Chapter 23: The Unbreakable Bond

“Then is it because you’re worried about it getting out?”

“That’s not it…”

“Don’t worry. Even if an article comes out, your identity won’t be revealed, and I’ll take care of everything. So just play along with me. Oh, I will let a few people at the company know. So we can deal with things quickly if something happens.”

“Han Taekyung-ssi, I…”

“You have nothing to lose. I’ll treat you really well.”

Taekyung, annoyingly, kept cutting Yoonseo off and rattling on.

Yoonseo, feeling like he was getting sucked into his sophistry, squeezed his eyes shut.

He had to refute him somehow, but he couldn’t even open his mouth properly because Taekyung’s voice was constantly nagging at him.

“We both know each other’s secondary genders, so is there a reason to dislike it so much?”

“…”

“Or are you the type who can’t have s*x unless you’re dating?”

“…”

“Your mind might change after you’ve tried it with me once.”

Taekyung, who had made the crude remark with a sly smile, was wearing a matching expression.

Yoonseo didn’t even feel the need to respond.

But Taekyung, undeterred, continued his questions.

“Shall I get rid of someone else for you? Is there anyone you don’t like?”

“…”

“Should I introduce you to a place with a better environment and better pay? The place you’re at now is outsourced, so should I look into a position at the main company? Just tell me whatever you want.”

He felt as if he were facing a solid, insurmountable wall.

Having heard that he wasn’t seeing anyone, Taekyung seemed to have decided that he had no reason to back down.

The food he had barely chewed and swallowed without savoring felt like it was all stuck in his solar plexus.

He felt so stuffy that he was nauseous.

“You were the one who said you’d help if I needed it, PD Choi.”

“…”

“Don’t tell me it was just an empty promise?”

Taekyung asked with an exaggeratedly wide-eyed expression.

Yoonseo, who had been hit where it hurt before he could even prepare himself, was at a loss for words and just moved his lips.

It seemed that in front of Taekyung, he kept repeating mistakes he wouldn’t normally make.

The thought that he had to fix it somehow made the words tumble out.

“That’s not it, I… I just thought you wouldn’t need my help, Han Taekyung-ssi…”

He had hastily added the words, but it didn’t work on Taekyung.

“So it was an empty promise.”

Taekyung, who showed his disappointment without filtering it, quietly took a sip of water.

The thought that it couldn’t be helped if Taekyung felt it was an empty promise was in vain, as hearing the words directly made his face flush with shame.

A cold sweat even formed on his forehead.

Yoonseo lowered his gaze and just clenched and unclenched his hands.

Taekyung observed him with an interested gaze and then smiled gently.

The atmosphere had now completely tilted in his favor.

To the point where Yoonseo could never escape, no matter how much he struggled.

“It’s okay. We can just make it not an empty promise now.”

“…”

“Let’s date, PD Choi.”

Taekyung, who was looking at him with a straight gaze, had a charming smile on his face.

Yoonseo, who had raised his head, looked at him for a while and then helplessly lowered his eyes.

He swallowed a deep sigh inwardly and had to clench his jaw to suppress the past memories that were surging back.

‘I’m so fcking curious what it’s like to have s*x with a dominant Omega. I think his heat is about to start… Fck, are you crazy? Do you know how much effort I put in to sleep with him once…’

The memory of the person who had given him an indelible wound.

They had just finished a simple shoot of throwing a dart to decide their travel destination in the 2nd-floor lounge.

On the broadcast, it would be presented as if they had filmed on the morning of their departure and left that very day, but in reality, it was a shoot to decide their next or next-next destination.

That way, they could research the location in advance, cast, and decide on the direction of the shoot.

While he was texting Chaewon that the dart had hit Gangneung, Jaehoon took the target and darts used in the shoot and went up to the office.

By the time he had packed his equipment and gone down to the underground parking lot, it was past 7:30 in the morning.

After putting the camera bag in the trunk and getting into the driver’s seat, Yoonseo immediately took out his phone.

It was to check how long it would take to get to their destination.

But he couldn’t run the navigation app right away.

A single vibration from his phone showed him a notification.

[Choi Yoonseo-nim

You are scheduled for a regular check-up on Saturday, March 10th at 8 AM.

Please contact us if there are any changes.]

It was a reminder of his regular check-up date.

