Seo Eunwon is a poop-puppy.
Whenever Muyoung let his guard down for a moment, the boy would get knocked around this way and that on his own, turning pitiful and grimy in no time. If something like that really happened, he’d obviously be deliberately, wretchedly miserable.
Muyoung pictured Eunwon, having abandoned him, all grimy and skin-and-bones, shivering with a tiny little bundle in a moldy, damp semi-basement single room, splitting one squishy strawberry between them—and clutched at his chest.
It was only a fleeting imagination, but his heart felt torn apart. Even the bridge of his nose stung.
No—how am I supposed to just stand by and watch that?
Muyoung glared at Eunwon even more fiercely, but Eunwon, who’d been making this and that excuse in a chattering mumble, now had a different look on his face than before, instead of reflecting—his lips poking out.
Why, he looked a little wronged, if anything. *What’s* he *wronged about! Trying to chase me off!*
His lips, poking out like a chick’s beak, were cute even now, which only irked Muyoung more, and he threw out a sarcastic remark without hesitation.
"Why do you worry about me? You won’t let me worry about a single thing—not about you living alone in that rooftop room, not about you skipping meals—so why! Hah… my marriage? Why are you sticking your nose into such useless business?"
"You know it’s ridiculous too, don’t you, Mr. Seo Eunwon."
The chick had fully become a duck now.
See—when I won’t let you worry, you feel shitty too, right? You’re speechless and hurt, right?
This wasn’t something he could just let slide because it was cute. Even if it meant ruthlessly beating a child in an argument, they had to get their relationship straight. And he had to thoroughly scold that irresponsible, cowardly evasion.
How dare you think of pushing me away? Where in the world was there such a cruel omega who’d devour their alpha for two nights and three days and then throw him away so mercilessly…!!
But the boy, soft and sweet by nature, didn’t immediately cling to him whining *you’re right, hyung, I was wrong, don’t find someone else, marry me, we’ve already done everything anyway…* and tuck his tail as Muyoung had expected. Instead, Eunwon stubbornly chattered on, uncharacteristically obstinate.
"…But I think it’s okay for me to do that."
"What?"
"I’m your secretary. Looking after you and worrying about you is my job."
"Hah. So what. You’re going to keep meddling in my blind dates till the end, Mr. Seo?"
His head throbbed. Fatigue seemed to wash over him. This childish squabble felt several times more exhausting than the past few days of the business trip.
He’d added that last bit of spite to a conversation that could have just ended there—probably because of the headache and his poor condition.
"Fine, great. Hah… Mr. Seo Eunwon, then let’s do this. I have absolutely no intention of going to such a meeting, so Secretary Seo will go in my place."
"…Yes? What do you mean?"
"If you’re so interested in my blind date, so determined to push me off onto someone else—then you go find my marriage partner yourself and bring them to me."
"…"
"Marrying like that, it doesn’t matter who it is anyway. If it’s someone Secretary Seo brings me, I’ll do it without a word."
"…"
"Why no answer?"
"I’m graciously granting what you want." It was a little funny. Watching Eunwon’s face stain with shock and horror, the lump in his chest eased a bit. He had to come on this strong to scare the dim boy into clinging to him.
Muyoung put into his mouth the chocolate he’d prepared for Eunwon but which Eunwon no longer touched, chewing it *crunch crunch* for all to see.
"Hmph. You can go now."
He added a childish snort and dismissed him, and until he watched Eunwon get up awkwardly, Muyoung was sure of his victory.
"Is there… anything you need…"
"No. Not in the mood."
He was desperate for their hug time, having gone so long without holding Eunwon—including the business trip—but this, too, was one step back for two steps forward.
As early as tonight, at the latest tomorrow morning. No—no matter what, before Friday… Eunwon would come to him in tears, snot and all, to apologize. And then he’d snatch him up and lock him away tight in his house, his room, his bed, his blankets—all prepared in advance for Eunwon.
It would obviously be incredibly cute and lovely.
Muyoung’s happy circuits spun busily, *whir whir*.
But at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Muyoung’s expectations were brutally shattered. Biting his lip, chewing his nails, his long legs trembling *tremble tremble*, Muyoung—who had waited until the very last of the last of the last moments for Eunwon—ended up regretting the childish spite he’d flung so carelessly two days earlier.
Seo Eunwon, who he’d thought would come running to him in no time, whimpering—that foolish poop-puppy—had vanished from the office with an hour left before quitting time.
"What did Seo Eunwon go to do… where did he go?"
"He said he had an important errand you assigned him separately, that he had to meet someone instead… could there have been some mistake with the schedule?"
