Chapter 4 : A Furious Agreement

“The reporters have the street completely blocked.”

Kang Ijeong said as he entered the conference room.

Yesterday had been like a dream.

Yihyun thought he would never see a celebrity up close again in his life, but here he was, facing Ijeong again much sooner than expected.

He looked up at him.

“We meet again.”

“Ah, Seo Yihyun… was it? I heard your name from hyung Juseok.”

Ijeong glanced at his anxious manager, who was fidgeting nervously.

“Hey, Kang Ijeong. I heard the photographer who caught you yesterday ran off with an exclusive. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Did he say that? I didn’t hear it.”

Ijeong took off his cap and fixed his hair.

Unlike Yihyun, who was in a tough spot thanks to the sudden scandal, he looked relaxed, as if nothing had happened.

Seeing his annoyingly clean-cut, handsome face, Yihyun said sarcastically.

“Even if you didn’t hear the words, you can’t say you didn’t see the video being taken.”

“I thought he was working with the stalker. They’ve even sent people after me into the bathroom before.”

Ijeong spoke with an apologetic face.

“If I’d known he was a reporter, I would’ve run up and grabbed him myself. Sorry, Yihyun.”

‘Uselessly handsome bastard.’

Yihyun turned away from his glowing face and spoke firmly.

“Anyway, I want only one thing. A correction article and an official apology. I don’t need compensation. I just want to live quietly.”

“Please, Yihyun. Think it over just once. I won’t bother you. If we announce that a regular partner broke up with him because they couldn’t handle the excessive attention, people will forget soon enough.”

“I can’t handle the excessive attention right now either, you know?”

The manager clung to him with a tearful face, but Yihyun remained firm.

The manager and the staff who had to deal with this damned celebrity were pitiful, but if he felt sorry for everyone and accommodated all their situations, he would end up being the most pitiful one.

He couldn’t ignore the calls from work forever, and he had to explain things to Yeseo, who was waiting at home with a face like a puffed-up fish.

“Two million won per month, plus a bonus of one million won every time a major article runs.”

Then Jaeryeon spoke with a serious expression.

“We’ll cover any other incidental costs arising from this relationship. Could you please help us just this once, thinking of it as a short-term gig?”

It was too big a sum to ignore.

Yihyun swallowed hard.

If it lasted three months, that was six million won plus bonuses—more than his annual salary in that short span of time.

“The fan response is split, but the general public reaction isn’t half bad. Some say they’re excited, that they feel a kind of vicarious satisfaction…”

“It’s his own fault, but if we run a correction saying he grabbed a random passerby and kissed them, it will severely damage Ijeong’s image too. Either way, there are a lot of problems.”

Yihyun fell into deep thought.

Three months of selling his face and lying for six million won plus extra.

It wasn’t a bad deal.

But he had something far more important than money.

“You want me to pretend to be Kang Ijeong’s lover in public, lying to my family, friends, and coworkers? I wouldn’t do it even for six billion won, let alone six million won.”

He couldn’t handle Yeseo’s nagging and Kim Gwajang’s endless meddling.

If it were a lifetime job, maybe, but he wasn’t just living for three months.

Throwing away his entire social future for that amount was foolish.

“Yihyun, won’t you reconsider just once? We’ll treat you really well.”

“I’m not such a bad person as a partner. I’ll be good to you.”

Ijeong, who had been silently watching from the side as if he were observing someone else’s business, chimed in.

‘Be good to you,’ my ass.

Yihyun, just as a message notification lit up his screen, turned the phone to show it to the three people.

“Look. Ever since the article came out, my acquaintances have been blowing up my phone. How am I supposed to explain this to all these people? You’re not the only ones who matter. Think about us regular folks for a second…”

“Uh… a message came in from ‘Darling.’ Do you have a partner, Yihyun?”

‘Then you should have told us that first…’

Hearing the manager’s muttering, Yihyun quickly pulled the phone back to himself.

Because he had thrown his phone aside yesterday and cried himself to sleep in his room, he still hadn’t deleted Gyujin’s contact info.

“…We broke up. I just forgot to delete his number.”

Blushing to the tips of his ears, Yihyun quickly unlocked his phone.

He must have seen the article.

After breaking up yesterday without a single call, suddenly contacting him now meant something must have changed his mind.

‘Yeah, we were together for seven years. We have so many memories. Seeing me with someone else must have felt strange, right?’

If that was the case, maybe he could let it slide this once.

Others might call him stupid, but during those seven years, Gyujin had been his everything.

The emotions built up were too much to end overnight.

If he asked to meet, to talk, Yihyun would say yes.

