Yurim cried out in surprise for a moment.
“Hey! That’s confidential. You shouldn’t just look at it carelessly if you’re not even going to appear.”
However, Yuwon ignored Yurim’s words as if he couldn’t hear them and only glared at the documents. Finding that reaction unusual, Yurim checked the content printed on the back.
That’s probably… an application from someone employed at YUCAN. He was right. It was someone whose entire career was simply graduating from a domestic university and being employed at YUCAN—someone with decent visuals but relatively not young in age and no other advantages, so they were a pending applicant.
Yurim tilted his head at Yuwon’s strange reaction and asked.
“What? Do you know this person?”
Then, after staring at the documents for a while as if he’d bore a hole through them, Yuwon finally snorted. Slight displeasure and contempt stood out first, but somehow he also seemed happy. As if he’d finally gotten his hands on something he’d been searching for a long time.
“…I am acquainted with him. Though I didn’t know his name was Yoon Sungjin.”
At Yuwon’s answer, Yurim asked again in surprise.
“Huh, really? How is he? Is he good-looking in person too? Is he handsome? The photo looks pretty decent.”
Yuwon stared silently at the ID photo attached to the documents for a while longer before opening his mouth.
“He’s handsome, extremely so.”
“Really? If you think he’s handsome, just how handsome is he? Someone with that level of visuals is selling furniture at YUCAN?”
Whether Yurim was surprised and flipping out or not, Yuwon asked back abruptly while ingesting all the text in the application into his head as if engraving it.
“Are you going to select this person?”
At the sudden question, Yurim tilted his head for a moment before answering.
“Uh… he’s a candidate for now…”
“Then select him.”
“What?”
And what followed was an even more shocking statement.
“If you select this person, I’ll appear too. Same-sex couples can match in this, right?”
At Yuwon’s question after checking all the notice guidance written at the bottom, Yurim answered reluctantly. He was too surprised to believe it.
“What? Really? Same-sex matching is possible, but you’re not bullshitting right now, are you? Did you really just say you’d appear?”
“I said I’ll appear. But make sure to select this person. I’m appearing on the condition that this person appears.”
“Geez. If you appear, I’d have to select him even if a bomb came attached. Wait a minute. I’ll have them print out an appearance contract right away.”
Whether Yurim was chattering or not, Yuwon paid no attention and just stared at the photo, then took a picture with his camera of the application with his contact information, address, and other personal details written on it, and also took a large separate picture of the ID photo. He knew it was something that would horrify Yurim, but he didn’t care at all.
Yoon Sungjin, twenty-eight in Korean age. An ordinary office worker five years his senior. He said he was going to get a job soon back then, so he really did it right away? Looking at the employment period, it seemed he joined almost right after graduation.
While Yuwon was mulling over the contents of the documents, Yurim, who had printed out a draft of the appearance contract, suddenly thrust an ink pad at him and asked belatedly.
“Ah, but what’s your relationship with this person?”
At the question that was a beat late, Yuwon twisted his lips and answered.
“Someone who stood me up.”
He was the only person who had left an indelible scratch on Yuwon’s pride, someone who had only ever been desired by everyone his whole life but had zero experience being rejected.
At Yuwon’s shocking statement, Yurim doubted his ears. The Yuwon that Yurim had seen until now had been blessed with a handsome face, perfect proportions, and tall height, so despite his insufferably haughty temperament, people around him never ceased. Of course, many people left too, but as the saying goes, bees and butterflies swarm to large, flashy flowers—no matter how much he chased them away, people who liked him lined up.
If Yuwon hadn’t been born into a family where he’d never have to worry about money until he died, he might have lived a very ill-fated life. Because kids that pretty aren’t left alone by those around them.
That Yuwon got stood up? It didn’t sound like he got dumped either, but like he couldn’t even try—it was utterly unbelievable.
Because it was so unrealistic, Yurim asked with a stupid expression.
“What are you talking about? You got rejected?”
“……”
Yuwon didn’t answer and just stared intently at the application before twisting the corners of his mouth and putting down the documents.
“Anyway, select him. I’m appearing on that condition.”
Then, lightly ignoring the ink pad Yurim had offered, he picked up a pen that had been rolling around carelessly on the desk and signed next to his name. A signature in handwriting as elegant as his appearance drew graceful curves.
Having put down the pen again, Yuwon left the front of the desk as if his business was done.
“Oh, Grandfather says to come to the main house for lunch this Saturday. He wants us to have a meal together since you’re here. I came to deliver that message.”
