At that moment, Huiseo began the “tour” as Yuwon had said.
It was an unexpected situation, but for now it seemed like he had nothing to lose.
Yuwon took Huiseo around various parts of the company, explaining in detail what departments and facilities were on each floor. Not only that, but he explained the responsibilities of each department, their major achievements, and currently ongoing projects so thoroughly that Huiseo thought, ‘Do corporate tours normally reveal this much?’
Regarding the facilities, he enthusiastically promoted the welfare amenities like the in-house café, break rooms, massage rooms, cafeteria, and hospital.
“…Hmm. Not bad.”
“Just ‘not bad’? There’s nowhere as well-equipped as our company, right?”
“I suppose.”
Though his words were that indifferent, Yuwon was extremely pleased by Huiseo’s curious gaze busily moving about as if trying to capture every single thing without missing anything. This was what he had brought him here to see. He felt rewarded for memorizing everything about the company for the past few days.
“What’s over there?”
“Marketing.”
“Oh.”
“Why? Are you interested?”
“I read some books recently….”
As the conversation continued, Yuwon couldn’t hide his beaming expression. He was staring intently at Huiseo’s chattering lips as if he wouldn’t miss a single syllable.
“Marketing has a pretty broad scope, right? Just reading the theory books doesn’t give me a good sense of what the actual job duties are like. What do you think?”
“Then we should take a closer look.”
Huiseo asked casually, but Yuwon immediately gave a signal to ‘Director Kim’ who had been following them from behind. There were no words. He just sent a glance. But Director Kim immediately made a phone call somewhere and ended up summoning several marketing team members who were at work.
Yuwon nodded his head with satisfaction.
However, Huiseo couldn’t help but wave his hands in embarrassment. No, he’d been chattering away excitedly by himself this whole time, so Huiseo had assumed Yuwon would explain this time too, but he didn’t know things would escalate like this.
“No, why are you bothering people who are working!”
“Because people who work directly can give the most accurate explanations, right?”
It sounded like a reasonable point at first, but this way it was no different from imitating a chairman on an inspection tour. Was this a corporate tour or a work report? What did the people who were busy working and dragged out without prior notice do to deserve this? Even he thought it would be irritating.
Actually, he’d already been embarrassed by the gathering stares as they rummaged through every part of the company, but what he’d been trying to ignore burst out at this point. Huiseo’s lips, which had been chattering as his wariness seemed to ease somewhat, shut tight again.
“What’s wrong? It’s okay to ask more if you’re curious.”
“…No, I don’t think it would be okay.”
When he answered primly like that and turned his head, Yuwon let out a “Hmm” of admiration and even leaned in to examine Huiseo’s mood. Why is he suddenly like this? Thinking about it, he thought perhaps Huiseo was tired from being taken around here and there. As he’d seen during PE class before, his stamina seemed quite weak.
‘Should I give him a moment to catch his breath?’
So Yuwon found a place for Huiseo to sit and rest with something to drink.
His thinking must have been somewhat correct, as a small sigh of relief escaped through Huiseo’s lips as he received the beverage Yuwon handed him. Seeing him like that, Yuwon chuckled and asked as he sat across from him.
“So what did you think of the tour?”
“It’s random.”
“Is that all?”
“…I was surprised that you seriously explained a lot more than I thought.”
“And?”
“But I’m still suspicious about why you’re doing this.”
At Huiseo’s answer, which couldn’t be more honest, complete with a sidelong glance, Yuwon’s hearty laughter followed.
“There’s nothing to be suspicious about. I’m just asking you to take a good look.”
“Take a good look at what? You?”
“Haha, that would be nice too, but.”
Though Huiseo asked as if he couldn’t understand at all, Yuwon leisurely drank his beverage and answered.
“To be more precise, it would be more accurate to say our company.”
“So why would I need to look at your company….”
“You’ll have more than one or two places wanting to recruit you. We have to work hard to get ahead.”
Yuwon’s words just seemed absurd to Huiseo.
‘…Why are you getting in line on your own?’
Huiseo hadn’t decided anything about his career path yet. The person who hadn’t even thought about giving the rice cake was astounding when others were already downing the kimchi broth, getting ahead of each other. Worried that if left alone this might become a strange pretext, just as Huiseo opened his mouth saying “I am—” that was when it happened.
Before that, Yuwon asked Huiseo.
“Huiseo-ya. Actually, you know too, don’t you? That it’ll be difficult to continue like this.”
His words, tossed out carelessly, were quite sharp.
Those sharp words fiercely crossed through Huiseo’s chest.
