"Dude, Webnovels are so boring,"
"What?! Are you cra...!"
The volume that shot through his phone nearly took Miles eardrum with it. He winced, pulling the phone from his ear and stared at the screen. That was not the reaction he expected but regardless, teasing Elijah was always fun. "Babe, chill and hear me ou..."
Elijah did not chill out for a freaking second. Earlier that evening, they had been discussing about their plans, goals and hopes for the future now that Miles had moved to South Korea from America due to some very serious life threatening issues that he had to escape from.
Miles went on and on, yapping about the surreal culture of the people of South Korea and how excited he was to experience it all for the very first time. The food, the nature and environment, the technology and the freaking fashion....!
'everything about this place is so dope, Elijah. I'm telling you, you are going to feel underdressed for the rest of your life' he had said.
Elijah didn't mind. He was used to Miles's constant yapping whenever he got excited or confused about something. More than that, he knew his best friend needed him right now, in the way you need a voice that feels like home when everything else around you is new and slightly terrifying.
Somewhere in the middle of all that, Miles had mentioned something he'd been quietly clocking since he landed at the airport. The webtoon displays everywhere, the novel merchandise and the way people read on their phone even in the subway with intense precision, it was all amazing.
Webtoons and webnovels weren't entertainment here at all. They were part of the culture. And that observation had slipped out of his mouth attached to the wrong opinion that....South Koreans take webtoons and webnovels too seriously.
Hence the outrage.
"Okay, okay." Miles flopped back onto his bed, a small mattress in a studio apartment that was technically described as 'cozy' in the listing and was in reality the size of a generous bathroom.
He stared at the ceiling. "Elijah. I'm sorry. Sincerely. I know you're a big fan."
"Thank you!"
"But let's be real for a second." He couldn't help it. "It's all kind of... unrealistic, right? Like... some random ass dude, a complete nobody, suddenly gets tangled up with this dangerously handsome rich mafia boss who falls catastrophically in love with him and goes against his entire criminal empire to put a ring on it. Where does that happen Elijah? Point me to the location."
"It's called 'fiction' dumbass!." Elijah yelled from across the phone before exploding in laughter. "I knew you were not smart before now, but this is on another level."
"Hey! Don't come at me!" Miles let out a small chuckle. "I'm just stating facts. Fiction is trash. Say it with me, fiction is what?"
"Oh my God... You're so helpless, Mimi."
Miles smiled at the familiar nickname. "Babe, i'm just saying what I'm saying. It's..."
"Is this about 'him?'" Elijah suddenly asked.
Miles went quiet for a second. The ceiling of his new apartment had a small water stain in the upper left corner shaped vaguely like a lost boot. He studied it with great focus as he thought of a better way to respond to Elijah's sudden question.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he finally said.
"You know exactly what 'it' means, Mimi. Is this about your ex?"
"I don't know why you would bring him up right now."
"Because," Elijah said gently. The teasing completely stripped out of his voice, "...you only get this particular kind of angry about love stories when you're thinking about him. And babe, he doesn't get to take that from you too. He's taken enough already. No more!"
Miles swallowed. There it was. The thing he'd moved six thousand miles to outrun, catching up to him in the first week through a phone screen because Elijah knew him too well and geography was irrelevant to that.
"It still kind of... hurts, though." he admitted, quietly. He felt slightly embarrassed even though he knew he shouldn't be. "Sometimes, it just..."
"I know. But it was a chapter, Miles. Was. That's past tense. And you closed it. You picked yourself up and you've moved on to an entirely different country and that is genuinely brave and I need you to know that I'm so proud of you."
Miles didn't say anything. His throat had done that thing it did sometimes. He could feel his eyes getting watery.
"So do me a favor," Elijah continued. "See this for what it is. A fresh start. An opportunity to live well, make friends, eat the good food, and maybe...'maybe'...find out that love isn't what he made it to look like."
"A webnovel kind of love?" Miles said joking, and was surprised to find that it came out soft rather than bitter.
"Obviously. A very dramatic one with a very beautiful man."
He laughed. "They still suck though."
