Chapter 7: First Vacation

Even so, the corridor on the upper floor of the building remained quiet, as if nothing had happened. The soft carpet swallowed even the sound of footsteps.

The scene was no different from a luxury hotel.

“You said this is your first time entertaining, right?” the woman walking ahead asked quietly. The glance she cast back at him was sharp.

“That’s right.”

“Don’t be too nervous. Chairman Lee is a very gentle man. He won’t make you do anything difficult.”

Seol-young kept his mouth shut. There was nothing more to say. The woman just smiled and did not speak again.

Eventually they reached the door at the end of the corridor. The woman knocked carefully. A voice inside told them to come in.

“Chairman, I’ve brought Min Seo-jun.”

The woman stepped into the wide, elegantly furnished room and gave a slight push to Min Seo-jun’s back as she greeted the man.

“You’re late.”

“I apologize. He said something came up.”

Inside, a man in his sixties sat alone on a sofa, tipping a glass. He exchanged a few words with the woman, as if familiar. After a moment, she bowed low and left Seol-young alone in the room.

“Come here.”

Seol-young had been studying the chairman, who had sunk deep into the sofa. At the elderly man’s gesture, Seol-young moved without a word and sat on the sofa across from him. The chairman looked over Min Seo-jun with interested eyes. Seol-young met his gaze calmly.

Information from the phone search he had done on the way there came back to him.

Chairman Lee Chang-seok. Sixty-five years old this year, with one son and one daughter. He had inherited his father’s business and built it into one of the country’s leading conglomerates, a businessman with sharp instincts.

Unlike other corporate heads, though, he was known for leading good works and donations, putting employee welfare and social causes first. He had ordinary tastes that did not fit a conglomerate chairman, lived frugally, and had not lost his spot as the most respected businessman in the country for years. In short, his reputation was outstanding.

But behind the scenes, people said he called in young male celebrities to entertain him, using sponsorship as a cover to treat them like playthings. His public face and private self could not have been more different. Or maybe his name was simply tied to a twisted fate.

After staring at Chairman Lee for a long time, Seol-young quietly pulled up the corners of his mouth. The chairman paused mid-drink and raised an eyebrow.

“What’s so funny?”

Seol-young sank deeper into the sofa instead of answering. Folding his arms and staring at the other man, he looked utterly insolent. If Director Gil knew, he would have howled at Seol-young for acting so arrogant in front of a chairman he regarded as high as the sky.

Seol-young just kept looking at Chairman Lee. The chairman, who had been sitting calmly, got a vein standing out on his forehead. Of course he did. This callow kid, summoned as an entertainer, had the nerve to sit there with his arms crossed and laugh at him.

“Have you lost your mind? Do you know who you’re sitting in front of-”

The chairman slapped the armrest of the sofa.

“Hye-gang.”

The chairman’s angry voice snapped off at that one word.

His eyes, lined with fine wrinkles, flew open wide as if they might tear. He looked completely stunned. Seol-young watched him and smiled, colder than before.

“I never knew our youngest’s taste ran like this.”

“Wh-what… What did you just…”

The chairman’s jaw began trembling visibly. His face darkened, the color of a man about to die. None of that changed Seol-young. He stayed relaxed on the sofa and calmly watched the chairman stiffen.

“If Messenger Dong-cheon found out, he’d have a good laugh. No, if the Messenger Bureau or the underworld heard about this, things would get very noisy.”

Clatter.

The little glass in the chairman’s hand hit the floor with a sharp ring. The bottle he had been drinking from also toppled over, expensive liquor spilling from the table and running onto the floor.

But the chairman did not spare a glance at the lost liquor or the shattered glass. He could not.

“Y-you don’t mean…”

“Don’t mean what? You’ve spent years in the human world, and now you can’t even see straight? You’re not even a real human.”

A sharp gasp escaped him.

“Messenger Seol-young?!”

“You recognized me quickly.”

Seol-young smiled. In that instant, Chairman Lee Chang-seok, no, Messenger Gam Hye-gang, dropped to their knees on the floor.

“W-wait, what is Messenger Seol-young doing here…? No, what is that form…?”

