Smoke and Scorn

The planning team leader coughed and waved smoke away with his hand, but Se-ra didn't even blink. Instead, she curled the corner of her lips up slightly, as if amused.

"Girl Crush? Is this your best? Do you really think this fits our existing image?"

Her voice was icy and dripping with mockery.

"What? Ah... that's just how fans have been reacting lately..."

"Fan reactions? Be honest with me. This concept... it feels like I've seen it somewhere before. And not even as good as that."

Se-ra picked a fight with every word she spoke. Under her sharp criticism, the planning team leader's face grew increasingly ashen.

The atmosphere in the meeting room froze in an instant. The other members exchanged nervous glances, and the staff couldn't even bring themselves to breathe.

"Ah, whatever. It's boring. I'm leaving."

Se-ra crushed her cigarette out on the table and stood up.

"Se-ra! The meeting isn't over yet—!"

"It's over. I don't like it. Have another concept ready by tomorrow."

She shot a cold look at the staff and opened the meeting room door. That's when she ran straight into Eun-geon, who was walking down the hallway.

"Oh my, Eun-geon oppa!"

A radiant smile bloomed on Se-ra's face as if nothing had happened.

She naturally looped her arm through Eun-geon's and pressed her body against his. Her full breasts touched his firm forearm.

"Oppa, what are you doing here? You never really come to the company. Did you come to see me?"

Her voice was dripping with coquettish charm, but Eun-geon's expression was ice-cold. He shoved Se-ra's arm away and furrowed his brow.

"Move."

"Hmph, so cold. But I like that you're cold. Means you won't give any other girls a chance."

Se-ra liked everything about Eun-geon.

With a face like that, it was only natural he had personality. She wanted to be in a scandal with Eun-geon, who was currently the most envied person in all of South Korea.

Se-ra was doing well right now, but she didn't know how long that would last. More than anything, she couldn't stand the thought of public attention drifting even slightly away from her. If she got involved in a scandal with Eun-geon, the attention directed at her would only grow.

"But oppa, your body... it looks even better than a few months ago."

Raw, natural physique was on a completely different level from image muscles built through training.

Whenever Se-ra saw Eun-geon, even actors who had received acting awards and idols who had become world-famous singers after going global seemed utterly mediocre in comparison.

Baek Eun-geon was already at the top as a model, and if he ever decided to enter the entertainment industry, he'd chew up the rest of the celebrities and spit them out. Se-ra wanted to make the prime, in-demand Eun-geon her boyfriend.

"...Were you a chain smoker?"

Eun-geon spoke, frowning at the cigarette smell vibrating around Se-ra. At his blunt remark, Se-ra's face stiffened for a moment.

The staff and members still inside the meeting room heard the voices from the hallway and held their breath.

There was probably no one in all of Legacy Enterprise — no, in all of South Korea — who could dare to humiliate Se-ra like this except Baek Eun-geon.

"Eun-geon oppa, Se-ra unnie doesn't smoke."

"Y-yeah! The staff unnie's smoked, I think the smell got into the meeting room."

The other members who had rushed out of the meeting room scrambled to make excuses for Se-ra.

They were sweating cold, thinking that if they didn't handle this situation properly, they'd have to deal with Se-ra's hysteria.

But at the same time, seeing Se-ra — so utterly shameless and above the law — get treated like this felt satisfying.

Baek Eun-geon was the only one who could treat Yoon Se-ra like a bug.

Despite the string of excuses, Eun-geon pushed past Se-ra as if uninterested and strode into the meeting room.

His gaze lingered briefly on the ashtray and cigarette butts on the table. Naturally, it was the seat where Se-ra had been sitting.

Eun-geon turned to look at her with cold eyes.

"Yoon Se-ra, you're the one making staff members your cigarette shuttle?"

At Eun-geon's sharp question, Se-ra's pupils trembled. She tried to hide her panic and shot a glance at another member standing beside her, Min Ga-hee.

"Oppa, what are you talking about! I don't smoke! She... she made me do it!"

Ga-hee, caught off guard by the sudden situation, lowered her head, not knowing what to do.

Se-ra glared at Ga-hee with a fierce look until she agreed.

It was obviously a lie, but no one dared to contradict Se-ra's momentum.

Just as Ga-hee was stammering, unable to confirm or deny...

That's when Gang-bin, with his characteristic good-natured smile, tapped Eun-geon on the shoulder.

Gang-bin had followed Eun-geon in without anyone noticing when he'd arrived.

"Hey, Baek Eun-geon. Why the long face? Kids get stressed and smoke sometimes. Why get so worked up about discipline?"

At Gang-bin's smooth remark, the frozen atmosphere eased slightly. Gang-bin always played the role of cushioning Eun-geon's actions and preventing situations from getting worse.

Gang-bin had been Eun-geon's childhood friend for a long time, so he had the ability to soften Eun-geon's sharp atmosphere in front of others.

"That's enough. Everyone, get out."

When Eun-geon said it coldly, the girl group members hurried out of the meeting room as if they'd been waiting for it.

Se-ra gave Eun-geon a bright smile as she left.

"Oppa, there's a party where we'll all get together soon. Come if you have time. A lot of the female idols want to see you."

"......"

Eun-geon was fed up with Se-ra's shamelessness.

She should have been embarrassed that he wouldn't even look at her or respond, but Se-ra smiled with her eyes and hurried out of the room.

When the meeting room door closed, only the harsh perfume scent Se-ra had been emitting and the faint cigarette smoke lingered.

The tense atmosphere dissolved in an instant, and the remaining staff let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.

It had almost turned into a big fight. The staff regretted scheduling both of their meetings in the same place.

The planning team leader wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and the others pretended to calmly flip through documents.

"Haaah... seriously, what do you do with Yoon Se-ra's personality. She's a complete time bomb, a time bomb."

Gang-bin exaggeratedly sighed and shook his head. Then he walked over to the stiff Eun-geon and poked his ribs with his elbow.

He winked playfully, with an expression that said, "See? I handled it perfectly."

Eun-geon glared lightly at Gang-bin and furrowed his brow.

"You keep covering for her, that's why she acts like this."

His voice was cold. Gang-bin shrugged and smiled smoothly.

"Hey, if I don't put up with Yoon Se-ra's temper, who will? And you know this too. Going head-on with girls like that just backfires. If you'd just poked at Se-ra's pride, the innocent staff would've gotten dragged into the mess even more. Look at her eyes — she was ready to not let anyone else off easy if she got mad at you. That was close."

Gang-bin shuddered as if it were terrifying.

"Better to subtly signal, 'I know you smoke but I'll pretend I don't, just stop tormenting the staff.' That's the only way they'll pretend to understand. That type of person thinks they'll die the moment they admit they're wrong."

Gang-bin's words had their own logic.

Eun-geon didn't argue further, thinking that Gang-bin wasn't entirely wrong. He had instinctively guessed that Se-ra was the one who made Yoon Chan do the cigarette errands, but he had no solid evidence.

And as Gang-bin said, making more of a scene here would only tire out himself and the people around him.