TATMFL - 7

“So we meet again.”

Raon’s eyes stiffened with tension as she looked up at the smiling face that was looking down at her.

Unconsciously, she let out a deep breath and took a step back to avoid the hand that was blocking her view.

Her gaze immediately became wary.

It was really him.

The dangerously handsome man who had stolen her breath away just yesterday when he came into the café as a customer, despite knowing he was a dangerous individual. And the same person who, before that, had casually trampled over someone with a smiling face.

‘What is he doing here?’

Raon quickly scanned her surroundings, but since it was still the vacation period, the campus was empty. The art university, in particular, was located in a rather secluded part of the school, making it even more deserted during the semester. The people around were mostly familiar faces to Raon, as she was now a senior.

But this man was definitely not one of them.

Noticing her guarded posture, the man let out a disappointed sigh.

“Geez, you’d think I was going to do something harmful. I was just going to ask for directions.”

At his words, Raon hesitated and softened her gaze.

“...Directions?”

“Yeah.”

The man nodded cheerfully and looked around.

But all that was visible from here were the art university, the trees surrounding it, and the baseball field right next to it.

“I’m trying to get to the business administration department, but I don’t know which way to go.”

“...Business administration?”

“Yeah. It’s been so long, I’m a bit fuzzy on the details.”

...He didn’t seem fuzzy, but rather completely clueless.

Raon’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

The business administration department, unlike the art department, was located near the front gate, in the business building.

In other words, the fact that he was asking for directions to the business department from the back gate meant he had no idea how the campus was structured.

Raon looked up at him again, this time with even more suspicion.

She knew he was tall, but he was so tall that she had to tilt her head back just to meet his eyes.

“Why the business department...?”

Was he looking for someone else? Was the person he was looking for in the business department? Raon couldn’t shake the thought, as her first impression of him had been firmly imprinted in her mind.

The man smiled.

As if he could clearly tell what was going on in her mind, he grinned meaningfully and his eyes gleamed with mischief.

“It’s a personal matter. Want to know? If you really want to, I can tell you. After all, this is quite the coincidence, isn’t it?”

“...No, it’s fine.”

Raon quickly rejected him, not wanting to be tied to him in any way. She then extended her finger to point, but since all she could point at was the tree blocking the view, it was pointless.

“Hmm.”

The man seemed to realize this as he shifted his gaze to follow her finger, then hummed in understanding.

He squinted at her with a mockingly sorrowful expression. However, there was no trace of regret on his smiling lips.

“Even though I’m tall, it’s a stretch to see beyond that tree.”

“...There’s a building behind the tree, that’s the business building. The business administration department you’re looking for is on the second floor of that building.”

“Oh. You even know which floor it’s on? Are you a business administration student?”

“...”

Raon reflexively pulled her neck back to avoid the man’s intrusive gaze, even though he must have seen her coming out of a completely different building. It was obvious that she knew the campus well because Hyesung and Jian were in the business department.

Thanks to that, the business building, except for the art department building, had been a place Raon frequently visited since her freshman year. Sometimes, her classmates would joke around, wondering if she was a business administration student.

As she thought about it, Hyesung came to mind, and at that very moment, the thought Could it be... flashed through Raon’s mind.

Hyesung, who had been tormented by loan sharks due to her father’s debts since childhood, and the man who had half-crushed someone just two days ago for hiding his money. And now, this man was looking for the business administration department, where Hyesung studied. The connection was inevitable in Raon’s mind.

No way, she thought. He wouldn’t have come all this way just to find Hyesung, but still, the anxiety, worry, and overthinking couldn’t stop, and her gaze turned sharp with unease.

The man, noticing the change in her expression, tilted his head with a confused look.

“What’s wrong? You suddenly look at me like I’m some kind of threat.”

“That personal matter you’re looking for in the business administration department... tell me.”

“You said you didn’t need it earlier.”

“I need it now.”

Raon’s curt reply made the man grin mischievously, clearly sensing that he had caught something.

