“Whether it’s okay or not doesn’t even matter. We just get cursed out like crazy. But does that even do any damage to them? That video spread all over the online communities and not a single news article came out.”
At the part-timer’s words, Munyeong let out a small breath of relief. Being cursed at was one thing, but at least nothing serious had happened — that was a relief. Munyeong settled the worry he’d been carrying inside him and was finally able to head toward his workplace. If something major had come of it, it would have definitely weighed on his mind and gotten in the way of his work.
**
How had a video like that even gotten filmed. Munyeong chewed his lip quietly, his face full of concern. Even if he was an idiot, he knew well enough just how much damage a video like that — or that kind of public opinion — could do to the person involved. On top of that, everyone around him was already filled with people who disapproved of him, so if a video like that surfaced on top of everything else, Munyeong couldn’t even imagine how many more things people would be saying behind his back. He was already not sleeping well, and he’d even had a huge falling-out with his mother on top of it all…….
It felt like all of those things were ultimately his fault. The fight with his mother, who they already didn’t get along well with — that was his fault too. And that video had been filmed because he’d followed him out. Munyeong couldn’t hide his distress and dragged a hand slowly down his face.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the claim that it was busy turned out to be true. Both the kitchen and the hallway were packed with people. The staff going in and out of different rooms looked frantic, and a handful of drunk guests were making a racket out in the hallway. As if distress were a luxury he couldn’t afford, the manager called Munyeong’s name in rapid succession, ordering him to escort the heavily intoxicated guests to their respective rooms. Munyeong dutifully helped each of the passed-out guests to their feet and guided them back to the rooms they had originally been in, one by one.
“Hey, who the hell are you?”
“Excuse me.”
He was the youngest-looking of the group. Twenty-something at most, mid-twenties. He looked like the youngest guest in the establishment.
“Who are you—, damn it.”
The man could barely keep his eyes open and was struggling against him. The manager pointed toward a room at the guest’s gesture. The biggest room. The words the slightly younger part-timer had said just a moment ago came back to him. It was where the wealthy guests were. Just hearing the words wealthy people made unease stir in him. Maybe it was because he’d been surrounded by nothing but rich, powerful conglomerate people over the past month — whenever anyone said wealthy, it all sounded like it had something to do with Baekil Group people.
Munyeong pushed the unease aside, supported the young man over his shoulder, and knocked on the door. There was, of course, no answer. In every room, it was the same story inside — alcohol, men, women, and intimate contact creating an absolute mess of things. Munyeong carefully pushed the door open and bowed his head low first.
“Excuse me.”
Without meeting any of the guests’ eyes, Munyeong quietly settled the intoxicated guest into a seat. Then, as though he had never been there at all, he began quietly backing out toward the door — and that was when an all-too-familiar voice reached his ears.
“Oh?”
A voice that rang with the lilt of someone who’d found something interesting.
“It’s the middle school dropout.”
His chest went cold in an instant. It was someone from Baekil Group he had no desire of ever running into.
“Whoa, you work here?”
It was Chu Dowon — Haejeong’s younger cousin, whom he’d crossed paths with at the inauguration ceremony and again at the club Haejeong had invested in. He’d apparently had quite a bit to drink; the face that always watched him with that meaningful look was flushed and bright today.
“What are the odds, running into everyone like this?”
“……Hello.”
“Wow, you’re genuinely adorable.”
Chu Dowon burst out laughing unprompted and pinched Munyeong’s cheek hard between his thumb and forefinger. Whether he was as drunk as the passed-out guest over there, he showed no restraint in his rudeness. Munyeong was caught off guard but couldn’t bring himself to push him away, and asked uncomfortably, carefully not to seem insolent.
“…Let go, please let go.”
He said it quietly, and Chu Dowon burst into an even louder laugh.
“Wow—, here you are, having completely blown up our whole family, and you’re just boldly out here working away.”
“…Sorry?”
