The day of the yacht party arrived, and I picked up a transparent empty bottle I’d found. It was a violet-colored pheromone perfume I’d barely discovered after searching every corner of Nam Heejae’s hotel. I could easily understand why he’d been living with it so meticulously hidden.
“If Baek Sahyun had found out about this.”
He must have thought he’d definitely be screwed.
After generously applying the scent to my wrists and neck, I stood in front of the mirror and adjusted my outfit.
“The more I look, the more handsome he is. Nam Heejae, I mean.”
Wearing a suit with my hair neatly slicked back, I definitely looked distinguished. If it had been my original face, I would have looked like a country bumpkin wrapped in non-woven fabric, but as expected, a rich family’s young master was truly different even in bearing.
After running my hand once along my sharp, well-structured jawline, I put on an expensive-looking watch and brooch. After completing all preparations, I pumped myself up internally.
You can do this, Jang Woohyun! Can’t you just pretend to be sophisticated and flash some eye smiles appropriately, like in dramas and movies! I was reaffirming my forced confidence when it happened.
Bzzzzt, bzzzzt. My phone rang. I felt like I was going to develop a neurosis from that vibration sound.
“It must be Chae Eunwoo, right?”
However, when I checked the phone I’d placed on the table, I was taken aback. Baek Sahyun, who hadn’t shown his face at all until now, had contacted me.
Baek Sahyun
Don’t come to the yacht party.
It was just a single threatening text, that’s all. This made me feel ominous, like I really shouldn’t go, but this was an instruction from none other than Nam Heejae’s father, Hyungman-ssi. When your parents tell you to do something, what can you do but obey their orders?
After pondering with a “hmm,” I immediately called him. As it happened, I had a mountain of things I wanted to ask Baek Sahyun anyway. Things like the past relationship between Baek Sahyun and Nam Heejae, information related to manifestations, and so on.
Click.
But the call ended without connecting. Because Baek Sahyun hung up on me. Thinking it might have been a mistake, I tried calling again, but it was the same.
Click.
Right after, another text arrived.
Baek Sahyun
I warned you.
“I know it’s a warning…”
But you should tell me what kind of warning it is. Unable to bear the frustration, I sent a text.
Can’t you at least tell me what kind of warning it is?
And in a very servile tone at that.
Maybe I’m possessed by a ghost, so my comprehension is lacking.
It must have been effective because Baek Sahyun called right away. For a moment, I wondered if I should hang up on him like Baek Sahyun had just done to me, but I decided not to show pointless stubbornness.
“H-hey, Sahyun-ah. It’s been a while.”
When I offered a casual greeting, Baek Sahyun spoke bluntly.
[Since you’re possessed by a ghost and eating seafood you used to hate so well, I’m giving you a tip.]
“……”
[You can’t handle it. That place.]
…Nam Heejae hated seafood? I reflected on the day I’d forced down the seafood pasta Baek Sahyun ordered. No wonder he’d kept asking like a crazy person whether I was going to eat it, fuck.
“Father ordered me to go, so I still have to.”
When I barely managed to answer, Baek Sahyun burst into a ticklish laugh. Then he added.
[Then come and….]
Come and?
[Find me. If you find me, I’ll help you.]
“……”
[Oh right. If you bring an omega to the party, we’ll go on a trip, just the two of us.]
“What are you talking about? You and the omega I bring?”
[No. Heejae and me.]
“Huh?”
[So, you and me.]
What the hell is this bastard? Is he going to help me or dunk me underwater? No matter how I looked at it, it was the latter, but I hung up thinking I wouldn’t even break even if I argued. I’d suddenly ended up starting a semi-forced game of hide-and-seek with Baek Sahyun.
“Haah. Then what about Eunwoo?”
He’d really wanted to accompany me to the yacht party, and I wanted to follow Hyungman-ssi’s order to bring a decent omega if possible, but I was severely afraid of Baek Sahyun’s warning. The words that bastard spoke out loud had an extremely high probability of becoming reality.
Sorry Eunwoo. I can’t go with you.
Hyung will buy you something delicious later, so don’t be too disappointed.. See you next time ^-^
So after sending a few texts, I set my phone to silent mode. Because Chae Eunwoo would send a reply full of disappointment, and if I saw it, my heart would probably soften again and I’d end up taking him.
Then what, only I would get water-tortured by Baek Sahyun, wouldn’t I? Damn it. Going on a trip alone with that bastard.
‘Find you and he’ll help? Son of a bitch.’
I resented Baek Sahyun for attaching such an absurd condition, but it was do-or-die. If you’ve drawn your sword high, you have to cut something. In my case, what I’d drawn didn’t seem like a sword but a bare tree branch.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Wow, shit… It’s huge.”
