He took a business card case from his inner jacket pocket and offered it politely. On the crisp cardstock, the company logo, his title, and his name were printed in English.
“I’m Min Juhyeong, Head of Planning at JJ Entertainment.”
“Ah, yes. I’m…….”
Munyeong wanted to introduce himself too, but the words wouldn’t come. In front of someone with such an impressive company and title behind them, he couldn’t confidently introduce himself as either Yeon Haejeong’s secretary or as a cleaning staff member of Baekil Group.
“I heard you’re Senior Managing Director Yeon’s secretary. That’s impressive. He’s quite well known in these circles too. For being difficult.”
The man cut through Munyeong’s hesitation and glanced over at Yeon Haejeong, who was seated at the head of the table. Yeon Haejeong was leaning back at an angle, pouring drink after drink down his throat. Several people were pressed close against him, but he looked completely indifferent to it. Suddenly, a fragment of their conversation drifted into Munyeong’s ears.
“Lately Junhui practically shudders every time your name comes up.”
One of them directed the question at Yeon Haejeong with obvious curiosity.
“He was counting down the days until you got back to Korea — isn’t that a little harsh?”
“What’s it to me.”
“Still, asking him to keep his face covered is pretty terrible manners, you know.”
The person saying it was still laughing as they said it. In that moment, the image of the young man who had stormed out of his place, hurling insults as he left, flashed through Munyeong’s mind. He couldn’t be certain it was the same person, but thinking back on the man who had made such a scene that day, the pieces fit well enough. It was only now that he could understand why Yeon Haejeong had been rejected back then.
“Every now and then there are guys who are okay with it, so I asked.”
“Even so. There’s a basic standard of decency.”
“Fuck, if you don’t like it, don’t do it. What’s it to you, who the hell are you.”
Yeon Haejeong delivered the cutting remark and downed the full glass of liquor in a single go. He was pouring it back like water, as though he couldn’t even taste the bitterness. Watching him, Munyeong swallowed the sigh that nearly escaped him.
“Munyeong?”
The man must have sensed Munyeong’s attention drifting elsewhere, because he called his name quietly. Snapping back to himself, Munyeong gave an awkward smile and answered with a short “Ah, yes,” and forced the conversation onward.
“…Ah, so… if it’s the entertainment industry… that would be the celebrity side of things… right…?”
“That’s right.”
“Is the Senior Managing Director well known in that world too…?”
“Well, having him as a backer for our talent would be wonderful, so.”
“……Ah.”
Munyeong let out a small sound of vague understanding, his expression slightly puzzled. The man laughed softly at Munyeong’s bewildered reaction and continued.
“I asked Dowon to bring me along since I heard I could meet him at events like this.”
“……Ah, yes.”
“Well, that’s part of the reason I’m here, but….”
The man propped his chin in his hand and fixed his gaze on Munyeong again, openly.
“Sometimes I find them at places like these, too.”
“…Yes?”
Unable to make sense of what he meant as the man looked him over carefully, Munyeong stared back in confusion — and the man curved his eyes in a sly smile and raised his hand.
“Your bangs are covering your eyes.”
And with that, he smoothly swept Munyeong’s long bangs aside and continued in a gentle tone.
“You look much more handsome with your face showing.”
The sudden touch and the embarrassingly forward words made Munyeong’s shoulders stiffen with a start. The casual ease of that light touch looked very practiced.
“Has no one ever told you that?”
The man added softly. Munyeong’s face went red, and he quickly pushed the bangs back down where the man had moved them.
“…Yes, well….”
“You’re incredibly shy.”
As Munyeong even swallowed a dry lump in his throat, cheeks flushing, the man smiled pleasantly at whatever he found entertaining, studying him with interest.
“Or maybe that’s a bit of a concept for you…?”
The man murmured something cryptic under his breath with a mildly puzzled look. Munyeong, not understanding what he meant, tilted his head awkwardly.
