Chapter 1: The Correlation Between a Kiss and a Sixth Sense

“Ha… I’m so tired, I feel like I could pass out at any moment.”

As always, the weekend had passed by in the blink of an eye and it was Monday again. Yesul sighed as she glared at the company’s front entrance, which on that particular morning looked like a gateway to Hell.

“I wish I could just take a sick day.”

She worked at the biggest marketing agency in Korea, and anyone would have killed for the opportunity to take her place. However, Yesul spent her days working in a zombie-like daze, with nothing but her monthly paycheck to look forward to.

“Ugh! I don’t have time for this. I should just go in and wrap up my report,” she told herself even as she continued to trudge round and round in the big revolving door at the company’s main entrance. She sighed as she reminisced on how things turned out like this.

When she first got hired, she was, like any other eager college graduate, filled with passion and ready to sacrifice her life for her company. Within two years, she was promoted to assistant manager at the early age of twenty-six and was no longer considered a newbie. By the beginning of her third year of working at Jaewoo Media Planning’s Strategy Department as an account executive (AE), she had already experienced enough career highs and lows for a lifetime.

“Ha…”

Three years… It had been three long, exhausting years. Now, her once bright and clever eyes had turned duller than those of a dead fish, and her once aspiring spirit lay tattered in pieces.

“I should just quit…”

She could talk for days about the numerous ways her job made her life difficult, but the worst part of it all was not the taxing workload or the pitiful salary. It was…

…a specific person.

“Hello, Mr. Cha!” As soon as Yesul entered the office, she bowed to greet her team leader, who was walking in her direction. “Good morning—!“

“Submit the Whyzen report before noon,” Mr. Cha spat out as he passed by without giving her a second glance. And just like that, he walked out of the office without hesitation.

Yesul, who had frozen in the middle of her bow, slowly lifted her head and glared at the office door through which Mr. Cha had just exited.

“It’s a wonder how someone can be that consistent of an asshole.” She ground her teeth in annoyance. She couldn’t remember the last time Mr. Cha had returned her greeting in the three years she had worked with him.

She loathed Mr. Cha. He was an awful man without the slightest sense of decency or common sense. She was sure that he took pleasure in torturing people on a daily basis, ruthlessly exploiting their already tattered souls to the point of no recovery.

Yesul was still standing there in frustration when she noticed Mr. Cha walking back into the office. Caught red-handed, Yesul quickly rid herself of her glare and held up her hands in a placating gesture.

Mr. Cha continued to charge toward her fiercely, making Yesul stumble back in response.

“Ms. Hong.”

With those long legs of his, he reached Yesul in a matter of seconds and looked down his nose at her.

“You have to go to the Lans shoot in my place. I have a client meeting to deal with.”

“Huh? But you just told me you needed the report by—!“

“By noon. The shoot is in the afternoon.” His sharp eyes bore into Yesul like daggers. “I have no time for this. Must I repeat myself?”

What a complete asshole.

“Um… Well…”

“Speak.”

“I mean… I do have quite a bit of work today, so I wonder if Ms. An could go instead—"

His sharp, critical eyes narrowed. “What?”

“Never mind. Of course not. Please forget what I just said.” After years of working under Mr. Cha, Yesul knew better than to try to plead with him. “I’ll just quickly wrap up my report and head over to the shoot.”

Better extra work than spending another minute in Mr. Cha’s presence.

“Oh, and take Ms. Park with you,” he said. “Make sure to teach her everything she needs to know since it’s her first time at a shoot.”

At that, Yesul fidgeted silently and reluctantly until he demanded, “Do I hear a yes?”

“Yes, of course.”

Damn you, Minhu Cha! Would it hurt him to be nice for once?

Her work was already taxing as it was, but slaving away under this insufferable man made her life a living hell. Just having to look at that pompous face of his stressed her out.

***

The studio was bustling with numerous cameras, equipment, and staff members who were hastily running around the room preparing for the shoot.

“No! I look awful on camera!”

The client had requested an ad that would portray a bright and lively brand image, but the looks on everyone’s faces at the photoshoot were far from lively or bright.

“I can’t shoot like this. I won’t!” The actress shouted hysterically as the staff stood by helplessly, not knowing what to do.

Yesul sighed deeply as she observed the commotion from afar.

Ms. Park stood next to her and whispered, “Wow, Jihye Chu has one hell of a temper. Her hair looks perfectly fine. How long has she been going at it?”

“One hour and thirty-one minutes, to be exact.”

