Strategic Mating Partner Chapter 34

Even though Sejin harbored no positive feelings towards Taehyun, the way Taehyun expressed delight over each dish and enjoyed his meal with genuine happiness had a calming effect. It was a sensation Sejin’s logic struggled to process: that he wasn’t bothered by this idiot’s eating.

Sensing Sejin’s gaze, Taehyun chewed and swallowed the food in his mouth before saying with a cheerful smile,

“Yours is right there, so eat up. It’ll get cold.”

He then proceeded to scoop up more chicken with the sauce, placing it on his bread and chewing with a contentment that was almost irritating, making Sejin curious about the taste. Of course, the lunchbox from the other day, which Sejin had forced himself to eat because even throwing it away felt like a chore, had been delicious, but… He came to his senses to find himself sitting in front of Taehyun, peeling the plastic wrap off the utensils.

“You’re supposed to eat it like this, with the bread. Ah, but you probably know better than me, right?”

Taehyun kept talking, whether Sejin responded or not. He continued talking as if he didn’t expect a reply in the first place. When Sejin finally picked up his fork and took a bite of the chicken, Taehyun gave him a thumbs-up, causing Sejin to choke in surprise. When Sejin looked up, a freshly opened bottle of water was offered to him.

“Sorry. I didn’t know you were so delicate. Here, have some water. I’ll leave it here.”

Sejin practically snatched the bottle and gulped down the water. The cold water filling his mouth and flowing down his throat finally stopped his coughing fit. Perhaps realizing he could be disrupting Sejin’s meal, Taehyun quietly ate. He was truly incomprehensible. Of course, since arriving in Korea, Sejin had been surrounded by incomprehensible things, but this man was on a whole other level.

He could just ignore me. Sejin didn’t even know what Taehyun did. His new manager had explained something, but Sejin hadn’t paid attention, so he didn’t remember. A truly bizarre man with a cast on his left foot who neither clung to him nor interfered, simply observing as if satisfied that Sejin was fine before leaving. And today was no different.

“Ah, that was really delicious.”

Having finished his meal with a happy expression, Taehyun quickly tidied up, cleared his space, and stood up. With a refreshed expression, as if his business was concluded, he left the training room without a second glance. Of course, he didn’t forget to say,

“Oh, I opened the window for ventilation, so close it when you leave. See you tomorrow.”

“…….”

See you tomorrow. Did that mean he was coming back again? Did this man have nothing better to do? As soon as Taehyun left, Sejin picked up his phone and checked his past messages. Since it was a new phone he got after arriving in Korea, there weren’t many messages, so he quickly found the one he was looking for.

It seems you’re a bit uncomfortable with me or the other agents, so……

The following explanation about Taehyun was brief. Sung Taehyun, a national taekwondo athlete, a good-natured guy who other athletes looked up to. Is that what good-natured looks like? Sejin frowned and tilted his head. Figuring there must be information online about him since he was a national athlete, he searched and was bombarded with an overwhelming amount of data. How could an athlete have so many media appearances? From highlight clips of variety shows to his competition records, the information seemed endless.

[Sung Taehyun]

Taekwondo Athlete

Born: 199X.08.01

Physique: 183cm, 75kg

Education: ○○ University

Awards: 20XX Asian Games Taekwondo Men’s -80kg Gold Medal

His popularity wasn’t an exaggeration; his social media following was larger than most celebrities. Sejin hadn’t realized how famous he was because he wasn’t interested in Korean media, but the more he scrolled, the more it sank in. And Sejin became puzzled. Why was someone so popular and famous doing this here? Did he get into some kind of trouble too? This confusion stemmed from not properly reading the explanation Hoyong had given him.

Regardless, Taehyun visited Sejin the next day, as if it had become a daily routine.

“…….”

As in the previous days, Taehyun settled down by the door, but today, unusually, he had brought a tablet and was engrossed in reading something. Sejin, once again bothered by what Taehyun was doing, glared at him. Noticing Sejin’s gaze, Taehyun said with a dismissive smile,

“I need to graduate sometime, so I’m studying in advance. Don’t mind me.”

Then he returned his attention to the tablet. He was either reading a thesis or something similar, his gaze scanning the dense text on the screen with a focused, intellectual air. It seemed an incongruous description for him, but watching his concentrated expression, Sejin thought otherwise. He had an objectively handsome face. The way his masculine nose bridge was accentuated every time he tilted his head was a sight that could capture anyone’s attention. At that moment, Sejin felt a surge of inexplicable resentment. He still couldn’t pinpoint the reason. Everything was a mystery.

“…….”

Realizing that Sejin was still staring at him, Taehyun playfully raised an eyebrow and looked back. I haven’t done anything today, have I? I didn’t give you a thumbs-up because you seemed to dislike it, I didn’t interfere, and I even moved aside so you could leave if you wanted to. What’s the problem? While his mere presence could be irritating, Taehyun had assumed Sejin had gotten used to it. Blinking innocently, wondering if Sejin still disliked him, Sejin suddenly asked,

“Why are you speaking informally?”

Taehyun struggled to contain his laughter at the fact that the first words Sejin uttered to him in Korean were a complaint about his casual speech.

“Oh, you’d prefer it if I spoke formally? Alright. It’s not like it’s difficult.”

The clearly teasing tone didn’t appease Sejin’s irritation. It was a trivial matter, and he didn’t really care about formal speech, but he just wanted to pick a fight with Taehyun. He wanted to see that carefree, laid-back expression crumble.

“Are you being sarcastic?”

When Sejin snapped at him again, Taehyun replied with a relaxed expression, as if looking down at him from high above.

“Then, may I interpret that as Joo Sejin starting a fight with me?”

His words were sharp, but the person uttering them wore a rather amused expression. Even though Sejin was scowling and snapping like a child throwing a tantrum. Sejin found this unbearably frustrating.

“I don’t need a babysitter. I can manage my own condition, and I don’t need you to stick around like this, so stop interfering and leave.”

At Sejin’s words, Taehyun murmured with a lingering smile,

“Interfering, huh….”

Then, with a gentle curve of his eyes, he said,

“Have I done anything that could be considered interfering? I feel like I’ve just been hanging around.”

Sejin tensed briefly at the shortened sentence, but Taehyun quickly added, as if he had forgotten,

“Sir.”

Sejin let out a hollow laugh at the absurd behavior. He was a truly strange person. Sejin had no idea how to deal with him. Taehyun was different from the idiotic seniors who tried to push him around and the officials who tried to persuade him to endure. He simply existed beside Sejin. As if to remind him that there was someone he could turn to for help if he ever wanted to. This uselessly passive interference was so irritating that Sejin couldn’t stand it.

“…….”

As Sejin glared at Taehyun, trembling with rage like a chihuahua, Taehyun stood up again with his relaxed, charming smile.

“It seems you don’t like me, but I’m here at the company’s request, so I can’t just do nothing. So, how about we cooperate nicely?”

Then, as if to further provoke Sejin, he added,

“Sir.”

“……..”

Finally, Sejin realized that this man was a type he couldn’t handle or deter with his usual methods. In Sejin’s experience, the compatibility between them couldn’t be any worse.