Chapter 15: The Gauntlet Thrown

“PD Kim Injun.”

Taekyung silently mouthed the unfamiliar name and then spoke to end the call.

“Okay, I’ll look him up. Oh, and give me an invitation when you send them out.”

Hanna seemed to like that, as she burst out laughing again.

After a brief exchange of goodbyes, Taekyung hung up. Before he could even greet him, CEO Im spoke first with a displeased expression.

“Now you’re getting set up on dates? Han Taekyung, you must be very free.”

His tone was thick with underlying criticism and reproach.

Taekyung chuckled in disbelief and replied nonchalantly.

“CEO, anyone would think my mind is only filled with s*x.”

“Doesn’t sound wrong to me.”

Taekyung, who had been listening silently to the criticism, tilted his head.

CEO Im’s tone was particularly sharp today.

“Hyung, did someone stiff you? Why are you taking it out on me?”

“I’d rather have been stiffed.”

CEO Im grumbled and leaned back in his chair until he was almost lying down.

He looked so troubled that it seemed he needed to chain-smoke right away.

Instead of saying anything, Taekyung just stared at him.

As if sensing his gaze, CEO Im let out a sigh-filled remark a moment later.

“Did you see the reaction to the article? Most of them are saying a pure, one-sided love is ridiculous for you. I can’t even hold my head up, you know?”

“You’re this miserable just because of that?”

“Just because of that? Dude, you’re being ridiculed before you can even properly change your image, and you say ‘just because’?”

“Is the bad reaction a new thing? You know it’ll change as soon as the first episode airs.”

“Well, that’s true… Ah, I don’t know. Were my expectations too high?”

CEO Im laughed self-deprecatingly and let out a long breath.

Taekyung couldn’t help but laugh at CEO Im, who was more anxious than he was.

Since CEO Im had been so excited after reading the script, saying he had to do it no matter what, it was perhaps natural for him to be disappointed by the negative reactions.

He had said something about being able to shed his scandal-maker image a little if he did well.

It seemed that reason, which Taekyung had brushed off, was still important to CEO Im.

“Taekyung.”

Taekyung, who had been retracing the not-so-distant past, turned his gaze at the serious call.

CEO Im took a loud, sharp breath, scratched his brow, and then finally parted his lips as if he had made a decision.

“Until that drama ends, let’s manage your image properly.”

Taekyung mindlessly fiddled with the phone in his hand and tilted his head.

He wondered what he had just heard.

CEO Im, as if to start a serious conversation, got up from his seat and sat on the sofa opposite him.

Taekyung looked directly at CEO Im, not hiding the displeasure on his face.

CEO Im, undeterred, stubbornly continued.

“Didn’t you agree to do this project to change your image a little?”

“…”

“So let’s just lay low for a while, Taekyung. The articles are all out about what kind of role you’re playing, and it won’t do you any good to show a side that contradicts it.”

It was something he had never expected to hear from CEO Im.

Taekyung frowned and glared at him, as if to ask if he was serious.

Although CEO Im would sigh and placatingly say to be careful every time a scandal broke, this was the first time he had said so directly, to manage his image or lay low.

Ten years ago, not even a week after he had entered college.

He had slipped out of the freshman welcoming party, which was a welcoming party in name only but was actually a series of self-destructive acts of binge drinking, to get some fresh air.

He was debating whether or to smoke when a man had sidled up to him.

‘Have you ever thought about becoming a celebrity?’

That man with the plain impression who had asked casually was the current CEO Im, Im Younghoon.

He had worked as Taekyung’s manager for eight years, then left their old agency with Taekyung to start a new company.

Taekyung had followed Im Younghoon, who had provided him with an unexpected escape route, quite well, but he couldn’t happily accept this proposal.

CEO Im had never once said a harsh word, even when the media was relentlessly tearing Taekyung apart with private life controversies and a string of scandal articles.

Because CEO Im was the only one who knew that he deliberately caused private life controversies not only because of the side effects of his suppressants but also because of his brother and father.

“Or at least be careful so articles don’t get out. You knew a reporter was following you last time, right? That hotel is your mother’s hotel.”

“Hyung.”

