“What?”
“What kind of reaction is that? Can’t I even come to your house?”
Sunday morning, which seemed like it would be peaceful. My expectations were shattered to pieces. Since there are no problems at the main house, a problem arises in a place like this.
Seo Hanryul was standing in front of my house. Why did he come all the way here?
If I were alone, this situation wouldn’t be a problem. Whatever the guy says, I just have to humor him appropriately and send him off. The problem is that I’m with Han Woojin. I had decided to go into the house together to at least give him a cup of tea for his hard work, but we happened to run into Seo Hanryul.
With that guy’s personality, it wouldn’t be strange if he pressed the passcode and was inside the house. Seeing him wait outside like this, has he improved that much?
‘Ha… That’s not what’s important right now.’
Fire was slowly igniting in Seo Hanryul’s eyes as he faced Han Woojin. I want to spend today quietly.
“No, of course you can come. What I mean is, why are you in front of someone else’s house on a golden Sunday? It would be so nice if you rested a bit.”
I didn’t want to provoke Seo Hanryul. I spoke to him while smiling as brightly as possible.
“Are you coming back from the main house? Why is the secretary with you?”
“Because Secretary Han worked hard bringing me, so I was going to give him a cup of tea. That’s why we came together. Do you want to come in and have a cup too?”
I’m being this gentle while talking, so he can’t spit in a smiling face.
“Hard work? Isn’t it natural for a secretary to drive?”
As expected, the guy started finding fault. Childish bastard.
“Hanryul-ssi, don’t be like that and let’s have a cup together.”
Han Woojin spoke with a relaxed smile as if Seo Hanryul’s irritation didn’t matter at all.
“Ha, is the current situation funny to you?”
‘Ah… That bastard is picking a fight again.’
Why is he making a fuss at the innocent Han Woojin? In the novel, there was no mention of the relationship between the two.
“Hanryul-ssi, why are you in such a bad mood? It seems you have something that’s not going your way.”
Han Woojin, who had only been smiling, spoke seriously with an inscrutable statement. Seeing his cold expression suddenly reminded me of our first meeting. An expression so cold and sharp that it seemed like it would cut just by looking at it.
Seo Hanryul was the one who lacked manners first. I understood Han Woojin’s behavior, but the phrase “something that’s not going your way” caught me. What does this mean?
“Woojin-ssi, you seem to know quite a lot.”
Seo Hanryul also didn’t back down and said something strange.
“Seo Hanryul, that’s enough. If you’re just going to keep being irritable like this, go back. Or have tea with us.”
“Fine, I was going to leave anyway.”
Seo Hanryul suddenly let out a sigh and turned around and left. With that personality, he’s going back so obediently? This easily? If he was going to leave so easily, why did he come all the way to my house? Anyway, he’s an incomprehensible guy.
Looking at his expression, he seemed quite angry, but I didn’t want to worry about it now. Anyway, I’ll meet Seo Hanryul tomorrow, so I can just smooth things over then.
“Secretary Han. You’ve worked hard. Even though he acts like that, he has deep feelings inside. Don’t be offended.”
“Young Master, it’s fine.”
Han Woojin smiled brightly again as if nothing had happened.
‘Right, well, it shouldn’t be a big deal.’
* * *
“Ha, fuck…”
As soon as Hanryul returned to his house, he punched the door with his fist. The door, which helplessly absorbed the raw anger, became dented. Still, his anger wasn’t relieved.
He had asked Jaehyun via messenger what time he was leaving the main house. Jaehyun answered without thinking much, but after checking the time, Hanryul went to his house. The reason was simple. Because he wanted to see his face.
But Jaehyun came with his secretary behind him.
‘That bastard again?’
To think he’s planning to enter the house alone with that sinister guy. The thought that he had briefly forgotten about Woojin made him feel endlessly unpleasant. Moreover, Woojin even mocked him, asking if he had something not going his way. That expression was so distasteful that if Jaehyun hadn’t been there, he thought they might have gotten into a physical fight.
“Irritating bastard. Something not going my way?”
