chapter 34

The moment Ha jin-seong realized he hadn't sprayed his always-remembered pheromone perfume, panic set in. He felt trapped in an invisible web, unable to move and unable to see anything.

"...The perfume..."

He had never forgotten it before. What if someone found out that he didn't have pheromones? What would happen then?

On the day he exposed as a half-hearted alpha, everything he had carefully built and concealed would crumble.

It felt as if his heart had plummeted into the abyss. At that moment, along with his clothes getting wet, a calm voice pulled him back to reality.

"I'm sorry. I came to say hello and accidentally bumped into the glass."

Only then did he notice the colour staining his clothes. How dare someone...?

Something absurd had occurred.

"Ahn Se-hyeon?"

It was absurd enough for se-hyeon to suddenly appear, but to spill wine as well? The voice, which didn't sound like admiting mistake at all, echoed as he stared at his wet clothes.

"The wine scent is tingling."

"...."

The unease Ha jin-seong felt at the mention of scent dissipated.

Was that all? I completely forgot why I

was so shocked. The smell of wine is masked as my scent.

"You can send me the dry-cleaning bill."

"What's wrong, Oppa? Are you okay?"

Even with Jin Hye-in's worried words as she held onto his arm, Ha Jin-seong couldn't take his eyes off Ahn Se-hyeon.

Did se-hyeon just help me? How did he know?

****

"You were toying with fire."

Se-hyeon, who was in the passenger seat, turned to look at Shin Tae-oh in the back seat. He quickly rotated his head, trying to grasp the underlying meaning.

If he was referring to spilling wine on Ha Jin-seong's clothes earlier...he just helped ha jin-seong concealing the pheromones for him.

More accurately, the fact that there were no pheromones to conceal. It was an act of uncovering Ha Jin-seong's weakness, something se-hyeon doesn't want to know but had no choice but to find out from the original work. It's something that will eventually be revealed, even if it's not him.

When Ha jin-seong and Ha Min-hyuk will keep fighting until they expose each other's vulnerabilities so it will Ha Minhyuk exposed it. It has to happen then not now can't let the original plot damage now. can we?

"Who did I toy with?"

Se-hyeon asked nonchalantly.

"Is there anyone other than me?"

"Not that I know of."

Not Ha Jin-seong? When and how I toy with this tae-nayang?

"I don't want anyone else to interfere between us."

"I apologize."

Se-hyeon apologized neatly and wrapped it up. Since he heard it was about Shin Tae-oh, he didn't inquire further. But How did shin Tae-oh know how to manipulate him like this? If it's Shin Tae-oh, he doesn't know how to twist his words before. See-hyeon knows if he tries to ask more details about toying, Shin Tae-oh absolutely will start other nonsense so it's better to apologise and finish the matter.

"No need to apologize."

Shin Tae-oh didn't hide his disappointment. It bothered him that the secretary's gaze was kept alternating between him and Ha jin-seong. Se-hyeon redirected the situation with a fake cough.

"I'll pay for it next time, I promise."

" It's not about the sorry." Just focus on me when you are with me...but shin Tae-oh can't say the last part. he crossed his arms and turned his head towards the window.

The atmosphere, visible only through his profile, had turned tense. Se-hyeon didn't understand why Shin Tae-oh was acting this way now, but...

Se-hyeon didn't turn to face Shin Tae-oh in the passenger seat. It should have been easy to turn his body and look at his face while speaking, but strangely, it wasn't.

"I received a meal voucher."

"You did?" Shin Tae-oh pretends to be surprised.

"If I had known we were going there, I would have brought it. So, next time, I'll pay."

"Hmm..."

Instead of a response, Shin Tae-oh let out a sigh. "Well, it must have been sudden."

"Yes? Oh, yes, that's correct."

Se-hyeon didn't bring up the secretary director's suggestion of going together with a partner. It would be like fanning the flames in a burning house.

"Now that you mention it, we should go next time."

"Thank you."

"Should we coordinate our dress code next time?"

Se-hyeon imagined himself and Shin Tae-oh dressed up and entering the restaurant.

"...No."

"You're a bit late with your answer. Did you happen to imagine it?"

"No."

"Should I guess what Se-hyeon might have imagined?"

"No. Please judge based on reality."

As if dismissing it as impossible, Shin Tae-oh laughed sharply.

***

"Did you hear about that?"

Even upon hearing Ha Jin-woong's voice intruding as he pleased, Ha Jin-seong didn't get up from the bed.

"Ha Min-hyuk was given control of this project. Father must have gone crazy. Otherwise, how could he give it to that bastard..."

Ha Jin-woong, filled with agitation, swung his fist into the air.

"I should have stopped that bastard from moving to the headquarters. That was my intention all along."

Voicing his dissatisfaction, Ha Jin-woong realized belatedly that Ha Jin-seong wasn't responding.

"What's wrong? Are you dead?"

Ha Jin-woong approached the bed and shook Ha Jin-seong. Even though they were twin brothers, he couldn't lay a hand on him and could only stare at his condition. Confirming that Ha Jin-seong was looking at the ceiling, Ha Jin-woong placed his hand on his face.

"Move aside."

"What? You're awake."

Ha Jin-woong obediently moved his hand aside. As long as Ha Jin-seong could hear him, it didn't matter how he reacted.

