Pheromone Off Chapter 24

“I’m a working person.”

“…I work too.”

“Work?”

“Yes. I didn’t come back after getting all excited and playing around because I became an adult… I came back after working, too.”

“What work are you talking about. I haven’t heard anything.”

“…I got permission from Grandfather.”

“Did I speak in a difficult way? Why do you keep talking around the bush?”

Hajin kept hesitating at the question asked persistently. Somehow, it was embarrassing to say with his own mouth. In his own way, he thought of it as work and called it work, but… since he hadn’t even landed a proper role yet, it could only be embarrassing to call himself an actor.

“…Just… an aspiring… actor.”

“What?”

Whether it was an unexpected answer, he asked back with a bewildered face.

“…I’m doing… acting work.”

“Actor? The work Sabin is doing right now?”

“…Yes.”

He let out another hollow breath at my answer.

“Why don’t you go to school instead.”

“…Because I’m not good at studying.”

“And you have no thoughts of wanting to do it either?”

“…I just want to earn money.”

“The more I hear, the less I understand. Are you in a situation where money is tight?”

“It’s not exactly that… I just want to earn money through my own effort.”

“And you think money will be earned easily by doing that?”

“It’s not that, but… that was the only work I could try doing right away.”

“…Learn company work instead. I’ll give you a position, so—.”

“No—! No… I can’t even do national language, English, and math, so what kind of company work would I do.”

Kwon Sayoung let out an absurd breath once more and tilted his head askance. What to do with this. At the gaze that looked as if watching something completely answerless, Hajin hesitated and shifted his lips vaguely.

“…I’ll make sure there’s no trouble caused to you, Mister.”

“The agency.”

“I have one.”

“You have one? Where.”

“…It’s a place that hasn’t been established for very long… but the person who cast me said they were a very famous person in the industry. They said I have potential, so—.”

“What’s the company name.”

“…Pardon?”

“My, you acted all sharp and smart by yourself.”

He let out a faint laugh with a somewhat relaxed face. He didn’t know how many times it had been already. That a hollow laugh leaked out of that mouth. Though he didn’t think he had been scammed, because the other looked at him in that manner, Hajin felt intimidated and avoided his gaze.

“I’ll tell Secretary Jang to contact you tomorrow, so tell them everything down to what company it is and even the name of the employee who pulled you in.”

“…Why.”

“I’m not trying to sabotage you, so just tell them.”

He moved his steps holding the jacket he had taken off. Hajin stood blankly and stared at his receding back turned as if all his business were finished. His dropped hand twitched finely. Hesitating as if he had something to say, Hajin slowly opened his mouth toward that receding back.

“Are you going to interfere with my business?”

At the quiet words, his steps came to a sudden halt. His characteristic cold face was seen from the front again.

“…It seems you’ve been clinging persistently to that thing called interference since a while ago.”

Whether he felt wonderment at the words emphasized once more, Kwon Sayoung minutely furrowed the corners of his eyes. He seemed curious about the intention of the words. A hand habit that Hajin did whenever he was nervous popped out. Pressing down tightly on the skin with his fingernails and peeling it off. Tack, tack. Continuing to press down and peel off the skin at the tips of his fingers, he with difficulty continued his words again. He was curious. That level of interference. Between Kwon Sayoung and Seong Hajin, was even a small level of interference possible between the two? Was it something he was allowed to do?

Hajin asked with a lingering hope in his heart.

“Is that level of interference… something that can be done between you and me, Mister?”

“What is it you want to say?”

He asked for the point as if telling him to speak the main issue.

Everything else was fine. The two of them continuing to meet, going on dates…. It was a fact he knew anyway, and he knows fully well that this relationship right now was started forcefully. Even so….

Hesitating as if shifting his lips for a long time, Hajin opened his mouth.

“Can I… say just one thing to you, too?”

“…Go ahead.”

“…Do you sleep together?”

“What?”

Gradually revealing an uncomfortable mood, the distorted space between his brows became increasingly deep.

“…Do you sleep with Yeonwoo hyung?”

Whether the question, which was asked straight-forwardly in a way that didn’t suit him, was absurd this time as well, he let out a hollow breath.

“I think this is true interference.”

Toward the eyes where irritation was undulating past being uncomfortable, Hajin repeatedly scratched his fingertips and carefully continued his words.

“…I know you two are meeting, but…”

“…”

“Until my contract with you is over, Mister….”

“…”

“You two… can’t you not sleep together…?”

Always, those two eyes that were blank somewhere were trembling slightly. Kwon Sayoung looked down as if spectating that frightened face and shot back in a formal tone.

“What’s the intention behind saying such words?”

“…”

“Could it be, something like jealousy?”

