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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Feeling Like a Dog in Heat
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Seonghyeok regretted stepping into Huiran's room the moment he did.
Seo Jingyo’s provocation still stung, but he knew Yeongin couldn't help it. It would be stranger for a manager to flat-out refuse to enter an actor's room than to go in.
"Have a seat."
He suppressed the urge to turn around and leave, instead sitting on the rattan chair Huiran offered.
He wasn't so crazy as to change his mind right after saying he wanted to hear her out now, so he decided to finish the conversation quickly and leave.
"Tell me what you have to say."
"Actually… this isn't really something I should say like this…"
Huiran drew out her words as she sat in the chair opposite him.
"Then how would you prefer I hear it?"
"Would you like a glass of wine?"
"I'll hear it like this."
Having grown accustomed to him, Huiran didn't even blush at his embarrassingly blunt response. She wasn't flustered or offended either. In fact, it might even feel awkward now if Cha Seonghyeok were to act affectionately.
She lowered her eyelashes slightly, then raised them, a shy smile playing on her lips.
"I want to get a little closer to you, Daepyo-nim."
"Ah, is that so?"
Was that a yes or a no?
Huiran pondered for a moment how to interpret Seonghyeok's words, but she concluded that it wasn't a situation where she needed to back down immediately.
"Officially or unofficially, either way is fine."
Seonghyeok stared at Huiran, then slowly opened his mouth.
"I have a woman I'm going to marry."
"Ah… I see…"
Her surprise lasted only a moment before Huiran quickly accepted it.
He was the second son of SL Group, after all. How many families would be desperate to form an alliance with them?
Assuming he was referring to an arranged marriage and that his words conveyed regret about his impending marriage, she subtly dropped a hint.
"It doesn't matter even if you get married."
"You're willing to be a mistress?"
"I mean I'm willing to accommodate your situation as much as possible."
At Huiran's demure attitude, Seonghyeok let out a low laugh.
"You're very understanding and straightforward."
Huiran curved the corner of her lips into a smile in response.
"I hear that a lot."
"What about being tactless?"
"Pardon?"
"You can't even tell the difference between a compliment and a jab, so you must be quite tactless."
"..."
Huiran's face stiffened.
"And they say you have no self-awareness, which also seems true."
For her sake, since she couldn't take a hint, Seonghyeok decided to stop beating around the bush.
"Did you really think I'd agree to your proposal, Baek Huiran? Did you think I wouldn't refuse, even after you said you'd accommodate my situation as much as possible?"
"..."
Huiran had indeed thought he would agree to her proposal. She had thought there was no way he would refuse. If he weren't the second son of SL Group, she wouldn't have made such an audacious offer in the first place.
"Are you naturally this confident?"
Seonghyeok tilted his head and continued.
"Or were you just desperate after Oh Changgeun dumped you?"
"..."
She hadn't expected to hear Oh Changgeun's name from him.
Huiran's pupils trembled imperceptibly.
"If you thought I wouldn't know, you seriously underestimated me. Did you really think I'd take on a CEO role at an entertainment company without understanding my actors' risks?"
Huiran struggled to maintain her composure and spoke.
"Who told you I was dumped by Oh Changgeun?"
"What did you think it meant when Oh Changgeun used Team Leader Chae Yeongin as an excuse not to renew his advertising contract? Did you not realize he was trying to shake you off?"
"..."
"Learn to read the room. And learn to pick your targets in the future."
Seonghyeok stood up, leaving her, her face flushed with shame, and exited the room.
***
While Seonghyeok was receiving Huiran's confession, Yeongin was sitting in the exact same position, in the same chair as Seonghyeok, receiving Jingyo's confession.
"After careful consideration, I concluded that it's better to confess and be rejected."
Yeongin pondered for a moment, then calmly nodded.
"If that's what you think, Seonbae, I won't stop you."
She also thought it would be better to end things definitively rather than continue their lukewarm relationship.
"Let's try dating seriously. I'll be good to you."
"You already know what my answer will be. That's why you hesitated, right?"
"I know."
Jingyo also guessed Yeongin's true feelings about not wanting to stop him.
"I'm not ready to meet anyone else yet. I'm sorry, Seonbae."
"How about we prepare while we're dating? I can wait."
"I don't want to try to completely forget that person, nor do I want to try to like someone else again."
It was because she had learned that some things couldn't be forced, no matter how much you tried. If effort were all it took, she wouldn't still be struggling because of Cha Seonghyeok.
"I hope that if I just live life as it comes, one day I'll look beside me and someone will be there. Well, if not, I can't help it."
"So, that 'someone beside you' isn't me?"
"Your place, Seonbae, is in front of me. I'm the one who watches and supports you from behind."
