Pig Government Official

-26-

A pale-faced Jihoon hurriedly followed Jeonggwan, who was heading to the locker room after just arriving at work. Seeing him chasing with his phone in hand, it could be one of two things, but judging by how pale he looked, it was probably the latter reason Jeonggwan was thinking of.

Thud-.

“Hey. Hey. What’s this? Is this real?”

As expected, as soon as the door closed, Jihoon shoved his phone in front of Jeonggwan’s face.

[1_WonJunjae]

“Is this real? He’s following you? Is it true?”

“Maybe?”

“…We’re screwed.”

“…What is?”

It was indeed because of Won Junjae’s appearance on Instagram. But why were they screwed? Jeonggwan asked with a puzzled look.

“He’s not even following you. Why…?”

“My account is public… What if Won Junjae saw mine?”

Thud-. Jihoon dropped his phone on the floor and buried his head in his hands. Shocked at the sound of the screen cracking, Jeonggwan quickly picked up Jihoon’s phone.

“Hey…! It’s cracked!”

“…That’s not the problem.”

Then what is? Did you post some insults about Won Junjae on Instagram? But I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that?

“…You don’t know anything.”

Of course, Jeonggwan wouldn’t have seen it. There were no insults about Won Junjae or the Won Jae Electronics executive director on Jihoon’s Instagram.

[Various Instagram posts by Jihoon complaining about his cousin and uncle]

Jihoon’s Instagram was full of insults about all kinds of people, but the most prevalent were about a specific cousin. Jeonggwan knew about this cousin too. In Jihoon’s words, he would look at him like a bug at every family dinner…

“You know that cousin who kicked me out saying he’d use the clothing store alone?”

“…Yeah. That weirdo? But that’s…”

“That’s him.”

That’s him? What’s… Oh? Oh…? Jeonggwan looked down at Jihoon with a “No way…?” expression. That cousin with the weird personality… That weirdo…

“You… Said he was a distant relative’s in-law’s eighth cousin…”

“…Just remove the in-law’s eighth cousin part.”

“That’s removing too much. But that can’t be right? The surnames are different…”

“My mom’s surname is Won.”

“…Wow! Crazy! Why didn’t I think of that?”

More surprised than when Won Junjae followed him, Jeonggwan covered his mouth and backed away to a distant cabinet. Ah…! So that’s why Won Sejin is his cousin! Oh, I see! Seeing Jeonggwan’s reaction, Jihoon laughed incredulously.

“You’re funny too. You’re usually so quick-witted, why are you so slow with this kind of thing?”

“…Because I’m not interested?”

You pig. Jihoon cursed with his eyes. Jeonggwan really didn’t pay any attention to things he wasn’t interested in. This had upset Jihoon more than once, and now he felt hurt that even knowing Won Sejin from the Won Jae Group was his relative, Jeonggwan had never once suspected anything about his relationship with Won Junjae. But that wasn’t the issue right now.

Somehow feeling that Won Junjae might have seen his Instagram, Jihoon clutched his head. If mom finds out that Won Junjae knows about this…? I’m really dead.

“Aaargh…”

While watching the distressed Jihoon, Jeonggwan still couldn’t quite grasp that the friend he had thought was just a nouveau riche punk was actually a real chaebol.

Wow- Then when he called Won Junjae ‘hyung’ at the charity party, it wasn’t a nouveau riche pretending to be close to a chaebol, but because he really was his hyung…

‘The scent isn’t bad.’

‘Did you come to eat?’

‘Where are you opening the cafe?’

‘I’m going into this cafe because that hyung told me to come in.’

Wait a minute…

While recalling scenes he thought were Jihoon pretending to be close, a few scenes flashed through Jeonggwan’s mind.

Won Junjae staring at him intently and saying his scent wasn’t bad at their first meeting. Won Junjae approaching him first at the party, then coming back to ask where he was opening the cafe. Won Junjae following at a distance, constantly glancing and staring at him as he moved around the party with Park Jihoon. Won Junjae supposedly suggesting to Jihoon to come into the first-floor cafe afterward. Won Junjae suddenly appearing on the day of interior construction and staring at him intently. Won Junjae coming down several times to see him on the first day. Won Junjae suggesting they come to the dessert cafe again next week. Won Junjae creating an account at 11 PM and following him when asked if he uses Instagram.

