The Offer I Should Have Refused

Joo Taehwa was different from his son, who only had eyes for his fiancé.

Even with that body, news that he was enthusiastic about having lovers had reached his ears, even as he sat quietly at the Center.

He had saved Taehwa’s life, working for months, skipping meals and sleep, in an inhuman state, only for him to be utterly brazen.

His son, who had saved the dying Taehwa, was made to look foolish.

If it was like this now, how he would be treated after marriage was already clear.

He hoped his son would change his mind even now.

“You don’t want children? A child that resembles you.”

“It would have been nice if Taehwa were a woman, but since he’s a man, there’s nothing I can do.”

As Ki-jung, he couldn’t understand his son wanting to marry a man at all.

If he only wanted, he could arrange a marriage with the daughter of any family.

He had the Center Director, who was said to make even birds fall, as his father, and his maternal family was none other than Yoo-sang Pharmaceuticals.

Even setting aside that background, he was an elite whom other countries would rush to take in even if he committed a major crime and applied for asylum.

By any measure, it was a marriage on a downward slope.

Ki-jung wished Se-jun would marry a woman inwardly.

Hereditary skipping of generations was common with Esper abilities.

Though he went around saying the Center Director was an appointed position, so it was unknown who would succeed, if Se-jun married a woman normally and had a child with Esper abilities, the position of the next Center Director would naturally belong to that child.

He did hold a thread of hope with his daughter, Chan-young, who didn’t particularly dislike arranged marriages…

But Chan-young, who would do all sorts of colorful things for the Center, was more likely to be sent abroad than to obediently give a child to her father.

So, no matter how he thought about it, the only person who could fulfill the dream he couldn’t achieve in his own generation was still Se-jun.

Sinking into deep worry, Ki-jung fell silent.

“Se-jun. Not everyone marries just because they’re Imprinted. Take me, for example—”

“Yes, you didn’t marry the person you Imprinted. To be precise, you just didn’t marry them.”

“Se-jun.”

“I told you. I understand it all. Mother can’t live without you, Father, and you can’t live without that person. So, Mother hating that person, not being able to bear that hatred and having someone ruin that person, you getting so angry about that and hitting Mother, and because of that, Mother limping for the rest of her life. Even if Chan-young can’t understand, I really, truly understand everything. So.”

“…….”

“Father, please understand me too.”

“It’s not the same as that case.”

“What’s different? That I’m not a Guide? If I were a Guide, would you have understood me then?”

“Of course—”

“You would have opposed it. Just as you persistently took that person, if Taehwa had desired and coveted me that desperately, you would rather have killed me. Because it’s shameful. This marriage too—it’s actually because Taehwa’s body can’t have a normal relationship with someone that you’re allowing it, isn’t it?”

“Yeon Se-jun!”

Ki-jung roared like a lion.

But Se-jun didn’t bat an eye.

Instead, he wore a faint, chilling smile as if threatening the other.

“Father. Precisely because I’m not a Guide, I need this marriage even more. You showed me, didn’t you? You loved that person so much, yet you couldn’t turn away from Mother, your wife. I also need a device to ensure Taehwa can’t turn away from me.”

“Marriage isn’t simply something that happens between two people. It’s the union of two families. They probably already know. That you desire this marriage far more than Taehwa does. You’re starting from a losing position. That’s why this father asks why you’re making such a marriage.”

“So, are you saying I should choose the practical benefit of having a child? That at least I wouldn’t lose?”

“Yes.”

“What did you gain by choosing the practical benefit? You knew that if you had married that person from the beginning, everyone would have been happy. If you had, Mother wouldn’t have loved you, wouldn’t have gone crazy, and that person wouldn’t have been ruined either. You could have received that person’s complete affection. Maybe you could have even seen a child from that person…. But you chose Mother.”

“…….”

“Please understand. Even if others don’t, you have to. Because I’m Mother’s son.”

If this issue was raised, he would always be at a disadvantage against Se-jun.

In a devastated mood, Ki-jung lowered his eyes.

And as always, he surrendered.

“…Alright. I understand.”

****

Drying his wet hair with a towel as he crossed the living room, Yoo Hyun’s gaze was caught by a large headline.

[Alliance of Conglomerates… Wooshin’s Second Son Joo Taehwa Engaged to Yoo-sang Pharmaceuticals’ Eldest Son Yeon Se-jun]

He brought the newspaper and read it aloud.

“Wooshin’s second son, Joo Taehwa, engaged.”

Now that he looked, the content felt quite familiar.

He remembered it being covered extensively just last week on the front page of another newspaper with a title like ‘Wedding Bells at Year’s End, Change in Succession Landscape.’

The newspaper articles he read daily as if doing homework were being read in a slightly different context than usual.

Was it closer to a warning aimed at him? Telling him not to do anything foolish.

That third-generation chaebol from the article, wearing the mask of an investor, had approached him, suddenly asking him to help call off his engagement, proposing an absurd contract.

Something that had happened to Yoo Hyun just a few hours ago.

“I’m a man, though.”

