Thud-.
Startled, Euiyeon dropped her spoon onto the table. The twins also tilted their heads, puzzled by Haeseong’s words. Euiseong said teasingly.
“Prince oppa is stupid. Family is family from the time you’re born. If you want to be family with us, you have to be born again.”
Even at Euiseong’s words, Haeseong looked at Euiju unwavering. Somehow, Euiju found it burdensome to meet that straightforward gaze and averted his eyes first.
“Prince hyung. Do you like our hyung?”
At Euiho’s question, Haeseong’s gaze turned that way.
“Then you can marry our hyung. When you get married, you become one family. That’s what they said in the drama. Don’t you remember? It was in the drama Prince hyung was in.”
“You idiot. How can men marry each other?”
At Haeseong’s question, Euiju, who had been acting as if his soul had left him for a moment, finally came to his senses at the twins’ words. Haeseong raised one eyebrow at the unfamiliar word that came out of nowhere.
“…Marriage?”
As if he had never even thought of such a word until now, he reacted and asked back like someone who had never thought about it even once. Euiho jumped up and down excitedly.
“If men can’t do it, you can marry our noona! Prince hyung. If you want to be family with us, marry Euiyeon noona. If Prince hyung becomes our family, I’ll definitely brag to my friends!”
“Me too, me too!”
“……”
“……”
The area around the dining table was instantly enveloped in a strange silence. Euiyeon was also just blinking her eyes in embarrassment at the newly sparked controversy. Haeseong raised one eyebrow suspiciously and asked.
“If I marry ahjussi’s noona, can I become family with ahjussi too? Then we can live together?”
“The kids are just talking, so don’t worry about it. If you’re done eating, give me your bowl.”
Euiju pretended to be indifferent as he reached out and took the bowl Haeseong had used.
“I’ll go wake up Roun and come back.”
Euiju, who had cleared the entire table, turned around to avoid the situation and headed to the small room. The twins started fighting absurdly over the topic of same-sex marriage.
Even in the noisy atmosphere, Haeseong remained motionless, only staring intently at the door where Euiju had disappeared inside.
Euiyeon narrowed her eyes at that persistent sight.
***
In the director’s office where sunlight poured through the floor-to-ceiling glass windows, Jin Yeongseol, with the brilliant downtown behind her, pressed firmly on her temples. As she was frowning deeply, her already sharp impression looked even more fierce. A heavy and frightening atmosphere wafted from her.
“Get to the conclusion. What’s the problem?”
“Haha. It’s not exactly a problem…. He does everything else well.”
Gu Seungjin, Haeseong’s acting instructor, broke out in a cold sweat. To him, who was just a lower-level employee, the CEO’s presence was as enormous as a god, so he just kept clenching and unclenching his innocent fists.
“Haeseong doesn’t understand only that particular part. He’s not proactive, and he has no desire to learn it separately either. At this rate, it will be difficult with Director Kim Seongwon.”
“Didn’t the public’s response to the work he did with Director Jang Seongwoo also fall short? We rejected all the offers that came in at the end of last year because of that too. Is there still no room for improvement?”
At Secretary Kim’s question, Gu Seungjin nodded with a troubled look.
Jin Yeongseol, the CEO of J Entertainment, put her hand on her temple as if it ached. She had worked so hard that even two bodies wouldn’t be enough to handle the incidents that broke out as soon as she entered the country. She had wasted too much energy dealing with Jo Yeongchun, who had been strangely irritating from before.
Jin Yeongseol spoke bluntly as if she was too lazy to think further.
“If he doesn’t seem willing to learn, just stick a girl his age with him.”
It was an indifferent remark as if dealing with an animal being raised rather than treating a nephew. At those words, Gu Seungjin made a troubled face.
“Director. That’s not as easy as it sounds. What kind of kid is Haeseong that he’d meet someone just because we told him to…. He’s a kid who curses first if we tell him to watch a romance movie, so how can we do that….”
That’s right. They were currently sharing skeptical thoughts about Haeseong’s acting of ‘tender love.’
The title of the movie Haeseong would soon start filming was <A Languid Summer Afternoon>. It was a romance genre film containing the innocent love of adolescents.
Haeseong acted well. He successfully played the role of a pitiful child who was abandoned by his parents because he had a disability preventing him from speaking and was adopted by an American couple, the role of a king in a serious drama who became a prince of a country and then a wise ruler, and the role of a young killer dreaming of revenge for his parents, but he had no motivation or will for only one genre.
