SLC 17

Mok Seongha tightened his grip on Kim Jinkyung’s hand again.

Don’t talk nonsense.

A threat blossomed in Mok Seongha’s eyes.

“From what I see, it looks like the young master used the teacher as a shield because he didn’t want to go on blind dates.”

“……!”

With his hand still being held, Kim Jinkyung nodded vigorously with his eyes, fully agreeing.

“I understand that you don’t want to go on blind dates, but I can’t agree with deceiving the Chairman.”

“No, we really are dating.”

Secretary Kang let out a short, dry laugh, then looked the two of them over in turn.

“Dating? I’ve watched the young master for almost 20 years. If there were any strange atmosphere between you two, there’s no way I wouldn’t notice it. If it were there and I didn’t notice, I’d have to gouge some eyes out.”

It was a rather brutal conviction, but Kim Jinkyung silently agreed and continued sending Secretary Kang frantic looks.

“Of course, not my eyes. I’d gouge out the teacher’s eyes.”

“Ah! Why mine?”

Kim Jinkyung hurriedly covered his eyes with one hand. Seeing that, a flicker of amusement passed through Mok Seongha’s eyes.

“If you managed to carry on a secret relationship right under my nose, then you were clearly determined, so I’d have to gouge out the teacher’s eyes.”

“Don’t.”

Mok Seongha gave the short order.

“Just try laying even a fingertip on him.”

“……”

The scar near Secretary Kang’s eye twitched. Kim Jinkyung inwardly cheered, then immediately canceled it. From the start, the source of all this mess was that black cat.

“Anyway, we’re dating. Report it to the Chairman like that.”

It seemed that all information going to the Chairman passed through Secretary Kang.

“If there’s something to report, I’ll report it.”

His tone sounded polite, but it carried a lot of meaning.

Are you really dating? Who do you think you’re fooling? Try putting on a convincing act in front of me. How dare you pull tricks on our small and precious young master, and so on.

“Report it.”

Mok Seongha said while shaking Kim Jinkyung’s hand, which he was holding tightly.

“Yes. I’ll be sure to report that two adult men were holding hands. You look very intimate.”

“Um, Secretary Kang…”

Secretary Kang was the only person in this vast mansion who stayed by Mok Seongha’s side. Aside from sleeping hours, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was with him almost all day. There was no way to bluff past someone like that. Kim Jinkyung decided it would be better to just be honest.

“Hey.”

At that moment, Mok Seongha tilted his head and called out to Kim Jinkyung.

“You like me.”

“……”

His heart dropped to his stomach. Even though he knew Mok Seongha was saying it on purpose in front of Secretary Kang, the blood drained from his face. His heart was beating so fast that he could feel the pulse in his eyes, making his vision shake.

“I like you too, so isn’t that enough?”

How could hearing “I like you” from the person you like feel this miserable and terrifying?

Kim Jinkyung’s lowered face grew paler by the second. Unable to watch anymore, Secretary Kang sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead.

“Teacher, you’re going to faint at this rate. You should’ve brought in someone who can actually act. What are you even trying to do with someone like that?”

“If I brought in an actor, do you think the Chairman wouldn’t notice? And where would I even meet someone else besides him. Say something that makes sense.”

“…And this makes sense?”

“It does.”

Mok Seongha said while looking at Kim Jinkyung. The latter just wanted to take responsibility for this fake relationship like an adult and get fired.

“Does the young master know what people in a relationship do?”

Instead of answering, Mok Seongha lifted the hand he was holding, or rather forcibly clutching, and shook it.

“Other than that.”

“Well, dates?”

“That’s right. Dates. And what else?”

The atmosphere was starting to feel like a game of 20 questions. Mok Seongha went hmm and thought for a moment, then confidently answered.

“Sex.”

“Then you also know how two men have sex?”

In response to Secretary Kang’s sudden question, Mok Seongha’s relaxed expression froze. After a brief silence, he poked Kim Jinkyung’s arm.

“Huh?”

“Do it.”

“Do what?”

“Explain.”

“…Why would I?”

“Because you do it all the time.”

“Do what all the time?”

Kim Jinkyung answered in horror.

“Once every two days?”

“………”

“Then every three days? How many times do you do it?”

“That’s enough. I’ve heard enough from both of you.”

Secretary Kang cut Mok Seongha off.

“I hoped the young master would make a good choice, and that hasn’t changed. I sincerely hope both of you make good choices going forward.”

As he said that, Secretary Kang’s gaze was fixed on Kim Jinkyung.

No, I really don’t do anything like that.

Without giving Kim Jinkyung any chance to protest his innocence, Secretary Kang turned and left.

“What is this?”

Kim Jinkyung shouted as he pulled his hand free from Mok Seongha.

“Why?”

“You said it would only be for a few minutes. Then why do we have to keep lying?”

Mok Seongha had definitely threatened him to pretend to like him for just a few minutes. Even as a specialist in unrequited love, Kim Jinkyung had never shown his feelings so overtly before. Those few minutes had been the longest of his life.

“Because the Chairman didn’t fall for it?”

The concise answer flipped Kim Jinkyung inside out.

“Of course he didn’t. Even I wouldn’t fall for this.”

“Then we keep going until he does.”

Keep going my ass. Nobody believes it. Even I don’t believe we’re dating.

There was a valid reason Secretary Kang criticized Mok Seongha’s fake relationship without a shred of doubt.

“Hey. But how do guys do it together?”

“……”

“Teacher, tell me.”

Mok Seongha nudged Kim Jinkyung’s foot with his own, pestering him for an answer. Overwhelmed by the wave of self loathing, Kim Jinkyung flopped to the floor and covered his face with both hands.

