Caesar, after that, tossed the public a chewable topic without warning.

He uploaded a memorial post for an innocent citizen killed at the hands of performance-obsessed police and wrote that he wanted “corruption eradicated.” It was an issue the police had kept wrapping as “mistakes during suppression” despite incidents piling up over the past few years. Naturally, resentment had been building up and pooling in people’s chests.

Caesar hauled that topic to the surface without hesitation.

And while he was at it, he cut a deal with someone high-placed.

In return for burying your tabloid scandal, I want a few of the police corruption cases you’ve been sitting on. The moment he said it, the other party folded.

I lit the first topic, then he set off several police corruption cases he’d been holding, one after another. Thanks to that, articles poured out for days.

A hashtag demanding reform of corrupt police blanketed the internet.

Which meant the ones actually steeped in corruption would be busy destroying evidence.

If I keep sorting the filth and sweeping it clean… I can pick the clean ones and push them up the chain. After that, wiping out the O’n cult should follow naturally.

If that happened, the cult’s backers would come into view on their own.

Turn on the nine o’clock news and, as a matter of course, the progress would be on air.

That’s the beauty of clean hands. No secrets. You don’t have to toil for information.

Maybe I should shortlist a few good ones.

Caesar was thinking that as he mashed finely prepped ginger to draw out the juice when Jeheon Han, fresh off the treadmill with a towel over his head, walked up and thrust a smartphone at him.

“Isn’t this your cousin?”

A photo filled the screen.

“McQueen sent it. Says he’s filming near the department store.”

The man in the photo with McQueen was Heides O’n.

Ah, hell. So that bastard started moving too.

His face hardened on reflex. As expected, Jeheon—sharp at reading expressions—caught his flinch at once.

About three seconds of silence, then Jeheon screamed.

“That bastard’s the one who strangled you?!”

“……”

“So I’m right?!”

Caesar lifted a hand, trying to steady him.

“Heon, calm down and listen first.”

“Calm down my ass!”

“It was when we were kids.”

“If it was when you were kids, that’s worse! Fuck, textbook psycho!”

Jeheon, eyes shot with red, fired questions.

“Why did he do it? Because you were the more famous celebrity even back then, so he was jealous?”

“That’s not it. He didn’t become an actor until he was fairly old.”

“Then because you got the bigger inheritance?”

Sharp as ever.

“Close. I was given authority to manage the family business as the clan’s representative. That seat had originally been slated for Pluto.”

“Pluto?” Jeheon echoed, sudden curiosity pricking him.

The moment he saw the reaction, Caesar seized the opening.

“It’s Heides’s nickname. ‘Hades’ is a Greek god. Pluto is another name for that god.”

That jogged something in Jeheon’s memory.

“You had a nickname too—Prometheus, right? The god who first gave fire to humankind?”

“…That’s right, but I don’t like it.”

“You hate it? Then how’d you end up with it?”

“I did a cameo in a movie titled Prometheus. I was on the promo poster too.”

“Ah.”

“After that, clips circulated under ‘Prometheus Caesar capture,’ and then posts started spreading, saying I resembled the real Prometheus—turning my back on the powerful and helping those in need….”

Jeheon listened and nodded, satisfied.

“Then what nickname do you like, Caesar? Since your name is Caesar, would something like Julius be good? Or Augustus?”

If it’s coming from Jeheon, anything’s fine… but aren’t those a mouthful?

After a beat of thought, Caesar spoke the nickname he’d heard most from Jeheon—the one most familiar on his tongue.

“C-A-E. ‘K,’ the American reading of the initials.”

Jeheon cocked a brow.

“That suddenly sounds adorable.”

“It’s like reading Petrus as Saint Peter.”

“Hearing it that way does make it kind of funny….”

Trailing off, Jeheon muttered the nickname a few times—“Cae, Cae.”

Listening to that murmur, Caesar smiled faintly. Then Jeheon dropped an unexpected word.

“Bae.”

