Since Friday night, he had put his phone on silent and hadn’t checked messages at all, so it was about time to check the notifications.
It was the weekend and he’d said he was getting married, so he could ignore work contacts, but there would likely be quite a few other messages.
Regretting that he hadn’t separated his work phone, he checked the notification screen, and sure enough:
[Uncle] Did Cha Jaehyuk hear your alarm sound?
It was a typical message from his uncle, who knew well that his wake-up time was a nightmare for people living in the same house.
Thinking his uncle probably lost sleep worrying about it, he quickly sent a reply:
‘I almost got dragged to the hospital.’
After sending that message, he saw the next one was from Yongwoo.
[Heo Yongwoo] Did you enjoy your wedding night?
To that message, he naturally replied “shut up” and moved on to the next to find several missed calls.
There were no missed calls from acquaintances or close friends, probably knowing he was busy, but instead several unknown numbers had been calling him repeatedly.
Having a good idea who they might be, he blocked them immediately and moved on to find a bunch of useless messages.
After deleting all those messages filled with nothing but curiosity without malice but lacking any substance, he was about to check his email when the phone on his desk rang.
But he didn’t want to answer it.
Not once in his life had a phone call on Monday morning brought good news.
But since it wasn’t the main company number but a direct call to him, he couldn’t ignore it and reluctantly picked up the receiver.
“Hello, NX Planning, Associate Manager Lee Junghyun speaking.”
– This is Yu Jiwon, head of the secretarial team for CEO Cha Jinwoo of Hanju Chemical.
Indeed, he shouldn’t have answered a Monday morning call.
It came sooner than expected, but inevitably it had arrived, and Junghyun calmly accepted the reality.
Since unknown numbers had been calling his cell phone repeatedly last week, all of which he’d blocked, they’d now called his company directly.
Having roughly anticipated this, he wasn’t particularly surprised.
But annoying was still annoying.
“Yes. Please go ahead.”
– The CEO would like to meet you briefly. I’ll come to pick you up this evening.
Not “Is the time convenient?” or “When can you meet?” but simply informing him of a decision already made—very typical of Jaehyuk’s bloodline.
An attitude that didn’t even consider the possibility of refusal seemed to be a genetic trait of that family.
“Thank you for your message, but I don’t have time, and I haven’t even been able to pay my respects to the elders yet. It doesn’t seem proper to meet the uncle before the mother or grandfather. I think it would be better to meet next time with the family. Goodbye.”
After saying that, he hung up unilaterally without waiting for a response and quickly picked up his cell phone to send a message.
‘Hanju Chemical making contact. Rejected for now. Please handle it.’
After sending the brief message to Jaehyuk as if it were a work communication, he waited a moment before his screen lit up with a silent call.
The caller was, predictably, ‘Mountain Ginseng’ [Jaehyuk’s contact name].
Although it was office hours, the flexible work system meant the office was nearly empty. However, since there were still some people who had arrived on time, he hurriedly picked up his phone and stood up.
“Yes.”
– Uncle?
“Precisely his secretary. Asked to have dinner together, but I declined.”
With coffee in one hand, Junghyun went to the conference room inside the office, locked the door, and sat down in a chair.
Then, drinking his coffee while waiting for Jaehyuk’s response, a somewhat irritated voice came through.
– That was faster than expected.
“Is there some will that grants shares or succession rights to the first person who gets married?”
– What kind of idiot would determine a successor that way?
“In novels and comics.”
– That’s your world. The successor has already been decided.
“Then why is your uncle doing this?”
– It’s his last-ditch effort.
“But why is he contacting me like this?”
– Initially, it was probably to assess you, but now it’s just out of frustration. Because you’ve been blocking all their contacts.
Like a battle between spear and shield, Jaehyuk was convinced that his uncle was now simply acting out of frustration at Junghyun’s defense that reflected every incoming attack.
Junghyun understood this perfectly.
Since this sort of thing happened often, he wasn’t surprised.
“Then I’ll continue to deflect whatever comes my way.”
– Good. I’ll tell you the details tonight.
“Okay, then.”
– And send messages occasionally like you just did. We need to pretend to be newlyweds.
“It’s annoying…”
He was about to say that, but realized they definitely needed to maintain the newlywed facade, so he changed his words.
“I’ll send scheduled messages.”
– Whatever works.
“See you later then.”
Junghyun ended the call briefly, then sat in his chair and stretched thoroughly.
