Peninsula: The young master is poor and doesn't want to date.

Chapter 23 Your legs are quite nice.

Li Zhengyi spat out the sunflower seed shells, his expression suddenly becoming more serious.

Bae Joo-hyun.

"……what."

"I told you, if you regret it, you can say so anytime. I don't care."

Bae Joo-hyun looked into his eyes.

Those eyes, which were smiling just moments ago, are now serious, like the ice on a lake in deep winter—clean, but bottomless.

She recalled how he said those words when they first met, so casually, as if his girlfriend running away was no different from "instant noodles going out of season."

She suddenly felt a little uncertain.

Is this person genuinely indifferent, or is he just pretending?

If he's faking it, he's faking it way too well.

She looked away and down at her knees, which were pressed together.

Her calves, encased in black stockings, shimmered faintly under the table lamp.

"I have no regrets."

She said it softly, but clearly.

Li Zhengyi paused for a second while cracking sunflower seeds, then continued cracking them.

The silence lasted a while.

Bae Joo-hyun felt she should leave. She stood up, picked up her coat from the back of the chair, and was about to put it on…

Li Zhengyi spoke.

"Wait a moment."

Bae Joo-hyun stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.

Li Zhengyi put down the melon seeds, wiped his hands, stood up and walked over to her.

This time, there was no oppressive feeling of being trapped on the edge of the bed. He just stood there normally, with his hands in his pockets, but his tone suddenly became very indifferent.

"You just said you thanked me for helping you, right?"

"right."

"Now I'd like to express my gratitude in some concrete way."

Bae Joo-hyun gripped her coat tightly.

"Didn't you say...?"

"Don't worry, I won't kiss or hug you. Let me touch your legs in stockings."

The room remained quiet for what seemed like a century.

Bae Joo-hyun's face changed from pink to crimson, and then from crimson to an indescribable red.

She wanted to say no, to say you're kidding me, to say we're just ordinary friends.

But all those words were stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single one.

Because she thought of something.

He really helped her.

Without him, she might have been besieged by reporters at her dormitory entrance, summoned by her company for a talk, and torn apart by fans today.

To help her, he used all his most clandestine secret intelligence methods.

He was also being targeted by his second brother.

Just touch it.

Through the stockings.

It doesn't hurt.

and……

Anyway, she owes him.

Bae Joo-hyun took a deep breath and put her coat back on the chair.

She stood up straight, closed her eyes, her breathing trembled, but her voice pretended to be calm.

"it is good."

Li Zhengyi raised an eyebrow, surprised that she actually agreed.

He just wanted to force her into a corner so he could see her embarrassed.

It's quite amusing to see this aloof and handsome man on stage blush in front of you.

However, since she had agreed, he didn't stand on ceremony.

He stretched out his hand.

He didn't move quickly, giving her enough time to change her mind.

His fingertips were about a centimeter away from her knee, and he could even feel the body heat emanating from her stockings.

boom! ! !

The iron gate was kicked open from the outside.

The door lock flew off and slammed into the wall, causing the entire wall to shake.

Lee Jung-il's first reaction was not to turn around and look at the door, but to instinctively shield Bae Joo-hyun behind him.

Bae Joo-hyun's eyes snapped open, her mouth opened as if to scream but she didn't, and she instinctively grabbed the back of his shirt.

A row of men in black stood at the entrance.

They were not ordinary men in black.

He was the kind of high-end bodyguard who wore a headset and had shoulders as broad as a refrigerator.

Three.

It blocked the entrance like an iron tower.

The one at the front glanced around the room.

"Third Young Master. Second Young Master requests that you board the plane."

Bae Joo-hyun gripped the back of Lee Jung-il's T-shirt tightly.

She recognized the face of the person in front.

When Lee Woo-bin invited her to a brand event, this person stood behind Lee Woo-bin and remained expressionless throughout.

Li Zhengyi did not back down.

He stood in front of three burly men over 1.85 meters tall. He was neither tall nor muscular, but his posture was like chasing away a stray cat in front of a convenience store.

"Does your second young master never call ahead when he invites someone?"

"The second young master said that the third young master was harder to invite, so he came directly to pick him up."

"Is the way to receive it kicking down the door?"

No one answered.

The man in black at the front of the group paused for a second, his gaze falling on Bae Joo-hyun behind him.

Then he turned his head and said something into the earphone, but his voice was too low to hear.

Then he turned back:

"Bae Joo-hyun-ssi, the second young master said that you would like to come along as well."

Bae Joo-hyun's face turned pale instantly.

"I...I'm not going."

"The second young master said that you don't have to go. But he will personally go to the SM building tomorrow to talk to President Kim Young-min about the rumors that have been spread against you."

The man in black paused.

"He said he had a very interesting chat log. An original one."

Bae Joo-hyun loosened her grip on Lee Jung-il's clothes.

She knew what that sentence meant.

The original chat log.

These are the real conversations between her and Li Zhengyi that weren't photoshopped.

And that one and only real photograph.

She and Li Zhengyi were not familiar with each other at all; their original chat history contained no more than a hundred sentences, so they could not be considered a couple.

But what will Lee Woo-bin do with those things once they fall into his hands?

He could say it in front of the company's top executives, in front of the media, and portray Lee Jung-il as a pitiful poor boy being played by Bae Joo-hyun.

Then she will fall down again.

And this time, no one can save her.

"...I'll go."

Li Zhengyi turned to look at her.

He wanted to say something, but suddenly laughed.

"Okay, let's go together."

He picked up the denim jacket from the back of the chair, put it on, walked to the door, and glanced back at Bae Joo-hyun.

"Your legs are quite nice. Wear a different color next time."

"Are you sick in the head?"

Bae Joo-hyun practically choked out those words, but whether from anger or fear, the corners of her mouth involuntarily curled upwards.

The three men in black exchanged a glance.

They had worked under the second young master for so long, and they had seen people crying and shouting, cursing and swearing, and kneeling and begging for mercy.

I've never seen someone who, just a second before being kicked out of a room and taken away, was still discussing the color of stockings with a woman.

Is this kid out of his mind?

You've been expelled from the family tree, and you still think you're some kind of young master?

But their professional ethics made them suppress the urge to complain.

A Chevrolet Suburban, a full-size SUV, was parked at the top of the stairs; it was as tall as a small tank.

Bae Joo-hyun and Lee Jung-il were shoved into the back seat, the car door closed, and the car drove silently out of Kowloon Village.

The drive took more than an hour.

Bae Joo-hyun sat in the back seat and could feel goosebumps rising on her thighs.

It wasn't because it was cold, it was because the people around me were too quiet.

Li Zhengyi remained silent throughout, looking out the window with an expression as calm as if he were taking the bus to work.

Gimpo Airport.

Tarmac.

A cream-colored Gulfstream G280 was parked quietly, its engine already warmed up.

A man in a dark blue suit stood at the end of the gangway.

Lee Woo-bin.

When he saw Bae Joo-hyun, he laughed heartily.

"Oh, my dear Irene, what a coincidence."