TSG 21

There were two things Se-hyun realized while living in this world. The first was that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape his trait, and the second was that Shin Tae-oh would never like Jin Hye-in.

So, Shin Tae-oh wouldn’t say anything if he cut off the relationship with Jin Hye-in.

Se-hyun gazed at Shin Tae-oh, who had turned towards him and thought of a way to make Jin Hye-in angry.

‘Babe. Hold my hand.’

Or

‘Stop right there. I’m going to come and kiss you.’

What if she rushes at him after saying those line?

‘Not bad, but not the best either.’

There were many pitfalls in just yelling out impulsively.

First, he was a secretary. Se-hyun was in a position where he had to think about the consequences of making a surprise announcement and creating an issue.

Se-hyun thought it was presumptuous to ask about the company’s situation when he was just a secretary, but now he was much more concerned. Because what he did would be handed over to his superior, who would take care of it.

Next, it came down to his personal preferences. If someone asked about his preference out of the blue…

‘It wouldn’t be interesting if I revealed it all at once.’

Looking at Jin Hye-in behind Shin Tae-oh, Se-hyun slowly opened his mouth.

“CEO Shin Tae-oh…”

Se-hyun deliberately pronounced Shin Tae-oh’s full name.

“Your husband-to-be is looking for you.”

“What?”

Jin Hye-in’s reaction was faster. He ignored her shocked expression as if he didn’t see it.

Seeing Shin Tae-oh’s eyebrows slightly raised, Se-hyun calmly continued with his lie.

“Shall I tell him to wait?”

The secretary has set the stage; now it’s up to the boss to make a choice. Looking at Se-hyun’s nonchalant face, Shin Tae-oh nodded as if asking what he was up to.

“Let’s go now.”

“All right.”

Se-hyun quickly left the venue to carry out his instructions. Meanwhile, as he passed by, he heard Jin-hye-in muttering to herself.

“Husband-to-be?”

When she asked who that was, Se-hyun remained silent and said, “I can’t tell you in detail.”

“Not you, right?”

So, while she may have threatened to fire him, she may also be wondering about the husband-to-be who dropped from the skies. Allow her to overthink it for a moment.

Se-hyun straightened his back even more when Jin Hye-in’s glare bore through it.

‘If you hadn’t threatened you’d cut me, I wouldn’t have stepped forward.’

Se-hyun didn’t mind if she approached Shin Tae-oh. But she shouldn’t have attempted to threaten his comfortable life.

He couldn’t stop smiling after returning what had been done to him by Jin Hye-in. Suddenly, his wrist was grabbed, and he tumbled to the side. He fell unexpectedly in an unfamiliar direction and was caught in Shin Tae-oh’s strong grip, which kept him from falling.

“Come here.”

Shin Tae-oh’s unstoppable strides led Se-hyun to be dragged helplessly by him. The frantic movement stopped only after a loud sound rang out in the rapidly changing vision. As Se-hyun was looking at him while breathing heavily, wondering where he had been taken, he noticed a picture over Shin Tae-oh’s shoulder that appeared to show a green man running out. They were on an emergency staircase.

“Now that I think about it, are you the type to be confused when things don’t go as planned?”

He wanted to leave after hearing Shin Tae-oh’s nonsense.

“Do you mean me?”

“There are also words like fiancé and lover. But isn’t the term “husband-to-be” a little strange?

“Ah…”

Se-hyun understood why Shin Tae-oh was like that. However, Se-hyun said “husband-to-be” on purpose.

Se-hyun was annoyed that Jin Hye-in proudly referred to Shin Tae-oh as her husband even though they had no relationship, so he brought up that word. Now he was going to explain to Shin Tae-oh why he did that…

“Where is my husband-to-be? Here? Are you, the one in front of me, is that husband. to. be?”

“…”

He didn’t want to say it anymore.

Se-hyun thought that if he told him, he would say something else instead of thinking, ‘Did Jin Hye-in do that?’ In this case, he only had one answer.

“I’m sorry for lying.”

Se-hyun bowed his head. If he had gone back, the chairman of Jinmyung Group might have questioned his actions.

“Apologizing for lying, even though it’s not a lie.”

Why wasn’t it a lie? He pondered for a moment before understanding. He thought that if Shin Tae-oh was thinking of Yoo Jin-ha, he could think that way.

“Good job.”

Shin Tae-oh patted Se-hyun on the shoulder and said.

“Uh… Thank you.”

It felt strange, so Se-hyun politely bowed and looked to the side. He couldn’t look directly at Shin Tae-oh’s face. It wasn’t a particularly great compliment, but it made his heart skip a beat. There was undoubtedly one cause of this emotion.

