Collateral Should Act Like Collateral

“Even when I’m trying to take the harder route on purpose, you won’t even help me with that.”

“…….”

“I’m a creditor who’s supposed to collect money from Hayan’s father.”

“You didn’t forget that, right?”

“…Yes.”

“And who knows what I might do to your father to get that money back.”

“So it’s better if you just cooperate nicely.”

‘Are kids these days always this strangely clever?’

Letting out a light sigh, Shin I-hyeok shook his head.

Ju Hayan, who had been silent the entire time, replied quietly.

“But my dad is the one who borrowed the money, so it’s right that you collect it.”

“What?”

“If someone borrows money, it’s only natural they should pay it back.”

“So I don’t think badly about that anymore.”

“Of course… I can’t exactly say it was good either….”

“And besides, regardless of that, it’s true that you’ve been kind to me.”

“If you grabbed any random person on the street and asked them, they’d probably say the same.”

“Huh….”

This time, it seemed she had organized her thoughts beforehand.

Instead of shrinking back, she pushed back with a decent argument.

Without realizing it, Shin I-hyeok let out a dry laugh.

She continued speaking stubbornly, as if refusing to lose.

She had been obedient the whole time, but perhaps spending a night under the same roof had loosened her up a little.

Even her tone sounded noticeably more relaxed.

Should he consider that admirable?

When the car stopped at a signal, Shin I-hyeok tilted his head toward her and asked,

“So what exactly are you trying to say?”

His voice floated oddly, mixed with displeasure, curiosity, and a faint trace of amusement.

Startled by the prompt, Ju Hayan hesitated instead of answering immediately.

In truth, Shin I-hyeok had cornered her so aggressively that it made things seem worse, but in their contractual relationship, the one who had done wrong was actually her father.

If he borrowed money, he should have paid it back properly.

And if that wasn’t possible, he should have at least tried to find another solution.

But running away outright?

Even if Shin I-hyeok said it wasn’t a large amount, it was enough to cover Ju Hayan’s entire four years of tuition with money left over.

If someone ran off with that much money, even Ju Hayan would chase them down right away.

Ju Hayan gradually found herself wanting to separate Shin I-hyeok from the situation she had been forced into.

Someone who had been abandoned even by their parents would naturally feel grateful toward the person who took them in and helped them.

“…Thank you.”

Whenever she had a clear goal she pushed forward without hesitation.

But now that she was finally stating her conclusion, she felt a little embarrassed.

In the end, there had only been one thing she had sincerely wanted to say since yesterday.

When Ju Hayan smiled at having accomplished her goal, Shin I-hyeok looked baffled but ended up smiling along with her.

“Fine.”

“Do whatever you want.”

“Whether you thank me or hate me.”

After saying that much, Shin I-hyeok paused for a moment before continuing.

“But don’t suddenly change your mind halfway through and run away.”

“Just thinking about having to track you down too gives me a headache.”

“A collateral should act like collateral.”

His voice had softened considerably as he said it.

Shin I-hyeok reached over and brushed his hand through Ju Hayan’s hair.

By now she had apparently grown used to his touch.

Ju Hayan neither flinched nor tried to avoid him anymore.

“Go inside.”

After returning to his house, they washed up and ate together.

While Shin I-hyeok moved around the kitchen insisting on preparing the meal himself, Ju Hayan awkwardly wandered behind him.

She got caught doing so and ended up being hugged out of nowhere.

When she tried to run away, Shin I-hyeok caught her and pulled her into an embrace tight enough to make her chest feel compressed.

He pretended to kiss the top of her hair a couple of times before shooing her back into the living room.

Hearing suspicious smacking sounds above her head, Ju Hayan quickly raised her hands to cover her hair.

Startled, she sat quietly on the sofa.

Since yesterday he had been acting strangely casual with her.

But physical contact was still unbearably awkward and uncomfortable.

Just a month ago she had been surrounded by a group of rough teenage boys who swore constantly the closer they were.

This kind of ticklish, affectionate contact was something she could barely remember ever receiving even from her parents.

“Ugh….”