He had expected it on the day he had his appointment with Taekyung, but sure enough, the check-up date was not far off.

This Saturday, of all days.

He had check-ups every two months, but he didn’t know why the date seemed to come around so quickly.

He let out a faint sigh and was about to check the navigation app again when his phone vibrated briefly, signaling a new message.

[Yoonseo-ssi, you said you’re going on a shoot today, right? Have a safe trip.]

A text from an unsaved number.

But an eleven-digit number that had become undeniably familiar.

The sender was Han Taekyung.

The memory of last Saturday made him bite his lower lip mercilessly.

In the dinner proposal he had accepted to definitively end his relationship with Taekyung, Yoonseo had not been able to achieve anything as he had intended.

He had had no choice but to grant Taekyung’s request.

‘I’ll contact you. Though it would be even better if you contacted me first, PD-nim.’

Far from ending his relationship with Taekyung, he had become even more entangled.

If there had been someone to blame, he wouldn’t have felt so helpless.

Since he was the one who had said he would grant the request, there was no way out.

‘Hmm… the title ‘PD-nim’ is a bit stiff. Can I call you Yoonseo-ssi? How old are you, Yoonseo-ssi? I think I’m a little older…’

The thought of the stubbornly persistent Han Taekyung made him feel stuffy, as if something were lodged in his chest.

No matter how he refuted, Taekyung had deftly retorted and gotten away with it, and he had been confident that he would make him grant his request no matter what.

He wondered if he had ever felt so powerless in his life; nothing seemed to work on Taekyung.

‘Okay, then. We won’t have s*x until you’re used to it. Deal? Ah, I’m okay with it whenever you’re okay with it, PD-nim.’

At the end of their long back-and-forth, it was Yoonseo who had given in first.

How could he say such things without a change in expression…

Yoonseo thought of Taekyung, who had offered him an empty promise and shamelessly extended his pinky finger.

Only a long sigh escaped him.

Yoonseo still didn’t understand why he had to be Taekyung’s dating partner and acting practice partner.

Another actor would be better at acting, and they would better understand his ambition to perfectly portray his role, so why did it have to be him?

Since he couldn’t understand at all, his thoughts strayed to other possibilities.

He wondered if he was trying to get revenge on him.

For treating someone who had shown him kindness so coldly and for trying to get out of the situation with empty pleasantries.

If not that, then perhaps he, like that senior, was only interested in sleeping with a dominant Omega once.

Since Omegas were rarer than Alphas, and especially dominant Omegas were even rarer and considered precious.

Although it was unreliable, they had made a pinky promise, but what if Taekyung had no intention of keeping it in the first place…

“Seonbaenim?”

“…Huh? Oh… Jaehoon, when did you get here?”

“Just now. Is something wrong?”

“…No. Let’s go. Are you buckled up?”

He had been so lost in thought that he hadn’t even noticed Jaehoon getting into the passenger seat.

Yoonseo, who had managed a bright smile, finally turned on the navigation app and entered the destination.

It seemed they could reach their destination in about three hours, give or take.

Yoonseo placed his phone on the holder and took a slow, deep breath.

It had already happened.

He had agreed to grant Taekyung’s request, and the ridiculous fake relationship had begun.

He couldn’t take it back, so he had to accept it, but it was just so difficult.

He had never acted before, so would he be of any help to Taekyung?

Would he be lucky if he didn’t ruin the mood?

Yoonseo, who had swallowed a self-deprecating laugh at the thought, suddenly squeezed the steering wheel tightly.

“…”

Come to think of it, it seemed he wasn’t completely unrelated to acting.

Sometimes, he would show an exaggerated reaction in front of the camera.

But what was even closer to acting was his attitude toward others.

Whether he liked the person or not, he always faced them with a smiling face, and he always said he was fine to those who seemed to worry about him or tried to take care of him.

That was his acting.

‘You know your feelings are written all over your face, right, PD-nim.’

‘Anyone would think we’re fighting. Relax your face a little.’

Taekyung, a real actor, had already seen through it all and had seen his true, deeply sunken self…

There was no guarantee that he wouldn’t meet someone like Taekyung, someone as quick-witted as him, in the future.

If so, couldn’t he use this as an opportunity?

If he got used to dealing with him, wouldn’t he become more skilled at dealing with difficult people and at pretending to be okay in front of his brother?