…What? What the hell is this bastard talking about?
─ Hello? Joo Tae-hyun?
Joo Tae-hyun, who had been frozen for a moment at the absurd words, belatedly came to his senses and reached for his phone.
Hyung, it’s not true.
In his desperate mind, a fierce denial came out before an apology.
Joo Tae-hyun frantically moved his lips, wiping away the saliva that remained slightly at the corner of his mouth.
What should he explain first? Too many sentences popped up sporadically in his head, making it difficult to organize his thoughts.
First, he should hang up the phone and apologize to Seo Baek-han. After all, he might not care since he wanted him and Cheon Seung-pil to date, but apart from that, Joo Tae-hyun himself didn’t want to be misunderstood by him. He especially didn’t want to be misunderstood as having talked about his sensitive issues arbitrarily in Seo Baek-han’s absence.
Because of the rumors Kim Seung-jun spread this time, he also owed Cheon Seung-pil a debt, and that fool Cheon Seung-pil was just spouting nonsense as he pleased with the fact that he had decided to help him with his transfer essay to repay that debt. Coming to his house or not was absolutely not agreed upon with him, and he had never talked about Hyung’s Rut with this bastard before…
─ What, can’t you hear me? Hello? Hey, baby?
While he was diligently organizing the excuses he would make to Seo Baek-han in his mind, Cheon Seung-pil kept spouting nonsense, oblivious to his feelings.
“Oh, baby. It’s me.”
But Seo Baek-han gave back Cheon Seung-pil’s frivolous tone, which was full of swagger.
Perhaps embarrassed by the unfamiliar voice, there were several small noises from beyond the phone as Cheon Seung-pil seemed to move the phone away from his ear and then bring it closer again.
─ H-huh! Baek-han Hyung? Is that Hyung?
After finally grasping the situation, Cheon Seung-pil repeated Seo Baek-han’s name like an idiot.
“Oh, sorry it’s not Tae-hyun. By the way, my Rut… maybe the week after next? Are you coming to my house then?”
─ Ah, no. Hyung. No, Hyung-nim. That’s… Tae-hyun said he doesn’t like being with other people when he’s in Rut. I wouldn’t want to disturb Hyung-nim while you’re resting…
“Wouldn’t it be better not to do anything that would disturb Hyung-nim in the first place? Are you planning to do such a thing in someone else’s house, deliberately, deliberately? Baby.”
─ W-what? What do you mean…? I’m sorry, Hyung-nim. I’m not very smart, and my Korean isn’t very good… As you know, I’ve been studying abroad for a long time, haha. Haha…
“A Korean says his Korean isn’t good.”
Even though he couldn’t see it, it was obvious. Cheon Seung-pil, who had been lounging on the sofa, must have jumped up like a spring and was now sitting upright, his face pale.
And Joo Tae-hyun was the same.
“By the way, you called from far away, what should I do? ‘Your Tae-hyun’ and I still have some business to take care of. Can I call you back later?”
Even with the wind blowing, the Ferris wheel steadily reached the top. And as if waiting for that moment, the lights came on brightly all around.
A small heart, as if drawn by someone’s hand, appeared on the foggy window, clouded by the body heat emitted by the adult male. Starting with that, traces of wiping the window with hands and trivial scribbles slowly revealed themselves like hidden codes.
When the Ferris wheel reached this point, he could easily imagine the people who had huddled together and wiped the windows to get a better view of the scenery outside.
However, Joo Tae-hyun had no leeway to take in such scenery. He felt like he had indigestion even though he hadn’t eaten anything.
─ Oh, yes! Of course. Please, take care! I’m sorry, Hyung-nim!
Once Cheon Seung-pil’s noisy voice disappeared, only a terrible silence lingered in the Ferris wheel.
“Tae-hyun-ah.”
As the Ferris wheel slowly descended from its peak, Seo Baek-han firmly grabbed Joo Tae-hyun’s chin. The phone was still in his other hand.
“Hyung, Seung-pil said he would come to my house without consulting me, I mean, ah!”
He thought it was the right time. To apologize to him, to make excuses.
If not now, Seo Baek-han would not listen, saying he didn’t want to hear about the past.
However, despite quickly writing a script in his head, Seo Baek-han didn’t give Joo Tae-hyun even a small gap to make a sound.
Seo Baek-han’s unique Pheromone tightened around Joo Tae-hyun’s ankles like a fog. He had wanted it so much while waiting for him in the car. He had been too busy swallowing it sweetly just a moment ago. Why did it feel so bitter and painful now?
Joo Tae-hyun closed his eyes tightly and endured his Pheromone, tongue, and saliva that violently crashed into him.
Could this really be called a kiss? Perhaps they were mixing flesh even more fiercely than during sex, but far from being excited, his heart felt like it was being squeezed painfully.
“Hyung, just… wait.”
“It’s okay, Tae-hyun-ah. I’m not very interested in the people around you.”
He understood that Hyung was in a situation where he could be upset enough, but still, he wished he would listen to him…
Even though he had liked Seo Baek-han for so long, it was difficult for Joo Tae-hyun to explain his feelings to him properly. It was still difficult to ask him for something unless it was a formal occasion where he had to act as his spouse.
If he didn’t ask first, he wouldn’t be rejected like before.