Ju Hayan roughly rubbed down her goosebumped arms.

He was truly an impossible man to figure out.

“When you open the menu, a list will pop up.”

“Pick whatever you want to watch.”

While Shin I-hyeok cleaned up after the meal, Ju Hayan fiddled with the TV remote.

It had been Shin I-hyeok who suggested watching a movie since it was the weekend.

Ju Hayan had happily agreed.

Next to the large television standing against the living room wall were equally large speakers, making the sound surprisingly vivid.

Both the screen and audio quality were completely different from the old TV she used to watch that constantly crackled with static.

“Come here and eat.”

While she was browsing movies, Shin I-hyeok returned with fruit for dessert.

He stretched out his arm toward her, signaling for her to sit closer.

Ju Hayan immediately shook her head.

Perhaps his earlier comment about liking physical contact had been a declaration of war.

He naturally reached out his hand toward her.

Ju Hayan felt too awkward to comply so easily.

And besides, the sofa was so wide that there was no real reason for them to sit pressed together.

Leaning her upper body forward, Ju Hayan grabbed a fork and quickly speared a piece of fruit.

Then she straightened back up.

“Thank you for the food.”

She pulled her legs onto the sofa and sat with her knees raised, chewing on a strawberry while shaking her head.

Unexpectedly, Shin I-hyeok withdrew his hand without complaint.

His smiling face looked suspicious.

But he didn’t press her any further.

“Jane! Please be—….”

The movie was an American chase thriller.

After hearing that his wife, who had traveled abroad for a business trip, had gone missing, the husband flies to a foreign country where he has no connections.

But just as he has no idea how to find her, a freckled girl with glasses appears claiming to know about the culprit and joins him in the search.

The movie had a lot of action and the direction was quite impressive.

But the drowsiness after eating was stronger.

She thought she had been paying attention at least until the middle.

But at some point her eyes closed.

The body that had been curled up slowly slackened and leaned against the back of the sofa.

The story had just entered a temporary lull, so she intended to simply close her eyes for a moment.

But when she opened them again, her view was upside down.

It took her a beat to realize she was lying with her head resting on someone’s thigh.

Shin I-hyeok had been patting the arm resting beneath a blanket.

When he noticed her slight movements, he covered her eyes with his hand.

“Sleep more.”

His voice was slightly deeper, perhaps from not speaking for a long while.

Since when had she been leaning on him like this?

Ju Hayan slowly opened and closed her eyes.

She needed to sit up immediately.

She knew that in her head.

But her body refused to cooperate.

For a while she stubbornly blinked her heavy eyelids.

Eventually her vision darkened completely as she closed her eyes again.

‘I need to get up.’

‘He must be uncomfortable too.’

But the hazy pull of sleep steadily swallowed Ju Hayan.

Soon after, she felt Shin I-hyeok’s hand move away.

The noisy movie sounds that had been filling her ears gradually faded into silence.

“But have you ever changed your phone by yourself before?”

“No.”

“Of course not.”

“Man, you’re going to get ripped off again.”

“Hey, try to look intimidating.”

“Like you’ve got a terrible personality.”

At Lee Jonghun’s words, Ju Hayan furrowed her brows until deep wrinkles formed between them.

Soon her forehead started to ache, and she relaxed her expression while rubbing the creased skin.

Was this really helping at all?

Lee Jonghun had dragged her here saying you could easily get ripped off when buying a phone.

But he was acting even more dramatic than she was.

Grabbing the nervous Lee Jonghun who kept fidgeting outside the store, Ju Hayan pushed open the transparent glass door.

The phone store was brighter than necessary.

Posters of newly released phones lined the walls.

Sample phones filled the display stands arranged around the interior.

Without realizing it, she approached the table in the center to examine a phone when a clerk’s voice came from inside.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“Ah, no….”

“I’m just… here to change my phone.”

“I see.”

“That model was released on the first of this month.”

“The camera has improved a lot compared to the previous series, and the design is very sleek.”

The clerk rushed over as soon as he heard she wanted to change her phone and stood beside Ju Hayan.

