Chapter 20
“Titles are important. Names carry weight. Do you think people spend big money on naming just for fun? If you grow up being called ‘President,’ you’ll end up becoming one. If you grow up being called ‘Princess,’ people will treat you like royalty. The two of you must absolutely stick to ‘Honey’ for each other.”
“Huh?”
Just hearing it made Seol-ah shrink her neck, as if goosebumps were rising all over her.
“Don’t forget. The other person is a ghost! Just because they don’t have a body doesn’t mean they lack awareness.”
Even without ears, a ghost can read lips. To fool a ghost with amateurish acting, every little detail needed to be precise.
“If you keep calling them ‘Honey,’ eventually their mind will believe it. They’ll think, ‘Oh, this must be my husband,’ and your brain will be tricked.”
He didn’t forget to remind her that participating in this grand ghost-deception required her to become a great showman—something impossible to do completely sober.
“Still, isn’t that a bit much…?”
Seol-ah hesitated.
“Everybody shut up! Be careful what you say. He’s here.”
The shaman, Cindy, sensing the spirit’s energy with her eyes closed, immediately silenced the room.
As expected, Su-hyuk saw nothing at all.
“That’s all for the instructions! Oh dear, couldn’t wait to call… Hello? Yes, madam! Coming early as always. I’ll come over right away and do the divination for you. Ah, luck with the documents is coming in perfectly…”
After Cindy abruptly left without so much as a greeting, the house fell into a calm silence, like a storm had passed.
“About yesterday…”
“Time to get ready for work!”
Seol-ah’s words cut through the silence, met with a cheerful smile.
“You know I have a T Channel meeting in the morning, right? It’s about the radio ad review issue. I’ll drop by later.”
“I’ll give you extra time, so you can also go to the hospital if needed.”
Su-hyuk indicated her neck with his chin.
“It’s fine. Just a little bruise, no need for a hospital.”
“I’m responsible for maximizing the abilities of my employees. For the sake of the team, I won’t get sick or injured recklessly.”
With his soldier-like tone, Seol-ah could only nod.
“Now, tell me what you think, Seol-ah.”
“Huh? My thoughts…?”
“I already know the shaman’s thoughts well enough. I want to hear yours.”
“About what…?”
“About your suggestion to sleep together in this house for 30 days, which I declined.”
How could he ask such a direct question, leaving no room for evasion?
With no place to retreat, Seol-ah felt braver.
“Honestly?”
“With sincerity, truly.”
Seol-ah calmly opened her mouth.
“I feel a little disappointed.”
Su-hyuk stared at her steadily.
“Is that all?”
Thinking carefully to make sure she had no other thoughts, Seol-ah answered again.
“Yes. Disappointed. That’s all.”
“…”
“But thoughts and reality are different. I understand why you refused. But I’m running late and need to change clothes…”
“Ah, then get ready.”
By the time Su-hyuk returned home and Seol-ah had finished preparing for work, Su-hyuk came back dressed in a suit, having left his phone behind.
The transformation from casual to formal never failed to surprise.
Grabbing his phone from under the bed, Su-hyuk paused at the front door and looked back.
“Let’s change the question.”
Seol-ah looked up, confused.
“As a husband candidate, am I still valid?”
Her heart felt like it skipped a beat.
“And if you were to reconsider?”
“Then?”
Seol-ah, frozen, slowly nodded.
“Let’s clarify. For the next 30 days, in this house, we sleep together. Correct?”
She felt like a defendant under questioning by Prosecutor Han Su-hyuk.
Well, it made sense…
“Technically, it’s not strictly one month…”
“Exactly.”
Seol-ah, flustered, squeezed her eyes shut and admitted:
“Thirty-three days!”
“Three more days? If 33 nights become 66, and 66 become 99, speak now.”
“Definitely 33 nights! They said it should be eleven times in three cycles.”
“No more changes to the conditions? Answer well. If it changes again, there will be no leniency.”
Seol-ah, who had been ashamedly lowering her head, now looked up in delight, her eyes sparkling.
“So, that means…?”
Su-hyuk silently slipped on his jacket.
“You accept, right? That means I’ll be lenient this time… Then the ghost-hunting husband continues, right…!”
Su-hyuk’s polished shoes stepped closer.
Smack—
His lips touched her cheek.
Seol-ah looked up with wide, surprised eyes.
Leaning close, Su-hyuk whispered near her ear:
“I’ll be back.”
“…”
The sound of the front door closing, the gravel crunching under his shoes, and then the engine starting as his car slid away—Seol-ah stood frozen until it faded.
Dazed.
“I’ll be back.”
He goes and comes back. From the office, back to this cold, scary house.
The reassurance that her fleeting, temporary husband would return was overwhelming.
And the words “I’ll be back” made her heart flutter, as she collapsed onto the bed.
“Yaaay!”
Burying her face in the blanket and kicking her feet in delight, she suddenly felt an unfamiliar texture and lifted her face.
It was the new blanket Cindy had brought—slightly rough, unfamiliar.
A mandarin duck-patterned bedspread?
Even in a fake marriage, she was the new bride on a mandarin-duck bedspread.
Blushing shyly, even alone.
“Oh, right, I’m late!”
Seol-ah hurriedly grabbed her shoulder bag.
Thwack—!
The comb she had just used flew and hit the wall—but instead of being upset, she was amused.
She ignored it and leisurely stepped out.
“Go ahead, break everything. It’s over for you!”
Her normally heavy steps to work felt light.
After a good sleep, her mind was clear and the world seemed beautiful.
She almost felt like walking two steps at a time.
“Today, I’ll write the preface with a heart that loves everything dying!”
“Seol-ah, how’s it going with your boyfriend?”
She wanted to love everything dying.
Everything except Yang Min-ho, a radioactive human waste.
“Was it a mistake? Hey, Seol-ah. Are you playing with me? You made me horny first, then told me to leave? Why send that message in the middle of the night if you were just going to make me run around?”
Just being in the same building made her blood boil, but running into him in the same elevator made her day worse.
And it was just the two of them in the elevator.
“What kind of guy is he?”
Guy…
“Boyfriend. That tall one. What does he do for a living?”
The way she referred to him like a kid perfectly matched Yang Min-ho’s arrogance.
Selfish and greedy, full of inferiority.
The youngest son of a rich family, unpopular in college, but always surrounded by people.
He mistook it for popularity, unaware that the world usually called people like him ‘sources of money.’
His rich-and-desperate-for-popularity personality worked even better in society than school.
Recently, his office politics skills got him promoted to PR team lead in no time.
“Why? Is it rude? No, it’s normal for friends to ask about their boyfriend’s job, isn’t it?”
“Just works at a company.”
“So, what company?”
They were only college classmates; Seol-ah had never considered him a real friend.
She moved forward as the elevator door opened, wanting to leave.
“Seems like you don’t want to say. Ah, maybe he’s a job seeker? Then I apologize. How old is he?”
Is she seriously doing a matchmaking investigation?
She had resolved her morning work pleasantly, but now fatigue made her remain silent.
“So your boyfriend is a mysterious figure, huh? He seemed to treat you well that day.”
“Yeah! He does. So…”
“But can I ask you one thing?”
Why was the elevator so slow today?
Seol-ah glared at the floor display, urging it to move faster.
“Why pretend to have a boyfriend?”
