JD 79

“Boss, look at this! People are saying I could totally be a singer—they’re praising me like crazy!”

“They really are.”

Muheon agreed, responding to Hakyung’s excited voice. Just as he said, the comments were full of praise for Hakyung’s singing. The video didn’t have a massive number of views, but it seemed like nearly everyone who watched it had left a comment.

Muheon’s eyes narrowed slightly as he checked whether the praise was purely for Hakyung’s voice—or if it had anything to do with Hakyung himself. That’s when he finally noticed the channel name.

Mu-il Mu-i.

A name only he and Hakyung knew the meaning of. A quiet laugh escaped Muheon’s lips. How bold—to give a public channel a name like that…

He leaned in and whispered into Hakyung’s ear.

“You’re such a perv.”

“W-what do you mean?!”

When Hakyung bristled, Muheon simply pointed to the channel name. Hakyung looked down at where he pointed—and his face turned bright pink. Of course he remembered. It was the name he sang every day to the boss, after all.

Still, Hakyung the shameless river dolphin stood tall. Those were things he had kissed, licked, and held close—like beloved little treasures. There was nothing to be ashamed of. Just… a little embarrassed.

“So, do you hate it?”

Even with his face still flushed, Hakyung asked the question boldly. Muheon’s quiet “No” made him light up with joy.

Smiling, Hakyung rubbed his forehead against Muheon’s shoulder and whispered that the meaning of the channel name was their secret—no telling anyone.

Even as shameless and brazen as Muheon could be, he had no intention of going around explaining a potentially obscene channel name to others.

“Ahem!”

With a loud fake cough, Hajo attempted to bring an end to the overly affectionate scene playing out in front of him. Only then did Hakyung realize his brother was still there and hurriedly slid his butt off Muheon’s thigh and back into his seat. Muheon, too, quietly closed the mouth he’d opened to nibble Hakyung’s ear.

Trying to smooth things over, Hakyung pushed a few side dishes toward Hajo and changed the subject.

“So, does that mean… my video got picked up by that, uh… algorithm thing?”

“Hmm… if it did, it doesn’t look like it’s blowing up or anything…”

Hajo tilted his head, unsure. Judging by the comments, it seemed like fans of the song had come across the video and started praising how well it was sung.

Most of the comments talked about Hakyung and the group members, which made Hajo feel like his guess was right.

Sure enough, the more recent comments were full of messages like: “Came from xx! Is this the video with that amazing voice?” Seeing that, Hajo patted himself on the back—choosing an idol song was definitely the right move.

If word-of-mouth started spreading through fandoms, it’d only be a matter of time before it really took off. Already excited about uploading the next video, Hajo was more fired up than his brother. Seeing his little brother’s enthusiasm and the unexpected positive response, Hakyung smiled bashfully.

It felt like his voice was finally being recognized—on his own channel, not Kim Taeyoung’s.

“What do you think, boss? Is it okay if I keep singing?”

“Of course it is. Actually, this works out—Hakyung, you can sing at our wedding too.”

“Our… wedding?”

A question mark popped up on Hakyung’s face. The only time he’d heard the word “wedding song” was at… well, weddings. But he and the boss had already filed their marriage registration.

Ah! Maybe someone they knew was getting married?

Jumping to conclusions on his own, Hakyung began thinking of romantic songs that might fit. A few titles floated into his mind, and his chest fluttered a little, even if it wasn’t his own wedding. He was just about to ask what kind of couple it was when—

“Yeah. Our wedding.”

At Muheon’s reply, both Hakyung and Hajo widened their eyes.

They’d already registered their marriage, already been on a honeymoon—so what wedding was he talking about?

Hajo was just as shocked. When Hakyung said they were married, he’d assumed they just signed the papers and left it at that. There’d been no mention of a ceremony.

While the river dolphin brothers blinked in confusion, Muheon gave a bit more explanation.

“That ‘urgent matter’ I mentioned earlier—it was Huang Lin arriving from China. He heard we got married and said we couldn’t just leave it at that. So he offered hid hotel ballroom—said we should have a proper wedding.”

“Wait, that Huang Lin from Ch—”

Hakyung cut himself off before he could say “Chinese” and “Imugi.” His family still wasn’t ready to handle the truth about the boss’s identity. Especially not Hajo—he was a student preparing for exams. The last thing he needed was a spiritual crisis.

