“Do you live with that person called Secretary Han?”
I thought he was going to deliver some shocking news with the way he trailed off, but it was a surprisingly trivial and insignificant question. Why is he suddenly asking about Han Woojin right now? I wondered what it was about Han Woojin that caught his interest.
“What does that have to do with you passing?”
“Don’t dodge the question and just answer. Do you live together?”
“Is that so important? We don’t live together. Are you satisfied now? We only lived together briefly in America.”
“Then that’s fine.”
The guy wore a satisfied expression as if his curiosity had been resolved.
‘…!’
For a moment, I thought I’d been too oblivious.
Han Woojin = Super elite, a perfect guy with even perfect looks
Seo Hanryul = Future top star, the most handsome man in this world
And the protagonists of this novel are all men. A world where men deeply love men.
Now I get it. Seo Hanryul, you’re interested in Han Woojin.
Right, Lee Dojun can be met later. If you’re going to have a thing with Han Woojin, at least reduce the attitude you’re giving me.
“Hey, do you need to contact Secretary Han? Should I give you Secretary Han’s phone number? You two can meet separately. I’ll even set up an occasion for you.”
“…Fuck. Forget it. Let’s not talk about this.”
‘Are you being shy in front of me right now?’
Seo Hanryul’s intense reaction made me think my hunch wasn’t wrong.
“Don’t refuse. I’ll give you his phone number.”
“Fuck, I said I don’t need it. Are you joking?”
But even at my second offer, Seo Hanryul’s reaction was very rough. He was expressing with his whole body that he was intensely embarrassed at being caught revealing his feelings to me.
Hmm… Maybe I shouldn’t have brought it up. Because of Seo Hanryul who kept saying “fuck, fuck” every time he opened his mouth, I unconsciously looked around, checking my surroundings and turning my head.
“Seo Hanryul, watch your language. I don’t care, but there are many listening ears here. Your face is already out there, would you like rumors to spread that you have a foul mouth? Be mindful of what you say in places like this.”
I thought Seo Hanryul’s behavior of spewing curses in an open space was beyond my common sense. For someone who wants to become a top star, his mouth is too foul.
“Ha… Oblivious bastard.”
Isn’t the oblivious one the guy who freely lets out curses anywhere? If he doesn’t need Secretary Han’s phone number, he could just say no, but no one knows why he has to curse.
“Hey, you’re not Cha Jaehyun, are you?”
‘…?’
Seo Hanryul suddenly asked me with a serious expression. The atmosphere changed in an instant.
What was bound to come has come. It seems he’s been laying groundwork with meaningless questions just to say that.
“Why are you saying so many nonsensical things today?”
“You’re not Cha Jaehyun. Don’t you think something’s a bit off?”
Seo Hanryul is persistent.
Once he latches onto something, he’s absolutely not the type to let go. Looking at his expression, he wasn’t saying this jokingly. He was asking me seriously.
It was obvious as day that if I couldn’t answer the question refreshingly, it would only deepen his suspicion. Since I absolutely cannot tell him the truth, I only thought I had to defend myself somehow.
“Then who is the person in front of you right now? Do you think that’s a question that makes sense?”
“Yeah, I have plenty of time today. Keep making excuses like that if you want.”
Hearing my answer, Seo Hanryul raised one corner of his mouth at an angle as if he found it interesting. He really seemed ready to stay up all night.
‘Why is he acting like that again all of a sudden?’
At times like this, there’s no choice but to pull myself together and continue acting.
“Haah… I wasn’t going to tell you this much… but I’m ending up saying it. Actually, before I went to America, I hit my head badly in the living room. Since then, I can’t really remember things from before the injury. I can roughly recognize people related to me, but I can’t remember my relationship with them, their personalities… even my own personality. I went to the doctor and got an MRI, but they said there was nothing they could do.”
I collected myself and calmly continued lying. Referencing amnesia, a staple material of morning dramas.
“You’re telling me to believe that bullshit right now?”
‘You’re right. It’s bullshit even to me.’
“Yeah, it’s bullshit. I think it’s bullshit too, but isn’t the most frustrated person me? What can I do? Even the doctor doesn’t know. That’s why I went to America to see if I could solve the situation.”
‘This makes sense.’
I cast a spell on myself and continued acting.
“I hear all kinds of things in life… Then you don’t even remember what you did to me?”
Seo Hanryul seemed to be gradually falling for my words. Logically, souls switching doesn’t make sense. Amnesia is at least possible even if it’s rare. Seeing Seo Hanryul’s fading suspicion in his eyes, I gradually gained confidence.
“…Right. Actually, I don’t remember at all, but when you asked to meet me, you seemed very angry, so I figured I must have done something wrong. That’s why I readily complied with your demands.”
