“Hyung, what are you doing?”
When Cheonghyeon saw Seoan looking at the informational pamphlet for the indoor appliance discount event aimed at newlyweds, which Yeonggyeong had sent for reference, his insides darkened black again.
“Why are you looking at something like that… It’s not like you’re the one filming the ad, hyung.”
Before he knew it, sharp words flowed out again.
Why was someone with so much money looking so closely at a discount pamphlet for newlyweds? Did he maybe want to get married?
Looking at him, Seoan asked,
“Cheonghyeon-ah. You don’t want to do something like this either, right? Or did you really want to film an ad with Yeonhee?”
But the tone Seoan used to ask him back was even sharper.
Cheonghyeon flinched for a moment and shook his head.
“What are you talking about? Of course I don’t want to film it… But it’s an offer from Yeonggyeong, so how am I supposed to refuse… If I say I won’t do it, they might pull all the ads from the drama Hando is going to be in, and I don’t know what kind of disadvantage they might give us. Yeonhee’s agency already said long ago that she couldn’t do it because of scheduling issues. I’m in a situation where I don’t have any official schedule, so I can’t easily refuse…”
Even as he stammered through his words, Cheonghyeon carefully watched Seoan’s mood.
He had thought Seoan would not care because he was a male fan, but as expected, his fans seemed to dislike him being linked with female idols.
All of them, regardless of whether they were children or adults, men or women.
“Ah, is that so…?”
After hearing Cheonghyeon’s story, Seoan’s voice softened slightly.
Feeling wronged for no reason, Cheonghyeon hit Seoan’s forearm with a smack.
He was the one who had been looking at the pamphlet more intently!
“I don’t like Yeonggyeong appliances. I don’t want to film this ad. I just don’t like Yeonggyeong.”
Seoan, who had been playfully clinging to Cheonghyeon as if apologizing, flinched.
“Why, why? The appliances from Yeonggyeong are sturdy and good. Hyung only uses Yeonggyeong appliances too….”
“I don’t know. They’re tacky.”
“The latest lines all got better because Vice President Kim Seojin personally set the design framework. This one even won design awards and everything. Are they that tacky and unlikeable?”
At those words, Cheonghyeon grew quiet.
In truth, Yeonggyeong’s appliance designs were to his taste.
The simple yet easy-to-recognize control buttons, and the luxurious, clean design that did not look awkward no matter where they were placed, were quite satisfying even to him, who had lived in the imperial palace and seen only good things.
But since he had already said what he had said, he could not easily admit it.
“…If they have to put idols forward as newlyweds in an ad just to sell them, doesn’t that mean people don’t like them too? I don’t like it.”
Seoan, who had been watching his mood nonstop, finally smiled brightly. He had noticed that the problem was not the design, but that Cheonghyeon simply held great dissatisfaction toward the ad that had been forced onto him.
“Right? Hyung thinks so too. And these days there are a lot of one-person households, so what’s with this tacky newlywed targeting. The advertising direction itself is too old-fashioned, right? Hyung is a one-person household too, and I’m upset about it, so I’m going to boycott this entire Yeonggyeong line. Ah, I don’t like it.”
“No, I didn’t mean you had to boycott it…”
Seeing Cheonghyeon bite his lip hard in embarrassment, Seoan smiled in circles and carefully held his soft cheeks. When he pulled them gently so it would not hurt, his cheeks stretched, and the lip he had been biting naturally slipped back out.
Seoan stared fixedly at the sight of the plump lip, which had been bitten for a short while, turning red and popping back out.
“Hyuuung, let go of my cheeks.”
“Ah.”
When Seoan gently let go of Cheonghyeon’s cheeks as he frowned and told him to release them, a small awkwardness lingered between the two of them.
It felt as though they had had a full little quarrel over something that was not much at all.
Seoan, quick to read the room, changed the subject.
“Now that I think about it, didn’t you say you decided to participate in the landscaping work for a government-led project?”
“Ah, yeah. When construction ends next month, they’re going to hand over the garden blueprint. I think I’ll design it, and they’ll implement it on their end. They said it has to be done with some kind of 3D technique, so there’s a lot I need to learn.”
“Should hyung teach you? That’s hyung’s specialty.”
The mood between the two of them became cheerful again. Seeing Cheonghyeon’s eyes grow round at the rendering techniques he was seeing for the first time, Seoan gave a small laugh.
When Seoan saw the way he focused only on fields he was interested in, he was still a child.
And they wanted to take a child like this and film a newlywed-concept advertisement?
Seoan hummed quietly to himself and earnestly taught Cheonghyeon modeling and rendering.
“Hello. I’m Gi Cheonghyeon.”
As expected, Cheonghyeon found it much easier to deal with older men than young female fans.
In the imperial palace, very young children were not entrusted with attending to the imperial family.
It was to prepare for the possibility of a child’s mistake. At most, small errands were the kind of work children could do.
Only those who had begun as attendants and served for a long time could stand close to the imperial family.
