AC! – Chapter 2

“Um, actually, I’m not the kind of person who just goes around asking people for favors.”

Sowon gave an awkward smile and slung her handbag over one shoulder. Perhaps the sudden change in her attitude seemed suspicious, because Kangjun narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Given the circumstances… would you mind taking off your boots? As you can see, I’m wearing heels….”

She flicked her gaze from her glossy shoes to the rubber boots half-buried in the muddy rice paddy. He ran a hand through his hair.

“So you’re the shameless type.”

“Excuse me?”

“First, you blame others. Now you’re coveting someone else’s boots.”

“No, of course not! I’m just asking to borrow them for a moment—just a very short moment.”

Sowon waved both hands frantically in explanation. Being treated like a brazen delinquent right off the bat scraped at her nerves, but this wasn’t the time to argue back.

“It’s not because of the heels. I just… personally hate places like this. Muddy places.”

She even added an explanation she didn’t need to give, trying not to offend the man who had put her in this situation. It was pathetic, she knew—but she truly loathed rice paddies.

Even though she had grown up in the countryside for half her life.

It wasn’t just the color. The texture—squishy and gritty at the same time—was unpleasant. More than anything, she hated the way it seemed to clutch at her feet and trap them.

And then—

She had been staring at the water pooled in the paddy, her expression stiffening, when her eyes suddenly widened. A frog sprang up from the mud and landed on the floor of the roadster.

For a split second, her mind went blank. Swallowing a scream, she lunged at Kangjun as if shoving him—only to cling to him instead.

Her arms wrapped around his neck; her legs wound around his firm waist in quick succession. As she squeezed her eyes shut, she felt heat radiating from him, as though someone had plastered hot packs all over her body.

“What are you doing?” Kangjun asked, sounding incredulous.

Sowon shook her head and curled into herself desperately.

Casting a horrified glance behind her, she saw that a tree frog had now settled comfortably on the front passenger seat. Its slick green back gleamed in the sunlight.

It hadn’t even croaked, but she could hear an exaggerated croaking in her head anyway. Her body trembled.

“Frogs usually live in rice paddies.”

Having roughly grasped the situation, Kangjun spoke as if it were no big deal. He had a talent for stating the obvious in an irritating way. But her startled breath was still lodged in her throat, and no reply came.

She could only cling to him and freeze in place.

Ha. A short sigh brushed past her ear.

A moment later, Kangjun strode toward the edge of the paddy.

“How long do you plan on hanging on?”

“Oh.”

Looking around, she realized they had already reached safer ground.

Sowon hurriedly loosened her arms from around his neck and stepped onto a patch of relatively firm soil.

As she was wondering how to climb up the embankment—which rose to her chest—he leapt up first with ease. After knocking the mud off his boots with a few light taps, he extended a hand. The gesture was indifferent.

“…I’m fine.”

Only after seeing his large, solid hand—thick veins standing out—did embarrassment creep in. She stubbornly refused the help and braced herself against the embankment to climb up.

In that instant, her foot slipped. She lost her balance. Her body wobbled awkwardly.

“Mom!”

If she fell here, she’d be mortified for life. She flailed her arms and barely managed to brace herself against something in front of her.

Under her palm, she felt something long. Thick. Hard.

Blink.

Sowon’s stiff gaze lifted upward.

Over his loose military trousers, there was an unmistakable outline she could not possibly ignore.

“Uh…?”

The moment she recognized what it was, she recoiled in shock and snatched her hand away.

The balance she had barely regained collapsed instantly. Mud-stained military pants, the man’s furrowed face, the blue sky—all flickered across her vision in turn.

And then—

His large hand again.

He reached out to grab her, but instead of taking it, Sowon hid her arms behind her back.

She would rather fall into the paddy.

If she grabbed that hand now, it would definitely turn into an even more embarrassing situation.

Let it hurt a little. With a resigned smile, she braced herself for the coming pain.

At that moment, a familiar sigh sounded above her head.

“You’re high-maintenance.”

At the same time, her wrist was seized, and she was pulled into his solid chest as if being wrapped up.

** SPLASH—! **

The last shreds of her dignity scattered in every direction along with the muddy water.

Self-loathing surged in like a storm.

Bluster. Stubbornness. Even accidental groping.

She didn’t want to admit it, but the one causing trouble right now was her.

“You’re really something, Miss Bang Sowon.”

At the faintly incredulous voice, Sowon slowly opened her eyes.

The first thing she saw was a broad, flat chest. Lifting her gaze slightly higher, she found his handsome face tinged with disbelief.

Forget the installment payments or anything else.

She just wanted to die on the spot.

***

Two emigrant suitcases were loaded onto the trunk of the Porter, already piled high with farming tools and miscellaneous odds and ends.

Clutching her handbag, now ruined with muddy water, Sowon climbed into the passenger seat. Since he was always going around with dirt on him, she had expected the inside of the vehicle to be similar, but contrary to that assumption, it sparkled.

There wasn’t a speck of dust on the dashboard, and the windows were so clear they looked as though there were no glass at all.