“If I tell you, will you show me the way to the business building?”

“...?”

Raon raised an eyebrow.

The man, who had just been talking about fate and connections, suddenly seemed to be backpedaling. He grinned slyly.

“It seemed like you didn’t want to get tangled up with me, so I figured I’d add a condition.”

He waved his hand dismissively.

“Don’t want to? Fine. I don’t want to force anyone into talking about personal stuff either.”

The man then gestured toward the direction Raon had pointed to earlier.

“You said it was over there, right?”

Without giving her a chance to respond, he quickly turned around, as if he didn’t want to leave any space for hesitation.

As Raon thought about Hyesung, who still hadn’t contacted her even though it had been nearly ten minutes since the missed call, she reluctantly spoke up, her face tinged with impatience as she watched the man walk away.

“Wait...!”

Rather than leaving things awkward and uncomfortable, it seemed better to just guide the man as he asked. It wasn’t a difficult thing to do, after all. She was heading that way anyway, so it wasn’t an unreasonable request.

Raon withdrew her hand, which had been awkwardly reaching out toward him, and said, “I’ll show you the way.”

“Oh, really?”

The man turned around quickly, as if he had been waiting for this answer, and grinned broadly.

Raon, feeling like she had been caught in some kind of trap, couldn’t shake the unpleasant feeling, but the man spoke before she could voice her concerns.

“Then I’ll tell you my personal business.”

“...”

“It’s nothing big.”

The man spoke cheerfully.

“I was thinking of coming back to school.”

“…What?”

Raon’s voice came out a beat too late, sounding foolish even to herself. Her eyes, which had been on high alert, now widened in confusion.

The man, surprised by her reaction, widened his eyes in mock astonishment.

“Is it that surprising that I want to go back to school?”

“No…”

Raon was left speechless, her mouth moving without sound.

That’s it? That’s the reason...? A loan shark wants to go back to school...?

Though it was a relief that he wasn’t connected to Hyesung, it was still hard to shake the bewilderment.

His occupation and going to university just didn’t seem to fit together.

Noticing the slight tremble in her pale eyes from the confusion, the man narrowed his gaze. He asked, almost teasingly, as though he could read her mind.

“Why? Is there any other reason to go to school?”

No, there’s no way he’d come to university just to grab someone. If he had taken them away secretly like that night, maybe…

Muttering the words she couldn’t say out loud, Raon took a small breath.

She then turned her back on the man, instinctively knowing she didn’t want to keep engaging in unnecessary small talk. She could tell from the tension in her gut that if they continued, she’d get swept up in his pace.

“This is the back gate. If you want to get to the building with the business department next time, you’ll need to go to the front gate.”

“Got it.”

The man replied casually as he stuffed his hands into his pockets and sauntered behind her. Then, he began to chatter on about things she had no interest in hearing.

“It’s almost time for my appointment with the administrative office staff, but I can’t find the place. I was lucky to see a familiar face in the middle of all that.”

He sighed dramatically.

Raon glanced at the man walking beside her, and her expression subtly changed.

The man, grumbling about how complicated the campus was, suddenly seemed less like a loan shark and more like a student. Maybe it was because his casual clothes, more typical of a regular person, and his soft, light tone of voice didn’t fit the image of a loan shark at all... He did talk a lot, though.

The man had a way of completely changing the image of the ruthless loan shark she had in mind, much like how he had done at the café.

Maybe that’s why. Even though she was walking beside a loan shark, something in her body relaxed, her shoulders loosening as the tension she hadn’t even realized she was holding started to ease.

It was just then, as they neared the business building, that the man suddenly leaned in to look at her face and brought up a different topic.

“Art student?”

He must have seen the words “Art College” written on the building as he wandered, his eyes scanning the signs on the building above.

Raon, still fiddling with her silent phone, nodded quietly.

“Yes.”

“A true artist, huh?”

At that moment, just as he nodded, Raon’s phone buzzed in her hand.

The name she had been waiting for appeared on the screen.

It was Hyesung.