A Desperate Confirmation

“What…?”

Yi-seo could swear on his life that the only interaction he’d ever had with the man was at the filming set.

There was no way he could forget spending a night with someone like Cha Gye-won.

“You really don’t remember….”

Gye-won’s voice dropped into a low, heavy register.

He had already sensed the lack of recognition.

After all, Yi-seo’s expression when handing over the coffee had been nothing but innocent.

“f*ck….”

It was exactly what he had expected, and he had even mocked that stupidity in his head, yet he couldn’t understand why he felt so damn foul.

“First, please let go of….”

Yi-seo applied force to pry the large hand from his neck.

However, the harder he struggled, the more Cha Gye-won’s iron-like grip tightened.

“Do you truly not remember? Nothing at all?”

Gye-won’s thumb began to stroke the neck that was held fast in his palm.

The slightly dry, soft skin felt burning hot.

“……Is your body temperature usually this high?”

The stroking area gradually widened.

Filled with anxiety, Yi-seo’s eyelashes fluttered uncontrollably.

“Let go of me first….”

“You were just like this back then, too.”

Yi-seo’s eyes widened at the damp murmur.

The pressure on his neck wasn’t enough to make him choke anymore, yet it felt as if his very airway were being constricted.

“That—that’s a lie.”

“……What?”

“You’re lying. This… this is incredibly rude right now.”

Even as he tried to steady his trembling voice, the fear leaked through.

It’s a lie. He’s just testing me. I can’t fall for it.

Being outed like this back in college was more than enough.

His hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Cha Gye-won’s sharp, unwavering gaze was chilling.

It felt as if the man were condemning him for lying, a weight too heavy to bear.

“So it’s a lie, is it?”

“Of—of course it is. If what you’re saying is true, there’s no way I wouldn’t remember….”

A wicked smile played on Gye-won’s lips.

He could see the eyelids trembling, yet the way Yi-seo forced himself to glare back was almost comical.

“You were very drunk. So much so that you couldn’t even steady your own body.”

Gye-won’s hand moved up from the neck to fondle Yi-seo’s earlobe.

It felt as if the tip of his ear were catching fire.

Yi-seo knew he always found his way home, even when drunk.

As far as he knew, he didn’t even have any particular drunken habits.

“Then it’s even less likely. Even when I’m drunk, I get home fine. I don’t make mistakes…. And….”

Yi-seo took a step back.

As if to say ‘not a chance,’ the back of his head was yanked forward.

“But it happened. You were drunk, so I snatched you up and ate you whole.”

Cha Gye-won licked his lower lip as if savoring a memory.

His expression looked mischievous, but it didn’t look like a lie.

Yi-seo’s anxiety doubled.

In this industry, rumors traveled with disgusting speed.

The company’s reputation was already hitting rock bottom; it was obvious what would happen if word got out that the CEO was gay.

A voice like a groan leaked through his trembling lips.

“When…? Where…?”

“Three years ago, in front of a gay bar.”

“Wh-Why.”

The sound of a cynical chuckle hit Yi-seo’s ears.

“What do you mean ‘why’? You were stumbling around asking to be eaten, so why would I pass that up? I’m not an idiot.”

Gye-won’s other hand gripped Yi-seo’s forearm.

“No. Th-that never happened!”

Smack.

Yi-seo forcefully shook off Cha Gye-won’s hand.

His shout echoed through the parking lot.

Gye-won’s hand stopped in mid-air.

An uncomfortable silence settled between them.

The humming vibration of the building, the damp smell unique to parking lots, and the bleak atmosphere seeped into his skin.

Cha Gye-won took a slow step forward.

He closed the distance exactly by the amount Yi-seo had tried to create.

“You only get to run away once.”

“Ugh.”

He was jerked forward. The arm that was grabbed again throbbed with pain.

Cha Gye-won leaned down and whispered into Yi-seo’s ear.

He could feel the man’s lips almost brushing against his skin.

The hot breath crawling into his ear made his skin crawl.

“It’ll be troublesome if you think there’s a second time.”

Cha Gye-won bit down hard on Yi-seo’s ear.

The metallic taste of blood spread.

“Ah, it hurts.”

“Because next time, I’ll actually kill you.”

A vivid, strange light gleamed in his eyes.

*****************************************

After dropping Yi-seo off at home, Cha Gye-won only turned away once he confirmed that Yi-seo had entered the apartment complex.

Yi-seo felt like a total mess.

He felt pathetic for being unable to move an inch, unable to even properly argue back.

“Ugh…. Sob…. Hic.”

Once the sound of the retreating footsteps vanished, Yi-seo slumped down by the shoe rack.

The cold chill of the front door against his back felt rigid.

Three years ago. That would be that day.

The day he finally accepted that Kim Seung-ju had run away.

The day he vowed to stop waiting.

“Sob….”

His relationship with Kim Seung-ju had started when he was twenty-three, right after he was discharged from the military.