Whether he had an awareness that Hajin liked him, he asked back with a face that seemed to say surely not. It wasn’t that derision and devaluation were woven into that suspicion, but it was enough to embarrass Hajin. However, he stared fixedly at Hajin as if purely curious. At his reaction, Hajin kept fidgeting with his hands and stammered with a troubled face.

“…Cou… courtesy.”

“…”

“I know I’m stuck between you two, but… still…”

Hajin continued his words with a voice that was increasingly crawling away. Although it was a story brought up all of a sudden, whether he thought it was ridiculous even when he thought about it himself, Hajin hurriedly added the words behind it.

“Ki, something like kissing… I won’t care about….”

“Ha. Seriously. It’s beyond imagination.”

He wore a face that looked as though it had been struck repeatedly toward an opponent whom he didn’t know whether to call bold or random. It wasn’t a wrong statement, but the words that came out of Hajin’s mouth were all outside expectations. Facing Hajin, who was rolling his round eyes here and there and scanning his mood, he lifted the corner of his mouth obliquely.

“Right, courtesy. That’s a correct statement.”

“…”

“But it’s impossible.”

“…”

“As you know, I’m an Alpha. Since you’re a Beta, you might not know well.”

“…”

“If I can’t discharge pheromones periodically, my body breaks down, you see.”

“…”

“If I can’t even relieve that with my lover, where are you telling me to relieve it?”

At the arrogant pupils looking down almost as if teasing Hajin, Hajin could not hide his flustered look. It was something he hadn’t even thought of. Just as he said, he himself, being a Beta, hadn’t thought about it. Feeling that he hadn’t even broken even in the end, Hajin dropped his head deeply.

“…I’m sorry, I didn’t know….”

“Well…. It’s not that I don’t understand your position either.”

“…”

“Either way, we live together, and it’s a relationship ahead of an engagement in its own way, so if the partner comes home wafting the smell of a lover, your mood could be foul. Though as you said, you, stepped in, that is.”

Emphasizing the words behind, he scanned his reaction. No, it was a gaze that seemed to enjoy it a little bit, too. Hajin dropped his head deeply like a criminal. He had nothing to say. Either way, because the villain in this relationship was himself.

“But I can’t accept that proposal blindly. Because this body breaks down if it can’t do that act.”

“…”

“If you want it that much, think of it.”

“…Pardon?”

“An alternative measure.”

“What kind of…”

“What else would it be. If you hate me sleeping with Yeonwoo, you should present that alternative measure.”

Glancing at Hajin, who opened his eyes roundly as if he didn’t know what it meant, Kwon Sayoung tossed out words he didn’t mean as a matter of courtesy. In a manner of showing this much goodwill.

Then, with a face that was quite amused before long, he scanned the opponent’s reaction. Looking down at the figure agonising with a serious face and being flustered, at the moment he casually let out a laugh, suddenly Hajin’s face, which he hadn’t looked at closely all this time, came into his vision. A round forehead, long-slitted eye lines, transparent skin, and an gloomy atmosphere somewhere.

Until before then, he had never observed it closely. While passing by, he had felt that he was decent-looking, and though he was certainly different from Seong Yeonwoo, who was glamorous from one to ten, they seemed to resemble each other in binding a person’s gaze. The atmosphere was the exact opposite and the facial features were certainly different, but it was not an appearance likely to come out of a Beta who was neither an Omega nor an Alpha. Wondering if he was indeed Chairman Seong’s child. Kwon Sayoung slowly scanned Hajin’s face one by one. An alternative measure. It wasn’t that he said it while thinking of a particular right answer, but….

Scanning down all the way from the forehead to the chin, Kwon Sayoung muttered as if talking to himself.

“…It seems like he resembles Yeonwoo, and yet.”

“…”

“It also seems like he doesn’t….”

Hajin inhaled at the distance that had become close before he knew it. Finishing his appreciation and monologue, he delivered his final message toward the frozen Hajin.

“Think carefully about it.”

Tossing out the words as if whispering, he turned around. At the side profile that looked fun somewhere, Hajin casually pouted his lips.

…I don’t find it funny at all.

While he himself felt like his heart was going to burst and cold sweat was even flowing down his spine because he was nervous, he turned around without lingering attachment and headed to the bedroom. For some reason, he felt a sense of unfairness. Standing blankly, Hajin regretted it for a long time.

I shouldn’t have said it…. Bringing it up for nothing. You stupid idiot.

Who did he think he was to clamor telling him not to do that. Truly, it was clear that he was foolish.

࣪˖ ִֶָ🍇་༘

Kwon Sayoung was basically a cold person. A person who had no interest in his surroundings and for whom only his own business was important. In human relations as well, he was a person who picked only the people important to him and put them into his boundary.