On the innermost wall of the library, there was a picture frame hanging in that place.
In the finely carved antique wooden frame, there was a portrait of a young woman smiling
gracefully.
"Did ladies of the past have little joy, or was there a rule that they couldn't smile broadly in
portraits?"
Jeong Taeui whispered to himself as he looked at the painting, his finger gently tracing the
lines of the lady's smile. From behind, Christoph, who was sitting at the reading table and
staring into a mirror, did not turn around but replied briefly.
"Boucher 1753, it's an original."
"..."
Jeong Taeui quietly withdrew his hand, which had been carelessly touching the painting.
Even someone who didn't understand art like him knew that a piece by this famous artist was
incredibly valuable.
"Is it appropriate to hang such a precious painting in the corner of this library without proper
temperature and humidity control?"
Jeong Taeui said with a look of dissatisfaction. Christoph said nothing, merely pointing
towards the door. There, just like the picture frame, was a temperature and humidity control
device that Jeong Taeui had never noticed, despite frequent visits to the library.
[Humidity: 55%, Temperature: 20°C]
"...I thought this was just a dusty old library."
Jeong Taeui blinked and scratched his head. Then he turned back to look at the painting.
He gazed at the face of the woman in the portrait, with her elegant and faint smile, and
glanced at Christoph, who was intently looking into the mirror beside him.
They looked very similar.
Christoph's expression as he tried to smile in the mirror was exactly like the smile of the
woman in the painting.
Because of his noble background, just standing still exuded an innate elegance, but the smile
was somewhat stiff and unnatural.
Having never in his life worn a wide, bright smile made Christoph and the woman in the
painting very similar."Still strange, isn't it?"
"No...not that strange."
Christoph asked, turning his head from the mirror to look at Jeong Taeui, still keeping the
faint smile on his face. Jeong Taeui crossed his arms and shook his head.
Although it looked stiff and unnatural, like an amateur model, it wasn't a strange face. At
least, it wasn't as bad as his first attempt, where it was hard to tell if he was smiling or
frowning.
"It looks like a haughty princess politely smiling at her suitors."
Christoph immediately erased the smile and frown at Jeong Taeui's comment.
"What? Are you saying I look unpleasant?"
"There's no other way. Even if I lied, I couldn't call it a warm and bright smile!"
"...Is it really that strange?"
"It's not strange; it suits you very well."
Jeong Taeui raised his hand as if to reassure him.
It wasn't a lie; that smile...had a noble air, almost looking down on others, which suited
Christoph very well. With a little more practice, the stiffness would disappear, and it would
become a natural expression.
However, the problem was that the smile Christoph imagined and wanted – a warm and
joyful one – was far from that.
"Maybe the problem is in the eyes? Right, people who smile beautifully often have eyes that
curve like this. Let's see..."
Christoph mumbled to himself while looking in the mirror, like the witch in Snow White.
Jeong Taeui sighed silently.
He never thought one needed to practice how to smile.
But clearly, smiling was better than not smiling, and smiling brightly was better than smiling
stiffly.
"...It seems you need to practice smiling for business."
"Anyway, the one who officially handles guests is him, so I don't have to worry too much
about expressions, but I don't want to hear
'Because you looked gloomy, the negotiations
didn't go well'
or something like that."As Christoph spoke, he suddenly remembered the moment Richard said that to him, his eyes
flaring with anger.
Realizing Christoph was about to throw the mirror, Jeong Taeui quickly held it firmly and
grinned widely.
"Come on, if you don't want to show your weakness, you have to smile. Smile!"
Jeong Taeui said with a bright smile. Christoph just looked at the mirror angrily. He sighed
deeply in frustration and softened his gaze.
/Flashback/
Recently, Christoph was almost never home for half the day.
Since agreeing to help Richard, Christoph always went out with Richard whenever he went
out.
Jeong Taeui didn't know exactly what Christoph's job was. But hearing the stories Christoph
complained about every night when keeping him back, it seemed his job was just to
accompany Richard and 'show off their good relationship' next to Richard. Christoph had to
be present in the main work related to Tarten's projects that Richard was in charge of.
Every night, Christoph would come to Jeong Taeui's room. He would bring a small mirror the
size of a notebook and stare at it to practice smiling.