“Ha, you’re telling me to believe such crude lies right now? Seeing you try to get out of this with such dirty tactics, it does seem like you’re Cha Jaehyun…”
Seo Hanryul laughed. It was the moment when the tense atmosphere was gradually loosening.
“Believe it or not, you bastard. With Cha Jaehyun right in front of you, if you say ‘you’re not Cha Jaehyun,’ what am I supposed to say? Think whatever you want.”
The reason Seo Hanryul asked such a question must be because my personality and Cha Jaehyun’s personality are different. Actually, not just now, but Seo Hanryul has occasionally told me I’ve become strange.
‘From now on, whenever that kind of question comes up, I should just say it’s amnesia.’
That said, I can’t live like Cha Jaehyun, so for the sake of the future, I thought it would be better to brush it off as having amnesia.
“…Anyway, congratulations. I’m really happy that you passed too.”
Before he could dig deeper, I quickly changed the subject. Fortunately, Seo Hanryul readily fell for my tactic.
“I’m the one who passed, so why are you making more of a fuss? I told you. That CEO bastard is really not good.”
“Hey, people in high positions are all like that. And isn’t the Youth CEO a good person? He didn’t even swear at us there, he spoke politely and even gave us another chance. This much makes him an angel. Let’s see the world a bit more beautifully. Starting with the CEO’s face being bright, it inspires trust.”
To distract Seo Hanryul’s attention, I kept talking endlessly and started appealing the charm of his future boyfriend.
“Are your eyes crooked? You like that gigolo-like face?”
Unfortunately, the charm appeal didn’t work. But thinking about it, I recalled the setting that Seo Hanryul didn’t like Lee Dojun much at first, so I judged it wasn’t a strange flow.
And gigolo. Looking at facial features, Seo Hanryul’s face had thinner lines and was closer to a gigolo-like face. I almost laughed at his inappropriate word choice but held it in.
“Are your eyes attached somewhere in Andromeda? Go grab anyone sitting here and ask them. A hundred out of a hundred will say the CEO’s face is handsome. Let’s stop this unproductive talk and spend today happily. It’s a good day.”
“My face or that CEO bastard’s face?”
Seo Hanryul latched onto the word “face” endlessly.
‘Crazy bastard…’
I realized it now. Seo Hanryul, your self-love is enormous. He must be angry because I said the CEO was handsome.
“Crazy… Do you have prince syndrome? Of course it’s you. Still, you’re a celebrity, so shouldn’t you look better than the company CEO?”
I answered him with what he wanted to hear, humoring his leading question.
“Then that’s fine.”
The guy snickered once and smiled as if satisfied.
‘Ugh… So annoying.’
At his reaction, I had a sad premonition that even if he joined Youth, his annoying nature wouldn’t change.
* * *
“It’s been a while.”
“Executive Director-nim, it’s been a while.”
Woojin, who at some point strangely stopped following his instructions. To interrogate him, Taehan suddenly summoned Woojin to his office.
When Jaehyun returned to Korea, Taehan was certain that the guy’s dirty deeds would start again. But even after his return, the situation was the same. Every day, Woojin only conveyed short news to Taehan that there was nothing particularly unusual today, and Taehan strongly felt the need to interrogate Woojin, who was boldly showing dereliction of duty.
“I’ll get straight to the point. You know why I called you here today, right?”
“…”
At Taehan’s question, Woojin gave no answer.
‘What a truly shameless face.’
“Why no answer? I naturally think you’d know. It seems there’s been little news about my younger brother lately. And you always convey the same news. That there’s nothing particularly unusual. I think this is different from the promise we first made.”
“I apologize, Executive Director-nim. I have nothing to say. However, there are no lies in what I’ve conveyed. Looking at Young Master Cha Jaehyun’s life, nothing particularly unusual has been discovered.”
Despite Taehan’s reprimand, Woojin’s expression didn’t waver even an inch. Woojin had also anticipated this situation would occur when responding to the summons.
Woojin was also fed up with Taehan’s pressure, so he decided to definitely settle this relationship through today’s meeting.
At Woojin’s confident attitude, Taehan gradually began to heat up.
“…You’re giving me more disappointment than I thought. I very much dislike useless excuses. If there’s a problem, it should be solved, right? I think it’s very negligent to just sit idly by saying the problem has changed.”
“I apologize. However, the Young Master has changed very much. I dare say there’s nothing left to report to the level where… If only Executive Director-nim agrees, I hope to quit my position as the Young Master’s secretary as of today.”
“…”
Woojin’s unimagined statement further fueled Taehan’s anger.