He startled at himself as soon as it left his mouth and smacked his own lips lightly. Then, face blazing red, he rushed an explanation.

“No, it’s that the sound is similar. And if you draw one more little stroke in front of ‘cae,’ it kind of looks like ‘bae.’”

At the silly logic, Caesar’s smile deepened.

“In that case, every time you call me Cae, I’ll take it as you calling me Bae.”

“Excuse me.”

“Heon and hun, Cae and bae. We’re a couple with quite a few rhymes.”

“Will you die if you stop being slick for five minutes?”

Jeheon launched into a full-blown sermon starting with “You need to fix that habit of teasing people.” It was the most ordinary nagging with nothing cute about it, but to Caesar even that sounded lovable.

He answered with “Yes,” and “I’ll be careful,” mixed the pressed ginger juice with milk, and set meat to marinate. He planned to make a soup with beef short ribs.

Heon likes a clear broth, so I need the odor control perfect.

After wrapping the marinating meat and tucking it into the fridge, Caesar washed his hands and looked back at Jeheon.

At some point the nagging had finished; Jeheon was staring at him with a sulky face.

Caesar scooped him up.

“Let’s go lie on the sofa.”

“Did you listen to me?”

“Yes.”

“What did I say?”

“Teasing people is a bad habit. If those little things pile up, one day you cross a line. You’re a public figure, so caution in words and behavior is essential; it’s best to break the teasing habit early.”

“You really heard and remembered all that while cooking?”

“It’s you. As if I’d tune you out.”

Still holding him, Caesar trudged to the sofa.

He laid Jeheon down first, then lowered himself on top of him. From beneath Caesar’s chest, Jeheon let out the sound of a dying man.

“Aaagh…!”

“Too heavy?”

“Of course! You weigh 230 pounds (about 104kg)!”

“…How did you know?”

“In my prime I could bench exactly your weight….”

Having the number nailed that precisely felt a little embarrassing.

Caesar rolled with Jeheon in his arms, this time laying on his back and setting Jeheon on his stomach. Only then did Jeheon breathe a sigh of relief.

“What now?”

“Meditation, maybe.”

Not real meditation. More like lying still and running through plans.

“No other schedule?”

“This week is about keeping you fed so you don’t waste away… No big shoots, no major events. I can take three or four days and just relax with you.”

Caesar was thinking, Maybe I should use foresight and peek ahead, when—

Jeheon, sprawled across his chest, suddenly let out a pained sound.

Phantom pain?

Had he gotten careless because it barely hit these past few days?

Should I have given him some time apart; did keeping him close all morning trigger it?

Thoughts raced as Caesar checked his face.

“……”

Except… something was off.

No—“sloppy” was the right word.

He was scrunching his eyes and groaning; at a glance, the mimicry was good enough to pass for a man in pain.

But the nape—normally the first place to bead with cold sweat—was dry, and there were no veins standing at his neck or brow.

It’s not that it doesn’t hurt that much… no. Heon tolerates pain well. If it were middling pain, he wouldn’t show it at all.

Which leaves only one answer.

Real babying?

A glint flickered in Caesar’s eyes as he reached that conclusion.

Because I said I had free time? Is he arguing that instead of “meditating,” I should keep my eyes on him?

As he busily observed his adorable mimic, Jeheon balled a fist and thumped Caesar’s shoulder.

“For someone who’s quick on the uptake, why aren’t you getting it?”

Caesar answered, hesitant.

“…Could I get just a bit more of a hint?”

At that, the ears that had been feigning distress flushed bright red. He muttered, “I told you to stop being slick,” then sighed the words:

“When someone shows it, meet them halfway.”

“Huh?”

“It’s been a while, you know….”

Only then did the exclamation point pop in Caesar’s head.

Ah. He’s getting antsy.

Belatedly enlightened, Caesar hooked an arm under him and lifted.

Jeheon shot his oblivious partner one last glare, then melted, arms sliding around Caesar’s neck.

Naturally, Caesar’s feet carried them to the bedroom.

Chapter 52

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