“Didn’t she go over the storyboard prior to the shoot?”

“This is why I said we should have gone without the ponytail,” Yesul muttered back as she crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall.

The shoot, which had been scheduled to start at one p.m., was being indefinitely delayed as the main actress continued to throw a fit about her hair. According to the original storyboard, Jihye Chu was supposed to wear her hair up in a ponytail. However, she had now decided, on the day of the shoot, that she couldn’t because it was…

Not pretty enough.

Time flew by meaninglessly as Jihye Chu and the production team failed to come to an agreement and this ridiculous situation continued.

“Come to think of it, how did you know that the actress would change her mind last-minute all because of a… ponytail?” Ms. Park asked Yesul, eyes glistening with curiosity.

“Do you really want to know?”

Ms. Park eagerly nodded her head up and down.

Yesul laughed lightly and slowly tilted her head to meet her eyes. “This is a secret, but the truth is…”

As she trailed off, Ms. Park gulped nervously.

“I have superpowers.”

Thinking it was a joke, Ms. Park immediately brushed it off, but Yesul continued regardless. “When my lips touch someone, I can see their future.”

Ms. Park looked at her with disbelief, but kept listening.

“Not only their immediate future, either. I can see months and years into their future. I can see ev-erything.”

Yesul’s sincerity confused Ms. Park as she tried to decide whether or not to believe her. Yesul tried her best to hold back her laughter.

“R-really?” Ms. Park asked earnestly.

Yesul smiled teasingly and nudged Ms. Park’s shoulder. “Don’t tell me you’re that gullible. I was just playing around with you!”

“Ms. Hong! You really had me there for a second!”

Yesul laughed playfully, but there was a certain sense of bitterness behind her facade. As her laughter faded, Yesul grimaced slightly. In truth, she really did have a special ability, one that no one else in the world had.

***

It started more than twenty years ago. Ever since she could remember, Yesul saw certain things in her head. It took a long time for her to realize that the things she saw were actually visions of the future. Other than the usual five senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch—Yesul had a sixth sense: the ability to look into the future. She could see the future of any person that she kissed for a certain length of time. However, she couldn’t know exactly when in the future her predictions would happen, whether it would be within minutes, months, a year, or even hundreds of years later.

Some would say her ability was a gift, but to her, it was a tragic, God-given curse.

***

Once she returned to the office, Yesul headed straight to the break room. She sighed as she massaged her tired eyes and chugged down an energy drink. The familiar taste of caffeine seemed to soothe her stressed nerves.

“Ah, now that hits the spot!”

Her co-worker, Yungeum An, sat next to Yesul and watched her cherish her drink like someone else would cherish a cold glass of beer. Yungeum was a close colleague of hers, as they had joined the company around the same time.

“So Ssul, tell me. How did last week’s blind date turn out? He looked so hot in his pictures!”

Yungeum was obsessed with handsome men.

Yesul tilted her head as she tried to figure out what Yungeom was talking about. “What date? Do you mean that government worker guy?”

“No, I mean the guy who works at Samsong! Where did you even meet a government worker?”

“My mother took the liberty of setting me up with him, of course.” Yesul scowled in annoyance.

“Well, never mind him! I want to know what happened with that Samsong guy! Not only is he young and good-looking, but he has a good job and comes from a rich family!”

“He was… meh. We weren’t destined for each other.”

“Really? You’re going to pull that card again?”

“Yes, again.” Yesul sighed as she was reminded of the date her mother had forced on her last week.

“Hello. Nice to meet you. My name is Yesul.”

“Oh! Nice to meet you, Ye-seul!”

“No, it’s Yesul. Not Ye-seul.”

“Ye-seul?”

“It’s pronounced Yesul.”

“Ye… seul?”

After that, she had given up, and he never really got her name right by the end of the date. Talk about a terrible first impression.

“Yungeum, you have to understand, I can’t date someone who’s got the brains of a goldfish.” Yesul shook her head in dismay. “It doesn’t matter whether he works for the government or Samsong if he can’t even say my name properly!”

Ever since Yesul discovered her abilities, she tried her best to avoid kissing anyone. But unfortunately for her, dating usually involved kissing.

She was genuinely traumatized from the number of times she had kissed her dates and seen them all happily married to other women. Naturally, she had made it a habit to not fall in love easily, in order to protect herself from being hurt every time.

That was where her golden rule came in handy. Yesul had decided to believe that if someone was truly her destined lover, he would be able to get her name right on the first try.

