Where Beans Are Planted, Beans Grow

"And who… gave you that ticket?"

'The reaction is stronger than I thought.'

Cha Eui-jae was a bit taken aback. Although the whispered voice sounded gentle, the aura he felt through his skin was anything but ordinary.

Cha Eui-jae subtly checked around to see if anyone else had noticed this intense aura. However, instead of detecting any human presence, he was met with affectionate words that carried a different message.

"Stop moving your eyes elsewhere."

"Hey, you're being rude again."

Instinctively acting like a traditionalist, Cha Eui-jae realized his mistake and glanced at Lee Sa-young. The moment he met those eyes devoid of light, he thought,

'Is this guy crazy?'

A chill ran down his spine. The purple eyes were staring at Cha Eui-jae without a single blink.

[Trait: Poker Face (B) activated.]

'Damn it.'

What was it that had annoyed this guy so much? Lee Sa-young had so many triggers that it was hard to guess. Of course, Cha Eui-jae hadn't expected things to go smoothly after confessing to a not-so-minor accident, but at most he had anticipated a sarcastic comment like…

'Sure, you're really good at this.'

"Isn't it important for you to live quietly?"

Lee Sa-young's glove tightened its grip on the necktie, pulling it a bit more. Lee Sa-young softly prodded him.

"Hm? Who gave you the ticket?"

Though he couldn't tell why Lee Sa-young was upset, Cha Eui-jae decided to respond calmly for a peaceful resolution.

"Isn't the future more important? If they find out I'm here because of that machine, it'll be troublesome."

"It's your trouble, not mine."

"What are you talking about? We're in this together."

"In this together?"

Lee Sa-young scoffed.

"You won't even tell me who gave you the ticket. As if…"

'He's really twisted.'

Maybe the sweet scent coming from Lee Sa-young was actually the sugar on a twisted pastry. Cha Eui-jae ground his teeth discreetly, grateful for the Poker Face trait. Would it be better to just say Nam Woo-jin gave him the tickets?

'…No.'

Instinctively, he knew better. The sharp instincts that had kept him alive warned him that mentioning Nam Woo-jin now would be disastrous. Lee Sa-young looked down at Cha Eui-jae with a tilted head.

"Not going to tell me?"

"Um, Lee Sa-young."

"Hmm… Then I'll have to guess. Look up properly."

"You're not ignoring me, are you?"

"Listen to what I have to say first. The secretary needs to know too."

Lee Sa-young's gloved hand lightly tilted Cha Eui-jae's chin up. Their eyes met directly as Lee Sa-young buttoned Cha Eui-jae's loose shirt and tidied his collar.

"Artisan Exhibition tickets are sold in limited quantities on the Hunter channel. Leftovers from Channel 1 go to Channel 2, and if there are none left, they don't sell them… except for overseas quotas."

So that's how it worked. If he'd mentioned selling them on Tomato Market or to regular hunters, it could've been a disaster. It was fortunate he learned from the incident with the magic stone.

"Thanks to this system, it's impossible to hide which Hunter bought how many tickets."

The black glove wrapped the necktie under the shirt collar. After a few movements, the tie was neatly knotted.

"This time, I bought four tickets. One for Bae Won-woo, one for a guild member, one for myself…"

Then, the completed knot was tightened. Just as Cha Eui-jae thought he was being strangled, it stopped. Lee Sa-young adjusted Cha Eui-jae's collar and whispered.

"And one for you."

The black glove fixed his disheveled jacket before finally letting go. Cha Eui-jae was back to looking perfect, as if he hadn't been a mess just moments before.

"The others bought as many as they needed. But…"

At that moment, Cha Eui-jae realized two things he'd overlooked.

"Nam Woo-jin bought two tickets."

First, Lee Sa-young was quick-witted.

"I wondered why someone who never leaves the library would come to the Artisan Exhibition."

"…"

"Do you like bets?"

Second, Lee Sa-young was…

"How about a bet? Will Nam Woo-jin come here or not?"

…very persistent. Cha Eui-jae withdrew the arm he'd been resting beside Lee Sa-young's face. He sighed briefly and ran a hand through his hair.

"You already know the answer, so why ask?"

"Oh…"

Lee Sa-young's voice lowered, growing more sinister.

"You must have talked to Nam Woo-jin about something."

"No, hey. That's different."

"What's different?"

Should he tell Lee Sa-young of the conversation about his past with Nam Woo-jin? No. Bringing that up now would only backfire. Cha Eui-jae decided to reveal just a sliver of the truth.

"You told Nam Woo-jin I was the one who got him the drugs, right? That's why he gave them to me as a thank you. He said it was a big help for his research."

"…"

"I didn't have any use for them, so I was going to throw them away. But they wouldn't burn, and I couldn't dispose of them anywhere, so I just brought them along. If I'd known Hong Ye-seong's item would react like that, I'd have left them at the soup restaurant."

