Bad Relationship

“I’m genuinely curious, what makes you so confident that I’ll marry you?”

“Because if you don’t marry me, Director Han Juwon will be in serious trouble.”

At the mention of his uncle rather than his father—precisely one of his two weaknesses—the situation started to get interesting.

“…You’re quite capable, aren’t you?”

“Like I said.”

“What kind of trouble do you mean when you say ‘trouble’?”

“To be exact, it wouldn’t just be Director Han Juwon but your entire family that would be in trouble. From cash flow to permits and projects in preparation, as well as overseas contracts—across the board.”

“And you have that kind of power?”

“If you want to test my abilities, go ahead.”

With the implication that Junghyun would be the one to regret it, and that Jaehyuk would lay out the scenario if he wanted to try, Junghyun fell into thought briefly before looking away as if there was no need to discuss further, and opened a beer can.

As Jaehyuk frowned at this attitude, Junghyun took a sip of beer and spoke confidently.

“But I don’t think you’ll do it, hyung.”

“Why do you think that?”

“It’s a conclusion drawn from my accumulated experience and data. Dominant Alphas are creatures who value pride above all else in this world. Especially people like you wouldn’t do something that hurts your pride just for the sake of marriage.”

“There are plenty of exceptions in the world, like you.”

“You’re not one of those exceptions, hyung. Because you’re actually a decent person, better than you appear.”

“…”

“Someone who would truly use such tactics wouldn’t easily let go when their partner asks to break up. Those petty types can’t stand being dumped—they’re the ones who do the dumping.”

“What if that was a special case?”

“Then you should be going after that person instead of me. It means that person is truly important to you.”

“They are important, but I don’t believe I need to marry someone important to me. You’re the marriage partner I want.”

Seeing his attitude that showed no intention of giving up no matter what was said, a more fundamental question arose.

“Why?”

“I told you, didn’t I? I like your personality. You’re insensitive, shameless, bold, more perceptive and clever than expected, and seem to not care about others at all. Exactly the personality I’ve been looking for.”

“I may have a unique character, but if you look hard enough, you could find one or two people like me somewhere, couldn’t you?”

“There’s no time for that.”

“Why do you need to get married within a month?”

“We’ll talk about that after we’re legally married. It’s an issue outsiders shouldn’t know about.”

“And I know what this issue is?”

“Whatever it is, you’re going to end up married to me anyway, so it would be more convenient for you to learn after the marriage.”

“Still, this seems too unfair, doesn’t it? You seem to know quite a lot about me, but all I know about you is that you were dumped two weeks ago?”

“You don’t need to know about me. You don’t need to be curious either. One of the main reasons I chose you is because you’re indifferent to others. Don’t ask anything, don’t think about it, don’t try to find out. All you need to do is marry me within a month and create a plausible reason to divorce a year later. Of course, we’ll negotiate the terms of marriage and divorce, and I intend to accept all the conditions you want.”

Hearing these specific terms, Junghyun thought he understood the real reason why Jaehyuk had chosen him.

“So you thought it would be easy to divorce me?”

An illegitimate child from an unremarkable wealthy family, and a recessive Omega at that. He was someone difficult to marry but easy to divorce. No, if they divorced, everyone would probably welcome it with open arms.

There couldn’t be a better partner for an easy divorce.

“Honestly, yes.”

The excessively honest answer was actually refreshing. Honesty was better than making excuses or denying it.

“I like that you don’t beat around the bush.”

“There’s no need to mince words with a business partner. But the biggest reason I want to marry you is that you don’t seem to dwell on unnecessary matters or drag out emotions. I thought you’d just hand over the divorce papers cleanly after a year if the conditions were right. Above all, you seemed to have little interest in me.”

“Who says that?”

“What?”

“That I’m not interested in you, hyung?”

“You were the only one who didn’t ask for my contact information that day.”

“What if I deliberately didn’t ask for your contact to get your attention?”

“Even if that’s the case, it doesn’t matter. I’m in a hurry to get married. And let me add, this isn’t a proposal.”

It meant he wouldn’t accept a refusal under any circumstances. But that was his problem.

