Chapter Text
“Then… will you marry me?”
“N-no…”
“It’s a good arrangement, isn’t it?”
To Till, this situation did not seem good at all. Doing something like this by deceiving the president of his own company could hardly be called a good arrangement.
-
It had started a week earlier. Till had a friend he had been close with since high school, Sua. She was the daughter of a chaebol family and very rich, but she never seemed to care about that and always treated Till normally. Other people often kept a little distance from her, but Sua had never changed from the very beginning. Before he knew it, the two of them were often together, and naturally
they spent more and more time talking.
And there was one thing she regularly asked of him: not a stand-in for an exam, but a stand-in for an arranged marriage meeting.
A chaebol family had obligations, and Sua had duties she was expected to fulfill.
One of them was attending matchmaking meetings with the sons of other wealthy families or big-company presidents.
Of course, Sua did not want to do such a thing in the slightest, and Till also felt it was a bit outdated. But Sua had no right to refuse. So every time, she asked Till.
“Please, just this once. It’ll really be the last time. Won’t you go to the meeting in my place?”
According to her, a lot of idiots did not even bother to look at photos. While looking down on men like that in the back of his mind, Till had listened to her at first, but little by little she had skillfully talked him into it, and now he was doing this.
Of course, one might ask how he was supposed to pretend to be Sua when they were different genders, but Sua carefully brought wigs and makeup every single time, so Till ended up transformed into a perfectly beautiful girl.
And since she always gave him a little spending money under the name of “part-time wages,” Till could not stop doing it even though he did it unwillingly.
So, for the first time in about two months, Sua had come to Till again for advice about another arranged meeting.
“Please. This really will be the last one.”
“At some point you need to tell your father already!”
“I keep telling him, but it’s impossible!”
“Anyway! Starting this time, I’m not doing it anymore!”
Till had grown sick of the constant cross-dressing and the over-the-top personalities he had to come up with. As Till put it, it was like he had glimpsed the darkness of women.
“Just think about it. This really will be the last time!”
-
On the way home, Till kept thinking over Sua’s request. He felt bad refusing his best friend, but honestly, he wanted to stop deceiving people.
Sua, despite her personality, was actually quite a romantic. She wanted to marry the person she loved and defy her parents.
And besides, Sua was a lesbian. She disliked the very existence of men so much that Till periodically found himself thinking, Isn’t it kind of a miracle that she’s even friends with me?
If her father ever learned that, she would probably drop dead.
“I’m home.”
“Till! Welcome back. How was your day?”
“Nothing special. I grabbed drinks with Sua on the way home.”
“Oh? Then let’s have her over to visit us again sometime.”
Sua and Io got along well. Sua did not have a mother, and more than anything, she had never really experienced spending time with what people would call a “normal” family. So Io had become something like a comforting family figure to her.
“Hey! You’re back?”
Urak’s voice rang out.
Till’s father, Urak, was addicted to gambling.
And on top of that, he was an alcoholic. Either one alone would still have been bad, but because he constantly did things like going to the racetrack while drunk, the family was always burdened by debt.
“Hey, where’d you go today?”
“The usual racetrack, and maybe the lottery too… More importantly, what kind of attitude is that toward your father?!”
After that came the usual stream of insults and abuse. More than that, Till wanted to know how much debt his father had racked up today. Till had gotten into a first-rate company because he wanted to make things even a little easier for his mother, but even that was not enough to cover the debts Urak piled up almost every day.
“Yeah, I lost again today. About 800,000 won, maybe.”
“What?! Think a little, would you?! You’re the one making Mom suffer…!”
Feeling the helplessness of being unable to do anything, Till went into his room, immediately took out his phone, and sent Sua a message: I’ll do it. If it’s the usual amount.
-
“Thank you so much, seriously. By the way, what’s the setup for today?”
After Sua gave Till flawless hair and makeup, he stood in the lobby of the hotel with the restaurant where the arranged meeting would take place. Slightly exhausted, the two of them reviewed the details one last time.
“Um… a troublesome woman, a chaebol heiress, Sua.”
“Oh, not the cult one today?”
“That one’s tiring. And today we’re indoors, so I don’t want to throw salt around.”
