“Hello.”
Munyeong gave him a polite bow. Classmates were classmates, but right now they were clearly employer and employee, so he kept things properly respectful.
“…Hello, my ass.”
The moment he laid eyes on Munyeong, he muttered a curse under his breath with a thoroughly irritable look and climbed into the back seat. Just as he’d expected — Haejeong was well and truly annoyed with him. The reason, of course, was beyond him. How was he supposed to keep up with Haejeong’s every mood swing? Munyeong simply got into the driver’s seat without a word.
“……Where shall I take you?”
Munyeong asked as carefully as he could once he was in the car. Haejeong glared at him fiercely through the rearview mirror and stabbed at his phone screen like he was going to war with it. A moment later, Munyeong’s phone buzzed briefly. It was a short message with an address.
When Munyeong glanced at him again through the rearview mirror, Haejeong gave a light scoff and snapped his head toward the window. He was twisted up inside something fierce. Munyeong clicked his tongue quietly and started the car with care.
For the entire drive out of the parking lot and all the way to their destination, Haejeong said nothing. Munyeong kept stealing tense glances at him in the mirror. He needed to bring up that today would be his last day on this job too, but Haejeong’s mood was so visibly low that finding the right moment to say it was proving to be anything but easy.
When they arrived at their destination, Munyeong pulled the car to a stop, quickly stepped out, and held the rear door open. The place they’d arrived at was a five-story building right in the heart of Seoul. From the outside, there was no telling at all what went on inside — but the guards in suits blocking the entrance, and the notably flashy appearance of everyone coming and going, gave him a pretty good idea.
On top of that, the moment Haejeong arrived, someone familiar came stepping out from the entrance as though they’d been waiting.
“Hyung!”
He’d only seen this person once before, but for some reason the impression had stuck, and he recognized him immediately. It was Chu Dowon — one of the twin brothers he’d seen at the inauguration ceremony.
“You said you weren’t coming, but here you are today?”
“I didn’t come for you, so don’t get excited.”
Even after the humiliation he’d suffered at the inauguration, Chu Dowon seemed genuinely happy to see Haejeong — while Haejeong remained as indifferent as ever.
“Then what did you come for?”
Chu Dowon asked with a puzzled look, and Haejeong, his expression flat, glanced wordlessly down at Munyeong before tossing out his answer.
“I’m in a shit mood, so I came to drink myself stupid.”
“Did something happen — wait, isn’t that the secretary from before?”
“Ah…. Yes. Hello.”
Chu Dowon spotted Munyeong standing there blankly and showed what seemed like genuine pleasure at the sight of him.
“The middle-school-graduate secretary. You’ve been quite the hot topic among us lately.”
“……Pardon?”
“Since you’re already here, want to come in together?”
Chu Dowon looked Munyeong over with a fairly curious expression and extended the offer. Munyeong’s eyes went wide and he shook his head firmly.
“Oh — no. I’m fine, thank you.”
“What do you think, hyung. It’s fine, right?”
But completely ignoring Munyeong’s answer as if it were of no interest whatsoever, Chu Dowon turned to Haejeong to ask his opinion instead. Munyeong stared at them both with a slightly bewildered look.
“Do whatever you want.”
Haejeong, rather than helping Munyeong — who was standing there stunned, too flustered to even be confused anymore — simply ignored him entirely and walked into the building first.
“Come on in.”
“……No, I really —”
“There’s nothing for you to do standing out here alone. Hyung said he doesn’t care, so come have fun with us.”
There was a peculiar pressure to Chu Dowon’s invitation. It wasn’t the kind of offer you could simply decline — there was a subtle coercion woven into it, a take-it-or-leave-it that wasn’t really leave-it at all. Munyeong wasn’t the sharpest, but he’d started navigating the social world from a young age, so he could read a situation quickly enough.
Munyeong looked with a troubled expression at Haejeong’s retreating back ahead of him, but Haejeong didn’t look back even once. It was clear he had no intention whatsoever of stepping in to help. Which made sense — he was still thoroughly offended with him.
