Chapter 10: A Calculated Gaze

“Hyung, are you going to watch this?”

“Yeah.”

A prompt, unhesitating reply came back.

A bewildered Jinhyung turned his eyes to the television again.

The screen had already switched back to a commercial, and in the top right corner, the words ‘Today Live’ were displayed.

Below it, numbers indicating the time remaining until the program started were changing by the second.

‘Why is hyung suddenly watching this program? Does he need some information on good restaurants?’

Jinhyung wondered as he twisted open the lid of the soy sauce container. Then, a name suddenly popped into his head, and he whipped his head around to look at Taekyung.

“Hyung, don’t tell me… you’re watching this because of that PD?”

A few days ago, Jinhyung, unable to resist the temptation of pocket money, had looked into someone.

It was about a person named ‘Choi Yoonseo’ who worked at UBS.

Fortunately, he knew many people at UBS, so he had obtained the information easily.

He was a PD working at UBS Plus, a subsidiary of UBS.

And he was currently working on a program called <Today Live>.

Just in case, he had made them promise to keep his inquiry a secret before reporting directly to Taekyung…

“Yeah. Why? Is there a problem?”

Taekyung seemed to be very interested in the person named Choi Yoonseo.

It was the same just yesterday morning.

The script reading was in the afternoon, but he had insisted on going to UBS early, and in that time, he had met Choi Yoonseo.

Thanks to that, Jinhyung had also been able to greet him.

His first thought upon seeing Yoonseo was this:

‘He seems like a really nice and kind person, so how did he get on Taekyung hyung’s bad side?’

“No… it’s not that… But hyung, why did you suddenly ask me to look into that PD? Did he do something wrong to you?”

Since the PD had come up, Jinhyung decided to ask what he had been curious about.

Hearing Jinhyung’s question, Taekyung smirked, lifting just one corner of his mouth.

He sometimes asked Jinhyung to do background checks on staff members, and the targets were usually hostile to him, so he seemed to be thinking along those lines this time as well.

“Hmm… if you really want to get technical, I guess so?”

‘Cutting off someone who showed you kindness is a fault, if you want to call it that.’

Taekyung rationalized with his own twisted logic and chewed on the salad he had carelessly drizzled with dressing.

His eyes were still fixed on the television screen.

Jinhyung, who had separated a pair of wooden chopsticks, widened his eyes for a moment and then muttered in a small voice.

“He seemed like a good person to me…”

“Really?”

“Yes. He had a really good impression. Hmm… how should I put it… his face was a bit like an idol’s? Fair-skinned, delicate features…”

Jinhyung, who had been rattling off his thoughts, belatedly shut his mouth.

It was because he realized he was talking as if he were defending someone who had wronged Taekyung.

Jinhyung cautiously turned his eyes and saw Taekyung grinning at him, and he returned an awkward smile.

Taekyung shrugged as if he didn’t mind and gestured to the sushi in front of Jinhyung with his eyes.

“Jinhyung, hurry up and eat. Or I’ll steal it.”

“…I know you’re not going to eat it.”

Jinhyung lightly slapped away the fork Taekyung had extended toward the sushi and quickly stuffed a piece of tuna sushi into his mouth.

It was unlikely that Taekyung, who was managing his weight for a role, would steal his sushi, but seeing his sly smile made him feel uneasy, so he started eating faster.

In the meantime, <Today Live> had begun.

<Friday, February 23rd, Today Live! We are wide open again today. It’s already the last Friday of February. Tomorrow is January 15th on the lunar calendar, which is the first full moon of the year.>

<In the old days, the first full moon was celebrated even more grandly than the Lunar New Year. It’s a shame that its meaning and customs have largely disappeared these days. To soothe that regret, PD Park, who can solve anything, has gone out to experience the first full moon for himself.>

The veteran MC rattled off his lines without a hitch.

He had wondered why his face was familiar, and it turned out he was a UBS announcer who often appeared on various shows.

Jinhyung sipped his warm soup and glanced at Taekyung, who was staring at the television with an almost obsessive intensity.

<Before that, shall we decide on a weekend menu? On these nights when the wind feels particularly cold, we’ll first introduce a warm noodle dish that comes to mind.>

The screen soon switched to a VCR, and the previously introduced segment began.

Jinhyung looked at the rather straightforward segment title, <What to Eat on the Weekend?>, and put a piece of sushi in his mouth.

As he was concentrating on chewing, something seemed to come to mind, and he quickly swallowed.

