Pig Government Official

-59-

Jeonggwan was very surprised. His quitting time isn’t fixed. But usually, it ends before Won Electronics’ lunch hour, so how did Taegeon know to come today when he was finishing late by choice? Jeonggwan approached Taegeon with a genuinely surprised face and asked:

“What’s this really? How did you know? Did you plant a bug?”

“…On your Instagram.”

Ah… Jeonggwan immediately understood Taegeon’s answer. He remembered posting a story on Instagram with pictures of unbaked cookie dough and the caption, “I’m the one getting off work at 5 today.” But to come to the cafe after seeing that? This is totally…

“Are you a stalker?”

“…You weren’t replying to my messages.”

“I didn’t reply because I didn’t want to.”

Taegeon stepped closer to Jeonggwan. Then he suddenly grabbed Jeonggwan’s hand. As if worried something might have happened. Jeonggwan was surprised and tried to shake off his hand, but Taegeon didn’t back down.

“I saw that story you posted from Hong Kong, and when you didn’t reply… I was so worried.”

As Taegeon spoke quietly, looking down, he looked so much like a handsome man with a sad story that for a moment, Jeonggwan felt like forgiving him. But he quickly came to his senses and spoke to Taegeon almost coldly. Whatever happened to him in Hong Kong was none of Taegeon’s business.

“…Why are you worried? Let go.”

“Of course I’m worried. Who knows what an alpha who doesn’t even speak the language might do.”

But Taegeon was quite forceful too. And at this show of strength, Jeonggwan felt his resolve weakening again. Right. You must have been frustrated not being able to contact me all this time… Right.

“Are you okay? Nothing happened?”

“I have an appointment now, so next time-“

“…When is next time? You don’t reply.”

But this wasn’t right. To come at this time, of all times. Jeonggwan knew well how chaotic it could get when two dominant alphas met and fought. So even when he thought about using Taegeon, he decided to never let the two meet. That’s why he tried to quickly send Taegeon away with some excuse, but Taegeon didn’t back down easily. He knew Taegeon had this kind of personality, but at this rate, the two would inevitably meet. Who with?

Ding-.

“…”

With Won Junjae over there, whose expression was visibly hardening in real-time.

Junjae felt on edge instinctively from the moment he stepped out of the elevator. He didn’t know what this feeling was, but he had a strong sense that something was happening with Jeonggwan. So he hurried to the cafe just in case, and

“…”

As soon as he opened the door, he saw Jung Taegeon holding Jeonggwan’s hand. Kim Jeonggwan’s ex-boyfriend. The only person Kim Jeonggwan had ever dated, that Jung Taegeon. As soon as Junjae saw this, he felt heat rushing to his eyes. He wanted to tear Taegeon away from Kim Jeonggwan right away, and without a second thought, he strode towards the two.

“Let go of his hand.”

Junjae’s fierce voice came out unfiltered, and Taegeon instinctively realized. Ah… This man likes Jeonggwan too.

“Who are you?”

If Taegeon had been a beta alpha, he might have cowered before Junjae and let go of Jeonggwan’s hand immediately, but Taegeon was also a dominant alpha, so he glared back at Junjae without backing down. And he gripped Jeonggwan’s hand even tighter. As if to say he wouldn’t let go of this hand no matter who Junjae was.

At this, Junjae seemed to lose it. He had never thought about using violence against someone in his life. Even when Won Seongje acted up without knowing his place, he had never felt this emotion, but now he wanted to pry Taegeon’s wrist off Jeonggwan’s hand and break it.

But Junjae didn’t lose his reason. Having lived his whole life controlling himself like this, he didn’t let his instincts devour his rationality. Junjae lowered his voice as if giving a final warning and replied:

“If you know, can you handle it?”

At Junjae’s voice pressing down on him, Taegeon’s pupils shook violently. A tone full of confidence that Taegeon would definitely lose from the moment he knew who Junjae was. That made Taegeon shrink. Come to think of it, this face did look familiar…

“Hey. I said let go. My hand is hurt.”

“…Huh?”

At that moment, Jeonggwan, who had been quietly watching the two, shook off Taegeon’s hand as if annoyed, and Taegeon, surprised by Jeonggwan’s mention of his injury, quickly let go.

“Don’t you know who this person is?”

“…Who is he?”

As soon as his hand was free, Jeonggwan quickly moved to stand beside Junjae and asked Taegeon if he didn’t know who this person was, his expression looking very smug. Could he be the president’s son? As Taegeon swallowed hard with tension,

“None other than…”

“…”

“My ‘some’ partner.”

Jeonggwan’s answer was unexpected. And simultaneously, Junjae’s fierce expression softened in an instant.

* * *

“Can you handle it if you know?”

