Chapter 16: Dinner with the Devil

“…How did you end up coming all the way here?”

For once, Chae Woo-seok was visibly flustered.

Very much so.

Go Ha-jin was just as surprised, and for good reason.

This was a meeting arranged by Lee Ah-seong, a formal first encounter.

A blind date.

After exchanging messages in advance, Woo-seok and Ha-jin arrived at the lunch venue and had barely taken their seats when Lee Ah-seong appeared.

Since there had been no prior notice, both men had no choice but to be caught off guard.

At least they’d managed not to look overly familiar with each other.

“You’re not strangers anyway. And since we’re going to be talking about marriage, wouldn’t it be better if I joined? I wanted to see my son too.”

Did he rehearse lines like that?

Lee Ah-seong sat down, straightened his back, and smiled benevolently as though he were the main character of the occasion.

He spoke in an elegant voice, pretending to be perfectly reasonable, but it was all rather absurd.

“No matter what, you can’t have a blind date with three people, Dad.”

Woo-seok whispered in a low voice to Lee Ah-seong beside him.

Even Ha-jin, who had attended his fair share of blind dates, had never experienced anything like this.

This wasn’t a family meeting, what kind of parent tagged along to a blind date?

And for a son nearly thirty, no less.

It was ridiculous.

“I’m glad you came. I was hoping to see you again anyway.”

Of course, Ha-jin wasn’t foolish enough to show his true feelings.

He smiled brightly at Lee Ah-seong with a measured, polite expression.

Feeling Lee Ah-seong’s gaze sweep over him from head to toe, as if appraising today’s worth, Ha-jin thought it had been a great decision to raid the luxury boutiques with the card Woo-seok had given him earlier.

The teal shirt, expensive without being ostentatious, made his pale skin stand out even more.

“Shall we order first? My son must be hungry.”

After acknowledging Ha-jin’s greeting with nothing more than a nod, Lee Ah-seong’s attention shifted entirely to Woo-seok.

He carefully straightened his son’s phone on the table and brushed imaginary dust from his shoulder, bustling about.

“Dad, please…”

Reading the irritation in Woo-seok’s voice, Lee Ah-seong immediately stopped and sat up straight.

Watching this, Ha-jin felt both flustered and on the verge of laughter.

What flustered him was Lee Ah-seong’s attitude toward Woo-seok.

Woo-seok had said they were close, and it turned out to be true, surprisingly so.

Just from their brief exchange, it was clear how much affection was there.

Seeing Lee Ah-seong, who looked like he’d been carved from ice, act this way was unfamiliar.

And Woo-seok’s ears turning red was oddly amusing.

Seeing such a fierce man treated like a child, on a blind date, no less.

“You two seem very close. I’m honestly jealous.”

More accurately, it was overprotection.

An excessive affection that still treated a grown son like a child tucked safely under his wing.

Ha-jin grasped their relationship in an instant.

It wasn’t enviable at all.

“With a son like this, wouldn’t anyone be?”

“Of course. You must feel very reassured…”

Lee Ah-seong accepted Ha-jin’s words as pure praise.

To a father, a child with such looks and credentials would naturally be precious.

But Woo-seok caught the real meaning.

Thump.

A warning kick under the table struck Ha-jin’s shoe, that’s enough.

It carried a hint of rebuke, too, how dare you mock us.

When their eyes met, Woo-seok poured out his displeasure openly.

Hajin flushed and lowered his head, as if embarrassed to look straight at a “handsome” alpha.

“Shall we order, then?”

Watching this, Lee Ah-seong smiled.

In that moment, he decided there was no need to observe any further.

The young man across from them was already completely taken with his son.

Given Woo-seok’s objectively overwhelming qualities, it was hardly surprising.

When the food arrived and the meal continued quietly, his conviction only strengthened.

He caught Ha-jin stealing glances at his son several times, ears reddened, smiling softly.

It was a pleasing development, but seeing it unfold right in front of him stirred an unavoidable irritation.