“Oh right, hyung. It seems they’re going to release the article confirming the male lead soon.”

“Hmm, already?”

“Filming wraps up next month, so it’s about time for the article to come out. With you being cast in writer Kwon Hyojoo’s drama, they must have been really looking forward to it. It’ll be quite a hot topic since it’s a role you haven’t tried before…”

“True, they probably wanted to boast about it as soon as the casting was confirmed. Right?”

Taekyung, who had opened his protein drink, said with a sly smile and a playful tone.

Jinhyung inadvertently looked at Taekyung’s shameless face and let out a disbelieving laugh.

But the laugh didn’t last long and quickly dissipated.

“…You know, hyung.”

“Yeah.”

Taekyung, who answered a little late as he was drinking, looked at Jinhyung intently.

Jinhyung hesitated, unable to speak easily, as if he were debating whether or not to say what was on his mind.

As Taekyung put the drink bottle down on the table and stared at him more blatantly, Jinhyung’s lips finally parted.

“The article will be out soon, so… uh… I mean, for the time being, maybe… it would be better to be careful…? There was that article a while ago…”

His voice was weak, like a dying flame.

Taekyung, who had heard a remark that was within his expectations, leaned back and relaxed against the sofa.

He wondered if Jinhyung had stopped by his house just to say this.

A cheerful voice, quite different from the subdued atmosphere in the living room, was flowing from the television.

“What, should I start managing my image now?”

“That’s not what I meant… since the role is what it is, I thought it would be better to show a different side of you…”

“If that were important, they would have cast another actor with a good image. I think the writer was initially thinking of Yoo Sanghyun.”

Taekyung, who had responded nonchalantly throughout, turned his eyes back to the television screen.

Jinhyung, who had no rebuttal, just nibbled on the end of his wooden chopsticks with his front teeth.

As Taekyung had said, if the director and writer had prioritized the actor’s usual image and wanted someone flawless, the script would never have come to him in the first place.

The role Taekyung had taken on this time was that of a man who had been in a one-sided love with one person for a long time, a man with a very pure and devoted heart.

“W-Was I being presumptuous? Haha… I was just saying it because I thought it might help you a little…”

Jinhyung smiled, his face contorted awkwardly.

He felt he shouldn’t have brought up the story about that PD earlier, or what he had just said.

Taekyung looked at the tense Jinhyung, let out a light, breathy laugh, and then slowly opened his mouth.

“I appreciate the concern, but I’ll handle it. Now that filming is starting, I’ll be taking suppressants, and you know it’s unavoidable.”

“Yeees, I know… I’m sorry…”

Jinhyung replied in a barely audible voice and chewed on the end of his wooden chopsticks.

Taekyung experienced fatigue as a side effect when he suppressed his pheromones with medication, so he needed an Omega to maintain a good condition.

An Omega’s pheromones were helpful, but more importantly, being stimulated by those pheromones and having s*x allowed him to fully release his suppressed pheromones.

He was skilled at controlling his pheromones, so he didn’t necessarily need to take suppressants, but since his job involved working with many people, he took the weakest ones during filming to prevent any unforeseen accidents.

Sometimes, when he got too immersed in his emotions, his pheromones would burst out strongly.

“You have a lot to be sorry for. Hurry up and eat.”

“Yes…”

Taekyung spoke to the dejected Jinhyung in a nonchalant tone and drank his drink.

Jinhyung, after glancing at Taekyung, popped the last piece of sushi into his mouth, chewed it up, and put down his chopsticks.

He was relieved that Taekyung didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.

“Hyung, you’re not going out tonight, are you?”

“No.”

“…If anything comes up, please let me know.”

“Our Jinhyung is so reliable, I feel like I should do something.”

Jinhyung, who had already started cleaning up, frowned at Taekyung’s playful remark.

Taekyung, who laughed loudly, stopped Jinhyung from clearing away his half-eaten salad and sat up straight.

The container that had been filled with neatly arranged sushi was now empty.

“You finished it already? You should have bought more.”

“I have some sense, you know. You only eat greens…”

“Since when did you care about that? Just clean up your stuff and go. I’ll take care of this.”

“I’m so grateful I could cry.”

Jinhyung, while grumbling, neatly cleaned up what he had eaten and watched Taekyung finish his drink.

From his current state, it seemed like he would be able to get through the night without any incidents, but one never knew, so he couldn’t be too sure.

He might suddenly have to take Taekyung to a hotel or to the house of a one-night stand.