Cold City Romance Chapter 5.2

Discovering stars, producing records, dramas, and films, and creating media content—everything he touched, success followed success, and the achievements and fame he built, along with the global popularity of cultural content, spread overseas.

After repeated successes, with Cha Dokyung’s phenomenal success that was close to a syndrome, he solidified his legendary status, being called the Midas of the entertainment industry. CEO Yeom earned the title of a master of celebrity image-making and a genius cultural content producer, and the influence he wielded was enough to sway the broadcasting and film industries.

Cha Dokyung, who had gone straight to his agency’s CEO office from the pictorial photoshoot with Hyun Serin, was looking at Yeom Taejung with a calm and composed face that was contrary to his gaze of intense disillusionment.

A biting remark, contradicting his calm tone, echoed through the CEO’s office.

“Don’t you think you’re being senile in your old age?”

“……”

“The HK family, and my relationship with them, you know it best, CEO Yeom. You know full well that Serin is like a younger sister to me.”

Cha Dokyung poured out vitriol at CEO Yeom elegantly, without batting an eye.

“A forty-three-year-old geezer with a thirty-one-year-old, is that even plausible……. How on earth did you sweet-talk Serin.”

Yeom Taejung rose from the CEO’s chair and approached Cha Dokyung with a shameless face.

“Whoa, whoa, calm down. Cha Dokyung…… What’s with you? I may look like this, but I’m single and still unmarried. Am I not allowed to date women? Should I just work myself to death from overwork?”

“Your love life is none of my business……. But why does the woman you’re dating have to be Hyun Serin?”

“……”

“What kind of scheme are you plotting behind my back again.”

“When you calmly talk down to me, calling me senile in my old age, you know, I get secretly hurt every time you do that?”

I did not even want to see him pretend to be a good person anymore. I was the one who knew best that everything that old snake spouted was all bullshit.

Yeom Taejung showed baseless confidence.

“And, you need to get your facts straight. It’s not me hitting on Hyun Serin, it’s her hitting on me. She was the one who approached me first.”

Cha Dokyung shook his head from side to side.

“What on earth did you say, and how did you say it, that Serin would suspect my relationship with you.”

“Can’t you grasp the situation? Hyun Serin, she’s trying to separate the HK Group affiliates to expand into the media content and entertainment business, and she’s using me right now.”

“……”

“Cha Dokyung, I know you hate me and want to kill me…… but fuck, is being capable a sin? Is being acknowledged a sin?”

Cha Dokyung clicked his tongue with a heartless expression.

“Are you saying, CEO Yeom, that you’re going to let Serin use you meekly?”

“Well, for me… with a company like HK, it’s not a losing business, is it?”

“Serin is not as easy a person as you think.”

Yeom Taejung and Hyun Serin resembled each other a lot.

The two ambitious figures of this era, united by ambition, were puffed up with the expectation and aspiration of sucking each other’s sweet nectar and using one another.

Yeom Taejung said as he caressed his own sharp jawline.

“That’s why I like her.”

Cha Dokyung once again poured out vitriol with an elegant and calm voice.

“CEO Yeom, you really need to meet someone worse than you and get what’s coming to you. You’ll only come to your senses after you get cheeky with a conglomerate family and go completely bankrupt.”

At those words, Yeom Taejung looked at Cha Dokyung and smiled slyly.

“Fuck, even your curses are so pretty.”

He moved closer to Cha Dokyung. The tall Yeom Taejung slowly scanned Cha Dokyung’s face and body with a sharp and biting gaze like a snake and said.

“Don’t worry about stuff like that, and just manage yourself properly.”

“……”

“You seem to have changed a bit?”

Cha Dokyung could not help but stiffen at the meticulous and sharp gaze that was scanning him from right in front of his nose with snake-like eyes. It was a very familiar gaze to me.

During his rookie days, he was always called in by Yeom Taejung like this and subjected to disgusting interrogations that crossed the line, under the pretext of an ‘inspection’.