“Yeah, I know. I know why you just let things like that happen. But other people don’t. The public judges you only by your private life that the reporters recklessly expose. It’s even worse because you don’t do any variety shows and do minimal interviews. So I’m saying let’s be careful this time. It would be better to just pick one person and date… Hey, Taekyung. That’s a better idea!”

CEO Im, who had been rattling off his words without a stutter, as if he had memorized them, suddenly clapped his hands.

Seeing his suddenly brightened face, Taekyung narrowed his eyes and showed his displeasure.

“Take this opportunity to date someone. I heard you’re even being set up on dates. Just date that person.”

At the ridiculous misunderstanding, Taekyung couldn’t help but let out a disbelieving laugh.

He could just imagine how much of a s*x-crazed maniac he seemed to CEO Im.

“Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you in a proper relationship. I’ve seen you date for a month or two, but…”

“…”

“Hmm… is it that you can’t, not that you won’t?”

CEO Im, who had uttered a subtly provoking remark, smiled, his lips curved up.

He was clearly pretending to be oblivious.

Taekyung let out an annoyed sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

First Jinhyung, then his father, and now CEO Im.

They were people who usually had a thing or two to say about his private life, but this time, strangely, they were all crossing the line as if to test his patience.

He was getting sick of hearing the same thing over and over, even if it were good news, and hearing something that wasn’t made him feel nauseous.

“It’s not that I can’t, it’s that I won’t.”

“Really?”

CEO Im, who had asked back with wide eyes, looked at Taekyung with eyes full of disbelief.

He then curved his lips into a crooked, sly smile.

Even though Taekyung was deliberately showing his displeasure, CEO Im was unfazed.

“Then you can just do it, a proper relationship.”

“…”

“Since it’s not that you can’t, but that you won’t, you can do it whenever you want. Right?”

The words, which flowed out in a light, playful tone, were perfectly suited to provoke Taekyung’s pride.

Taekyung, who was too dumbfounded to say anything, just let out a disbelieving laugh, and CEO Im smiled even more brightly.

At first glance, it looked like an innocent smile without any ulterior motives, but to Taekyung, it looked like a sneer.

That finally stirred something fierce in his gut.

“I’ll do it then.”

It wasn’t that he hadn’t done things that could be called dating.

It was just that they hadn’t lasted long because he was tired of those who craved blind affection and urged him to show his true feelings.

He had accepted them because they said they liked him, so what more did he have to do?

Shouldn’t they be grateful that he hadn’t rejected them?

What he needed was a s*x partner who could release his pent-up pheromones and calm his rut, not a lover with whom he had to share emotions.

A partner with whom he could spend a night like an animal, drawn by pheromones, without feeling any shame was enough.

After all, wasn’t that what the relationship between an Alpha and an Omega was all about?

A complementary relationship based on instinct, to satisfy base desires.

But everyone was telling him to ditch that and date.

He couldn’t tolerate being treated like a defective person just because he couldn’t date.

“That damn dating.”

At the words that came out rough, as if spat out, CEO Im couldn’t hide his satisfied smile.

Taekyung’s chest heaved as he spat out the impulsive words.

CEO Im, with a sly smile on his lips, began to speak in a gentle, soothing tone, as if calming a child.

“Yes, Taekyung. Good thinking. Your perspective will probably change a little if you try a proper relationship.”

“…”

“There are so many good people in the world. It’s just that you unfortunately haven’t met one yet.”

CEO Im didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding the pleasure on his face.

He gestured to the door with his head, saying they should discuss the details over a meal, and shot up from his seat.

Taekyung, still with an annoyed expression on his face, just let out a series of sighs.

“Aren’t you coming? I’m hungry from talking so much, Taekyung.”

CEO Im, who had thrown open the door, urged him as he looked back.

Taekyung, who had shot up from his seat in annoyance, gripped the phone in his hand as if to crush it.

He shook his head to shake off CEO Im’s words, which were ringing in his ears like tinnitus, and then, for a moment, he forgot to breathe and froze.

‘There are so many good people in the world.’

A memory from the past followed those words.

‘He seemed like a good person…’

‘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…’

Finally, a phrase from an even older memory completely dominated his mind.