Double update with Chapter 7 because Happy Lunar New Year~! 🐯

Champagne Lights lived up to its name. Fashioned alcohol bottles colored the low-hanging lightbulbs that served as the restaurant’s light source. Minseok had to blink to adjust his eyes to the dim lighting, and once he could see, he saw that the seater, dressed in a classy black dress, had narrowed his eyes at him. Had he underdressed?

“Do you have a reservation?” The seater’s voice held a cold tone, so Minseok put on his best professional demeanor.

“Yes, it should be under Kim Doyoung, party of three.”

Her eyes lit even in the dark lighting, seemingly glowing for a moment, and a smile drew up her lips, never showing her teeth.

“Oh, of course. Right this way.”

Minseok followed the server through the sparse tables and booths. She led him to a tucked away corner next to the kitchen, the sounds of cooking muting after he stepped past a pair of heavy velvet curtains. From there, there were only booths, and each had their own privacy curtain. Eggcrate foam also covered every spare inch of the walls, densifying the room. The almost-soundlessness muffled his ears, and he felt like he wasn’t allowed to speak lest he disturb the quiet.

When the server opened the booth curtain and took a reservation number from the table, he nodded his thanks and slid inside. She closed the curtain, and Minseok looked up and around.

The server had led him to the innermost booth in the innermost part of the restaurant, and the curtains hung all the way down from the high ceiling. He would never come here if it wasn’t for business. Not only was the space claustrophobic, but he could also barely see the menu in front of him, the champagne light not helping his vision—though it was an aesthetic way to repurpose glass bottles.

Rubbing his eyes after squinting too hard, he eventually just pulled out his phone to shine on the words. The menu sported meat of all kinds, from steak to pig to quail to… horse? Deciding to just stick to the beef side, he noted what he would order and started searching up if there were any cultures that ate horse. Maybe Minseok just didn’t know.

He didn’t finish typing the question into the search bar because the curtain was pulled back, revealing two men. One had sandalwood hair, made known only by the fact that the light shined near his head, and he also had a dimple when he smiled. The other had short dark hair and eyes that rounded out, making his cheeks look sharper. The man glanced at him up and down before sidling closer to the sandalwood haired. His glance twisted down into a scowl.

“Hello, Minseok?” From his voice, he recognized the sandalwood haired as the rep of NC Tech, which meant the one glowering at him was the CEO of the company. Oh great.

“Yes, that’s me. You must be Jeong Jaehyun?”

“I am! Nice to meet you in person.”

“Same here.”

He smiled and shook hands with him and extended his hand to the other. The dark haired reached his hand and Minseok almost jumped at the crushing strength that the CEO put in his grip. When he pulled away, he felt the pressure still squeezing his skin, and he almost didn’t notice that the man’s hands were quite cold too.

“Thank you for agreeing to a dinner on such short notice. We just wanted to meet in person before making this big decision. Let me introduce you to the CEO of our company, Kim Doyoung, and of course, this is our contact at Alternatives in Disposal Solutions, Kim Minseok.”

“Nice to meet you.”

The man’s scowl just seemed to twist down even further.

“How about we order before we look at the contract?” Jaehyun said. He handed his boss a menu before taking one himself. Minseok looked back down at the menu to pick a drink, and a server soon came to take their order. The person bowed deeply to Jeong Jaehyun and Kim Doyoung, so Minseok figured that they were recognized and special guests. He didn’t mind the server’s manners to only one side of the party, but then the server shot him a glare that did the same up and down sweep the NC Tech CEO had given him. A chill shuddered up his back.

“Chilly?”

Minseok turned to the CEO. His voice cut through the air in a mid-tenor, and his mouth had the trace of a smirk. Minseok thought that he recognized it because he had more experience with them than he would have liked. No, he had to focus!

“I’m fine. Our table is actually quite snug and warm. Must be because we’re behind the kitchen.”

“This area is for VIP guests, away from the clamor and completely screened and soundproofed for privacy.”

“Oh, wow. I’m honored. Thank you.”

He dipped his head and smiled, and he tried to not let it falter when the CEO’s smirk flipped into a scowl again.

“So, Minseok,” Jaehyun chimed in. “How has your work been?”

They had just spoken about that this afternoon, but he was glad for the conversation change.

