It was his sixth scandal. If he counted the ones that had been stopped before they ever got out, along with all the tabloid rumors, he would have to fold and unfold both hands several times over. But setting all of that aside, if he only counted the scandals that had properly become known to the public, this was exactly the sixth.
Truthfully, Cha Sejin had no particular thoughts about scandals. He had met them, and he had slept with them, but because the scandals involved people he had never dated, he had neither thoughts nor anything to say about them.
There were people who wanted to hear his comment, so he had briefly considered saying something. But if he honestly said that all they had done was roll around because they were horny, he would look far too frivolous, and saying they had met on good terms but simply failed to develop into lovers would be too much of a lie. In the end, he decided to keep his mouth shut.
Remembering what his mother and father always said—that he was most charming when he kept his mouth closed—he knew that if he stayed quiet, the whole thing would soon disappear on its own, as if it had never existed. All both sides had to do was keep their mouths shut and lie low for about three days. Just as they always had.
But this time, things got a little bigger.
[Exclusive]
The chaebol male lead from dramas exists in real life.
The second son of S Group and his “just” meetings with neither “love” nor “sincerity.”
2026.04.14 | Reporter Gu Rae-a
The “chaebol male lead” whose name can be read even when written only as an initial has once again become the center of attention.
Two weeks ago, actress A, who had acknowledged dating rumors after being photographed leaving the country affectionately with Mr. C, turned on a livestream in the early hours of the 26th through her private social media account, not her official one.
During the livestream, A tearfully poured out a series of meaningful remarks, including, “He said he never liked me even once,” “I didn’t know we were nothing to each other,” “I was stupid for misunderstanding,” and “That bad bastard.”
A’s precarious livestream, which took place while she was heavily intoxicated, was cut off when an acquaintance hurried to her home. However, a short clip that appeared to have been recorded and leaked by someone quickly spread through social media.
S Group has distanced itself from the controversy, saying it is “unaware of the matter,” but there are predictions that the incident may have a considerable impact on a major project currently being pursued by the group.
Netizens have responded with comments such as, “At this point, it’s a mental illness,” “Everyone knows who it is, so why even use initials?” and “She only had eight people on that private account, so who leaked it? Cut them all off,” raising the level of criticism toward Mr. C.
Cha Sejin lowered only his gaze to check the tablet screen his father had turned toward him. From the headline to the article itself, and even the comments visible below, it was all an utter spectacle.
Honestly, he was a little dumbfounded. They had both been horny and slept together once or twice. The person who mistook that for the love of the century was the one at fault, so why did he have to hear this kind of nonsense? He couldn’t understand it.
But now was not the time to argue over whether he understood or not. Thanks to Han Serin putting on the performance of the century while drunk, on her private account of all places, and through a livestream on top of that, he had ended up in a very difficult situation.
“Cha Sejin.”
His parents, who had let the previous five scandals pass by saying it was his private life and such things could happen, were no longer smiling. His surname, which they rarely attached to his name unless the situation was serious, had been placed firmly in front of it. Their faces made it clear that they had no intention of putting up with him anymore.
Cha Sejin looked back and forth between his mother’s and father’s angry faces, then smiled with his eyes. Nine times out of ten, it was a cheat key that could melt away his parents’ anger.
“Will you fix your attitude? Do your mother and father look like we’re joking right now?”
Having drawn the one time out of ten, Cha Sejin straightened his back. The contents were not all that different from the previous five scandals, so honestly, he did not really understand why his parents were angrier than usual.
“There’s a limit to how much we can understand and let pass because it’s your private life. If your mother and father are trying to understand you, then you should at least pretend to restrain yourself.”
“I’m sorry I made things noisy. But even so, I can’t love everyone I sleep with. We weren’t meeting because we liked each other to begin with.”
“She said she met you because she liked you.”
“That’s her business. I didn’t. Just because she likes me doesn’t mean I have to like her too. She said it was fine as long as we met without caring about that kind of thing, and then when I said I had no intention of dating, she suddenly turned me into trash. Isn’t that the weird part? No, Mom, Dad. What did I even do so wrong?”
His parents, looking at Cha Sejin’s sincerely wronged expression, sighed at the same time. Among their three children, they truly had no idea what to do with this particularly conspicuous second son. Neither the eldest nor the youngest lived this promiscuously or lightly, so they could not even guess how only he had turned out this way.
It was not as though they had neglected his education. They had not raised him alone with excessive indulgence, either. They had truly made him do everything the others did, disciplined him strictly where discipline was needed, and yet he alone had very visibly strayed beyond the line.
“Still, this isn’t right. It’s not as though this has only happened once or twice, and we’ve overlooked it more than enough. How long are you going to keep living like this?”
