"Reporter-nim," he says, his voice suddenly twenty degrees colder, "if I were you, I would find new sources, rather than mislead your viewership with entirely unfounded rumours. That is, of course, assuming you have any sources, and haven't just made those claims up right now to boost your searchability. But surely a professional such as yourself wouldn't do that, so my belated apologies for casting aspersions on your person."

"L-"

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING

GET HIM UNDER CONTROL

HE'S BACKLASHING INTO ANGER AND THAT IS GOING TO EXPLODE

guild president-nim, with all due respect

no lol

fuck all of them

WOO-YOUNG

are you hyung's media manager?

you are not

you know who is?

me

and this is a gold mine

you do your job, and I'll do mine

...alright

I'll trust you

but only because you're incredibly talented and competent and have done an exceptionally good job of this over the past several years

don't let it get to your head

lol

thanks

but also: fuck them very much

fuck them very much

"Kim Hye-jin is the most competent esper I have ever met," he continues, not letting the reporter get a word in edgewise. "It has been a pleasure and an honour to work with her. I would not be alive right now if it weren't for her. I would certainly still be under over five years of unguided backlash due to my own idiotic choices, which I am sure on priors alone you and your kind have analysed to hell and back, especially given recent events."

"Lee—"

"She has saved countless lives throughout her career, and I would like to remind you, reporter-nim, that the event that promoted her to S-rank involved her destroying a named dungeon that has been around for as long as espers have, a dungeon whose unofficial name was Hellscape. She did it, not me. Whatever else happens, whatever else you hear, she deserved that promotion."

"If—"

"As to her future plans, they are, quite simply, none of anyone else's business. So it would be appreciated if, as a news outlet, you reported on true facts rather than baseless speculation. I'm certain a person of your professional integrity would agree with that."

"But I should get going, now. I hope you have a wonderful day."

And he is going to teleport away because aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa this was a bad chooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooice aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Holy SHIT they are SO getting promoted that was INCREDIBLE.

you have to admit he sounded incredibly hot

I quite frankly did not expect him to keep his composure to that extent

come on

it's his whole thing

like I'm sure he was panicking throughout but

come on

if he can be in front of cameras smiling unbothered while his cock is doing its level best to break out of his trousers

he can serve some burns when he's angry on behalf of his partner

I'm gonna need to figure out how much of that is going on Insta but my instincts say "all of it"

it was great

whatever you say

He does not start screaming as soon as he gets home but that's because it would be very rude, not because he doesn't want to. As such: he gets home, takes his shoes off, and does not scream.

Hye-jin is on the couch, idly testing to see if she can get her not-technically-fire lights to be obviously different colors and watching a terrible sci-fi movie. She perks up when she hears her partner arrive, turns off the TV instead of pausing the truly horrendous movie, and heads over.

"Okaeri," she says, tilting her head a little. "Are you - sorry, stupid question, what's wrong, how can I help?"

"...I... think I fucked up. Um." Great, where are the words he'd been saying just now, why have they been replaced by an erection, why is this his life.

"In the dungeon? Is anybody hurt??"

She's not sure how he'd feel about being touched right now, so - she holds out her hand to him, so he can take it when he wants to??

Yeah he'll take it.

"No, no, the dungeon's fine, just, I—talked to the media." Aaaaaahhhhh he wants to do a bunch of things and he shouldn't do them because he fucked up specifically in a way related to Kim Hye-jin and what if she doesn't want to touch him afterwards he should be honest with her aaaaaaah.