Rice Grain and Misutgaru.
Perhaps because two people who should never have met had crossed paths…
A chilling frost lingered inside the room.
The two engaged in an untimely staring contest with Hyunseung caught between them.
“First, let’s head upstairs and talk.”
Hyunseung, minding the glances from the peeking employees, urged them along and began walking.
Squabbling though they were, the two diligently followed behind Hyunseung.
Soon after, the moment they stepped into the studio, Sarah began glaring at Hyunseung.
Oh boy.
Seeing Sarah radiating fury from every pore of her body, Hyunseung judged that a one-year absence couldn’t be smoothed over with just a few words.
“Rice Grain.”
He called Jamal to a halt.
“Yes, hyung-nim!”
Jamal, inwardly proud that his name was called first, answered vigorously, his lips curling into a smirk as he looked at Sarah.
It was almost as if his eyes were saying: I won.
“I have some things to discuss with her today, so come back next time.”
However, Hyunseung’s following words instantly made Jamal feel as though the world was collapsing around him.
“Excuse me?”
Wasn’t he the one who arrived first?
“B-But still…”
Judging by their reactions earlier, it didn’t seem like they had a prior appointment.
“I have things to discuss with you too, so come back tomorrow if you can.”
Yet, at Hyunseung’s addition, Jamal nodded reluctantly as if he had no choice.
Of course, while he was number one when it came to respecting, admiring, and cherishing his big bro, he couldn’t fill the realm of a lover.
He decided to back off for today.
Now that he had caught the subtle exchange of glances between the two.
Lingering any longer would just be completely oblivious.
“Then I’ll see you tomorrow, big bro!”
With that, Jamal left the studio, dripping with disappointment.
“Ahem, cough.”
Left inside were only Hyunseung and Sarah. The silence hanging between them didn’t last very long.
“You didn’t lose the necklace.”
Because Hyunseung was the first to speak.
“Just, you know, the design was pretty…”
Sarah coughed awkwardly at his words and fiddled with the necklace.
Then, after sneaking a glance at Hyunseung, she continued.
“I-I mean, why aren’t you returning to Unice?”
Ah, this isn’t what she meant to say.
“Wouldn’t Unice be better for a comeback?”
Why were only words like this coming out?
“Unice runs just fine without me. Corporate revenue seems to have gone up ever since Joshua took over as CEO, too.”
“You even checked things like that? No, would it have killed you to call just once in the time it took to check that? Do you have any idea how much I worried, how hard it was for…!”
Don’t press him.
Don’t interrogate him.
Don’t blame him.
Don’t nag, don’t be annoying.
She had resolved to do so dozens of times before coming, yet she ended up shouting at the top of her lungs anyway. Though she belatedly clapped a hand over her mouth.
Hyunseung’s pupils were already dilated and shaking.
“No, I mean…! Everyone was worried that something happened to you since you suddenly vanished…”
Rambling incoherently, Sarah eventually trailed off, unable to pull herself together. Hyunseung merely looked at her, his eyes quickly calming down.
Her anxiety only grew because she couldn’t tell what emotions were contained in those quietly settled eyes.
Snap, snap, snap.
Just as Sarah was nervously picking at the hangnails on her fingers.
“The track you released last time was pretty good,” Hyunseung said quietly.
“Huh? You r-really listened to it?”
As if the moment of judgment had arrived, Sarah clutched her pounding heart and asked cautiously.
“Yeah. But the vocal pitch in the final highlight chorus was a bit grating to my ears. You don’t happen to want to re-record it, do you?”
Of course, her heart freezing over took only a split second.
“What? That’s all you have to say?”
“Just kidding. Want to sing a song?”
However, seeing Hyunseung’s face as he asked again with a bright smile, Sarah felt her cheeks flare with heat.
Honestly.
If you looked closely, this man was far more sly than he seemed.
“What song out of nowhere?”