How dare he, when Woo-seok was his son?

Deciding there was no need to feel things out any longer, Lee Ah-seong brought up the marriage talk, specifically, the point he valued most in Ha-jin.

“Just in case, let me ask. Do you have any sexual experience?”

An unnatural silence fell over the table.

Both pairs of eyes snapped toward Lee Ah-seong in shock.

“Kids these days are so free-spirited. I was just checking.”

“Dad!”

“What? It’s something we’d confirm eventually anyway. If problems come up after everything else is settled, it’s just a waste of time, isn’t it?”

For a moment, Ha-jin wondered if his ears were malfunctioning.

He’d never imagined that at a blind date, one where they’d just met face to face, he’d be asked about sexual experience first.

“Is that a difficult question?”

Perhaps because of his son’s sharp reaction, Lee Ah-seong cast a slightly cold look at Ha-jin.

The one who’d said something outrageous was Lee Ah-seong himself, and the one who’d gotten annoyed was Woohseok, yet the barbed gaze landed on the silent Hahjin.

“N-No… I think it’s a fair question.”

There were countless things he wanted to say, but Ha-jin gathered his emotions and spoke slowly.

Target. Marriage. Money. A comfortable life. Survival.

Those were all he needed to think about.

Right now, he had to say exactly what Lee Ah-seong wanted to hear.

“Well… I…”

He glanced once at Woo-seok, then at Lee Ah-seong.

Blushing shyly, he placed his hands on his knees, his narrow shoulders trembling faintly.

As Ha-jin hesitated, even Woo-seok felt a spark of curiosity.

That attitude was obviously an act, but it was impossible to tell truth from lies by appearances alone.

“…I don’t have any yet. I value, um… premarital chastity…”

As Ha-jin carefully strung together each word, Lee Ah-seong smiled as if it were only natural.

Woo-seok, meanwhile, had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

Premarital chastity, coming from a con artist who lived by deception under the guise of marriage.

It was absurd.

Still, it wasn’t a bad answer to hear.

Undoubtedly a lie, but acceptable.

“You really have to check even the basics these days. It’s only natural.”

Satisfied with the answer, Lee Ah-seong resumed eating.

Staring at the neatly groomed crown of his head, Ha-jin’s thoughts churned noisily.

‘Did this man truly not know how his son behaved, or did he know and say such things anyway?’

‘How did one’s thinking end up like this, asking such a question with a son notorious for omega scandals sitting right beside him?’

“Exactly. The world is a dangerous place.”

Try managing your son’s d*ck first, he decided to save for later.

For the sake of his goal.

When Lee Ah-seong’s gaze drifted away, Ha-jin’s eyes met Woo-seok’s.

For some reason, dealing with Lee Ah-seong made Woo-seok’s face seem especially irritating.

Woo-seok tilted his head, clearly not understanding the meaning behind Ha-jin’s look.

Watching Woo-seok today made one thing clear.

There would be no relying on this man during married life.

For reasons unknown, Woo-seok could have spoken up and smoothed things over, but he hadn’t.

Then again, if he were the type to help, there would’ve been no need to prepare a fraudulent marriage in the first place.

As the meal wound down, Lee Ah-seong’s interrogation resumed.

Was he from a single-parent household, death or divorce?

What were his omega test scores?

How were his grades in school?

Every question leaned toward the unpleasant.

Still, it was easier than dealing with Woo-seok.

Lee Ah-seong’s blunt, direct questions only required rehearsed answers.

Woo-seok’s subtle, probing ones were far more troublesome.

“May I ask one more thing?”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”

Given how freely he’d already been questioning him, it was almost amusing that he asked permission now.

If he was being this cautious, the question must be especially unpleasant.

“You don’t have any half-siblings, right? Or… someone your father is in a common-law relationship with?”

“What… do you mean?”

“To be frank, I think you know what I’m getting at. Our family and yours are a bit…”

Trailing off, Lee Ah-seong let out a light laugh.

It was a sneer.