I spent 30 minutes clowning around to lighten the mood, but there was little to show for it. The two of them still didn’t even glance at the alcohol, and I emptied two beers all by myself.
“Hey, what’s wrong with your face?”
“Are you alright? Your face is quite red.”
The two, perhaps exhausted from fighting, suddenly latched onto my face. As soon as I heard those words, my pride crumbled. To think my face turned red from being unable to handle just these two pathetic beers. If it were the original me, it would’ve been unimaginable.
To think that despite being this bad with alcohol, he ate all kinds of liquor and put on all sorts of bizarre acts… Anyway, Cha Jaehyun is a fascinating guy in many ways.
While my face turned red, the two perfectly fine guys continued their childish fight, catching each other’s words and not letting go. At first, it was entertaining to watch. But with the tiresome pattern repeating itself, I gradually felt bored, and even felt sad that my aspiration to bring the two together had failed.
‘Ah screw it, I’ll just bail.’
I only thought that I should get out of here quickly. If I left, they might create a strangely suggestive atmosphere as if nothing had happened. That was all I was aiming for.
They even pointed out my complexion, so now’s the perfect timing to bail.
“Is my face that strange? Haha, how embarrassing. Maybe it’s because I had a drink, but my stomach feels a bit queasy. Please excuse me for a moment.”
“With your face so red, where are you going alone? Come with me.”
Seo Hanryul grabbed my wrist forcefully.
“Do two guys want to creepily stick together and go to the bathroom? I’ll be back quickly, so have a good time with the CEO-nim.”
I quickly shook off his rough hand.
“…”
Lee Dojun watched this scene and said nothing. Perhaps he had been waiting for a situation where only the two of them would remain.
“CEO-nim, then I’ll excuse myself for a moment.”
Now it’s my escape. I’m heading straight to the hotel like this. Anyway, the two of them are left alone, so they’ll at least have a conversation. My job is to pray that the two of them hit it off at the hotel tonight and check the situation tomorrow morning.
*I guess I ate the alcohol and snacks too quickly. My stomach hurts a bit. It seems like it’ll take longer than expected, so don’t worry and continue playing with the CEO-nim.*
After about 20 minutes, I sent him a messenger, and the ‘1’ quickly disappeared. Before he could send something, I quickly left the messenger room. Whatever he said to me, I would go radio silent tonight.
“Now I can rest a bit.”
As soon as I returned to the hotel, I showered and threw my body onto the plush bed. As soon as I lay down, a pleasant drowsiness came over me. The alcohol I drank earlier seemed to be part of this fatigue.
‘It’s certainly fast.’
Time flies like an arrow. This expression really is accurate.
When Seo Hanryul first demanded that I work as a manager for 6 months, I felt bleak at the thought of returning to Korea again, but as I ran frantically, before I knew it, less than 3 weeks remained of the promised period.
A slave contract that only made me snort. But I thoroughly shattered Seo Hanryul’s expectations and perfectly performed my role as a manager. The experience and sense honed through various part-time jobs didn’t run away anywhere.
As the end approached, Seo Hanryul, perhaps anxious that he couldn’t catch me doing anything wrong, began to do even stranger things without hesitation. But I’m not an idiot either. There was no way I’d fall for his schemes.
And Cha Taesan. He was actually someone I was more worried about than Cha Taehan after getting slapped, but as he said, since I didn’t cause any incidents, he didn’t contact me or put any pressure on me. Right after getting slapped, I felt resentment thinking that even though Cha Jaehyun was an illegitimate child, he was still a son, yet the treatment was very harsh.
Since I didn’t cause any incidents, he didn’t hand down any punishment. I thought he was an old man who thoroughly kept his promises. Come to think of it, he didn’t contact me much when I was in America either.
Cha Taehan was also frighteningly quiet. Despite making a mistake I shouldn’t have made when he suddenly visited last time, there’s been no news since then.
We should have some blood connection to a certain degree. It was hard because every time he looked at me, it was as if he were looking at something worse than trash. Unlike Cha Taesan, I was a bit worried that Cha Taehan was quiet, but still, if I run away back to America in 3 weeks, that’ll be the end of it.
Han Woojin was also quieter than expected. Of course, even now I might be being tailed by him without knowing, but since I only lived in Korea doing servant work for Seo Hanryul, there was nothing to get caught for.
When I first returned to Korea, I was uncomfortable with him openly approaching me, but now such behavior seems to have decreased quite a bit. Rather, I felt regret on my side for not being able to take Han Woojin’s lessons. Because of Seo Hanryul, who threw fits just hearing the character ‘Han’ of Han Woojin’s name, I couldn’t even dream of inviting him home for long lessons.
Lastly, Seo Hanryul. The very person who shattered my peaceful study abroad life in one fell swoop. Personally, he’s a very annoying guy, but after being by his side for about 5 months, I could understand why he was the protagonist. Even though he always showed irritation on the outside and tormented me, I could feel that inside he was considerate of me to some degree.
A beautiful face and the kindness embedded within it. I don’t know if it’s a protagonist’s trait, but Seo Hanryul was equipped with a kindness he himself couldn’t control.