Even after Cha Eui-jae's explanation, Lee Sa-young still tilted his head. Though the sharp aura had lessened somewhat, he was still looking at Cha Eui-jae with a skewed gaze.

'Damn, this guy is still looking at me sideways like he's the Leaning Tower of Pisa.' Cha Eui-jae suddenly reached out to grab Lee Sa-young's gas mask. But Lee Sa-young quickly held onto it with both hands.

The previously tense atmosphere vanished as they began wrestling over the gas mask. As Lee Sa-young peeled Cha Eui-jae's fingers off one by one, he muttered in a low voice.

"You're doing this because you have nothing more to say."

"Aren't you the one with nothing more to say? Hold still."

"Let go. I'm leaving."

"Lee Sa-young, take it off."

"No."

"Take it off, quickly."

"I said no."

Lee Sa-young responded irritably.

"Why didn't you come with Nam Woo-jin then?"

"No, I didn't plan to come here at all. You blackmailed me into coming."

"Blackmail? Hah."

Lee Sa-young scoffed again.

"Only you would see a date proposal worth billions as blackmail."

"You said we'd die together if I didn't go to Songdo. And I was going to sell the ticket Nam Woo-jin gave me on Tomato Market."

"Did you not delete that app yet?"

"I deleted it, you jerk! I quit and deleted it right after getting a hundred messages!"

Cha Eui-jae stopped himself abruptly.

This was Songdo. If what Lee Sa-young said about the ticket sales was true, there would be more Hunter Channel folks at the exhibition than Cha Eui-jae anticipated. He reminded himself that he was here as a secretary to the Pado Guild.

And naturally, he wouldn't be able to handle unexpected situations in this state. A regular secretary couldn't use memory-erasing magic on a Hunter!

Although Lee Sa-young had played along earlier, in his current displeased state, he'd likely ignore Cha Eui-jae even if he tried to report in character. Worse, he might pretend not to know him at all. With his infamous grudge-holding, Lee Sa-young could be very unpredictable.

In this hostile and hazardous environment, Lee Sa-young's cooperation was essential. To achieve that, he needed to untwist Lee Sa-young, who was as twisted as a pretzel.

'First, I need to calm him down.'

But how? Cha Eui-jae had never been good at soothing or appeasing anyone. In the past, he might have resolved fights with friends more easily, but those were from so long ago, before the Day of the Rift, that he couldn't remember clearly.

During his time as J, he didn't have the luxury to appease anyone as most conflicts were resolved with fists, and opponents usually took a submissive stance. The only ones he'd ever tried to calm were that boy or Park Ha-eun…

'Ha-eun?'

A light bulb went off in his head. Yes, he could soothe Lee Sa-young like he soothed Park Ha-eun! Lee Sa-young was less fickle than Park Ha-eun after all. With this realization, hope seemed within reach.

Cha Eui-jae steadied his voice and released his grip on the gas mask. Though Lee Sa-young looked at him suspiciously, Cha Eui-jae's Poker Face made him almost invincible. He gently held Lee Sa-young's arm.

"Sa-young-ah."

"What?"

Lee Sa-young responded coldly, adding in a grumpy voice,

"Is there something else you haven't told me?"

'Why is he so sharp at times like this…'

Thankfully, Lee Sa-young didn't push his hand away. Cha Eui-jae patted his firm arm and resolutely made his request.

"Take off the gas mask."

Step one, talk face-to-face. He wanted to use the skills he'd learned from soothing Park Ha-eun. But Lee Sa-young remained adamant.

"No."

"I want to see your face while we talk. Please, take it off."

"Why?"

"Can I be honest?"

"…"

"I'm pretty pissed off too, and I think we need to talk face-to-face."

"…Oh."

Lee Sa-young squinted his eyes. His short exclamation was full of spite, any willingness to take off the mask had evaporated. Cha Eui-jae shut his eyes tight.

'Stage one has failed miserably.'

Forgetting that honesty isn't always the best policy had landed him back at square one. There was no choice. It wasn't possible to succeed at the first try. Now, it was time to use his last resort with Lee Sa-young, something he didn't want to do.

Cha Eui-jae moved swiftly, pulling Lee Sa-young into his arms.

"…!"

His solid body fit snugly within the embrace, stiffening as if frozen. Cha Eui-jae rested his chin on Lee Sa-young's shoulder, biting his twisting lips to endure. The sweet scent tickled his nose. Thankfully, Lee Sa-young didn't struggle. Cha Eui-jae was barely able to keep his own body from convulsing.

He clenched and unclenched his trembling hand before slowly patting Lee Sa-young's broad back.

"…Okay, I'm sorry."

The last resort was to apologize unconditionally.