So It Was You

“So you’ve finally decided to appear in a drama?”

‘Finally’?

Who did he hear that from?

Or did I ever mention it?

He must be an actor then?

Wait, maybe he isn’t an actor?

It doesn’t make sense that I, having been in the entertainment industry for years, don’t know a face like this.

But then it becomes even stranger.

If he’s not an actor or a director, how does he know the purpose of me being here?

Hiding his complicated inner thoughts, Yoo Hyun awkwardly lifted the corners of his mouth and returned a safe greeting.

“…Haha, yes. That’s how it turned out. How have you been?”

Seeing the man pull up the corners of his mouth, Yoo Hyun quickly followed suit with a smile.

You can’t spit on a smiling face.

Then the man’s smile deepened.

It was an indescribable subtlety.

It was clearly a bad sign.

“It’s nice that you ask about my well-being after so long.”

Yoo Hyun couldn’t find a reply and closed his mouth.

At the same time, his mind raced.

What should I do?

He looks older than me, so he must be a senior?

A senior who recognizes me one-sidedly… This is the most difficult opponent in the world right now.

Among actors, there were some who thought I was looking down on them if I didn’t recognize them, and he didn’t want to invite that misunderstanding.

What if he really is a senior?

Why on earth is this senior here?

The man chuckled softly.

“You don’t seem to remember.”

His expression and tone were nonchalant, so there was no way to gauge his feelings.

There were more than a few people in the entertainment industry whose specialty was pretending to be polite and then suddenly exploding in temper.

“Ah, it’s not that….”

Yoo Hyun, forcing a stiff smile, decided to buy time and gulped his drink while screaming inside.

Yes, I don’t remember! Who are you? Who are you?!

They say all human stress comes from uncertainty.

Because of the man of uncertain identity, Yoo Hyun felt his mouth go bone-dry even as he was drinking at this very moment.

The man’s hollow laugh pierced through Yoo Hyun’s thoughts.

“You really don’t remember…. I didn’t think of this.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Are you sorry?”

The man echoed his apology by asking if he was sorry.

Yoo Hyun was now convinced he was a senior.

And a senior whose personality was far from ordinary.

“I’ve been forgetting things a lot lately, being absent-minded.”

Yoo Hyun hastily fabricated a nonexistent symptom of memory loss, but the man’s reaction was lukewarm.

He felt stifled, as if a stone were pressing on his chest.

Feeling as if a scolding for ‘Do you think you’re the only one with a mouth?’ might come, he even quietly put down the glass he had been holding.

“Uhm, what kind of drink do you like?”

“Why?”

“Ah, because you look hot….”

It wasn’t untrue; he really did look hot.

Even more than himself.

It was to the point that it would have been more strange not to feel suspicious at first glance.

Even if the material looked light, it was a semi-turtleneck with a high neck, an outfit more suited for cool weather than a sweltering midsummer like now.

What was unusual wasn’t just the clothing.

A dark line protruded from beneath the long sleeves, which were mismatched for the season by a long shot, and a similar black line peeked out from his half-covered neck.

Judging by the form, it must be either a Name or a tattoo.

But if it was large enough to completely cover from neck to arm, it must be a tattoo.

But… would an actor do that?

Is it makeup?

“Wasn’t it a waste to give away the coupon you worked so hard to collect?”

“Huh?”

Yoo Hyun, whose mind was preoccupied with the tattoo, asked back blankly.

The man tilted his head slightly to the side and smiled.

“I’ve been looking for you a lot, Goo Yoo Hyun. You’re the first person to scam me.”

“…Scam?”

“You told me to definitely contact you. Why did you just give me the coupon and run away?”

“Just give the coupon and run away, what are you talking about… Huh?”

As Yoo Hyun hesitantly repeated the man’s words like a foreigner learning pronunciation for the first time, colorful lights, the smell of alcohol, and music suddenly came to mind.

When was it? At the penthouse?

He had been too busy running away then and had no memory of facing or talking to anyone.

He could only vaguely guess the timing.

At least three months ago….

Sangjin’s grumbling voice suddenly flashed through his mind.

‘There were many other coupons, but why did you have to take the one with exactly ten stamps and lose it? Why did you take something you weren’t even going to use just because it looked interesting!’

It felt like the memory was on the verge of returning.

It was the moment he found a clue amid the tangled, jumbled memories.

Champagne, DJ, lights, model, handkerchief…

Zzzzing, zzzzing, zzzziiing—

As Yoo Hyun ignored the vibration and held his head, the man gestured toward his phone.

It seemed to mean it was annoying, so deal with it immediately.

Though reluctant, Yoo Hyun, feeling psychological pressure, pressed the call button as if pushed.

Then he turned his head and spat out rapid-fire words.

“Sorry. I’m busy right now, I’ll call you later—”

–”Goo Yoo Hyun. Are you going to keep this up until the end?”

An unwelcome voice came through before he could even finish speaking.

It was a voice filled with intense excitement.

Choi Jong-ik?

Yoo Hyun frowned irritably and checked the screen.

His dedication to calling from different unknown numbers every time was impressive.

He had been so confident that Yoo Hyun would soon come begging for forgiveness, but it seemed he still couldn’t believe Yoo Hyun was ignoring him.

Choi Jong-ik had been calling and texting incessantly for days.

Though he had flinched at the threat that his friends were plotting something, Yoo Hyun thought, in this law-governed country, what could he possibly do to him right now? So he had been ignoring all contact.