If he apologized, Yihyun would act mad for a bit but then give in.

Thinking that, Yihyun checked Gyujin’s message.

–You went that far to win me back? Fine, I lose. Marriage is out of the question, but I’ll stay by your side as your lover.–

The moment he read Gyujin’s message, Yihyun almost forgot that his phone still had twenty-three months left on the contract and that he had bought it after a huge decision—he nearly threw it out the window.

“Ha, haha…”

This bastard.

‘Marriage is out of the question, but I’ll stay by your side as your lover’?

As if he were doing him a massive favor.

Yihyun laughed in disbelief.

What had he been dating for seven years?

Gyujin had always had a bit of a cocky streak, but Yihyun had truly thought he was a decent person.

But because Yihyun wasn’t ‘marriage material,’ Gyujin had secretly cheated, and when caught, he had the nerve to act like this.

And now what? ‘Marriage is out of the question, but lover’?

Was he supposed to be his hidden side piece now?

Forgetting for a moment that there were strangers in front of him, Yihyun started laughing.

“Ha, haha. Ahahaha!”

His face flushed red, then turned pale white, and then he suddenly burst into laughter again.

The three people watched him, all of them with question marks floating over their heads.

“Um, Yihyun-ssi. If you have someone you’re dating, we won’t force you. We should have checked that first, but we were too eager and forgot.”

The manager said cautiously, gauging Yihyun’s expression.

‘Someone he’s dating.’

Yihyun chewed over Gyujin’s message again and spoke.

“No. I don’t have a partner. I did until yesterday, but ironically, I was on my way home from breaking up when Kang Ijeong suddenly shoved his lips on me.”

“W-we’re really sorry about that… Hey, Kang Ijeong! Apologize now!”

Hearing that, the flustered manager grabbed Ijeong by the back of the neck and pushed his head down.

Ijeong, with his head pressed down, muttered.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Yihyun looked down at the message with cold eyes.

Damn bastard.

No matter what he called him, it wouldn’t ease his burning anger.

How could he give Gyujin a huge, satisfying middle finger?

Or at least avoid total humiliation to calm this irritation a little.

“I-I guess it’s impossible after all…”

The manager, seeing Yihyun’s cold face, whimpered toward Jaeryeon.

Whatever message he had received, his expression said it was definitely not good news.

“Ah, Kang Ijeong… I knew you’d cause trouble someday.”

“If you knew, you should have told me. Then I’d have been more careful.”

“You never miss a chance, do you.”

Jaeryeon was about to smack Ijeong’s head but sighed and lowered his fist instead.

–You don’t have to push yourself. I’ll be fine with my new lover, and hyung, you live well with yours too. I’m blocking you.–

“I’ll do it.”

After sending the text and blocking Gyujin’s number, Yihyun spoke in a quiet voice.

“Wh-what?”

“Let’s do it. But if we do it, let’s do it right. So that anyone can see we’re a couple.”

Yihyun said, his eyes blazing.

They say the best revenge is success.

He didn’t want to grovel pathetically to Gyujin anymore; now, he wanted to show him exactly how well he was doing.

‘I’m doing just fine without you. I’m not hurting at all, not sad at all.’

He wanted to flaunt that to his face.

“I’ll do the contract dating.”

“R-really?”

The manager’s eyes went wide.

Jaeryeon and Ijeong were equally surprised.

Just a moment ago, he had sounded so resolute, but what had changed his mind so quickly?

“But I have conditions.”

“What are they?”

“I don’t care if I have to sell my face. I want the whole world to know that it’s me and Kang Ijeong, and that we are madly in love.”

“What?”

The flustered manager looked back and forth between Jaeryeon and Yihyun.

But Yihyun didn’t bat an eye, simply stating his demands.

“I’ll act like a person happy and in love to anyone who sees. You have to do the same.”

Yihyun said through gritted teeth.

Unlike the flustered manager and Jaeryeon, Ijeong looked at Yihyun with deep interest.

He didn’t know what the message had said, but that ‘Darling’ must have really lit a fire under him.

From their perspective, it wasn’t a bad deal at all.

“Then it’s a deal.”

Ijeong said, looking at Yihyun.

Seeing Yihyun’s blazing eyes, like an angry little squirrel, at least he didn’t seem like the type to be tiresome.

“Then nice to meet you, Seo Yihyun. Oh, wait. Should I call you ‘honey’?”

“Call me whatever you want. Just don’t change your mind halfway.”

Yihyun said, firmly gripping Ijeong’s outstretched hand.

And so, the contract dating based on mutual interests was sealed.

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