If I were Seo Hanryul, it wouldn’t be easy to face Cha Jaehyun’s face because of hatred. But Seo Hanryul faces my face every day, and this time he even pulled me out of my panic and comforted me. To hate the rotten Cha Jaehyun, Seo Hanryul’s inner heart seemed too soft.
I can’t forget his eyes when I first saw Seo Hanryul. Raw killing intent as if he would kill the person before him right away. Compared to that, our current relationship had developed surprisingly. Looking at this, it was clear that in 3 weeks, our relationship would be cleanly settled without any lingering feelings.
“Anyway, what a relief.”
I felt relieved thinking that if I just endured for 3 weeks, I could sort out many things and return.
At first, I was really at a loss. I thought things were tangled beyond repair.
Although I’m still in a position of being hated by Daejin, compared to the despair I felt when I first dropped into this place, I thought many things had improved splendidly.
‘I hope those two guys connect tonight.’
I closed my eyes in a rare good mood.
* * *
A bustling street of travelers where you could feel invigorating energy just by looking at it. As night fell, the brilliant neon signs illuminating every corner and the high energy of the passersby brought the boisterous atmosphere to its peak.
A place that was the hot spot of the travel destination itself. And yet, two people sitting in the center of it who weren’t having fun.
After Jaehyun left, the cold atmosphere between the two became even deeper.
Hanryul was very bothered by Dojun, who had even followed him to his commercial shoot. What kind of CEO accompanies a mere rookie actor to a commercial shoot? Also, Hanryul was very displeased with Dojun, who always pretended to be aloof with an expressionless face.
‘What is he, some kind of prince?’
After observing Dojun for 3 days, Hanryul could vaguely understand why he had accompanied them.
Cha Jaehyun.
He didn’t know if Lee Dojun was aware of his own feelings, but he was clearly interested in that guy, Cha Jaehyun. Cha Jaehyun, who was ridiculously oblivious, didn’t even notice this, but during the shoot, Dojun’s sticky gaze often went toward Jaehyun.
And Hanryul, who met that gaze, felt an inexplicable emotion. A strangely hot feeling rising from the depths of his heart. Every time Dojun looked at Jaehyun, the back of his head pulled and his whole body heated up.
Separate from disliking Dojun, his looking at Cha Jaehyun wasn’t something he should be concerned with. But every time the CEO stared at Jaehyun, his body reacted violently.
‘That’s annoying too.’
The fact that he slinked toward Jaehyun every time there was a break also didn’t sit well with him. In short, he didn’t like everything about Dojun.
“How about the three of us go to a local restaurant?”
Whether he completely didn’t know his feelings or knew but pretended not to, Jaehyun made the absurd proposal today as well, smiling brightly that the three of them should hang out together.
He had already thought about where to go with Jaehyun during their free time last night. He absolutely didn’t want to include Dojun in their free time abroad.
He wanted to hang out with just Cha Jaehyun. Although he grumbled on the outside every day, Jaehyun’s appearance of obediently doing what he was told was fascinating and even cute.
Cha Jaehyun, who had changed so much. At first, he wondered if this was an act that lasted quite a long time.
‘It’s not an act.’
Time passed quickly and 5 months flew by. Hanryul had no choice but to accept Jaehyun’s changed appearance. He couldn’t find even a trace of his previous self in Jaehyun.
Whether this appearance was an act or not was no longer important. He was already feeling interested in Jaehyun. Even though he was a demon-like guy who had tormented him so much.
When he foolishly got rained on while offering an umbrella, when he ruined his acting at the audition because of useless thoughts, when he whined about being sick despite his large build.
His eyes went to all of his appearances, and even when he couldn’t see him, he was curious about his daily life. It was something very damaging to Hanryul’s pride. And Hanryul realized something new. He painfully realized that even his own heart couldn’t be controlled as he wished.
After Jaehyun left the drinking table, Hanryul couldn’t see Dojun sitting in front of him and only thought of Jaehyun. Because Hanryul stopped opening his mouth, silence fell for a while, but Dojun also didn’t particularly care about the situation where the conversation had completely cut off.
‘This bastard trying to die…’
Around the time he thought he might have fallen into the toilet or something, a messenger arrived from Jaehyun. It was ridiculous. The guy had left him and the CEO alone and bolted.
While he was annoyed to death every single day because of him, the guy brazenly smiled and slipped away. Moreover, he only said what he had to say and didn’t even read the reply.
‘Is he getting bolder day by day?’
“CEO-nim, let’s call it a night. Jiwon says his stomach isn’t feeling well, so it seems he can’t come.”
Hanryul only thought that he should find the whereabouts of that impudent guy. Without an ounce of regret, he stood up from his seat and threw a dry notification at Dojun.
“As expected, you have no manners. Sit down.”
‘Now his true colors come out.’
As soon as Jaehyun left, Dojun revealed his true self. The appearance of a cold-blooded person, cold and colder. But that appearance didn’t pose any threat to Hanryul.
“Don’t we have nothing to talk about, just the two of us? It’s late at night, so CEO-nim should also head back carefully.”
“Then go ahead. To your lodging, without straying onto another path. I’ll look for Jiwon-ssi.”
‘What did he say?’
As the word Jiwon came out of Dojun’s mouth, Hanryul sat back down in his seat as if possessed by something.
“What?”
Hanryul asked crookedly.
