#133
Eunhong was somehow counting grains of rice. Despite consciously putting food in his mouth, his cheekbones kept rising and the corners of his lips kept twitching. He had nearly bitten his tongue several times because of his involuntarily moving facial muscles.
“……”
Public apology or whatever, he couldn’t remember any of the content—before, after, or beside the point. It had all been burned white from his memory. Even Mrs. Ham, who had been saying it was about time they made their relationship public, was making a fuss—that said it all.
Even before the broadcast ended, the comment section erupted. Reactions were sharply divided between comments like “Is Lee Jaeha crazy?” and “Is this a public apology or a public threat?” versus “Reality is better than drama” and “We urgently need Lee Jaeha clones.” Of course, Eunhong’s phone was also blowing up. He was too scared to even answer his mother’s calls.
The evening news featured an assessment of Han Jung’s unprecedentedly quick response, along with materials that Han Jung had thoroughly exposed. The anchor remarked that they had never experienced a corporate heir who left people speechless like this, questioning whether such disclosure was appropriate and calling it a surprising amount of TMI. The panelist explained what TMI meant and then joked that when a corporate heir makes a public marriage proposal during an interview, even the anchor makes slip-ups.
The one fortunate thing was that those who had been maliciously aggressive on YouTube seemed to have disappeared as if by agreement. Apparently, the threat from the conglomerate’s legal team to pursue them to the ends of the earth, regardless of the platform’s nationality, was indeed frightening.
Jaeha, eating dinner with a composed face, moved away when his phone rang. It was a call from Secretary Kim. The public opinion had turned favorable, and the explanatory materials regarding the plagiarism allegations were being properly distributed through news articles.
Only then did Jaeha exhale a deep sigh. He stood still, massaging his stiff shoulders, and peeked outside through the slightly open door. He could see Eunhong sitting alone on the chair, counting grains of rice.
Pfft. He could finally smile with ease. He hadn’t shown any signs of worry in front of Eunhong, putting on a brave face. He had been extremely anxious about Eunhong’s career being ruined. The rumors had gained firepower because of Han Jung Group’s involvement, after all.
If it had just been an artwork plagiarism case at a small game company, it would have been a scandal that faded after some online chatter. But because Eunhong was a winner of Han Jung’s contest, lived with him, and was the person he loved, Eunhong had almost been ruined.
He admitted it was somewhat of a gamble—revealing all information, showing a human side, and expecting people’s reactions. The simple story that sincerity would be understood anywhere.
[We’ve secured An Woohyun, sir.]
As he was about to leave the room, an additional message came from Secretary Kim. His hand gripping the phone tightened.
It was his mistake for not deeply heeding his grandfather’s advice to step on someone so thoroughly they couldn’t even squirm. To try to tarnish Eunhong with such a petty act—unacceptable as long as he existed.
When he returned to his seat and sat across from Eunhong, Eunhong rolled his large eyeballs and looked at him hesitantly. Judging by his expression, he seemed to have a lot to say. Jaeha was going to pretend not to notice and wait, but he unexpectedly burst into a loud laugh. Apparently, he too was feeling relieved.
“What? Bunhong, what do you want to say? What are you so curious about?”
Jaeha encouraged Eunhong to speak up.
When he met the black eyes looking at him, it became harder to say what he had been about to blurt out in agitation. Eunhong just rolled his eyes, unable to speak as if his mouth were blocked, and finally pushed out his lips in a pout.
“Why did you have to go that far, exposing everything like that… Are you happy doing all the cool things by yourself?”
“Yes, extremely happy?”
“Too calm… too mature… you do all of that.”
He knew it was an unreasonable complaint, but he simply couldn’t say thank you. Why? Maybe because Lee Jaeha had made that ridiculously ticklish marriage proposal during a public apology. Wait, could that even be called a proposal? Wasn’t it more like a declaration? Eunhong, like a distraught child, couldn’t say what he wanted to and just beat around the bush.
“I want to be like… a problem-solver for you?”
“What? Problem-solver?”
“Yes, someone who solves everything. I want to be the person who clears everything from your path.”
Eunhong bowed his head deeply and looked at his food. His ears felt warm enough that his face must be tomato-red now. He added grumblingly, as if mumbling.
“…Is that all?”
“What?”
“Is that really all? Is that why you said all that?”
Jaeha opened his eyes wide, then narrowed them like crescents and smiled broadly.
“Yes. That’s all, what else?”
He was doing this while knowing what words Eunhong wanted to hear. Eunhong clenched his fist at the brazen tone.
“Hey. Who proposes like that? The order was all wrong!”
