By Zephyria 
Hae-jun wracked his memory. It was nearing two in the morning. Was it because he was too tired? He couldn’t recall well.
“Wasn’t there someone who bought you a drink, telling you to hang in there?”
Secretary Yang gave a hint. Then, Hae-jun remembered. Standing in front of the school gate. The drizzling rain. The chill that seeped through his raincoat.
At that moment, a man approached and, with words of comfort like ‘Student, it must be tough,’ handed him a warm can of coffee. The warmth of the can coffee he held was comforting. He clasped the man’s hand and bowed deeply, thanking him.
“Ha-!”
Hae-jun was dumbfounded. It was a cruel mockery. His life had been controlled and manipulated without his knowledge.
“Fortunately, you were an Assistant, and I approached Yang Hyun-tae, a junior from my school whom I had known for a long time. And I subtly let slip words so that my business card would eventually reach Park Hae-jun. As expected, you found me, and that’s how things unfolded.”
Secretary Yang spread his hands wide. It felt like he should add a ‘Ta-da!’ sound. Ta-da! You fell into the trap. Ta-da! You are quite foolish. Ta-da!
“The problem was making you fall in love with Lee A-gon.”
Secretary Yang’s words were not yet finished. He seemed delighted to finally reveal all his secrets.
“Lee A-gon could only receive assistance from you. We wanted to make you and Lee A-gon inseparable. It would have been even better if you fell in love with Lee A-gon.”
Hae-jun, who had been hunching his shoulders and shading his eyes with his hands, sat up. His pupils dilated wildly at the unbelievable words.
“What does that mean? Are you saying… falling in love with Lee A-gon was also part of your script?”
“What do you think?”
Secretary Yang smiled ambiguously. Hae-jun shook his head. No. No matter what, that was impossible. Forcing people to fall in love.
It was even more impossible when he recalled Lee A-gon’s appearance when they reunited. Who would fall in love with that wretched state?
“To bring the two of you together, ‘unintentional intervention’ was unavoidable. It was a meeting ‘accompanied by a slight degree of coercion.’ Park Hae-jun was forcibly isolated in a Safe House with Lee A-gon.”
Secretary Yang stroked his chin and spoke slowly.
“The second stage was for Park Hae-jun to develop feelings for Lee A-gon ‘entirely of his own volition.’ That wasn’t difficult. A pair of an Ability User and an Assistant trapped in a secluded place. Naturally, feelings would sprout. Even if it wasn’t necessarily affection. Moreover, when Park Hae-jun secretly went out, Lee A-gon collapsed from a drug overdose, and you felt guilty about it, so it was a double win.”
“You knew that? That I went out… you knew?”
“Yes.”
“How on earth…?”
“That house had surveillance cameras, Park Hae-jun.”
Hae-jun was speechless.
“Did you think I wouldn’t monitor him after putting Lee A-gon in a place like that?”
“……Crazy.”
The word he really wanted to say was ‘fuck.’ They were all fucking bastards.
The daily confirmation calls were just a show. They knew everything I was doing and where I was, yet they deceived me like this.
“I wanted you to develop ‘affection through physical intimacy’ with Lee A-gon. Not the kind of affection a guardian has for a ward, but real affection. Needless to say, Lee A-gon already loved you. I was sure of it when I saw him personally bring you drugs to try and impress you.”
“Just how many…”
Hae-jun asked weakly.
“How many surveillance cameras were there?”
Lee A-gon bringing him drugs happened on this floor. Were there any scenes this guy didn’t see?
“Don’t worry. The room only had listening devices, not cameras.”
Fuck. Hae-jun pressed his forehead. Cameras instead of listening devices, should he consider that fortunate?
“Park Hae-jun kept hesitating at crucial moments. I forced you to have penetrative sex, and you agreed. During that process, Lee A-gon asked you to be his boyfriend, and you accepted.”
Secretary Yang placed a hand on his chest and sighed.
“I’ll tell you now, I was truly moved at that moment, Park Hae-jun.”
“Fuck.”
Now Hae-jun just swore. It was truly dog-like. Dog-fuck.