Woojin smiled unpleasantly as if he had read his mind. He must be referring to the contract period. Woojin had accurately touched Hanryul’s sore spot. Because it was true that his nerves had been extremely on edge lately because of that damn contract period.
‘Don’t tell me he’s going with that bastard?’
That really can’t happen. He already knows what kind of wicked intentions that guy has toward Jaehyun, so sending the two of them to America? Obviously, that snake-like bastard would be watching for opportunities and wagging his tail at Jaehyun with a repulsive smile. That fool who goes around smiling brightly wouldn’t even notice and would play along.
In Thailand, that big guy trembled in fear over just a motorcycle. Seeing Jaehyun sit down in the middle of the road, Hanryul also panicked for a moment. He quickly ran toward Jaehyun, supported him, embraced him, and patted his back.
And that embrace was sweeter than anything. Every minute tremor of Jaehyun’s was transmitted to Hanryul. He felt sorry for the trembling Jaehyun, yet had the contradictory thought of wanting that time to continue.
I wish you would keep leaning on me like this. All the sensations from that time vividly came to mind, and Hanryul couldn’t sleep for a while.
“Ha…”
There’s nothing he can do right now. That fact made Hanryul’s heart burn even blacker. He has to just watch with both hands idle as Jaehyun goes to America. In the worst-case scenario, together with that guy called Han Woojin. The contract period was ending without problems, and the closer the termination date approached, the more relieved Jaehyun looked.
It felt like a huge hole had been pierced in his heart. Before, just seeing him made him want to kill him. Now, if he doesn’t see Jaehyun even for a day, he misses him, and when he sees him, he wants to reach out to him.
The positions had completely reversed. Because he had reached the point where he could even understand the outrageous behavior that the previous Cha Jaehyun had committed toward him. If it were up to his heart, he wished an accident would occur so Jaehyun couldn’t go to America. If there were no accident, his desire to pay the penalty and hold him back was like a chimney.
“It’s serious, seriously.”
He kept fiddling with his innocent phone screen, but not even a single text came from Jaehyun. Can’t you at least let me know what you’re doing?
“Bad bastard.”
On a golden weekend, Hanryul’s sighs only deepened.
* * *
“Who’s the man who appears frequently in the photos?”
“He’s a man named Han Woojin, Cha Jaehyun’s secretary.”
“Look into this person too. Without missing anything.”
“Yes, CEO-nim.”
After finishing a phone call with someone, Dojun started laughing like crazy. That appearance was no exaggeration to say it was steeped in madness. Even Dojun himself thought he seemed like a crazy person, but he couldn’t control the laughter flowing out.
The person called Seo Jiwon was more like an onion than expected. On the outside he smiles foolishly, but it seemed like he was hiding something. He had caught a bigger catch than expected. Upon grasping Jiwon’s true appearance, his interest in him grew uncontrollably.
“Ah, no. Should I call him Cha Jaehyun now?”
Cha Jaehyun. 27 years old. An illegitimate child treated worse than a bug at Daejin Group. His biological mother is unknown, and the reputation and rumors surrounding him were running at their worst.
‘He was a guy with a dirtier background than I thought.’
The interesting thing is that at some point, those filthy rumors stopped abruptly. After the guy went to America and came back.
‘America was quite recently…’
The moves Jaehyun is showing now are suspicious itself. After going to America under the pretext of studying abroad, he hurriedly returned to Korea in less than 2 months. After returning, he used the ridiculous pseudonym Seo Jiwon and volunteered to be Seo Hanryul’s manager.
An illegitimate child treated worse than a bug suddenly becomes a manager? It seemed he was receiving generous financial support. Moreover, he was very good at his work. Everything from physical labor to scheduling, perfectly. They clearly said he was a pathetic guy who had never worked and only played around at home.
In a short time, he could grasp many things about Jaehyun, but those were only superficial information. There were still many unresolved doubts.
And this point further appealed to Dojun. Dojun wanted to dig into this person called Cha Jaehyun down to the very roots.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Dojun slowly stroked down with his finger the photo containing the brightly smiling Jaehyun, making an inscrutable expression.