Hye-gang’s face, looking up at Seol-young, was pale as paper. Their hands, gripping their knees, shook. Anyone watching would have been shocked: a sixty-year-old chairman of a major conglomerate kneeling on the floor and trembling like a punished child in front of a twenty-two-year-old unknown idol singer.

But it made perfect sense once you knew the truth.

Gam Hye-gang was a newcomer who had only carried a death messenger’s badge for a little over two hundred years. Cha Seol-young was a senior so far above Hye-gang that rumors already said he would be promoted to the executive ranks soon.

This was also Hye-gang’s first vacation. Seol-young’s too, but comparing the two was pointless. Seol-young had gone eight hundred years without taking a single vacation on purpose, while Hye-gang had rushed out the moment they got the chance. The difference in skill between them was just as large. That was also why Hye-gang had been so slow to recognize Seol-young.

“Are you really Messenger Seol-young?”

Hye-gang, who had been trembling with their shoulders hunched in a pitiful way, opened their eyes wide. They looked like they could not believe it.

“Yes.”

“No, really? The actual Cha Seol-young? That Cha Seol-young?”

“Have you really gone blind?”

“But Messenger Seol-young never takes a vacation!”

“I’m taking my first one now.”

“Why on earth?!”

Hye-gang demanded, their face saying they had been wronged beyond bearing. And they had every reason to feel that way.

It had been their first vacation. They had gotten lucky enough to land a chaebol chairman, and for the past three years they had lived it up, ordering people around with a flick of their finger, spending money like water, and pointing at anyone they fancied. Those people crawled in on their own and waited on them.

The worn-out body was a bit disappointing, but they had been enjoying their vacation like crazy. Then an impossibly senior messenger had shown up out of nowhere. A senior who never took vacations and had no interest in the human world. Worse, they had shown up wearing the face of the idol Hye-gang had summoned as their entertainer.

Hye-gang’s vision went dark.

Whatever happened during a vacation was not reported to the Messenger Bureau unless it involved murder or a serious felony. Hye-gang had planned to enjoy themself in secret, end their vacation, and go back to the underworld without anyone knowing. But who could have guessed they would be caught by Seol-young of all people?

They were done for.

That was the only way to describe it. This was not a casual meeting or a bit of dating. They had summoned a very young male celebrity to serve them. If word of this leaked into the Messenger Bureau or the underworld, they might not be able to hold their head up for at least a thousand years. And their promotion would definitely be ruined.

“He just caught my eye. This human.”

While Hye-gang was racking their brains, Seol-young gave his belated answer in a slow voice. Hye-gang blinked at the unexpected reply. Caught his eye. What was that supposed to mean?

“He caught your eye, Messenger Seol-young? This unknown idol? Is that kid possessed by a god or something?”

Hye-gang asked, dazed and half out of their mind. But Seol-young did not give them a clear answer.

“Before that, shouldn’t we have a deeper conversation about your hobby life?”

Seol-young murmured with a meaningful smile. Hye-gang’s face went visibly pale.

“M-Messenger! You see, this is-”

“I had no idea pretty young men were your type. And that you bought them and hired them as entertainers as a hobby. Hmm. You never showed a trace of it in the underworld, so I’m a little surprised.”

“Messenger Seol-young! I was wrong! I have committed a crime deserving death! I will reflect, and reflect again! Please just don’t tell the underworld!”

At the words Seol-young tossed out as he stroked his chin, Hye-gang finally lay flat on the floor and burst into tears. If grabbing Seol-young’s pant leg and begging would have helped, they would have done that. What wouldn’t they do to stop rumors from spreading through the underworld?

The good news was that Seol-young kept his mouth shut. Like a martial artist who always carried his sword, he was not a man to speak carelessly. He did not even pay attention to others. If Hye-gang played pitiful enough and looked properly sorry, maybe Seol-young would let it go. Hye-gang sobbed louder, nursing that hope.

“You want me not to tell?”

“Please. I’ll do anything-”

“Anything?”

“Yes. Anything…”

“Good. If you want to shut my mouth, it’s only right that you do what I want too.”

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