WCK | Chapter 1.4

Despite calling his family elders old-fashioned, he seemed to follow his grandfather’s wishes by applying to the business department for law school preparation. But it seemed that was that, and this was this. Seo-on looked at Hyesung’s black hair with a hint of gray and asked another question.

“Are you going to dye it too?”

“No, just the piercings. They say the color fades if you dye it, and I don’t really like brown.”

“You could bleach it.”

“If I did that, I’d probably get kicked out.”

Hyesung laughed and propped his elbows on the desk, narrowing his eyes.

As is typical in a classroom of seniors after the college entrance exam, Seo-on was the only one left in the building after classes ended early. He was waiting at school because he had plans to have lunch with his sister, but if it weren’t for that, he would have left school too.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Yoon Seo-on.”

Despite Hyesung’s suddenly lowered voice, Seo-on just stared at him quietly. Hyesung briefly scrunched his cheek, as if he was about to say something, and after a few seconds, he finally got to the point.

“Is that rumor true?”

“What?”

“About marrying CH.”

“Oh, that.”

I thought I told Hyesung… Seo-on replied with a calm face.

“It’s true.”

“Really?”

“Didn’t I tell you? I think I mentioned it when we started our third year. That I was preparing for marriage.”

“No, I thought you were joking!”

Hyesung let out a hollow laugh.

“I know your family does those kinds of marriages, but we’re not even in our thirties. I mean, getting married in your twenties is one thing, but who gets married as soon as they become an adult?”

“I’m a bit early, I guess.”

“Not just a bit, it’s ridiculously early.”

Despite the casual profanity, Seo-on shrugged as if to say, “What can you do?”

“They decided it would cause less gossip to marry early rather than during college. And people will gossip about Yoon Group anyway once I enroll, so whatever.”

“Are you kidding? Your family matters and your marriage aren’t the same. And it’s better to hear gossip in your fourth year than in your first. By then, you hardly go to school.”

Hyesung frowned as if he had heard the most ridiculous thing. It made sense, but since preparations were already underway, Seo-on didn’t bother to argue.

“CH probably pushed for it.”

There was no article out yet, but it seemed he had picked up on the general situation through family elders.

“What did your grandfather say? Why get involved with a family like that?”

“They say the former CH chairman and my grandfather were friends.”

“Being friends and getting families involved are completely different issues. And your marriage partner is Cha Dokwon, right?”

Worried that someone might overhear, Hyesung checked outside the classroom and, seeing no one, lowered his voice. Seo-on just nodded.

“My dad said even if you dig into that guy, you won’t find a speck of dust.”

“Who doesn’t have dirt if you dig deep enough? I’m sure our family would have plenty if you did.”

Even if most things were done legally, Seo-on wasn’t naive enough to believe his family ran the company ethically or legally clean. Even a small local restaurant might have hygiene issues, so a conglomerate would have even more.

“That’s what makes it scarier.”

Hyesung clicked his tongue.

“If you dig into the CH chairman, you’d find a lot. But the fact that nothing comes up about his son is creepy.”

Seo-on briefly thought of Cha Dokwon and his family. Unlike his brother and sister, he didn’t work at the company, and there were many things he didn’t understand about adult affairs. As a result, he had no real way of grasping the atmosphere within his family.

One thing, however, was certain: due to their feline nature, they were more inclined toward solitary play than strong family bonds. So it wasn’t particularly strange that nothing had come up about Cha Dokwon.

“He doesn’t seem like a scary person…”

Even though he knew Hyesung was talking about the way he handled things, Seo-on only said something different. He had only met the man twice, but since he was going to be his spouse, he couldn’t form a prejudice based on others’ words. He shouldn’t either.

Even if a day came when he regretted not listening to his family or Hyesung, he didn’t want to wear tinted glasses before getting to know him.

“Have you met him?”

“Yeah. We had dinner after the college entrance exam. Last week, we met to get the wedding attire tailored.”

Hyesung shivered at the word “wedding attire” and rubbed his arms over his padded jacket. He looked like he had bitten into something sour.

“I feel embarrassed saying this to you, but you have to come to the wedding anyway.”

“Hey. How could you get married as soon as you turn twenty after how I raised you?”

Hyesung sighed, ruffling his hair.

Due to the nature of canines, who live in packs from birth, he met Seo-on in kindergarten. Naturally, it was an age when they couldn’t transform at all. It felt like just yesterday when he approached the sulking Seo-on, who looked so wronged, and asked him to play, and now he was getting married.

Even though he was far from having children, he felt like he understood the heart of a father sending off his young child to marriage.

‘Especially when the partner is…’

While marriages between different species were not uncommon, the partner was a man much older than him.

