Boss, It's My First Time Being Your Resident - Chapter 34

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

Episode 34. The Uninvited Guest

“Thirty million won’s worth of debt — it runs deeper than you might think. Think you can handle it?”
“…I’m sorry?”

A-gang was completely at a loss for words as Ha Tae-heon drew closer with a shameless, playful expression.

One step, then another.

Backing away from Tae-heon’s leisurely approach, A-gang’s back suddenly touched the cold railing.

Trapped in the shadow Tae-heon cast above him, A-gang could no longer move.

Is this how a rabbit feels when it walks willingly into the lion’s den?

Ha Tae-heon up close was far more dangerous and far more overwhelming than anticipated. Dangerous enough to set off alarm bells ringing in his mind.

“You make me furious just by existing. Everything you do irritates me. Basically, you’re just being difficult!”

That was So-dam’s advice.

To escape the lion’s hunting range, one must cease to be prey worth his attention.
A lion takes no interest in mere fruit or grass, after all.

A-gang had plotted to slip out of Ha Tae-heon’s critical gaze and live peacefully in the Trauma Center, only to find himself suddenly trapped in the palm of his hand.

The shallow strategy to evade the lion’s claws had backfired, only deepening his interest instead.
Suddenly, everything swam before his eyes.

“No sincerity at all, A-gang.”

Tae-heon spoke softly, his gaze fixed on A-gang’s wavering pupils.

A subtle, slightly twisted smile tugged at Tae-heon’s lips as he relentlessly held A-gang’s trembling gaze.

A-gang could barely remember how to breathe.

He was too close.
His eyes, his warmth, his scent, his skin.

It was as though even his individual cells had been imprinted, etched sharply and vividly across A-gang’s entire being.

A-gang looked up at him helplessly, uncertain where to direct his gaze.

The quiet garden seemed to echo only with the thundering of his own heartbeat.

His eyes had grown as deep as a night sea, and A-gang momentarily forgot that this was someone he should be putting distance between himself and.

Tae-heon suddenly lowered his waist, fixing his gaze at the hesitant A-gang’s eye level.

His warm breath seeped through the cold night air, brushing against A-gang’s lips.

“How about we build this up a little?”

Why hadn’t he realized it then?

That all his schemes to distance himself had only pushed him further into Ha Tae-heon’s vast orbit.

And that the lion had already completed the hunt.

“Wait, wait! Sir! I think Noh-rok might be catching a cold, so I’m going to head out!”
“Noh-rok?”
“Oh, it’s a cactus I’m raising! I left it in the first-floor garden bed to get some sun earlier, and I just remembered! You said it’s going to rain tomorrow! The poor thing has a weak constitution, and it’ll be a disaster if it gets hit by the storm! So goodbye!”

A-gang blurted out a nonsensical excuse and slipped out from between Tae-heon’s arms, sprinting toward the rooftop door.

Tae-heon watched A-gang’s retreating figure, his flushed cheeks cradled in his palms.

Then came a heavy thud.
The dull sound of impact against the door echoed across the quiet rooftop.

“Must have scraped your knees pretty badly,”

Tae-heon pulled out his smartphone, listening as if savoring the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs.

[Seoul: Chance of Rain 0%]

Beneath a cloudless sky, Tae-heon stood alone on the rooftop, a hollow laugh escaping him as he brushed his lips with his fingertips.

Starlight poured down on the rooftop in an unusually transparent spring night.

***

Early in the morning, Tae-heon parked his car in the lot and made his way toward the Main Building.

Or should he feign ignorance while being mischievous about it?

More than once, he’d felt the urge to tease him whenever those little crescent-shaped eyebrows creased in such a pitiable way.

Every time those sparkling eyes looked up at him, he was willing to be mesmerized.

Did he not realize his purpose here was anything but pure?

Yet A-gang appeared out of nowhere, ravaged his chest, and escaped without a care. It infuriated him.

Maddening, that’s what he was.

“What is it? You’re still pretending you don’t know me?”

“Yeah, hello. Been a while.”
“You’re still blunt, and you’re still ridiculously handsome. Infuriatingly so.”
“Aren’t you busy?”

“….”
“That’s right. If you see me as a woman, ignore me like you’re doing now. But if you see me as a professional collaborator, then spare me a moment to talk.”

Tae-heon’s footsteps finally halted.

Yu-ju caught her breath and played her trump card toward Tae-heon’s back.

“I took on this program because I wanted things to work out between us.”

***

The Garden Bench across from the Main Building, revisited after two years.

Yu-ju smiled wistfully, remembering those days when she would sit here for three, four hours at a time, waiting like a stone monument just to catch a glimpse of Tae-heon’s face.

“Do you want to know why I suggested we come here?”

Yu-ju pointed with her fingertip to the steep steps at the entrance of the Main Building.

Despite sitting beside him, Tae-heon’s dry demeanor never shifted — it was clearly nothing new — and Yu-ju managed a composed smile.

Yu-ju had not forgotten a single moment of that day, seven years ago.

Back when she was an aspiring announcer. It was a day when rain poured down in sheets — the day she encountered Ha Tae-heon as if by fate.

She was hurrying in quick little steps toward her camera test, dressed in a suit a size too small and wearing high heels.

Her feet slipped in the rainwater, and as she stumbled at the edge of the broadcasting station entrance, her heel snapped and she twisted her ankle.

In her despair, sprawled across the ground, a man had approached her like a savior, breaking through the curtain of rain to offer his hand.

A tall, handsome man with an icy aura as though frost had settled upon him even in midsummer. Ha Tae-heon.

“Rain was pouring, cabs wouldn’t stop, and my camera test was already a lost cause. I was sobbing, and you carried me to the hospital on your back.”

Yu-ju smiled sadly, reminiscing about the warmth of that day.

“I missed that once-in-a-year SBC open recruitment exam, but strangely, I felt thrilled? I wasn’t sad at all about missing it.”

That’s what Ha Tae-heon was to her.
Yu-ju gazed at Tae-heon’s face intently, her eyes glistening.

“Meeting you seemed more miraculous than those 2,300-to-1 odds for an announcer position.”

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