IKC C15

Chapter 15

“Moon Sihyun is your junior, so you don’t need to bow so deeply like that.”

“What are you talking about? He’s my senior, of course I have to greet him properly.”

Even though I gave him a look to stop saying useless things, Seong Sehan pretended not to notice and shifted his gaze.

“Moon Sihyun, from now on call him Taegyeong hyung. He may have debuted late, but he’s with me…”

I shoved Seong Sehan behind me and bowed again.

“Don’t mind what he says. Of course you’re a senior.”

“Ah, no, it’s okay. I’ll just call you Taegyeong hyung.”

Moon Sihyun smiled, a smile glowing on his handsome face. Is… is that really fine? I didn’t know what to do, but then the Perfect members suddenly came pouring toward me.

“Hello, friend.”

“We’ve seen lots of pictures of Taegyeong-ssi. You’re way more handsome in person.”

“Nice to meet you. You know me, right? Please call me Mu-yeol.”

“Hello! I’m Lee Taegyeong.”

Their friendliness was overwhelming, and instead of easing the mood, it only left me even more flustered.

“I came here without permission, but thank you for welcoming me.”

“Taegyeong, just talk casually and call us hyung. This is Woo-shin hyung, that’s Myeong-yoon hyung. And these are Roy, Sihyun, and Mu-yeol. Got it?”

Sorting everything out on his own, Seong Sehan then went so far as to introduce me to the staff too.

“Taegyeong will be around often from now on. Please look after him well.”

“Hello, I’m Lee Taegyeong.”

“Taegyeong-ssi, nice to meet you.”

“Come over here and share a sandwich with us.”

Thanks to my position as Seong Sehan’s friend, the staff were also unusually warm toward me. I kept nodding and bowing in greeting everywhere, when Seong Sehan suddenly pulled me in close with his arm slung around my shoulder.

“Manager Yoon, you still have some time, right? I’ll go have a quick talk with Taegyeong.”

“Ah, Sehan, I think only about twenty minutes…”

“That’s enough.”

Before I could properly finish greeting the Perfect members, I was dragged away by Seong Sehan.

“Sehan, where are we going?”

“Even for a short while, we need to go somewhere quiet. It’s too hectic with all those people around.”

I couldn’t tell whether he was putting his arm around me or putting me in a headlock, but in any case I quietly followed him all the way to the end of the hallway.

“Shall we talk here?”

He pushed me into the narrow space at the end of the hallway and leaned against the opposite wall.

“What do you want to talk about?”

My eyes kept avoiding him, drifting everywhere else. I didn’t know why it was so uncomfortable facing Seong Sehan of all people in such a small space.

“Taegyeong.”

He called my name, forcing me to look at him. Relaxing the muscles in my face, I raised my head to look up at him.

For some reason or another, he looked angry, and I was in a state of great injustice. Still, regardless of how I felt, I didn’t want to get into a fight in his workplace.

“Hey, why are you making the atmosphere so heavy? What do you want to say?”

Wanting to just smooth things over, I let out a hollow laugh with no real meaning. Then, with a cool smile, Seong Sehan chuckled as if joining me.

“Lee Taegyeong, is this funny to you?”

“…What?”

I couldn’t understand what he meant and stared blankly, my mouth hanging open.

With his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants, he tilted his head and looked down at me on a slant.

“I’m asking, is it fun to toy with me?”

“What?”

The sheer absurdity made my jaw drop wide open.

“What are you saying? That I was toying with you?”

Suddenly I could feel anger surge hotly through my body. All those times I’d run around, struggling tooth and nail to save you—are you telling me those were just me toying with you? Kid, you don’t know a damn thing!

My fist clenched tightly, trembling, and Seong Sehan glanced at it from where he leaned against the wall.

“Just go ahead and hit me.”

“…What?”

Curling his lips, he smirked.

“Better that you just hit me a few times. Don’t say dumb shit that pisses me off.”

Ha… My vision swam.

So he’s saying that me running around because of the status window was disgusting in his eyes? Fine. Maybe it could have looked weird from his perspective. But that doesn’t mean I have to hear this kind of crap from him.

“I’ve got nothing to say to you right now.”

I pushed myself off the wall—but thud. His brown work boots planted against the wall blocked my way forward.

“Lee Taegyeong.”

I clenched my teeth and glared down at the long leg cutting off my path, unwilling even to lift my eyes to him.

“Move your foot.”

“Who messed up your face?”

My fist twitched. The spot where Kim Hyuk-soo had hit me was only faintly bruised, but I guess it still showed.

“It’s none of your business.”

Still leaning against the wall, Seong Sehan gazed sidelong at me.