Dragged in practically by force with black-suited guards flanking him from behind, the place turned out to be exactly what he’d expected — a massive entertainment venue. It was a club that Chu Dowon and Chu Seongwon had invested in, a private establishment accessible only to members. Its main clientele were largely the kind of famous faces who couldn’t afford to be recognized in public, second- and third-generation chaebol heirs, and young men with considerable money to throw around. Given that there wasn’t even a sign outside, it was clearly a place the general public wouldn’t be able to find even if they tried. And the entire five-story building was used exclusively for this club. The basement level was the stage, the first floor held VIP rooms, the second floor was only accessible to those with particular tastes, and the fourth and fifth floors were made up of rooms arranged for those who found each other over the course of the night. All of this had been explained by Chu Dowon himself on the way in.
The moment Haejeong appeared, Chu Dowon as well as what appeared to be people on staff materialized as if they’d been waiting, personally escorting him to his seat. Munyeong shuffled awkwardly along behind Haejeong — who was being welcomed by everyone — with a grim, miserable look on his face.
Haejeong was ushered into a room that dwarfed even the main stage. The interior was wider than an entire floor of the office building he’d seen at the company, and the space was filled to capacity with people. A U-shaped table stretched expansively through the room.
“Oh my god! Haejeong, it’s been forever?!”
“You actually showed up tonight, seriously?”
“Why is it always so hard to see your face, babe!”
Most of them knew Haejeong, and both the men and women among them were largely the kind of people who turned heads. Among the crowd were entertainers currently dominating every corner of the media, and athletes whose price tags were reportedly astronomical. Surrounded by people in an instant, Haejeong wore a composed, unbothered expression compared to everyone else’s delight.
“You sit over here.”
Chu Dowon, as everyone’s attention was swept toward Haejeong, considerately guided Munyeong — who was standing awkwardly in the background — to a seat. It was at the far end, the least conspicuous spot available. Chu Dowon kindly introduced Munyeong to the person already sitting nearby.
“This is Haejeong hyung’s secretary. Brought him along since he looked bored — be nice to him.”
“He’s really young.”
“He looks a little out of place here, so don’t tease him too much.”
Munyeong had to sit there, stiff as a board, enduring the curious looks being aimed at him. He wanted to leave that very instant, but Chu Dowon’s hands pressing down firmly on his shoulders left him with no choice but to sit down with all the rigid obedience of someone who’d just been brought in line.
“Nice to meet you?”
The man seated next to him smiled pleasantly. He was neatly dressed in a suit and carried himself with a composed air, but the mere fact that he was here made him look like someone of loose morals. Several among the crowd were already barely dressed, and as if that weren’t enough, some were pressed against each other in ways that were embarrassing to watch. Munyeong turned his head away from the shameless scene and greeted the man stiffly.
“Yes, …hello.”
“Looks like you got dragged here against your will?”
“……Does it show?”
“You don’t exactly look like someone who’s happy to be at a gathering like this. Here, take this.”
The man steered the conversation naturally and slid a glass over, filling it with a drink. Not the beer or soju he’d have with Shin Juho in front of a convenience store — this was expensive whiskey.
“Alcohol is good for loosening up.”
The man had a likeable face. Honestly, the kind of face that most people would genuinely call handsome. Most people in this place were like that. They were all young, beautiful, handsome, slender, and well-built.
“…Thank you.”
He took it out of consideration for the gesture, but he had no real intention of actually drinking it. He had to drive on the way back, so his plan was to just endure the seat until he could leave.
“You’re not drinking?”
The man asked with a light smile, his chin resting in his hand as he watched Munyeong just holding the glass and sitting there.
“Ah…. I’m sorry, but I have to drive. I’ll gratefully accept the glass, but I don’t think I’ll be… able to drink it.”
Munyeong kept his manner perfectly polite. When declining someone’s kindness, he had to be courteous about it.
“Haha.”
The man burst out laughing at Munyeong’s formal demeanor and looked at him with eyes curved in a soft, warm arc.
“You’re quite a fascinating person. What’s your name?”
“…Pardon? Oh…, Im Munyeong… that’s me.”
“Munyeong. This is who I am.”
