# Chapter 25
Is this bastard serious? As Seowoo opened his eyes widely and glared with a gaze full of wariness, Dohyun playfully raised the corners of his mouth.
“Seeing you light a fire in your eyes like you’re going to throw me in jail whenever I make these jokes, I can see how virtuous our actor thinks I am.”
“For a gangster, this level of treatment is fairly moderate.”
“Has Han Seowoo always been this fearless?”
At that moment, Seowoo’s eyebrows arched upward. Dohyun casually waved his hand as if he had no particular intention.
“I’m not trying to tease you, but I’ve thought that since I first saw you. I told you, right? That you’ve got guts.”
“When you could die at any moment, you have to do something. What, should I just offer my neck and tell you to kill me? Who in the world would do that?”
“Usually, if people think they’re in danger, they’d beg for their lives. They wouldn’t kick or hit me.”
The memory of their first meeting replayed vividly in Seowoo’s mind. Dohyun’s intense gaze that seemed ready to devour him, and the moment Seowoo barely managed to push away the body trying to overpower him with strength and escape.
It was definitely not the kind of meeting where they would end up sitting across from each other having a meal. Seowoo narrowed his brow as he pushed another piece of meat into his mouth, but as tension suddenly filled the air, he could barely taste the expensive meat.
“At first, with your image and all, I thought you were just some hot-headed nutcase.”
“What, nutcase?”
The word was delivered so freshly that it almost sounded like a compliment. When Seowoo glared with force in his eyes, Dohyun grinned and leaned his upper body closer, resting his arms on the table.
“You definitely still have a temper though.”
“Are you insulting me to my face right now?”
“Is saying you have a temper an insult? In my neighborhood, it’s hard to survive without one.”
“You sure have a pretty way of saying I have a bad personality.”
The tension that had briefly risen naturally subsided with Dohyun’s nonsense. Seowoo let out a low sigh as if bursting and continued to cut the meat with his knife.
Dohyun stared intently at Seowoo’s hand movements, which had become somewhat more violent as if he was losing his temper, then slowly raised his head to meet his eyes.
“Having a temper and having a bad personality are quite different.”
“They’re the same thing, aren’t they? Do you take me for a fool?”
“You can have a temper but still be a softie inside.”
His eyes weren’t smiling, only his lips were drawn into a smile. It was Dohyun’s habit. Every time Seowoo faced him, it felt as if those quiet eyes were somehow trapping his ankles, which was unpleasant.
Nevertheless, Seowoo’s gaze, which stared back as if unwilling to be intimidated, was filled with intense force.
“Fine. Even if you’ve scraped together all the information about me from various places and know everything, it doesn’t mean you can know what’s inside me.”
“I’m hurt. From family living under the same roof now.”
“Fa-mily… what nonsense you’re talking.”
There was obvious irritation in his voice as he chewed each word with his molars. Dohyun, seemingly unconcerned, simply wore a pleasant smile on his face.
“The way you say that really makes me want to explore what’s inside you.”
“Is that a declaration of war?”
“When one person has curiosity about another person, you take it as a declaration of war? Unless it’s a confession.”
Although his voice was certainly affectionate, his expression still seemed so lively for someone using such a heavy word as “confession” that it significantly dropped any credibility.
Seowoo visibly grimaced. As expected, this statement also seemed like just another joke. After briefly glaring at him with slightly narrowed eyes, his gaze shifted to the plate of meat.
“It won’t be easy.”
“The more difficult, the more grateful.”
Seowoo irritably moved his knife. As the rough movement caused oil to splash outside the plate, Dohyun took a napkin and handed it over.
A face smiling neatly as if without any ulterior motive or malice. Seowoo stared at that face before snatching the napkin in one swift movement.
After finishing the meal, which was heavy in one sense and light in another, Dohyun drove Seowoo back to the apartment. Normally, he would have followed Seowoo out and teased him, but strangely, he just looked at him through the lowered driver’s side window without any other action.
When Seowoo gave him a dubious side-glance, Dohyun smiled brightly as if he expected this.
“I have to work.”
“I didn’t ask.”
“You seemed curious.”
He looked relaxed, resting his arm on the window frame and supporting his chin on it while looking up leisurely. The way his eyes blinked slowly, as if he could see right through Seowoo, subtly grated on Seowoo’s nerves.
“Not at all, so don’t make assumptions.”
“Should I pretend that’s what I wanted to say?”
Dohyun showed an OK sign with his thumb and index finger, wearing a mischievous smile.
What OK? I just told you twice it’s not that. Despite the increasingly obvious stiffening of Seowoo’s face in rejection rather than laughter, Dohyun paid no attention and continued with what he wanted to say.
“Tomorrow at 1 o’clock, we’ll meet briefly with Director Kang.”
At these words, casually thrown as if they were part of the original schedule, Seowoo’s brow automatically narrowed.
“Tomorrow?”
I thought the meeting regarding Director Kang’s new work wasn’t tomorrow. Wasn’t the official meeting scheduled for next week?
When Seowoo unknowingly asked again with a surprised look, Dohyun opened his eyes round, as if the question itself was unexpected.
“Is something wrong?”
“Has the meeting schedule changed?”
“Director Kang said he wanted to see you, so I’m not sure if this counts as a change.”
In other words, it was more like a private meeting than an official one with everyone. Seowoo wasn’t close enough with Director Kang to meet privately, and there was no particular reason for it either.
