SOG Ch 201

When Jae-chan remained silent, Han Tae-hoon continued explaining that taking as many random photos as possible would suffice. He assured Jae-chan that he and the account manager would make the final selection, handing him a high-end mirrorless camera from the center’s supply room.

At first, he didn’t think much of it. Considering how handsome Woo-jin was, any photo was bound to turn out well- he thought this not-quite-mission would be done in five minutes.

But there was an unexpected problem.

‘Hey….’

That afternoon, Woo-jin, who had willingly become his subject in the Guide Bureau parking lot, raised a questioning look at Jae-chan’s voice.

‘Why are you so ridiculously handsome?’

Jae-chan faced a serious dilemma. Was it the high-resolution camera capturing every single eyelash and soft shadow, or was Go Woo-jin himself the problem?

Woo-jin was radiant in any frame.

Even when shot at an angle, when blurred by a slip of the finger, or when breaking into laughter after holding it in due to Jae-chan’s clumsy handling of the heavy camera – his natural charm simply overflowed.

There’s no need to be this handsome.

Jae-chan sighed at his own unchanging selfishness. He wanted to be the only one to see how handsome his lover is. He didn’t want to share with anyone.

‘Am I really that handsome?’

You should know from looking in the mirror. As Jae-chan looked at him disgruntledly, Woo-jin came closer, softly kissed his cheek and whispered.

‘It’s because I’m in front of you.’

‘…?’

‘I’m trying to look more handsome when I’m in front of you.’

…Was he asking for kisses now?

Seon Jae-chan immediately threw down the camera (actually, he carefully put it back in its case) and rushed to Woo-jin. He passionately kissed his handsome jaw and cheeks, barely managed to control himself, and ended the first shoot saying ‘I wish work would end soon’ with regret.

All taken photos were transferred to a personal hard drive and the original data was erased. After the first shoot, he went from place to place trying to find locations where Woo-jin might look less handsome, and finally brought somewhat acceptable results to Han Tae-hoon.

Of course, Han Tae-hoon’s reaction to the photos wasn’t favorable.

‘Where does one shoot to get photos like these?’

Han Tae-hoon asked after patiently checking hundreds of nearly black-and-white photos where Go Woo-jin was barely visible. He didn’t ask unnecessary questions like why the emergency exit was chosen as the location. He just advised while returning the camera:

‘Bring me cleaner, brighter, radiant photos.’

‘…Are you using them for toothpaste ads?’

Seon Jae-chan responded grumpily, but inwardly understood Han Tae-hoon’s instructions. He probably meant to shoot him like a hero of the Union People.

Afterward, Jae-chan stubbornly continued taking photos only in the emergency exit, pretending not to understand the shooting intent. But things started going unexpectedly. The more Jae-chan tried to take poor photos, the more profound and excellent ones were captured.

Whether gazing down at the lens in a somber pose or standing tall with an air of authority, Woo-jin’s perfection overwhelmed every shot. Staring at the glowing images, Jae-chan could only feel defeated.

Even when shooting from a low angle, Woo-jin resembled a sculpture. It explained why Jae-chan often found himself… exhilarated whenever he looked up at Woo-jin during intimate moments.

And Han Tae-hoon’s stubbornness matched Jae-chan’s when receiving these results. Again. Again. The strict instructions kept coming back.

After about three firm rejections like this.

Jae-chan wanted to give up everything. Thinking it would be the last time, he devised a final measure.

He undertook additional unauthorized photography of another person.

‘How about these?’

Jae-chan took photos of Chae Seong-hwan and presented them to his demanding superior.

‘I noticed on SNS there weren’t any photos of Esper Chae Seong-hwan yet, so I took some.’

In the mix were images of Chae Seong-hwan casually removing a leather jacket, winking playfully, and smiling like a heartthrob showing all his healthy molars after stair exercises.

He planted Chae Seong-hwan’s face like traps between Woo-jin’s photos. All were results obtained by encouraging Chae Seong-hwan with endless praise like ‘Oh, that’s great! Perfect!’

Jae-chan hadn’t thought much when capturing Esper Chae Seong-hwan, whom he frequently met thanks to Woo-jin. He included him simply because Chae Seong-hwan was much older than Han Tae-hoon and seemed casual with him, perhaps because they were paired as Esper-Guide. While thinking it was surprising that photos of the always-cooperative Chae Seong-hwan, who had quite a demand, hadn’t been uploaded to SNS yet.

‘……’

Han Tae-hoon remained silent throughout the monitoring. He seemed utterly speechless at the frequent pop-up-like appearances of Chae Seong-hwan Esper winking in the photos. And the result was surprising.