“I’m going to find a man who can say my name properly the first time,” she told Yungeum. Yesul would only be able to picture a romantic future with a man like that.

“And where will you find a guy like that? Everyone gets your name wrong when they first meet you. I got it wrong too.”

“I know it sounds superstitious, but that’s how I’ll know he’ll understand and love me for who I am.”

“I don’t know if that’s realistic, Ssul. Sounds nearly impossible, actually.”

Yesul pouted her lips in denial. “It’s not impossible! I’ve met people who managed to do it in the past!”

It was rare, but she truly had come across four people who had pronounced her name correctly on their first try. The first was the boy who lived next door to her back in elementary school. The second was her ex-boyfriend, and the third was the owner of her favorite bar. The last person was…

“What do you think about Mr. Cha?” Yungeum suddenly asked.

“…Huh?”

“Would you consider him boyfriend material?”

“What?!” Yesul shuddered as if she had just heard something horrifying. “Ew, Yungeum! No, never! Never in a million years would I date that obnoxious douchebag!”

Yesul felt her temper rise as she was reminded of her interaction with Mr. Cha earlier in the day.

“Did I tell you how he ignored me again this morning when I said hello?!” She slammed her energy drink down on the table. “Would it kill him to say hello back, just once?! It’s just common courtesy!”

“Whoa there, Ssul, calm down. I get you.”

Yungeum pulled a lollipop out of her pocket, unwrapped it, and popped it into Yesul’s mouth. Soon, Yesul quieted down as she focused on the candy on her tongue. Once she saw that Yesul had calmed down, Yungeum carefully probed the topic again.

“I still think Mr. Cha isn’t that bad. It’s hard to find guys who are as good-looking as him, you know.”

Thus was the reason for his popularity. Despite his unpleasant personality, countless female employees at their company drooled over him, calling him “Prince Cha.” They even made a fan club and gathered daily to talk about how handsome their prince was. That was, of course, excluding his team members, who knew better.

“And you have to admit he has skills,” Yungeum continued. “I overheard that he was the one who made today’s shoot for Lans possible.”

“Yeah…” Yesul reluctantly admitted. “The production team and the client insisted on a ponytail, but the actress refused and threw a fit. They were going at it for over two hours when Mr. Cha arrived and made the parties compromise on a half-up ponytail.”

“Wow. Go, Mr. Cha!”

A paragon of sharp instincts and decisive judgment—that was Minhu Cha in a nutshell.

“I actually kind of admire him! He is good at his job, not to mention handsome!”

Unfortunately for Yesul, Yungeum was a true believer in good looks, and thus was very forgiving of Mr. Cha’s character flaws.

“That is exactly the reason why he thinks he can get away with being rude to everyone! He doesn’t give a shit about what anyone thinks or feels, because he thinks he is so perfect!” Yesul shouted in frustration.

But even she could not deny that he was impressive. He was an elite, and had been recognized for his talents and appointed team leader at the early age of thirty. He was also a serious workaholic, to the point where people joked about how he was practically married to his job. Lastly, he was 6 feet 2 inches tall, with a perfectly proportionate body and face. Simply put, he was a walking piece of art.

“You know what they say, though. God is fair,” Yungeum pointed out. “God probably realized that Mr. Cha was too perfect, and decided to sabotage him by robbing him of one of the most critical parts of a good man—"

“His humanity?” Yesul chipped in.

Yungeum snapped her fingers in agreement. “Exactly!”

Yesul laughed dryly and went back to sucking on her lollipop. But the image of Minhu Cha’s infuriating face still lingered in her head, and her fists clenched tight.

“Yungeum, just wait and see…” Yesul vowed, her eyebrows lifted high. “One of these days, I’ll tell off that pretty face of his and quit!”

It should come as no surprise that Yesul had been saying the exact same thing every day for the past three years.

***

With his face looking as threatening as ever, Minhu called Yesul to his desk as soon as he returned to the office. She hesitantly walked toward him, keeping her eyes fixed on his lips to avoid his sharp gaze.

“Redo it,” Minhu said as he threw Yesul’s report on the table.

Disheartened, Yesul picked up the scattered files one by one with trembling hands.

“How many times do I have to tell you to pay attention to trends?” he demanded. “Do you seriously expect the client to invest billions of dollars on this crap? Most of the ad is just the actress prancing around. You can barely see the product you’re supposed to be selling. You call this a proposal? It looks more like a pile of trash to me.”