Jingyo's gaze, which had been wandering somewhere on the table, returned to Yeongin.
"If I say I'll wait anyway, will I look pathetic?"
"You'll even seem obsessive."
"You're unusually blunt today."
Yeongin let out a small laugh watching him grumble.
Her heart finally felt at ease. She could feel that he, too, was at ease, not just her.
"There's nothing worse than giving false hope."
"Why does that sound like self-reflection?"
A self-deprecating smile appeared on Yeongin's face.
"You're unusually quick-witted today, Seonbae."
Her heart felt heavy because she couldn't be that way with one particular person. She thought that if she had shown Seonghyeok a clearer stance, they might not have ended up in this situation.
Just as Yeongin was reflecting with regret, the doorbell of the hotel room rang.
"Who is it?"
Jingyo tilted his head, stood up, and went to the door.
A moment later, a gruff voice came from the door.
"What's going on?"
A dry reply followed.
"I came to take Yeongin."
Yeongin's eyes widened in surprise as she recognized Seonghyeok's voice.
He'd made a point of going to Baek Huiran's room, and now, just a few minutes later, what kind of capriciousness was this?
"You're being rude."
As soon as Jingyo finished speaking, Seonghyeok's face came into view.
"Come out."
"What's with the suddenness?"
"I don't like you being alone with another man in a hotel room. So let's go."
"..."
Reading the determination in Seonghyeok's eyes to take her with him, Yeongin realized it was useless to resist and stood up. She also didn't want to argue with him in front of Jingyo.
But before she could walk out on her own, her wrist was grabbed. By the time they were out in the hallway, their hands were intertwined.
Seonghyeok stood in the middle of the hallway and turned to Yeongin.
"Where's your room?"
"..."
Yeongin pressed her lips together even tighter, as if in protest.
"Should we just stand here like this?"
It was a threat: he had no intention of letting go of her hand, so she could do as she pleased if she wanted to be caught by others. The threat worked very well on Yeongin.
"...The room at the end of the hall."
Seonghyeok walked straight to the room at the end of the hall and stopped Yeongin in front of the door.
"Open it."
Yeongin sighed heavily, rummaged in her pocket, and unlocked the door with her card key. As if on cue, a hand reached out from his side and pushed the door open, pushing her inside the room with it.
The two stood facing each other near the foot of the bed.
"Don't be alone with Seo Jingyo in an enclosed space."
Yeongin wrinkled her nose and snapped back.
"Why are you treating an innocent person like a potential criminal?"
"Because he's not innocent. He's a man who sees you as a woman."
"..."
Yeongin wanted to argue, asking what right he had to say such a thing when he himself had just been in an enclosed space with Baek Huiran, but she couldn't. It was because she knew that would also be giving him an opening.
"What do you think a man thinks when he's alone in a private space with a woman he likes?"
"Not all men in the world would think that."
"Not all men in the world, no. But I always do."
"..."
The moment she sensed the burning heat in his eyes, Yeongin was laid on the bed in the blink of an eye. Her hands were pinned, unable to move.
A lingering gaze from above bore down on her, making the fine hairs on her body stand on end. She felt a sense of threat and pressure, as if she would be devoured at any moment.
"Actually, I don't only have impure thoughts when we're alone in a private space."
Seonghyeok's voice dropped even lower.
"Even during meetings, when we accidentally run into each other in the hallway or cafeteria, when we ride the elevator together, I constantly imagine stripping your clothes off. Like a madman."
"..."
A strange tremor ran through her as his thick, husky voice enveloped her ears, and she bit her lower lip.
"I feel like a dog in heat."
"..."
His face slowly drew closer.
Her mind screamed to escape, but her body wouldn't move. Perhaps she didn't want to refuse.
Just before their lips met, Yeongin barely managed to turn her head.
"I just want to do whatever I want with you..."
Muttering under his breath with a sigh, Seonghyeok got up. Yeongin quickly stood up as well, smoothing her disheveled hair and clothes.
An awkward silence enveloped the two.
"I'm leaving."
Yeongin kept her gaze fixed on her feet, only her lips moving.
"Did you... get a room...?"
"No, I'm going to the airport."
Yeongin lifted her gaze, a bewildered expression on her face.
"Are you going back to Seoul today?"
"Yeah, I have a dinner appointment with an important investor."
"You had an important appointment, but you still came all the way to Jeju Island?"
"Because seeing you was more important."
"..."
"Don't avoid my calls. If you keep avoiding me, I'll come back down on the first flight tomorrow."
"...Alright, just go already."
"I'm going."
Seonghyeok lightly stroked Yeongin's mumbling cheek and turned away.
