Contract Marriage with a Male Friend - Chapter 16

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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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#16

Beom Jin rifled through the jacket pocket of the collapsed man.
He pulled out a tiny USB, and with his business apparently concluded, turned away without hesitation.
“Ugh…….”
“Dispose of him.”
“P-please, Director Dok Go…… Just once…… I was wrong.”
The blood-soaked middle-aged man barely managed to flip himself over, crawling frantically to grasp at Beom Jin’s pant leg.
“Look at me begging like this, hmm? I…… I must’ve lost my mind for a moment. To betray the Chairman’s trust over such pittance, I must be insane…….”
“Director Jung, you heard what Director Kim Min Seok just confessed, didn’t you? Report it to the Chairman exactly as he said.”
“Yes, understood.”
When the men in white dress shirts tore him from Beom Jin and hauled him upright between them, Kim Min Seok thrashed and shrieked.
“P-please, Director Dok Go! I’m begging you! Like this, I’m begging!”
“Suit yourself.”
Beom Jin had replied with indifference and was just stepping forward when it came.
“If I tell you where the rest of the files are, will you…… s-save me?”
Stop.
Beom Jin halted in his tracks, his head tilting back slowly.
“I know exactly where they are! They haven’t been handed over to anyone else yet, I swear!”
Beom Jin exhaled shortly, then let out a soft laugh.
“There was only ever one person in this world who could make me turn around.”
Now there were two.
He spun around and strode purposefully back toward Director Kim Min Seok.
“So you’re saying you can tell me where the rest of the files are.”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
Kim Min Seok nodded frantically, as though possessed.
“Then your position will become even stronger, Director Dok Go. The board will back you too. I guarantee it.”
Power. Power, he says.
Beom Jin’s eyes narrowed to slits.
In truth, he harbored no attachment to authority whatsoever.
Even if his family cast him out and had him struck from the family register, it meant nothing to him.
What he wanted was not the Kangho Group’s leadership, but An Sui’s family.
The only reason Beom Jin still held a position at the Kangho Group was because of her.
Because he needed power to protect that girl.
Since his family knew of An Sui’s existence, Beom Jin had to consolidate some degree of standing.
Otherwise, she would only be exploited from all sides and suffer for it.
“Who else knows about these files?”
“Just me and An Myeong Jae, who holds them.”
An Myeong Jae…….
A sharp-eyed, contemptible-looking middle-aged man materialized in Beom Jin’s mind.
He carried a similar air to the one he’d disciplined before for harassing An Sui.
So that’s why Grandfather says physiognomy is a science.
“He said he’d hand the files over to President Dok Go Jin Su of Dok Go Construction and Executive Director Dok Go Seung Jin.”
Dok Go Jin Su and Dok Go Seung Jin were his uncle and cousin—the elder branch of the family who received the Chairman’s abundant favor and regarded Beom Jin as a thorn in their side.
Simultaneously, they were the ones most likely to put An Sui in mortal danger.
“You’re capable of retrieving them, Director Kim?”
“Y-yes, p-please, just trust me. Besides An Myeong Jae, I alone know the location and the password.”
“If you’re lying, you won’t meet the family you cherish, not even in the afterlife.”
You won’t even be recognizable.
Understanding Beom Jin’s implication, Kim Min Seok’s face went ashen as he nodded compulsively.
“Take him.”
“Yes, sir.”
Once inside the black van, Beom Jin peeled off his blood-spattered shirt and changed into a fresh white dress shirt that had been waiting for him.
He buttoned it completely, fastened his cuffs, then reached into the jacket hanging in the van, slipping his hand into its inner pocket.
“…….”
His eyes darkened as he checked the screen.
Missed calls: 0.
Spam messages: 1.
Voicemails: 0.
Still no word from An Sui.
As expected.

“I need to focus on something really important, so don’t bother me.”