He placed the tethered display phone in her hand as if she absolutely had to buy it.

After listening to the explanation with an uncertain expression, Ju Hayan soon set the phone back down on the stand.

If it was a new release, the price would surely be high.

And she didn’t have the means to afford that.

She had already had something else in mind to buy.

“Which phones here are free phones or have the biggest subsidies?”

Ju Hayan pointed toward the sign stuck on the store window outside that read:

[FREE PHONE – 100% SUBSIDY]

“Ah, yes.”

“So you’re looking for the free phone section.”

The clerk’s enthusiastic attitude from earlier cooled down slightly.

Still maintaining professional politeness, he guided Ju Hayan to a different display.

Their position shifted from the center of the store to a corner.

“This model was released two years ago.”

“But since it came out near the end of the year, you can think of it as being about one year old.”

“It’s the newest option among the cheaper models.”

“Ah, okay.”

“The available colors are white, black, and navy.”

“Would you like to see the other colors?”

“Yes.”

Opening a drawer beneath the display stand, the clerk pulled out mock-up phones.

He lined up three color samples.

Since Ju Hayan had been using a flip phone until now, every feature sounded impressive no matter what he said.

She listened to the clerk’s long explanation with one ear and let it pass out the other.

Instead of focusing on the features, Ju Hayan examined the design.

She eventually chose the white one.

While writing the contract, the clerk joked that she had picked the same color as her name.

Ju Hayan awkwardly laughed along.

She didn’t know much about phones in the first place, so there wasn’t much to deliberate over.

Once she chose the newest phone among the cheap options, all that remained was filling out paperwork.

The process turned out to be simpler than expected.

Lee Jonghun, sitting beside her, contributed mainly by sitting there looking serious.

When the clerk explained that the phone itself was almost free but the first three months of service fees would be expensive, Ju Hayan nodded while pouting her lips slightly.

No matter how much money she saved, it kept slipping away through unexpected expenses.

“So this is really your first time using a smartphone?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s kind of fascinating.”

After finishing up and leaving the shop, Ju Hayan stared at the phone in her hand.

It wouldn’t be activated for another hour, so it didn’t even have a signal yet.

All her friends already used smartphones, so she had seen how they worked from the sidelines.

But having one of her own felt strange.

As Ju Hayan examined the app drawer that only had basic apps installed, Lee Jonghun casually slung his arm over her shoulder.

“Let’s go somewhere first.”

“It’s cold.”

“Let’s eat.”

“Where should we go?”

“I’m good with anything.”

“Oh, let’s go somewhere with Wi-Fi.”

“I’ll show you how to use it.”

“Okay.”

“But how do we know if a place has Wi-Fi?”

“No idea.”

“Let’s just wander around.”

“If not, I’ll turn on my hotspot.”

Boldly leading the way, Lee Jonghun turned on Wi-Fi scanning on his phone.

After circling downtown twice, he finally found a restaurant with the strongest signal.

Lee Jonghun barely ate as he busily explained how to use the smartphone.

Naturally Ju Hayan had to listen carefully as well.

By the time they left the restaurant, Ju Hayan’s phone already had nearly ten apps installed—even before the activation had finished.

While walking down the street she kept staring at her phone.

Only when Lee Jonghun teased her for already acting like an addict did she awkwardly slip it back into her pocket.

Ding—

After pressing the doorbell attached to the tall gate, Ju Hayan lifted the bundle of toilet paper rolls she was hugging in her arms.

She stepped back a little.

Embarrassed that her face might appear on the intercom camera, she tried to hide herself.

But even after waiting for a moment, there was no response from inside.

He had definitely said he had no plans to go out today.

Finally, flustered, she pressed the doorbell again.

This time she leaned her face close to the camera.

Only then did the gate click open.

A little puzzled yet somewhat relieved, she stepped into the narrow yard.

Shin I-hyeok had already come outside and was holding the front door open.

Ju Hayan hurried her steps slightly as she approached.

Seeing that she was carrying something tightly in her arms, Shin I-hyeok tilted his head to the side.