An Advertising Genius Falls into the Joseon Era - Chapter 22

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 22
“Hey! Ha Yoon!”
Song Do-hyeon caught her in his arms quite by accident, his voice sharp with urgency.
“Snap out of it! Ha Yoon! What on earth are you doing?”
Slap! Slap!
He struck her cheek, but Ha Yoon had passed out completely—not the slightest sign of waking.
“Mmm……”
Instead, she only burrowed her face deeper into his chest.
“This is absurd!”
Song Do-hyeon stared down at the woman in his arms with a look of complete bewilderment.
Beneath the moonlight, Ha Yoon’s face flushed crimson from the drink.
The sight stirred something in him—his heart began to race, unbidden.
That was when it happened.
“Hahahaha! Our new recruit’s gotten himself blind drunk!”
Han Seong-deok emerged from the tavern just then, catching the scene. His own face was flushed—he’d clearly had his share to drink as well.
“There—is that revenge enough for you?”
“Revenge?”
Song Do-hyeon frowned.
Han Seong-deok winked at him.
“Of course. We’ve beaten that bastard, even if it was through drink. What better revenge than that?”
“That’s pathetic revenge, if I’ve ever heard it.”
Song Do-hyeon shook his head. Such childish nonsense deserved no part of him.
“But listen, Do-hyeon.”
Han Seong-deok paused for a moment before continuing.
“You’re going to take this one back to the Lodging House.”
“Why should I—”
To saddle him with a drunk troublemaker—
Absolutely not.
As Song Do-hyeon opened his mouth to refuse, Han Seong-deok’s expression suddenly hardened.
“Because this whole thing started with you in the first place.”
“!”
The words struck him silent.
“Remember what you said? That someone working at a tavern looked down on us, that a Head Server was nothing special? That rumor you spread made life hell for poor Seong-deok for a whole month.”
“Tch……”
Song Do-hyeon turned away quietly, confronted by his own gossip.
He had nothing to refute.
It was the truth.
“So you’re going to tie up this loose end. Aren’t you?”
Before Song Do-hyeon could even answer, Han Seong-deok thrust Ha Yoon onto his back with all the finality of a man who would not be argued with.
Song Do-hyeon offered no resistance, simply accepting the situation as it unfolded.
“There we go!”
A moment later.
Han Seong-deok watched with satisfaction as Ha Yoon settled onto Song Do-hyeon’s back.
“Off you go, you lightweights—back to the Lodging House. The real drinkers are just getting started! Hahahaha!”
With that booming laugh, he turned and disappeared back into the tavern.
“……”
Left holding Ha Yoon, Song Do-hyeon stood motionless for a long moment.
By his nature, he would have set her down and walked away. Entanglement with others was not his way.
Looking after someone, bearing inconvenience for another’s sake—such things were entirely foreign to him.
But now that Han Seong-deok had so brazenly left her to him, if anything happened to Ha Yoon, the responsibility would fall squarely on his shoulders.
“Sigh……”
A short breath escaped him as he glanced back at Ha Yoon on his back.
Perhaps it was the bite of the night wind.
Or perhaps something else entirely.
The warmth emanating from her limp frame felt strangely comforting.
Warmth began to settle in Song Do-hyeon’s normally cold face.
“Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue softly, then seemed to decide. He adjusted his stance.
“!”
As he shifted Ha Yoon properly onto his back, he felt something was wrong.
‘Light?’
Ha Yoon was far lighter than he’d expected.
Even accounting for the way alcohol went slack in the muscles, Song Do-hyeon hadn’t anticipated this degree of weightlessness.
Then again, a person truly drunk should have felt heavier—the loss of muscle tension made it harder to maintain a center of balance.
But Ha Yoon’s frame was remarkably slight for an adult man.
Compared to other Head Servers of the same age, the difference in build was immediately apparent.
‘What is this sensation?’
The tactile impression transmitted through his back felt off somehow.
Soft. Oddly yielding.
The Hanbok’s characteristic loose-fitting upper garment meant Ha Yoon had never needed to hide anything in particular.
A light binding was all that was required—careful enough that no one had ever suspected a thing.
But with their bodies pressed directly together like this, concealment became impossible.
Song Do-hyeon tilted his head in confusion.
The discrepancies mounted—not one, but several.
‘That smell…’
A delicate fragrance drifted from near the nape of the neck.
Too heavy to be flower-scent, far too sweet to be alcohol.
It felt both familiar and utterly foreign—an enigmatic aroma.
Breathing it in, he felt his mind grow hazy despite not having touched a single cup of wine.
‘A Scent Pouch, perhaps?’
Intoxicated by the gentle fragrance, Song Do-hyeon found himself momentarily forgetting who he carried, and even that he should hurry on his way.
Then it happened.