Suddenly, he was reminded of his rookie days in his early twenties, when he was ignorant and naive, with no power or authority. Back then, the powerful CEO Yeom felt like a god.

Although the situation was reversed now.

“Yes, Dokyung…… you’ve definitely changed a bit.”

His gaze, sharp as an awl and snake-like, was always as picky and accurate as his reputation.

“Cha Dokyung, are you dating someone?”

Cha Dokyung snorted in CEO Yeom’s face.

“Do I have time to date? I’m busy enough struggling in the trap you’ve set.”

“Fuck, you should lie about something believable. Who are you trying to fool……. Is there anyone who knows you better than me?”

Yeom Taejung always overconfided in his intuition.

The person who had succeeded with just his gut feeling and insight, and who had risen to this position by going all-in and betting everything he had on the belief that his gut was certain, was precisely Yeom Taejung. It was not that he was lucky. Yeom Taejung always had a good gut feeling. That gut was dozens of times more exceptional than others’.

“Move aside, don’t frame an innocent person.”

Yeom Taejung narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

“An innocent person? I don’t think so…….”

Cha Dokyung let out a sigh of resignation as if he did not want to associate with him any longer and said.

“More importantly, I have a favor to ask. I’m not in good condition these days, so please don’t schedule any official activities for a while.”

He had realized with his whole body at ‘Messiah’ last time that the pheromone disturbance had become serious. For the time being, he did not have the confidence to handle his schedule properly. He did not know when he would encounter that damn state of disturbance again. He needed the temporal and emotional leeway to overcome this situation somehow.

Yeom Taejung, who had been quietly observing Cha Dokyung with bated breath for a good while, licked his lips as he looked at the moist corners of Cha Dokyung’s eyes and his red lips.

“Strange……. You say you’re not dating, so why is your face so full of sex appeal?”

CEO Yeom suddenly strode closer. Cha Dokyung felt Yeom Taejung’s breath on his skin as he took a step closer to him, and he pushed him away with all his might. No, it was more like he threw him.

“Fuck……, are you crazy?”

CEO Yeom pretended to be pushed back and made a fuss.

“Hey, be gentle……. Is it because you came back from shooting an action movie in Prague? Cha Dokyung. You bastard, why did you get so strong?”

“Haa, fuck……, do you wish for me to get into a scandal while dating?”

Cha Dokyung threatened him with an elegant smile.

“Should I start a scandal?”

“What?”

“If I date a famous dominant alpha that the whole world knows and it’s revealed that I’m an omega……. Then, I can get one over on you, right?”

“……”

“Yes, dating? What’s the big deal, let’s try it.”

CEO Yeom laughed as if it were ridiculous.

“Are you saying you’ll tear down the tower you’ve painstakingly built for ten years?”

“……”

“Cha Dokyung, you wanted it too……. Fuck, why do you make me say the same thing over and over again every quarter?”

“……”

“You were the one who agreed to my proposal, saying you weren’t interested in things like love or dating. That you wanted to be recognized as a real actor and that you wanted to succeed as a top star in this industry at all costs.”

“……”

“Dokyung, if it’s revealed that you’re an omega, you won’t be able to play the male lead like you do now.”

“……”

“Have you forgotten how you clung to me, saying you wanted to do serious acting? Thanks to that, you’ve been able to do all the roles and acting activities you wanted so far, without being discriminated against for your trait, and without the constraints or limitations of being an omega.”

“……”

“You received all the special treatment because of me. As if you were royalty, where else is there a kid who has received special favors like you and engaged in entertainment activities comfortably to your liking?”

“……”

“Then, doesn’t that mean the deal we made is properly established? If you gain something, you lose something! You’ve been doing this for years, are you still foolishly unaware of that?”

At times like this, Cha Dokyung was again at a loss for words. Because it was a way of shifting the responsibility, saying that in the end, it was all your choice. And, it was not as if that was wrong. But why was he so angry that he could not bear it?

Cha Dokyung had lived like a doll for the past ten years, trapped within the world created by the producer CEO Yeom and a sturdy glass castle.