“But as with all love, hardship is necessary. To move to the next stage, I decided to ‘add a little hardship.’ Like family opposition or a secret of birth from a weekend drama. I wanted you two to be poor. A couple who is just poor can break up easily, but you two couldn’t break up. You had a common goal. I wanted you two to run a three-legged race with your feet tied together.”
“Poverty.”
Hae-jun mumbled the word. Poverty. Poverty. Poverty.
“Then what was it that Lee A-gon had to prove to Umyung?”
Secretary Yang had said so, hadn’t he? He had said that after watching Lee A-gon act on the set of ‘The End of All Worlds.’
“From now on, Umyung will cut off all support and observe him. Lee A-gon, you only need to prove yourself once. Then the test will be over, and he will be able to come back under Umyung’s protection.”
“And if he becomes a homeless drug addict again? What will you do then?”
Hae-jun couldn’t understand. Umyung’s method of putting in so much effort, only to let Lee A-gon go once he had recovered, telling him to live on his own from now on.
When Hae-jun asked what would happen if he returned to his old life, with no one to replace him and no support from Umyung, Secretary Yang had merely shrugged. As if to say, “Well, what can you do?”
“…….”
Secretary Yang smiled faintly. It was a smile of pity, as if to say, “Don’t you understand yet?”
“Director Woo Cheong-su loves his youngest son, Lee A-gon, dearly. It is impossible for him to abandon his son, not even if the heavens were to crack open.”
“Then why on earth.”
He couldn’t continue. Was it because he had received too many shocks all day? His mind wasn’t working properly. Secretary Yang spread his arms wide to the left and right.
“Don’t you still understand? There was no test in the first place. It was a device, from the very beginning, to bind Lee A-gon and Park Hae-jun together with love!”
Hae-jun believed him. He thought his cruel parents were truly abandoning Lee A-gon. He had volunteered to become Lee A-gon’s manager to send him back into Umyung’s embrace.
Because.
Because I already, at that time, him.
‘Loved him…….’
So he didn’t want to make Lee A-gon suffer. He wanted to give him good things. He didn’t have a clear realization, but his heart was already in love with him.
“You were poor. You had to earn money to protect Lee A-gon. That much was according to my plan. But a stronger bond was needed. Fortunately, Park Hae-jun is a truly responsible person. When you thought Lee A-gon couldn’t receive assistance because of the hypnosis you cast, guilt was added. ‘Instilling responsibility and guilt’ was a success.”
Secretary Yang clenched his fist.
“At that moment, I was certain. You would never be able to leave Lee A-gon now.”
He was right. Hae-jun couldn’t leave Lee A-gon. He wanted to take responsibility for Lee A-gon’s life and guide him, and he felt deep guilt for how his life had turned out.
“The hardships reached their peak while filming the independent film. Isn’t it true that ‘love deepens with hardship’? I could see the affection between the two of you ripening with my own eyes. But you did something I didn’t expect. You confessed the truth to Lee A-gon.”
“…….”
“Personally, I think it was a courageous decision. Truly admirable, Park Hae-jun.”
Secretary Yang clapped his hands. Hae-jun wanted to punch this son of a bitch once, but he wanted to hear the rest of the story, so he clenched his fist and held back.
“I wanted the two of you to continue dating happily, but since things have come this far. I decided I had to act in a way that was at least slightly advantageous to us. Park Hae-jun contacted me to get in touch with Lee A-gon. I waited until you were sufficiently desperate. As you know, there’s a saying, ‘Men are like dogs; if you run away, they want to chase you.’ I wanted Park Hae-jun to be extremely desperate. And then, I wanted to ensure you could never be separated from Lee A-gon again.”
That plan worked perfectly. Hae-jun was completely desperate, and when he finally met Lee A-gon, he accepted whatever he did or said. He didn’t show it, no matter how much he was hurt.
It was a complete reversal of the power dynamic.
He was so desperate that he didn’t leave even when he saw Lee A-gon entering a hotel with another man right before his eyes. He endured it, crying, even when Lee A-gon asked him to buy condoms.
Now he realized that the man who prepared that other man must have been Secretary Yang. This man had been watching, pulling and releasing the leash to see how far I could go.