Golden

"Did you really read the Editor-in-Chief's book — with underlining and everything?"

Juhan-ssi and I set five or six leftover bottles of champagne from the party onto the large conference table in the office. The Director opened one and poured a glass, asking the question with a teasing smile.

"Did you even have time for that lately? The book hasn't been out two weeks — and think about how we've spent those two weeks."

The Teacher accepted the glass the Director offered, moistened her lips, and rested her tired legs on the table before answering.

"Then what was it?"

"What was it, Yeehyeon-ah?"

As if she'd been curious all along, the Teacher turned to me for an answer.

"I didn't want it to look too new... So I got some wear on it in the taxi — added some underlining, folded down a few corners. That's all."

Strictly speaking, the only instruction I'd been given was to buy the book. But I'd heard the Teacher mention she was actually reading it, and I felt embarrassed at the thought of her having to present a book that was obviously brand-new, bought purely for the sake of appearances and a signature. Now that it had become a topic of conversation, I felt a creeping unease — had I done something unnecessary that no one had asked of me?

The warm atmosphere that had settled over the room as we celebrated a successful party and decent sales figures briefly grew stiff and cold. The source of that chill was, of course, the Director. As I'd sensed even the day before, he had a talent for controlling the mood with nothing more than the angle of his gaze or a shift in his expression. Others couldn't help but read and adjust to his mood — and that wasn't solely because of his position as owner.

"He could have been offended — you were mishandling his book. Underlining, folding pages... there are plenty of people who dislike that sort of thing."

He murmured it into his champagne, as though speaking to himself.

"I only thought it needed to look like it had actually been read. I'm sorry."

"Yeehyeon-ah, what do you have to apologize for? Kun — what is this? You're going too far."

The Teacher set her champagne glass down on the table with a sharp thud.

"I wasn't saying anything — I was simply asking whether the opposite perspective had occurred to you."

Shrugging, he pretended to drink his champagne while avoiding the Teacher's gaze.

The icy hostility from yesterday wasn't there, but the sharp edge remained. The Teacher looked mildly annoyed. That was rare.

"Director Liu, you are results-oriented and performance-driven. Thanks to Yeehyeonie, the Editor-in-Chief was in a good mood and sales went up. You should be rewarding that, not picking fights. I brought him here. Do you have something against him?"

His eyes turned slowly toward me. I didn't know what their private relationship was or how close they were, but I could sense that he trusted the Teacher completely. Toward her, at least, he didn't wear that expression of weary annoyance, or that villainous smile, or the mechanical smile armed with artificially sweet charm — the kind that felt manufactured rather than meant.

"Like or dislike doesn't come into it. He's here to help out temporarily. You know I'm uncomfortable working with strangers. If Manager Han says to give a bonus, I'll give one."

"That's not what I'm talking about. Ugh... I thought you'd changed a little, but you're still exactly the same."

Shaking her head, the Teacher finished the rest of her champagne, emptied the glass, checked the time, and stood up.

After this, the Director and the Teacher had a follow-up gathering with VVIPs — even more important than the regular VIPs.

"People don't change after twenty-five," the Director said in a playful tone, as if teasing her, and lightly massaged the Teacher's shoulder. Then he took a card from his wallet and handed it to Yuni-ssi.

"You worked hard today. Once you've finished tidying up, go enjoy yourselves."

Yuni-ssi, who had been organizing the remaining pamphlets, darted over and snatched the card. Her eyes lit up immediately.

"Is this the company card? Or your personal card?"

He lightly pushed her forehead and scowled.

"Why are you all so obsessed with that? Do you really enjoy spending my money that much?"

"Yes. It feels like affection."

"There's no affection in a personal card either, so stop talking nonsense."

The catering equipment and leftover food had already been collected by the vendor. All that remained was a bit of tidying inside and out before the day was done. As we headed upstairs to the second floor exhibition hall to begin cleaning up, Juhan-ssi hesitated with an apologetic look and spoke.

"Our Director is... a bit overwhelming, isn't he?"

"Don't worry too much about it. He's not like that only with Yeehyeon-ssi — he's just like that with everyone he meets for the first time," Yuni-ssi added.

I smiled to show it was fine and folded the legs of a temporary table that had been set aside.

"When I first came here, it was even worse. I was so furious I seriously considered keying his car and disappearing. Seriously. Not even joking."

Thinking about how he treated Juhan-ssi now, it was hard to picture. But looking at Juhan-ssi's expression, it didn't seem like something he'd made up to console me.

"But if I'd done that, he'd have tracked me down by any means necessary and made me pay... so I gave up on the idea. I figured he'd find me, strip me naked, and scratch my whole body with a nail instead."

Juhan-ssi grimaced and shuddered dramatically, as if he'd actually received such a threat from the Director.

"Or maybe the real issue is that you don't realize how aggressively you came on to him in the first place."

Yuni-ssi said from inside the exhibition space where she was attaching "SOLD OUT" stickers to the works that had sold that day.

"What do you mean I came on to him! It was the pheromones! How am I supposed to resist a Golden Alpha's pheromones?!"

"What are you talking about? Why would the Director release his pheromones in front of you? And you're a Beta."

Perhaps embarrassed by how flimsy his own defense sounded — especially after the lengthy explanation he'd just given me about the Golden Alpha Director's exceptional pheromone control — Juhan-ssi shot me a self-conscious glance.

"What I'm trying to say is, the Director's personality is just rough — he doesn't particularly dislike you, Yeehyeon-ssi. That's the point. He's not hostile because he dislikes someone. He treats everyone like that before he starts to like them."

I wasn't sure whether that was comforting, but at least it seemed true that he wasn't singling me out specifically for torment.

As we lifted the folded-up table together from opposite sides and moved it toward the railing, Juhan-ssi added,

"And honestly, someone at the Director's level could probably project his pheromones at a Beta if he really set his mind to it."

Yuni-ssi leaned against the partition wall with a frown.

"Are pheromones some kind of superhero finishing move? 'Shoot and conquer'?"

"If you intend to use them, they can basically become one. Hey — do you know what's stronger than pheromones?"

He looked back and forth between Yuni-ssi and me. Neither of us had an answer. Juhan-ssi tilted his chin up slightly, adopting a somewhat self-satisfied posture.

"Preference. Preference is above pheromones. At first I was a little shaken by Golden Alpha pheromones, but once I came to my senses, I realized he wasn't my type. My type is..."

What followed was a passionate lecture on the subject of his ideal: a man in his late thirties whose facial features were just beginning to soften, caught in a kind of listlessness on the border between youth and middle age.

From their conversation so far, it seemed Juhan-ssi's romantic interests were men. He didn't appear to be making any effort to conceal it in front of me — someone he barely knew — and I had no inclination to push him past some invisible line because of it.

Yuni-ssi, who had probably heard this particular speech dozens of times, shook her head. Then, as if deciding there was no point in listening further, she took my wrist and led me down the stairs.

When I thought about it, there was no real reason to resent someone I'd only met twice. As the Teacher, Juhan-ssi, and Yuni-ssi had said, it was simply his consistent attitude toward strangers — nothing personal.

And yet I found myself curious. What would it feel like to be specifically disliked by him?

Among the people who had filled the exhibition hall just a while ago, there were probably quite a few who would have preferred his hostility to his indifference — if it meant becoming something "special" to him.