"You're going to leave Ha Min-hyuk like that?"

Whenever Ha Min-hyuk wriggled, Ha Jin-seong would step on him, so Ha jin-woong thought something needed to be done this time as well.

"Oh, you startled me."

Ha Jin-woong recoiled in surprise, moving his upper body backwards.

"...Did you also think that way, Hyung?"

When asked if that's why he got up, Ha Jin-seong didn't offer any response.

"What's wrong?"

In an unusual act that ha jin-seong would never do under normal circumstances, Ha Jin-woong stared at Ha Jin-seong, as if trying to see through him. What could it be?

"Did you really not know?"

"I don't know anything. Father seems to be keeping something from us." Ha jin-seong finally responded. So, when he handed over the project to Ha Min-hyuk, he revealed it so that everyone could know.

"It's scarier if you know. That bastard Ha Min-hyuk had been hiding everything until now. Pretending to be the sole victim, acting pitifully, and Father fell for it."

Ha Jin-woong expressed that Ha Min-hyuk, how shameless he had been, pretending to be one of them all this time.

As Ha Jin-woong argued, Ha Jin-seong remained absent-minded. He didn't respond as he usually would, lost in his own thoughts. Then, a light flickered in Ha Jin-seong's eyes.

"Indeed, we should bring him here."

"Why bring him here? We should ruin him."

Ha jin-woong had no intention of sharing the company with Ha Min-hyuk. That's why Ha Jin-woong pondered how to drive Ha Min-hyuk away. Of course, his older two brother is good at handling such matters.

That's when Ha Jin-seong looked at Ha Jin-woong.

"Gather everyone."

"Really? Are you really calling them?"

Ha Jin-woong double-checked multiple times, causing Ha Jin-seong to scrunch his face in annoyance.

"Don't make me say it twice."

"Alright. I'll contact them now."

Ha Jin-woong took out his phone. When Ha Jin-seong asked him to call, it meant summoning the people they had sponsored so far. They had diligently nurtured them in preparation for a time like this, but now it was finally time to call them.

"So, you're planning to kick Ha Min-hyuk out completely." Ha Jin-woong left the room with an exhilarated expression.

With the large figure gone, the spacious room was now occupied by Ha Jin-seong alone.

"The wine scent is tingling."

Ahn Se-hyeon's pleasant voice kept repeating, making him confused as to whether it was tinnitus or something else entirely.

This ringing in his ears was getting on Ha Jin-seong's nerves. Every time he tried to focus elsewhere, the ringing grew louder, disrupting his thoughts.

The only way to resolve this was to have Ahn Se-hyeon by his side. If in the past he had considered keeping him at arm's length, now he was determined to bring him in, no matter what.

Having made up his mind, Ha Jin-seong reached out to his side. He opened the lid of a box that was placed there along with his phone. It was filled with candies, all of them strawberry-flavored like the one given by se-hyeon. Ha Jin-seong took one out.

***

"President Shin Tae-oh."

As Se-hyeon entered the lobby, he saw Ha Min-hyuk blocking his path, or more precisely, Shin Tae-oh's path.

"Do you have a moment?"

Se-hyeon interjected between Shin Tae-oh and Ha Min-hyuk, directing Ha Min-hyuk's gaze towards himself. He declined on Shin Tae-oh's behalf.

"I'm sorry, but unless there's an appointment, it's not possible."

No matter how much of a protagonist he might be in the original work, lines had to be drawn.

Furthermore, Shin Tae-oh seemed to be constantly busy, despite his tendency to fuss over trivial matters. He didn't just sit at his desk and go through approval documents; he was frequently on the move. Sometimes, se-hyeon wondered why Shin Tae-oh worked so diligently. Couldn't he just play around for the rest of his life with his overflowing wealth? What made him so diligent?

Unlike other third-generation chaebol heirs who engaged in networking and socializing, meeting people and enjoying a drink with someone they liked, Shin Tae-oh didn't do any of that.

Se-hyeon could tell from Shin Tae-oh's awkwardness at the hotel last time.

It wasn't because he was his boss; shin Tae-oh is truly an innocent soul, oblivious to what indulgence meant, despite being a third-generation chaebol.

Therefore, Shin Tae-oh's schedule had to be meticulously planned without a single error, and there was no free time that Ha Min-hyuk could simply request and receive.

"Is there no way, even for a moment?"

Now, it was clear that Ha Min-hyuk's gaze was fixed on se-hyeon, not Shin Tae-oh.

At first glance, his expression appeared no different from usual, but upon closer inspection, a subtlerestlessness could be detected.

'What could it be... Ah.'

It was the beginning of Ha Min-hyuk's full-fledged involvement in managing the company and the start of the project that would face interference from his brothers. So, the reason for him coming here like this is...

"I'm here to propose a consortium to Shin Tae-oh."

[TL note: Consortium- an association of companies for some definite purpose.]

In the original work, Ha Min-hyuk knew that Shin Tae-oh had an interest in Yoo Jin-ha and requested a deal.

And how did Shin Tae-oh respond back then...

"No, it's not possible."

They didn't join hands. That was the original storyline. And personally, se-hyeon had no intention of throwing Shin Tae-oh into the mess of obstacles that would come their way.

After all, I am Shin Tae-oh's secretary.

What can't be done, can't be done.