“Thankfully, my fiancé is also a man.”

“What’s so ‘thankful’ about that?”

Audition or whatever—the moment he heard the man’s true purpose, his mind went completely blank with a sense of insult.

How easily must he view me to appear like this, in this place….

Just as he was about to get up and leave without hearing more, the man stopped Yoo Hyun with a voice hard to ignore.

“My family is rushing the marriage because of the medication I’m taking. Coincidentally, my fiancé is the son of a pharmaceutical company.”

Successfully keeping Yoo Hyun seated by piquing his curiosity, he abandoned his initial confident demeanor and began persuading him in a roundabout tone.

“I’m not asking you to become my lover. I’m just asking you to act as if you are.”

It was incomprehensible from start to finish, but that part raised a particularly strong question.

If having a fake lover could drive away his fiancé, why would he go through the trouble of finding a stand-in?

With that background, that body, that face… He seemed like a person for whom living promiscuously would be easier than eating cold porridge.

There would be a bunch of people rushing to be his lover or something close to it, and picking one and aligning stories wouldn’t be a big deal.

The reason he didn’t want to marry was also unclear.

Since they were both scions of top families, they must have calculated each other’s worth excessively.

Parents try to pair their children with suitable partners.

How important marriage connections were for the children of the upper class could be known from just a few articles, not just dramas.

The idea of trying to break a family promise alone seemed absurd.

And if that marriage was related to treating an illness, Wooshin Group wouldn’t just stand by and watch their son’s lover or lover stand-in.

So he refused.

“Sorry, but I don’t want to get involved in another family’s private matters….”

Then the man played an unexpected card.

“If I successfully call off the engagement, I can restore everything you lost due to bad luck to its rightful place. Of course, I’ll make sure Choi Jong-ik can’t even come near you, and ensure you don’t suffer any indirect damage.”

He didn’t know how he knew, but he seemed aware of Choi Jong-ik and even what Choi Jong-ik had done to him.

He confidently boasted that he would even separate Choi Jong-ik from him.

Yoo Hyun’s momentarily dormant defiance raised its head.

“…You investigated me.”

“When someone outside common sense holds money and power, they never fall alone.”

“Are you threatening me now…?”

“Not me. I’m talking about Choi Jong-ik. For unknown reasons, Choi Jong-ik is determined to ruin you, and once he’s determined, it’s not a very difficult thing for him. In fact, it’s very easy.”

“It sounds like the threat you’re making.”

“I’m just informing you of a better option.”

“How do I know it’s a better option? Seeing how you’re grabbing someone’s weaknesses first, you seem just as meticulous and cowardly.”

“I think there’s a misunderstanding. Even if you refuse my proposal, I won’t do anything.”

“So how am I supposed to trust…”

“First, I’m in the position of asking a favor from you. Second, as I said, your ruin doesn’t necessarily require my intervention.”

He had no choice but to close his mouth.

At the blunt remark that woke him to reality, Yoo Hyun stared at him blankly.

He’s right.

Even if the man just left without doing anything, the opportunity he provided would naturally disappear.

Losing both the last chance of casting and even the minimal defensive barrier of the company would create the optimal environment for him to be played in Choi Jong-ik’s hands.

“Let me be honest. I’m not interested in money, and I’m even less interested in the drama. I don’t need to noisily move money around with investments or whatever because I’m already rich. And honestly, I’m skeptical about whether it’ll be a hit, but even if it luckily makes a profit, it’s pocket change to me.”

“Ah, yes… Good for you.”

“So, my goal wasn’t investing in the drama from the start—it was you, Goo Yoo Hyun.”

Was he supposed to be grateful for being made a target?

Feeling increasingly pushed beyond his limits, Yoo Hyun had no mental space to accept another’s words gracefully.

“This feels like watching a drama. Hearing you, with that face, say something the male lead of a morning drama would say.”

“That kind of face?”

“An arrogant, unlikeable face.”

“…….”

“It’s a compliment. People say good-looking people are unlikeable, right? You must have heard that a lot.”

Even his insincere spiteful remark calling him ‘unlikeable’ seemed to have no impact.

That very composure was irritating.

“Seeing how they’re forcing a marriage you don’t want, it seems that medicine must be very hard to obtain.”

He didn’t answer, but Yoo Hyun could tell from his expression that it was an affirmative.

“I’ve heard marriages without love are common in your world.”

“…….”

“Then wouldn’t it be better for everyone if you just got married?”

“That might be so, but…”

After a brief pause, the man added with a sneer.

Everyone has at least one thing they hate more than death.

“Don’t tell me that thing you hate more than death is marriage?”

“Let’s say that for now.”

He looked at his watch, concluded with an enigmatic remark, and left.

It was because the time he said the director would arrive had come.

After he left, Yoo Hyun was left with the day he had ruined.

He met the director as scheduled and completely messed up the audition, then even drank alcohol with Sangjin, something he wasn’t good at.

And now, like this, he had been expending belated nerves on that encounter ever since.

Even though he had sent him off coolly, as if he had not a shred of lingering feelings.