“It’s been quite well. ADS has a steady number of clients, and we’re looking to add a new compost lot soon. What about you? You said that you had a meeting on how to reach new recruits, right?”

“We are. We haven’t decided how yet though. The whole meeting was a standstill.”

As the man sighed, the CEO turned his head and the creases in his frown eased a tiny bit. Minseok tried to keep the surprise from popping onto his face and instead looked up in thought, his earlier conversation with Luhan floating into his mind.

“How about partnering with an educational system? I mean, I’m sure that it’ll take some work, but acting as a supplier or having an exchange internship program with a school would help in promoting your brand while also securing you with new applicants, even if only temporary. Of course, the actual terms of supplies or students one party gives each other would depend, but the possibility seems only beneficial in my opinion.”

Jeong Jaehyun’s eyes expanded along with his smile. “Minseok, that sounds brilliant!” Then he paused and turned to his CEO. “What do you think, Boss?”

The man looked at his employee, then somewhere to the side of him. He smoothed down Jaehyun’s suit sleeve and turned back to Minseok, and he had to force himself to not smile at the blush firing along the rep’s face.

“Do you know any universities looking to do this kind of deal?” the CEO asked.

“Ah, I’m not sure if there are any specifically seeking companies, but I do have an engineering professor friend, and he tells me about their department all the time. They are adventurous and willing people, especially when it comes to education and benefiting students.”

“Hm.”

Minseok waited for him to say more, but Jaehyun spoke up instead, the blush having mostly receded from his face.

“That sounds great, Minseok. May we get his contact information?”

So Minseok told them Luhan’s work contact and sent the professor a quick text basically saying that he threw him on a pedestal and to be prepared while the two looked at the professor’s impressive work CV.

By then, their dinner arrived. Minseok went with a simple medium rare steak, while Jaehyun had what looked like rabbit and the CEO had what looked like bird. Both raw. Both of which Minseok was pretty sure couldn’t be eaten raw. And he would have gladly pretended that he saw wrong for fifty minutes straight, but the way their food glistened red even in the dim lighting didn’t lend to his imagination.

“Something wrong? Oh, wait, we never signed the contract for our companies.”

Jaehyun put down his utensils and reached for the papers Minseok had left between them on the table, scrambling for his pen.

“Excuse the delay with my ramblings. I didn’t mean to distract from the main point of this dinner, and thank you so much for the suggestion for our company struggle.”

“It’s no problem. I enjoy connecting people. It’s basically my job.”

“Ah, true. Mine as well.”

Jaehyun flipped through each page before handing it to his boss. The CEO frowned at the papers and looked at his employee.

“Hey, you promised.”

Sighing, Doyoung nodded and started initialing and signing the contract. Minseok, though a bit confused, let out an inner sigh of relief and filed the papers away. He did NOT want to be the one to disappoint his boss by not securing this client. The two lifted their glasses, Minseok following.

“Then it’s settled! Here’s to a good business partnership.”

With the toast, they started eating. They, as in Jaehyun and Doyoung. Minseok didn’t mean to stare, but he couldn’t help but notice that Jaehyun tore into his rabbit with larger canine teeth than he remembered seeing with the man and the fact that the bones and meat of Doyoung’s bird had been folded like a fancy decoration that sat on top of a fancy post in the middle of the dish, the glistening red acting as a moat that the CEO sipped from.

“Minseok? Is the food not to your liking?”

He snapped his head up and caught the worry in the rep’s eyes. Minseok bit his tongue because he didn’t want to offend his clients; they seemed like good people. But at the same time, the question nudged his mouth open.

“If you don’t mind me asking… are your teeth larger than before? And are both your dishes raw?”

They stopped, and even in the dim lighting of the restaurant, Minseok saw both of their eyes grow cold, Jaehyun pulling back a little, Doyoung glaring.

“I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?”

Jaehyun his lips. Doyoung growled and stood.

“We should take him.”

“Doyoung, we can’t just—”

“Whether he’s human or a demon, he already saw too much. I told you we should’ve just drained him.”

Minseok’s heart leapt into his lungs. Did they know that he was a proxy? From what Doyoung said, they couldn’t be human, but did they still find him a threat?

“Wait, I’m not—”

His words strangled into a yelp as Doyoung grabbed his arm. When had he stood up? The man’s