Contract Marriage with Memory Loss on Top - Chapter 47

“It must be cold. Are you not cold?”

Ki-won, who got into the driver’s seat, covered Yeon-woo’s knees with his coat and turned up the interior temperature.

“It’s fine like this. But if you do this, the coat will get damp too…”

“It’s better than you catching a cold. I noticed you seemed cold earlier.”

“I was just startled by the sudden cold water. The ice hadn’t been in there for long, so it wasn’t that cold.”

Ki-won’s worries were endless. Anyone who saw it would think a sickly person had gone out in the middle of winter wearing only a short-sleeved shirt. After a round of rain, the weather had eased a bit, and the chilly air was less during the day. Although the flu was prevalent during the changing seasons, it wasn’t enough to affect him.

“Okay, that’s a relief then.”

Just as Ki-won was about to put his hand on the steering wheel with a faint smile, someone’s cell phone rang. Yeon-woo searched for his phone, rummaged through his surroundings, then remembered that Ki-won had taken it and clapped his hands.

“Oh, right! My cell phone.”

Ki-won placed Yeon-woo’s cell phone on his outstretched palm.

“Some coffee got on the back of your phone. I wiped it, but let me know if there’s any problem.”

“Yes, I will! But I think the notification just now was from your phone. Nothing came to mine.”

At Yeon-woo’s words, Ki-won took out his own phone and checked. As he said, there was a text message on his phone.

[Team Leader: I’ve done as you said.]

It was a message from the team leader who managed the house. Seeing this, Ki-won put his phone back as if he had seen something trivial and left the parking lot.

“Why? What is it?”

“It seems there was a small problem.”

When Yeon-woo noticed that the man’s expression didn’t look good after checking the message, he leaned towards the driver’s seat and urged for an answer. Ki-won laughed as if Yeon-woo was impossible and tapped his shoulder area.

“You should put on your seatbelt.”

“Oh!”

Yeon-woo had forgotten to put on his seatbelt while chattering. As Ki-won said, Yeon-woo pulled the belt and perked up his ears to hear the rest of what Ki-won had to say.

“It seems the management team made a mistake.”

“…A mistake? The people who said they were coming to disinfect today?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

What could they have done wrong for Ki-won’s expression to be so unpleasant? Did they break an expensive item by any chance? If not, did they damage something? Various speculations filled his mind until he could hear the answer.

“It seems they disinfected the bedroom while disinfecting the living room. They apparently removed all the furniture and disinfected, but in the process, your suitcase broke.”

“…What? My bag?”

Yeon-woo blinked his round eyes several times, chewing on the content that didn’t immediately register in his mind. Things were definitely not going well today. It was already inconvenient not having a luggage bag, and now even his only suitcase was shattered.

“It seems it’s beyond simple repairs. They said they moved the clothes inside to the closet.”

“Oh my…”

He was dumbfounded. Once it was already shattered and discarded, even if he questioned or got angry, the suitcase wouldn’t come back. Yeon-woo sighed deeply and parted his lips.

“It can’t be helped. Since it’s already like this, I’ll have to think about getting a new bag.”

Fortunately, since Ki-won said he would help with packing, there was no need to rush.

‘It’s better for my belongings to be shattered than Ki-won’s.’

It was hard to find low-priced items among Ki-won’s belongings, so they must have been trembling in fear for a while after breaking the suitcase. It would have been better if there were no problems at all, but what’s done was done. They made a mistake, but it wasn’t something they did on purpose, so he decided to let it go.

***

“Have the management team left?”

“Yeah, they probably left about an hour ago.”

Yeon-woo, who was standing in front of the entrance, asked as usual while waiting for Ki-won to take out the key card. It was a relief that there wouldn’t be an awkward situation if the management team was still inside.

‘It’s not like I broke it, why am I like this.’

Anyone who saw it would think he was the one who caused the accident. Yeon-woo carefully hopped inside beyond the opening door and looked around. As Ki-won said, there were no signs of people inside.

“Go change your clothes and come, I’ll prepare it on the table.”

“Oh, yes! Thank you for doing that.”

Ki-won moved the food they had packed from the cafe to the living room table. Glancing at this, Yeon-woo went into the bedroom and hurriedly changed his clothes. As Ki-won had informed him in advance, the clothes he had put in the bag were neatly arranged in the closet.

