Leave the Hero's Ex-Girlfriend Alone! - Chapter 6

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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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Leave the hero’s ex-girlfriend alone!
EP06
If hell is measured in time, I’d say it’s right about now.
“One more person’s coming. They said they’ll be a little late.”
Team Leader Gyeong-un set the menu down and spoke.
The dinner was arranged to celebrate the promotion plan I’d been wrestling with for a month, which had finally passed without a hitch.
I’d hoped the evening would quietly come and go.
But how could it be quiet?
My lawsuit was already being chewed over like a side dish.
“Still, I’m glad you’re okay. I heard it was really dangerous.”
“Right? So how did it all get sorted out?”
By now, it was a familiar routine.
I kept my lips pressed into an awkward smile and said nothing.
I was through with having that guy’s name come out of my mouth.
“So connections really do matter, huh? Ah, sorry. He’s in a different world from us, right?”
The jab, tossed out with a playful lilt, made my grip tighten around my chopsticks.
My insides were churning, but one reaction from me here, and I could already see myself enduring even more whispering tomorrow.
Ugh, I just want to go home already.
The dinner had only just started, and I was already drained.
Just then, the restaurant door opened.
Everyone’s gaze swung toward it at once.
No one had said hello yet, but I could tell from the table’s reaction.
He wore a neat shirt and black slacks, just as always, and his injured shoulder looked so perfectly fine that no one would guess he’d spent time in a hospital.
“Sorry I’m late.”
He tossed out a greeting with that same calm, unbothered expression he always wore.
“I’ve never seen him in person… Alpha, you’re seriously amazing.”
“He’s really handsome.”
“Should I get his autograph later?”
The staff all seemed busy whispering among themselves.
What’s so great about someone like that…
I gnawed on my chopsticks and grumbled under my breath.
“Why’s everyone suddenly quiet? Were you talking about me?”
With a face that looked like he knew absolutely nothing.
No, with a face that pretended not to know what he obviously knew.
He asked with a faint, knowing smile.
“Oh, no! We weren’t saying anything.”
“Of course. Right. Everyone?”
Now they were all scrambling to make excuses, every one of them.
He glanced around, then came over toward where I was sitting.
“Is this seat taken?”
He asked as he sat down right beside me.
He’d asked, but he was already sitting.
“It was empty a second ago, and now it isn’t.”
I answered grudgingly.
I had no idea why he’d come to a dinner for someone else’s company.
“Alpha, what brings you here?”
Someone asked with a teasing grin.
“I’m a model, so how could I not come?”
His reason was that he wanted to thank the people who had gone through so much trouble for him.
I was the one who worked so hard, so why doesn’t he thank me?
Having finished his greetings, Alpha turned his head toward me.
“So you got the PowerPoint sorted this time?”
He said with a smile.
I stopped mid-sip, my water glass still in hand.
Something about this felt ominous.
“…Why?”
“At the internal presentation, when you were flipping the slides, there was graffiti all over my face-!”
He had one corner of his mouth curled up, and his eyes were brimming with mischief.
“…Do you really have to bring that up here, of all places?”
“Why not? It’s funny. Your PowerPoint skills seem to have improved quite a bit.”
“Oh? Then should we do the Association’s restructuring presentation too? You’ll be the first to get the axe.”
“Getting fired by you would be an honor.”
Irritated even by that answer, I reflexively picked up my chopsticks and pressed them hard against his forearm.
Just then, someone glanced over at us and spoke up.
“Are you two seeing each other again these days?”
The conversation at the table cut off instantly, and the air shifted in a subtle way.
I blinked, wondering if I’d heard wrong, and my head snapped back into focus.
“N-”
“No.”
He was the first to speak.
“That’s not going to happen.”
Everyone seemed to forget their whispering at Alpha’s firm tone.
The person who had just spouted that nonsense tried to open their mouth again.
“Oh, is that so? Then-”
“I’m absolutely against office romance.”
He said it with a smile, but those words rang unusually clear.
Halo was technically an affiliate of the Association, so strictly speaking it wasn’t an office romance. Still, I had no desire to pick that fight.
People chimed in one after another with things like, “Right, that’s true,” and “Honestly, I’m not really into office romance either…”
My stomach churned strangely.
It felt like the meat I’d eaten at this already uncomfortable dinner had lodged in my gut.
Stifling the unease, I clenched my fist and lightly thumped my chest a few times.
Just then, he wordlessly slid the water glass sitting on the table toward me.
He didn’t say anything in particular, yet for some reason it irritated me.
While everyone’s attention was fully on him, I quietly got up from my seat.
“Where are you going?”
That familiar voice brushed against my back.
“…Restroom.”
I answered curtly and hurried off as if fleeing, repeating to myself.
This isn’t running away. It’s a strategic retreat.
* * *
The grill had gone cold a long while ago, and the chatter around the tables had gradually faded.
Team Leader Gyeong-un was the first to rise from his seat and said,
“Thanks, everyone~ See you tomorrow.”
Only then did people begin gathering their things one by one, getting up naturally as if no one had gone first.
Everyone was smiling on the surface, but no doubt they were already mapping out the fastest route home in their heads.
Alpha headed to the counter, saying he’d cover the bill, while Assistant Manager Jung laughed as he picked up his bag.
“Haesoo, get home safe.”
“Yes, you too, Assistant Manager.”
While we exchanged goodbyes and clapped each other on the shoulder with smiles, I quietly got up and stepped outside.
The moment I hit the street, the oily, boozy smell peculiar to dinners like this clung to my clothes and followed me.
I just wanted to wash up quickly and go to sleep.
My vision wobbled unsteadily.
One block, two blocks… As I walked on, a thirst I couldn’t quite explain came over me, and I stopped in front of a vending machine.
It was an old-fashioned machine that looked half broken.
I slid in my card and pressed the button to get some water.
Clunk.
Clu…
Clu…nk.
Was the vending machine mocking me too? The water had no intention of coming out.
“Wow, you’re ignoring me too…? I’ve been ignored enough today, you know?”
I pressed my face right against the machine and mumbled.
Just then, a shadow fell beside my face.
“Maybe if you beg like that, the vending machine will be touched.”
“…Huh?”
When I turned my head, a man with his hood pulled deep stood there.
He tapped the side of the machine, tap-tap, then bent down and pulled out a bottle of water.
From the very machine that, for some reason, hadn’t responded to the button I’d pressed.
“Here you go.”
I accepted the bottle he held out, caught off guard.
The cold bottle touched my fingertips, and my mind seemed to clear a little.
“…How did you manage to pull this off?”
He lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug.
“The old-fashioned way is always the best, right?”
He said it in a tone I couldn’t read: half joke, half sincere.
“Still, walking around alone is dangerous, you know.”
At that, I lifted my head again and studied his face.
He looked familiar somehow. But… I couldn’t place where I’d seen him.
A faint sense of déjà vu.
All that lingered was the feeling that I had seen him somewhere before.
“Have we… met before?”
He flinched, just slightly.
Then he smiled carefully and said,
“That line’s a little stale, don’t you think?”
His tone was playful, but something like strange relief flickered through his eyes.
For some reason, that expression looked oddly pleased.
Just as he seemed about to say something more—
My phone buzzed.
Text
Now

