ONYX Palace Seoul
The rest of the arcade date went off without a hitch. Neither of them had actually said the word date, and yet there was Hong Ji-hyeon, bright-eyed and soaking up every bit of fun, and Marcus right beside him, watching with quiet pleasure as he played along. The two of them looked, unmistakably, like people in the middle of a date.
"Ahh~ That was fun~"
Thoroughly satisfied, Ji-hyeon came out of the arcade with a light, springy step. Glancing around, he spotted the public restroom he'd been looking for.
"Ah, I'll just run to the restroom for a second!"
With that he headed off, and Marcus stayed where he was in the middle of the sidewalk, waiting for him.
A little later Ji-hyeon emerged, business done, shaking the water from his hands — and a scene jumped out at him. Two women had Marcus caught in conversation.
"You're so big~"
"Ahaha~"
Dressed to the nines, the two beauties were gazing up at him and doing their best to keep him talking. Height, build, face — Marcus was the kind of man you simply didn't see anywhere, and they were out to pick him up for it.
The moment Ji-hyeon took it in, something in his chest pulled tight.
"Ngh...!"
What is this? I feel... really awful.
Thrown by the feeling, he just stood there blankly. And that was when he came into Marcus's line of sight.
One long stride.
Whether the women kept talking or not, Marcus paid them no mind at all. He started walking straight toward Ji-hyeon.
"Where are you going?"
The one of the two who couldn't take a hint slipped partway into his path and tried again. Marcus didn't so much as answer. One big hand came up in a plain don't come closer, and he stepped around her.
"Huh?"
Only when Marcus was nearly on top of him did Ji-hyeon notice the approach.
"Restaurant. We go."
"Ah, okay!"
He answered while looking up at Marcus, and his eyes drifted, unthinking, back toward the two women. He couldn't tell if he was imagining it, but under the glare aimed his way he yanked his head around at once.
Eep, scary!
Turning his back on the pair, he fell in behind Marcus and started walking.
That just now... is it okay if I ask?
He hesitated a moment, then put on a smile to keep the mood light and asked in a bright voice.
"Marcus, you're amazing! Girls that pretty actually come chasing after you!"
"..."
Marcus's silence did the opposite of what Ji-hyeon had hoped. The air went awkward.
The reason he didn't answer right away — the reason he couldn't — was that he was flustered. He hadn't wanted Ji-hyeon to see him like that. Saying so out loud, though, was more than he knew how to do.
"A pa..."
"A pa?"
"A pain."
"A pain...?"
In his clumsy Korean, Marcus was attempting something like an excuse. Unsure whether the meaning had gotten through, he waited anxiously for Ji-hyeon's reaction.
"Ahahaha! A pain, he says! Ahahaha!"
Ji-hyeon's laughter burst out, and the faintly grave look on Marcus's face eased.
"Oh, come on~ Hehe! That is exactly the kind of line an alpha male drops~ First time I've ever heard it in real life, ahaha!"
Marcus didn't entirely follow, but the sight of Ji-hyeon so delighted drew a faint smile out of him. The mood had loosened, thankfully, and both of them could relax.
Ji-hyeon simply walked where Marcus led.
The entertainment district was hardly short on restaurants. Both sides of the main road were lined with places popular enough to need a wait, and even the alleys offered every kind of food there was. For some reason, though, Marcus passed every last one of them, and little by little they began to leave the bustle behind.
"Um... this is the right way, isn't it?"
"Don't worry. Last time, we went."
"Ah, got it."
Ji-hyeon had no sense at all of where they were headed. Before long the two of them were passing a luxury hotel that rose sheer off the wide road leading out of the district, while out front a steady stream of cars — a conspicuously high share of them high-end — pulled in through the entrance.
Whoa~ Rich neighborhoods really are something else~
He was still offering that light little awe and walking on when Marcus called to him.
"Ji-hyeon."
"Eh?"
Too busy sightseeing to notice Marcus had stopped, Ji-hyeon turned. Marcus wasn't continuing down the road. He had angled off another way — toward the hotel entrance.
"Eh...?"
Startled, Ji-hyeon looked up. A colossal hotel climbed straight into the sky overhead, as if it had been waiting there to greet him.
"Here?"
ONYX Palace.
One of the finest hotel chains in the world, and the flagship business of the ONYX Group, run jointly by a circle of tycoons.
ONYX Palace Seoul was the group's only branch in Korea. Entrance, lobby, restaurants, sauna, gym — every facility was finished in white, black, and gold with exquisite taste, and the neighboring building, operated by the same group, held a luxury wing of high-end brands, a musical theater, and banquet halls. All of it was kept under meticulous care by a staff of the highest caliber. A hotel at the very top of the line.
