Choice of Choices 100

Chapter 100

“You’re the one who’s crazy, Lee Han. Since you’re blinded by emotional games, how could you make normal judgments right now?”

Yujun glared at him with blazing eyes. He added his fist that had been raised in the air and gripped Yujun’s collar even tighter.

“Apologize to him. You have no right to act like that. That’s also disrespecting me. My judgment, my time, my choice. You ignored all of that.”

I got up and walked toward him. I wiped my face, trying to compose myself. I felt like a prisoner helplessly caught in an unexpected typhoon.

His thigh muscles were taut with tension as if they would tear his pants. It wasn’t the hand gripping the collar, but his thigh that kept squeezing Yujun’s side harder and harder that was the real weapon.

Since the two were close friends, they probably wouldn’t seriously injure each other… but there was nothing good about this standoff continuing.

I approached and placed my hand on his shoulder. His body temperature felt hot through his shirt.

“……”

He looked up at me. His eyes, which had been glinting with madness beyond the normal range, softened as if pleading gently. Nothing had changed from the twenty-year-old him.

“Stop…”

I bent down and pulled his arm that was tensely rigid with muscle.

“Even if you apologize, I don’t think I could accept it… so forget it. Get up now. Okay?”

He, who had been silent with his chest and shoulders heaving greatly, looked down at Yujun. Then he let go of the collar as if throwing it away and lifted his hips that had been pressing on his abdomen.

As soon as a gap formed, Yujun roughly flipped his body and escaped from between his legs. Tearing at the collar area of his shirt where he’d been grabbed, Yujun didn’t give up and bared his teeth.

“That man lied with shallow excuses to get rid of you! And in front of you, he gave noble reasons. Isn’t that disgusting?”

“It’s just rumors.”

He responded dryly.

“You know what route the information came through, and you’re saying it’s just rumors? Was my information network that unreliable? Lee Hancheoeum. That’s why you’re being emotional right now.”

The two men stood about seven steps apart, still growling at each other. The air was full of aggressive tension as if they would rush at each other again at any moment. I wrapped both arms around his left arm and hugged it completely.

“Since you don’t know that I know… that’s why you told such lies! What? Meeting a chaebol family member is burdensome… and you don’t want rumors about being sponsored?”

The man’s contemptuous gaze turned toward me once again. Since neither of them seemed to have any intention of ending this war of attrition, this time I asked.

“So. What exactly do you keep claiming to know? Stop beating around the bush and let it all out.”

Yujun curled up the corners of his mouth and sneered.

“Yoon Juho is your sponsor.”

“……”

“Appearing in two consecutive projects together wasn’t a coincidence either, was it? What did you do for him to get you into a project like <Eternal Night>? You must be… more impressive than you look.”

My curiosity was satisfied.

The suspicions scattered here and there were clearly woven into one by that statement. The before, after, and cause-and-effect became clear.

This time he grabbed my arm and pulled.

“You don’t need to listen to this. Let’s go.”

I looked up at his face. He kept his mouth firmly shut and was avoiding my eyes.

Yujun picked up a glass from the table and drank the remaining alcohol like water.

“With Yoon Juho’s level of influence, even between fellow actors, sponsorship would be worth it. But I still don’t understand. How did you choose Yoon Juho instead of Lee Han after weighing your options? You’re not just shameless but also dull at calculations.”

Though I was pushed toward the dining table, Yujun’s words were catching and pulling me like a fishing hook properly stuck in my gills.

“Or was the sexual compatibility better with him? You look clean but you’re quite promiscuous down below…!”

There was no time to stop him.

He, who had been in front of the dining table, instantly launched his body and drove his right foot into Yujun’s abdomen. Yujun’s large frame crashed down and the sofa was pushed back about a meter.

He grabbed the collar of Yujun sprawled on the sofa, pulled him up, and shouted as if he couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Why are you going this far! Are you determined to drive me crazy?”

This time Yujun roughly pulled off his arm.

“You’re already crazy! You’re treating that person like some saint while closing your eyes and ears to all information. How can I leave you alone when you’re not in your right mind?”

“I’m not treating him like a saint—even if those rumors were true, it wouldn’t matter.”

“If that’s the case, you’re even more out of your mind. That man didn’t wait for a reunion like you did, and when you happened to meet again, he just got a little nostalgic! Then he went back to the master he was originally chasing! Don’t you get it?”

I lost even the desire to intervene and stop them. I was almost laughing bitterly at the situation flowing in an unexpected direction.

Yoon Juho was my sponsor, and I had gotten roles in exchange for sleeping with Yoon Juho… such rumors were circulating somewhere. No, could it really be just rumors?