At Team Leader Jeong’s bewildered answer—as if asking why he was being asked—Muyoung’s thoughts came to a halt.
"What… th-this… fuck!"
The root of the trouble was that he’d stopped spying on the cloned phone for several days—telling himself he was giving the boy freedom to sort out his feelings, when really he himself was quite sulky.
Muyoung shot out of his seat and raced to the blind date venue he barely remembered, opening the surveillance phone as he ran. And there, no matter how many times he rubbed his eyes, was a search history he couldn’t believe.
"Tips for blind date success"
"Male alpha dating manners"
"Styles female omegas like"
"How to win over an omega you’re meeting for the first time"
…What are you going to do by winning over an omega?
Muyoung, forgetting all the social dignity he’d polished to look good for Eunwon, felt like screaming *aaaaagh*.
***
[Me: Today’s the day. I’m so nervous. PP: Don’t worry—you prepared so hard for this. Before you go into the venue, just run through the script and the song I made you once in your head. Want to sing it together? One, two, ah—one, two, three, four— Even when you’re shaking and nervous, keep it cool and smile~ Confidence is an alpha’s must-have virtue~♪ A good scent, a sharp outfit, thoughtful gifts~ So you’ll be the one chosen~! Even when you’re jittery and on edge, never rush—rude words and actions are strictly forbidden~♪ Don’t let them spend a single thousand won~ or you’ll get left behind~♪ Whatever happens, consideration comes first—understand the omega, vow to protect them~! Dreaming of the day an omega loves you, the ultimate blind-date playbook~♪ (Ta-da!) Feel a little braver now?] Me: Yeah… thanks. I’ll keep every bit of your advice in mind. PP: Don’t chicken out! You can charm any omega! Fighting!
While preparing for Cha Muyoung’s proxy blind date, Eunwon and the AI, PurPle, had somehow become kindred spirits. They were comrades-in-arms now, having teamed up on a quest he could never have told even a close friend about.
PurPle had given him every blind-date trick in the book, and even rewritten the lyrics of a children’s song everyone in Korea knows into "You’ll Be an Alpha Loved by Omegas—The Ultimate Blind-Date Victory Song."
It was an embarrassing, silly song from the title on down, but humming it to himself a few times alone had worked surprisingly well. Thanks to it, he’d been able to steel himself as a fake alpha heading into a date.
Go to the blind date in his place.
If someone asked why he’d meekly accepted such an insulting order from the man he’d loved for years, Eunwon was ready with a wry smile and an answer:
"I… really need the money."
His resolve to quit the company for Muyoung and the secretarial team had vanished the moment he heard about his mother’s new medication. The staggering cost, piled on top of the mountain of expenses he already carried, had made him shameless. As sorry and miserable as he felt taking up space in the office as dead weight, he had no choice.
A few days of trawling job sites had taught him the cold, heartless reality in his bones. With nothing he knew how to do, where else would he ever earn this salary…
Unless Muyoung brought it up first and fired him, he’d decided to lie flat and cling on. Just do whatever he was told, and do it well.
Once he’d thought of it that way, even this absurd quest started to feel like a job with some tradition behind it. After all, a hundred years ago most people married through matchmakers without ever seeing each other’s faces.
He could think of it as the servant going to meet the young lady who might marry the young master he served. Of course, there was the small behind-the-scenes detail that the servant had been in love with his young master for seven whole years, and had spent the last two trying to get over him… but what mattered was the young master and the young lady’s feelings and relationship, not the servant’s private circumstances.
"…I just have to do my job as a secretary well!"
Having psyched himself up, Eunwon gave his carefully chosen outfit one last check. The expensive suit Muyoung had gifted him still looked splendid, and the perfume his little brother Yiwon had bought him smelled sweetly—too sweet for him, really. Hair neat, shoes clean.
After the appearance check, Eunwon opened his wallet and looked once more at the jet-black card inside. The heavy, simple all-black card was one Muyoung had handed him personally on his first day.
Muyoung had said, "Spend whatever you want," but even young, naïve Eunwon knew better than to swipe a card like that for personal use—it was common sense. He’d never used it once.
"So I finally… get to use it." Don’t let them spend a single thousand won~
Humming PurPle’s blind-date song under his breath, he walked into the hotel dining room where they’d agreed to meet.
Eunwon was sitting at the reserved table, a bundle of nerves, when an omega in a bright yet tidy outfit walked up to him. The other man had an unmistakably cheerful, lovable air about him; he looked briefly startled to see Eunwon leap to his feet in surprise, then asked, "Cha Muyoung…?"—but when Eunwon recited the polite "script" he’d memorized over two sleepless nights, he nodded with a smile.
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