TSG 56

As if swept away by his strength, Shin Tae-oh pushed Se-hyun out of the room once more after leaving the bathroom.

“Sir? Wait a minute.”

“It’s funny that I was told to leave twice in one day.”

Sin Tae-oh handed Se-hyun his phone and took the opportunity to grope his chest as well.

“Hey, what are you doing…”

It was so sudden that all Se-hyun could do was flinch, and then he saw the card in Shin Tae-oh’s hand. It didn’t seem like an overtly bold touch, but rather Shin Tae-oh retrieving the card.

“Don’t come in this time, go straight home.”

Shin Tae-oh smiled sweetly as he chased Se-hyun away with a friendly voice.

“Thank you.”

After that farewell, he shut the door, leaving Se-hyun standing there holding the saliva-soaked handkerchief and phone.

Now, he could finally go home feeling relieved, but Sin Tae-oh’s last goodbye lingered. It seemed to have a deeper meaning than just thanking him for the help…

‘I don’t know what that is.’

This vaguely uneasy feeling would likely linger even after going home.

Drop by drop of water fell from the damp handkerchief, leaving a mark.

⍣⍣⍣

Ha Jin-seong walked down an empty hallway.

“Did he really leave?”

The party hadn’t ended yet. Soon they would announce the name of the person who made the largest donation, so he was thinking of taking Se-hyun with him until then.

He wanted to show him. He wanted to show that he was better than Sin Tae-oh, but when he tried to find him, he couldn’t see a single strand of hair.

It seemed like he had circled the floor twice already, so he wondered if he should check other floors or just assume Se-hyun had left.

“I don’t think I would feel good if I saw him go to his room.”

Suddenly, he remembered an eyewitness story about Shin Tae-oh and Se-hyun going to the hotel together. At the time, he had used it simply as a means to mock Tae-oh, but thinking about it now, his mood was souring.

Ha Jin-seong stopped walking midway and looked up at the ceiling with his arms crossed. Search each room one by one?

Even though there was the efficient means of a phone, his increasingly crooked mind did not want to take the easy route.

Finally, the moment Ha Jin-seong was about to turn to go to the desk, a familiar face came into view.

“Ahn Se-hyun.”

He didn’t appear while Ha Jin-seong was wandering around looking for him, but showed up right when he was about to turn everything upside down.

“Why are you showing up now?”

As Ha Jin-seong grumbled, Se-hyun stopped walking and gave him a blank look.

“If you had shown up later, I would have really kicked up a fuss.”

He had intended to cause a commotion by insisting Se-hyun come to the desk, but since Se-hyun had shown up in time, he couldn’t do that anymore. So, he expressed his dissatisfaction, but there was a smirk at the corner of Ha Jin-seong’s mouth.

Then, as if he felt something, Ha Jin-seong’s smile disappeared and a cold look remained.

“What’s this?”

Even with Ha Jin-seong’s short question, Se-hyun immediately understood what he meant.

“I’m sorry. Would you please step aside?”

“What do you mean?”

“I have no obligation to inform you.”

Se-hyun didn’t give the desired response even to Ha Jin-seong’s irritated words. There was no reason to. He had no intention of confiding in Ha Jin-seong about anything related to Sin Tae-oh, no matter what happened.

“Ha, you’re really getting on my nerves.”

Ha Jin-seong lightly brushed his increasingly feverish eyes as he glared at Se-hyun.

“Have I been too easy going with you until now that you think I’m easy to handle?”

His discomfort seemed to be showing through his entire body. However, Se-hyun remained expressionless, just like the first time.

“Up until now, I’ve only said one thing consistently – I refuse. I’m still Shin Tae-oh’s secretary, and that won’t change going forward.”

Rather than backing down, Se-hyun listed reasons why Ha Jin-seong shouldn’t get excited. He knew this might make that guy really dislike him, but he didn’t have the leisure to deal with Ha Jin-seong right now.

Why was he coming at Se-hyun like this in the first place?

Moreover, he was not a person with such a deep affection for others as like Yoo Jin-ha.

Se-hyun had no intention of touching the original plot in order to keep himself well and care for his family, and he especially enjoyed watching the protagonist overcome the obstacles because he was familiar with them.

But why does Ha Jin-seong expect him to have a big heart like Yoo Jin-ha?

“Is the reason you need me because of pheromones?”

Since he had already started speaking, he opened his mouth with the intention of completely pushing Ha Jin-seong away.

“Then you can see why I don’t want to pretend to know. I don’t want to get involved. I don’t have the time to do that right now, and I’m too busy focusing only on my boss.”

He said a lot, but it boiled down to one thing.

I don’t like you. So let’s not get involved.