Sua and Till had come up with several roles over the years, but the one he was playing today was comparatively easy. All he had to do was act like an obviously pretty but deliberately unpleasant woman.
“It’s almost time. I’m going now. Good luck!”
“Hey, wait, Sua!”
Left alone, Till prepared himself to become “Sua.” While riding the elevator up to the restaurant, he kept psyching himself up. When he finally reached the top floor, he stepped out wearing a perfectly composed expression.
“Miss Sua, yes? We’ve been expecting you.”
Escorted into the dimly lit restaurant, Till had completely become the daughter of a great chaebol family. With hair much longer than his real hair and glittering makeup he still was not used to, Till was now fully “Chaebol Heiress Sua.”
The elegant table setting was probably perfect for an arranged marriage meeting. As soon as he sat down, Till immediately messaged Sua. Contact him, he wrote.
“Miss Sua…?”
A refined, low voice came from behind him.
When he turned around, there was a tall man in a black suit, his black hair parted slightly in the center.
I see. So this is him.
…No, wait.
Why is a guy this handsome showing up?
That was what Till thought.
He was on a completely different level from the men before. And on top of that, he was tall, highly educated, and high-earning. Till immediately knew this was going to be a tougher battle than usual.
“Yes. I’m Sua.”
“My name is Ivan. It’s a pleasure to meet you today.”
The man calling himself Ivan took out a card holder. Till quickly followed suit, taking out the business card holder Sua had given him and pulling out one card.
Sua actually worked for an apparel brand owned by her family’s conglomerate. Till remembered that she had once said that, since she really did love beautiful things, working under her father was not such a bad option.
They exchanged cards, and the first thing Till saw was the words ANAKT Music. And beside the name Ivan, it said President.
“A-ANAKT Music…?”
His voice cracked involuntarily.
That company was one he knew better than almost anyone.
“You know of it?”
Because he worked there.
At first he thought he must have misread it, but there was no way he would mistake the name of his own company. This man named Ivan really was the president of Till’s company.
“Y-yes. I hear about it often.”
“Thank you.”
“Even so… Ivan, you’re really handsome…”
Gripping his trembling hand tightly, Till braced himself. Fine, then. He was going all in. He was already wearing a perfect disguise, and in these clothes he would never see this man again for the rest of his life.
No matter what, he was going to play the role of an irritating bitch.
“Still… it’s getting kind of hot in here… Are you okay, Ivan?”
Strategy one: loosen his clothes a little.
At the very least, all the pampered rich boys raised in strict households up to now had never been able to handle the sight of a woman’s bare skin. Even though Till was male by bone structure, no one had ever realized it. Those guys would immediately turn red, decide she was indecent, and run away.
“I’m fine. More importantly, are you all right, Miss Sua? Shall I ask them to lower the air conditioning?”
“Oh, no! I’m fine! Maybe if I take something off, it’ll be just right! Ahaha…”
Then strategy two, if it came to that. Most meetings never got even this far, but as expected of such a handsome man, Ivan calmly brushed a hand through his beautiful hair and showed concern. So, Till thought, compared to the others, this one was way more used to women.
“Oh, this is delicious. It’s my first time at this restaurant, but this appetizer is really good, Ivan.”
“It is. Do you like this kind of seafood, Miss Sua?”
“Yes. I don’t usually get to eat it much, but something like this is fine.”
Even so, their eyes never met. Ivan’s gaze was clearly directed toward him, and yet not once did he really look into Till’s eyes. He was not staring downward, exactly, and he should have been facing him properly, but Till could not see Ivan’s eyes at all. A man who should have had black eyes with bright red pupils stubbornly refused to look at “Till’s” eyes.
“Excuse me, I think I’ve had a little too much to drink… I’m going to use the restroom.”
“Ah… of course.”
Leaving the table in a hurry, Till immediately opened his messages with Sua. Since he obviously could not go into the women’s restroom, he did not. Instead, he hid behind a wall out of Ivan’s line of sight.