"Isn't Christoph not doing business work, so why practice a business smile?"
The first time Jeong Taeui saw Christoph staring angrily at the mirror because he couldn't
smile as he wanted, Jeong Taeui stood from a distance and asked, surprised. Ilay, who was
sitting reading the evening newspaper in Jeong Taeui's room, didn't even glance up and
respond.
"When it comes to dealing with people in business, Christoph also has to do that."
"Isn't Richard the one who mainly handles the work related to Tarten?"
"Yeah, well, for example–"
Ilay then looked up. He glanced at Christoph, struggling with his face in the mirror for a
moment, then took off his glasses and set them down.
"Among the people Richard met today, there was someone who was once related to SIS*.
This person also knew Christoph. They only met a few times when Christoph was still in the
mobile team, but the man recognized Christoph and greeted him."
(Secret Intelligence Service - SIS: often known as MI6 (Military Intelligence, Section 6), is an
agency responsible for providing the British government with foreign intelligence)
"Hmm...""And as usual, with his cold face, Christoph just slightly nodded. It chilled the atmosphere
right before the negotiation started."
Before Christoph unexpectedly barged in, Jeong Taeui was lying leisurely on the sofa. He had
his legs draped over the armrest and his head resting on Ilay's lap, and sipping beer. Taeui
frowned and squinted disapprovingly, beginning to badmouth 'someone.'
"And then they tell him to practice smiling? Richard is too much."
"No way. He never starts things he thinks are impossible. It's just that Christoph doesn't want
to hear any unpleasant words from him, so he practices on his own. Still, it doesn't help
much."
Ilay replied indifferently, taking a sip of beer, then glanced at Jeong Taeui, who was staring
intently at Christoph and stroking his chin. When Ilay noticed Jeong Taeui's gaze, he asked,
"What?" – Jeong Taeui shook his head and waved his hand, saying it was nothing.
Jeong Taeui looked at Ilay suspiciously, then frowned and said, "Okay, I don't care. Really!"
– ignoring his gentle comment.
Finally, unable to bear seeing Christoph grimacing like an elf showing his teeth and seriously
asking, "Is this smile okay? Does it look fine?" – Jeong Taeui threw the beer can and ran to
the mirror.
Even Ilay thought Christoph's 'smiling' face couldn't be left like that. Jeong Taeui roughly
pulled Christoph's cheek and said,
"Smile by pulling this muscle up, understand?"
/End Flashback/
And after many nights of practice, Christoph's smile finally improved.
That smile looked like a lady's in a portrait, not a light, natural smile for everyday meetings,
but at least it was no longer hard to tell if he was smiling or frowning.
Jeong Taeui sat down in the chair opposite Christoph after watching him try to force a smile
in the mirror by using his fingers to push down on his eyebrows. Taeui sighed and took a sip
of the remaining beer.
"Even though I'm still worried when you go with Richard, things seem surprisingly smooth.
It's been a few days without any incidents."
"Hmm...? Oh, a guy in the secretarial room hasn't shown up for a few days, but it's nothing
serious. Just a few broken fingers to make sure he doesn't touch anyone's thigh again."
"...Richard didn't make it hard for you, did he?"
"HOW COULD HE? I'M HELPING HIM. WHY WOULD HE MAKE IT HARD FOR
ME?"Christoph stopped practicing his smile, frowned, and shouted fiercely. Jeong Taeui quickly
changed his tone.
Well, unlike in old comics, no one stuffed nails in shoes, poured dirty water on someone's
head, or knocked each other down. Even if they hated each other, no one played dirty like
that...
"Thinking about it now, I smeared wax on his shoe soles, and he almost slipped on the stairs.
Haha...maybe I'll put some nails there tomorrow."
"..."
It seemed Jeong Taeui had worried about the wrong person.
Seeing Christoph now happier with a smile, Jeong Taeui scratched his head and sighed.
What Richard probably wanted was to prove that he could put Christoph under his control
and make Christoph obey him.
One couldn't expect anything from Christoph – who had long left Tarten – to be able to carry
out real deals. Richard probably just wanted to show his negotiation and control skills by
making the person he hated (and who hated him) obey him at critical times of inheritance.
And it seemed he had achieved that.