"Not all of them, babe. Not all." He could hear Elijah smiling. "I'm sending you a link right now to one that you'll really enjoy. It's called 'My Marriage Contract to a Mafia Boss.' It's incredible. Read it tonight. I won't take 'no' or 'I forgot' for an answer."
"That title alone..."
"Read it! Miles!"
"...alright. Alright. I gotta go now. Take care of yourself. I have a job interview tomorrow and I need sleep."
"Oh yeah! You didn't tell me about that. What's the job?"
"I don't fully know yet, honestly. But it's a great place to start from, I guess."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah." Miles smiled.
"Okay. I love you. Sleep well."
"Love you too. And thank you....for everything!"
"Whatever. Read my novel recommendation! Okay?"
Miles just laughed, nervously. After the call ended, Elijah's message came through within seconds. It was a link, accompanied by four fire emojis and a single line: 'you're going to eat your words, asshole!'
Miles looked at the link for a moment and smiled. He clicked the link.
'What could go wrong,' he thought as he started to read.
To his amazement, he read the whole thing from start to finish before going to bed at 6AM in the morning. And funny enough, he enjoyed it.
*** The next day ***
Kim Hee-soon stood firmly at the floor-to-ceiling window in his ten-story penthouse. His phone pressed to his ear as he gently watched the city beneath him. He frowned. "I do not care what excuse he gave you!"
Silence. And then he spoke again.
"Look, if the shipment isn't here by midnight, I want his fingers delivered to me before twelve-thirty. All ten of them. Are we clear?!"
He waited. "Good."
He ended the call and slipped the phone into the pocket of his tailored black slacks. His reflection stared back at him in the window.
At thirty-five, Kim Hee-soon had built an empire that even politicians got nervous at the mention of his name and rival syndicates think twice whenever his topic is brought up. He didn't need to prove anything to anyone. He was the boss and he earned it, rightfully.
He nodded at his reflection calmly and adjusted his posture, gently tucking a hand into his pocket. He added a dangerously seductive wink and smiled. "..and that's how you start a productive day!"
He was about to turn from the window when he heard footsteps behind him.
"Cha-Chairman He-He-Hee-soon?" A voice called from behind.
He turned and lifted an eyebrow in question. "Yes. And you are?"
"I-I am M-Miles. Miles Conner. I'm the n-n-new housekeeper. Y-Your assistant said to come today for the trial period."
'Ah! The American.' he remembered and smiled to himself.
Just few hours ago, his assistant had notified him about it. He had described 'this person' as a successful candidate who is qualified, discreet, gentle and low-profile. He added that he was also American which pleased Hee-soon very much as it would be easier and safer to work with an American than having a Korean in his household who could turn out to be a plant by one of his many enemies. It had happened before so he wasn't overthinking anything.
Now standing in the middle of his living room, was 'that man' his assistant had hyped way too much. Miles Conner.
"You look decent." Hee-soon said as he walked up to him gently extending a handshake. Something he normally didn't offer to 'low profile' individuals.
Hee-soon wanted to burst out laughing as Miles entire body went ballistic as he tried to drop off everything he was holding just to receive his handshake. If Hee-soon was honest, it was kinda cute.
"T-T-Thank you, Sir!" Miles managed.
Hee-soon chuckled a bit. "You're a bit late," He said. "Why is that?"
Panic crossed Miles as he pulled out his phone with shaky hands. "I...no, sir, y-your assistant said 12PM, and it's..." he checked the screen. "...11:58."
Hee-soon let the corner of his mouth move, barely. "Oh, really? Alright then. Follow me."
Miles sighed at the victory of not being fired on the first day, as he walked gently behind his new boss.
Hee-soon led him into the kitchen, giving orders and instructions as Miles wrote everything down.
"My last housekeeper quit after two weeks," Hee-soon said, moving to the island and turning to lean against it, arms crossed.
Miles didn't know how to respond so he asked, "W-Why?"
Hee-soon smiled. "She said I was cold and borderline 'sociopathic'. What do you say to that, Mr Miles?"
Miles opened his mouth but no words came out.
Hee-soon studied him for a moment and gently moved closer to him. Miles body went rigid at the sounds of footsteps coming towards him. He tried his best to avoid Hee-soon's eyes but the man was now standing before him.
"You didn't answer my question, Mr Miles?"
