Episode 1
“Mr. Bodyguard. Um, excuse me…?”
“Go ahead.”
“…Could you kiss me?”
It was, truly, an absurd request. The fact that it came from Yoo Hari—the nation’s top actress, who had just cast aside all dignity to ask it—only made it more significant.
“Well, I mean… once I go back to Korea, filming for the drama starts right away. And when I looked at the script, there were a lot of kissing scenes. But I… I’ve never even had a peck before.”
“Ah.”
“I need to at least try it so I can act properly…”
The more she spoke, the stranger it sounded, and she instantly regretted saying anything at all. She should’ve just pretended it was a slip of the tongue and kept quiet. Overcome with embarrassment, her face turned as red as a ripe apple.
Cha Jisang calmly cupped her cheeks, steadying her wandering gaze and fixing it on himself.
“You’re saying you want to give me your first kiss?”
Under his deeply penetrating gaze, Hari gathered her trembling courage and gave a small nod.
“Why?”
“…Just because.”
“There’s no such thing as ‘just because.’”
It wasn’t like she could blurt out, “Because I’m planning to seduce you!” without warning.
Hari hadn’t realized her personality could be this impulsive.
Then again, she’d never even been in a situationship before—how would she know?
She felt like she might die of embarrassment, but since she had already crossed the line, she decided it was better to see it through. So she shut her eyes tight and pushed forward.
“Do you not want to?”
At that, Jisang gave a faint smile.
“As if I wouldn’t.”
With a gentle touch, he cradled the back of her neck. But the force with which he pulled her into his arms was anything but restrained.
“Mm—”
His lips captured hers in an instant. At the soft, unfamiliar sensation of their lips meeting, Hari’s heart pounded so hard she could barely breathe.
Unsure what to do, she fidgeted in place, and then—smack—their lips parted with a soft sound.
The fleeting warmth and softness lingered on her lips, sweet enough to make her feel lightheaded.
As she absentmindedly touched her lips, savoring the afterglow, he seemed to have no intention of stopping. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he pulled her even closer.
Heat passed between their tightly pressed bodies, as if competing for dominance.
Looking up at him endlessly, Hari swallowed hard.
She hoped—desperately—that the affectionate look in his eyes wasn’t just her imagination, and she found herself anticipating what he would do next.
“Don’t just say you’ll back off.”
As if responding to her unspoken wish, his lips claimed hers again. The earlier kiss, with closed lips, was nothing compared to this one—now their lips parted, deepening the contact.
With the intensity of it, soft, breathy sounds escaped naturally.
He devoured her breath with relentless persistence, and Hari surrendered it to him, over and over.
The thought Is this okay with my bodyguard? never even crossed her mind. From the moment she reunited with him in this role, she had known it would come to this.
“Then just don’t give me a chance to back off. You can take your time—I have plenty of it.”
At her bold provocation, he lifted her into his arms. It felt as though things might go even further.
[Last night, actress Yoo Hari received a death threat. The perpetrator left a message sprayed in red paint on the exterior wall of her residence…]
[Police are currently tracking the suspect, but as the suspect appears to have mapped out the locations of security cameras in advance, the investigation is expected to be difficult.]
From early morning, every media outlet reported the same news.
Yoo Hari—the next-generation “nation’s first love,” even nicknamed “human forsythia”—was at the peak of her popularity. It was no exaggeration to say she appeared on TV every time you turned it on. Naturally, any issue involving her became loud and sensational.
Escorted closely by her manager, Choi Jungwook, Hari stepped out of her home. In front of the run-down villa, a crowd had already gathered, eager to capture the threatening message.
“Hari. Don’t say anything. Just walk.”
“Okay.”
Even with her pale, makeup-free face showing clear traces of fear, some people still cheered thoughtlessly, calling her beautiful.
Others meddled, wondering aloud why someone who earned so much money lived in such a shabby place.
“Coming through. Please move. Seriously—stop pushing!”