He was a giant shut in cat who hadn’t even received proper sex education, let alone experienced romance, and yet he thought he could fool anyone. Fool who, exactly?

“How do you do it?”

Mok Seongha stubbornly continued asking. Kim Jinkyung’s throat tightened with humiliation. He hated this guy who declared he was seriously dating him even though he didn’t even know how men did it together, and he hated Secretary Kang too, who glared at him out of nowhere and threatened to gouge his eyes out.

But what he hated most was this.

“If you can’t explain it in words, then draw it. You’re good at graphs.”

The fact that he had felt his heart flutter, even briefly, just because this guy held his hand.

Kim Jinkyung crouched there for a long time, chewing over his despair.

“Then do the tutoring we missed later.”

Kim Jinkyung muttered weakly and grabbed the door handle.

He felt far more physically and mentally in shambles than the day his studio apartment burned down and he stopped by a sauna only to lose all his belongings.

But before he could even open the door, a hand reached from behind and closed it again.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“… room?”

Kim Jinkyung hesitated for a moment over whether to add “my” in front of room, then dropped it. He’d decided he couldn’t assign ownership to a place he was only staying in temporarily.

“Don’t sleep there starting today.”

So this was it. I’m finally getting kicked out.

Kim Jinkyung’s eyes lit up as he turned around. Mok Seongha grabbed his arm.

“Come with me.”

“Huh? Where? Why?”

“You always ask for reasons.”

Mok Seongha pointed out the habit with mild curiosity.

“…Is it wrong to ask?”

“No, just. I was wondering what changes when you know the reason.”

Even as he spoke, Mok Seongha didn’t stop dragging Kim Jinkyung along.

“Of course it changes how I act depending on the reason.”

“No.”

Standing in front of a door, Mok Seongha answered firmly.

“Nothing will change. You’re sleeping here starting today.”

Mok Seongha opened the door. More precisely, his own bedroom door.

“…Are you insane?”

Kim Jinkyung asked seriously. According to what he’d studied, cats were territorial animals. Letting someone into their territory caused them extreme stress. Mok Seongha was half human, half feline. He hated having people around him. In this enormous mansion, he could count on one hand how often he’d seen employees

And now he wanted to sleep in the same room?

“I’m not insane.”

Mok Seongha answered while pushing Kim Jinkyung into the room.

“Then why are you saying this?”

Kim Jinkyung felt just as flustered as when he’d been told they were dating.

“Secretary Kang doesn’t believe we’re dating. If he doesn’t believe it, the Chairman won’t either.”

“Of course not.”

Kim Jinkyung answered.

There wasn’t a single convincing part to their fake relationship.

“Sharing a room should make it believable, right?”

“No?”

Kim Jinkyung blurted out and tried to leave the room, but an arm reached from behind and wrapped around his neck.

“No. Don’t go.”

“What do you mean no? Wait, wait.”

The thick veins standing out on Mok Seongha’s arm brushed against Kim Jinkyung’s face. Every time he spoke, his lips grazed Mok Seongha’s forearm. Hot blood rushed to his head. He felt like his brain was about to cook.

Kim Jinkyung pushed with all his strength, but Mok Seongha didn’t move an inch. Even accounting for the size difference, he’d been to the army, so losing in strength this badly hurt his pride.

“Mok Seongha-ssi.”

“Yes?”

Mok Seongha answered without loosening his arm.

Kim Jinkyung really felt like he was going to cry. He was in the arms of the person he liked, and yet he didn’t feel happy at all.

“I really can’t do this. I just…”

He was about to ask to be fired. Ending an unrequited crush was easy. He planned to peel it off, like a ttibuseal, without leaving a trace.

“Teacher.”

There was a strange resonance in Mok Seongha’s voice. The cold low tone, carrying a metallic echo, spread through Kim Jinkyung’s eardrums.

“I want to save the Chairman.”

“……”

“If he asked me to give him my organs, I would. I’m serious. I could even die if he told me to.”

Mok Seongha had the relaxed air of a predator. His steps were never hurried, and his expressions and tone were usually unbothered.

“But I can’t get married.”

His voice trembled as he said it. He continued with his forehead pressed into Kim Jinkyung’s shoulder.

“Just one month.”

“……”

“I’ll show him my June mock exam results and tell him myself that I can do it. So please believe me.”

A huge man clung to him and asked him to take part in a con. No, it was closer to begging.

Kim Jinkyung bit down on his lower lip.

“…You promise?”

“What?”

“You said just one month.”

Mok Seongha nodded.

“Only until the June mock exam.”

“Then write a contract.”

If it was only verbal, there was a good chance he’d change his story again like before. With Mok Seongha, promises only counted as contracts.

“I’ll write it. Right now.”

“…Where’s the contract?”

Mok Seongha’s pupils shook. Every contract between the two of them had always been drafted by Secretary Kang.

“Alright. I’ll write it up simply. That’s okay with you, right?”

Mok Seongha nodded.

“And please let go of this arm. It hurts.”

“Okay.”

Mok Seongha immediately released him. It felt like dealing with a big cat that listened well. Kim Jinkyung took an A4 sheet of paper and a pen and sat down at the desk.

“Hurry up and write it. And later, tell me how men do it together.”

Mok Seongha dragged over a chair, sat beside him, and rested his chin on the desk as he spoke.

…Idiot, moron, sucker, and a once in a lifetime fool.

“Draw pictures too.”

Mok Seongha tapped the paper with his finger, urging him on.

A man who would die having only ever had unrequited love.

Kim Jinkyung held back a sigh and diligently filled in the contents of the contract.