Bad Relationship

Prologue

Intricately woven fate is difficult to distinguish from coincidence. Whether it’s malicious or benevolent.

“…You need to stay sharp. This is really, really a demanding person, so don’t be too rude, and be polite and respectful. Be careful and cautious not to upset them. You always! Ever! Constantly! Your mouth is the problem so watch what you say! No, no. Don’t speak at all. The moment you open your mouth, it’s a disaster. Instead, you need to be rejected decisively. But keep the atmosphere pleasant. With a smile!”

In the car crossing downtown on Saturday afternoon, Junghyun responded indifferently to Juwon’s nagging coming through the speakerphone as he gripped the steering wheel.

“What kind of contradictory nonsense is that? Like a warm iced americano? Make up your mind. Should I reject them, or should they reject me?”

“Did you hear anything I just said? You should be rejected! Don’t reject them! But! Without making them feel bad! Without leaving bad feelings! Without causing gossip! Cleanly!”

Junghyun looked at his phone screen in disbelief at Juwon’s impossible demands.

“Just to clarify… you don’t actually think this is possible, right?”

“No, what’s so difficult about this? Just be respectful! Don’t be irritable or sarcastic like you usually are! Don’t ignore them! Don’t look at them with that ‘who the hell is this guy?’ expression! And quietly let them reject you!”

Juwon started coughing, likely from straining his voice as he had two hours ago when he called demanding Junghyun immediately shower and go to the blind date. Junghyun waited for his coughing to subside before continuing.

“…If I’m going to be rejected anyway, wouldn’t it be better to not go at all and save us both the trouble and time?”

Muttering that it would be a waste of time for both parties, Junghyun tapped the steering wheel, wondering if he should change to the left turn lane.

I could go there instead right now…

Junghyun checked the clock on the dashboard and briefly wavered, thinking about bailing, but Juwon incredibly sensed his hesitation.

“Don’t even think about ditching. This meeting isn’t something that can be refused by you, me, or your father. Would I send you out on a blind date if it wasn’t important, considering how embarrassing you usually are?”

“Then you should have told me earlier. I had plans today.”

“If I had told you, would you have quietly agreed to go? You would have fled overseas by this morning.”

“…That’s true. If I’d known earlier, I would have caught the 1 PM flight out of here.”

“So how could I tell you?”

“Where did you even find this blind date? Wasn’t I blacklisted from the dating market?”

“I don’t know. Your father arranged it, how would I know?”

“If that man arranged it, it’s going to be unpleasant anyway.”

“That’s the problem—it’s not like that.”

Junghyun understood that if it were just another unpleasant meeting, Juwon wouldn’t be making such a fuss.

Clearly, this was someone whose feelings shouldn’t be hurt.

“…Anyway, I just need to get rejected, right?”

“Re-spect-ful-ly!”

Junghyun wondered how one could respectfully get rejected as Juwon emphasized each syllable, but he was too tired to argue and decided to just agree.

After all, it’s not like Juwon would be there watching. He just needed to be off-putting enough to make the other person leave first.

“Fine, respectfully rejected.”

“I can tell you’re planning to half-ass it! Please don’t cause trouble. This person is really someone you can’t mess with.”

“I got it.”

“I have a bad feeling already. My stomach is killing me. I should have just said you died in an accident yesterday and declined.”

“You should have. Could have filed a death certificate too.”

“And I could have cleaned up my identity while at it,” Junghyun said with genuine regret, causing Juwon to shout.

“How would that work? Where would we get a death certificate?”

“Sounds like you’ve actually thought about this in detail?”

“Of course I’ve considered it. But since that was realistically impossible, I thought about hitting you or running you over with a car to send you to the hospital, but gave up because that would leave evidence.”

“That sounds fine, why not?”

“How would we actually do that?”

“What’s stopping us?”

“Do you think I’m crazy like you?”

“Aren’t we similar?”

“Shut up and just get to the blind date on time. Oh, my stomach hurts, my head aches, I’m dizzy… This feels like carrying a bomb that’s certain to explode…”

“Don’t worry, just take an antacid and sleeping pills and go to sleep. Or take some Cheongshimhwan.”

“You’re giving me medicine after making me sick?”

“I didn’t give you the illness, that man did, so go complain to him.”

Despite being a time when autumn should be arriving, the weather was still hot.

The dirty summer persists even as it ends.

The sunshine was so strong that Junghyun finally turned on the air conditioner, which made Juwon genuinely exclaim.

“Wow, how are you exactly like your father? This is what they call self-hatred, right?”

“If you keep insulting me, I might bail from here.”

“Just try to… cough“

As Juwon started shouting again and then coughed, Junghyun decided to end the call.

“Hang up and take your medicine and sleep. I won’t bail, I’ll keep quiet and be rejected properly.”

“I know you absolutely won’t do that, but please try to follow those words.”

“I’ll do my best, so I’m hanging up. I’m almost at the meeting place.”

“Okay. Oh, and call me immediately after you split up. Before the matchmaker contacts us. And don’t turn your phone off.”

“I got it. Bye.”

Seeing the traffic light change, Junghyun immediately pressed the end call button and stepped on the accelerator. As he gradually increased speed, his phone began ringing again.

It was Yongwoo.

He must have just seen the message Junghyun sent about being late due to an appointment today.

Since it was about time to contact him anyway, Junghyun pressed the call button, and a loud noise along with a shout came through the speakerphone.

“You’re going on a blind date?”

Amid the noise that sounded like excavation work, Yongwoo’s shrill question came through, but Junghyun wasn’t surprised at all and calmly changed lanes while responding casually.

“Yeah, a blind date.”

The moment he said he was going to that “blind date” – exactly what Yongwoo was thinking – he saw a needlessly tall building standing under the bright autumn sky.

It was the place where the blind date was scheduled.

He seemed to be on time, though cutting it close.

“So, a real ‘blind date’? Where a beta man and woman, or an alpha and omega, sit across from each other and investigate each other, assessing economic power and living ability, exchanging health examination results, mental evaluation reports, criminal background checks, and MBTI?”

At his friend’s unnecessarily detailed question, as needlessly elaborate as the tall building, Junghyun asked an unexpected question.

“…Do people exchange MBTIs these days too?”

“It’s essential these days, they say. Something about compatibility.”

“Well…”

Junghyun accepted that MBTI could be important for marriage, just like humor preferences or food tastes.

At least MBTI is more scientific than fortune compatibility.

“No, no, MBTI isn’t the important part here—are you really going on a blind date? You, Lee Junghyun, the ultimate rejection case of family introductions, the unicorn who became the first omega on the blind date blacklist in history, the untouchable of the matchmaking world, who was classified as a high-risk item after just three blind dates and was forcibly removed from the dating market after the seventh date?”

Junghyun laughed incredulously at the very elaborate and flowery description of himself.

All he knew was being called the untouchable of the matchmaking world, but the rest of the descriptions were accurate too.

And he quite liked them.

“I wish you could have said that in front of my father. Then I wouldn’t be wasting my time on a blind date on this beautiful Saturday afternoon.”

As he slowly reduced speed and entered the building’s underground parking garage, Junghyun genuinely lamented, and Yongwoo immediately agreed.

“Seriously, you’re like a nuclear bomb when it comes to dating. Why would they send you? What kind of backlash are they looking for?”

As he drove down the curving path to the second basement level, Junghyun agreed with Yongwoo’s question.

“I wish you could say that to my blind date too.”