Episode 27

While Seung-hyun was quickly forgetting bothersome things and enjoying his time, something really uninteresting was happening in Seoul.

“Congratulations on the 50th anniversary of the company’s founding, Chairman.”

“Now that you have a proper grandson, you must have no more worries. If only my son took after Director Han even half as much. Haha.”

All sorts of greetings poured in to Chairman Han, who briefly showed his face. Thanks to that, Tae-sung, who briefly escaped from annoying people, loosened his tie and sighed.

‘Even the people who were attached to Han Seung-hyun are now clinging as if nothing happened…’

He was sickened from having to face irksome faces he was already tired of. Tae-sung took advantage of the moment when attention was focused on Chairman Han to move to a less crowded area.

“Ah.”

But in the spot he had eyed in advance with few people, there was a guest. And not just any unwelcome guest.

“I want to be alone, could you please go somewhere else?”

“Anyone who sees this would think this place is Ju Jae-young’s private property.”

Tae-sung frowned upon seeing Jae-young holding a cigarette in one hand. Even if it was outdoors, smoking at an invited event. It was a manner that went against etiquette.

“Well, it’s fine as long as others don’t see, isn’t it?”

What does he mean the person clearly facing him right now isn’t someone else? At the strangely antagonistic tone, Tae-sung also wiped off his pretentious expression.

“You didn’t seem to want to come, so why did you make the unnecessary trip?”

“Our madam kept nagging me to come and at least show my face, saying this event was a gold mine.”

“Wasn’t it to see Seon-hu’s face one more time using that excuse?”

“Ah, right. Seon-hu.”

Jae-young finally remembered Seon-hu and opened his eyes a bit wide. How could he have forgotten Seon-hu? He was really surprised and dropped the hand holding the cigarette.

Until not long ago, Seon-hu was definitely Jae-young’s number one priority. Even after Seon-hu got engaged to Tae-sung and married him, eliminating the possibility of being with him, that thought remained the same.

He had never been interested in anyone other than Seon-hu. It may have been natural since he had lived more than half his life thinking he would end up with him.

He also had a personality that once fixated on one thing, he wouldn’t turn his eyes elsewhere for a while. But recently, that obvious fact started to crack.

An appearance so different from the rumors. That face, crying pitifully like a child, wouldn’t leave his mind.

Sometimes his upturned eyes looked fierce to the point of looking vicious, but when he pressed his lips together and lowered his gaze, there was a strange atmosphere.

After surprising him like that and spending the night together, the next morning he woke up as if nothing happened and left him without hesitation, leaving words to spread rumors if he wanted to.

He was too intriguing to end it in one night. A person completely different from the rumors and also very different from the memories he had briefly encountered.

So when he heard from his mother that Seung-hyun had really quit the company and checked into Y Hotel, which was owned by his mother, in Busan, he felt the urge to directly confirm what kind of person Seung-hyun was.

It may have been a whim, but there were many memorable moments during the few days together. It was fun without having to fuss over this and that.

Seung-hyun was a more interesting person than he had thought. It was fascinating to see red lines being drawn one by one on the information he had known before.

‘I thought he was a bit more interesting than others, but to the point of making me forget Seon-hu…’

It had to be even more so in the past few days. The replies were definitely coming slowly but steadily, but the message window that ended at an ambiguous point remained silent.

Even though he clearly knew there was no urgent business, he consoled himself thinking something must have come up and retraced his words countless times to see if he had misspoken.

As a result, he found himself reaching for cigarettes again, which he hadn’t touched in a while. Feeling frustrated, he went back and forth on the message window several times, but couldn’t bring himself to send a new message for fear of being thought of as bothersome.

‘Did he block me?’

While spending time with that uneasy feeling, he was dragged by his mother to HJ’s founding anniversary party. Even though he knew Seung-hyun wouldn’t come, he looked around, got a bit annoyed, and came to a place with no people to smoke a cigarette, avoiding his mother’s eyes.

But of all people, he had to run into someone he wouldn’t be happy to see even in a good mood. Jae-young sighed right in front of Tae-sung’s face.

“There was something I wanted to ask anyway.”

