JD 22

The one with red hair and crimson eyes was Huang Lin, an imugi who ruled over the Yellow Sea region on the Chinese side. He showed great interest in the guest brought by his old friend whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Muheon, the one you brought with you. Smells a bit like earth, but he’s cute. Little one, I’m Huang Lin. What’s your name?”

“Y-Yes?”

Still not adjusted to the atmosphere, Hakyung’s eyes darted about until they landed on the man seated in front of him. While Muheon was dressed all in black, the man who had introduced himself as Huang Lin was red from head to toe.

It made Hakyung wonder if leaders all liked to dress themselves head-to-toe in their favorite color.

He shifted his gaze to Muheon, watching for a cue. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to answer. Muheon gave a slight nod, and taking that as permission, Hakyung opened his mouth.

“Hello. I’m Kang Hakyung.”

“Ohh, I see. What’s your kind?”

“R-River dolphin.”

At Hakyung’s answer, Huang Lin clapped his hands like a grandfather watching his grandchild perform. Appearance-wise, he seemed about the same age as Muheon… yet his mannerisms and tone were baffling.

Could it be some kind of alpha pride thing? Just as Hakyung was glancing back and forth between Muheon and Huang Lin with a furrowed brow, disturbed by the contrast—

“Ricer dolphin, huh? You must have a good voice then! I have some dolphins under me too, so I know. You sing well too?”

“He does. It’s fun to listen to.”

This time, Muheon answered the question. A small smile played on his lips as he recalled the songs Hakyung had written and composed himself.

That smile somehow felt like a smirk, but since someone else was around, Hakyung couldn’t even protest, and his face turned bright red. Muheon found this amusing and lightly tapped the top of Hakyung’s hat.

“Is that so? I figured as much. Our company’s been expanding into Korean entertainment lately. There’s a party tonight to introduce some of the new artists we’ve signed… Want to come?”

“No thanks. Not interested. Kang Hakyung, how about you? Want to go to a party?”

Muheon cut off Huang Lin’s offer without hesitation and turned to Hakyung. Hakyung quickly shook his head. He had zero interest in entertainment, albums, or anything of the sort. No, he had to have none.

As Hakyung shook his head so hard it looked like it might fall off, Muheon reached out and steadied his small head.

“See? He doesn’t want to go either.”

“Hmm. That’s a shame.”

Huang Lin clicked his tongue, clearly disappointed. He had hoped Muheon would show up to the party and help promote the business a little, but it seemed he had absolutely no interest. Neither did the one he brought along.

Kids usually flock to wealth and glamor, but this dolphin didn’t seem particularly drawn to such things.

If Muheon found him interesting, it meant the kid had some solid talent—which made it all the more disappointing. Huang Lin looked at the two of them once more, wistful, but nothing seemed likely to change.

“Kang Hakyung! Come over here, there’s chocolate cake!”

From afar, Geowong waved his arm. In his other hand was a dainty teacup.

Chocolate cake?! Hakyung’s eyes sparkled. He wanted to run over immediately, but it felt rude to just leave in the middle of a conversation with elders. So he sat in his chair, anxiously bouncing his feet.

Once again, it was Muheon who came to his rescue. The man pulled Hakyung’s chair back and said,

“Go ahead and eat the chocolate cake. But don’t eat too much or your stomach’ll hurt.”

“Yes! Should I bring some for you too, boss?”

Hakyung jumped up and asked. Despite being completely absorbed by the thought of cake, he still remembered to care for Muheon—and that made the corners of Muheon’s lips lift in a smile. Whoever had picked him up, they’d certainly picked well.

At the sight of his boss’s proud smile, Hakyung’s heart pounded wildly and his face flushed as he bowed his head and scurried away. Smiling like that without warning was totally cheating.

Once the little river dolphin left, silence—familiar among the imugis—settled in again, and it was Huang Lin who broke it.

“Since when do you go around with someone in tow?”

“Hmm?”

“I’ve just never seen anything like it before. It’s strange enough that he’s freshwater-born.”