[Till]: Contact him. 8:31 PM
[Sua]: Looks like he’s there already. 8:33 PM
[Sua]: Till? 8:35 PM
[Sua]: Are you okay? 8:50 PM[Till]: This is bad. He’s the president of my company. 8:56 PM
The moment he sent it, it was read, and a reply came back.
[Sua]: Wait, isn’t that awful? 8:56 PM
[Till]: It’s awful. 8:56 PM
[Sua]: Shouldn’t you just ditch? 8:56 PM
[Till]: No way!! 8:57 PM
[Till]: I’m somehow managing to act like an annoying woman, but he’s tough. 8:57 PM[Sua]: So a competent man really is different? 8:57 PM
[Till]: Yeah. 8:57 PM
[Till]: Also, he’s seriously handsome. 8:57 PM
Just as Till thought he really had to get back to the table soon and turned around, a tall man suddenly appeared in front of him.
Ivan.
“Are you all right? Why not come back to the table?”
Cold sweat would not stop. Had he seen the screen? Had he realized that he was not the chaebol heiress Sua but just an ordinary employee named Till?
But this was exactly the moment to carry out strategy two.
Strategy two: insist they were destined. When Till had first shown this plan to Sua, she had immediately said it was weak. But once he had actually tried it, he realized that it gave off just enough of an unhinged, pseudo-spiritual vibe to work well. Ever since, whenever strategy one failed, Till used this.
“Ivan, I think we’re destined!”
“What?”
“I mean, you came to find me, didn’t you? And this arranged meeting itself has to be fate too. We were born to walk through life together.”
“A community of fate, you mean?”
“Y-yes!!”
“I see. I like that kind of honesty, Miss Sua.”
“Huh?”
Till immediately regretted letting his real voice slip for a second.
More importantly, had this guy just said he liked him?
Till was stunned. No one had ever gone along with this strategy before. At that point, he decided he would go all the way, and boldly moved his face closer to Ivan’s.
“Ivan, since the opportunity’s here… why don’t we stay in a room here tonight?”
His ultimate move. To really bring out the strongest possible level of shamelessness, he had no choice but to play the aggressor himself. Ivan looked surprised for a moment, then quickly returned to the same cool expression as before and looked almost exasperated.
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
“No, I mean, surely that’s what we should… huh?”
“Excuse me, I’d like to book a room. Under ANAKT Company’s account. Yes. This is Ivan.”
What am I supposed to do? Till was genuinely panicking now, sweating as if under a waterfall.
“They’re asking us to confirm it in the lobby. Together.”
“O-okay.”
Even getting into the elevator to leave the restaurant was terrifying. If they actually went to a room, then surely that was what would happen. Ivan probably intended to. But if that happened, Ivan would realize Till was a man. Then he would also realize Till was not Sua, and in the end Sua would get dragged into the trouble anyway. Till did not want his one and only friend since high school caught up in that.
But Till could not read Ivan’s expression at all, and he had no idea what to do. At this rate, Sua would be in danger. But if he stopped now, the meeting would become even more of a disaster than usual.
“Ah, excuse me—”
Just as Till turned around to apologize to the woman he had bumped into, her expression changed and she glared at him.
“You! You were planning to run away!?”
She grabbed his wig, and Till instantly panicked. Bad. If it came off, everyone around would realize he was a man.
“Hey!? Who the hell are you?!”
“Don’t you know who I am?”
Till’s natural voice came out by accident, but he immediately switched back to a higher register and begged her to let go.
“Please let go…! Who are you?”
“I’m Minseok’s girlfriend!”
Though confused by the unfamiliar name, Till tried to negotiate with her so she would release him.
“Who is Minseok…? And please let go—”
“Please stop.”
It was Ivan.
His long arm reached out and grabbed the woman’s wrist, and Till used the opening to break free.
“May I ask what this is about?”
Ivan calmly questioned her. To Till, who was still frozen in confusion, Ivan quietly told him to stand behind him.
“What a strange person…”
“I saw you go into that room with Mr. Minseok for an hour. And next you’re with this man? What a shameless woman!”
“Y-you’re mistaken! I don’t know anyone named Minseok!”
“Are you pretending now?”
Apparently she had no intention of believing him. She pulled out her phone and showed them a photo.
“How exactly do you plan to explain this?”