“…Pardon?”
“Nothing. I’m saying you’re cute.”
“…Excuse me…?”
With the shamelessness of someone who had swallowed a centuries-old fox spirit whole, the man fired back smoothly. Munyeong recoiled in startled surprise, leaning away — and the man subtly leaned in to close the distance.
“Ah, no…….”
“There’s no need to be nervous. Everyone here anyway—.”
The man’s body drew closer, and just as he was continuing in that familiar, easy tone — bang! A sharp crack split through the room. Everyone nearby spun toward the source with startled expressions. There on the wall was a shattered glass, broken into pieces after flying across the room and hitting it. And tracing back the arc it had come from, they found Yeon Haejeong — eyes blazing wide, breathing in ragged, seething bursts.
“Whoa. What was that about all of a sudden?”
Chu Seongwon, whose mood had been riding even higher with Yeon Haejeong’s arrival, had his elated expression freeze over in an instant. He couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he asked in a rattled voice.
But Yeon Haejeong’s rampage didn’t stop there. He shoved the long table that ran horizontally through the center of the wide room with a kick-like force. At the impact, the liquor bottles and glasses on the table, people’s belongings, and expensive snacks no one cared about came crashing to the floor in a heap. Screams rang out — the people nearby cried out in flustered alarm at the chaos unfolding, and some were furious, demanding to know what he thought he was doing.
Everyone was staring at him in shock, but Yeon Haejeong was heaving hard, chest rising and falling roughly, his glare fixed on one spot. Exactly where Munyeong and Min Juhyeong had been sitting and talking.
“Wow.”
Min Juhyeong let out a sound somewhere between a sigh and a note of awe at Yeon Haejeong’s destruction. Munyeong, on the other hand, was frozen without a single word. Whatever the reason, he was here to attend to Yeon Haejeong — but he had no idea how to begin reining in the man who was going berserk like this.
“Fuck… goddamn it…….”
Jaw clenched tight, he chewed out the words through trembling lips. Then, leaving behind the horrified crowd and the wreckage of the room, he strode out in long, heavy steps. Munyeong, who had been watching with a dazed expression, snapped back to his senses and jumped to his feet. He couldn’t afford to lose track of him here, so he hurried after him.
Outside the room, the blaring music rising up from the basement floor was overwhelming. The sound rang so loud it was almost frightening, and Munyeong knitted his brows and quickened his pace to catch up to Yeon Haejeong, who was getting farther away by the second.
What in the world is he so angry about. What could have happened to make him act out like this all day long. Munyeong was at the point where the frustration was suffocating. Everyone around him was suffering because of that temper. It wasn’t his place to care — but Munyeong hated watching this situation build, where Yeon Haejeong caused harm to everyone and invited only blame. He alone knew that Yeon Haejeong wasn’t truly that terrible a person — but being repeatedly put in a position where he couldn’t even say so weighed on him.
“…Senior Managing Director.”
Munyeong trailed after him, calling out carefully. But whether he couldn’t hear or was pretending not to, Yeon Haejeong kept walking, eyes fixed straight ahead.
“Senior Managing Director.”
Not knowing where he was going, Munyeong called again with more urgency — and the feet that had been charging relentlessly forward came to an abrupt stop. At the sudden halt, Munyeong blinked dumbly for a moment — and then Yeon Haejeong turned around, expression skewed and cutting.
“Looks like your taste has changed.”
And out of nowhere, he threw that at him. It wasn’t raised to a shout the way it had been before, but the tone was unmistakably aggressive.
Munyeong looked up at him with a face that said he had absolutely no idea what he meant.
“……What do you mean.”
“So now you’re into that kind of slick, oily face, are you?”
“…….”
“Does taste change once more than ten years go by?”
With those words stacking one on top of the other, Munyeong finally grasped what Yeon Haejeong was saying. It was so absurd he couldn’t even get a breath out.
“I guess liking men is still the same, though.”