It wasn’t done with malice. It was just that Yuwon seemed to see right through and hit too directly on the worries that had been persistently troubling Huiseo lately. That hurt quite a bit. Because of that, Huiseo looked at Yuwon with wavering eyes, unable to even think to hide his disturbed expression.
Seeing Huiseo like that, Yuwon felt equally bitter.
‘You need to realize even now that it’s a foolish act.’
He truly thought that way.
The current state of the Imperial Family was, to put it bluntly, no different from barely keeping it breathing day by day. There was no way Huiseo didn’t know that. Such a smart guy. Moreover, a guy who had read books about democracy since he was 9 years old couldn’t possibly be unaware of this inevitable flow.
The Imperial Family would soon disappear into the back alleys of history. So.
“Huiseo-ya.”
Don’t try so hard for such a place.
Yuwon called out to Huiseo sorrowfully in his heart once more, but conversely, Huiseo’s gaze became fierce.
***
Even after sending photos of Huiseo that others couldn’t obtain and showing off like that, he immediately insisted that he definitely wasn’t a prince. In the midst of that, when Hwan finally heard the answer he’d suspected—’Myeongwoon Group’—from the one called ‘Golden Apple,’ he clenched his molars tight.
‘Choi Yuwon.’
This bastard had finally gone so far as to call Huiseo out of the palace.
Still, he didn’t know whether to consider it fortunate amid misfortune that the destination was a company of all places. It was difficult to judge hastily since he didn’t know Yuwon’s intentions.
‘I need to bring Huiseo back quickly.’
Having grasped the situation, before arriving at the palace, Hwan asked them to redirect the car to where Huiseo would be. But ultimately he was told that wouldn’t be possible. Sickeningly, this time too it was because of ‘security and safety issues.’
“It’s not like I’m saying I’ll get out, but can’t we just go pick him up like this?”
“I apologize, Your Highness. You may only move along the predetermined route.”
The fact that he’d gotten into the Crown Prince’s car earlier probably played a part. So unfair resentful glances were directed at Kang for no reason. Even knowing it wasn’t his fault. Then Kang soothed Hwan with a calm voice.
“It’s a company, what could happen? Huiseo will handle things well and come back, so don’t worry too much.”
“…But still.”
He tried whining a bit more, but it was no use. No matter how earnestly he pleaded, Hwan couldn’t avoid arriving at the palace as scheduled and becoming trapped inside. This was his reality.
Once Huiseo left the palace, there was nothing Hwan could do but wait endlessly. Now he even knew clearly where Huiseo was, yet he couldn’t take a single step to find him, so nothing could be more miserable.
In the old days, there were times when they would secretly leave the palace under the pretext of incognito travel, but with the development of media, in modern times when all citizens knew the faces of the Imperial Family members, such a thing was utterly impossible. Even now, they had just come from doing a live internet broadcast with their very faces shown.
Due to these circumstances, Hwan, ultimately with his feet tied, ended up anxiously fidgeting in his quarters with only his phone in hand.
“…Why isn’t he answering the phone again?”
His voice grumbling as he called incessantly was, unfortunately, soaked with moisture.
However, just tearfully waiting like that didn’t suit Hwan’s temperament after all.
As the situation where he could hardly reach Huiseo continued, the troublemaker quality that had been sleeping within him revealed itself along with raised eyebrows. It was precisely at times like this that various incidents and accidents that made Imperial Family members horrified would occur.
‘…It might be a bit dangerous.’
Still, he decided to trust his own judgment.
With that thought, Hwan left the phone app he’d been holding onto and opened an internet window again. Then he searched for the person he’d been talking to just moments ago.
HwanHui’s Garden.
Golden Apple inside it.
Fortunately, there was someone he knew at the place where Huiseo was now. Though he didn’t know if it was appropriate to call them ‘someone he knew.’ But right now, that was the only option left to Hwan. If he couldn’t go out himself, he had to receive help from someone outside.
‘Let’s try it. Let’s give it a shot.’
Since he’d already revealed himself like that anyway, having already caused trouble, he decided to go a bit further. As mentioned before, it would be somewhat dangerous given his status as a prince, but still, he had his own reasons for confidence.
He’d observed them while active together, and even when cornered like that, they hadn’t released a single photo of Huiseo… Since he insisted firmly that he wasn’t him, they ended up just playing along appropriately as well.
‘They’re not a bad person.’
If his judgment was wrong and things went wrong later because of this, well, it couldn’t be helped.
In that case, he would just brazenly insist he’d been hacked without any shame.
‘Well, what can they do? What will they do? Is there proof it wasn’t hacking?’
Even while thinking so shamelessly, Hwan, who unconsciously swallowed nervously, ultimately reached out to Golden Apple once more.
[Golden Apple-nim]
[Are you still at the company?]
[Help!!!]
