
The villainess who dies during the main characters’ first encounter.
And the title of this novel is ‘The Boss’s Man.’
It wasn’t a romance fantasy with a prince, but a chaotic noir BL novel.
