Who Did He Think He WAS?

Min-a felt a chill run down his spine as he recalled eating a particular Mrs. Yuan's coochie because his older sister needed him to convince the old lady to invest in her last project.

“What? That was a good one. You get to fuck Mrs. Yuan! Wasn’t it like a great time for you too?” Eun Hye frowned, appearing extremely confused. She thought he had enjoyed the arrangement since he loved abomination affairs.

Min-a swallowed hard before walking away. His silence troubled his older sister.

“Did she do anything else to you?” Eun Hye’s worried voice brought Min-a to his senses. He realized he was being too sensitive.

“Nope, aside from biting my balls a bit too hard?” he wiggled his brows, winking at his older sister because he knew she would be disgusted, and hopefully, that would get her to leave him alone.

But it didn’t work.

“I didn’t need to know that. Look, it’s different this time. Kwan Seung-ho is like those ethical artists. He came from nothing and now is some top-rated art brainiac in the whole of South Korea. We have given him our best offer, yet, the arrogant bastard refused to work with us, claiming he isn't a buyout.” Eun Hye complained, dropping on his futon for comfort.

“If he isn’t a buyout, then he isn’t a buyout,” Min-a remarked, folding his hands across his chest. “Contact another artist. What’s so special about him anyways?” he frowned in displeasure.

“You don’t know Kwan Seung-ho? He is the heat of the season! Every Advertising Company big or small wants to sign in. Dad is crazy about his work. His mini-art project went viral on Cyworld and he sold three of them for 200 million won each. His design keeps getting higher in demand because of how outlandish the internet thinks it is, and he is currently refusing to even lease to Art Galleries. He is on this high horse he won't come down from.” Eun Hye stressed, complaining about the complication she was facing with signing Seung-ho under their family company.

“200 million is half of what I earned last year, what's the big deal?” Min-a shook his head, still not coming to the realization of how influential the artist was.

“His whole story changed for life in one day, Min-a. The day he decided to upload his art. Look, I know men like him, they are tough nuts to crack. They don’t appreciate money but talent, charm, and charisma. Something to challenge them..” Eun Hye started her proposal by stroking her brother’s ego.

“Go on.” Min-a drawled, and she shook her head at him as she continued.

“I thought you said he made 500 million in one night?” Min-a frowned when they got to Kwan Seung-ho’s location.

He was convinced by his older sister to leave his slutty outfit behind, wearing a crisp white shirt and blue jeans.

At least, she allowed him to wear some vans, but he knew it was all to please this so-called proclaimed self-made artist.

“I also mentioned that he is a stubborn man with old ethics.” Eun Hye came out of her black Tesla to stare at the mini building before them.

There were lights coming from the inside indicating that someone was around.

“His studio is more of a cave than a studio. What is this shit hut?” Min-a scoffed, unable to hide his displeasure anymore.

He expected more from someone who had amazing talent like the Kwan Seung-ho his older sister described yet his studio resembled a random garage on a sidewalk in midtown. He must either be delusional or just not intelligent.

“Let’s just get to see him first…” Eun Hye walked up to the doorbell and stopped in front of it.

She stared blankly at the little turquoise button.

All she had to do was push it, but she was tense. Any more mistakes and she would lose this deal.

Min-a groaned, pressing the doorbell over her head, nearly freaking her out.

Eun Hye started to panic, while Min-a just fixed his hands into his pockets to stop himself from smacking some confidence into his older sister.

She was always confident and too sure of herself, it made Min-a feel like whoever this man was, had to live up to the hype or he would bitch slap some senses into her head.

The door was dragged open, making a horrible screeching noise by a woman in light brown suspenders and white boots. The lady rocking a bob cut had an unimpressed look on her face as she sized them up.

“I thought your assistant got our message?”

Min-a only offered a nice smile in return, something he was used to.

“I came myself this time to speak to Mr. Kwan, I came with an important guest too.” Eun Hye mentioned, sounding a bit desperate.

The lady’s gaze fell on Min-a again and she nodded, then went back in without another word.

“An important guest?” Min-a stared at Eun Hye with a raised brow.

“16-year-old girls know him. He’s a big-time artist who has been invited to the Met Gala before, so…” She rolled her eyes.

“Ah...way to say I’m not irrelevant.” Min-a chuckled, feigning hurt as he held his chest.

“I have no comment. I’m not gonna play into your hands so you can have the last laugh.” Eun Hye replied, without turning back. She was too focused on the old garage door.