"S-Sir?" He shot his head up only to meet two bright beautiful eyes staring just few meters away from his face. He gulped.
"Are you sure you've done this work before?" Hee-soon asked, studying Miles even closer.
"Yes, sir. Three years. I have even references...here." He reached for his backpack.
"I don't need them." Hee-soon knocked off the backpack and planted a hand firmly on Miles's shoulder.
He flinched and swallowed. Hee-soon was now very close to Miles, that he could feel the heat radiating from his body.
"My assistant already vetted you. What I need to know is whether you can follow instructions, stay out of my business, and stop looking like you expect the floor to open underneath you every time I speak."
Miles straightened. "I'll do better, sir."
"See that you do."
Hee-soon tilted his head, still maintaining eye contact.
"Your room is down the hall," Hee-soon said, his voice softer than before. "The last door on the left. You'll work Monday through Friday, nine to nine. Weekends are off days unless I require you. Cleaning, laundry, meal prep, errands." He paused, letting the silence sit. "You do all that. But!.....you do not answer my calls. You don't open my mail. You don't enter my office or room without permission. Understood?"
"Understood," Miles said almost steadily for the first time.
"And if you see something that isn't meant for you," Hee-soon leaned in, just slightly. "...you forget it. Immediately. If anyone asks you questions about me, you know nothing. If you value your life and your safety, you keep your head down and you do your job." He held his gaze. "Are we clear?"
Miles's throat moved as he swallowed. His eyes finally met Hee-soon's.
"Yes, sir!"
Hee-soon held the eye contact for one beat longer. "One more thing." He said as his hand trailed from Miles's shoulder slowly down his arm, his thumb grazing the edge of his collarbone as he stepped back.
Miles's eyes widened and he flinched from the touch.
"Stop looking so afraid. It's distracting." Hee-soon smirked. Then he stepped back, unhurried, and walked away, leaving Miles standing alone in the kitchen.
Miles let out a long, slow breath through his nose, pressed one hand flat against the kitchen island, and had a quiet, private word with himself about the state of his nervous system.
'I am not okay,' he thought to himself as he tried to calm his wild thoughts. 'I am not....'
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
He pulled it out in utter shock. It was a notification from the Webnovel reading app. Someone had responded to his comments where he said something about the story Elijah had recommended calling it 'too cliche' and fake. Of course that was before he started to enjoy it and he read to the very end.
This was a great opportunity to satisfy his curiosity at the moment because he was on the verge of running completely crazy. He quickly clicked on the chapter and read it with full focus like his life depended on it. It read:
'Charles had expected many things from his first day as a house keeper and Kim Hee-soon was not one of them. Standing in that kitchen, unable to breathe properly, Charles thought: this man is dangerous. Not in any way he could explain to anyone who hadn't been in that room when it happened.'
Miles stared at the screen. His thumb scrolled, slowly, back up to the passage he'd read the night before, the one describing the story's male lead for the first time.
'Kim Hee-soon stood at the floor-to-ceiling window of his ten-story penthouse, staring at the city below him like he owned it all.'
'His white dress shirt, collar unbuttoned. Long neat white hair. A thirty-five years old charming mafia boss with an empire that made politicians nervous. He..'
Miles looked up from his phone. He looked at the kitchen. The gleaming marble. The wine fridge. The city visible through those enormous windows. Everything. And he gasped suprisingly loud. 'This can't be!'
One line from the novel kept playing repeatedly on his mind.
'Kim Hee-soon.' The same character he had fell in love with in that three hundred chapter webnovel the night before.
'No! No no no! It can't be. That's not...'
He almost laughed.
'That's not possible. Common Miles, get a grip!' he told himself. 'You're tired, Miles. You're in a new country. You're stressed out and sleep-deprived and you interviewed at like four places this week and you're pattern-matching because that's what brains do when they're overwhelmed. You know...t-they find shapes in noise and, and....uh, this is just...'
Down the hall, a door closed. Miles pocketed his phone immediately. He stood in the kitchen of Kim Hee-soon's penthouse and breathed, telling himself very firmly that it was all a coincidence.
He couldn't be living the actual story he read last night. What.... unbelievability!
"Hell no!"