I Used You… But Fell for Real

As his popularity grew rapidly, there were naturally many who envied and resented Haeyoon. Among the criticisms they leveled at him, the most common was that his painting skills were nothing special, and his fame was merely driven by his looks.

But honestly, Jeongha thought the opposite. Seo Haeyoon was simply too beautiful to be focused solely on his work. In Jeongha’s opinion, if Haeyoon weren’t such a striking beauty, his paintings themselves might have received even higher praise.

“I’m really losing my mind.”

Jeongha muttered abruptly after staring at Haeyoon’s photo for a long time. His voice was self-mocking.

Staring at someone’s face for no reason, marveling at how pretty it was, looking again, marveling again. He couldn’t believe that he, of all people, was spending his time so pathetically.

He knew this wasn’t normal. It was inefficient, meaningless, and consuming. He also knew that if he recognized a problem, he should correct it quickly and avoid repeating the same mistake. He wasn’t ignorant of that fact.

But he just didn’t want to. He had no desire to fix it. Instead, he wanted to spend more of his time on Seo Haeyoon. Efficiency and such—he didn’t even want to consider it.

It was an absurd situation: he was in a state that suggested something was truly wrong with his head, yet he was glad to be in that state.

“This is crazy….”

But the bigger problem now wasn’t correcting his behavior. He was already missing Haeyoon, and they had only parted a short while ago. He was definitely losing his mind.

“Hm?”

Just then, his phone rang. It was a call from an unknown number. Jeongha ignored it without much thought and tried to focus on his own matters. His phone buzzed briefly right after.

“What the….”

Jeongha checked his phone absentmindedly, and his expression hardened. A message had come from the same number that had just called.

[Hello. My name is Choi Woojin. I’m a friend of Seo Haeyoon’s.]

“Choi Woojin…?”

Jeongha repeated the name, searching his memory. Come to think of it, Haeyoon had mentioned that name a few times. Along with his twin friend, he was among those Haeyoon trusted and cherished most. There was such a name.

“Why is he contacting me…?”

That aside, it was puzzling why someone he had never met was reaching out. More messages followed.

[I apologize for the sudden contact. I’d like to speak with you over the phone. If you could let me know a convenient time, I’d appreciate it. I’d also appreciate it if you could not mention this to Haeyoon.]

The more he read the short messages, the more puzzling they became. First, he wondered what Haeyoon’s friend could possibly want to talk to him about, and the request not to tell Haeyoon was even more suspicious.

“What’s this bastard’s deal?”

It was natural to feel wary. Haeyoon seemed to trust this friend, but who knew. Haeyoon had also trusted Oh Jaeyeol and Ahn Seonwoo implicitly. The way he said “to Haeyoon” also felt oddly intimate, which was strangely irritating.

With a guarded expression, Jeongha pressed the call button. He’d find out what this was about soon enough.

* * * *

Jeongha met Choi Woojin, Seo Haeyoon’s close friend, at a café near his home. Whether it was urgent, Woojin had come all the way to Jeongha’s neighborhood, willing to meet immediately if Jeongha had time.

The more accommodating he was, the more Jeongha’s suspicion grew. Those who act overly eager usually have an ulterior motive.

“Sorry for showing up so suddenly.”

Woojin spoke first. As in his messages, his attitude was polite. Even though he was likely older than Jeongha, being Haeyoon’s friend, he maintained his composure. But Jeongha didn’t have time for such formalities now.

“Hmm, why don’t we skip the pleasantries? Considering you came all this way, I assume it’s urgent.”

His tone might have seemed rude, but Jeongha considered it his version of basic manners. After all, since this was Haeyoon’s friend, and he didn’t know why he was here, he couldn’t be openly hostile.

“Right, that would be best.”

Despite Jeongha’s prickly attitude, Woojin didn’t seem particularly flustered. Rather, he seemed lost in his own thoughts, appearing tense.

Wondering what on earth he had to say that was so important, Woojin, who had been downing his coffee like water, finally spoke.

“You know Yang Juchan, right?”

Jeongha’s eyes flashed at that moment. Yang Juchan was his senior, the one he had used to get an introduction to Haeyoon. The scattered pieces in his mind began to slowly form a picture. Woojin continued.