In the photo was presumably “Minseok” together with a woman wearing blue long hair like Till’s wig and clothes very similar to his.
“N-no, no! There are tons of people with long hair, and this outfit is in style right now! Don’t you know that? So that’s not me—”
The woman in front of him let out a huge sigh, and Till flinched.
“You think you can talk your way out of this?! Unforgivable!”
Just as she seemed about to hit him, Ivan stepped in between them.
“Even if, hypothetically, she were the woman in the photo, shouldn’t you first discuss this with ‘Minseok’?”
“Ah, um, yes! That’s right!”
“Miss Sua, let’s go.”
With an awkward bow, Till followed Ivan out of the hotel. Ivan immediately took out his phone and called someone.
“I’m outside. ……Ah, got it.”
Watching him, Till found himself comparing the two of them. Ivan, heir to a chaebol family, and Till, an ordinary employee working under him. As though that fact itself were something shameful, Till felt embarrassed.
And in any case, Korean nights were cold. Dressed in women’s clothes, Till was freezing. In a miniskirt and a top that exposed his stomach, he found himself newly respecting women everywhere.
“Cheating on two people? Don’t underestimate me.”
“So you deny it?”
“Yes. Don’t be ridiculous. Three-timing, four-timing, eight-timing, maybe. But only two? Don’t insult me.”
“E-eight-timing?”
This was it. The plan was working. Now Ivan was definitely put off by him. Feeling certain of that, Till decided to press on.
“I love men. I like honesty, but maybe that was a little too honest?”
“Hey! You, wait!”
The woman from before found him again, and Till decided to run. He had left enough of an impression. There was nothing more to accomplish.
“Bye-bye ♡”
His heels clicking loudly, Till ran off.
From behind, he heard flustered voices.
“Ah, w-wait! Miss Sua!”
“I’m not letting you get away, you bitch!”
Ivan watched the fleeing “Sua” with curiosity. The woman chasing after him, and Sua running away. The scene looked almost like farce.
Then the door of a black car parked in front of the hotel opened, and a woman stepped out. She had long pink hair blowing in the wind and wore glasses.
“Ivan!”
“Let’s go.”
“I promised I’d drive Miss Sua home. Where is she?”
“She went that way.”
“That way… you mean that person being chased? Really? Just get in the car. I’ll hear the story.”
The woman in glasses, Mizi, got into the driver’s seat, while Ivan sat in the back. Looking into the rearview mirror, Mizi glanced at him.
“So she got caught cheating and ran?”
At Mizi’s words, Ivan remembered the back of the blue-haired figure running off moments ago. Desperately sprinting in heels, “she” had not looked like a chaebol heiress at all.
“She said, ‘I love men, and three-timing, four-timing, eight-timing is only natural.’”
“That’s the worst!”
“And what else was it…? Fate?”
Ivan gave a small shrug. The image of “her” talking earnestly about fate flashed through his mind.
“What did she say?”
“Who knows.”
“That was a waste of time.”
“Was it?”
Ivan’s phone rang. Mizi glanced sideways at his slightly displeased face and instantly understood. Ah, it’s Grandfather.
“Yes, I’m on my way home now.”
“So early? It didn’t work out, then. Fine. Put Ms. Mizi on. We’ll arrange the next meeting.”
“There’s no need for that.”
Ivan narrowed his eyes just a little.
The image of the blue-haired figure running away rose in his mind.
“What did you say? Are you planning to break your promise with me?”
“No. I’m going to marry Miss Sua.”
-
Sua found Till completely worn out and brought him to the budae-jjigae place they always went to together. It was a small, slightly old restaurant open late into the night. The bubbling sound of the stew and the smell of chili filled the shop. Several groups of office workers stopping by after work made the place lively.
The moment they sat down, Sua called out to the server, “The usual, please,” without even looking at the menu. Apparently she really had been worried. Once the server left after bringing water, Sua cautiously peered at Till’s face.
Then she realized he was staring blankly.
“I still can’t believe he turned out to be your company president. So… how did it go?”
Till remained silent for a while, staring at the bubbling red stew. Eventually he slowly picked up his chopsticks.
