By Zephyria 
In order of seniority, Yeom Cheon-ho first leaked information about the secret room to Moon Gyeon-woo. The moment Moon Gyeon-woo heard the information, he attempted to open the door. Even though it had been intentionally locked, he did not give up, persistently trying two, three times. Thus, when the door was left open, he entered without hesitation and examined it closely. All the while, he didn’t utter a single word to Yeom Cheon-ho. Yeom Cheon-ho formed an opinion of Moon Gyeon-woo.
‘Suspicious, sensitive, and tenacious.’
Next was Choi Hwan. Just like the previous case, he immediately tried to open the door once the information about the secret room was leaked. However, after failing on the first attempt, he lost interest completely. After that, it seemed as if he had forgotten about it entirely.
‘Fickle and impulsive; I need to be careful.’
Finally, when Lee Yeon-rok was given the information about the secret room, he spent the aftermath trying his best to keep his distance from Yeom Cheon-ho. He was visibly anxious, fearing that he might be hated by the homeowner or cause conflict while trying to dig for information. Though he possessed curiosity and interest, he fought to suppress them.
‘Quick-witted, yet far too conscious of how others perceive him.’
Emotional deprivation, a desire for validation. Yeom Cheon-ho keenly read even those traits. Seeing Yeon-rok being pushed around by the aggressive Moon Gyeon-woo and Choi Hwan, he tried to look after him as much as possible, but he was truly busy. Managing a company while tending to the Hwamyeong Cult and dealing with Yeom Cheon-ryul at the same time meant that even for someone as capable as him, one body was not enough.
In the midst of this, surprisingly, Lee Yeon-rok proved to be quite helpful to Yeom Cheon-ho. When he called his disheartened partner to the office to give him some busywork to soothe him, the man unexpectedly pointed something out.
“The prices are a bit strange. These are supplied directly from the factory, so they couldn’t possibly be this expensive.”
What Yeon-rok pointed out was a petty embezzlement, too small for Yeom Cheon-ho to have noticed individually. The amount was small enough that leaving it alone wouldn’t have caused a major problem. However, the subordinate who had overlooked and condoned this was a different story.
Since the majority of this company consisted of members of the Hwamyeong Cult and former believers of the Heavenly Truth Ming Cult, it meant there was a high probability that the person was one of Yeom Cheon-ryul’s people.
Sure enough, upon digging deeper, a string of spies planted by Yeom Cheon-ryul were dragged out. A horrified Kim Jeong-seong was frantic, as he couldn’t gauge how much information had leaked to the other side.
“I am sorry, Yeom Cheon-ho-nim. I should have examined things more thoroughly.”
“Hmm, it’s alright. I can easily brush this much off.”
Still, thanks to Lee Yeon-rok, he had identified the issue before it was too late and minimized the damage, so it was a good outcome. Yeom Cheon-ho was slightly surprised to realize he felt a considerable amount of fondness toward Lee Yeon-rok.
He thought he had almost forgotten what emotions were, but was that not the case? Could a damaged brain be recovered thanks to a name partner? Or was this because they shared the same name? No, since Lee Yeon-rok was the only exception, it was a strange occurrence.
After this incident, he decided to learn more about his flower name bearer. In the process, the thesis by Moon Gyeon-woo he read was quite interesting. He explained name manifestation by dividing it into the concepts of primary manifestation and secondary manifestation. The main point was that secondary manifestation bearers tend to be more strongly emotionally dependent on primary manifestation bearers, and the drawbacks of manifestation tend to appear less.
According to that content, in short, the three of them became emotionally vulnerable to Lee Yeon-rok, who had manifested first.
Perhaps that was why Moon Gyeon-woo reacted particularly pricklily toward Lee Yeon-rok. He couldn’t tell if it was because of his incredibly sensitive personality or because he currently had a lover. Yeom Cheon-ho wondered how their relationship would change in the future and steadily worked to reduce the risk variables.
First, he investigated Lee Yeon-rok’s ex-lover. Checking the call logs and text messages exchanged between them, it was clear that the feelings Lee Yeon-rok held for the other person were unilaterally passionate. It seemed like a relationship that Yeom Cheon-ryul could easily exploit. Considering Lee Yeon-rok’s soft-hearted nature, it would be best to handle this cleanly to avoid future troubles.
Thus, he wrapped it up well, leaving no room for lingering hope. He didn’t do anything particular. He simply checked if there were any remaining feelings between Lee Yeon-rok and the ex-lover, and then subtly informed Yeon-rok that the ex had married and even had a child.
Next was Moon Gyeon-woo’s lover. Unlike Lee Yeon-rok, he had dated countless lovers. However, since there was room for Yeom Cheon-ryul to interfere through the lover here as well, he put a tail on them. He induced them to cheat. Now, it was only a matter of time before they broke up.
