12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I hardened my heart and looked at her for a moment. It was strange that she brought up a stock story all of a sudden, but it was also Nature’s Gift! I replied, of course not saying that I had thirteen million dollars tied up in it, “Yes. I know that it’s a stock that’s plummeted recently due to rumors, but… Why?”

She stared at me, “That’s…” She hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Have you had dinner?”

I was just going out because I was hungry. “No.”

“Then, can we talk over dinner? I’ll buy dinner.”

I couldn’t refuse this beautiful woman when she looked up to me with her eyes wide. I was curious about her situation, and so I nodded, “Yes.”

“Then… is there anything you want to eat?”

Originally, I was thinking about eating alone, such as Kimchi Stew or Sundae Soup, but I would have to change the menu, having dinner with such a beautiful girl.

“Salmon Sushi…” It was an inadvertent mention, but she got it right away.

“Oh, I know a restaurant where they are good at. Then I’ll… get ready to go out. I’ll see you in this hallway in ten minutes… no, fifteen minutes.”

I nodded, “Sure.”

She went back into her apartment, just like that.

I was lost in thought after closing the door. ‘What is it? Why would she ask about Nature’s Gift? Did she get bitten while she was doing the stock by herself?’

I thought she might be. Come to think of it, she talked about what I said on the air and talked about stocks for a while. At that time, I remembered having such a conversation.

“If you’re not an expert, you’d better to not do stocks.”

“That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

‘Did she do the stocks alone after she had said she would not? After all?’

‘Whether an expert tells them to do the stocks or not to do it, the person who is willing to do it is set on playing them.’

“Hmm… so she was upset to see the loss, so she drank…”

I came to my senses a little bit thinking about the scenario, but I remembered that she said, “Mom… Daddy…”

‘Wouldl a woman who loses in a stock cry out for her mom and dad?’ I didn’t think so. ‘Then, what the hell?’

I would hear it from her mouth in a minute, but it was hard for me to wait. I wandered around my room for a moment and suddenly realized that I was in a sweatshirt. Still, it was a date and I couldn’t go out like this. I went to the dressing room and changed quickly, dressing for a date with a beautiful girl.

I came out of my apartment slightly earlier than the appointed time. Just as I did, Lee Ah-young came out of hers. She was in a stylish all-black fashion: black coat, black boots, and a black bag. Her face, on the other hand, was white, a stark contrast. She was usually pretty, but she was really beautiful, dressed in all her might.

Somehow my mouth didn’t fall off, so I said, beckoning to her, “Let’s go.”

—————————————-

“This way…”

I followed Lee Ah-young along the alley of Garosu-gil in Cheongdam-dong. I could see a restaurant on the side of the alley, a fish tank on the sign, which had the symbol for “Fish” in Chinese characters.

“There.”

It looked luxurious at first sight. I walked in there with her. Meanwhile, five or six men in their twenties passed by. I felt that their eyes fall on Lee Ah-young naturally.

‘Men are all the same. Unless they have their own woman next to them, they turn to beauty.’

‘Wow, she is so pretty,’ I could almost hear them shouting inwardly.

Then Lee Ah-young told me, “I’m glad I made a reservation. I called in a hurry…”

I said, nodding my head, “Oh, yes.”

Now the men looked at me and had a gaze like ‘Who’s that guy? What’s he dating a beautiful girl like that?’

‘It’s because I live next door, I muttered inside, entering the restaurant. When I entered the restaurant, a female part-timer approached me and asked, “Have you made a reservation?”

Lee Ah-young, who was following behind, said instead, “Lee Ah-young.”

The female part-timer also paused for a moment after seeing her. I guessed even a girl was charmed by a beauty.

.

“Oh, wait a minute. This way.”

Lee Ah-young and I entered a room under the guidance of the part-timer. Lee Ah-young seemed to have been here a lot. She picked up the menu and told me, “Here, this is delicious…”

She explained them one way or another. She seemed to have the taste for the gourmet.

“Then, I’ll do as recommended by Ah-young.”

“Yes, then.” She called in the part-timer and deftly placed an order. “… please.”

“Thank you.”

After the order-taking part-timer left, I looked at her, and she looked at me. A moment of awkward silence followed, and she spoke first.

“Ah, I’d like to say thank you again. I’ll buy this dinner, but I wonder if it’s enough to thank you.”

“Yes, that’s fine. It’ll be a bit of trouble if it happens again.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry. I didn’t know my drinking capacity.”

