# Chapter 10
“…Are you saying you booked this room just to talk?”
“No. I didn’t book it, I just came in.”
What nonsense is that? I barely managed to hold back the curse words that almost burst out at his ridiculous argument.
Dohyun laid Seowoo’s body, which he had been supporting, down on the sofa and dusted off his hands. It couldn’t have been easy to support a full-grown adult man, but he didn’t show any sign of strain.
Dohyun glanced out into the hallway and closed the door. The faint music that had been audible was completely blocked out.
“Dragging someone to a place like this just to have some grand conversation…”
It was already hard enough to keep my balance because of the alcohol. Seowoo, who had been sprawled on the sofa, slowly sat up.
The sofa wasn’t just bed-sized but also so soft that his body unconsciously relaxed and went limp. For someone who had basically dragged a person here with half-threats, Dohyun just looked completely pleased with himself.
“You look like Sleeping Beauty.”
When Seowoo glared at him, Dohyun shrugged as if it was just a joke. This bastard was making pointless jokes even now. Meanwhile, Seowoo was feeling miserable because his body wouldn’t move the way he wanted it to.
Seowoo was definitely regretting his choices. He should have listened when Woojae tried to stop him from drinking so much. He should have realized from the moment he craved alcohol that things wouldn’t go smoothly today, but it was too late for regrets now. No use crying over spilled milk.
The alcohol he had gulped down was steadily taking effect as time passed. The feeling of his limbs slowly getting heavier was definitely not pleasant.
Dohyun seemed to see right through his condition as he smiled brightly.
“If it’s too difficult to move, you’re welcome to take a nap before leaving.”
At his kindly guiding tone, Seowoo’s expression became even more crumpled. Sleeping on a bar sofa and then leaving? It was something he had never even imagined doing. Seowoo frowned deeply in disgust.
“Who would sleep in a place like this?”
“I mentioned it because you looked like you couldn’t move. Or should I drive you home?”
As if watching an interesting scene from a drama unfold before him, Dohyun’s gaze was both attentive and clear. That look irritated Seowoo even more, making him not want to stay with Dohyun for any longer than necessary.
“More nonsense… Anyway, after we’re done, let me call Woojae. He said he’d take responsibility for me.”
“Call?”
“What? Why? Don’t you know what a phone is?”
Seowoo replied grumpily as he patted his pocket. It’s right here. Just as he was about to say that, he realized something was wrong. There was nothing there—it felt flat. Surprised, Seowoo opened his eyes wide and started checking his entire body, which made Dohyun laugh again.
“How could a drunk person be clear-headed enough to bring their phone?”
“Ha, I… fuck.”
This is crazy. Seowoo pressed his face with both hands, dry-washing his face. At the same time, Dohyun raised his eyebrows and looked at Seowoo with wide eyes instead of his usual smile. He looked quite surprised.
“You swear too?”
“What, I don’t? Why are you looking at me like you’ve seen a ghost?”
“I’ve never seen you do it before.”
“Are you just now realizing I’ve been showing you some basic courtesy? You have no manners or common sense?”
At that sharp retort, Dohyun silently twisted his lips upward. Since it wasn’t a question expecting an answer, Seowoo closed his eyes tightly, thinking, whatever.
He was trapped in a room with a gangster who could potentially blow his head off in one go. He’d left his phone on the table… Could there be a worse situation than this?
Barely shaking off the creeping anxiety, Seowoo tried his hardest to get his brain, which had stopped working from the alcohol, to function again.
The content of the contract was basically this: If the secret wasn’t leaked, Seowoo would live. If the secret was leaked, he might die. No, he would definitely die. That was a given fact.
And he happened to be caught by this man the moment he started to talk about it. So should this be considered leaking the secret? Or not?
Seowoo couldn’t shake the uneasy expression from his face as he stared at Dohyun with discomfort.
“How… how are you even here?”
Such a reaction didn’t seem to bother him at all. Dohyun picked up the bottle of alcohol on the table and opened it in one go, as if pretending not to notice.
“Seeing you ask such questions, you must be sobering up?”
“Are you going to keep messing with me? And is it okay to just open alcohol like that?”
“Why not? It’s mine anyway.”
Dohyun replied brazenly as he tilted the bottle. Watching the drink fill the glass with a crisp sound, Seowoo frowned.