Then, yawning widely, he left the conference room, returned to his desk, and turned on his laptop.
The busy work was done, and the next project hadn’t started yet, so it was a relatively relaxed period.
Usually, he wouldn’t come to work during times like this, but today he did because Jaehyuk had to go to work.
Going to work together looked better to others, and it also bought some time to avoid the problematic spy who had inevitably visited this morning.
Honestly, everything had happened so quickly that the marriage didn’t feel real yet, but reality was unfolding before his eyes, and since he’d caused trouble, he needed to clean it up.
So with his laptop open, he immediately started searching:
‘How to make fake semen.’
* * *
After ending the call with Junghyun, Jaehyuk clicked his tongue slightly in annoyance.
His uncle’s actions weren’t surprising as they were expected, but he hadn’t anticipated such quick movement.
He must have been quite offended.
Upon that thought, Jaehyuk smiled with a peculiar expression.
Junghyun was definitely exceeding expectations. As he described himself, a “human AI,” he was precise about what to accept and reject, and clear about what was unacceptable.
Honestly, with such an eccentric personality, his character was questionable to the point of wondering how he managed social life, but for Jaehyuk right now, he couldn’t have found a better partner.
Normally, when a partner’s uncle contacts someone that way, they would at least meet out of courtesy.
Imagining Junghyun hanging up the phone after speaking one-sidedly without even listening to a response made him laugh.
The secretary would have been the one suffering, but Junghyun would be the only one treating the Hanju Chemical CEO’s call like a voice phishing scam.
Thanks to Junghyun’s unusual personality, everything was going more smoothly than expected.
Yes, too smoothly. Almost worryingly easy.
He had anticipated things would move quickly since his grandfather had approved, but just to be safe, he had already filed for marriage registration, which prevented anyone from raising objections.
Or rather, they had no choice.
By skipping many processes and proceeding with the work dramatically, there was no one who could object. More precisely, there was no time to object.
Having already registered the marriage, any opposition would just cause internal strife since they wouldn’t divorce right after getting married.
Honestly, even Jaehyuk had worried a bit about whether this rushed process was appropriate, but those concerns were unfounded. After getting it done, it felt like clearing a stack of quests in one go.
It was truly a haphazardly handled affair, but the results were quite satisfactory.
Although mornings were a bit difficult…
“…Tired.”
He should have been refreshed after a long sleep yesterday, but he felt exhausted.
To be honest, he hadn’t felt tired until he opened his eyes.
The fatigue came from the intensity of the disaster alert sound and the energy drained from talking with that guy.
There were many things to organize going forward, but right now, the most important thing for Jaehyuk was correcting Junghyun’s sleeping habits.
It was a matter of survival.
The thought prompted a sigh.
“…I picked up something really strange,” he said.
* * *
In the lazy afternoon, having arrived at work early, Junghyun left the office early and headed straight to Jaehyuk’s house without stopping anywhere else.
Having left his car behind, he took the subway, got off at the nearby station, bought an iced Americano, and walked with a light step for once, basking in the luxurious sunlight.
This was Junghyun’s third visit to that house.
The first time was three days ago to move his belongings, the second was last night, and today was the third.
But the previous two times, he had arrived at night by car, following the navigation into the parking lot, so this was his first time walking there.
Taking the opportunity to familiarize himself with the area, he walked leisurely, noting the surrounding buildings and geography. As he entered the complex and stood in front of the building entrance, he hesitated before pressing the doorbell.
Although there was someone inside so he could ring the bell, it didn’t seem right.
Should he enter the passcode or ring the bell?
It might seem trivial, but this question was quite important.
Mentally.
It was the difference between recognizing this house as his own or as a place where he was a guest.
So he immediately took out his phone and sent a message.
‘Tell me the apartment passcode.’
After sending the text and waiting a moment, once again the phone rang.
This person really likes phone calls.
“Yes.”
– Home?
“Yes. I’m in front of the building.”
– 1201.
With the quick answer including the unit number, he immediately entered the passcode, and the entrance door opened.
Unlike outside, the corridor was somewhat chilly without sunlight. As he entered and headed straight for the elevator, Jaehyuk continued with instructions.
– We left in a hurry this morning, so go in and greet Director Lee.
“…Director?”
– The person who takes care of the house. Director Jang.
Having heard that person had worked in the house for a long time, it seems they held a director-level position.
He understood that.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
