NOVEL NEXT chapter 38
“You’ve got your seatbelt on too, miss? Then we’ll head out now.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
The soft hum of the engine wrapped around the car. Even though the vehicle was known for its exceptional ride quality, Joo Yoonwoo’s head swayed uncontrollably from side to side.
So this is how scary alcohol can be. Then again, judging by how freely Choi Yeonjun had answered every single question I asked once he had a few drinks in him…
“Excuse me, sir. Could we take a slightly longer route? I want to give my sister some time to sober up before we get home.”
“Ah, shall I take the Skyway route then, nice and scenic?”
“Sure… I’m fine with whatever.”
“Very well. I’ll raise the partition so you can rest comfortably.”
Anywhere was fine, as long as Yoonwoo could catch her breath. But then it struck him—maybe keeping a drunk person in a car for too long wasn’t a good idea either. He wouldn’t know; he’d never had a drink in his life…
“Hey, noona. Um…”
“Mm, I’m not drunk, okay?”
She answered perfectly fine. Taehyun mimicked the dry tone their brothers often used when speaking to her, grumbling in his head.
“Alright, I believe you. You’re not drunk. I just meant… is your stomach okay?”
“Of course! Baby, a Joo never throws up. Do you know whose daughter I am?”
Fair enough… Not just her—neither their parents nor their brothers had ever been seen completely wasted. This was probably the worst she ever got.
“Still, why did you drink so much?”
“Sojin gave me her wedding invitation.”
“What? Sojin noona’s getting married? She came back to Korea?”
“Nope, in Paris. She asked me to fly over and… do that thing. Be her maid of honor, or whatever.”
Back when Taehyun was just a kid, the “noonas” were already in college. So he hadn’t had many chances to actually meet Cha Sojin, his sister’s best friend who studied at a university in Paris. He’d only heard her laughter echoing through the phone so often that it felt familiar in a strange way.
Still, news of someone that close getting married stirred something even in Taehyun.
Marriage…
If it felt this strange for him, how must it feel for noona? That must be why she drank so much. Yoonwoo leaned her head back and began softly snoring, then suddenly shot up and shouted, “Baby! I’m not drunk!”
Taehyun adjusted the car’s air conditioning, watching his drunken sister curl up. He took off his suit jacket and draped it over her shoulders, carefully fastening it so it wouldn’t slip off.
“Heehee. My baby’s even escorting me now~”
“How is this an escort?”
“Still! Baby, you need to get married later. Much, much later. Don’t leave noona behind, okay?”
“Okay.”
“When… when you’re, like, sixty. I’ll allow it then.”
“Uh-huh.” Taehyun replied half-heartedly, gently untangling a strand of hair caught in her earring.
Just a bit earlier, she had said she didn’t even want to set foot near the resting area where her friends were passed out, that just breathing the air in there made her feel drunk. He thought he was starting to understand what she meant.
Taehyun didn’t know what it felt like to be drunk, but being around people like Yeonjun and Yoonwoo who were, made him feel strangely foggy too.
And so, a bit impulsively, he acted on that feeling. It wasn’t something he necessarily needed to say, but his lips moved on their own.
“…Noona, listen.”
“Hmm?”
“Since we’re talking about marriage…”
“You’re not allowed to get married, I said.”
“Not me. I mean, I heard about someone who brings his girlfriend to huge events even though he says he doesn’t plan to get married.”
Taehyun tried his best to phrase it vaguely, worried she’d catch on to who he was really talking about. But Yoonwoo immediately lifted her head, eyes sharpening, as if glaring straight at someone who wasn’t even there.
“Really? There’s another bastard out there like Seo Baekhan?”
“Ah… uh-huh.”
“I’m telling you, that damn fox Baekhan screwed things up so bad that the adults completely dropped the idea of arranging marriage meetings.”
“…Huh?”
Her eyes may have been a little unfocused, but her pronunciation was crisp. Their mother’s endless warnings to never show drunkenness in public had clearly left their mark.
Wait—so the adults had been talking about marriage arrangements…? And Seo Baekhan had already been preparing for marriage?
“…Baekhan hyung was going to get married?”