Why is it so clean? There wasn’t even the smell of sweat—if anything, it smelled nice.

She was looking around in mild surprise when the driver’s door opened. Kangjun, now covered in mud, tilted his head slightly and met her eyes.

“Over there—take the water bottle out of that box.”

Following his squinting gaze—creased from the sunlight—she looked down. A small box sat deep in the footwell, neatly filled with bottled water arranged to fit its width.

Sowon took one out and handed it to him.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

He unscrewed the cap and poured the water straight over his head without hesitation. Each time he ran a hand through his short hair, muddy water dripped down in heavy drops, leaving marks on the dry road.

After roughly rinsing himself off and shaking his hair a few times with his hand, he climbed into the driver’s seat.

Sowon turned her head slightly away, feeling an unnecessary sense of guilt.

Vroom. The loud engine roared to life. With an awkward tension hanging in the air, the Porter rattled down the dirt road.

She wasn’t usually the type to be uncomfortable with silence, but today felt different.

Maybe because she had something on her conscience. Or maybe because she would have to see Kangjun often from now on.

Even as her body jolted with the rough vibration, she kept sneaking glances at him.

Why had he jumped into the paddy with her? Did he think she might get seriously hurt? Seeing how he helped the villagers without expecting anything in return, he did seem like the type who lacked a sense of self-preservation—but the uneasy feeling wouldn’t quite leave her.

Her thoughts, tangled like a ball of yarn, suddenly veered in a completely different direction.

Have I been staring too obviously every time we met? Did he think touching him there was some kind of signal?

If so, she wanted to clear up that possible misunderstanding as soon as possible.

“Um… I would’ve clung to anyone.”

The words slipped out, unrefined.

Maybe that was too much, she thought, but since she had already started, she had to finish.

“…Just in case you get the wrong idea.”

“I know.”

When she added the explanation hesitantly, Kangjun replied indifferently—as if he hadn’t misunderstood in the slightest.

For some reason, that cool attitude made her bristle.

Desperate to erase this embarrassment, she forced out a change of subject.

“And earlier, I didn’t get the chance to say this, but I’m not Bang Sowon. I’m Gyeong Sowon.”

It hadn’t felt important enough to correct before, but it was a decent way to break the awkwardness.

He had been staring straight ahead the entire time; now, for the first time, he turned his head.

“You’re Grandfather Bang Gitae’s granddaughter, aren’t you?”

“His granddaughter on my mother’s side.”

“Ah.”

Kangjun responded briefly and shifted gears.

Silence again.

Unable to shake the discomfort, she continued glancing at him—and inevitably, her eyes caught on the dried mud caked on his forearm.

“Well, it’s not like we’re complete strangers, but it’s our first time actually speaking like this… anyway, I was quite rude.”

“Then from now on, we can meet without the rudeness.”

It didn’t seem like he was trying to embarrass her, but since she knew she was more at fault, it still scraped at her nerves.

“So you could’ve just let me fall by myself. Why did you—”

“In case you got hurt and blamed me again.”

“That’s a bit unfair. I didn’t just blame you randomly—it was based on objective circumstances—”

“You’re taking a long way around to say thank you. Just say it and be done.”

At that, Sowon realized she was getting heated over pointless wordplay.

Normally, she would’ve exchanged only what needed to be said and left it at that. Why was her tongue running so long today?

To hide her embarrassment, she brushed back the hair that had fallen over her face.

“…Thank you. I’ll pay for the dry-cleaning.”

“Don’t mention it. The dry-cleaning isn’t necessary.”

The man chuckled lightly and responded in a generous tone.

Sowon cleared her throat for no reason and glanced at his dirtied clothes.

Will it even come out? It might be better to just buy him new ones.

As she pondered and stole glances, her gaze naturally traveled over his body more carefully.

She had thought he was well-built before—but up close, he looked much bigger.

Is this what they call functional muscle?

Arms that looked four times thicker than hers. A solid torso to match.

And among it all, the most astonishing thing was between his legs—

Sowon forcibly halted her descending gaze.

“Where are we headed?”

“Sorry? What?”

Like someone startled by the lid of a pot after being frightened by a turtle, she reacted too strongly, as if she’d been caught thinking something strange.

“I asked where we’re going.”

“Oh. The village hall.”

She swallowed a short breath and answered.

Gyeong Sowon, get a grip.

Disgusted with herself for repeatedly sneaking glances at such embarrassing places, she turned her head fully toward the window. The Porter continued rattling along the unpaved dirt road.

He drives well on roads like this.

What exactly does he do?

Come to think of it, she had never really tried to find out anything about him. The first time she saw him, she’d assumed he had come down to the countryside for rural life. After that, she’d simply dismissed him as an interesting person.

He had no trace of a regional dialect, so he seemed like someone from the capital area—but his way of speaking was odd. He tossed out words bluntly, yet there was a strange stiffness to them. Almost like a soldier.

Only when the village hall came into view in the distance did Sowon finally shake off her thoughts about the man.