Hyesung, looking at his childhood friend who seemed unfazed by his serious reaction, threw out a bait.

“Are you really okay with it?”

“With what?”

“Your marriage partner being Cha Dokwon. The age difference is… well, okay, a guy can date someone older. But damn, the partner isn’t even a woman, it’s a man.”

What if he’s got some weird taste? A man who accepted an arranged marriage with a boy several years younger was likely not in his right mind.

Instead of getting piercings, he should have been trying to stop this marriage.

Having avoided his grandfather and father’s nagging, he only heard about Seo-on’s marriage news belatedly. It was only after hearing the rumor from his grandfather that he realized Seo-on’s passing comment about possibly getting married a year ago wasn’t a joke.

Even though arranged marriages were common in that world, it wasn’t the 70s anymore, and getting married at twenty seemed too early, especially when the partner was Cha Dokwon.

Despite his family’s close ties with the political and business world, Hyesung didn’t know the personal details of the third-generation chaebols on the front lines. He wasn’t particularly interested, and there was no need to know yet.

But he had heard the name Cha Dokwon a few times. The thought of pushing the little puppy he had practically raised into the jaws of that black jaguar was truly horrifying.

“What if he makes weird demands on you?”

“Weird demands?”

Watching his friend, who couldn’t grasp the meaning of his words even at nineteen, made his mouth taste bitter.

“You said you’re getting married.”

“……Oh.”

It took Seo-on a while to understand the underlying meaning of Hyesung’s “weird demands.”

“I don’t think he’d make such demands…”

Marriage was one of the transactions between companies, and the purpose of having children was included in that. If one of them were a woman, they would have had a relationship to have a child, but there was no need for that between Cha Dokwon and Seo-on.

They were both men.

The fact that they were of different species wasn’t a big issue. Although they had the blood of beasts, humans were distinct from beasts, and having a child wasn’t impossible even if their true forms were different species.

But since they were the same gender, having a child was nearly impossible. That meant there was no need for a relationship between him and the man.

Seo-on thought of Cha Dokwon again. Even though he didn’t know him well, he didn’t seem like someone who would engage in unnecessary actions.

“By the way, did you write a prenuptial agreement?”

“Not yet. I think we’ll write it soon.”

“Then make sure to include that in the prenuptial agreement.”

“Isn’t that usually about property division in case of divorce?”

“Yeah, but you never know. Or are you going to marry him and then tell him to see other people?”

“How could anyone do that? That’s a bad thing.”

For the first time, Seo-on frowned. Even if it was a marriage without feelings, seeing other people during the marriage was an unthinkable, heinous act in his family.

“Right. It’s a bad thing. But aren’t there a lot of people who don’t know it’s bad?”

He realized he hadn’t considered this issue.

Even though it was an arranged marriage and a superficial relationship, Seo-on had no intention of telling Dokwon to see other people. After all, meeting others during a marriage was an act that broke trust in a legally bound relationship.

These days, people dealt with their mating seasons with medication, so there was even less of an issue related to that.

Moreover, they say men usually have stronger sexual desires when they’re young, but since he didn’t have much of a sexual drive, he thought it might be bothersome for someone like Cha Dokwon at his age.

Of course, considering he was born as a late child, age might not matter much…

“……Alright. I’ll think about it.”

Feeling that he shouldn’t continue these thoughts at school, Seo-on cut off his train of thought. Since it was a somewhat private matter to consult with friends or family, he thought he should carefully bring it up the next time he met Cha Dokwon.

“I haven’t heard any rumors about him having dirty relationships with women…”

Hyesung murmured, stroking his chin as he looked at Seo-on’s serious face.

“How do you know that?”

Seo-on asked, looking at Hyesung with curiosity.

“If he did, my grandfather or father would have told me. Your parents would know too.”

True, if there were such issues with Cha Dokwon, those who weren’t keen on the marriage would have done whatever it took to call it off.

“Anyway, I’ll talk to the Executive Director next time I meet him. Since we’ll be writing the prenuptial agreement together.”

“When are you meeting him?”

Hyesung raised an eyebrow, seemingly not satisfied with the answer.

“On graduation day.”

Despite the mischievous expression, Seo-on replied with a bright smile.

“Not long now.”

He was about to become an adult too.

🐾🐾🐾

“Hey, Yoon Seo-on! What are you doing tonight?”

“We’re planning to hang out with the guys. You’re coming, right?”

“We’re drinking at someone’s place.”

Seo-on was surrounded by friends, buried in a bouquet of flowers. It would’ve been nice if they had spoken one at a time, but everyone was so excited that their voices overlapped in a cheerful mess. Even after he handed the bouquet to his brother and sister, the flowers kept piling up, making it hard to hold them all.