Seung-ju was the department president, handsome, and well-mannered.

Yi-seo had fallen for him in an instant.

‘You’re gay, aren’t you?’

Seung-ju had asked one day when they were the only ones left.

Looking back, it would have been stranger if he didn’t know.

Yi-seo was always a helpless mess whenever he stood in front of Kim Seung-ju.

“Sob…. Ha….”

Contrary to Yi-seo’s despair that everything was over, Seung-ju had suggested they date.

And so they met for a solid six years—or rather, about three years if you excluded the times Seung-ju had disappeared in between.

He still didn’t know where the rumor started.

The rumor that spread with only one semester left before graduation was enough to shatter Yi-seo’s daily life.

Fortunately, he didn’t have many credits left, so he managed to graduate. But that was it.

Department of Life Sports. Yi-seo’s major was in a male-dominated department, deeply rooted in old-fashioned thinking.

The majority didn’t just look down on homosexuality; they viewed it with pure hatred. It was even worse seven years ago.

Yi-seo voluntarily cut off all contact with everyone in the department.

Hwi-jun was the only one he occasionally heard from.

It didn’t take long for his parents to find out, either.

In the end, Yi-seo was left alone.

That was also the first time Seung-ju had left him.

The first time he truly resented him.

“No. It must be a mistake. It has to be a mistake.”

He didn’t want to go through the same thing again.

If Cha Gye-won decided to announce that Yi-seo was gay… if he exposed what happened in the past… what would happen then?

A man like him certainly had the power to drag Yi-seo into the abyss.

Bluntly put, if Cha Gye-won lied and said Yi-seo had tried to assault him, people would believe the star’s word.

Then, he would be the only one rolling in the gutter again.

He was in his thirties now.

If the few people he had left distanced themselves and the work he had done so far crumbled, he didn’t have the confidence to recover. He didn’t have the strength to get back up.

“I have to check. There are plenty of people who look similar….”

The one who slept with Cha Gye-won couldn’t have been him.

It had to be that way. He would check. And then he would tell him it wasn’t him.

After that, they could just go on as they were now.

Yi-seo pushed his swaying body upward.

There was only one gay bar he would have gone to.

**************************************

Descending the signless basement stairs led to a small, quiet bar.

It had been a long time.

After Seung-ju left, Yi-seo had occasionally sought out this place.

While other bars felt like small clubs, this place had the atmosphere of a cafe.

Yi-seo didn’t frequent gay bars or clubs.

The reason he visited this place occasionally was because the owner, Shim Chan, was a huge source of support for him.

“It’s been a while….”

Whenever his head was a mess, Chan-hyung played the role of a counselor quite well.

The bar Cha Gye-won mentioned was definitely this one.

If he asked Chan-hyung, he might remember something.

The days he got truly drunk were few enough to count on one hand.

In truth, more than that, he just needed someone to talk to.

He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink if he stayed like this.

Yi-seo found a seat in the corner.

The conversation he had before getting out of Cha Gye-won’s car flashed back into his mind.

*************************************

‘If you’re joining our company just to black-mail me….’

‘Blackmail? Why would I blackmail you? What do I have to gain?’

He had instantly mocked Yi-seo’s cautious question.

‘Then why….’

‘I wonder.’

Yi-seo didn’t believe everything Cha Gye-won said.

But if it were true, there was no way they could work together.

It was bound to be uncomfortable the entire time. His attitude alone proved that.

His intention to use that as leverage to control Yi-seo seemed clear.

Only then did he begin to understand why Gye-won had chosen his agency.

He might have needed an agency he could hold in his hand and shake as he pleased.

Reaching this conclusion, Yi-seo gathered his courage and spoke up.

‘The, the contract. Let’s act as if it never happened.’

At Yi-seo’s stuttering words, Cha Gye-won’s car ignored the signal and stopped in the middle of the road.

Despite the sudden stop, the car came to a smooth halt.

‘Ah. You don’t know the contents of the contract.’

Cha Gye-won ran his hand—the one not on the steering wheel—through his hair.

That gesture was thick with irritation.

‘Because… you didn’t tell me….’

Yi-seo was the one being wronged, yet he felt intimidated just seeing Gye-won’s reaction.

Of course, he admitted he had made a mistake here.

He shouldn’t have just bitten the bait because it was Cha Gye-won; he should have checked everything before signing.

Yi-seo lowered his head.

‘If the CEO terminates the contract first, he has to pay ten times the down payment as a penalty.’

Cha Gye-won used his index finger to lift Yi-seo’s chin, forcing their eyes to meet.

Then, he smiled brightly.

That radiant smile, so out of place for the situation, was surreal.

A look of utter dismay washed over Yi-seo’s face.

‘W-we never set a down payment….’

‘Aah.’

As if it were a chore, Cha Gye-won pulled the contract from his coat and showed it to him.

On the third page of the contract, there was a clause regarding the down payment.

‘500 million won?!’