Pheromone Off Chapter 22

“Do you even know how much I’m worth? Do you know just how many schedules get pushed back if I get hurt, and how much damage that delay causes?!”

At the booming, lecturing words, Hajin replied listlessly, as if he were well-accustomed to such dramatic fits.

“…It must be massive. It must be grand. South Korea would probably shake.”

As he churned out the very answer the other wanted in a flat, indifferent voice, Kwon Sabin seemed at a loss for words, his lips twitching before he replied in a lowered tone.

“…So you do know.”

“We’re done, right. Then, I can go on my way now, right.”

“…If you’re going home, well… want a ride?”

Kwon Sabin brought it up subtly, gesturing with a slight nod of his head toward the spot where his van was parked. How much more was he going to torment him on the way? Acting like a reckless fool trying to be an actor when it’s impossible. Your face isn’t cut out for it. Watching you film, it was unbearable.

Because Kwon Sabin was always frantic to tear him down whenever he saw him, being together was a bit noisy.

“I’m going alone.”

“Don’t tell me you don’t have a car? From what I see, you don’t even have a manager.”

“Because I haven’t landed a role of that caliber yet.”

“Exactly. Suddenly acting out of nowhere. Do you think that’s an easy thing to do?”

“…It’s not sudden. …I’ve been thinking about it continuously for a while.”

Hajin muttered without confidence. Of course, he himself lacked certainty about blindly starting this work. He had long expected this kind of reaction from those around him, and he thought Kwon Sayoung would also show a similar reaction to Kwon Sabin upon hearing this. So he felt a bit worried, too.

“Besides, you now.”

Kwon Sabin abruptly stopped mid-sentence, glanced around to confirm that no one was near, and then added the rest of his words.

“You’re getting married, married. What is a married man suddenly doing—.”

“…Can’t I act if I get married?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know it’s a profession that lives off popularity? Who fanboys over a married man.”

Hajin casually pouted with a slightly glum face. It wasn’t like he became one because he wanted to. If that became a hindrance to this work, he felt like he would be upset in its own way.

“…Still, I’m planning to try until I’ve tried everything.”

“You could just not get married in the first place. You’re only twenty now. Isn’t it a waste?”

“…I’m not doing it blindly because I want to, either.”

“Then you can just not do it!”

If only it were that simple and easy. Looking at Kwon Sabin speak so casually and easily, Hajin watched him enviously and quietly let out a sigh.

“Why do you keep acting like that.”

“What.”

“…Grandfather wanted this marriage.”

“If Grandfather tells you to drop dead, are you going to drop dead?”

“…Must be nice for you. Since everything is so easy for you every time.”

“Want to die? Who are you calling simple?”

He said it was simple, but he also envied the way the other interpreted it as being simple-minded. That free life where it didn’t matter if he just heard things however he wanted to hear them.

“…Whatever. Stop following me.”

Feeling that communication was impossible, Hajin tightly shut his replying lips and turned his body to move his steps again. Sensing the dismissive attitude, Kwon Sabin roughly grabbed Hajin’s arm.

“Where are you going. I said I’d give you a ride. You said you were going home anyway.”

“I don’t want to. What kind of credit are you going to take after giving me a ride.”

“You’re not scared of me at all, are you?”

“…”

“You couldn’t even make a peep at school. No, wait, you did rebel back then, too.”

“…”

“You acted all meek in front of Kwon Sayoung. I guess I must seem damn easy?”

“…Do I have to be scared of you, too?”

Hajin replied with a voice like a low sigh. As his dry, featureless gaze landed, Kwon Sabin’s mouth, which had been chattering frivolously, clamped shut. The fact that Seong Hajin was the abused underdog at Seongsan was something not a single person was ignorant about. Having fully understood that meaning, Kwon Sabin stopped throwing a tantrum and grabbed the advancing Hajin once more.

“…Get in. I won’t take credit for it.”

“…I can just take a taxi.”

“Do you even have the money to take a taxi?”

“…I’m not a beggar.”

“I get it, so just get in. Didn’t you ask me to keep it a secret.”

“…What?”

At the tempting offer, Hajin paused and looked up at him. The other pouted his lips disgruntedly, and without adding another word, jerked his head toward his vehicle.

“Is that true…?”

Not that he hadn’t been worrying about what kind of conditions he should use to persuade him, but Hajin looked at him with a slightly brightened face.

“You’re really going to keep it a secret for me?”

“Get in and talk.”

Kwon Sabin avoided answering and pulled Hajin’s arm. Being dragged along just like that, Hajin kept repeating the exact same words. You’re keeping it a secret, right? At the persistent questioning, Kwon Sabin lost his temper, saying he understood. Managing to push Hajin into the van in the end, Kwon Sabin commanded the manager, who was waiting in the driver’s seat, to set off.

The manager looked at the sight of Kwon Sabin bickering with Hajin with bewilderment before quietly starting the van.

“Really, right?”

At the persistence of asking even after getting in, Kwon Sabin ground his teeth annoyedly and answered.

“It’s a lie, dummy.”

