Bluff!

Chapter 3

three

"Kim Sunggyu-ssi, are you actually trying to extort money from me?"

Looks like worming his way out of this was going to be a tough one. "Extort?!?" he bellowed, setting the box down. Maybe if he scared her off, she would back off and think twice about bothering him any further. "Me?!? In case you need some sort of reminder, you were the one who inflicted damage by running me over with your car!"

It was a fierce battle of pride now, with Seulbi remaining unfazed by his accusations and Sunggyu equally adamant over his claim. "Maybe you got a little loony in the head from your so-called 'nausea and vomitting' so let me help you get your facts straight: my car didn't run into you and you never were run over in the first place," Seulbi snapped, crossing her arms. "You ran into my car."

"Let me help you get your facts straight too. You, yourself, ran over me and knocked me unconscious, thus the hospital bout. That still puts you at fault!"

"Hey. Most people nowadays end up in the hospital due to an unidentified hit-and-run incident, you should be grateful you weren't one of them. You were properly given medical attention and everything was covered without you having to spend a single cent. I gave you monetary compensation when you came complaining to me, didn't I?"

Sunggyu watched as girl wonder simmered to a slow boil, which was weird because he felt her aura getting colder by the second. Her glare was cold and piercing despite her anger.

"But running off with 25 million won in hand," she growled, the pitch of her voice so low right now, he was having a difficult time hearing her despite it being such a small, resonant space. "I handed you that money for treatment your injuries and this is how you spend it? Running away to Jeonju, hoarding juice and cookies? Props to you, it was really well-played! You had me believing in your sorry sick act as an excuse, just like how you fooled those girls back at the bar."

The situation was getting too toxic for him right now. Shimgoon, who was with them in the elevator, was looking rather cross as well-- he could tell because the elderly man always looked so meek and gentle in every encounter that they had. Quickly, Sunggyu reached for the elevator button, kicking the box outside once the doors opened and rushing out.

Seulbi pushed the doors back open just as they were about to close, following him out of the elevator and into the hallway. "You, sir, are nothing but a complete phoney and fraud who took advantage of the whole situation!" she continued to grill, following him like predator stalking her prey. "Are you a professional con artist? Is your name really even Kim Sunggyu or is that some fake identity you made up to escape altercations?"

"Yes, my name is really Kim Sunggyu and no, I'm not a con artist by profession," he whistled in complete sarcasm as an answer to her accusations, kicking the box faster towards the ward.

"Normally, I won't even bother with the police for this because it's not worth my time and I have a whole load of other things to attend to, but I guess this time I can make an exception for you. I hope you get out of that kind of logic while you still can, Kim Sunggyu. At the end of the day, it still pays to work hard... not to be dishonest. Your financial hardship, no matter how dire, in no way justifies any form of crime you commit-- that's just a completely lazy way of dealing with it and it will never get you anywhere!"

She knew she had ticked him off the moment he had kicked the box so hard. He had almost sent it flying to the nearing wall from the sheer force alone. Her reasoning had peeved him in some way that triggered all that harbored anger and unjust feelings generally directed towards the upper echelon of society. "You only say that because you've never hit rock bottom before, Lee Seulbi," Sunggyu gritted as he turned around to face her, his temper rising as well.