First, they could tell that Hwan had thrown in something that hadn’t been discussed beforehand, and at that, dropped it casually and annoyingly as if it had nothing to do with him.
But was that just once or twice?
If it were the Kang they knew, the one who had a reputation for being the coldest wooden doll among imperial family members, despite Hwan’s unexpected action, he should naturally continue with textbook-worthy words while showing off a dazzling smile as always.
‘But what on earth is this situation?’
The sight of him trembling while holding the microphone, flushed red all the way to his neck.
‘This is a scoop!’
The host, grinning from ear to ear, asked once more in an excited voice to confirm the situation.
“It’s not switched, right? So to say it again, Her Highness the Crown Princess presented flowers to His Highness the Crown Prince?!”
“Yes!”
Hwan answered so cheerfully, as if he couldn’t even see Kang’s appearance. Who knows how he planned to handle the aftermath. So anyway, the beaming host’s next question naturally had to be directed at Kang, the person involved.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, is this tip true right now?”
“If you ask like that…. I did receive them….”
“He says yes, everyone! What kind of flowers were they? When? Where? Why?”
“Red chrysanthemums… no, it’s not what you’re thinking, they were picked in front of the East Palace, just a small one…! No, I don’t mean it’s nothing special, they were pretty though…!”
To make matters worse, at Kang’s rambling appearance, the chat window went absolutely wild.
[This is the first time I’ve seen the Crown Prince unable to speak a proper sentence lololol]
[Oh my, unexpectedly pure type?]
[Red chrysanthemum seemed significant so I looked up the flower meaning and fainted, why is this so heart-fluttering ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ]
[‘I love you’ crazy]
[Crown Princess unnie’s boldness, what the heck]
[They kept going on about how they married for money, but that doesn’t seem to be the case either]
[Sesame factories everywhere, it’s all sesame factories]
‘…The red chrysanthemum flower meaning was that?’
That was a fact even Huiseo, who had directly handed that flower to Seoran, didn’t know.
‘It’s just autumn, and I only told her because it’s a flower His Highness the Crown Prince usually likes.’
There’s a saying about the interpretation being better than the dream.
It was a case that fit unintentionally too well. Especially seeing messages with nuances like “I thought they married for money but that doesn’t seem to be the case” appearing one after another in the rapidly passing chat window, Huiseo smiled in bewilderment.
This was definitely a good direction.
The public relations office watching the interview would surely think the same.
Although it showed an unexpected side of the Crown Prince, who they thought was always upright, this would definitely help the imperial family’s image. Just thinking about the malicious media outlets that had criticized the imperial family so much, saying money demons had possessed them and they were even selling off their sons.
Perhaps conversely, the story of the two “romanticized a bit more” might make things noisy for a few more days.
That would certainly be an exaggerated and absurd story, but thinking of Kang and Seoran, those two wooden people, Huiseo vaguely thought it might be better for those around them to add that much fuel to the fire.
When else would they get to disarm Kang like that?
Even Huiseo was seeing this side of him for the first time, so he thought Seoran would surely enjoy it too.
***
In any case, Hwan’s troublemaking ultimately brought unexpectedly good results again.
‘It’s not like he’s doing it on purpose.’
How strange.
Huiseo smiled faintly as he looked at Hwan on the screen.
“…Well done.”
He whispered softly like that, though Hwan would never hear it.
But then a notification window that appeared over Hwan’s face made his smile pause and soon scatter.
[What are you doing?]
It was because the name of the sender was none other than Choi Yuwon.
He had never given him his number or anything. No, in fact, finding out Huiseo’s number would be nothing for him. But even so, what was with suddenly asking what he was doing from the start? Huiseo, slightly frowning, sent a reply after a moment’s deliberation.
[What’s it to you]
It was an answer so cold that frost seemed to form on it. If Hwan had received such an answer from Huiseo, he probably would have teared up and immediately chased after him.
But it didn’t seem to work on Yuwon at all.
[So cold]
At that indifferent response, Huiseo snorted.
‘Did he expect a warm and friendly answer?’
Not a chance.
Earlier, Hwan had said Huiseo probably hadn’t noticed yet, but in fact, Huiseo also knew about the subtle atmosphere surrounding Hwan recently. Naturally, he knew that Yuwon was behind it too.
Since Hwan had also expressed it as “messing around,” Huiseo was also watching for now since there hadn’t been a reason to step in directly yet, but he had noticed there was a problem. He couldn’t not know. They had acted that blatantly even in that pleasant dodgeball episode Hwan had mentioned.
