Chasm.| Seo Changbin

One.

Stella didn't feel good about having a new personal guard. Her previous one was with her since she made her debut, and Stella loved her so much. The personal guard, Haewon, was a lovely girl who was eight years older than Stella, a former agent and a former member of the official security team of some ministers. She was a very strong girl with a sharp mind who did her job perfectly well for the seven years she worked with Stella. But Stella had to let Haewon go once Haewon told her she was getting married and planning to move across the continent with her husband-to-be.

Finding another guard was a very tough task for the agency. It's not like Stella was a demanding artist or anything, quite the opposite, she was an easy-going nice, and well-behaved girl. But the thing is, that personal guard had to live with Stella and stay by her side twenty-four-seven, which means, they have to forget about their own lives. Haewon started to live with Stella a few years before, when Stella received her first real threat that was no joke from some anti-fan. It was from someone who actually managed to enter her house. That's why Haewon needed to move in with Stella and since then, she stayed in her house and moved from one to another with her artist.

So, when Stella was informed that they couldn't find a female personal guard to replace Haewon, she was frustrated. Now she would have to live with a male guard. A man who would share her house with her and her kind housekeeper. That would be a little inappropriate and uncomfortable for her and her housekeeper, Bitna.

Stella's manager, Kang Hajoon, wanted to set a meeting for Stella and the candidates for the job, but Stella just dropped it and asked him to choose the best fit. A few days later, Hajoon told her he had chosen a tough guard that had a high profile. According to Hajoon, that guard was at the top of his batch. He was topping every single colleague of his. He excelled in all martial arts. He was an excellent shooter, had eagle eyes, a very witted mind, and a strong build. He used to be the personal guard of the three kids of the President and he did his job perfectly before he quitted it to seek a new opportunity.

Stella found his profile quite impressive and just informed Hajoon to go with it. But never in her wildest dreams, had she thought that the first meeting with her new personal guard would be anything like that.

Like how she was standing in front of him now.

A shirtless man, wearing a pair of brown tattered shorts, no shoes or any footwear, while his torso, legs, arms, face, and whatever skin was showing from his body was painted in green.

He was Hulk.

Stella's blood was boiling.

It was her birthday and Stella was used to spending that day in a very specific way. Instead of having a fan meeting or even a live broadcast, she would spend that day at a hospital or an orphanage of the ones she sponsored. She would have the whole day reserved for the kids of those institutions, play with them, sing for them, or have shows prepared to entertain them and take their pain and sadness away.

So, she was at some hospital for children, where her personal guard was supposed to meet her for the first time along with her staff. She was in the waiting room when she heard a commotion outside. Checking what was happening, she found that green man surrounded by horrified little kids who started crying out loud from terror and fear at the sight of the buff shirtless green man.

Not knowing who the hell he was, she dragged him away from the traumatized kids and to her waiting room. When her manager joined, he hardly recognized the man as her personal guard and that's how Stella's blood started boiling.

"What were you thinking by scaring the kids like this?" Stella yelled at the green man.

"I just did what one of the staff asked me to." He huffed in annoyance. He's been being lectured by the girl who was four years younger than him for ten minutes now. "They said there was a show and they needed a Hulk Coseplayer. And here I am!"

"You terrified them!" She snapped. "You could think the slightest before growling and howling at them like an animal and scaring the life out of them."

"That's exactly what a Hulk does!" He defended.

"Stella," Hajoon called. "Don't overreact. He was trying to help the staff since one of the performers didn't show up. It was just a mistake from our side. It's not his fault that he is.." Hajoon paused to look at the green man. "A little.. Big."

The green man was more than a little big. He had an average height, but everything else was loads beyond average. Hajoon himself was a good-built man who was a few inches taller than the green man. But Hajoon came lacking in every other single aspect compared to the new personal guard.

"We are supposed to be here to help those kids smile, not to scare the life out of them." Stella sighed. She calmed a little and looked at the green man. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Seo Changbin." He replied stoically.

"Okay, Mr. Seo." She nodded at him. "Can you please go put on some clothes and wipe that green paint?"

"Yes, ma'am." He bowed.

"Just Stella." She corrected him. "I don't like titles or honorifics."

"You just called me Mr. Seo." He tilted his head at her.

Stella looked at him. The green paint was hiding his face so Stella didn't know if he was genuinely stating facts or if he was mocking her. "What should I call you then?"

"You can call me whatever you want but I'll address you just as I address my clients, Ma'am." He uttered, walked past her, and exited the room.