So Joo Tae-hyun had no choice but to close his eyes again this time. Wouldn’t he be given a chance to explain himself at least once after his mood improved? Even though he was upset, it was still good that he was kissing him while thinking about his body like this…
“But, is your body not feeling well today?”
Seo Baek-han whispered while their lips were still touching. It was a question with a clear intention.
“Let me say again, I’m not going to interfere with you hanging out with Cheon Seung-pil or anyone else.”
“…….”
“But you still have to do it with me right now. I need to get your body back to normal quickly so that you and I can both spend Rut with other people.”
Seo Baek-han whispered with a slightly slurred pronunciation, holding Joo Tae-hyun’s lower lip in his mouth with only the soft mucous membrane inside his lips.
“What are you doing? If you understand, you need to open your mouth properly.”
* * *
“A Ferris wheel in this weather.”
Joo Yun-woo, who had checked the weather in Pyongyang on the weather app, clicked his tongue and got up from his seat. There was no boundary between commuting to and from work for the president and direct family members of the chairman, but anyway, today was Friday. The higher-ups had to leave first so that the lower-level employees could leave comfortably.
“You can’t do this!”
However, quite a loud noise was heard from beyond the rather heavy president’s office door. Joo Yun-woo, who was packing the materials he would continue to look at when he got home, made a disgusted face as if he had stepped in poop.
…This is a familiar pattern, isn’t it?
“No, are you already leaving work? When the economy is as difficult as it is these days, you should stay at the company even if there’s no work to do!”
Indeed. A well-built man who kicked open the door shook his thick chin and balloon-like belly as he glared at Joo Yun-woo. Seeing the faces of the secretaries who were in trouble behind the approaching mass, Joo Yun-woo briefly waved his hand as if to say it was okay. What fault did the lower-level employees have? It was his fault for having such a relative.
“That’s why men should do the important things. Women don’t have perseverance.”
What a load of crap. As if this wasn’t the first or second time he had experienced this, Joo Yun-woo silently continued to do what he had to do.
Kang Bu-nam, a relative of Chairman Joo Il-wook’s maternal side, was a hopeless guy who was still steeped in male chauvinism and a preference for sons, as his name suggested. He couldn’t say a word to his other male siblings, but whenever something went wrong, he would only come to him or his mother to cause a ruckus.
When Joo Yun-woo was younger, he used to fight back fiercely whenever Kang Bu-nam spouted nonsense. But would logic work on a crazy bastard? It didn’t take him long to realize that the answer was to ignore the crazy person.
‘We also owe it to our great ancestors, so why are only you benefiting from it!’
Kang Bu-nam and some of the other relatives were leeches, not blood relatives. He didn’t even remember the degree of kinship of the other bastards properly, and Kang Bu-nam was his father’s sixth cousin, or something like that. That meant they were no different from strangers.
‘We’re using the same family register as the great DH Group, so shouldn’t we need to maintain our dignity?’
Still, the problem was that his kind grandfather had established a small company for them because they were blood relatives. Their greed, who had not contributed to the DH Group built by his grandfather and father, only grew larger and larger.
Thanks to the precious youngest sibling who was born late, the DH Group chairman’s family was unusually close for a chaebol family, but Joo Yun-woo thought that having a common enemy led by Kang Bu-nam also played a part.
His great ancestors gave him affectionate parents, handsome older brothers, a lovable, cute, and smart youngest sibling who was like a prince who took all the good things for himself, but they all failed in the lottery for other blood relatives except for the direct family.
“Y-you! What a brat! Joo Yun-woo, don’t you even greet your elders when you see them?”
“…”
“Oh my. Which family will take her! How can she get married like that!”
“Secretary Choi, retrain the security team. I think you need to do it again? A little, no, a lot more intensely.”
“Yes. I’m sorry, Chairman.”
Again, the lower-level employees were not at fault. It was a show for that leech-like old man to hear.
Even if this kind of thing happened again, it would be difficult for the security team and secretaries to do anything. If they touched such a troublemaker, it would become a headache. They probably couldn’t do anything because they were worried about what would happen if they said, ‘Are you hitting me now? I’ll even file a lawsuit, I’ll even hold a press conference.’
“I’m thirsty because I’m getting heated. Bring me some cold coffee. Aish, not that dark-skinned guy! Don’t you have any pretty employees?”
Even in the midst of this, Kang Bu-nam was spouting nonsense that made him want to cut off his head right away. Joo Yun-woo briefly shook his head and gave the secretaries a silent instruction. Ignore whatever that son of a bitch does and get out.
As expected. He did well to turn on the recording app on his phone today. If that bastard grabbed the microphone and said something about the DH chairman’s family, Joo Yun-woo planned to immediately release the collection of Kang Bu-nam’s nonsense that he had been collecting for a long time.
“Ahem. Anyway, I’m a busy person, so I won’t say much. Show us Joo Tae-hyun getting a drug reaction test in front of our eyes.”
But when the swollen leech bastard brought up someone else’s precious youngest, Joo Yun-woo, who had been holding back well, finally lost it.
“If Joo Tae-hyun, that kid who hasn’t even lost the blood from his hair, really ate that Dt Sweet Switch or whatever it is, then the stock distribution should be redone!”
“Really, I’ve been watching and watching-.”
“Ahem! I heard all the details from the eldest son of Poongjin Industries, so don’t deny it. How can we entrust the future of our DH Group to such a screwball!”