“I’ll enjoy using the owner’s box and eating this delicious chicken and beer, but I won’t marry you.”

When Junghyun firmly rejected his rejection of the rejection, Jaehyuk smiled.

With gleaming eyes.

With a face that said he really liked it.

That smile sent chills down Junghyun’s spine for a different reason this time, but he pretended not to notice and picked up a chicken piece. Just as he took a large, already somewhat cold drumstick, the players from both teams began to enter the field.

As the game was about to begin, he tore into the chicken and held his beer while gazing out the window. Jaehyuk, sitting right beside him, also looked straight ahead and casually said:

“You’ll move into my current house. I’ll replace all the furniture, so adjust accordingly.”

“I’m not going~.”

Junghyun repeated the same words after taking another sip of beer, but this time there was no response.

He just sensed that Jaehyuk was smiling.

Though his confident attitude was irritating, there was no reason to continue the conversation, so Junghyun changed the subject, pretending not to notice.

“By the way, I like how quiet it is here, but it’s too quiet to hear anything.”

Looking at Jaehyuk as if saying he might as well join his friends, Jaehyuk reached out and pressed a remote.

At the same time, the commentary began to play from the large speakers standing on both sides of the front window.

“Oh, amazing.”

Although people don’t come to the stadium just to listen to the commentary, and Junghyun wasn’t the type to cheer passionately anyway, he loosened his already slack tie, threw it aside, took off his jacket casually, and began to focus on the game.

Today he planned to watch calmly.

But only until the third inning.

“Can I set those bastards’ bus on fire?”

“No.”

“Then I’ll just pop the tires of the team bus and throw a carton of eggs.”

“Not allowed either.”

“Then, use your authority as the team owner to make them crawl home.”

“That’s also not allowed.”

“Those bastards burst my blood pressure in an hour, and they get to go home comfortably by bus?”

As Junghyun raged that it made no sense for those who deserved to be roasted with salt under the autumn sun to return home comfortably, Jaehyuk muttered the realization he had gained today.

“…I didn’t like baseball to begin with, but now I have one more reason to never watch it again.”

Meaning Junghyun, as when the fourth inning started and the point gap with the opponents began to widen, Junghyun suddenly jumped up from his seat and shouted, “Hey, you bastards! My friend’s one-year-old son could crawl faster than you!” Shortly after, he yelled, “Did you skip breakfast? If you’re going to end it like this, why did you even come here? You should have just ended it in the league!” Spewing all kinds of curses and dialects, he drank three cans of beer in succession. Then, even when they started scoring again from the seventh inning, he got angry saying, “If you were going to hit like this now, why couldn’t you hit earlier? Why are you only hitting now? Do you need to be cursed at to perform?” Finally, when they gave up a home run in the bottom of the ninth, he pulled at his hair and sat like a ruined person who had lost his country, making strange sounds like “heeheeheehee” and laughing as if he had lost his mind.

Jaehyuk had heard from friends who like baseball that “you shouldn’t start watching baseball, it’ll ruin your temperament,” but he had never quite understood since he wasn’t someone with extreme mood swings. Now he could see it clearly.

So that’s what happens when you like baseball.

Looking at Junghyun, who was slumped on the sofa with slightly reddened cheeks from alcohol and reddened eyes, sitting like a person who had lost his mind, Jaehyuk sighed and spoke.

“Get up now. You look like a homeless person.”

“My heart is homeless. Those guys stripped my soul. If they’re not going to win the championship, why do they play well at the end of the league? If they’d just botched everything from the start, I wouldn’t have had expectations and would have just enjoyed cursing them out!”

“You cursed even when they were winning.”

“Because they deserved it.”

As Junghyun got angry again, asking why they couldn’t win from the beginning, Jaehyuk stood up as if he didn’t want to hear any more.

“Get up now.”

“I don’t want to. There’s a hole in my heart, and my legs have no strength.”

“It’s probably because your brain is pickled in alcohol.”

“This amount doesn’t get me drunk.”

Looking at the table after that comment, there were three empty beer cans, one empty wine bottle, and one empty champagne bottle rolling around.

But he didn’t seem like someone who would get drunk on this amount.