Well, fine. If he pays for it, like he says, it’s his drink. Seowoo vowed not to contribute a single penny to whatever that man was blabbering about.
Dohyun calmly emptied a glass. Even though it was straight without any ice, Dohyun didn’t even blink.
He filled the glass again after it was emptied in an instant.
“Want a drink?”
Dohyun smiled leisurely as he held up the glass. Seeing him make small talk without even getting to the point, it didn’t seem like he had any intention of bringing up the main topic first. He was going to wait for Seowoo’s “words” till the end.
“Hey.”
Dohyun, who had been savoring the drink with the rim of the glass against his lips, glanced up at him.
“Has our relationship been reduced to boring terms like ‘hey,’ ‘excuse me,’ and ‘hello’?”
When Seowoo glared at him as if to say “stop talking nonsense,” Dohyun just raised the corner of his mouth in a smile and flicked his index finger, urging him to speak.
“Did you stalk me or something?”
“Me? Stalk Han Seowoo? I’m a CEO—would I put aside all my work to follow around some star all day?”
That’s interesting. The slow nodding of his head seemed to prove that it was definitely not the correct answer. Because Dohyun’s eyes were filled only with playful interest.
“Romeo and Juliet? Should I go to a star’s house and ask him to open his window?”
“…Do I look like I’m joking?”
“A little. Actors are a species with quite vivid imaginations. And Han Seowoo is particularly on the wild side.”
That’s your talent if anything. Although his blatant teasing made Seowoo’s insides boil, at the same time, his mind cooled down.
As he said, it didn’t make sense that he would move directly. But the fact that he could appear at this place, at this eerily perfect timing, and interrupt Seowoo’s words—wasn’t that impossible unless he had been constantly following Seowoo?
“…If not that, then how are you here?”
Relationships, personal life, passwords, and all sorts of personal information… Though he didn’t know exactly how much Dohyun knew, it was true that the data he had gathered occupied a large part of Seowoo’s life.
But if it was a method of obtaining already existing ‘information,’ Seowoo could easily infer what method was used. It was frightening but not surprising. However, to track Seowoo like this, with such perfect coincidence, wasn’t there only one way?
Without taking his eyes off Seowoo’s tense expression, as if examining it, Dohyun smiled widely with curved eyes. After emptying the second glass cleanly, Dohyun put the glass down completely on the table.
“I was here first.”
In an instant, it was a light voice that completely shattered the tension floating in the air.
Since he didn’t immediately understand the meaning of those words, Seowoo blinked several times.
“…What did you say?”
At the repeated question, Dohyun sat on the edge of the sofa, unable to suppress the laughter that leaked out.
“It’s my business establishment, so of course I’m here. Who else would be?”
“…”
“It hasn’t been open long, so I come to manage it often. I’d recognize a star’s face like yours from 100 meters away, and you have such a good, loud voice… Even if I wanted to pretend I didn’t know, I couldn’t.”
Dohyun held up the index fingers of both hands and intertwined them.
“We’re like this, this.”
He seemed to be referring to their contractual relationship. Seowoo fell silent for a moment as he tried to sort out the meaning of Dohyun’s words in his head.
Business establishment? Management? The words just floated around Dohyun’s face without properly settling in.
“…You’re saying this is your place?”
“To be precise, it’s more ours than mine? The actual owner is… well, it’s annoying to get into details, so let’s just say it’s mine? It’s bothersome.”
“…Anyway, you’re saying this building belongs to your side now?”
“That’s correct.”
He had been wondering why Dohyun kept saying things like the room was his and that it didn’t matter if he drank freely, but it turned out the entire establishment belonged to Dohyun.
There was nothing Seowoo could say if Dohyun said he came to manage his building. What could he argue about someone diligently focusing on their own business? If anything, he should be upset with Woojae, who chose this bar, and ask him why it had to be this place.
“…Ha.”
When he realized it wasn’t a big deal, he suddenly felt deflated. His mind, which had been sensitive due to tension, relaxed a bit.
Seowoo let his arms droop and buried his back deeply into the sofa. The drunkenness that he had temporarily forgotten began to steadily return.
Dohyun’s straight gaze attached itself to Seowoo’s profile as he almost closed his eyes.
“Han Seowoo.”
“Yes.”
“Is that all you wanted to say?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