‘This will do.’

Han Tae-hoon, who had been the perfect example of a strict high-ranking official without a single gap, finally approved.

Though he wondered why his superior’s mind suddenly changed, Jae-chan left the director’s office feeling relieved, thinking what’s good is good. Of course, even though he’d excluded the best shots, he couldn’t prevent Woo-jin’s photos from becoming a hot topic, but still.

After that, Jae-chan developed a habit. He started taking photos of Woo-jin whenever he could, even with his phone.

This led to Woo-jin developing a habit of photographing Jae-chan too. Even during the praying mantis incident, Woo-jin’s reflexive mention of photos was probably because of this.

Anyway….

“That’s what happened.”

Jae-chan swallowed a sigh as he finished explaining.

He never imagined there would be rumors of him doing inappropriate things with Woo-jin in the emergency exit. While the team leader’s public mention of his lover was incomprehensible, he now understood the reactions from Nam Hae-sol, Se-in, and Team 1’s apprentices.

“But I don’t see any photos of Chae Seong-hwan here. Did you really take them?”

Gyeong Chang-hyun, who had already accessed SNS and was scanning the center’s account, asked unexpectedly.

“Woo-jin’s photos were taken a month ago but only uploaded recently.”

They’ll probably upload them later. Jae-chan shrugged indifferently.

“…Still, you seem oddly okay with this.”

Meanwhile, Chang-hyun, observing Jae-chan closely, found it surprising. Frankly speaking, while couples engaging in inappropriate acts in the guiding department weren’t exactly rare, the rumors about Jae-chan and Woo-jin had blown up disproportionately. He thought he’d be jumping mad with indignation if it were him, but his friend’s expression remained calm.

“It can’t be helped if I’m dating him.”

Seon Jae-chan’s unnecessarily serious response caught Chang-hyun off guard. He spoke with the solemnity of a corporate executive giving an inauguration speech.

“I’m dating a celebrity. It means dealing with such things, and I just have to endure it.”

“Damn…”

Chang-hyun sighed. Though he himself had recently clutched onto Seon Jae-chan and wept openly when breaking up with his girlfriend, saying ‘It’s like walking in darkness, why is love so tragic?’

“Ah, where are you going?”

Chang-hyun asked Jae-chan who was heading down the stairs. Not realizing he was becoming similar to Chang-hyun whom he considered childish, Jae-chan gestured at the dim surroundings and explained.

“This is an emergency exit too. Got to leave quickly.”

You don’t want rumors with me too, right? When he joked, Chang-hyun darted past Jae-chan. His speed opening the door and rushing out couldn’t have been faster.

*

For several days, Jae-chan frantically handled the pile of work dumped on him by the team leader. Though people didn’t know because he wasn’t openly talking about it like Chang-hyun, he was preparing for an exam. Naturally, he had less time to study. Same with dating time.

“Team Leader, here’s Esper Ahn Harin’s spectrum results.”

One day, unable to bear it anymore, Jae-chan carefully approached the team leader. While delivering reports about the Esper under Guide Team 1’s management due to his connection, he tried to correct the rumors about himself. To summarize what he conveyed to the team leader:

Fact 1. Emergency exit dates only happened during voluntary unpaid overtime hours.

Fact 2. Entering the emergency exit with Go Woo-jin during work hours was due to Guide Bureau Director Han Tae-hoon’s orders.

He respectfully submitted evidence including a self-written confirmation signed by Han Tae-hoon and screenshots of the center’s account, but Team Leader Choi responded expressionlessly:

“Let’s not make a fuss.”

“Yes, I just wanted to let you know.”

I respect you, Team Leader. Finally, Jae-chan said only that much before hurrying out of the office.

Still, this attempt had a slight effect, achieving the remarkable feat of increasing his daily sleep from three-four hours to about six hours.

Of course, the team leader’s offensive hadn’t completely softened. Seon Jae-chan still had to work overtime, and meanwhile, the exam date was rapidly approaching.

Eventually, it was inevitable that he had to bring study materials even on their few date nights.

One evening in early October, with the exam two weeks away, Jae-chan was taking notes while listening to lectures at Woo-jin’s house after a late day at work when he put down his pen. As he was pressing his eyelids that kept closing from lack of sleep, a hand from behind gently massaged his neck.

“Is there much left?”

Woo-jin, who approached making his presence known so as not to startle Jae-chan, embraced his shoulders. His warm lips grazed Jae-chan’s soft earlobe.