Jaeha just kept smiling and eating. Then he picked off a piece of fish, checked for bones, and stuffed it into Eunhong’s mouth. Suddenly silenced, Eunhong glared at him but was busy chewing.
After silently eating a few more spoonfuls of rice, Jaeha picked up his cup to drink water, but turned his head due to Eunhong’s persistent gaze. He hooked his finger into the collar of his T-shirt and fanned it. Come to think of it, his face had also turned subtly red.
Ah, I really can’t stand this. Jaeha muttered, closing one eye and said:
“Can you forget what I said in front of the cameras? It was a mess.”
“What? How can I forget that?”
If he asked once more to forget it, Eunhong seemed ready to curse. In fact, he was already muttering: “Bad bastard, is marriage a joke?” Jaeha finished drinking the water in his cup, and not satisfied, moistened his lips with his tongue and added:
“Seriously, forget it. I want to do it properly again.”
Proposal. He mouthed the word silently, looking straight at Eunhong. He raised his eyebrows and gave a secretive look, as if it would be a disaster if someone heard.
Bang! Like a cat’s tail exploding, Eunhong’s face turned almost bursting red. Unable to continue being angry but also unable to say he would wait, he was just fidgeting with his lips when Jaeha suddenly stood up. Naturally, Eunhong’s head followed Jaeha, looking up at him.
A bright red tongue peeked between his lips, quickly licking them before withdrawing, and then he smiled brightly. Jaeha approached Eunhong with a face full of smiles.
“Come on, keep being angry, Bunhong. It’s sexy.”
“Cra… crazy, you crazy guy.”
Eunhong unconsciously covered his still unsteady chest.
***
The fervor of the press showed no signs of abating. It was natural given Lee Jaeha’s bombshell statement about Han Jung’s succession structure, which had frequently appeared in securities firm rumors. Eunhong made his way through the swarm of reporters spread out along his commute, with Jaeha beside him.
He seemed to have completely abandoned any thought of hiding. He affectionately embraced Eunhong, brazenly followed him into the lobby, watched him get on the elevator, and then returned to his car. Needless to say, journalists stuck to him like goldfish droppings along the way.
Eunhong kept his head deeply bowed until the elevator doors closed, mortified. Though Jaeha kept patting his buttocks telling him to be confident, Eunhong inwardly screamed that being confident and being embarrassed were clearly different things.
The company seemed to be in complete chaos. He had heard that the server crashed on the day Han Jung released its statement, which might explain why the server programmers’ under-eyes were so dark and lifeless. Shim AD was being called back and forth between the marketing department and the CEO’s office, for good reasons.
The gaming communities operated by the company were also in an uproar, with several posts receiving thousands of comments and becoming “best” posts. There seemed to be many new users who had registered, claiming to make a “holy site pilgrimage.” Eunhong sat at his desk, curiously examining these posts, and smiled gently at a familiar ID.
“JaesikeyeAlba” was Nam Seunghee. He had posted a drawing Eunhong had made for him, defending Eunhong only to receive a barrage of insults. Now that the case was resolved, his post had reached “best” status with comments from people making wishes. Most wishes were about getting jobs at Han Jung, lottery numbers, or lovers.
In the midst of this, a cup of coffee was pushed onto his desk, and when he looked up, Gil Dong-wook cleared his throat with a “Khm.”
“Eunhong, um… I’ve made many mistakes in the past.”
Eunhong wondered what he meant. He blinked his eyes repeatedly, then remembered that news about his manifestation type had been reported, and exclaimed, “Ah!” Han Jung’s published materials had mentioned that he manifested after becoming an adult, but not that it was this recent.
“No, you don’t have to do that. I only manifested recently, around last Christmas.”
“Ah, hemorrhoids?”
Yoo Junseok, who had been watching from the side, suddenly shouted “hemorrhoids.” Though it seemed nonsensical, everyone present understood. My goodness, so that’s when he manifested. Murmurs and exclamations passed between them.
Gil Dong-wook cleared his throat once more. Ahem!
“Anyway, please forget any mistakes I’ve made.”
Eunhong pulled up his cheeks and grinned broadly. Junseok beside him also burst into laughter.
“Dong-wook, are you planning to transfer to Han Jung?” Seo Heeseung asked, poking her head over the partition.
“What? No! I’m not doing this because I’m wary of that chaebol, okay?”
As Dong-wook fidgeted, everyone burst into laughter. Eunhong, who had been concerned that his colleagues were subtly keeping their distance since morning, also gradually relaxed. Heeseung carefully brought up a topic to him.
“By the way, Team Leader Ban, remember before? When we were eating meat that day, and Junseok talked about his housewarming party, you said you’d do one later too… Is that offer still valid?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