Where was the suitcase? Was it so badly broken that they threw it away? Even looking around, it was nowhere to be seen. Yeon-woo, who had changed into pajamas, took Ki-won’s damp coat and his own clothes and headed to the laundry room.

‘I think this needs to be dry cleaned.’

The management team would sort the laundry for them. Yeon-woo pushed everything into the laundry basket and moved towards the snack that would be waiting for him.

He had planned to leisurely look for a place to live while eating waffles, but just then a call came in. As Yeon-woo slowly walked while looking at the screen to check the caller, he eventually brought the phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

– Yes, this is the real estate agency that contacted you a few hours ago.

“Yes, go ahead.”

As Yeon-woo sat on the sofa while on the call, Ki-won handed him a fork.

– It’s just that the house is no longer available. You’ll have to find another place.

“What…? You clearly said it was a vacant house.”

– Well, what… In the meantime, someone who came to see it liked it and signed the contract right away. Anyway, that’s how it is. I’ll hang up now.

Before Yeon-woo could respond, the real estate agent hurriedly hung up the phone, as if in a rush for some reason. That was the house he liked the most. Disappointed, Yeon-woo stuffed the croffle into his mouth and expressed his disappointment.

“It seems the house I was originally going to see has been contracted. I really liked that place…”

“Oh dear, is that so? That’s too bad.”

Ki-won handed Yeon-woo a cup, telling him to drink as well. Yeon-woo happily ate everything Ki-won gave him and pouted his lips.

“They clearly said it was a vacant house… Could this have been a fraudulent listing?”

Yeon-woo, with suspicious eyes, made a reasonable doubt.

“It’s possible that someone really signed a contract in the meantime, or they quickly backed out for fear of being caught for a fraudulent listing.”

Either way, it was disappointing. Yeon-woo, stuffing his cheeks full of waffles, chewed vigorously and savored the taste. Even when he was in a bad mood, eating something delicious quickly made him feel better.

“For now, I’ll have to look for other places.”

Yeon-woo began to focus on his search to the point of forgetting that Ki-won was beside him. He was so focused that his brow furrowed and occasional grunts escaped from him.

Just as the packed drinks and snacks were running out, as if on cue, replies started coming to the inquiries he had sent earlier, but there was no positive content to be found.

[Saebyeok Real Estate Agency: I looked into the studio in Yongi-dong again, and they said it was pre-contracted a few days ago~ I must have been mistaken.]

[Bogumjari Real Estate Agency: I checked all 3 inquiries you made, but none of them seem possible. One has the move-in date changed to the year after next, and the other two are already contracted.]

[Kim Seunghun Real Estate Agency: Yes, hello! I checked, but the homeowner said they want to change the deposit and asked to stop the transaction for a while. They expect the deposit to be 400 million won, would that be possible for you?]

How could it be possible? What kind of studio has a deposit of up to 400 million won? It was a condition that didn’t even deserve a snort. Just as he thought all the replies had arrived and he was about to feel relieved, another message came in late.

[Classic Real Estate Agency: No property available.]

‘…Are they joking?’

He had heard that there were many scammers who posted fraudulent listings on the internet and did business, but he didn’t know there would be this many. Pre-contract completed, no property available, etc. Various reasons were coming out, but the posts on the real estate website remained unchanged.

As he was fuming with irritation, Ki-won poked Yeon-woo’s forehead.

“You’ll get wrinkles.”

He felt like he had to tell someone about this injustice to relieve his frustration. Yeon-woo put down his phone with a thud and quickly turned his head towards Ki-won.

“I think I’ve fallen for a fraudulent listing!”

He couldn’t erase his anger at wasting time.

“I guess I’ll have to look with you. Right?”

“…Yes, I think I need help.”

Ki-won, who owns a villa, land, and buildings separately from his house. It wouldn’t be strange to call him an expert in this field. Yeon-woo, who had raised both hands, asked Ki-won for an SOS. At this rate, he would end up living at Ki-won’s place long past the contract expiration date.

“Okay, I’ll look into it. Don’t worry.”

Ki-won’s voice, muttering that he would find a very nice, warm, and cozy house, somehow sounded hollow.