“You already know the answer, don’t you?”
Poking at a sausage with his chopsticks, Till let out a small sigh. Honestly, just remembering it made his stomach hurt. That restaurant, that conversation, and then that final escape. Now that it was all over, the exhaustion was crashing down on him.
“…Mission accomplished.”
“Eeeek! Thank you so much!”
Sua bounced excitedly in her seat. Someone at the next table glanced over, but she did not care in the slightest.
“I packed in every ‘man-hating woman’ trait I could. I didn’t even deny it when she accused me of three-timing and eight-timing.”
“That’s an awful woman!”
“Right? And at the end I even came on to him talking about ‘fate.’”
“What? That’s hilarious!”
Sua burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. Till sighed and stirred the pot.
“And then I ran.”
“You ran?!”
“Because some woman started chasing me.”
“What is this, a drama?”
“I’d like to know too.”
Remembering the whole scene, Till smiled bitterly.
Talking nonsense about fate and then sprinting away in heels at the end. Looking back, it really had been absurd. But surely, after all that, the other side had finally had enough. By his own estimation, he had played a perfect human landmine of a woman.
“Thank you so much, seriously. Let’s toast, my friend. I’ll buy the second round too!”
“Well, obviously.”
“Thank youuu!!!”
Sua raised her glass high. Till lightly clinked his against it.
A soft clink rang out.
The stew had reached the perfect point to eat, the sausages and tofu swaying in the red broth. Till took a bite of the steaming meat. The spicy soup filled his mouth, and at last he felt the tension finally leaving his body.
That was the end of it.
He would probably never see that company president again. And even Sua’s father would surely bring a different marriage prospect next time.
“Hey, Till.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s go to karaoke.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a celebration tonight, right? Let’s do an all-night session for the first time in a while!”
“You’ve got work tomorrow.”
“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. The president won’t be there, right?”
At those words, Till burst out laughing.
“…Yeah, true.”
The president had definitely been the star of today’s events. So tomorrow, there was no way they would see each other at the office.
“Then it’s decided!”
Sua happily pulled out her phone and started looking up nearby karaoke places. As Till took another bite of stew, he gazed absently at the steam rising from it.
Just for tonight, it would be fine to forget everything and make a racket.
-
The two of them left the budae-jjigae restaurant and, still buoyed by alcohol, went into a karaoke place near the station. The neon signs were absurdly bright, and the night streets were still noisy.
“Two people, all-night course!”
When Sua announced it cheerfully at the front desk, the employee looked a little surprised before handing over a room key tag.
“Room 305.”
“Great, let’s go!”
Sua briskly walked down the hallway. Till trailed behind more sluggishly.
“…You’ve got a lot of energy.”
“Of course! Today is Liberation Day!”
The moment they entered the room, Sua grabbed the remote and started searching for songs. Till collapsed onto the sofa and stretched.
“You sing first.”
“Huh?”
“You’re the star today.”
“No, you are.”
“Come on, come on.”
She pressed buttons on the remote, and a song appeared on the screen. The intro began to play.
“Here, the mic.”
“…Fine.”
Till reluctantly accepted the microphone. But as the intro continued, he straightened up a little.
“Wait, no way.”
Sua grinned.
The next second, Till drew in a breath smoothly.
And then—
a beautiful female voice filled the room.
“Wait a second, you’re amazing.”
Sua blurted it out.
His voice fit the female key perfectly, so much so that it was hard to believe he was the same guy who had been poking at stew just a little while ago. The voice he had practiced for dressing up came out naturally here too.
“That’s cheating!”
“Shut up.”
Till kept singing coolly while looking at the screen. But when the chorus came, he projected just a little more. Music echoed from the room’s speakers, and the two of them started clapping and laughing along. When the song ended, Sua applauded dramatically.
“That was incredible! You sing better than a chaebol heiress!”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Obviously!”
She immediately queued up another song.
“Okay, duet next!”
“Why?”
“Sing.”
In the end, they both grabbed microphones and started singing together. Halfway through they laughed so hard they had to start over. As time passed, more and more empty glasses accumulated on the table. Sua stood up and started dancing, while Till remained seated on the sofa, laughing.