‘Why am I so moved by this…’

Shin Tae-oh praised him for handling the situation well, even though he might have felt awkward about the situation Se-hyun unilaterally created. It came back as a touching moment.

“Shouldn’t we go back now?”

Se-hyun spoke while loosening his tie, blaming it for the tightness in his throat. Shin Tae-oh nodded slightly.

“Anyway, let’s just skip this for today and then we can have a real husband-to-be next time. Let’s go and wrap things up.”

“Understood.”

Se-hyun, who welcomed the excuse to leave, opened the door.

‘Let’s say what I just felt was that of a secretary who wanted to be recognized by his boss.’

Strictly speaking, it was a desire for recognition. After rationalizing it like that, Se-hyun didn’t want to think about it anymore and walked quickly.

Shin Tae-oh just watched Se-hyun leave without stopping him. Shin Tae-oh stroked his chin as he looked at the empty space left by Se-hyun.

“I can’t tell from the expression…”

Se-hyun was a person whose thoughts and emotions were always hard to discern. Se-hyun may have shown his emotions when he was excited or when his expression collapsed due to the heat, but as a secretary who moved around, he was unreadable.

“But he saw a response coming from somewhere else?”

When he turned his head to avoid making eye contact, he noticed that Se-hyun’s ears were red.

“Secretary Ahn is shy.”

It was at this point that he noticed something unexpected about the cat-like man, who was normally indifferent about his surroundings.

“A shy cat. An embarrassed cat. A cat with reddened ears…”

Shin Tae-oh tried a variety of descriptions but couldn’t find the right words.

Shin Tae-oh thought for a moment and mentioned the thing he liked the most.

“Blushing cat?”

If he shortens the ears, it becomes cute…

Shin Tae-oh tilted his head.

Wasn’t that adorable?

⍣⍣⍣

The SR chairman’s secretary came to replace Se-hyun, who had gone to organize the place.

“The Chairman is looking for you.”

Shin Tae-oh, who was thinking of going out with Se-hyun, hesitated for a moment before realizing he had no choice.

“Where is she?”

“She asked you to come down to the basement. She’s in the car.”

“All right. I will go on my own, so please take care of my secretary.”

Shin Tae-oh raised his hand to signal that Se-hyun didn’t need to follow him and turned away. When the secretary noticed him heading toward the elevator, he went into the banquet hall to find Se-hyun.

Shin Tae-oh came down to the basement and opened the door of the sedan. The moment he realized there was no one inside, someone waved their hand toward him.

“Ugh.”

When the hand swung by Chairman Jeong Mi-jung struck the exact center of his back, Shin Tae-oh screamed dramatically.

“Well done. Very well done.”

“You know that hitting where the hand can’t reach is really mean, you know?”

“You do something that deserves to be beaten, yet you still want to choose a place where you deserve to be hit. I told you to find a lover, but you made a bunch of lies!”

Jeong Mi-jung, as if she had not yet fully recovered from what had happened earlier, hit Shin Tae-oh on the back a few more times before becoming aware of people’s gaze around them, and pushing him into the car.

Considering his large build, Shin Tae-oh would not be easily pushed, but seeing the situation, he willingly folded himself and into the car. He then rubbed his burning back against the seat to express his injustice

“I didn’t lie.”

“Who. Who is that husband-to-be?”

“You saw it.”

“What?”

Shin Tae-oh kept his mouth shut when Jeong Mi-jung looked at him asking who he was talking about.

“Why can’t you say it?”

“Because I’m not sure yet. What does Jinmyung Chairman say?”

“Last time I rejected them with the excuse of you having a lover, and this time I rejected them because you have a husband-to-be. How can such a proud person come out?”

“Anyway, I refused.”

Jeong Mi-jung sighed as she observed Shin Tae-oh’s nonchalant response, which seemed to have found its pace.

“When you were young, I thought you were mature…”

While Jeong Mi-jung was mentioning Shin Tae-oh’s childhood, she realized her mistake and closed her mouth. Shin Tae-oh shook his head when he noticed the sudden change in her mood.

“Both then and now, I live a life very befitting my age.”

“Right. Do you really not have anyone you’re dating? Or are you still not sure?”

Despite Shin Tae-oh’s playful reply, Jeong Mi-jung’s expression did not lighten. She spoke in a subdued voice.

“If you don’t know how you feel yet…”

“It’s mine, who else would know if I don’t?”

“Tae-oh.”

“There is no need to talk about things like counseling because they are not a solution. Trust your son. He’ll tell you…”

Shin Tae-oh hugged Jeong Mi-jung. Although he wanted to soothe his mother’s concerns, Shin Tae-oh’s eyes were actually sunken.

“Because I will become someone who is loved.”