“Haha...You know me-” Min-a was still speaking when Eun Hye suddenly shushed him.

“Someone is coming!” She waved at him frantically.

The lady was back. She ushered them in without saying a word.

“Thank you..” Eun Hye muttered in a relieved voice.

She walked in and Min-a followed behind awkwardly, putting on a tight-lipped smile, which the lady blushed at in return.

“This is a big deal, Min-a, leave every attitude here and don't fuck this up for me, please?” Eun Hye begged in a low voice, she looked too desperate for Min-a to stomach.

“I understand,” he shrugged.

As they got deeper into the garage, it became prettier, the walls were gray and they had plastic bag covers all over. Some parts of the walls had colored glass and some parts had glass on the floor.

Min-a was starting to get impressed. Mirage art was actually difficult to pull off.

They took off their shoes and wore the flip-flops the lady provided for them.

Getting into a properly lit room with a very high ceiling, a man with a low cut, glasses, and incredibly strong jawlines sat on the edge of a metal table typing casually in one hand on his gray laptop.

“Mr. Kwan?” Eun Hye called out, her voice cracked, making Min-a nearly facepalm. She truly needed to pull herself together and stop acting like a lovesick teenager.

The man they came to see let out a sigh before putting the laptop aside. “Miss Seo,” he said with a professional smile. He appeared exhausted.

His white shirt was rolled up, exposing veins and a tattoo Min-a couldn’t identify. He wore similar suspenders as the woman with black boots.

Kwan Seung-ho stood up, proving to be taller than Min-a by an inch or two.

“I allowed you in because Aera said you came with an important guest with you,” he remarked, glancing at the strangely beautiful man beside the woman he had seen more times than he wished. The young man surprisingly looked a little pissed but his posture was straight, proving he was confident and sure of himself. With those stunning looks, Seung-ho didn’t expect less.

He had a model-type body, the bright light in the room illuminated his lean muscles underneath his white crisp shirt.

Seung-ho couldn’t shake off the feeling that he had seen this face before somewhere. But he wasn’t the important guest he was expecting.

“Oh, yes, my little brother, Seo Min-a. He—”

“Miss Seo, Your tip is impressive.”

“I just thought —”

“I am NOT interested, take your offer elsewhere.” He cut her off before she could finish again.

Min-a seethed. He has had enough. Seung-ho’s arrogance was unsettling and mostly unnecessary.

Eun Hye was a freaking CEO of a Billion won Advertising and Branding company for fuck sake! As her younger brother, he couldn’t endure the disrespect anymore, but he knew his older sister would talk his ears off if he caused her to lose the deal, so he wandered away from the embarrassing scene to the half-finished painting resting in a corner.

It was a silhouette painting of a feminine figure reaching for dying flames, but it was unfinished. It was too obvious that Seung-ho didn’t like the painting.

As an artist himself, he understood when a painter is frustrated with a project.

Min-a listened as his older sister tried to convince Kwan Seung-ho to take him as his student, and how she valued his talent more than a buyout.

But it was all a lie, it was her business mode of talking.

Either way, It was too pathetic to witness.

He kicked away the gray-white paint and picked out a blue-white paint from the stack hipped in the corner. The metal sound against the floor caught Seung-ho’s assistant’s attention.

“Hey, what are you trying to do!”

Min-a blocked her voice out with his earbuds, playing some Celeste music. He started painting the other side of the unfinished painting, using blue and white streaks to line out turbulent spirals. He traced the rest of the feminine body into the water.

It only took him ten minutes before he stepped back with a satisfied smirk balanced on his face.

It was when he took out his earbuds that he gave attention to the sheer silence behind him.

Min-a turned around to find Seung-ho staring at his work with an intense gaze.

The assistant, Aera, and Eun Hye had similar expressions, both their jaws swam in paint on the floor.

“You are hot and can paint...this world is unfair..” Aera muttered, walking to the art to analyze it up close.

She was baffled. How could he be so young...yet terrifyingly talented?

“What the-why don’t you ever do paintings like this at home?! Dad would have taken you seriously.” Eun Hye exclaimed, ogling at the wall of art.

“It’s like she’s been drawn by the water to save her,” she spoke out, trying to trace the curves of the waves.

“No.” Seung-ho finally spoke up. The steps of his boots echoed on the floor until he stood beside Min-a.