Having forced herself to say such harsh words just to put distance between them, of course she wouldn’t call.
True, he could have reached out first.
He could have stopped her a week ago when she left his place.
But Beom Jin hadn’t done that.
To An Sui, Beom Jin was nothing but a loyal dog who kept his word.
And the less she contacted him, the more she’d worry and think of him.
So Beom Jin had been working through the backlog of tasks that had piled up.
Orders from Chairman Dok Go Hyeong Jun.
And work like today’s—strengthening his own position to protect An Sui.
Having always arranged his schedule around hers, the tasks Beom Jin needed to handle had accumulated like mountains.
As a result, he had no breathing room, pushing through relentless, rough work day after day.
Yet being busy could not make him forget her.
The longer he went without seeing her, the deeper the longing grew.
Sitting across from her, sharing meals.
Walking side by side, talking.
Every time he remembered her looking at him and smiling so radiantly, something that had been precariously holding together inside him began to slowly unravel.
His subordinates suffered for it, having to attend to a man so sensitive to atmospheric pressure.
‘One more week to endure.’
Beom Jin gazed quietly at a photograph of An Sui, then exhaled deeply.
“……Hah.”
He missed An Sui so desperately he felt he might die.
He wanted to call her right now to hear her voice, to run to her and gaze at her face before pulling her tight against his chest.
He wanted to press his lips to hers, intertwine their tongues, and push himself deep into her warmth and passion.
Like that night.
“…….”
Click.
The sound of a seatbelt being undone echoed through the van.

“Ah, Beom Jin…….”
“What? You don’t like it? You said my body’s good.”
“It’s too fast, slow down…… Ah!”
“It’s okay. We have all night.”

The image surfaced of An Sui accepting his lips, tears glistening at the corners of her eyes.
Her face flushed crimson.
Her eyes glistening wet.
Her lips swollen.
The moans spilling from between them. His name.
“Ah, An Sui…….”
Her body had been far more beautiful than he’d imagined.
Warm and soft, and her taste was as sweet as to make his tongue ache.
Though he despised sweetness, he knew he could never tire of that flavor, no matter how many lifetimes he lived it.

“Relax your legs, An Sui. If you hurt yourself, what then.”
“Please…… stop…… It’s too much.”
“Warm’s better than cold, anyway. Women’s bodies need warmth. Especially there.”

The image of An Sui arching her back sharply the moment his tongue touched her, gripping the sheets and moaning—it kept resurfacing, threatening to drive him mad.
“An Sui…… An Sui…….”
Beom Jin’s arm muscles tensed with strain.
The wet sounds intensified.

“Wait, if you do it like that…… Ah! There, you s-scratched…….”
“It’s fine. Scratch me more. Actually, dig your nails in.”
“How can you…… Ah, Beom Jin. It’s too much, you’re too big.”

Even as she said it, An Sui didn’t let him go.
Not for a single moment.
“Nngh……!”
Beom Jin breathed in harsh, ragged gasps.
Looking down at his sticky palms, he leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes.
“……Damn.”
Pathetic.
Not some adolescent having a wet dream.
……Or was he?
Since the moment he first saw An Sui until now, Beom Jin had always comforted himself by thinking of her.
He had never once thought of anyone else.
Beom Jin’s sole life goal was to become An Sui’s family.
He desperately and achingly wished for her to depend only on him, to respond only to his touch, to never let anyone else into her heart.
So…… he had to endure.
Because nothing in this world comes without pain.
If he could just weather this brief suffering, he would spend the rest of his life immersed in sweetness.
‘I miss you, An Sui.’

***

“Today was really fun.”
Ki Ju Won, who had pulled over momentarily, turned toward An Sui.
“And even more special because I got to see you.”
“Ah…… Yes. I’m glad.”
“Next time, let’s eat somewhere even nicer, you and I.”
Next time? You and I?
“I think we should do that when we have a proper blind date. Today was just a preview, after all, so you can look forward to it.”
An Sui could see it clearly.
The transparent tail wagging rapidly back and forth behind Ki Ju Won.
“I’ll make sure you don’t regret spending time with me, An Sui.”

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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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