I wanted to shove him aside and walk out, but something made me hesitate. Maybe it was the sound of his deep inhale, like there was something he really wanted to say to me.

“When did I ever ask you to forgive me?”

But the words that came out were in a cold, emotionless voice. Not a trace of guilt or apology.

“Curse me, hit me, do whatever you feel like. Aside from cutting contact with me, I said everything else was fine. So why can’t you understand plain words?”

“You bastard! You’re the one who better listen properly to what I say!”

Being cornered in a tight space by someone bigger only added to the suffocating frustration. So in irritation I took off the jacket I was wearing and threw it at his chest.

“When I contact you, all you need to do is say thank you and accept it. Got it?”

You think I treat you well because I want to? I do it because I have no choice…

“Taegyeong.”

I shoved him away as he tried to grab me and ran toward the stairs. But before I even reached the first floor, his hand seized me.

“Lee Taegyeong, the weather out there is crazy right now. Put this on…”

“I said drop it, stay out of my business!”

I tried shaking off the hand putting the jacket on me, but his grip clamped down hard on my shoulder.

“You’re completely unbearable today.”

“…What?”

I glared at him with furious eyes, but damn him, he was holding back laughter.

“You asshole, what’s so funny to you?”

I tried slapping his hand away, but he shoved my arms into the sleeves of the jacket by force. Losing so completely in strength only made me angrier.

“How can I focus on work if I send you out dressed so lightly, in this cold?”

“I told you—leave me the fuck alone!”

Ignoring everything I said, he calmly zipped it up, satisfied, with a smile.

“I’ll overlook the 13th for you.”

“…Huh?”

I blinked quickly in blank confusion. With narrow, arrogant eyes, Seong Sehan spoke.

“Pay me back for one year and five months.”

“What…?”

The hell is this lunatic talking about? My jaw dropped in disbelief.

“I didn’t realize you cared about me this much, Lee Taegyeong.”

“Hey, Seong Sehan…”

I didn’t even know where to begin correcting him. Shaking my head helplessly, I scrubbed my face with both hands in frustration.

“Whatever… Fine. I don’t even want to fight with you anymore. In the end anyway…”

“But Taegyeong, I’d like you to be specific about exactly how you’ll pay me back.”

What…? A sigh slipped from my mouth like air deflating.

“Wow, you really are a crazy bastard…”

Leaving me no choice but to curse, Seong Sehan only gave me one of those insincere smiles he usually reserved for the stage.

“Oh. Didn’t think it through yet? Then shall I just take what I want?”

“…Fuck.”

Suddenly, his phone started ringing. He pulled it from his work jacket and answered.

“Yes, manager. I’ll be there right away.”

Ending the call, Seong Sehan gestured toward the entrance.

“Taegyeong, Deputy Manager Jung-seob is going to give you a ride to the company.”

“What? Hey, cut the nonsense! How could the Perfect manager possibly—”

“Jung-seob hyung is my personal manager. Don’t worry and just get in. I’ll call you once we finish shooting.”

With that, Seong Sehan ran quickly back up the stairs.

I just stood there dumbstruck, before sinking down to sit on the steps. Meeting Seong Sehan always left me emotionally exhausted, like my energy had been drained dry.

“This is a mess. Is this even going right, at all…?”

No matter what Seong Sehan said, I had no intention of getting into Deputy Manager’s car.

But the deputy manager, waiting at the entrance, firmly rejected my rejection. Insisting like it was only natural, he led me straight into the parking lot, and in the end I had no choice but to brazenly get into the car.

“Th-thank you so much for giving me a ride! If you could just drop me at Global Entertainment… I’d really be so grateful!”

Sitting in the passenger seat, I ducked my head in repeated bows, but the deputy manager started the car casually like it was nothing.

“Let’s just go comfortably. Honestly, I get paid a salary but don’t really do much, so at least giving a lift to a friend makes it feel like I’m working.”

“Ah… right. In that case…”

He had always seemed intimidatingly curt to me, but talking with him a bit more gave a different impression. Once my nerves eased, I finally relaxed back into the seat.

“Geonwoo hyung, I’m really sorry…!”

By the time I got back to the company, Geonwoo hyung was still buried in music production inside the studio. Even though I’d left the company without saying a word, he looked at me calmly.

“It’s fine. You called earlier, didn’t you? Said you had something urgent with Sehan?”

“Yes. Something came up all of a sudden…”

“I’m fine, Taegyeong.”

Turning in his chair, Geonwoo hyung faced me directly.

“But you delayed the guide work again because of this. And you were absent from the content meeting too, so it seems Chief Jang is quite angry. I told him something urgent came up, but…”