“She is reaching to the weak flames for help, the water isn't saving her, the waves are sucking her into the cold depths. She is already cold, she needs warmth.” he turned towards him, giving Min-a an impressed smile.

“Right?” He asked, staring into his deep, brown eyes and seemingly into his soul.

Min-a suddenly forgot how to speak. He couldn’t put into words any of the languages he learned as a kid; French, Korean, English, and Mandarin.

Seung-ho’s eyes were a strange color, they were icy, glistening blue. Only up close did Min-a realize why the attractive man looked odd to him, he was mixed.

“Yes, that- that’s what I was thinking.” Min-a stumbled over his words.

Seung-ho’s gaze lingered on him some more before he looked away.

He felt his armpit begin to sweat due to nervousness, so he moved away from the older man.

“I will agree if the kid asks me himself,” Seung-ho abruptly said.

Min-a gave Eun Hye the “explain!” Look.

“Ask him to be your art coach,” she whispered quietly.

Seung-ho rolled his eyes at their exchange, turning around to look away from both of the chaotic siblings.

Eun Hye saw Min-a’s arrogant facade cooking up and she began to dread what was coming next. “You owe me!” She snapped in a low voice, grinding her teeth as she reminded him before he became a full arrogant piece of shit.

“Got it.” Min-a whispered back fiercely. He cleared his throat awkwardly, facing Kwan Seung-ho. “Do you want a student or something?”

Seung-ho hummed thoughtfully. “Or something? most definitely. A student? Not so sure,” he smiled brightly at both of them before striding back to the table where his laptop was.

Min-a froze for a moment at his insinuation before he caught himself, his annoyed gaze trailing after Seung-ho until he was resting at the edge.

“Excuse me, is that a yes or no?” he demanded impatiently, refusing to tolerate any ambiguity.

He wasn’t like his older sister, and he didn’t plan to entertain this man’s indecisiveness just because their father was obsessed with his art.

“It’s an ‘I might think about it,” Seung-ho replied with a hint of taunt in his expression, which only fueled Min-a's frustration.

“Fuck this.” Min-a grunted in annoyance before spinning to face his sister. “Let’s go. He clearly isn't interested, and we’re just embarrassing ourselves.” His irritation was palpable as he spoke, immediately heading for the exit.

“Haneul!” Eun Hye frowned at his retreating back, torn between trying to stop Min-a and going back to seal her deal.

“You can go with him.” Seung-ho offered with a nod towards the door, giving her an escape.

“I’m so sorry, he usually isn’t always like this,” she apologized before hurrying after Min-a.

Eun Hye found him outside, a cigar dangling from his lips as he took another drag of the cigarette.

“Why did you storm off like that?” She almost snapped, but kept her voice down, knowing she hadn't convinced him to help her yet.

“Did you honestly not feel embarrassed?” Min-a blurted, pointing at the garage door.

“That’s how men like Mr. Kwan are, hard nuts to crack but totally worth it.” Eun Hye attempted to make him see the sense in what she was doing.

“Right,” her younger brother replied with a scoff, crushing the remaining cigarette under his shoes before climbing into the car.

They drove home in silence. Eun Hye was preoccupied with thoughts of her impending fate the next day, knowing she hadn’t secured a deal with her father’s desired artist.

Meanwhile, Min-a felt a simmering anger in his chest. Unused to being told no, he now knew the feeling of rejection firsthand, and he didn’t like it. At all.

Halfway home, Eun Hye put Heidi on call.

“Hello..” her assistant sounded like she just woke up.

Eun Hye glanced at her younger brother, his gaze was fixated on the road like he didn’t care for their conversation.

“Heidi, sorry for waking up,” she apologized with a sigh.

“So what happened?” Heidi inquired, her tone reflecting her anticipation despite the apparent predictability of the situation.

“He’s as stubborn as ever,” Eun Hye sighed

“Then invite him to your house tomorrow,” Heidi suggested casually as if it were the most obvious solution.

“So he can slap a restraining order on my entire family?” Eun Hye retorted, her frustration evident.

“No, invite him using your father’s name. Mr. Kwan is a sensible man. We both know he won’t turn down your father’s invitation. Send it as an email to make it seem more official,” Heidi added confidently.

Eun Hye thought over the plan. It could actually work.

“Thank you, Heidi,” she ended the call and was met with a judgmental gaze from Min-a.

“You will understand when you are in the game,” was all she said to him before speeding off.