The rooms set aside for ordinary guests had a reputation for outshining those of other hotels, even at a fairly ordinary nightly rate. The catch was everything else. Fees for the premium facilities ran so high that, in the end, most of the clientele were wealthy businessmen and celebrities.
And into the lobby of that ultra-luxury hotel, Marcus was striding without a moment's hesitation.
"M-Ma-Ma-Marcus! Hup—!"
Hurrying after him, Ji-hyeon called out — then startled himself at how loud his own voice had come. His eyes darted around the room. People in expensive suits, here on business that cost more than he wanted to think about. People dressed to the hilt, beautiful and sharp, as if they'd just come from the luxury wing or a banquet. The gap between their clothes and his own shrank him where he stood.
He scurried up to Marcus's side so he could speak quietly.
"Th-this is the place? A restaurant in somewhere like this looks expensive. It looks expensive!"
"Is okay. Brothers work here."
"Your brothers?"
He did say his brothers work in Korea, didn't he? This is where?
"I mean, even with an employee discount, a place like this costs a fortuuune...! And everyone's dressed so fancy, while we..."
He trailed off, comparing himself to Marcus with his eyes. Marcus stood with his shoulders squared, perfectly at ease. Far from clashing with the place, his clothes made him look like a rich man with money to spare. Ji-hyeon, hunched and shrinking, looked like someone who had no business being here at all.
"Worry, you don't have to."
As he said it, Marcus carefully pointed around them, angling his finger so only Ji-hyeon would follow it. At the end of that line were people in comfortable clothes. Some were even lounging on the lobby sofas in T-shirts and loose pants.
Contrary to the picture he'd built while his nerves locked onto nothing but the expensive outfits, there were plenty of people dressed like the two of them — dressed even more casually, if anything. Marcus had meant to tell him exactly that, and ease the tension.
So I had it wrong... The problem was just me, getting all intimidated.
"..."
No, the price is the problem! The price!
A bigger worry was still sitting in Ji-hyeon's head. Wanting to settle that one too, Marcus went on.
"Brother said he will pay. So no need to worry."
"Ugh, that just makes me feel worse... No matter how big a paycheck he gets..."
"It's free."
"Eh? Free? The employee benefits here are that good?"
Ji-hyeon marveled at this unforeseen paradise of workplace perks.
If I'd known, I would've gone into hotel management instead of programming! Ah, but then I never would've met Marcus... Ido University's Programming Department is the best!
"Umm."
Faced with the misunderstanding, Marcus was quietly sorting out what he meant to say.
"Employee, no."
"Eh, he's not... an employee?"
"Yes. He is General Manager."
General manager...?
General... manager...
The general manager?!
CRASH!!
At the utterly unexpected rank of Marcus's brother, Ji-hyeon's eyes went wide enough to pop. Forget worry, forget nerves — he was so blindsided he lost every word he had.
"Father teaches brother the work. Brother, long time, did this work."
His father's the one above him?! So his brother is basically the one in charge of the Korea branch?! Which means...
Marcus is the young master of some absurdly powerful family!!
Only then did it make sense how Marcus managed to live in a two-room apartment in the very heart of Seoul. And along with an identity he had never once imagined came a dissonance he had no words for.
Which was only natural. Of everyone Ji-hyeon had met in his life, this was the richest — and rich on a scale he had never expected to encounter at all.
"Uh, uh-buh... uh-buh..."
With no idea what he was supposed to say, Ji-hyeon simply froze. He was so rattled he didn't even notice his own hair had slid down over his brow and fallen across his face.
Marcus looked at that face, and then, as if he'd come to a decision, he reached out.
A soft sweep.
Careful fingers brushed aside the hair crossing Ji-hyeon's face, and that same hand settled lightly against his back, nudging him forward.
"So... don't worry. We go eat."
The words left him gently, in a voice deep and low as the inside of a cave. Even in Korean that was still halting and slow, the kindness meant for Ji-hyeon came through.
"Hic... okay..."
Past the point of knowing what to think at all, Ji-hyeon emptied his head and followed the press of that hand, followed the direction Marcus was walking, toward the hotel restaurant.
Side by side with him, Ji-hyeon only stared blankly ahead. And Marcus was stealing glances at him.
"..."
Marcus lifted a hand that carried a small, private hesitation. It passed behind Ji-hyeon's back and began, slowly, to reach for his shoulder. But before it could touch down, he gathered that slightly impulsive feeling back inside himself and let the hand fall away.