The yacht party I arrived at riding in a money-smelling sedan Hyungman-ssi had sent.
I’d never seen such a huge cruise ship in my life. Actually, I’d never seen a small cruise ship either, but anyway, strange, complicated emotions welled up as I felt like I was experiencing something exclusive to the upper class.
The person who belongs in a place like this would be our Haesu, not me.
“How am I supposed to find him in this place?”
I couldn’t follow Baek Sahyun’s psychology at all. After passing the guards and arriving at the indoor scenery guided by a waiter, I was truly dumbfounded.
The employees who walked around without wavering despite having wine glasses piled on glass trays smiled slightly when they saw me enter. The gazes of people gathered in groups of three to five also swept over my entire body.
‘Wait. What was Nam Heejae’s image like?’
I slowly moved my feet while fiddling with my shirt collar.
In the original work, Nam Heejae, worried about being found out that he was a beta, always maintained a polite attitude but showed an aspect of not forming deep relationships with people.
‘In short, he was like a man of few words. He was quite gentle.’
No matter what he heard, he would just end it with a smile, so my will surged that I should do the same. No matter who spoke to me first, let me act like Nam Heejae, not like Jang Woohyun but like Nam Heejae.
“Heejae-ssi, it’s been a while….”
While walking and looking around, when someone called Nam Heejae’s name from behind, I tried to react ‘like Nam Heejae’ as I’d just resolved. I pretended not to hear and fled in one go.
“Huk, huk.”
Because I’d run away repeatedly in the same manner several times, I was now practically out of breath. As I tried to settle my rising breathing, I quickly became exhausted.
By the way, where the hell is that bastard Baek Sahyun hiding?
The interior was so spacious that I hadn’t been able to search every nook and cranny perfectly yet, but still, I thought by now he should show his face.
‘Did he actually not come?’
To make matters worse, from some point on, a group estimated to have had a bad relationship with the original Nam Heejae was approaching.
“Hey, Nam Heejae. Why do you keep avoiding us?”
They consisted of three people total, all tall with handsome faces. From their appearance holding wine glasses, anyone could see they were rich family’s young masters, so I hurriedly fled.
‘Is it because this is inside a novel? Why are these kids all crazy? Did they trade away their manners for taffy!’
Naturally, I didn’t know a single thing about those punks using that cocky tone. Not their names, ages, or manifestations. So running away swiftly was the best option I could choose.
“Wait. Kids like Baek Sahyun, don’t they usually stick with the chairman at times like this?”
Growing tired of the repeated escape situations, I tried to use my head in my own way. Since Baek Sahyun was the heir of a company with a much larger scale than Nam Heejae’s company, he would certainly receive treatment as practically the star of the party.
And if you watched dramas and such, chaebol heirs would stick close to the chairman and exchange pleasantries with people. I scanned the party venue looking for the place with the most bustling crowd.
‘Is it over there?’
The left side of the cruise. It was somewhat away from the very center but not secluded—there, a middle-aged gentleman with a dignified impression and a solid physique was clinking glasses.
People who had flocked to him were struggling to somehow draw his attention.
“There we go. That’s the place.”
Looking at how he was drawing such a huge number of people, it was 100% Baek Sahyun’s father. The closer I got to him, the more certain I became.
With his sharply refined features and tall stature, he looked like a protagonist’s father.
“Good evening, Chairman. It’s been a while. I’m Nam Heejae from Intol.”
For some reason, when I approached, everyone hurriedly secured a path for me, so I could easily arrive at Baek Sahyun’s father’s side.
When I greeted him formally, the middle-aged gentleman stopped drinking his wine mid-sip and stared blankly at me.
‘…Don’t chaebols introduce themselves like this? Do I need to add more modifiers?’
I noticed his eyes were full of questions and worried. Damn. I’d have to have been a chaebol before to know. Worried that I’d seem rude if I kept staying silent, I offered a more friendly greeting.
“Let’s have a toast together.”
When I grinned showing my teeth, the chairman also smiled likewise and then leaned his head toward me.
“Hey, you fucking bastard. Should I put you in a mental hospital?”
In a voice full of anger, he whispered to me like a ventriloquist.
“You son of a bitch. Do you really want to embarrass your father that badly?”
H-Hyungman-ssi? I was startled as if shocked, facing an unexpected person.
‘Hyungman-ssi? This person?’
Hearing that folksy tone, it seemed right… but then where is Baek Sahyun’s chairman? I looked around the interior in every nook and cranny again, but except for this place, there was nowhere with a crowd gathered to this degree.