When Seowoo twisted his expression in bewilderment, Dohyun waved his hand lightly as if telling him not to worry.
“Director Kang is concerned. If he wants to slightly push you away and then put you back as if nothing happened, that is. Everyone knows this industry runs on calculated interests, but there’s a difference between tacitly knowing and having it out in the open.”
“…Put me back?”
Dohyun’s long-winded speech wasn’t important. What stuck in Seowoo’s ear was the phrase “put back.”
Seowoo knew there had been some kind of deal between Director Kang and Dohyun. And that the rookie actor Jung Eungyu was involved.
However, no matter how much influence and manipulation were at play, Director Kang wouldn’t have increased Eungyu’s role without reason. And if the news had reached President Hwang and then Seowoo, the script revisions must have already been somewhat completed.
So did that mean they were overturning the revised script again? Why would they go through such trouble? Among the disorderly questions that arose, Seowoo blurted out the first one that came to mind.
“What happens to Jung Eungyu then?”
Dohyun slowly raised his eyebrows at the unexpected response. However, rather than taking it negatively, his eyes narrowed with a glint, as if expressing curiosity.
“I didn’t expect that question. I thought you’d be happy.”
“You must have already told him you’d give him a role. So if you’re taking it back after giving it, what happens to him?”
Seowoo couldn’t say such things were rare. No, they were actually quite common. Even Seowoo’s secure position had been jeopardized by Dohyun’s sudden manipulation.
If Seowoo, with his fairly established name, experienced this, what about rookie actors? Only fellow colleagues and seniors would understand the hardships that were too awkward to mention publicly.
Dohyun didn’t directly deny Seowoo’s words but let out a short exclamation and scratched his brow.
“Are you close with Eungyu?”
“If we were close, I would have called him before confronting you.”
“If you’re not close, do you have the luxury to worry about someone else’s bowl of rice? Is that what makes you a great actor?”
Seowoo’s eyebrows visibly contorted. Even casually listening, the tone was subtly sarcastic, making it difficult to take as a simple compliment. The implication seemed to be, “why are you bringing up someone else’s position when you’re not even close to them?”
From his position of power, it would be hard to understand. No, not only hard to understand, but even if he did understand, deliberately ignoring it would be their way of handling business.
If it were a company that carefully managed individual emotions, the rumors wouldn’t have spread badly in the first place. And if Seo Dohyun had that kind of temperament, it was questionable whether he would still be in a profession where violence and capital took precedence over law and morality.
“Whether we’re close or not, Jung Eungyu is someone in the same industry as me. Now he’s also part of the same company. Setting aside my personal feelings, what good comes from creating a situation that would make everyone embarrassed publicly?”
“That’s not an area for you to worry about.”
The voice with a hint of laughter was light enough to be mistaken for a joke at first glance, but the plain, cutting tone conveyed the implications of that sentence sufficiently.
“What did you say?”
Seowoo momentarily couldn’t hide the perplexed expression that appeared on his face and furrowed his brow. He simply couldn’t understand Dohyun’s attitude, which seemed to completely separate the public and private spheres.
Initially, it was Seowoo who tried to establish clear boundaries, and it was Dohyun who crossed the walls Seowoo had set up, talking nonsense about living together. To act as if Seowoo was overstepping just because he added a few words was absurd.
As Seowoo glared with an incredulous expression, Dohyun simply flashed a warm smile across his face.
“The agency exists to take care of any issues that might arise publicly. Would we let rumors reach the ears of our star? We are T&C after all.”
Dohyun shook his head. The movement seemed almost resolute. It could be read as a gesture that he would handle the matter definitively, but naturally, the more neatly he acted, the more heartless he appeared.
“So are you telling me to mind my own business?”
“Don’t waste unnecessary kindness on something that won’t come back… I guess it could sound like that.”
Isn’t that exactly what you meant? When Seowoo visibly scrunched his eyes, Dohyun rested his chin and smiled leisurely.
“There’s nothing to gain by investing too much emotion.”
“I didn’t bring up Eungyu to gain anything from you.”
It was a purely out of concern for Eungyu’s situation, and because he was worried about him. Where would there have been time to consider gains and losses?
Despite the sharp retort, Dohyun still didn’t bat an eye. His relaxed smile remained the same, but his eyes became straighter and lost their playfulness, as if only the temperature had dropped.
“What conversation doesn’t involve some give and take in this world? If you’ve never considered it before, maybe you should start to…”
Though it sounded like concern on the surface, it was clearly sarcastic in tone. Dohyun deliberately trailed off before pretending not to notice, withdrawing his gaze to look straight ahead and gripping the steering wheel properly.
“I’ll come back after finishing work. See you later.”
After what seemed like a brief eye greeting, the window closed and the car moved away with the sound of the engine.
Seowoo stood there stupidly as if he’d been hit on the back of his head, then shook his head a couple of times. Right, there was no need to be newly shocked by Seo Dohyun’s lack of humanity. He had become so accustomed to Dohyun’s rudely informal attitude that he kept forgetting what kind of man he really was.
I need to get my head straight. As he turned his body with a sigh, he felt several short vibrations in his pocket.
Who would contact me at this hour? With a puzzled look, he pulled out his phone and found that the sender was unexpectedly Woojae.
Jung Woojae:
Hyung, are you free now?
Can you talk?
Breaking news;; It’s about what you mentioned last time
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