Then he grasped the door handle to leave without regrets. Yurim, who had been examining the documents, cried out urgently.
“Hey! What do I do with just one signature here! You need to sign in several more places!”
“Bring it on Saturday if that person’s appearance is confirmed. I’ll finish the rest then.”
Only then did Yurim realize he’d been had. A contract without completed signatures had no effect. I thought it was suspicious that he signed so obediently.
However, Yuwon wasn’t the type to say two things with one mouth. I don’t know what happened between these two people or what their relationship is, but anyway, if I select him, he’ll appear.
Yurim urgently contacted the writers. Time, time. If these two people took up two spots in the male cast, when selecting the remaining members, their character types couldn’t overlap. A meeting was needed. Before deciding, he had to quickly send a confirmation call to this person named Sungjin or whatever.
“He wouldn’t withdraw his intention to appear at this point, would he?”
If Yuwon appeared, they could definitely secure buzz and global viewers. In Yurim’s mind, there were already only thoughts of COOL&BEAUTY taking first place in viewership ratings in the global non-drama variety category.
No matter what mischief Yuwon caused, the authority to edit it was his, so he just needed to package it as plausibly as possible. Since his face is handsome, even if he does most things, everyone will excuse it saying he lives up to his face value.
While Yurim was already excitedly envisioning a happy future, Yuwon had already gone down to the parking lot. He brought up Sungjin’s application photo he’d taken earlier on his phone screen and checked it once more.
As expected, that man was right. With a gentle and kind-looking face, he was the person who had left the only blemish on Sungjin’s life. Because of this face, he’d done foolish things as if possessed by something.
No, actually it wasn’t just because of his face. Of course, what caught his eye was because of his appearance, but when he sat him down in front of him, he was a completely different person from what he’d thought. He was a type Yuwon had never met before. Though he was older than himself, he rattled on about his dreams with an excited face like a child.
He wasn’t the first to talk about his grand goals in front of Yuwon. Some people bragged about how they’d expand their business, who they’d contract with, what business they’d do, what they’d inherit, and so on.
However, he didn’t swagger with an attitude full of bluster, but very shyly said he wanted to do work that made people happy. That shy face was quite contrasting to his appearance that seemed confident and cocky.
As if that wasn’t enough, he suddenly stared intently at his face and then drew a house that suited him right there on the spot. He was really a strange person.
But he didn’t dislike it. Even though it was the first time hearing about it and content he’d had no interest in until now, he wanted to keep listening to his words. Who he was as a person, what he thought. And… even how he thought of himself.
There had been many people around Yuwon since childhood. However, all of them wanted to use Yuwon as a tool to make themselves shine, like the most expensive brooch—there was no one who wanted to make Yuwon happy.
His family was the same. Though he was born in an affluent environment and grew up without lacking anything, there was no one who wanted to know what Yuwon wanted. The fact that he was born in America, went back and forth between Korea and America, and ended up settling in America where he had no family to live with—that was the same. It was just his mother, who hated the suffocating life in Korea, forcing what she wanted—Yuwon’s will couldn’t influence that decision. It was always just notifications.
Yuwon kept engraving into his eyes the picture he had drawn for him. It was a completely different atmosphere from the achromatic, cold and hard furniture with no practicality whatsoever, made purely for style, that his agency had received as sponsorship saying it suited his image.
“D-do you like it?”
The answer to that seemingly nervous question was predetermined. Yuwon wanted to add one more thing to that landscape. The very person who drew that picture.
You want to make me happy? Isn’t this a marriage proposal? There was no one to correct the cognitive distortion for a twenty-year-old who had met his ideal type for the first time in his life, telling him that wasn’t it.
After that, there was no time to think about anything else. He wanted to hold onto the person before his eyes. There was no way Yuwon, who had only ever been held onto by others but had never held onto anyone, would have the know-how. He shoved his pretty face forward to make him unable to come to his senses.
Then, following the desire that had spread from his lower body, he took him to a hotel room. The body odor coming from him was so sweet that he wanted to lick and swallow his entire body. Even though he hadn’t touched him much, he soon made moaning sounds in his arms and ejaculated very easily.
Good. A possessive desire he’d never had in his life boiled up. If he held him, who showed reactions more naive than himself with a face that seemed like he’d be used to such things, it seemed like he could stamp him as completely his own. Just as only that final moment remained.
I’m sorry. ㅠㅠ
All that was waiting for Yuwon was a single memo mocking him.