After bluntly venting part of his complicated feelings to Ha Jin-seong first, Se-hyun brushed past him. Although their shoulders bumped since Ha Jin-seong didn’t move aside, Ha Jin-seong didn’t turn back.

Unable to witness Ha Jin-seong, Ha Min-hyuk, and Yoo Jin-ha having a show off, and suddenly worrying about the boss who was coming with the rut…

Se-hyun felt so drained that if he could, he wanted to book a room and just sleep.

‘But I can’t spend tens of thousands of won just to rest for a bit.’

Though his steps were heavy, Se-hyun steadily moved forward, soon forgetting Ha Jin-seong who had spoken to him.

As Se-hyun disappeared and Ha Jin-seong was left alone, he reviewed and re-reviewed what had happened to him. After repeating it several times, Ha Jin-seong, who had finally accepted reality, muttered to himself.

“I really was too easy going.”

To the point he got this riled up.

If it was going to come out like this, Se-hyun should have pretended not to know until the end even though he knew Jin-seong’s secret. He shouldn’t have helped him. Even if he fell into a panic and was on the verge of death, he shouldn’t have reached out.

“This is fvcking ridiculous.”

His body was shaking with anger that went beyond being rejected for the scouting offer.

No, he became angry when he felt another Alpha’s pheromone in Se-hyun’s body. Now that his anger reached an unbearable point, his trembling suddenly stopped as if it had never happened.

Ha Jin-seong picked up his cell phone with calm eyes.

“Hey, let’s get started.”

He hung up without waiting for Ha Jin-woong’s response. He brushed the pheromones clinging to his shoulder with his fingertips and licked them with his tongue. The churning in his gut clearly indicated an Alpha’s pheromones, though the unpleasant taste contrasted with his smile as he walked away.

⍣⍣⍣

A post appeared on the company’s internal anonymous board. Though anonymous, only employees could make posts.

Our CEO and secretary seem really suspicious

What’s the deal between them????

└Are you crazy? Don’t you know that the CEO can see it too?? Take down the post;

└But what did you see??

└LOL It’s okay. I guess you’ll be resigning from work tomorrow LOL.

└No, I’m not just saying it for no reason

I saw them when I went to the hotel, and the boss called his secretary ‘honey’

And today, his secretary got Alpha pheromones on him;;

└Oh, you’re just a part-timer, right? Is this the company’s intranet? Are you crazy? Leave if you want to stay long

After being posted on the anonymous board, the post was taken down exactly ten minutes later. The fleeting post seemed innocuous, but its impact became apparent the next day.

“Did you see that post, team leader?”

Park Se-jin from the design team whispered to Kim Seong-hoon sitting next to him after pulling his chair over.

“What post?”

“The one on the anonymous board yesterday.”

Kim Seong-hoon shook his head, and as if expecting that, Park Se-jin lowered his voice further.

“It said the CEO and secretary, ahem, have an unusual relationship.”

Though Park Se-jin’s voice grew quieter, realizing his co-worker wasn’t someone to casually gossip with, he didn’t stop. The brief post from yesterday clearly left a lingering aftertaste. There’s no sweeter scent than the hint of an office romance.

“You don’t know that. And if he’s the secretary, they are always together.”

“The fact that he even had the CEO’s pheromones on him, that’s the end of the story.”

As for how far a secretary should follow, well, they couldn’t intervene or set standards. But wasn’t it suspicious enough to be covered in Alpha’s pheromone?

“Isn’t that because Secretary Ahn is a Beta? Since he can’t sense pheromones, he may not have realized they got on him.”

“Aish, I told you they’re dating?”

Park Se-jin pounded his chest as if he was frustrated.

“When someone asked Assistant Manager Yoo Jin-ha if Secretary Ahn had a lover, he said yes. And it turns out to be the CEO. The CEO.”

“Is that so?”

Now even Kim Seung-hoon seemed unsure, nodding here and there before shutting his mouth as if he spotted someone.

“I see.”

It was unclear when, but Hwang Hye-seong had been listening to Park Se-jin’s words and responded with a slightly dazed reaction. Hwang Hye-seong, who had confessed to Se-hyun before and been rejected, turned away dejectedly.

“Assistant Manager Hwang, I sent it to you by email, but can you check it now…”

Yoo Jin-ha approached and started talking, but trailed off as Hwang Hye-seong passed by. He didn’t know why Hwang Hye-seong was doing this, so he looked at someone else.

“What’s wrong with Assistant Manager Hwang?”

“Well, this seems wrong.”

“Yeah, the lines are crooked.”

The people who would usually kindly explain avoided Yoo Jin-ha’s gaze today. Knowing he was close with Se-hyun, they couldn’t bring themselves to speak to him.