A soft rustle.
“…!”
Ha Yoon’s arms suddenly wound around his neck.
“Mm… yes…”
Taken entirely off guard, Song Do-hyeon went rigid as though struck by lightning.
‘What is…!’
A shiver ran through his entire body, and his heart hammered wildly.
Not from fear.
Something difficult to articulate—a tingling, almost aching sensation bloomed in his chest.
One thing was certain: it wasn’t unpleasant.
If anything, he felt oddly… pleased.
Song Do-hyeon looked back at Ha Yoon, bewilderment written across his face.
‘Just what is this person…?’
Had he lost his mind?
Feeling this way toward a man?
The very fact of such emotion rising in him felt shameful and degrading.
Worse still—of all people, toward someone he most despised.
“Hey, Im Ha-seong. Undo this.”
Song Do-hyeon spoke in a voice deliberately threatening, but Ha Yoon—already passed out—could not possibly hear him.
“Mm… tteokbokki sounds delicious…”
As Ha Yoon mumbled sleepily, Song Do-hyeon’s brow furrowed.
“Tsk. What a shameless wretch…”
Confirming that Ha Yoon had truly lost consciousness, Song Do-hyeon exhaled quietly.
What that sigh meant, he could not have said.
He found himself subtly shifting his posture to make carrying Ha Yoon more comfortable, though the arms still wrapped around his neck remained precisely where they were.
“…”
For a moment he considered prying them loose by force, but ultimately decided against it.
Better if Ha Yoon didn’t wake.
That was all there was to it.
No other reason existed.
In the end, Song Do-hyeon made his way through the night still carrying Ha Yoon.
Along the empty streets, only the sound of his footsteps echoed softly.
Tonight, the path back to the Lodging House felt unusually short.
***
Shortly thereafter,
Song Do-hyeon returned to the Lodging House and headed straight for Ha Yoon’s room.
“This should be the right place, yes?”
Ha Yoon’s room had changed considerably since the first time he’d seen it.
Unlike that first day when there was nothing, her room was now filled with objects that bore the unmistakable stamp of her tastes.
Crafted ornaments, norigae, and elaborate jewelry.
Charming little pieces were scattered throughout the space.
“Not even a proper woman, and yet so many norigae….”
Song Do-hyeon muttered to himself as he surveyed Ha Yoon’s room.
It stood in stark contrast to his own bare quarters.
Song Do-hyeon’s room was always empty.
He kept nothing beyond what was necessary.
If you don’t fill your space, you can’t be wounded by it either.
Whether objects or hearts.
That was the way he had chosen.
……
Song Do-hyeon quietly withdrew his gaze.
Then he carefully laid Ha Yoon down on the bed.
……Hm?
That was when something began to catch his eye. His attention settled on the curve of Ha Yoon’s neck.
‘Something’s off about this.’
Ha Yoon’s neck was unusually fair and smooth.
Not even a trace of an Adam’s apple was visible.
While some might have one buried beneath the skin, it was rare to find one with so little trace at all.
“Wait, now that I think about it…….”
That strange feeling he’d experienced on the walk back through the night.
All those norigae filling the room.
A frame far too slight for a man.
And above all, that name—Im Ha-seong—which he felt certain he’d heard somewhere before.
Each piece on its own meant nothing much.
But when assembled together, a single possibility emerged.
“Could it be……?”
It was just as Song Do-hyeon was studying Ha Yoon’s face with newfound disbelief that the door opened.
“What are you doing in here, Manager Song?”
Suddenly, Yoon appeared in the doorway.
Song Do-hyeon quickly composed his expression.
“Ah, Manager Yoon.”
“This should be Manager Im’s room. What brings you here?”
Since there was nothing particular to hide, Song Do-hyeon laid out the facts plainly.
“We went to Cheongun-ru, and Manager Im ended up drinking too much, so I carried him back here.”
“Cheongun-ru? The two of you together?”
Yoon regarded them with some puzzlement at the news of their visit.
“Ah, Manager Han Seong-deok arranged it.”
“Well, that makes sense.”
Yoon nodded as though understanding dawned on him.
Yoon cast a sidelong glance at Ha Yoon. Passed out cold, Ha Yoon was breathing softly in sleep.
“Tsk tsk, that drunkard. Should’ve known better than to drink so much.”
Yoon shook his head ruefully.
“All right, you get on out. I’ll finish tidying up here.”
“Understood. Thank you for your trouble.”
Song Do-hyeon left Ha Yoon’s room.
Out in the hallway, he walked a few steps before coming to a stop.
Then he turned and looked back at Ha Yoon’s door.
……
Whoosh.
Song Do-hyeon swept a hand across the back of his neck.
It still seemed to carry the fragrance of Ha Yoon lingering there.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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