“Yes, you should learn it. The culture of drinking is very different between America and Korea.”

“Yes.” She opened the conversation first, so I naturally spoke.

“By the way, why did you ask about a company called Nature’s Gift? Did you buy the stock at any time?”

“No, it’s not that…” She blurted out her words, and then said, “I was wondering what Han Sang-hoon thought about this crash.”

When I heard that, I thought first, ‘This is the first time I’ve been named… So far, such as oppa and daddy were only called.’ But even thinking about it, I recited ordinary words on the outside. “I think… it’s good value, but no matter how hard it is, there’s been a death. It’s worth a crash before it’s factual.”

She spoke with a nod, “I see… I see, but… didn’t you feel like this… this was a manipulation?”

I was even more surprised than when I heard the name of the stock earlier. So I said, “How did you know that…?”

Then she opened her eyes wide and said, “That’s what it looks like to the professionals, too, isn’t it?”

I shook my head, “No, I’m not certain, but… I thought it was a little weird, but before the news came out, there was a lot of short stock selling. That sort of thing…”

She blinked for a moment, took something out of her bag and handed it to me. “Would you like to take a look at this?”

It was a small bag the size of a palm. I took it and checked its contents. There were three ID pictures in there. But there was someone I knew the face of. One of the three pictures was Master T, Director Tak Joon-gi of Suyeon Travel.

I thought as I looked at it, ‘What, how does she know this guy?’

Besides, the other two looked familiar, too. I was sure I’d seen them somewhere. I looked at her.

Then she said, “Maybe this crash… was made by these people.”

‘I was thinking that way, too. How does she know this?’ I hid that thought and hinted to her, “Who are these people?”

She said, pointing at each picture, “This is Lee Won-joon, Director of the Daewon Daily News, the successor to the Daewon Daily News…”

‘Oh… this is Kaiji’s brother.’ I thought I saw him somewhere, but he was Lee Won-jae’s brother.

She went on, “This is Tak Joon-gi of Suyeon Travel, a big hand at investment.”

I nodded.

She pointed to the last person and said, “And this is Kang Ju-hyuk. He doesn’t have a title, but his nickname is Newsmaker.”

“Newsmaker?”

“Yes. He’s really good at making news and raising and lowering stocks. That’s why he’s making a lot of money out of it.”

I looked at the pictures and asked her, “Why are you telling me this?”

“I was wondering if there’s any way to punish these people.”

I lowered my eyes for a moment. I didn’t like these guys either.

‘But why does she want to punish these people?’

I looked at her and asked, “Why? You didn’t buy any stocks of Nature’s Gift… Do you have anything to do with this company?”

She shook her head, “No, that’s not it.”

“Excuse me.” But it happened that the part-timer brought us some food and our conversation was cut off for a moment.

“Enjoy it,” Ah-young said to me, looking at the fancy food that came out. “Then let’s have dinner and talk. The salmon in this restaurant is really good.”

———————-

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

She walked out the door, accepting a receipt from the part-timer. Come to think of it, it had been a long time since I ate something with other people’s money.

“How was the dinner?”

“It was delicious,” I said honestly. It tasted good, but it was a little small. It was a restaurant with a bit of female preference, so the amounts on the menu were small.

She knew it, too.”A little bit small, right? For a man to eat.”

“Oh yes, a little.”

“Uh…”

We walked along the Garosu-gil for a moment towards the public parking lot where my car was parked. I waited for her to bring up the stock story again. She didn’t talk more about the stock any more in the restaurant.

‘What the hell? How does she know them, and why is she trying to punish them?’ It was harder to bear and I tried to ask her.

But then, she suddenly stood up and said, “Oh, this bar is very good.”

There was a strange restaurant, I could not tell if it was a bar or an eatery.

She said, “Would you like to eat more if you’re still hungry?”

I nodded, “Yes, I would.” Actually, I was going to go home and have another ramen.

——-

It was really nice inside. All those sitting around were men and women or people who were likely to be lovers.

This time, Lee A-young ordered again, “I want one Paella.” However, she brought up the subject of alcohol in advance. “Would you like some wine?”

‘You were drunk yesterday? But again?’ But that idea passed in a second. A beautiful woman asked me to drink first, and I couldn’t refuse. I nodded.

A sommelier came with a simple snack, gave a performance, poured the glass, and left.

She picked up the glass first. I followed suit. As I saw this, I thought she really loved drinking.

But after a sip of the wine, she suddenly said, “They are my parents’ enemies!”