Wait a minute. This guy… what’s going on?

“Wow.”

“He must have seen my Instagram, right? He must have stalked it…”

“Hey.”

“…Yeah?”

What is it? What is it! Why are you looking so scary! Park Jihoon crawled towards Jeonggwan with a frightened face. His expression seemed to ask, “Did you tell him about me…?”

“Wow-.”

Jeonggwan looked at Jihoon with a serious face and opened his mouth.

“Won Junjae.”

“Y-yeah. What about Junjae hyung…?”

“He loves me.”

“…?”

And it’s for real. L-O-V-E.

* * *

Ding-.

Won Junjae appeared at the cafe. Unlike his usual arrival at exactly 30 minutes past, today he showed up 10 minutes earlier than usual. Jihoon, now seemingly used to it, glanced at Junjae before turning his attention back to his iPad.

Although the staff stirred at Won Junjae’s appearance, he seemed not to care at all as he unhesitatingly went to sit at his usual spot, and today again, he stared intently at Jeonggwan, who was busily decorating a cake with fruit through the glass in front of him.

In Junjae’s view, Jeonggwan’s plump white cheeks came into focus first. With his mouth tightly closed in concentration, his cheeks were puffed up, and Junjae’s fingers twitched with curiosity about how Jeonggwan would react if he poked them.

“…”

Useless thoughts. Junjae clenched his fist once before relaxing it and lowering his head.

He deliberately took his gaze off Jeonggwan and pulled out his phone. Then he naturally launched the Instagram app on his home screen. The screen was filled with Jeonggwan’s posts that he had followed yesterday. It was an unbalanced action to look at Jeonggwan’s images on his SNS after averting his gaze from the real person.

Jeonggwan’s SNS was mostly filled with food photos, and most of the captions were pig-like comments such as “It was delicious!” or “I almost fainted because it was so good!” There were also a few photos of Jeonggwan himself, including:

[Pig_goeni – Have I lost a lot of weight? yy/10/31]

(Comments)

Pinkprince_Jihoon – Dear Supreme Leader Comrade, you’ve become very thin. But shouldn’t you lose more?

└ Pig_goeni – You bastard, execution by firing squad.

Among them, the recent Halloween post where he cosplayed as North Korean leader Kim Jong* made Junjae chuckle in annoyance and disbelief.

And although he had looked at it several times yesterday, the pig’s most recent post was still the photo of the chocolates he had bought. After taking dozens of photos, he had only posted one. Moreover, Junjae had honestly expected him to add hearts and delude himself a lot, but there was less commentary than expected, which was a bit puzzling, but well… He thought maybe the pig knew his place.

[A handsome rich guy bought these.]

“…”

Handsome…

Although he had been called handsome countless times before, hearing it from the pig’s mouth made him feel smug, and his lips twitched. He’s probably the best-looking person who’s ever bought chocolates for the pig. No, he might be the best-looking person the pig has ever actually seen.

The person he dated before was probably some weirdo. Surely far inferior to himself. I’m much better looking and can buy more expensive and delicious things. So even though the pig is pretending otherwise on the outside, he must be completely smitten with me. Junjae deliberately cleared his throat, covered his uncontrollable smile, and then glanced at Jeonggwan.

As if noticing the gaze, Jeonggwan slowly raised his head. Jeonggwan stared at Junjae for a moment, then raised his left hand that wasn’t holding fruit and showed his palm. It was a greeting.

“…Ah.”

Flustered by the greeting, Junjae turned his head side to side to check his surroundings. The area around him was empty. When he looked back, Jeonggwan was now waving his hand gently from side to side.

Junjae’s hand, which had been awkwardly hovering in the air after covering his mouth, twitched again.

“…”

Jeonggwan waved his hand more vigorously as if urging Junjae to greet back quickly. Finally, Junjae’s hand slowly opened and closed. Worried that someone might have seen, Junjae quickly lowered his hand, but Jeonggwan, who had witnessed it all, was covering his mouth and giggling with his eyes crinkled.