He should be grateful they weren’t cursing.
‘What nerve to contact me?’
Of course, the Yuwon that Huiseo knew wasn’t particularly someone with much shame. Sure enough, an even more absurd message soon came from him.
[Want to come out?]
[No]
‘Is he crazy?’
He should say something that makes sense. Huiseo answered like that without even breathing. He couldn’t understand at all why this bastard kept saying such things. Come out where? Why would I go out and meet you separately? It wasn’t even funny.
‘I wish I could just block him.’
That’s what he wanted to do.
But he couldn’t bring himself to do it, not knowing if he might do some harm to innocent Hwan. It seemed he needed to know what kind of bullshit he was spouting to be able to deal with it. But today it seemed like something useless, and since he had already refused, he closed the chat window, intending to ignore it.
Then the interview broadcast screen he had been watching reappeared.
Inside, Kang, who had called for a “time out” and worked hard to regain his composure, was doing his best to handle the situation. Of course, the people watching weren’t letting go of the rare, no, first-ever opportunity to tease the Crown Prince, catching every word and teasing him. It was a funny sight.
But Yuwon, who didn’t give up, sent another message and got on Huiseo’s nerves.
No, the message he sent this time couldn’t be described as just getting on his nerves.
[Should I ask the Crown Prince?]
At the suddenly appearing random name, Huiseo’s expression crumpled.
‘Ask who what?’
As soon as he thought that, Yuwon’s messages continued.
[The Emperor is fine too]
[Or that Lee Hwan kid doesn’t matter either]
Finally, when Hwan’s name came up, Huiseo’s face hardened stiffly. But perhaps because it wasn’t directly visible, Yuwon’s continuing messages were increasingly ridiculous.
[300 million]
[Would that amount be enough to rent you for a day]
“…What?”
If someone asked Huiseo to describe his feelings upon receiving such a message, he would probably pick the word “disgusting” that someone had typed in the chat window earlier. What the hell. Rent me for how much again? His expression, his hands, everything that could crumple crumpled.
He got goosebumps just seeing it, so he even laid his phone face down on the desk for a moment. He wondered if he had seen it wrong, but when he sneakily flipped it over again, he was dismayed to see it was the same.
The money splashing he had done before, even coming directly to the palace. He understood it was an extension of that.
But hearing such words about himself directly, his fingers curled and he couldn’t stand it.
‘Love? Now I’ll buy it with money. How much would it take?’
He seemed to remember hearing such words in a scene from an old drama that Hwan sometimes looked up on video sites. But that was a drama, lines that were acceptable because it was the protagonist in the drama. Was watching such things his hobby too? Did it look cool?
Or, did he not recover yet from that illness that everyone usually gets over once during middle school?
All sorts of thoughts came to mind.
In fact, mulling it over made him feel a bit bad.
‘…Who said I needed money?’
He couldn’t understand why he kept going on about money, money to him. He seemed to think that if he offered money, the imperial family would bow down to him. While it was true things were difficult, thinking they would do that was quite a delusion.
Seeing how easily he threw around hundreds of millions, that amount of money must be nothing to him, so out of spite, Huiseo felt like calling out for about 1 or 2 billion. It was from wanting to see his face looking troubled, saying that’s a bit too much.
However, fearing it might be used as evidence in an unfavorable direction for the imperial family if things went wrong, he couldn’t carelessly shoot back like that.
‘Then in the same context, can’t I curse either?’
If he posted it somewhere like the internet, saying “Revealing the true nature of Jeong Huiseo”….. He didn’t care what people whose faces he didn’t know said, but he hated the imperial family being dragged in and negatively talked about because of him.
He couldn’t be doing this aiming for that, could he?
“…This is trash.”
With the overwhelming fatigue, Huiseo rubbed his eyes and clicked his tongue softly. But the annoying Yuwon didn’t wait even during that time and kept showering messages, acting up.
[How about it?]
[Would the imperial family consider that amount?]
[Last time you said it was money received without knowing, but this time?]
[What choice do you think those people will make?]
‘Choice.’
Those simple two syllables were unpleasant, so Huiseo bit his tongue for a moment.
‘…This crazy bastard.’
The idea of weighing money against himself was absurd to begin with.
He very much disliked the intention to drop the spark of discord on the imperial family, which seemed to be doing somewhat better now, with the nice-sounding word “choice.” Huiseo hated the very situation of the imperial family standing before such a terrible scale.
‘This is like a trap no matter what choice they make.’
That was Huiseo’s thought.