Tae-sung was also uncomfortable. It hadn’t been that long since he realized his feelings for Seon-hu, but he was his spouse and the person he loved.

The two may not have dated, but he at least remembered what kind of eyes Jae-young had at the wedding. Moreover, didn’t he recently have one more reason to be suspicious of him?

“I heard you’ve been close with former director Han Seung-hyun recently.”

“Ha.”

Jae-young smirked and put the half-smoked cigarette back in his mouth. He found Tae-sung kindly pointing out something he was already concerned about quite unpleasant.

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but don’t do anything useless. You, and former director Han…”

“I think you’re mistaken, but Han Seung-hyun has no particular interest in me.”

Jae-young spoke in a blunt tone. He didn’t like how Seung-hyun said it was okay to be friends and then suddenly stopped contact as if nothing happened.

Of course, it hadn’t been that long since they had a proper conversation, considering they had slept together. He knew that although they called it “friends,” it was actually a bit ambiguous to say that.

‘Still, isn’t it a bit too much to come out like this?’

Jae-young thought like that and stubbed out the shortened cigarette in the trash can ashtray.

“You’re quite suspicious too. I don’t think Han Seung-hyun would have directly told you that he spent time with me.”

“……”

“Then I guess you also received a separate report on what we did, so you must know even better that nothing much happened, right?”

Tae-sung couldn’t refute Jae-young’s words and pressed his lips together. After glaring at Jae-young for a moment without answering, Tae-sung spoke.

“Since you say you know, I’ll speak bluntly.”

Tae-sung had no intention of looking good to Jae-young anyway. Although there was quite a bit of exchange with the Y Group, Jae-young was far from the succession structure, and Tae-sung had no business getting involved with Y Hotel.

So there was no need to manage his image.

“I don’t think you’re unaware of what kind of person former director Han is. Moreover, you had a very special relationship with Seon-hu. Wouldn’t it be nonsense even to you to think that you have favorable feelings towards me?”

Jae-young responded with a frown. Tae-sung continued, unperturbed.

“I don’t know why you two became close, but to former director Han…”

“He’s not a director anymore.”

“…Pardon?”

Jae-young, who was listening to Tae-sung’s words, took out a new cigarette but put the cigarette case back in his pocket. He was already feeling uneasy, and it wasn’t very pleasant to hear about Seung-hyun from someone else.

“Han Seung-hyun is no longer an HJ director, right? Calling him director Han at the end of every sentence. It’s a bit annoying to hear.”

‘Don’t call me Director. I quit the company and don’t want to be called that either. Just… call me by my name.’

Jae-young frowned, recalling what Seung-hyun had said in Busan. He kind of understood why Seung-hyun asked him not to call him Director.

He didn’t like the attitude of thinking that Seung-hyun must have done something wrong while calling him Director Han without actually doing anything.

“We just played together a bit. That’s all… I’m curious too. What Han Seung-hyun is thinking. I thought he would hang out with me, but suddenly contact is cut off.”

Jae-young said that and shrugged his shoulders. Anyway, what the madam wanted was for him to just show his face here and there, and he had already greeted the important people, so it wouldn’t be a big problem if he left secretly.

“Why didn’t you bring Seon-hu? He’s your spouse, nominally.”

“…I didn’t bring him for fear that he would hear unpleasant things from the chairman if I brought him for no reason.”

Aha, Jae-young also knew the fact that Chairman Han was an extreme trait discriminator. Although he brought him in out of necessity, there was no way he would like a passionate son-in-law.

“It would have been nice to see him after a long time. Then please give my regards to Seon-hu.”

Jae-young said that and turned around. He had already endured as much as he needed to be here, and Seung-hyun, whom he had hoped for, wasn’t here either. He didn’t want to see the unpleasant face for long, so he thought it would be better to leave now.

“…It’s not like he’s going around with that face.”

At that moment, when he was about to turn and leave, Tae-sung’s small mutter caught Jae-young’s ankle. ‘With that face’. It seemed trivial, but for some reason, it bothered him.

After contemplating for a moment, Jae-young turned back and asked Tae-sung,

“…Whose face are you talking about?”