Sometimes it felt as if the crude brainwashing that had been instilled in him since his debut in his naive and immature early twenties was rushing in like a violent storm. The memories of the past that he wanted to erase, where he had been controlled by Yeom Taejung one by one, rushed in like an uncontrollable tidal wave and swallowed up the now fully grown him in anger.

I hate this murky and dirty feeling of my blood running dry and my energy being sucked out.

It was tiring to even exchange words with that man any longer. It seemed better to stop dealing with him and go back at this point.

“Haa, okay. I get it. The movie filming is over, and I want to rest a bit……. For the time being, tell Chief Koo not to schedule anything for me.”

“Where does it hurt so much?”

CEO Yeom furrowed his brow, pretending to be worried. As expected of a former actor, his acting was quite natural.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s an illness that gets better with rest.”

Other than his personal physician, Professor Yoo, no one knew the fact that Cha Dokyung was suffering from a disturbance and what its symptoms were. He would rather die than let that man know about it.

“Cha Dokyung, you really fucking hate me, don’t you.”

“……”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Yes, hate me as much as you want. Despise me, be furious, and keep taking it out on me……. As long as I can maintain the contract with the top star Cha Dokyung, what can’t I do? I should be the one to serve as your punching bag behind your back.”

Cha Dokyung suppressed his anger as he watched Yeom Taejung, who was once again putting on an act of being pitiful.

“If you make a mistake with Hyun Serin, it won’t be me, but her father, the chairman, and Executive Director Hyun Kangwoo who won’t let you off. So, act up after assessing the situation.”

A sparkling glint appeared in Yeom Taejung’s eyes.

“This is a secret, but I’ll only tell my pretty Dokyung.”

Cha Dokyung does not believe his words about it being a secret. CEO Yeom never acts without calculation. The very act of leaking it to me while calling it a secret had a high probability of being his scheme. A deliberate scheme that fully took into account that I had a special connection with that family.

“What I’m interested in is not Hyun Serin but…… actually, Hyun Serin’s younger brother, Hyun Jaehwi.”

Cha Dokyung doubted his own ears. He had to ruminate for a long time to confirm if the name that had just flowed from CEO Yeom’s lips was the one he knew.

“Hyun Serin seemed to want to drag her younger brother into her business?”

“……”

“I happened to see that friend in person, and Hyun Jaehwi, that friend is quite a catch.”

“……”

“Despite being a child of the HK Group chaebol family, one of the top in South Korea, he has been completely shrouded in a veil without any mention in the media until now, starting with that mysterious background…….”

“……”

“An Ivy League graduate from Princeton, an ultra-elite from Bain & Company, who also possesses an unbelievably charming personality? On top of a fantastic physique. And he’s only twenty-six, so fucking young too.”

“……”

“Fuck, isn’t this a total fraud? He’s too much of a royal heritage class to be used for simple promotion.”

Cha Dokyung sneered as if it were absurd.

“But, what does that have to do with you, CEO Yeom? Are you trying to scout the young master of a chaebol family who isn’t even interested in being a celebrity?”

“Yes, I know that too. That high and mighty guy won’t be interested in the entertainment industry. Fuck…… damn it, my occupational hazard is flaring up again. What can I do if my eyes are drawn to a precious item without me even realizing it.”

“……”

“But if we use him well as Hyun Serin wishes, it will be quite helpful to our business.”

“……”

“This industry is all like that, isn’t it……. You know it best. In the end, this industry is just an image business full of illusions.”

CEO Yeom looked over Cha Dokyung as if he were the biggest beneficiary of that business.

“So, I’m thinking of keeping an eye on him too. Because Hyun Jaehwi is a top-tier high-end luxury item with a greater value than Hyun Serin.”

Yeom Taejung always overconfided in his intuition.

The person who had succeeded with just his gut feeling and insight, and who had risen to this position by going all-in and betting everything he had on the belief that his gut was certain, was precisely Yeom Taejung. It was not that he was lucky. Yeom Taejung always had a good gut feeling. That gut was dozens of times more exceptional than others’.