And among the three, the owner of the biggest problem was Choi Hwan. Yeom Cheon-ryul had already begun to make moves through an acquaintance. Moreover, the method used was drugs.
There are no humans easier to manipulate than gambling addicts and drug addicts. Therefore, he had to block this in advance, but unlike Moon Gyeon-woo or Lee Yeon-rok, Choi Hwan was like a wild colt, and there was no certainty that he would cooperate. To gain the right to intervene at any time, Yeom Cheon-ho decided to date this problem child. And as he kissed his flower name bearer for the first time, he thought:
‘This is certainly more efficient than just holding hands.’
That sentiment was all; he felt no emotion other than a sense of responsibility as a name partner. Thus, he thought of Lee Yeon-rok again. He wanted to know for sure if the fondness he felt for him had been a momentary illusion.
In any case, dating had its rewards, as he successfully blocked Choi Hwan’s attempt to access drugs. And he realized that he could feel emotions for a name partner other than Yeon-rok. However, it was by no means in the direction of fondness. He felt a bit annoyed because the person acted so rudely, but he had no particular regrets or ill will regarding the breakup itself.
Even after that, Yeom Cheon-ryul’s schemes continued.
Is he quite lucky? Yeom Cheon-ho thought so while looking at Lee Yeon-rok. It was truly surprising that he had narrowly avoided being kidnapped twice in a single day. Although it was due to a gap in security caused by Choi Hwan, he felt quite sorry that such things happened at home. Still, thanks to that, he was able to weed out the dangerous elements, making the house completely safe.
Perhaps it was the aftermath of that guilt—that he dropped everything to return the moment he heard Lee Yeon-rok had collapsed from contact deficiency. And that he ended up kissing him. Seeing the peaceful face as the fever began to subside, Yeom Cheon-ho felt, for once, a sense of happiness.
Since his fall, his life had been flat, without any lows or highs. It was an unfamiliar sensation.
However, his life was still too fierce to focus on such emotions.
There was another attempt to kidnap Lee Yeon-rok. Boldly, Yeom Cheon-ryul approached personally, but fortunately, he narrowly avoided that attempt as well. Then, he turned his attention to Choi Hwan. Through Yeom Cheon-ryul’s machinations, Choi Hwan’s family managed to find the address and approach, and a malicious scandal was barely suppressed. Next, he tried to exploit his acrophobia, but again, he received help from Yeon-rok. Moon Gyeon-woo’s personal information almost became an issue, but once again, it was resolved with Yeon-rok’s help…
Since he had three name partners instead of one, the incidents and accidents that broke out were tripled. There were countless things Yeom Cheon-ho had to worry about. Even amidst this, he patiently guided his flower name bearers toward the truth.
And so, finally… today has come!
“Actually, I intended to tell you more slowly, but you all moved faster than I expected. I never imagined you’d use Yeon-rok-ssi’s birthday party.”
Having heard the entirety of Yeom Cheon-ho’s shocking and long story, Yeon-rok was speechless. Moon Gyeon-woo and Choi Hwan were the same.
“Now, since I’ve finished the story, shall we celebrate Yeon-rok-ssi’s birthday?”
At Yeom Cheon-ho’s signal, Kim Jeong-seong, who had been waiting with a pleased expression, lit the candles. On a large cake carefully crafted by the members of the Hwamyeong Cult, candles numbering as many as Lee Yeon-rok’s age burned brightly. With twenty-five candles lit, it looked like a small campfire.
They had now moved to the office on the third floor of the factory. Contrary to the exterior, which looked like an abandoned factory, the office was quite decent. Yeom Cheon-ho made a suggestion to the three dazed men.
“Then, shall we sing the birthday song…?”
“Birthday song my ass!”
In the end, Moon Gyeon-woo was the first to shout and spring up from his seat. The cake wobbled from the momentum. Moon Gyeon-woo quickly spoke to Yeon-rok.
“Yeon-rok-ah, it’s not that I don’t want to celebrate your birthday. I’m just a bit angry at that guy. …Still, it’s a birthday cake, so do you want to blow out the candles?”
“O-okay…”
Considering his own wretched luck, a scenario where the three of them fought and the cake fell on him, setting him on fire, was entirely possible. Thus, Yeon-rok cautiously blew out the candles while gauging the atmosphere. Yeom Cheon-ho and Kim Jeong-seong smiled brightly and clapped. Choi Hwan followed suit instinctively, and Moon Gyeon-woo reluctantly clapped as well. It was the strangest and most awkward birthday celebration Yeon-rok had ever received…