Seojin, who had been helping Euni spear the fresh strawberries served for dessert with her fork, suddenly tilted his head.
‘Why is he taking so long?’
Shin Seyoung had said he would step away for a moment, but it had been quite a while since he should have returned, and there was still no sign of him.
“Daaad, Euni wants cake too!”
“Okay, Euni.”
Seojin, who had been glancing toward the hallway, snapped back to attention at Euni’s voice and turned his head. He fed her a bite of the fluffy cake she was having trouble picking up herself, then looked again in the direction Shin Seyoung had disappeared.
Seojin’s eyes suddenly widened.
Shin Seyoung had appeared in the hallway at just that moment, and he had an unexpected companion with him.
‘Choi Moonhyeok?’
How did he end up with the main top?
‘As expected, the main couple really is destined to meet one way or another.’
Seojin marveled at the narrative force that had finally brought the two of them together as if by fate. Just then, Shin Seyoung turned his gaze this way, met Seojin’s eyes, and immediately brightened.
He seemed to exchange a few words with Choi Moonhyeok, then gave an awkward little nod before hurrying back toward Seojin’s table.
“Daaad, Euni’s strawberry keeps running away!”
At the adorable complaint, Seojin turned and helped her spear the strawberry with her fork.
“Who was that person just now? Someone you know?”
He asked while pretending not to know.
“Ah, well. Apparently he’s someone from the gallery where I worked that substitute shift a few days ago. I was so out of it when I left that I didn’t even properly gather my things, but a senior from school passed them along for me.”
“Ahh, that time.”
Seojin nodded as he remembered what had happened then. It certainly had been the sort of situation where Seyoung wouldn’t have had the presence of mind to collect his belongings. Seojin himself had practically lost his mind when the main couple and the sub top all ended up in the same place during Shin Seyoung’s heat cycle.
“But he said I left something behind and told me to come pick it up. He also said I should come settle the pay for that shift.”
At Shin Seyoung’s next words, Seojin blinked. The corners of his lips curled slightly as he glanced toward where Choi Moonhyeok had disappeared.
‘The belongings and the pay are obviously just excuses, Seyoung. Anyone can see he’s trying to come up with a reason to meet you.’
Seojin, who instantly recognized the main top’s flirting, inwardly cheered.
Whatever the circumstances, the main couple were meeting just fine on their own, so this was good news!
‘Good. Tomorrow I’ll ask Manager Kim how things are going with those thugs who came to Seyoung’s house and ask him to take care of the rest. Then I’ll have done everything I need to do.’
To be honest, it wasn’t even something he should have gotten this involved in to begin with.
Still, now that Shin Seyoung had met the main top again, Seojin calculated that there probably wouldn’t be any problem even if Seyoung went back home.
“Seyoung, I was sick for a few days, so I wasn’t able to properly look into those thugs who came to your house. As soon as I get to work tomorrow, I’ll make sure to investigate that first.”
Perhaps because a weight had been lifted from his mind, his voice sounded much more cheerful as well.
“Hyung, thank you. Seriously, you’re the best person I’ve ever met.”
Shin Seyoung’s moved expression seemed packed full of sincerity. His moist eyes, slightly trembling lips, and softly raised cheeks.
Was he looking especially radiant because of the lighting, or because of the main-bottom filter?
Feeling burdened, Seojin gave an awkward smile and subtly averted his gaze.
‘No, Seyoung. When you say things like that, my conscience starts hurting a little.’
He had struggled desperately to avoid getting involved with the protagonists, only for the situation to twist and twist until it ended up like this.
Now he was only stepping in because he wanted to put things back where they belonged, yet Seyoung was looking at him with such complete trust that it was embarrassing to meet his eyes.
‘Anyway, it would be nice if I could use this chance to cut off my connection with the main couple too.’
Seojin thought as he popped another bite of cake into Euni’s tiny mouth.
* * *
The next day, as soon as Seojin arrived at work, he asked Manager Kim to look into the thugs who had gone to Shin Seyoung’s house.
“Actually, I already looked into it a little myself.”
“Yes.”
“For starters, it’s true that Shin Seyoung’s father is in debt.”
“Debt?”
“Yeah. Apparently he borrowed several hundred million won under the pretext of funding a business. Supposedly he also said his youngest child was sick and hospitalized, so he needed money for hospital bills too.”
Manager Kim clicked his tongue as if something about it displeased him. His lips twitched a few times as well, like there was more he wanted to say but he was debating whether he should.
‘Looks like he heard that bastard of a father put Seyoung’s secondary gender up as collateral too.’
Seojin had no trouble figuring out the part Manager Kim couldn’t bring himself to say.