Henry, who had been the person closest to Isaac, was also an adult of an age that would deserve respect by this place’s standards.
Perhaps because of that, even when Cheonghyeon had first come here, he had thought that the manager and the CEO were a little easier to deal with than the members.
When he met an older man after a long while, Cheonghyeon’s atmosphere also relaxed slightly and became soft.
“Nice to meet you. Sit here.”
Seeing Cheonghyeon acting perfectly fine and not trembling at all even with the chairman right in front of him, Eokhwan tilted his head.
Had Seoan perhaps already tipped him off? He wondered, but there was no particular sign of that.
Rather than looking as though he had heard something from Seoan, Cheonghyeon’s smiling face looked almost… as though he were looking at a subordinate, and Chairman Kim’s expression turned strange.
When Eokhwan was young and had been in charge of odd jobs at a small shop, there had been a time when he served the youngest young master of that place.
Unlike his own pitch-black skin, that young master had white skin, and even though they were the same age, he would look at Eokhwan benevolently, as if he understood their superior and subordinate positions.
He had no idea why the image of that youngest young master was flashing past in this entertainer, but the old memories rising unconsciously made Chairman Kim feel complicated inside.
A beautiful voice woke Chairman Kim from his thoughts.
“You said you were my fan, didn’t you? It’s nice to meet you.”
“Ah, aah. That’s right. I’m a fan of yours, Cheonghyeon-ssi. I’ve liked you for a very long time.”
As Eokhwan sat on the sofa, he quietly examined Cheonghyeon’s face in detail. Then he became gloomy again.
It was because Cheonghyeon was prettier than any celebrity he had ever seen, but he did not seem like a woman.
(T/N: DUH)
When he had seen him in photos or videos, there were times when his slender body and tiny face made him look just like a short-haired woman, so Eokhwan had felt hope.
But the Cheonghyeon he met in person was taller than he had thought, and did not have a gentle, sweet feeling either.
If Seoan truly liked this fellow, then no matter how many short-haired beauties he pushed toward him, he would not be inclined toward them.
The Cheonghyeon before his eyes was clearly smiling, and yet he gave off an atmosphere that made him rather difficult to deal with.
Thinking that perhaps it was because of his old memories, Chairman Kim forced a smile onto his face and pretended to be a fan.
“Huh. This home appliance event is targeting newlyweds, so that won’t do… You’ll know since you received the pamphlet, but the appliances there are made with married couples as the standard…”
When Chairman Kim stroked his chin and showed a troubled look, Cheonghyeon said what he had thought up.
“Then would it be all right if I recommend someone else? To be honest, it’s a really good opportunity, so I do want to do it, but my image does not really suit the purpose. This line all has a luxurious image, but I’m an idol, and on top of that, my first advertisement was for bottled water… I kept worrying about whether I could pull off this ad. You’re my fan, so if you use me as the ad model and sales don’t come out, I wouldn’t want you to be disappointed in me.”
The way he naturally slipped out of it with a smile while recommending some other fellow was more than a little clever.
Eokhwan inwardly clicked his tongue in admiration and nodded as if telling him to keep talking.
“There’s an actor in our company named Kang Yeonha. Have you perhaps watched <Welcome to Honeylight House>?”
“Ahh, I know it. Isn’t it the drama that aired on YBS and ended last week? It was fun.”
“He’s an actor who appeared in that drama, and his image is exactly suited for this ad. He’s a trendy handsome man, so he’s popular with the younger generation, and because of the drama, his image has also been well planted among middle-aged and older viewers. He’s the sub-main character, but because his role is a director at a major corporation, I thought he would be effective when advertising a luxury line too, so I really wanted to recommend him.”
In truth, Cheonghyeon had never watched this drama, nor did he know the actor named Kang Yeonha. It was only a countermeasure he had come up with after researching and thinking hard in order to persuade Chairman Kim.
“But wouldn’t you feel disappointed?”
When Cheonghyeon tilted his head with question marks in his eyes, Eokhwan continued.
“I roughly know why you’re refusing like this. Isn’t it because you’re watching your fans’ reactions? But that popularity is only for a moment, isn’t it? In the end, fans are beings who will leave to find another celebrity. Should you really miss such a good opportunity because of that? Even going so far as to recommend a celebrity around your own age? This does not seem like a good method for you.”
As Cheonghyeon listened to him silently, Eokhwan took a sip of tea, then spoke to Cheonghyeon kindly.
“For now, I understand your opinion. That… Yeonha? I’ll think about that friend too, but if your thoughts happen to change, tell the company within this week. Fans are absolutely not eternal. When someone younger and more handsome appears, their hearts move quickly. Even married couples who said they would love each other for life get divorced, so I hope you always keep in mind that complete strangers will all the more not take responsibility for your life.”
After that, they exchanged appropriate greetings, and as he saw Cheonghyeon off,
Eokhwan hoped that this clever child had understood what he meant.
Hoping Cheonghyeon would understand the hint that Seoan’s heart would absolutely not last forever, Eokhwan turned away.
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