“Juchan and I are acquaintances.”

“No way….”

“Yes. Juchan and I arranged the meeting so you and Haeyoon could meet.”

His head throbbed. An event he had almost forgotten, as it had been quite some time, suddenly resurfaced.

When he had learned that Ahn Seonwoo was marrying Oh Jaeyeol, Jeongha had become interested in their affair, or more precisely, in Seo Haeyoon’s situation.

No, to be more honest, it was more accurate to say he had decided he wanted to know more about Seo Haeyoon, a person who kept popping into his head no matter how hard he tried to shake him off.

He was curious how Haeyoon would handle it, and if possible, he wanted to involve himself in the situation.

But Jeongha had no justification to approach Seo Haeyoon first. And the chance of Haeyoon contacting him on his own was simply zero.

So Jeongha had decided to use the people around him. To avoid suspicion, he looked for someone who knew Haeyoon indirectly.

He figured Haeyoon’s friends would be angry about Oh Jaeyeol and Ahn Seonwoo’s behavior, so if he just made them think of ‘Baek Jeongha, the one Ahn Seonwoo had desperately loved,’ they would use him as a tool for revenge. So Jeongha had urged Juchan to subtly mention his name in front of Haeyoon’s acquaintances.

Had he heard the name of the friend Juchan connected him with back then? He didn’t remember. If he had heard it, he would have forgotten immediately. It hadn’t seemed important then, and he hadn’t known he would still be by Seo Haeyoon’s side now.

“…So?”

Jeongha’s voice grew sharper. He had a vague idea why Woojin had come to see him. It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding. Woojin continued.

“Yesterday, I met Juchan for a drink after a long time… and he told me about you.”

“…….”

“He said the reason he brought you up back then… was actually because you asked him to.”

Jeongha bit his lip. Loose-lipped bastard. He cursed inwardly, but honestly, he had been careless too, so he had no excuse.

It was all because he ‘didn’t know’ back then. He hadn’t known anything. He hadn’t known Seo Haeyoon would come so deeply into his life. He hadn’t known he would become so obsessed with him. He hadn’t known how sincere he would become about him. He had taken everything too lightly because he knew nothing.

“That… at the time I….”

Jeongha rarely stammered. It was now clear. That Woojin hadn’t approached him with good intentions. His mind went blank. It wasn’t Choi Woojin he was worried about; it was Seo Haeyoon. He couldn’t imagine how Haeyoon would react if he found out about this.

Haeyoon was someone who valued honesty and trust. If he found out that Jeongha had deliberately orchestrated circumstances to approach him? There were many possibilities, but only the worst-case scenarios ran through Jeongha’s mind, vanishing and reappearing.

But Woojin remained calm and spoke again.

“Wait a moment, Jeongha-ssi. That’s not… that’s not why I came here today.”

“……?”

“No, I mean, yes, I wanted to confirm. I wanted to see what kind of person Baek Jeongha is. I didn’t know your intentions in approaching Haeyoon. And Haeyoon… probably didn’t either.”

Woojin paused to take another sip of coffee. His throat was dry from tension.

Honestly, when he first heard it from Juchan yesterday, he had felt a chill down his spine. He had been so consumed by what happened to Haeyoon that he, an outsider, had inadvertently pushed him towards another potential danger. He had been so angry he’d almost grabbed Juchan by the collar, demanding to know why he was only telling him now.

But after thinking it over for a day, his mind had actually calmed down. What had finally settled his mind was after speaking with Haeyoon.

Actually, Woojin had called Haeyoon hoping to get some small clue. He wanted to find out if there was anything suspicious about Baek Jeongha, if he had made any unreasonable demands, if there was anything at all, no matter how small, that bothered him.

But when Haeyoon answered Woojin’s call, Woojin found himself letting out a sigh of relief for some reason. Haeyoon’s voice on the phone was so bright. He hadn’t heard Haeyoon’s voice so light in months.

When he had met Haeyoon with Sua and Sumin not long ago, his state had seemed much improved, but even since then, Haeyoon seemed even better.

Not only that, during their long conversation, Haeyoon had casually mentioned Jeongha’s name several times. He hadn’t said anything particular, but Woojin could easily tell how much Haeyoon trusted and relied on Jeongha.