‘The direction of the plot has gotten twisted somehow, but they still met at the restaurant, and now there’s this whole private-loan situation too. Looks like the buildup for the main couple’s storyline is progressing smoothly enough.’
After calmly organizing his thoughts, Seojin spoke.
“Then there’s a good chance they’ll keep approaching Seyoung for the time being.”
“They’re the kind of bastards who’ll use any means necessary to get their money back, so yeah, that could happen.”
“Then, could I formally hire the office for a job?”
“Huh? Hire us? For what?”
“I can’t exactly let Seyoung keep staying at my house forever. So could you take care of it and make sure they can’t come near him?”
Seojin brought it up because he figured Manager Kim could easily find someone capable of protecting Shin Seyoung.
“Well, sure, that wouldn’t be difficult, but……. Why are you the one hiring us, Seojin?”
“It’s Shin Seyoung, after all.”
“Ah! Aah… Ohhh, right. That’s true.”
When Seojin reminded him exactly who Shin Seyoung was, Manager Kim seemed to catch on and snapped his fingers.
“That’s right. We can’t let anything troublesome happen to the omega the boss is interested in. Of course not. Got it. Don’t worry, Seojin. I’ll make sure those bastards can’t get within even two meters of him.”
Seojin looked at him with satisfaction as Manager Kim confidently made his declaration.
Who would have thought Manager Kim’s misunderstanding would produce such a useful result?
At this point, it was fair to say he had wrapped things up nicely.
“And Manager Kim, something personal came up, so I think I’m going to have to quit the company.”
“Huuuh?”
Manager Kim, who had been noisily rolling a lollipop around inside his mouth while rapidly tapping away at his phone keyboard, froze completely.
He looked at Seojin’s resolute expression, pulled the candy from his mouth, and clenched it tightly in his hand.
“S-Seojin, what’s wrong? We’ve been getting along just fine all this time. Did something happen with the boss? Did he bully you or something?”
“What? No. Why would the boss bully me? It’s not anything like that.”
As Seojin shook his head vigorously, Manager Kim looked ready to cry.
“That’s what everyone says at first. They all say they’re the ones who weren’t good enough, that it’s because of personal circumstances, that it’s because of health problems. But whenever I checked afterward, the boss was always the cause!”
This was why experience was terrifying.
He had given what he thought was the safest, most ordinary excuse, only for the entire tragic history of Haegang’s previous secretaries to immediately start spilling out.
“You two ate together while I wasn’t there, and all sorts of things have happened between you since then. Especially that time at JS Gallery!! Something happened between you two there, didn’t it? Right? I knew it!”
“No, it’s not that…….”
“Fine, whatever it was, I understand. If being around the boss makes you uncomfortable, I can switch you to working from home. How about that?”
Seojin gave an awkward smile at Manager Kim’s gentle attempt to coax him.
Apparently understanding what that smile meant, Manager Kim’s shoulders drooped.
“Haa… So that won’t work either. Yeah, okay. If that’s your decision, then I guess there’s nothing I can do.”
“You’ve treated me so well all this time, so I’m sorry to quit like this.”
“Seojin, don’t talk like you’re planning to cut off all contact after you leave.”
Manager Kim pouted, then suddenly looked at him with suspicion.
“You’re not going to stop answering me, are you? Hm?”
His desperate expression seemed to say, You can’t do that.
Seojin nodded.
“Of course not. If you contact me, I’ll definitely answer. You have to tell me how things turn out with Seyoung, after all.”
“Ahh! Right! Of course. The job! We’ve got that!”
After that, of course, Seojin planned to gradually put some distance between them.
‘Manager Kim is a good person, I know that. But he’s also a connection between the main couple and the sub top, so there’s no helping it.’
For Manager Kim, who had no idea what he was thinking and was letting out a relieved sigh, Seojin added,
“You can deduct the fee for the job from the salary I’m supposed to receive.”
It seemed like the right thing to do for the sake of his conscience.
It was also laying the groundwork to cut off any potential source of trouble later.
“Huh? No, no. It’s fine. You don’t have to pay for it, Seojin.”
“But I’m quitting halfway through. At least let me do that much.”
Manager Kim waved the hand holding the lollipop wildly.
“That’s separate from this. Shin Seyoung’s situation is different. This is for the boss’s love life, so obviously it’s company business. Don’t worry about it!”
Well.
Seojin wasn’t so sure Yoon Haegang would agree.
He watched Manager Kim’s eyes sparkle as if to say he should leave everything to him, then simply smiled again.
‘Yeah, whatever. What happens afterward isn’t my problem. It’s not like I’ll have any reason to get directly involved anymore.’