As the crowd pressed in, her manager’s voice grew sharper. Hari kept her head down, staring only at the ground as she walked. Even as the victim, she felt like a criminal standing at a press line. But public attention didn’t discriminate between good and bad news—this was simply something she had to endure as a celebrity.
“…Haah.”
The moment she got into the car, the breath she had been holding escaped in a sigh. She rubbed her throbbing forehead, then quickly lowered her hand when she heard the driver’s door open.
“Unbelievable. What kind of people show up at a victim’s house and cause a scene like this?”
Grumbling, Jungwook got into the driver’s seat and immediately turned back to check her condition.
“Looks like you didn’t sleep at all. Are you okay?”
He wasn’t wrong.
Hari had been suffering from insomnia lately, tossing and turning until dawn before finally falling asleep. But not long after, her landlord had rung the doorbell frantically, waking her.
“Miss Actress! Something terrible’s happened. Come outside!”
Still in her pajamas with only a coat thrown over, Hari had stepped outside—and seen the message.
Yoo Hari. I’m going to kill you.
The red spray paint, not yet dry, dripped down the concrete wall like streaks of blood.
For a moment, the fear had taken her breath away, but she stayed composed, called Jungwook, and reported it to the police herself.
Soon after the police arrived, reporters flooded in.
She had returned home to avoid them and tried to sleep again, but her already fragile nerves refused to settle.
And so, unable to fall back asleep, she had made it to now. Her head felt like it was splitting, but she kept her usual gentle smile.
“No, it’s fine. I got a little sleep.”
She exaggerated to reassure him, but Jungwook knew her kind nature all too well.
“Let’s just cancel the shoot. Given the situation, they’ll understand.”
Hari shot him a look as if he’d said something ridiculous.
“Oppa. Dozens of people are waiting just for me. Who am I to waste their time like that?”
“But still—”
“There’s no reason I can’t film when I’m not even physically hurt.”
“…Geez.”
Knowing better than anyone that her stubbornness wouldn’t budge, Jungwook sighed in resignation but couldn’t help grumbling.
“With the police already involved, what’s wrong with acting a little spoiled for once? Honestly, I think Maeng Hyunseo raised you wrong.”
Ignoring his familiar nagging, Hari rummaged through her handbag, clearly pretending not to listen—but she had a purpose.
From her expensive designer bag, she pulled out a worn, frayed handkerchief. It was a simple men’s handkerchief covered in the signature logo of an H-brand.
She usually tied it to her bag handle as decoration, sometimes wore it as a headband, or layered it with a metal watch on her wrist.
Her habit of styling this cherished item had even sparked a nationwide trend.
“What’s with that handkerchief again? Choi Yeonji’s been saying she’ll steal it and throw it away.”
“Absolutely not.”
To Hari, this old handkerchief was far more precious than any luxury bag worth a fortune.
It was what kept her grounded, giving her the strength to endure the harsh life of an actress.
I miss you, mister.
Whenever she was afraid, whenever she felt like she might break, Hari would hold this handkerchief and think of the man—the soldier from back then—who might still be watching over her somewhere.
As she tied it onto her bag again, a question suddenly crossed her mind.
“Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
“What do career soldiers usually do after they’re discharged?”
“Hmm… I don’t know. Maybe become fitness trainers? I don’t really have any friends who were career soldiers. Why?”
“Just because.”
“Seriously? With all this going on, that’s what you’re thinking about?”
Despite his exasperation, his concern for her was clear.
“Don’t waste your energy on pointless thoughts. Try to get some sleep on the way.”
“Okay.”
Already growing drowsy as her tension eased, Hari leaned back into the seat and asked lightly,
“Where are we going, anyway?”
“The company.”
“Why the company?”
“They’re assigning you a dedicated bodyguard. Fitting treatment for our top star, Yoo Hari.”
“Ah, a bodyguard.”
Hari didn’t think much of it at the time.
Back then, she couldn’t have imagined that she would meet the owner of that handkerchief again.
