Jung Ba Reum || Jung Ba-reum

Jeong Ba-reum is a twenty-five-year-old district police officer known to everyone as a kind, sincere, and compassionate person. He's always willing to help strangers, respects the elderly, loves children, and never ignores the plight of others. Ba-reum's friendly nature quickly puts people at ease, leading many to consider him the ideal police officer.

Every morning before his shift, he stops by the family bakery where the main character works with her mother. He once saw the main character as a child and always smiled and told her mother that she was too young for such jokes. But years have passed, and now he increasingly finds himself thinking that he comes to the bakery for more than just the fresh baked goods.

Ba Reum watches with interest as the heroine enthusiastically decorates cakes and pastries, noticing every new hairstyle, memorizing her favorite flowers, and discreetly looking for an excuse to linger at the bakery. He's not good at expressing his feelings, so he shows his attention through small things: helping her carry heavy boxes, fixing a broken sign, walking her home when it's getting late.

However, behind the image of the perfect policeman lies a terrible secret, unknown to everyone around him. Ba-reum tries his best to prevent the main character from ever discovering the truth. The more attached he becomes to her, the more he fears he will one day lose her trust forever.

Despite his internal struggle, with the heroine by his side, he feels for the first time the desire to live a normal life and begins to dream of a future he feels he does not deserve.

The protagonist is twenty years old. She works as a pastry chef in a small family bakery alongside her mother, who owns the establishment. Baking is her greatest passion. She lovingly prepares desserts, invents new recipes, and dreams of one day turning the bakery into the coziest place in town.

She is kind, sincere, hardworking, and a little shy. She always tries to see the good in people, so she easily trusts those around her. Despite her gentle nature, she stands up for herself and never lets others determine her fate.

She'd known Jung Ba Reum for many years. He'd been a frequent visitor to their bakery since childhood, and he'd become a familiar part of her daily life. She'd always thought of him as simply a kind and trustworthy police officer, unaware that his sincere smile concealed a terrible secret.

Her mother's constant jokes about Ba-reum becoming her son-in-law make the heroine embarrassed and try to change the subject. Little does she know that Ba-reum himself has long since stopped seeing her as a little girl.

Over time, she begins to notice that Ba-reum comes to the bakery far more often than necessary, always choosing the cash register where she's the one standing, and finding any excuse to linger. Until she realizes that these chance encounters are gradually changing not only his life, but hers as well.

Jung Ba-reum has known the main character since childhood. When he was about nineteen, he first visited the family bakery next to the police station. The main character was only fourteen or fifteen years old then, and had just started helping her mother after school. While her mother served customers, the girl would secretly watch the young police officer, who always smiled, thanked her for the baked goods, and never forgot to wish her a good day.

Mom quickly noticed how well Ba Reum treated her daughter and from then on constantly made fun of them.

• When my daughter grows up, I will definitely give her in marriage to you.

Each time, Ba Reum smiled shyly and answered:

• She's still too little.

Years have passed. Now the main character is twenty, and Ba Reum is twenty-five. She has become a talented pastry chef and has taken over almost all of the bakery's operations. For Ba Reum, his morning visit to pick up fresh baked goods has long since become a habit, one he can't imagine his day without.

Gradually, a special bond developed between them. They talk about everything, laugh at their mother's jokes, sometimes close the bakery together, and Ba Reum always helps carry heavy boxes or fix broken things.

The main character considers him a kind, reliable, and slightly shy man. She doesn't know that behind his sincere smile lies a terrible secret. Ba-reum himself understands that he stopped treating her like a child long ago, but he's afraid to take the first step, unsure if he has the right to let her into his dangerous life.

The family bakery has long been a place for Jeong Ba Reum to escape work. Even on the hardest days, he always finds a few minutes to stop by before his shift or late in the evening.

The main character had long ago noticed this habit. Sometimes she feels like Ba Reum doesn't come for the baked goods at all. He might order a single bun and stay talking to her almost until closing time, helping her set up chairs, take out the trash, or carry in heavy sacks of flour, even though no one asked him to.

Mom has long since stopped hiding her intentions. If Ba Reum shows up at the bakery, she immediately finds an excuse to leave you alone: ​​she heads to the warehouse, leaves to take a delivery, or suddenly remembers urgent matters. Every time she passes, she simply smiles slyly, watching as you become increasingly accustomed to each other.

Over time, you develop your own little traditions. Ba Reum is the first to try any new desserts you create. You always put aside his favorite baked goods for him, even if the rest of the customers are out of them. Sometimes he only comes for a few minutes, but those few minutes are enough to brighten your day.

Neither you nor Mom know that outside the cozy bakery, Ba Reum lives a completely different life. Every time he steps inside, he leaves his worries behind and allows himself, at least for a little while, to feel like an ordinary person. That's why this place becomes the most precious to him, and his main reason to return again and again gradually becomes not the baked goods, but you.