With that, Hajin’s face instantly became glum. As if he had known it would be so, he quietly pouted his lips with a sunken face, then stared out the window with a somewhat sullen look.

Because that expressionless face, which usually had nothing but a blank look, had changed, Kwon Sabin let out a subtle laugh even while grumbling. So naive, honestly. He acts all sharp and smart, but in reality, he’s just a clumsy, naive, and incredibly foolish Seong Hajin. Kwon Sabin clicked his tongue, shaking his head at how pathetic it was.

࣪˖ ִֶָ🍇་༘

“If a man goes back on his word…”

At the muttering that could be heard all the way back home, Kwon Sabin glared at Seong Hajin annoyedly as he stepped out of the van.

“Stobbit.”

“…If a man breaks his word…”

At the endless muttering, Kwon Sabin’s lips trembled violently. Seong Hajin put on a naive face, but in truth, he had a vicious side to him like that underneath. While there were times he looked intimidated and shrunk back, occasionally his eyes would strangely flip, or he had a corner to him that wore people out like that.

“You look like a psycho, so stop it already.”

“…You’re the one who lied first….”

“Then were you planning to get a free ride for nothing?”

“…You’re the one who brought it up first anyway…”

Hajin muttered drily as if talking to himself. At the unyielding counterargument, Kwon Sabin’s face flushed red and blue in waves.

“Anyway? Did you just say anyway?”

At the insolently tossed-out words, Kwon Sabin completely ignored his manager’s words saying he would pick him up tomorrow, stepped right up to Hajin, and suddenly raised his voice. As if he were used to it, Hajin took a step backward and covered both ears with an indifferent face.

“Oh, look at you? Hey, you even got a free ride, where do you think you can just get everything for free? Huh?”

“…I never even asked you to give me a ride…”

“And a guy like that snores while sleeping?”

Hajin paused, perhaps hit where it hurts. Finding it ungenerous of Kwon Sabin for not giving him his word to keep it a secret until the very end, Hajin walked toward the main gate first. Meanwhile, Kwon Sabin trailed right behind him again and asked slyly.

“Hey, but did you sleep with Kwon Sayoung yesterday then?”

Unable to judge whether the question was simply asking if they slept in the same bedroom or if it was an explicit question, Hajin just kept his mouth shut.

“No, I mean if you live together now… wait, no, Seong Yeonwoo told Kwon Sayoung not to sleep with you, didn’t he.”

“…Are you curious about that kind of thing?”

“Either way, you two are getting engaged soon and even living together. Then do you two really sex—.”

“Hey, please…!”

Embarrassed to hear any more, the moment he was about to push away Kwon Sabin, who was asking while sticking close, headlights brightly illuminated them. At the light piercing his eyes, Hajin half-closed his eyes and looked at the owner of the car visible beyond Kwon Sabin.

When his blinded vision gradually returned, the white foreign car that came into view was familiar. It was one of Seong Yeonwoo’s vehicles that he had seen frequently when staying at Yujeongjae.

“…”

Shortly after, the headlights turned off, and the window on the driver’s seat rolled down smoothly.

“Long time no see, Sabin?”

The bright face of Seong Yeonwoo, who greeted the other warmly with an arm resting on the door in a casual shirt, was visible.

“What do you mean long time no see. What brings you here?”

Kwon Sabin glanced once at Hajin behind him and replied half-heartedly to Seong Yeonwoo’s warm greeting.

“What do you mean what brings me here.”

Seong Yeonwoo casually continued his answer and briefly scanned toward the passenger seat. Then, the passenger side door opened, and a figure one could sufficiently expect revealed his form.

“What are you guys doing until this hour, rather.”

Kwon Sabin’s brow furrowed at the question returned with an arm resting on the roof of the car.

“Doing what?”

“Seong Hajin.”

But perhaps Kwon Sayoung’s business wasn’t with Kwon Sabin, as he sternly called out the three syllables of the name of Hajin, who was hiding behind him.

“Have you been outside until this hour?”

He asked once more, almost like a person caring about the curfew of a child coming home late. Instead of an answer, Hajin looked back and forth between Seong Yeonwoo in the driver’s seat and him, who had just stepped out of the car. He couldn’t understand his behavior of interrogating him instead, in a situation where anyone could see they were coming back from a date.

“What have you two been up to until this hour, rather, Mister?”

Conversely, Kwon Sabin threw an interrogation regarding this situation.

“Didn’t you two break up?”

At Kwon Sabin’s question, which was asked while pretending not to know, Hajin looked up at him with a thoroughly flustered face. It was a question that caught the opponent off guard while pretending to be ignorant.

“You stay out of it.”

Kwon Sayoung answered coldly, as if Kwon Sabin wasn’t even worth his consideration.

“Is it okay for a person who escorted his fiancé all the way home to openly run around with his ex like this?”

“It’s none of your business, so take your interest off it.”

In a situation where a strange spark was somehow flying, Hajin quietly tugged at Kwon Sabin’s sleeve. Not wanting to drag this situation into a serious state, he timidly restrained him. Right at the moment he felt Kwon Sabin’s gaze glancing back, an answer was heard from the mouth of someone other than Kwon Sayoung.