In reality, when people saw Christoph accompanying Richard and pretending to help with his
work, many were so surprised they were shocked. And they often concluded with admiration:
'How did Richard manage to do that?'
Just getting along with someone and having such a reaction proved their relationship was
really bad.
"Well, maybe it's good in its own way."
Jeong Taeui muttered to himself as he took a sip of beer.
Still, the biggest seed of trouble was temporarily resolved. There would be no more
unfortunate incidents from their strained relationship, which made Jeong Taeui feel relieved.
Only one problem remained...
"You like smiling, don't you?"
Just when the real problem was about to surface in Jeong Taeui's mind, Christoph
unexpectedly spoke up. When Jeong Taeui turned around, Christoph was still looking into the
mirror and hesitated a bit before continuing.
"I'm not good at smiling, but you like my smiling face. So I think I should smile more at
you."Christoph's voice sounded gruff as if he were angry. Jeong Taeui stared at him, then couldn't
help but ask.
"Are you practicing smiling because of me?"
Christoph didn't answer but just stared at the mirror. However, his slightly pouting lips and
the annoyed look on his face seemed to answer for him. It felt like his cheeks were a bit red
or maybe that was just Jeong Taeui's feeling.
Jeong Taeui said nothing more, just quietly drank his beer.
This wasn't good.
Receiving someone's affection was nice, but this wasn't good at all.
It wasn't that Jeong Taeui hated Christoph. In fact, since discovering different aspects of
Christoph, Jeong Taeui liked him more and more.
But precisely because of that, this was worse.
Jeong Taeui's feelings were not the same as Christoph's, and he couldn't reciprocate that
affection. He couldn't even politely refuse.
"If anyone dares to touch you, and you remain silent, I'll kill him first and make sure you can
never use your 'thing' without me."
The person who threatened like that was very close by.
"It's annoying when some people think that just a light touch means deep feelings, but it's
also annoying when it's like this..."
Jeong Taeui felt the beer turn bitter. Even so, he finished the beer and set the can down.
Yes, that was also a problem.
One of the headaches Jeong Taeui was facing – although he wasn't directly involved –
stemmed from the man staring into the mirror in front of him.
It was fortunate Christoph didn't cause any major incidents with Richard, but that led to a
situation where hearing it made Jeong Taeui faint in 5 seconds.
******************
"Oh."
"Oh?"
Jeong Taeui exclaimed in surprise when he saw Johan nearly sinking into the sofa. Johan
echoed Jeong Taeui's exclamation, as if nothing was surprising, but also wanted to reply.
"What are you doing here, reading a book?"Jeong Taeui sat down in the single chair opposite the sofa where Johan was lying and started
a conversation.
The places where Jeong Taeui usually met Johan were almost predetermined. The dining
room or the basement lounge. Occasionally, they met in the hallway.
At least, according to Jeong Taeui's memory, he had never seen Johan in this common library
before.
Although it was called a common library, it was more like a large lounge with more books
than usual, with comfortable armchairs scattered among the bookshelves.
In reality, the number of people coming here to read and those sitting on the soft armchairs
chatting and killing time was almost equal. Even now, on a few chairs a few shelves away,
two or three people were sitting and chatting.
While it wasn't an ideal environment for reading, it was perfect for comfortably flipping
through pages and killing time. Besides, there were quite a few popular novels that couldn't
be found in Christoph's private library.
Jeong Taeui was holding a popular novel that Johan had left in the dining room recently. He
had read a few pages and finally decided to find its ending.
Johan, on the other hand, was lying on the sofa with a strangely titled book that no one knew
where he got it from.
"[Now You Can Also Talk All Night. Body Language - Exotic Beauties]...What kind of book
is that?"
"I have to prepare in advance to fully enjoy the next vacation. Haven't you heard the saying
'Prevention is better than cure'?"
Jeong Taeui was very curious about what Johan was preparing for but decided not to ask
further. Instead, he chose to change the subject lightly.
"But is it okay for you to sit here like this? Everyone is busy preparing for tonight's important
guest."
Jeong Taeui asked. Johan wrinkled his nose, waved his hand in annoyance, and shook his
head.
"It's fine. Only those in high positions are busy."
If he had to run back and forth busy at times like this, giving up the inheritance in the first
place wouldn't be worth it. Johan said and started whistling a cheerful tune indifferently.