That crazy bastard, even after finding out I reported him, followed me to an event schedule and obsessed over me….

Muttering inwardly, Yoo Hyun’s eyes widened.

He abruptly raised his head and asked.

“Huh? What I gave you wasn’t a business card but a coupon?”

“You enjoyed the coffee, right?”

“I did?”

“I felt wronged because there was no contact info, just the coupon.”

At the mention of using the coupon, the look in Yoo Hyun’s eyes, which had been regarding him as shameless, softened with a pang of conscience.

Yes, you enjoyed it….

Yoo Hyun whispered in a tone of resignation.

“But… is that why you’ve been looking for me all this time? Because you were angry about getting a coffee coupon instead of a business card?”

“I had something to confirm. I really wanted to meet you again.”

“What to confirm…”

“My introduction is late. I’m Joo Taehwa.”

If you were going to introduce yourself, you should have done it earlier—what kind of belated move is this?

Yoo Hyun looked at the hand extended from across the table with dissatisfaction, then stood up and slowly grasped it.

The man who introduced himself as Joo Taehwa gazed at the clasped hand for a moment, then, with a faint smile, opened his mouth.

“As I thought, it wasn’t my misconception. Thankfully.”

“Huh?”

****

“Next spring would be good. Please let the articles say it’s scheduled for the end of this year.”

“We haven’t even agreed on anything yet.”

“Then Father, please come to an agreement with Taehwa’s family. You’re good at that sort of thing.”

Ki-jung pressed his forehead.

“Se-jun.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Do you really have to go through with this marriage?”

“What is it that you don’t like?”

‘Don’t like’? It was filled with so many dislikable things it was hard to find anything likable.

The feelings Se-jun held for Taehwa never faded.

It was something that started around the time some friendship formed through family interactions, something very old.

Ki-jung had known for a long time.

When was the first time he felt a singularity?

Perhaps that day.

One spring day after a gathering of peers.

Se-jun, who used to habitually say he would make Yoo-sang Pharmaceuticals the world’s number one pharmaceutical company, suddenly declared he would go to medical school.

He heard later.

That at the peers’ gathering, the youngest grandson of Chairman Joo also suddenly said he would go to medical school.

And the reason, they said, was because he was sick of seeing his older brothers compete.

How pathetic.

Back then, Ki-jung didn’t take it seriously.

Kids are like that when they’re young.

He let it pass without much thought.

But, at fifteen.

When Se-jun changed his career path again, he felt something was off.

He suddenly said he would become a researcher at the Center.

So, after pondering what job within the Center, aside from Espers themselves, would allow the most frequent contact with Espers, that was the conclusion he reached.

Se-jun, who was homeschooled due to his weak health, once he made the decision, embarked on studying abroad without a moment’s hesitation.

It was absurd.

Ki-jung could be certain.

If Taehwa had manifested as an Esper and grown up as an ordinary person who went to medical school, Se-jun would undoubtedly have become a doctor.

If that were the case, he wouldn’t have earned a master’s degree related to Esper abilities at twenty-three, nor would he have become the youngest laboratory director.

The thought alone was dizzying.

“You know. Why I want to get married.”

“Yes, you’re Imprinted.”

“Yes. That’s right, Father. That’s it.”

Joo Taehwa.

The favorite grandson of the current Honorary Chairman of Wooshin Group, but a useless burden who has not a speck of interest in management and just takes his allowance to spend.

He was singing about wanting to leave the Center, so one might think he had some grand plan to achieve as a free man….

He lounges around as if being unemployed were his calling, never showing his face at family events, and so on.

He recognized him at first glance.

Whether he was Chairman Joo’s creation or not, he was a piece that stood out for his rebellious nature.

Now, half-crippled and somewhat broken in spirit, he obediently says ‘yes, yes,’ but when his limbs and body were intact, his arrogance pierced the heavens to an unbearable degree.

When he was active at the Center?

What kind of guy is this? he had thought.

He had a personality where he had to say everything he wanted, so he constantly clashed with administrative staff.

He received all sorts of checks and hindrances from field agents but hoarded all the achievements for himself, making him an object of envy in every field.

When he was a regular agent, he alone spoke all the blunt truths, often falling out of favor with his team leader.

When he became a team leader, he blatantly took care of only his own team members, drawing considerable resentment from the leadership.

He didn’t even care about the boss’s mood, so to see his face even once, they had to mobilize three or four search teams to forcibly drag him in.

So when he found out Taehwa was the one Se-jun was Imprinted to, Ki-jung seriously considered disguising Taehwa’s death as an accident and eliminating him.

Even as someone else’s son, he was odd, but seeing him at the Center, he was so strange that he thought if they got entangled, only his own son would suffer.

You could tell just by the fact that while partners usually appear within a year, he alone had none for five years.

But for the Imprinting, the engagement, and now dragging him into even marriage—that guy, Joo Taehwa.

As a father, it was truly unbearable.

Ki-jung had mostly let things proceed entirely according to Se-jun’s will, but he was determined to do his utmost to dissuade him from this marriage until the moment they entered the wedding hall.

“Do you have absolutely no intention of seeing women?”

“How could I marry a woman I don’t even like? Especially since I’m the Imprinted one.”

“Se-jun.”

“That woman would be too pitiful, Father.”

What about you? Aren’t you pitiful? Ki-jung wanted to ask.

Even as the Imprinted one, Se-jun is not greatly affected by Taehwa, the Name-owner.

Because Taehwa holds no affection whatsoever for Se-jun.