“Look at that face, acting like you have no idea what I’m talking about. Is that the innocent act that got Haejeong hooked?”
At Haejeong’s name falling so casually from his lips, the color drained from Munyeong’s face in an instant. Chu Dowon looked at Munyeong with a contemptuous eye and let out a snort.
“You genuinely look like you don’t know.”
“…….”
“You really don’t know what Haejeong’s been up to because of you?”
An ominous feeling began to creep up from the soles of his feet.
“Wow, and you don’t even know the fun part.”
“……I’m not sure… what you mean.”
Chu Dowon, who had been smirking all along, clicked his tongue with a look of displeasure. He knocked back the whisky in his glass in a single go and casually draped an arm around Munyeong’s shoulders. Looking Munyeong over with the air of someone inspecting a curiosity — watching him tense and shrink — he let out a laugh-tinged voice.
“At a gathering with all the relatives and cousins present, he told the Chairman to remove him from the family registry.”
“……What?”
Munyeong’s pupils widened in an instant. Chu Dowon smiled as if to say the story wasn’t over yet, and continued.
“That he’s not Chairman Yeon’s son.”
“……What?”
“God, seriously, everyone in our family was absolutely floored…. And do you know what he said after that?”
“…….”
“That once he’s removed from the registry, he’s going to date you openly and proudly?”
“…….”
“Said he doesn’t want to be bothered with pointless opposition and interference.”
Munyeong’s heart lurched and sank. It sank and went cold beyond that. As though his heartbeat had stopped.
“God— he’s genuinely insane. First time in my life I’ve ever seen someone that insane.”
Chu Dowon pulled a face that said just thinking about it was unbelievable, laughing a grotesque, disbelieving laugh. He was even clapping his hands as he laughed — he looked genuinely delighted.
“He’s saying that now that he’s not a Baekil Group person, we should stay out of it?”
“…….”
“I kind of had a feeling something was going on between the two of you… but to this extent. But why are you standing here like this?”
Munyeong had turned to stone and forgotten to breathe. He wondered if Chu Dowon was making things up in a drunken haze — but everything that followed didn’t feel like a lie.
“After that, our aunt fainted—, and the whole family atmosphere has gone to absolute hell right now. Ha, I never thought she’d do that. If Haejeong isn’t Chairman Yeon’s son, doesn’t that mean she was seeing someone else behind the scenes?”
Chu Dowon pondered this with a face thoroughly absorbed in the thought. “Come to think of it, who would it be?” He seemed to have no idea who the other party might be. Munyeong couldn’t hear any of that. Only Haejeong. Haejeong kept buzzing and circling through his mind.
“…Huh. You’re not surprised.”
But despite the shock, his reaction was weaker than expected — Chu Dowon read him sharply.
“Don’t tell me….”
“…….”
“You already knew. That Haejeong isn’t Chairman Yeon’s son.”
“…….”
“Wow— just how deep in are you two, exactly.”
Chu Dowon continued, now looking genuinely surprised himself.
“…Hae, Haejeong is…….”
“What.”
Munyeong, who had been struck speechless, opened his mouth in return, stumbling over his words like something had broken inside him.
“Haejeong… then what’s going to happen to him…….”
That was the only thing that came to mind right now. The thought that something outrageous — something that made his ears ring just hearing it — had been done, and he was going out of his mind with worry over what would become of him.
“Who knows. He might get sent into exile again soon.”
“…….”
“It’s barely been any time since he came back to Korea. Anyway, he’s trouble, that guy.”
Chu Dowon shook his head with a look that said serves him right, taking a bite out of Haejeong. He seemed to be enjoying watching someone he’d never been fond of tumble into ruin. Munyeong, by contrast, had his face scrunched up as though he were about to cry.
Why does he have to be so…. why does he have to be so reckless?
Why does he have to be so utterly his own law.
Munyeong felt frustrated and anxious at the way he still acted like a child.
“Well, you gave me quite the show to watch, so here—”
