MWFL 7

7. A Man’s Last Shred of Pride

“Nuna! Wow! What brings you here? Do you have a meeting?”

Unable to hide his delight, Ji-hyuk’s smile grew even wider and brighter.

“Yes. I came for a meeting. But I told you not to call me Nuna.”

“Ah. Right. I was just so happy to see you that I forgot. Sorry about that.”

Replying with a playful wink, Ji-hyuk’s eyes suddenly rounded in surprise.

“Wait a second. If it’s a meeting… did you—I mean, Director Ju—decide to take charge of a player on our team?”

Ha-rin couldn’t bring herself to answer Ji-hyuk’s question right away. Since Cha Shin-woo keeping the contract was still up in the air, she found herself hesitating without meaning to.

“Why aren’t you answering? Who’s the lucky player?”

Faced with Ji-hyuk’s persistent questioning, Ha-rin let out a quiet, breathless chuckle.

The thought crossed her mind that far from feeling lucky, Cha Shin-woo would probably consider himself damn unblessed instead.

“Come on, who is it?”

Since some of the club officials were already aware, Ji-hyuk was bound to find out soon anyway.

If Cha Shin-woo finds out I told him myself, he’ll probably try to tear my head off, right?

Let’s just steer clear of another dogfight.

Just as the thought struck her and she resolved to keep her mouth shut—mentally picking out some vague excuse to gloss over it—that was when it happened.

“That lucky bastard happens to be me.”

With a confident voice, the man made his grand entrance in person.

Widening her eyes slightly, Ha-rin shifted her gaze. Shin-woo and Dong-goo were approaching from a few meters away.

Fixing her eyes on Cha Shin-woo’s dry, expressionless face, Ha-rin subtly narrowed her gaze.

The man who had voiced such a fierce desire to terminate the contract just admitted to it with his own mouth. She couldn’t help but feel bewildered.

“Oh. Sunbae-nim. Hello!”

Spotting Shin-woo, Ji-hyuk bowed a full 90 degrees to greet him.

Shin-woo walked right up, coming to a halt a step in front of Ha-rin and Ji-hyuk.

“Welcome back!”

“Have you been doing well? You’ve been pretty hot lately—congrats.”

“It’s all thanks to the great advice you gave me, Sunbae-nim.”

Ji-hyuk was a player who had joined the Seoul Griffins the same year Shin-woo made his jump to the Major Leagues, marking his fifth year in the pros this season.

While the two had never played together on the same club team, they had shared the field as teammates when selected for the WBC national team.

“When did I ever teach you?”

“You pointed out the issue with my batting stance during a game back then, Sunbae. Ever since I adjusted my stance, my batting average improved. I’ve always been grateful for that.”

In network interviews, Ji-hyuk had mentioned Shin-woo’s name multiple times as the baseball player who had given him the most help.

The bright, sparkling look in Ji-hyuk’s eyes as he stared at Shin-woo clearly reflected his deep gratitude and respect for the man.

“Just pointing that out for a second doesn’t make everyone a .300 hitter. That was all your own skill.”

Cha Shin-woo, on the other hand, replied nonchalantly, looking like he couldn’t care less.

“By the way, how do you two know each other?”

He threw the question out right after.

Our? Our Director Ju?

Ha-rin stole a glance at Shin-woo, caught off guard by a friendly word that didn’t fit their relationship at all.

Staring straight at Ji-hyuk, the man’s eyes held a subtle shade of displeasure.

It looks like Cha Shin-woo doesn’t particularly care for Player Park Ji-hyuk.

Reaching her own conclusion, Ha-rin pulled her gaze away from the man.

“Director Ju was my agent for about a year. But she stepped down when her job responsibilities changed.”

“You work with Daol too?”

“No. I’ve moved to a different agency now.”

Shin-woo gave a light nod. Then, he subtly pivoted his body as if he were ready to get going.

“Man. But I’m so jealous that you get to work with Director Ju.”

Yet Ji-hyuk didn’t stop and kept talking. Shin-woo turned back to face Ji-hyuk straight on.

“I really like Director Ju, you know.”

Ji-hyuk, who had been staring at Shin-woo the whole time, turned his eyes directly onto Ha-rin. At the same time, Shin-woo stole a glance at Ha-rin as well.

“Director. You promised to go on a date with me. When are you going to make time for me?”

A faint edge sharpened in Shin-woo’s heavily indifferent eyes. But because Ha-rin was looking at Ji-hyuk, she didn’t catch that subtle shift.

“It wasn’t a date—we agreed to get a meal together.”

“It’s basically the same thing. When are you free?”

“I think I’ll be too busy for the time being. Once things settle down, let’s grab a meal sometime.”