Pick up and your salary gets frozen
I glanced at the screen out of habit, and by the time I looked up again, he was gone.
“…What, are you a ghost?”
I stared blankly at the empty street, where not even a shadow remained, then started walking again.
“You vanished from the dinner without a word. I thought you’d been kidnapped again.”
A voice rang out from right behind me.
I turned in surprise, and this time a very familiar face stood there.
Phone pressed to his ear, he was walking toward me unhurriedly.
“This time, I’m running away.”
I answered with a scowl.
“Try to tell me before you leave, at least.”
“Who cares.”
I couldn’t shake what had happened at the dinner, and for some reason my words came out sharp today.
He seemed to sense my mood, and all the way home, he didn’t say much at all.
He just quietly followed behind me.
We walked in silence for a while, until I spotted something rustling faintly in the flower bed.
They say drunkenness breeds curiosity, don’t they?
I walked straight toward the thing.
Very carefully. Very quietly.
“What? Why’d you stop?”
Alpha suddenly came up beside me and said it.
“Shh!”
I pressed a finger to my lips and signaled him to keep quiet.
Everything held its breath in that moment.
I suddenly jumped to my feet and hoisted something up with both arms.
Just like a scene from an animated film.
“Simbaaaaaa-!!”
Alpha stumbled back on instinct.
The look of terror on his face was quite a sight.
Holding a cat, pitch-black from head to tail, I advanced on him.
Alpha yelled at me to stay back.
Seeing him hate it this much, I figured he had it coming. Serves him right.
* * *
A faint touch brushed my shoulder.
With my eyes half-closed, I slowly steadied my breathing.
Maybe the alcohol hadn’t left me yet. My head was still foggy.
I live alone, I’m sure of it…
When I turned my head slightly, a fall of black hair covered one side of my vision.
I stopped breathing.
My body knew before my mind did: someone was sleeping beside me.
“…No way.”
I slowly pulled back the blanket.
And what greeted me was—
Black fur, round eyes, an aloof posture…
“…A cat?”
And not just any cat. A deep, inky black one.
The black cat lay beside me, staring up with a prim, self-satisfied air.
Somehow, it reminded me of that guy, and that rubbed me the wrong way.
I clutched my head, bit down hard on my lip, and muttered.
“When did I… even bring you here…?”
The black cat watched me for a moment, then suddenly wriggled deep beneath the blanket.

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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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