Cold City Romance Chapter 16.1

“Mr. Cha Dokyung, right?”

“…”

“You look quite different from the screen, so I didn’t recognize you.”

Coincidentally, a strange man who was smoking alone in the hotel’s VIP smoking room spoke to him, and Cha Dokyung exhaled cigarette smoke without a word.

Through the faint cigarette smoke, the white and long neckline and the slender jawline without any excess turned toward the man. An elegant dignity was felt, yet the haughty eyes with wet ends coolly measured up the unfamiliar opponent.

A man nearly 190 centimeters tall, with a neat appearance and an elite impression wearing glasses, scanned Cha Dokyung and smiled.

“The real thing is much clearer and more refreshing, I suppose. The screen can’t capture all the halo felt from the real person.”

“…”

“Was it mid-thirties? You don’t look your age at all, from your face.”

At the appraising gaze that scanned him up and down in an unpleasant way, Cha Dokyung quietly bowed his head in greeting and turned his head away without responding.

Since ordinary people could not enter this ‘H Hotel’ today, he was probably a guest from either Hyun Kangwoo’s side or the bride Kang Seoyeon’s side.

The man, like someone reluctant to let Cha Dokyung who was trying to leave the spot go, kept talking to him incessantly.

“It’s a shame. You haven’t been seen around lately…”

Having finished smoking, Cha Dokyung quickened his steps toward the ceremony hall.

“I’m sorry, excuse me.”

When Cha Dokyung turned away and did not respond, the strange man behind him, as if intentionally making sure he heard, spoke in an irritated voice.

“I heard he got kicked out of the industry for being arrogant just because of his face… As expected, the rumors were true.”

Being cursed at unilaterally in a face-to-face situation, being appraised like a product, spreading around groundless rumors they inflated on their own as if they were facts, and then expressing disappointment—all of it was commonplace for him.

Cha Dokyung ignored the strange man again and calmly quickened his steps.

Hyun Kangwoo’s wedding was an unofficial event, but it was the first time in nearly 2 years that Cha Dokyung, who had hidden his tracks, appeared in front of many people.

Fortunately, it was a non-open event where the HK Group, which was an affiliate of the H Hotel, had controlled the entire hotel to prevent ordinary people from entering and to stop reporters from filming, inviting only prominent figures from politics and business and carefully selected guests.

There were countless gazes scanning Cha Dokyung. However, since it was a gathering of high-ranking public officials who valued face and prominent figures from various upper classes, no one approached Cha Dokyung directly to speak to him or shamelessly held out their cell phones to film him.

Throughout the movement, the gazes of the guests who recognized the top star Cha Dokyung, who had gone into hiding, burned with curiosity.

“Hyun Kangwoo, congratulations.”

Cha Dokyung patted the shoulder of the upright groom neatly dressed in a tuxedo and said.

“May you be blessed with much happiness. I saw the bride in the waiting room, and she was really dazzling.”

Hyun Kangwoo smiled bitterly.

“She’s someone too good for me.”

“If you know that, treat Ms. Kang Seoyeon well.”

Cha Dokyung said while embracing Hyun Kangwoo in a manly way.

“You rascal, since you’ve become a dad, be happy for my share too.”

“What kind of talk is that, man. You have to be happy just as much as me.”

There was value in having maintained a friendship that had lasted over thirty years. Perhaps it was for days like this.

Cha Dokyung smiled with a pure blessing without showing any shadow and without a word. Today was the wedding of his closest friend and irreplaceable brother.

Kangwoo, really, congratulations.

I’m a person who doesn’t deserve to enjoy ordinary happiness. So it’s fine if you’re happy for my share too.

After giving congratulations to Hyun Kangwoo who was in the groom’s waiting room and walking out alone toward the passage leading to the ceremony hall, a group of guests who appeared to be friends from the bride’s side were buzzing in the middle of the passage, looking at someone.

Right at the end of the group’s gazes was him.

The overwhelming presence of the tall man dominated the surroundings, whether because of his tall frame or the perfect suit silhouette, and it unfilteredly captured the gazes of those passing through the passage. People stopped their steps and stared at the man in a daze.

The guests who were buzzing that he was the youngest son of HK Group Chairman Hyun poured out fervent favorable and admiring gazes toward him while listing his background and education.

Those whispering among themselves while looking at the sexy man who captured attention at once could not hide their flushed expressions.

Cha Dokyung stopped his steps in the waiting room passage and, becoming part of the audience in a daze behind the group of guests, stole a glance at the man’s side profile.

Cha Dokyung’s gaze frantically followed his footsteps.

Following the mature gaze and gestures of Hyun Jaehwi, who at thirty was emitting a much denser masculine scent than four years ago when he was twenty-six.

An adult man exuding a superior and dominant sexual appeal along with a restrained and ascetic atmosphere was walking toward him from the opposite side through the passage.

The beautiful man who had stood on the boundary between adult and boy was now, at thirty, completed as a perfect being without a single gap in his cool impression. The four years seemed to have gifted that beautiful and restrained man with mature depth and masculine sensuality.

Suddenly, their gazes tangled. As their eyes met, he approached closer and closer toward him.

Cha Dokyung stopped in the middle of the passage, fixed his eyes, and stared blankly at Hyun Jaehwi who was walking toward him.

Time slowed down more and more. Every time he took a step closer, the intact world disappeared. It felt like part of the brain responsible for consciousness was being lost. The surroundings turned pitch black and the light in his vision moved entirely following him.

He probably wouldn’t smile like the pretty boy from before anymore. There was not even a bit of immaturity or impatience left in him. His characteristically picture-like long and cool eyes held a relaxed leisure befitting a dominant phenotype reigning at the top.