“Why are you always so busy? And no matter how busy you are, making time for just one meal with me shouldn’t be that hard.”

Please make time for me. Ji-hyuk drooped the corners of his eyes like he was begging.

Faced with the cute, affectionate expression of a player so much younger than her, Ha-rin let out a helpless laugh.

After he went this far to ask, who am I to refuse? It feels like bad manners.

Just as she was about to tell him that they should make time to grab a meal together soon—

“Isn’t our Director Ju busy right now too?”

Shin-woo’s voice dragged Ha-rin’s gaze back to him. The man was still wearing a disgruntled expression.

The moment their eyes met, Cha Shin-woo tapped his index finger against his wristwatch.

“There’s less than five minutes left until the meeting. Do you really have time to stand around chatting like this?”

He then added the remark in a crooked, irritated voice.

You were chatting right along with us, so what’s your problem?

“I’ll see you next time, Player Park. I’ll reach out soon about that meal. Let’s head over.”

Keeping her expression smooth before it could turn sour, Ha-rin spoke in a calm voice. Then, she took the lead and started walking toward the meeting room.

“Good work today.”

“Yes, Sunbae-nim! I’ll see you during training!”

Wrapping up his brief conversation with Ji-hyuk, Shin-woo started following behind Ha-rin.

Dong-goo, who had stayed a step behind Shin-woo, quickly hurried up to walk beside him.

“Hyung. Are you on bad terms with Player Park Ji-hyuk?”

Shin-woo turned his head to look at Dong-goo, who was whispering secretively.

“No. Why?”

“Then do you dislike Player Park?”

“Why would I?”

Swallowing his answer, Dong-goo wore a puzzled look.

“Then why are you asking?”

“Because you look seriously annoyed, Hyung.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You’re scowling big time right now.”

Dong-goo lightly pointed the tip of his finger at the heavy crease pinched between Shin-woo’s brows.

Only then did Shin-woo realize that he was scowling.

“It’s not like that.”

Answering in a blunt voice, Shin-woo stared straight ahead again. Ha-rin’s figure—which had slipped out of his view for a moment—filled his eyes once more.

“What do you mean it’s not like that? There has to be a reason.”

“That’s what I’m saying. What is the reason?”

“Huh?”

“I don’t know either! That’s why I’m annoyed! Stop asking!”

Why is he suddenly losing his temper? Glancing at him sideways, Dong-goo closed his mouth tight.

With his eyes still locked on Ha-rin, Shin-woo slightly narrowed the corners of his eyes.

The moment he saw Ju Ha-rin smiling softly at Ji-hyuk—her red lips curving so pretty—his mood had been rubbed the wrong way.

And when Ji-hyuk casually told the woman that he liked her and asked her out on a date, real irritation had flared up.

Why on earth am I acting like this?

He couldn’t for the life of him figure out the cause of his emotions, which kept wildly tossing around for no reason whenever he was with Ha-rin.

And that wasn’t the only thing he didn’t understand.

This contract hadn’t reflected his own will, nor had he even put his own signature on the paperwork. Since he was set on canceling it, there was zero reason to follow the schedule set up by the agency.

If he were acting like his usual self, he would have ignored it all without batting an eye, even if tons of people were thrown into a bind.

What do I care? Whenever his conscious thoughts drifted in that direction—

‘I know you want to void this contract, but please stop acting like a spoiled child.’

‘So don’t go shifting the blame for breaking the contract onto me.’

Ju Ha-rin’s voice echoed in his ears to the point of making his head spin.

At the same time, the expression of that woman—who looked so calm it was scary, like a meditating monk—kept spinning right before his eyes.

“Ha. What is this? Is that woman a water ghost attached to me or something?”

Unless I’m possessed, there’s no way I’d be acting like this.

I am NEVER going to move the way you want! Should I just lay down the law right now?

With eyes filled with a rebellious urge that was revving its engine, he glared hard at the back of the woman’s head.

“What are you doing not coming quickly?”

At that moment, Ha-rin stopped dead in her tracks, spun around, and urged him in a dry voice.

Hey! Do you think I’m the kind of guy who just says ‘Yes, alright’ and hurries up whenever you tell me to move fast?

Are you taking me for a pushover right now?

His rebellious spirit shot up to the absolute limit.

“I’m coming as fast as I can! Why are you so impatient?”

Yet once again, words completely opposite to his inner thoughts flew right out of his mouth.

Damn it. Why on earth am I doing this?!

A sudden wave of self-loathing surged inside him as he acted like a well-behaved dog.

The moment Ha-rin urged him, he instinctively took wider strides, temporarily putting extra force into the feet stepping across the floor.

He then deliberately slowed his pace down to walk even more sluggishly.

It was a man’s last shred of pride.