“One more song!”
“You’re still going?”
“We’re here till morning!”
The light from the screen cast the room in blue. Till adjusted his grip on the microphone and took a small breath.
For just this moment, he could forget work, debt, and the president—everything.
“Sing this one next.”
Though exasperated, Till raised the microphone to his mouth.
The intro played. Lyrics appeared on the screen, and the room lights dimmed slightly.
Then, overlapping with it, Sua’s phone started ringing loudly.
“Huh? A call?”
“It’s my dad. Probably about the arranged meeting. Keep singing!”
Glancing at the screen, Sua shrugged as if annoyed.
“I’ll be right back!”
With that, she left the room.
Now that she had said that, Till could not exactly refuse, so he just kept singing.
It had been a while since he had gone to karaoke, but his voice was coming out well. This was a song that suited his natural voice.
By the time he reached the chorus, he had forgotten even the exhaustion from earlier.
He sang the final phrase.
The screen changed, and the score numbers shot upward.
100.
A perfect 100.
“What?! 100?! No way!!”
Till leapt to his feet without thinking.
“Hey, Sua! Suaaa!”
The door opened, and Sua returned.
But her face was completely different from before.
She looked exhausted—no, almost pale.
“Hey, Till.”
Her voice was low.
“What did you do?”
“Obviously I got a 100! I knew I was talented!”
“Not that!!”
Sua planted both hands on the table and leaned forward. Her cheerful mood from earlier had disappeared completely.
Sensing that something was wrong, Till slowly wiped the smile from his face. His drunkenness vanished in an instant.
“…What happened?”
Sua took a deep breath.
“What did you do to that guy Ivan?!”
“Huh?”
“He says he’s getting married!”
“What?! To you?!”
“To you, obviously!”
Sua tapped the table with her finger.
“Explain exactly what you did at that arranged meeting, Till!”
On the karaoke screen, the intro to the next song began to play softly.
-
“Are you really marrying Miss Sua?”
“Don’t ask me that over and over.”
“But I can’t believe it! Cheating on multiple people…”
The two voices echoed quietly through the silent office. Mizi still could not believe Ivan’s words.
Most of the employees had already gone home, and only the white fluorescent light remained on the floor. Resting her elbows on her desk, Mizi stared fixedly at the man in front of her.
Ivan, as usual, kept his eyes on the documents in front of him as his pen moved across the page.
She simply could not believe it.
That he had decided to marry someone only a few hours after that meeting.
“That was before marriage, wasn’t it?”
“I’m worried even about after marriage. She doesn’t seem normal.”
In Mizi’s mind was the image of that woman running away in front of the hotel. She had never heard of a chaebol heiress sprinting away in high heels.
“She’s the daughter of the Haepari Group. Just like Grandfather said, she should make a good support.”
Ivan closed the file and leaned back in his chair.
He sounded as though they were discussing something completely ordinary.
“But marriage is supposed to be with someone you love…”
Mizi searched for her words, sounding a little hesitant.
“Mizi, thank you for your concern. But what is love?”
The sudden question made Mizi fall silent for a moment.
“Um… love is…”
After thinking for a bit, she answered slowly.
“It’s wanting to keep looking at someone all the time, and feeling full in your chest just by thinking of them…”
Ivan was silent for a while.
It was as if he were rolling those words around in his mind.
Eventually he spoke quietly.
“I don’t have feelings like that.”
The way he said it was astonishingly matter-of-fact.
“And besides, I don’t want to spend time on more arranged meetings. I liked Miss Sua. She’s straightforward.”
Mizi frowned.
“Really…? Seriously? You’re really okay with someone like that?”
“I am.”
Ivan glanced briefly at his watch.
“Look, there’s a meeting with the American and Japanese branches soon.”
His tone made it clear the conversation was over.
Mizi sighed deeply.
“I don’t know, it just still doesn’t feel right to me.”
“I’m going now. See you tomorrow.”
Ivan stood from his chair and adjusted the sleeves of his suit.
Then he started walking toward the door.
Watching his back, Mizi muttered quietly,
“I really feel like something’s going on here…”
But Ivan did not turn around.