Muheon, understanding what Hakyung was trying to avoid, didn’t elaborate further on Huang Lin either. But the echo of his whiny voice from earlier in the day still rang in his ears, and his brow furrowed unconsciously.

Watching Muheon’s face harden mid-wedding talk, Hajo glanced at his brother with a silent, What is going on? kind of look. Hakyung only shrugged in response—he wasn’t sure either.

“B-but… isn’t a hotel ballroom really expensive? And all the preparations would cost a fortune too…”

Hakyung spoke up, voice uncertain. After paying Hajo’s academy fees, his bank account was completely wiped out. What was the point of having a venue if they couldn’t afford to fill it?

Chubby cheeks practically stamped with the words “money worries”, Hakyung looked up at Muheon. His eyes clearly pleaded for this whole hotel wedding idea to have just been a throwaway comment.

The fact that someone could say “money worries” with such sparkly eyes was both funny and a little pitiful. Muheon ignored the look entirely. A bit of a contrarian streak flared up in him.

He’d originally thought that if Hakyung didn’t want it, he’d just call it off. But seeing his lover stressing over money like that—he suddenly didn’t want to back down at all.

Muheon calmly dropped the bomb: the reservation was already made and couldn’t be canceled. Hakyung nearly fainted.

Having overheard their conversation, Hajo had already looked up the hotel and gaped at the sheer luxury of it. The place was so grand, he wondered if he had misheard.

“Th-this is really it?”

He held up his phone to Muheon. Muheon simply nodded.

Hajo jumped up and smacked Hakyung’s arm in shock. But Hakyung, still reeling from the emotional impact, didn’t even register the pain—he just stared blankly.

It was Muheon who stopped Hajo. He gently grabbed the younger boy’s wrist.

“You’ll hurt your brother.”

“Ah, right. I didn’t mean to… I’m sorry.”

Hajo bowed his head and apologized to Muheon. Even though he hadn’t hit him, Muheon frowned slightly at being apologized to. He was about to say, You should apologize to your brother, when Hakyung’s little fists came raining down on him instead.

“How could you decide something so huge all by yourself?!”

“It was an urgent situation…”

“Still! What, are we living in the Joseon era or something? You couldn’t at least make one phone call?!”

“Ah…”

Muheon’s expression said it hadn’t even crossed his mind. Hakyung’s eyes lit up with fury. His round pupils were practically on fire. And yet, Muheon found Angry Kang Hakyung just as adorable as always. Well—everything about Kang Hakyung was adorable.

Hajo tried to calm his brother down, but it was no use. Hakyung scolded Muheon with the ferocity of a killer whale. And judging by the way Muheon’s lips quirked upward during the whole lecture, it didn’t seem to be doing much good.

Finally, after venting for a while, Hakyung started to come back to his senses. With a deep sigh, he grabbed a cup to soothe his dry throat. Muheon quickly poured water and handed it to him.

Hakyung drained the cup in one go and looked up again.

“You’re really saying we’re having our wedding there?”

“Yeah.”

“You agreed to it, too?”

“Well… yeah. But I haven’t finished explaining yet.”

Muheon gently took off Hakyung’s hat and fanned the top of his head, which was practically steaming. Hakyung accepted the gesture as if it were only natural and nodded for him to go on.

That casual reaction made Hajo’s heart pound in alarm.

How could his brother act so nonchalant when the boss was treating him like royalty?! Meanwhile, the boss poured water, fanned him, and took all his yelling without flinching. Watching them, Hajo couldn’t help but think, Wow… my brother really hit the jackpot with this marriage.

Of course, it was partly the boss’s fault in the first place, so Muheon should be apologetic—but most people would’ve snapped if they were nagged that hard.

The fear Hajo had felt toward Muheon just moments ago quietly shifted… to his brother. He watched them nervously, praying that whatever the boss said next wouldn’t set Hakyung off again.

But his hopes were dashed.

“Huang Lin was offered to take care of decorating the whole ballroom. You still don’t want it?”

Muheon had just now gotten around to mentioning the most important part—and that was what pushed Hakyung over the edge again.