“Well… a lot happened. But what about you? Why are you stretching your reach all the way to Korea? It’s not your sea, so I figured you wouldn’t care much…”

At Muheon’s question, Huang Lin narrowed his eyes with a knowing smile. Truthfully, he was only acting at the urging of his underlings.

“Guess they want me to follow the trends. The more money or power one has, the better, isn’t it? But don’t worry, I’ve no intention of eyeing your share.”

“If you did, you wouldn’t have invited me like this.”

To that flat reply, Huang Lin let out a loud laugh. After seeing how Muheon had treated the river dolphin earlier, the contrast between them felt almost hilarious.

They’d known each other for hundreds of years, yet this might have been the first time Huang Lin found being around Muheon this amusing.

While Huang Lin enjoyed collecting things he liked and pouring his passion into them, Muheon was the complete opposite—he never kept anything he liked close and lived in solitary elegance.

Even among the inherently greedy imugis, he was known as an unusual one. Perhaps that’s why this lone river dolphin, who could be called Muheon’s only exception, caught Huang Lin’s attention even more. Of course, imugis were forbidden from coveting what another had. Still, it was a shame.

“Well, if you change your mind about the party later, come by. I’ll let them know.”

With that brief farewell, the two rose from their seats. Huang Lin headed toward his waiting underlings, while Muheon went off to retrieve the river dolphin, who had completely lost himself in the chocolate cake.

Hakyung wandered the room, patting his full stomach. When he heard “hotel room,” he’d expected a small space with a bed and bathroom, but the room he was sharing with Muheon felt more like a furnished apartment.

A small living room, several bedrooms along the hallway, a minibar in the corner, even a pool. There were three bathrooms. It felt like he’d stepped into another world, and his feet never stopped moving.

Watching him move around busily, Muheon slowly got up and began trailing behind him with a relaxed pace.

“Boss, our company dorm is really nice too, but this place is amazing! Is it because you’re friends with the guy who runs this place?”

“Friends?”

“Aren’t you? But how did he learn Korean to end up speaking like that? He’s worse than Uncle Geowong.”

Now that it was just the two of them, Kang Hakyung turned chatty. Muheon welcomed the change—it meant Hakyung felt comfortable around him.

As the boy left his footprints everywhere like marking territory, Muheon gently lifted him and set him down on the couch.

“W-Why? Was I being annoying?”

“No. Just… take a break.”

“Then… okay? Boss, y-you should sit too.”

Blushing for no reason at the word “break,” Hakyung squirmed and patted the spot beside him. Muheon sat where the small hand indicated and crossed his long legs.

Just that simple movement looked so cool that Hakyung’s heart leapt in his chest. He was clearly smitten—and the worst part was, he didn’t want to shake it off. Or… was that even a bad thing? No, it just felt good…

Coming to his own conclusion, Hakyung wriggled his bottom and scooted a little closer to the man.

“Kang Hakyung.”

“Yes?”

“Do you like places like this? Should I build one too?”

Startled by the sudden question, Hakyung turned his wide eyes to Muheon. The man wasn’t joking—his face was serious.

Muheon prompted him again, gently pressing for an answer: “Hmm? What do you think?”

Hakyung knew his boss worked in finance, but even so, building a place like this from scratch seemed… excessive. Maybe he was just showing off in front of an employee. Still, Hakyung, utterly taken with him, only found it cute.

“I like the dorm better. I like the whale room, and the kitchen’s nice too. There’s an outdoor platform, and the goldfish and koi in the pond are really cute.”

“Is that so? Kang Hakyung, your standards are pretty small.”

Muheon looked oddly disappointed at his answer. Hakyung had thought it was a model reply, so he didn’t understand the reaction. He shrugged and started poking around the table.

“Boss, I think they serve buffet dinner here!”

“You’re already thinking about dinner? Your belly’s big as Namsan Mountain.”

“N-Namsan?! Please just say it’s a little hill…”

Muheon couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst into laughter. Hakyung, enchanted by that smile, blinked a few times before his own lips curled up in response.

He hoped the mood stayed just like this until the day they returned to Seoul.