That was a serious love story.
<A Languid Summer Afternoon>, which would start filming in just a few months, was a work that the agency couldn’t refuse due to previously entangled interests. Moreover, the director himself was one of the top directors in South Korea and was a meticulous and delicate person, so it was obvious that troublesome things would happen if Haeseong entered filming in his current clumsy state.
“……”
“……”
Haeseong’s age was the age when one is opening their eyes to the opposite sex and becoming curious. Moreover, since he was directly involved in the entertainment industry where there were many people with outstanding looks, the conditions were good and not bad. But until now, not a single report had come up that he had shown interest in anyone, so it was understandable that they couldn’t exert force in that area.
To properly feel an emotion, one must dive into an event that can make one feel it.
Jin Yeongseol, who had been lost in thought with her arms crossed, asked her secretary.
“Secretary Kim. Did you take care of Lee Euiju-ssi’s incentive?”
“Yes. Additional payment has been completed. Would you like to thank him in person?”
“Yes. It’s about time for that.”
Jin Yeongseol, who nodded slightly, stubbed out her cigarette in the luxurious ashtray. Secretary Kim nodded and left the director’s office.
Ten minutes later, Jin Yeongseol, who had been looking over approval documents, raised her head at the sound of footsteps heard from outside.
Click-.
“Hello, Director. I heard you called for me.”
“Yes, have a seat.”
Jasmine tea was placed in front of Euiju, who sat at the edge of the shiny leather sofa. An awkward and heavy air circulated inside.
“Well. I thanked you over the phone before, but I didn’t know I’d receive such great help again like this.”
“Not at all. I only did what I should have done as a manager.”
“Is that so?”
A heavy silence descended on the director’s office. Jin Yeongseol slowly scanned the body of Lee Euiju, who was sitting neatly. That gaze was very intense.
‘Right. He didn’t spare his body.’
She heard he threw his body for Haeseong who had already fallen into crisis twice. She hadn’t had high expectations since the report said he was a quiet and taciturn person. But he was enduring her nephew’s terrible temperament with that stiff attitude, so it was truly marvelous.
Among the people who had passed through Haeseong until now, this was the first time excluding one person. That one person hadn’t done this much either, so he should be considered unique.
Moreover.
Jin Yeongseol let out a chuckle at the phone that had been ringing persistently for the past 10 minutes and opened her mouth.
“So. I heard Haeseong follows you well?”
“…Perhaps because we went through various crises together, it seems a special affection has formed. It’s nothing great.”
At Euiju’s modest attitude, Jin Yeongseol bore a faint smile.
“Actually, even when I received the report before, I just thought ‘I suppose so’ but didn’t believe it. But the phone that’s been ringing constantly from the moment Euiju-ssi entered here is proving it.”
“Pardon?”
“My nephew seems anxious. In case I bully Lee Euiju-ssi.”
“……”
Jin Yeongseol took out her phone from her pocket and put it down on the table. The phone vibrated strongly on the table, making a loud noise.
「Jin Haeseong」
The screen showed the caller written like that. Soon the screen that was cut off and changed showed 8 missed calls from Haeseong.
“It is something great. He’s such a vicious bastard that his affection was all shaken off long ago. You’ve properly tamed the bastard who made the managers we worked hard to save fall out, so I can’t help but highly value your ability. Isn’t that right?”
Vicious, affection shaken off, tamed.
Euiju’s expression stiffened minutely at the sharp words hitting his ears. Wasn’t she treating Haeseong not as a nephew but as some kind of beast?
“You know well that the previous manager left after being assaulted by that bastard, don’t you? There’s no need to be excessively modest.”
Euiju quickly relaxed his stiffened expression.
“…You praise me too highly.”
Even though it was praise directly from the CEO, there was no change in Lee Euiju’s expression. Jin Yeongseol, who had been staring intently at that expression, let out a chuckle of unknown meaning.
“Since Haeseong follows you that much, I’ll shamelessly ask you a favor. Is that okay?”
“Yes. If you tell me, I’ll try my best within my power.”
As if she liked the serious and weighty answer, Jin Yeongseol smiled and lit a cigarette.
Soon Jin Yeongseol began to list the things she had been thinking to Euiju. At her sudden and random proposal, Euiju’s face instantly stiffened.
“Right now, that… are you telling me to do that?”