She fidgeted under his disapproving glare.

“I… was actually trying to tailor it to the client’s needs, since they said they wanted to appeal to their target audience by casting a top celebrity…”

“Are you telling me that this proposal meets the client’s needs?”

Yesul nodded weakly as his long fingers tapped her report in annoyance.

“Fine, let’s assume that the company proceeded with your proposal and used your ad campaign. Do you honestly believe that this is going to appeal to the target audience?”

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. People these days prefer staring at pretty, recognizable faces over listening to some random person go on and on about a product, Yesul argued in her head.

Unfortunately, she still needed her monthly paycheck to pay her rent, so what she said out loud was:

“No, Mr. Cha… I apologize. I was not thinking straight.” Yesul bowed her head, eyes glued to the floor.

Minhu leaned back in his chair and threw her a harsh look.

“Start over from analyzing the target audience. I expect a new proposal on my desk by tomorrow morning.”

Her head jolted up in response. “But it’s already past five—!”

He couldn’t be serious! Not when she was about to clock out! Yesul stood frozen in denial as Minhu relaxed in his chair and crossed his arms.

“Ms. Hong. There is something called overtime for a reason,” he said bluntly, stating the obvious.

Yesul was at a loss for words as their eyes locked. There was something about his eyes that always made her feel uncomfortable.

When she quickly averted her gaze, Minhu stood up and walked out of the room with a frigid expression on his face. As his icy presence retreated, Yesul’s anger flared up.

Overtime? Easy for you to say! Ugh, I’d give anything to smack that head of his—! She cursed him behind his back and raised her fist to punch the air.

At that exact moment, Minhu turned his head to look back at her, and Yesul froze on the spot. She quickly plastered on a big smile and brought her fists together in an awkward little dance.

“Yay, overtime. Oh, how I love overtime… Ha ha… So much fun… Chicken and pizza are my favorite late-night snacks…”

“...Tsk.” Minhu threw her a pitying look as she flushed in embarrassment.

As he turned around to leave the office, for real this time, Yesul sighed in relief.

***

After everyone else had headed home, Yesul trudged toward the data room in search of her files. However, they were nowhere to be found amongst the mountains of documents piled up on the shelves.

“Ugh, where is it?!”

She felt even more irritated because she’d barely slept last night. Feeling her patience running low, she soon gave up her search. Instead, she picked up the phone and dialed her subordinate, Dojun Seok.

“Dojun, are you sure you put those files in here? I don’t see them anywhere.”

When he replied that he had placed the files on the highest shelf, she immediately regretted asking him to organize her files while she was at the photoshoot.

“I told you that only outdated files go on the top and bottom shelves. Recent files should be stored on the middle shelves.”

“I’m sorry, Ms. Hong. I’ll head back to the office right away—"

“It’s all right, there’s no need. Just don’t make the same mistake next time. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Yesul sighed as she hung up the phone and stared helplessly at the top shelf.

“Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse… How in the world am I supposed to reach that high?”

The clock was nearing ten p.m.. She would have to pull an all-nighter unless she wrapped things up in the next few hours. Yesul forcefully moved her tired limbs and dragged an old swivel chair in front of the shelves. Then, she took off her shoes and climbed up, carefully balancing herself on her tiptoes. Just as she was about to reach for the highest shelf, she heard approaching footsteps. When she looked down, she found Minhu Cha standing right next to her.

“Mr. Cha?! Why are you still in the office? I thought you went home.”

Minhu didn’t seem like he was going to give her an answer anytime soon.

“Move,” he said instead.

“Huh...?”

“Move aside.”

Unsure of whether she had heard him correctly, she stood frozen in place, unsure of how to react. Minhu, obviously annoyed, gestured for her to move aside.

“For the third time, move over so I can get the files.”

“Huh? Oh? Oh, Okay!” Yesul answered as she moved to get down from the chair.

Just then, the lights overhead flickered and everything went pitch black, leaving Yesul unable to see a single thing around her.

“M-Mr. Cha, are you there?” she said anxiously, her voice ringing out into the darkness. “Did the lights just all go out?”

Minhu sighed in frustration. “How annoying…”

“Wha-what should we do?”

“Stay put. I’ll get the flashlight from the storage room.”

“Wait! Wait, Mr. Cha!” Yesul desperately called out to him as she heard his footsteps move away. “Can you let me down before you go?”

“What?”

“I have night blindness! I can’t see anything in the dark!”

“So?”

“Could you hold on to me for just a second? I think I’m going to fall off the chair!”