Cha Dokyung’s personal theory was that there was nothing good about an unwilling person being exposed to the media. Even if Hyun Serin stepped forward in front of the public with a glamorous appearance because she wanted to, would Hyun Jaehwi really agree to Hyun Serin’s purpose of using him?

Since he’s smart, he’ll probably conduct himself well and judge for himself. It was not his place to meddle in their family’s affairs.

“That’s that, but…….”

To Cha Dokyung, who was quietly lost in thought for a moment, Yeom Taejung once again stealthily approached and whispered in his ear.

“Cha Dokyung, how promiscuously are you playing around at ‘Messiah’ that rumors about you are reaching even my ears?”

Cha Dokyung glanced at Yeom Taejung shamelessly, as if to provoke him, and then retorted leisurely.

“I’ll take care of my private life on my own. I haven’t caused any particular trouble so far.”

“If it’s not dating, then what is it?”

“……”

“What are you going to do about this troublesome sex appeal on your face……. Wasn’t the noble and ascetic image, untouched by the world’s filth, the lifeblood of Cha Dokyung?”

“……”

“Stop playing around at Messiah so much. There’s a limit to how much I can shield you.”

“……”

“What kind of agency CEO cleans up the mess you’ve spilled like I do? This is all because I love and cherish you……. I told you, you’re the masterpiece I created.”

Cha Dokyung snorted at Yeom Taejung with a cold face, as if it were pathetic.

“Don’t forget that you and I, Cha Dokyung, are in the same boat.”

Yeom Taejung spouted that fucking nonsense again. The bullshit that I despised the most.

“I’ll at least serve as your punching bag. So, don’t you dare think of escaping from me.”

Cha Dokyung, who had been maintaining his silence, glared coldly at Yeom Taejung with eyes full of contempt.

“Disgusting. You snake-like man…….”

“……”

“Isn’t it your specialty to gently coax people like a tongue in your mouth and push them off a cliff, and once they come to their senses, you make sure they can’t escape from that mire.”

Yeom Taejung grinned.

“Fuck, thank you so much. It’s been a while since I’ve heard a compliment from Dokyung, so now I feel like working too.”

“……”

“If you’re sick, take good care of yourself. As you requested, I won’t schedule any other activities.”

“……”

“Still, I’ll send the suit prepared by HLV’s side with the stylist next week, so wear that and make sure to attend the brand party hosted by Hyun Serin. If you bail on that, I’ll get scolded by Serin.”

Yeom Taejung said with a sly smile and a lewd gaze.

“She’s pretty scary.”

Cha Dokyung did not even answer Yeom Taejung and stormed out of the CEO’s office with a ‘bang!’ of the door.

CEO Yeom was the person who knew best that Cha Dokyung hated him. He also knew best that despite hating and despising him, he had no choice but to walk this path with him.

Yeom Taejung actually enjoyed it, to the point of welcoming it with open arms, when I expressed that hatred and anger towards him. He was truly a crazy pervert.

‘……In the same boat?’

Fuck, crazy bastard, I lost my appetite.

It is true that if you meet Yeom Taejung before a meal, you cannot eat properly. Because he keeps irritating people and making them angry. I felt extremely unpleasant at the persistent, snake-like gaze that had been specially monitoring me under the pretext of ‘inspection’ since I was young.

Walking through the long, long lobby of the company building, Cha Dokyung suddenly recalled someone’s fresh and refreshing smile.

It was a bad taste. Getting turned on by someone with a pretty smile is a bad offense. However, even if I tried not to, whenever I felt shitty, someone’s smiling face would secretly come to mind. Then my mood would become refreshed faster than taking the medicine I had been taking for a long time. Then, Cha Dokyung thought that this was quite a self-deceptive act.

Fuck, it’s like I have a secret crush or something.

No one will know if I don’t say it, so it should be okay to secretly think of that kid’s smiling face once in a while when I feel shitty, right?

Yes, that much should be fine.