“He probably planned to choose a fiancée before going overseas. Like, have an engagement around twenty-three, maybe study abroad together if the other person was planning it too… then get married when he comes back with his doctorate. Perfect timing, right?”
That was a classic move among the political and financial elite. Now that he thought about it, Baekhan was definitely at that age. Strange that Taehyun had never considered that possibility before.
When you start getting curious about someone, it’s natural to wonder about their past relationships, whether they’re dating anyone, whether they’re getting married… Maybe not everywhere, but ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) in Korea, asking those things could be as casual as small talk.
And yet, despite all the research he’d done on Seo Baekhan, Taehyun had never once shown interest in his love life. …If he was being honest, he’d probably hit the “back” button whenever a post hinted at Baekhan having a girlfriend.
…Wait, if you do a 360, aren’t you right back where you started?
Taehyun wanted to point that out, but held back. What was the point of correcting a drunk person? That would only derail the whole conversation.
More than anything, her tone had grown so sharp that it was clear she had a lot to say about Seo Baekhan. And honestly, Taehyun wanted to hear it—from her perspective.
“So why?”
Lately, Yoonwoo had been constantly repeating, “Raising a kid’s all for nothing anyway.” And right now, the very same troublesome little brother, grown just enough to step out of her line of sight, was dying to know the hidden story behind Seo Baekhan.
“I heard that as soon as he got his Stanford acceptance, the Crown Prince’s side tried to arrange a match. And the candidate was really close to the Princess Consort—like practically family. I think it was one of her cousins? They’re like sisters. What’s her name again… the gayageum major.”
“Ah… Yoon Jungwon?”
“Yeah, that one!”
“I remember that—it came up on late-night news, right? But I thought it was nonsense. Isn’t the Crown Prince known for hating secondary-gendered people? I figured it had to be a lie.”
Of course, the news hadn’t named him outright—they used initials. But anyone familiar with the context would’ve realized they meant the eldest son of the Seo family.
It was so ridiculous, and the segment aired so late and with so little credibility, that Taehyun hadn’t taken it seriously. He even complained afterward that he’d wasted time staying up.
That news piece also smeared the DH family, making them sound like a dysfunctional mess.
Still, if the Crown Princess’s cousin was scouting eligible bachelors, that part might’ve been true. Taehyun’s brothers were too old, and he was too young, so DH Group was likely ruled out from consideration. That’s probably why he hadn’t paid attention at the time. But of course Seo Baekhan would’ve been on that list.
“Baby, do you know why the Crown Prince started hating secondary-gendered people?”
“Because he was jealous of Prince Yi Hwang?”
“Exactly. And Seo Baekhan is very clearly—whose man?”
“…His Highness, Prince Yi Hwang.”
“Yup. That guy’s been snobby and rigid since he was a kid. Only hangs around people he likes.”
Yoonwoo gave a little shudder and let out an “ugh” like just thinking about him made her skin crawl.
She’d always been uneasy about Seo Baekhan. The rest of the family felt similarly, though not as intensely. Any time Taehyun showed signs of liking him, they’d flinch and make strained expressions, like How do we protect our baby’s illusions?
But Taehyun wasn’t stupid. He knew Seo Baekhan wasn’t some pure-hearted angel. That wasn’t why he admired him. So he never really minded their lukewarm responses.
“Anyway, the Crown Prince probably thought pulling Baekhan—or rather, the Seo family—into his side wouldn’t be a bad move. That family’s got serious symbolic value.”
“…”
“Marriage might be the flimsiest kind of alliance… but nothing binds two families together more securely either.”
She dug through the center console in the backseat and then said, “Don’t you think if Baekhan ever went through with an arranged marriage, he’d absolutely milk that image of being a devoted husband for all it’s worth?” Then she made a dramatic gagging noise. Not out of drunkenness—it seemed like she just hated Baekhan that much.
“Want some chocolate, baby?”
He wasn’t really in the mood to eat, but he figured if he played along, she might talk more. So he quietly accepted it. It was a piece of dark chocolate—the bitter kind Taehyun didn’t really like. It tasted like bile rising up from somewhere deep inside.
“Anyway, from that point on, he started openly dating around. Mostly Omegas, sometimes Betas. There were a few Alphas too. But only women.”
“…You don’t know why he sticks to women, do you?”