Yesul felt as if the darkness was encircling her, about to swallow her whole.

Scared, she begged him for help, struggling to keep her balance on the old chair. “Please… Please, Mr. Cha, please.”

For a moment, Minhu didn’t say anything, and Yesul would have thought he left the room if she couldn’t feel his glare boring into her. Then, finally, she heard quiet footsteps approaching her.

“Mr. Cha? Mr. Cha, is that you?!”

“Be quiet. I’ll let you down.”

“Where are you? Here? Here?” She frantically threw her hands out into the darkness.

Minhu couldn’t help but frown when he felt her hands groping his face.

“Will you… Stop—"

Yesul jumped in surprise and immediately withdrew her hands as her fingers brushed something soft and wet. It was only for a split second, but she was sure she had just touched Minhu’s tongue. She must have accidentally pushed her fingers into his mouth while he was talking. She screamed internally at the dawning realization.

“I-I didn’t mean to...” she stuttered, at a loss for words.

The awkward silence was almost suffocating. She couldn’t make out Minhu’s expression due to the darkness, which made her even more nervous. Just as she was about to make more excuses, Minhu ground out between his teeth, “Don’t. Say. Another. Word.”

Yesul complied, sealing her lips shut.

After a moment of silence, Minhu let out a deep sigh before he reached out and wrapped his arms around her tiny waist. Yesul’s shoulders flinched in surprise as his long fingers brushed against her back. She felt embarrassed at the unexpected contact, since she had thought that he would simply hold her hand while she climbed down the chair. Before she could say anything, Minhu tightened his grip on her. But right when he was about to hoist her down, her balance faltered and the wheels of the chair spun wildly as it tipped.

“Ah!”

Thump!

Minhu fell first, his back hitting the floor hard as he cushioned Yesul’s fall.

“Ugh…”

His face scrunched up in pain and his vision blurred, making it hard to focus. Before he could process what had happened, he felt an unfamiliar weight on top of him, along with something soft pressed against his lips.

Yesul’s forehead disconnected from his lips as she shifted, making an unmistakable kissing sound.

Shocked, he released his grip on Yesul’s waist and let his hands fall down to the floor, grazing her hips. At that moment, he felt warm strokes of breath brush against the skin of his neck. Immediately, he flushed a deep red color as all the blood in his body rushed to his face. Yesul’s soft lips were pressed tightly to his neck.

Stunned, Minhu carefully swallowed his breath. As the muscles of his neck pulsed, Yesul’s lips moved up and down with them. They laid frozen on the floor, piled on top of each other, for several long moments.

After a while, Minhu came to his senses. “Get off of me before the count of three.”

Just as he was about to shove her off of him by the shoulders, Yesul shouted, “Ahhh!”

At that moment, the power came back on and they locked eyes under the bright fluorescent lights.

“Ah—“ Yesul was about to scream again when Minhu pushed her chin up, sealing her mouth shut.

“Why the hell are you screaming!”

Yesul’s heart pumped blood like it was about to burst. She felt like she could faint any second. The moment her lips had touched Minhu’s skin, she had gotten a sneak peek of his future.

In her vision, Minhu had been laying naked on his bed, with his broad chest and defined abs visible under the sheets. Embraced in his thick, muscular arms lay a familiar-looking woman who was also completely naked.

And that woman had been none other than Yesul herself.

“Ahh!” She screamed again in disbelief.

With her body pressed to Minhu’s, the Yesul in the vision had looked genuinely happy, as if she had been given everything she had ever wanted. Yesul couldn’t believe what she had just seen. There was only one reason a grown man and woman would be in bed together, completely naked.

“Ha…”

There is no way I would do such a thing.

But no matter how hard she tried to come up with alternative explanations, she repeatedly came to one conclusion. Yesul started shaking uncontrollably at the thought.

It can’t be true!

Of all the men out there, why in the world would she do it with someone as horrible as Minhu Cha?

No, no. I must be mistaken, Yesul thought, completely in denial. I must have seen it wrong.

But what if I really did see it correctly? Maybe I need to check again to make sure.

At that point, her mind had long lost its capacity to make any logical decisions. Which was why she had no control over her blabbering mouth.

“Can...” she muttered.

“Can?”

“Can we…”

“What?”

“Can we do that just one more time?!” she shouted.

“Wait, what do you mean—“

And just like that, Yesul threw herself at him before Minhu could finish his sentence. Minhu’s eyes widened as her lips sped closer.