Was there really no connection between the fact that Yoon Juho and I had slept together and the fact that we were appearing in the same project again?

Before thinking about where the rumors originated or who spread them and why, I was suffocated by dishonorable uneasiness.

“I was the one who wanted your anachronistic love to work out more than anyone. But… the other side is more realistic, that’s true. The result of you not allowing anyone close and being lonely is just this. Lee Han.”

“I did it because I liked it on my own. Why should that become this person’s responsibility?”

“You said you’d give up interest in the European business division because of that person too! Did I follow you all the way to Korea to see this?”

He lowered his head, avoiding Yujun’s gaze. Then he nervously ran his fingers through his hair. He spoke in a low, grinding voice.

“Please just shut up. No matter how blinded by love I am, I won’t become like your mother. Stop being interested in my affairs.”

“……”

As if those words were a stronger attack than being kicked in the abdomen, Yujun looked like he’d taken a fatal blow, stopping his breath.

Turning away from such Yujun, he approached me with quick steps.

“Let’s go.”

Trying to suppress his roughly raised voice, he pushed my back.

Coming out of the tent, the outside air was as welcome as if I were a prisoner released after years of imprisonment.

He fumblingly searched for and grasped my hand.

Following the low lighting fixtures installed at waist height, he led me down a narrow, winding gravel path. Except for the crunching sound of stepping on stones, we had nothing to say to each other.

The heightened excitement was still wrapped around his body. Though I couldn’t know the detailed circumstances, I could tell he regretted the last words he had thrown at Yujun. Lost in some deep thought, he kept his lips firmly shut and applied strong force to the grip holding my hand. It was force that seemed like it would crush me, but I didn’t shake him off.

The path, made charming with gravel and flowers planted around it, connected to the glamping village suite room.

Lights were brightly lit inside and outside the tent. Light bulbs that might be used for Christmas tree decorations adorned the area around the tent entrance.

On the wide deck, an ethanol heater was burning instead of a campfire. If not for grilling barbecue or cooking, it was sufficient for creating atmosphere while watching the flames.

Across from the path we had come down, a buggy was parked at the entrance to the suite room. It seemed like he had driven it himself.

Since the person who had clearly left the penthouse first was nowhere to be seen and didn’t appear even after waiting, he must have started searching urgently…

Something hot surged and boiled up in my chest. I swallowed down that lump trying to rise to my throat.

To avoid the heat while appreciating the flames, a comfortable two-person sofa was prepared at some distance from the stove. Champagne was being kept cold in an ice bucket. It clearly seemed prepared for us.

I pulled back his hand as he tried to pass those things and enter the tent. I didn’t want to go inside right now.

“Let’s just stay here.”

After carefully looking at various parts of my face for a moment, he nodded and soon turned his body around.

Even after sitting side by side on the sofa, he didn’t let go of my hand. Turning his body completely toward me, he lifted my chin slightly with his other hand.

“Let me see your neck for a moment. That crazy bastard… I should have beaten him more.”

“It’s fine. There probably aren’t any marks left. He was trying to subdue me, not really harm me. He was a professional, after all.”

But he didn’t lose his displeased expression. His hand touched various parts of my neck. Just touching, but my skin hurt. Not because of pain, but because I was oversensitive to his touch.

I gently pulled down his wrist that was touching my neck. Then I lifted his other hand that was still gripping tightly enough to cut off circulation to chest height.

“My hand… hurts.”

“Ah…”

As if he hadn’t been conscious of the fact that he was gripping it, he let go in surprise. But soon he overlapped his hand again. This time gently, as if covering the back of my hand.

I could no longer find any kind of anger in the eyes looking at me. His defenseless eyes, vulnerable enough to seem weak, didn’t hide the fear he felt in front of me.

“I’m sorry. You heard a lot of harsh words, didn’t you?”

“……”

The impact was great. But that wasn’t because of the words full of malice that Yujun had thrown at me with the intention of hurting me.

It was a rumor about me, but a story even I was hearing for the first time.

“It’s not true.”

Not knowing where and how to start clearing up the misunderstanding, that was all my protest amounted to.

His serious eyes looked into mine and nodded.

“I thought it wouldn’t be true, and I didn’t believe it either. And if hyung says it’s not true, then it’s not true for me either.”

Children’s laughter could be heard faintly from the lower area where the regular tents were gathered.

He traced my upper lip with his gaze. While he had touched my flesh when he was frantic earlier, now he was being careful.

“Your lip is almost healed.”

“It wasn’t anything serious.”