“…Stop it.”

“Let go of that hand…”

At Jeonggwan’s continued teasing, Junjae finally buried his face in the steering wheel. Junjae’s ears were very red, but since they got in the car alone, Jeonggwan hadn’t stopped. He even imitated a character from a children’s detective cartoon, saying, “My name is Junjae. I’m a director at Won Group.”

“…Please.”

Finally, Junjae pulled down Jeonggwan’s arm, who was even imitating the clock’s ticking sound, and only then did Jeonggwan’s teasing end. However, Junjae didn’t let go of Jeonggwan’s arm that he had grabbed. Jeonggwan felt that this strangely felt like they were really flirting, making his heart flutter and feeling somewhat awkward.

“Ah, this. It’s a gift for you.”

So, trying to change the awkward atmosphere, he handed Junjae the box containing the cup he had been holding. Junjae took the cup with a face that said “What’s this?”

“I bought this in Hong Kong. A souvenir.”

Junjae carefully unwrapped the box’s packaging. It was quite different from Jeonggwan, who would tear open gifts recklessly. Inside the opened box was a pink pig cup with wavy eyebrows.

“Haha-.”

And at the same time, laughter burst from Junjae. He wondered what kind of gift it would be, but a pig cup? It was symbolic, and it was cute that Jeonggwan had thought of this.

“Do you like it?”

Jeonggwan asked with sparkling eyes, and Junjae nodded quietly while fiddling with the cup. There was still a faint smile on his lips, and seeing this, Jeonggwan inwardly shouted, “Yes! Yes!” and smiled wickedly. This, this. His eyes are totally falling in love.

“Then let’s have dinner today too.”

“…Okay.”

“I’m really craving tteokbokki, let’s go eat cheese tteokbokki.”

“Cheese tteokbokki…”

“There’s a really good place near my house!”

At Jeonggwan’s voice, which automatically went to a high tone when it came to food, Junjae’s eyes narrowed again. So we’re eating the cheese tteokbokki that Jeonggwan wanted to eat with me back then today. Junjae nodded, saying “Let’s do that,” and then put the cup back in the box, placed it on the back seat, and started the engine to leave.

“Hm? Why?”

But Junjae turned off the engine again. Jeonggwan looked up at Junjae, scratching his chin with a face that said “What’s wrong?”, and Junjae stared intently at Jeonggwan’s hand scratching his chin before speaking.

“…Tell me.”

“Tell you what?”

“…Hong Kong.”

“Ah-.”

Mischief returned to Jeonggwan’s eyes. However, if he dragged it out more here and said he’d tell him after eating, it seemed like Junjae might really get upset, so Jeonggwan opened his mouth as if to coolly tell him.

“That Hong Kong alpha approached…”

“…”

“Approached and…”

“…”

“Approached and what do you think he did-“

But Jeonggwan wasn’t the type to tell straightforwardly, so he teased, almost telling but not quite, and finally, when Junjae couldn’t stand it anymore and frowned, Jeonggwan burst out laughing and spoke.

“That Hong Kong man.”

“…”

“Told me to leave because my voice was too loud.”

“…What?”

Junjae asked Jeonggwan again as if he had misheard, and Jeonggwan, laughing so hard he could barely breathe, explained the situation at that time. Jeonggwan had turned on the selfie mode video saying he dreamed of being a YouTuber like Al-da-kko, and while saying things like “Chapter One! Flirting with an Alpha!” he had thrown a flirtatious comment at that alpha asking if he was single too, but that alpha had frowned deeply and approached Jeonggwan saying, ‘You’re very drunk and your voice is too loud, please leave.’

Jihoon, who could speak Cantonese, had translated all of this, and Jeonggwan and Jihoon had returned to the hotel laughing their heads off, saying Jeonggwan had failed before even starting his YouTube career. That was the end of that night’s events. But Junjae must have been really curious, seeing how he kept asking to be told.

“…”

“But someone sent a message in the middle of the night, all worked up-“

“I’ll start driving.”

Junjae turned away from Jeonggwan and started the car nonchalantly, but somehow his ears were very red. Even as Jeonggwan kept teasing, Junjae pretended not to know and didn’t answer.

In fact, he was a bit surprised. It felt like Jeonggwan was really sitting on top of his head. How did he know about the message sent in the middle of the night because of that? Had Jihoon told Jeonggwan about the phone call? But if he knew that, Jeonggwan would probably have teased him even more, so it didn’t seem like that…

“I wonder if you couldn’t sleep well-“

“…Ahem.”

Junjae’s Adam’s apple moved greatly. Kim Jeonggwan seemed smart and quick-witted. Really… What was there that Kim Jeonggwan couldn’t do?