Chapter 12.1

Chapter 12.1

‘Why am I doing something I’ve never done before, and with a strange woman I don’t even know?’

André believed there was a cause and effect for everything. As he mechanically analyzed the situation, he came up with a few plausible reasons, though they weren’t entirely satisfying.

He did need help, having lost his ID and money.

‘Of course, it didn’t have to be this woman.’

Miran was simply the one who had offered to help.

Even though he was now a civilian, everyone in the base knew who André de Lafayette was. If he had really wanted to, he could have gotten assistance with just a few words. As soon as the embassy opened on Monday morning, he could have received a temporary passport and ID, allowing him to leave the country without any issues. However, André didn’t want to broadcast his foolish mistake.

He was well aware of the world’s opinion of him.

He had inherited the cold and rational nature of his maternal Lowell family. Even as a teenager, he had never shown a disheveled appearance in front of others. People in his position were taught from a young age that it was a virtue to control and conceal their emotions.

As a result, he was never swayed by personal feelings. He didn’t waste time beating around the bush to consider the other person’s emotions, nor did he believe in compromising for the sake of peace. Even his superiors found him difficult.

He might do his job perfectly, but people still gossiped behind his back that he was a cold, arrogant Blue Blood. Some people even looked forward to seeing him fail one day.

He saw no reason to give them that satisfaction. It was better to seek help from a stranger than to admit his mistakes to acquaintances.

‘I don’t know what the hell you’re up to.’

Despite her talk about committing the perfect crime or needing an accomplice, Miran didn’t seem capable of harming even a cockroach. If she tried to physically harm him with those slender arms, he could easily overpower her with one arm.

He briefly considered the possibility that she might have accomplices waiting in Poidong, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

‘Committing a crime against a U.S. soldier in the middle of Seoul?’

In the past three years, he had found South Korea to be a peaceful country, aside from the threat from the North. The violent crime rate was minuscule compared to New York. Without firearms, even serious crimes involved kitchen knives or construction tools, making fatal injuries rare.

Besides, the typical reaction from Koreans upon seeing him was, ‘Wow, he’s really big!’ At 6 feet 3 inches tall and nearly 200 pounds of muscle, with extensive combat training, it would take more than two or three people to take him down.

‘Unless they try to seduce me.’

He thought with a wry smile, glancing at Miran’s reflection in the window. He might already have fallen for that.

Her name was Kang Miran, if he remembered correctly.

Her English was terrible, but she had a strange way of disarming people. Maybe it was those large eyes that seemed to shine with a childlike innocence.

The fact that she didn’t know he understood Korean and openly voiced her thoughts was quite naive. André had already figured out that she wanted to ask him for some difficult favor.

‘I hate troublesome things.’

However, since he needed her help anyway, it was cleaner to just exchange what they each needed. If her request was unreasonable, he could simply refuse on the spot.

Concluding that this was just a temporary mishap, André decided to relax and observe the situation calmly. He only had two weeks to enjoy his freedom away from his duties and responsibilities. Straying off course once wouldn’t change his life, so there was no need to overthink it.

“Hey, this is Poidong. Let’s go!”