Sarah asked in confusion at Hyunseung’s sudden proposal.
“I’ll buy you misutgaru, so will you sing it?”
Hyunseung asked, wrinkling his nose playfully.
“Fuck…”
How could she say no when he asked with a face like that?
“Because of that damn misutgaru, it feels like I’m going to be tied down to you for the rest of my life.”
“You even thought about being tied down to me for life?”
“N-No, that’s not what I meant!”
As Sarah screamed in denial, her cheeks were already burning crimson.
What was bound to come has arrived.
Hyunseung thought as he saw the sleek limousine sedans beyond the office building’s glass windows.
I didn’t expect them to visit so grandly, though.
Click, flash.
As two luxury limousine sedans passed through the company gate side by side, the reporters set off an endless barrage of camera flashes.
Come to think of it, how long were the reporters planning to camp out?
Everyone who was bound to come had already arrived.
Wait, no.
They were probably waiting until those people showed up.
Joshua and Killian.
In other words, they were waiting for the people of Unice.
It figured. It was obvious enough.
Hyunseung shook his head from side to side and settled into the head seat on the sofa in the VINCIS CEO office.
“That’s my seat.”
Vincent muttered, looking at him with displeasure.
“Guests are here, so please get some tea.”
Eventually, at Hyunseung’s single instruction, Vincent grumbled while having his secretary bring in warm tea.
“D-Do you want to come back as the CEO of VINCIS or something? I mean, I’d welcome you if you came, but the procedures would be tricky, and seeing your interview last time, you said you wanted to live freely, so just in case…”
He then glanced at Hyunseung’s expression and poured out the words he had held back. Of course, under Hyunseung’s single stern glance, he quickly trailed off.
“I have no intention of coming back. Having tried it, the CEO position isn’t for me.”
At Hyunseung’s immediate reply, Vincent clenched both fists in delight.
Truthfully, Vincent felt the CEO position suited his nature perfectly.
Of course.
He was still continuing his activities as a singer, but business matters fit him like a tailored suit.
That was why, though he was happy about Hyunseung’s return, he was secretly worried inside.
Am I going to be kicked out of the CEO position?
However, thinking that it might be right to step aside in terms of practical authority or sheer capability, Vincent had spent the past few days agonizing in solitude.
Now.
Having received a firm answer from Hyunseung, he was more than willing to occasionally give up the head seat of the CEO office like this.
Just then, the secretary’s voice announcing that the guests had arrived came from beyond the office door.
“Please come in.”
Hyunseung answered in a fairly dignified voice.
Then, the door slowly opened, and Joshua entered first, leading the way. Perhaps because he had spent some time as CEO, his complexion was brighter, and he seemed to have gained a bit of weight.
Apparently, unlike his past life, he was living well in this life without touching drugs.
“Long time no see.”
Joshua offered a gentlemanly greeting with a genial smile.
However, Killian, who followed behind him, was not quite the same. Standing dazed in front of the door as if facing an estranged ex-lover, he gazed at Hyunseung with tender longing.
Soon after.
Killian took large strides toward Hyunseung, but—
“No?”
Hyunseung stretched out a hand to halt Killian’s steps.
It was because he had predicted what the man was about to do.
It was all too familiar.
A hulking man striding toward him like that.
Seeing that from Executive Director Park and Jamal was more than enough.
“It seems you have somehow lost weight.”
Killian, stopped awkwardly in his tracks, spoke while looking at Hyunseung with glistening eyes.
Thanks to that, or perhaps unfortunately.
Hyunseung had to endure goosebumps rising along his forearms.
Why.
Why are there only men like this around me? Can’t people just be a little normal and straightforward?
Just as he was thinking that.
“It is an honor to greet you again after so long.”
The most straightforward person Hyunseung knew made her appearance.
“Michelle?”
She stood before Hyunseung looking exactly the same as she did a year ago.
Ah, right.
She was Joshua’s secretary now.