At that moment, the guests from the bride’s side who had been looking at the man belatedly recognized Cha Dokyung standing at the back of the passage and buzzed.

Once again, all gazes uniformly turned toward Cha Dokyung, who was standing at the back of them in a daze.

He could not move his two feet, as if cement had been poured into them. Cha Dokyung, who had been standing blankly, forgot even to breathe as the intimidating body of the tall man approached so close that it seemed it would touch his hand.

“…”

‘Hello…’ That concise and refreshing single word that he had practiced alone countless times last night did not come out of his mouth. When Cha Dokyung foolishly forgot even to give a greeting, Hyun Jaehwi passed by Cha Dokyung indifferently like a stranger in the lobby passage leading to the waiting room, without giving even the slightest glance.

Not only did he not say a word, he did not give a gaze, nor even a knowing eye greeting. He thoroughly ignored Cha Dokyung as if he were a non-existent person and passed by.

He had thought he would get angry or enraged or hateful or smile or greet or react and respond to him, but the assumption that he would not even give a glance and thoroughly ignore him had no place anywhere in his imagination.

The disappeared world quickly reassembled. It was only after a long while that his blurred vision and dazed ears recognized the whispering voices of others.

Along with the guests, more crowds surrounded and looked at Cha Dokyung who was standing there in a daze outside the passage.

Unlike the business figures who were minding their faces, high-ranking officials, or elderly people, the younger guests of similar age were busy filming and gawking at Cha Dokyung, who had vanished from the media for the past 2 years, with their cell phones.

“Isn’t that Cha Dokyung?”

“He hasn’t been active lately, right?”

“I heard he’s the groom’s closest friend… They say he’s like an adopted son to Chairman Hyun.”

“Ah, that’s why he did so many HK ads. No wonder rumors spread that he was getting sponsorship from HK in the shadows.”

“Actors are definitely different. The real thing is much better than on screen, isn’t it?”

“On screen he seemed like an alpha, but seeing him in person, he gives a bit of an omega vibe, so I’m not really into it…”

Countless cold appraising eyes and words poured down surrounding Cha Dokyung.

For nearly 2 years, he had left the city and hidden in the countryside because he hated those frightening eyes. The gazes he directly felt after a long hiatus felt more cruel and violent than ever. Without a manager or security personnel, Cha Dokyung could not move from that spot because of the crowd gathered to gawk at him like a monkey in a zoo, blocking the passage.

Hyun Jaehwi had already disappeared.

He had been thoroughly ignored right in front of his eyes as if he were not there, so it was impossible to turn around, chase after him again, grab him, and shamelessly ask if he had been well.

Hello,

Hello, have you been well?

It’s really nice to see your face again like this.

How’s life in America.

I’m glad if you’ve found a good person.

…I’m really glad.

All the many words he had prepared all night vanished from his mind like a blank white page.

‘You erased me completely clean.’

Surrounded by the onlookers, Cha Dokyung closed his eyes right there. Just like the last time he stood in front of the camera, he could not breathe properly at all.

Professor Yoo diagnosed it as ‘panic disorder.’ When he closed his eyes in the fear of dying, people began to whisper even more fiercely. The countless cold eyes appraising him as if it were their right were horrific.

What was different from the past was the fact that Cha Dokyung at this spot now could not put on a hypocritical face like before, pretend as if nothing was wrong, and smile falsely in front of people.

Until Hyun Kangwoo and Kang Seoyeon’s wedding ceremony ended, Cha Dokyung was out of his mind the whole time, like someone whose soul had left his body.

Even after that, Hyun Jaehwi repeatedly turned away from Cha Dokyung.

He thoroughly ignored him as if he were a non-existent being. No, he intentionally excluded Cha Dokyung and cruelly isolated him. He did not give even a gap or proximity where the wandering person could approach him.

A glamorous mixed-race woman like a model from a high-fashion magazine and a man in an unidentified officer’s uniform sat side by side occupying the seats next to him. Hyun Jaehwi seemed to be chatting familiarly with them in English. To be precise, it seemed like he was authoritatively giving orders to the man in the officer’s uniform. He did not seem like the person Cha Dokyung knew at all.

At first, he thought the woman who approached him was his lover. However, while watching the two in a daze from his seat, he realized they did not seem to have any personal connection.

Even though Hyun Jaehwi cut off the short conversation and turned his gaze away, the gaze of the woman sitting next to him relentlessly followed him with regret.

The precarious sexual appeal he exuded outwardly at thirty was surprising. The ascetic and restrained face and body possessed a sexual appeal that could not coexist.

A vulgar desire rose that any woman or omega would want to sleep with him. The absurd delusion of that adult man’s body rolling around with that woman entangled obscenely.

At that moment, he stared toward him.

Their gazes intertwined. His cool and aggressive pupils seemed to pierce through his own deficient desire.

The man, with a cold-blooded and adult leisure that knew nothing of impatience or immaturity, coldly sneered as if thoroughly trampling Cha Dokyung.

In fact, even at that moment, Hyun Jaehwi was not looking at him. He seemed to be extremely vigilant, scanning the surroundings for something.

The cool-headed and complete leisure he already felt from him, and the masculinity that was arrogant to the point of dominance and superiority, was not the twenty-six-year-old young Hyun Jaehwi he knew.

Even without exchanging a single word, it was easy to tell from his attitude and gaze commanding and reigning over the man in the officer’s uniform sitting next to him. Over the past 4 years, how mercilessly and coldly he had grown into a man by killing the boy.