“Can’t I just… live like this?”
“What?”
“I mean, people say that after sleeping together a few times, they start liking each other and all that, but I don’t. I don’t start liking them. I just get so bored, and it stops being fun.”
“…Even when we speak nicely, you still don’t come to your senses.”
Listening to Cha Sejin, his father closed his eyes tightly and opened them again as if there were no answer. Then he continued in a stricter voice.
“If you’re going to keep living that way, go abroad and never come back. Don’t contact us, either.”
Ah, Dad’s coming on strong.
At the words telling him to go abroad, Cha Sejin flinched a little.
He had plenty of money and had learned plenty of things. No matter where he went, he could communicate in the local language, and from experience, he knew that his handsome face and superior physique would be welcomed anywhere in the world, so it was not a difficult matter. But going because he wanted to and being kicked out were completely different situations.
“Or get married and settle down, like Jaehyuk.”
As his mind spun quickly, wondering how to persuade and soothe his parents, the word “marriage” lodged itself in his head. Cha Sejin lifted his gaze from the tablet and looked back and forth between his father and mother.
“Jaehyuk? Ki Jaehyuk?”
“Yes. When we were invited to Chairman Ki’s house for dinner the day before yesterday, Jaehyuk had changed so much I could barely recognize him. The boy who was just like you before marriage has become very solid and dependable.”
Cha Sejin pressed down the nausea that rose as he pictured the Ki Jaehyuk his father was describing. That bastard, who had played around even more filthily and caused even more chaos than he had, had suddenly started acting like he had come to his senses after his arranged marriage. He pretended to be a sweet husband, pretended to be a father who had never played around, and went around lecturing people. Sejin had been so annoyed by it that he had already cut him off a year ago.
Unlike Sejin’s expectation that Jaehyuk would be unable to abandon his old habits and come running back out after a month, Ki Jaehyuk had not shown up to a single drinking party for the entire year. Even when they happened to meet at formal social gatherings, he looked at Sejin and his friends as if asking whether they were still living like that, which made him thoroughly obnoxious.
“Choose.”
Cha Sejin looked in turn at his parents’ faces, which showed that this time, they had absolutely no intention of letting him off. Then, as if there were nothing difficult about it, he lightly shrugged.
“I’ll get married.”
The ones who were instead flustered by that light and easy answer were his parents. They had thrown out such an extreme option thinking that, in order to avoid it, he might at least pretend to restrain himself. Yet he said he would get married without even the slightest hesitation. They could not help being shocked.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
“About what? Marriage?”
“Yes. It’s like fate, isn’t it? Arranged marriages in chaebol families. After watching my older brother do it, I figured this moment would come for me someday too.”
“Sejin, we’re not joking. And your older brother’s case is different. He chose it himself because he needed it.”
“I’m not joking either, Mom. I don’t care who I marry. It’s not like I’ll ever like someone enough to marry them. If that’s the case, wouldn’t it be better for it to at least help the company?”
They had never intended to make him enter a loveless marriage in the first place. Arranged marriages might be common among chaebol families, but they were not absolutely required. However, their eldest had chosen his own partner and brought that person to them, saying that in order to do the work he wanted and reach his goals, an arranged marriage seemed necessary. And now, even their second son—who was not merely free-spirited but had gone far beyond any acceptable limit—was casually talking about having an arranged marriage as though it were nothing. The two brothers were so different, and yet somehow the conclusion was exactly the same. It was absurd.
They wanted to scold him sharply and tell him that not just anyone could enter an arranged marriage, that the more strategic the marriage, the more there was to consider and the more important the conditions became, that no one would want to marry someone with rumors as dirty as his, and that marriage was not something he should speak of so lightly. They wanted to make it as though the whole thing had never been said. But if they did that, they would only return to the starting point.
The seventh scandal, the eighth… the tenth, the twentieth. When they imagined the scandals that would continue without end, they felt they could no longer leave their son alone when he treated everything so lightly, to the point that even “marriage” itself meant so little to him.
This time, they had no choice but to teach him how frightening carelessly spoken words could be, and how much responsibility they carried.
“Fine. Then we’ll look into a partner. No saying something different later.”
“Okay. Oh, but Mom.”
Yes, of course. Even so, marriage was such an important matter in life that there was no way he could decide it so easily, like a joke. As his parents waited, thinking their son would finally have a normal reaction, Cha Sejin smiled brightly.
“I care a lot about faces. If they’re ugly, I’m not marrying them.”
With that beautiful smile that always made their hearts soften no matter what kind of trouble he caused, and with words so light they were almost weightless, Cha Sejin ultimately left his parents speechless.
He was their son, but truly… there was no answer for him.