“Have you been well?”
Instead of aggressively expressing fond feelings or pouring out scoldings like the others.
Michelle offered a formal greeting accompanied by a subtle smile.
“Yes. Have you been well too, Michelle?”
“Yes, it seems I have.”
“Is working with Joshua manageable?”
“Yes. Having met a passionate CEO, I am also doing my best.”
A very crisp and brief conversation passed between them. This was genuinely comfortable.
Her work was neat, she had no idle chatter, and she was as precise as a machine.
“First, please have a seat as well, Michelle.”
Though it was a bit regrettable that she was no longer his secretary, he didn’t need to be accompanied by a secretary anyway since he was no longer a CEO.
Soon.
Once Joshua, Killian, and Michelle were all seated around the sofa, Hyunseung also planted himself back in the head seat.
He hadn’t expected to sit across from them like this again.
Smirk.
Hyunseung let out a soft laugh for some reason. Fortunately, nobody seemed to notice, as his mouth was concealed behind his teacup.
“I saw the contents of your interview.”
Befitting a CEO, Joshua was the first to speak.
Indeed.
Hyunseung knew this visit wasn’t out of a personal desire to see him. Not in a bad way.
Indeed. Being ambitious, quick at calculations, and thinking first of the profits he or his company could reap…
Could be called virtues a CEO ought to possess.
Of course.
While that wasn’t everything, it was true that it mattered.
It was in that sense that he had recommended Joshua as the next CEO.
Ah.
Naturally, there was also a mischievous desire to make him feel the weight of solitude that the CEO position brought.
Still, it was a relief that he had adapted well and was doing a great job, proving himself.
“Even so, I came to confirm it one more time.”
At Joshua’s words, Hyunseung blinked innocently as if he knew nothing and asked back, “Confirm what?”
Joshua’s insides were probably boiling right about now.
It was a bit of revenge. Still, this much was cute revenge.
“Ahem. Do you truly have no intention of returning to Unice?”
Joshua cleared his throat and asked politely once more.
“Mmm.”
After pretending to ponder the question for a brief moment.
“Yes, none at all.”
“Wait, why?”
“Because I just don’t.”
He firmly refused.
“If the CEO position makes you uncomfortable, you may come as a director.”
“Nope, not going.”
“Even if we promise total support and industry-leading treatment so that you can work freely as an exclusive composer?”
“Nope, not buying it.”
At Hyunseung’s attitude of brushing him off as if dealing with a door-to-door salesman, Joshua’s gentlemanly face finally crumpled.
“No, why on earth won’t you come?”
Killian stopped Joshua and spoke up himself.
“Coming to Unice is your freedom. But you know there is no place as good as Unice.”
“I know.”
“Right. It’s not as if Unice and VINCIS are competitors; they have a cooperative relationship, so even if you return, there won’t be any problem, will there?”
Since when was Killian so articulate?
To think a solemn man who knew nothing but music was using diplomatic tactics to lure him in.
“Yes, I know that too.”
It was quite surprising, and everything he said was true.
“However, I’m not going.”
It had no chance of working on Hyunseung. Above all, his biggest reason was that he didn’t want to belong to any company.
The reason Hyunseung returned was just one.
To hold a solo concert. And a thoroughly prepared, perfectly flawless solo concert at that.
Of course.
He had no intention of spilling even that to them.
“I will leave the distribution of the tracks I work on to Unice. However, I will not be bound to Unice.”
He would take a bit of help, of course.
“Please tell us the exact reason, at least.”
Yet Joshua asked, showing no signs of backing down easily. He seemed desperately keen on holding onto Hyunseung.
One could tell just by looking at the thick stack of documents Michelle had brought.
Indeed.
They were probably contract documents prepared with every conceivable routine just to capture him.
“Unice is…”
“Unice is?”
Still, what can I do? I can’t sign those papers.
“You forbid workplace romance, don’t you?”
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