#066
“Still, I’m glad it was resolved well.”
Shin Gihyeon said while handing a drink to Lee Yeonwoo, who had come to visit his house.
“But you wrote that post with me so earnestly and didn’t upload it?”
“Yeah, hyung told me not to post it.”
It was Kang Dojun’s judgment – he had a feeling things would work out well, and he didn’t like the idea of Yeonwoo stepping forward and having his name mentioned on the internet.
“Where did sunbae-nim go?”
“The company.”
Kang Dojun had dropped Yeonwoo off at Shin Gihyeon’s house and left for the company. It seemed like there were still things left to handle.
“Right. I went to watch hyung act.”
“You should have taken me too. How was it? Cool, right? Think you’ll become a fan?”
“I don’t know about being a fan, but he was cool.”
What fan – when you’re dating him. Shin Gihyeon grumbled quietly at his annoying answer even though he was the one who asked.
“But he says he’s going to quit.”
“…What? Acting?”
The fork picking up bread paused. He rolled his pupils around in confusion. Sunbae-nim? Acting? Why?
“Because of the abuse of power incident? It was resolved well though?”
“He says he’ll live with me in the countryside.”
Shin Gihyeon roughly shoved the bread he’d picked up with his fork into Yeonwoo’s mouth. He felt pathetic for being tense for a moment.
“I thought it was something else. He must be joking.”
“No. I thought so too, but he said after his contract ends, he might not renew it. He says he’ll live taking care of me.”
The last sentence made Yeonwoo mumble embarrassedly even as he said it himself.
Shin Gihyeon’s head felt dizzy listening to Yeonwoo speak while chewing bread with his mouth full.
“No… really? You’re not lying?”
“What would I lie for?”
“So…”
Why would sunbae-nim take care of you?
“You should be the one taking care of him.”
“Huh? What? Take care of what?”
“Never mind.”
Not knowing Shin Gihyeon’s feelings, Yeonwoo seriously voiced his concerns.
“Originally I was going to hand over the apiary to Uncle Cheolsu and live in Seoul… but if I’m going to live in the countryside with hyung, I should buy more bees.”
“You’re going to buy bees?”
“Yeah. I need to sell more honey to feed our hyung.”
‘I don’t think you need to worry about that.’
If it’s Kang Dojun, he could live comfortably off the money he’s earned so far. And even if he quits acting, if he occasionally comes up to Seoul to film CFs, worrying about money would be a luxury.
‘Did they not communicate well?’
Even though he’d told him several times at first that he didn’t need to worry about money, Yeonwoo was anxiously insisting he’d support him, which Kang Dojun found so cute that now he was silently enjoying the situation.
Shin Gihyeon had no way of knowing his inner thoughts.
Speak of the devil, Yeonwoo’s phone rang at just the right moment.
“Isn’t it sunbae-nim?”
Yeonwoo answered the call without hesitation.
“Hyung?”
Shin Gihyeon fiddled with his phone while subtly listening to the conversation.
“Mmhm, yes. I’ll ask. Got it. Yees.”
When the call ended, Shin Gihyeon looked at Yeonwoo with a disgusted expression.
“Why are you talking like that?”
“Like what?”
“Mmhm, yees. Where did you cut off your tongue and eat it?”
“I was being cute.”
He felt like throwing up at Yeonwoo, who spoke nonchalantly while sipping his drink. Do all people in relationships act like this?
“Didn’t sunbae-nim say anything?”
“Why would hyung?”
“……”
It seemed like they were a perfect match.
“Hyung says to come play at his company with you? Want to go?”
“DH Entertainment?”
“Yeah.”
“Really!?”
Shin Gihyeon’s eyes sparkled. The agency of the actor he admired…! Where could there be more anticipation than this? He nodded vigorously in case Yeonwoo might change his mind.
“Yeah. I want to go. Absolutely! Can we go now? I… I’ll go get ready!”
Without even listening to Yeonwoo’s answer, he got up from his seat with a clatter and went into his room.
“What clothes should I wear?”
He stood in front of his closet, getting excited.
‘I really chose my friend well!’
He’d definitely become closer with Kang Dojun than before filming Rural Conquest, and they occasionally exchanged messages. Although Yeonwoo’s content was the main focus, that was considerable progress.
“Hey, how about this outfit?”
He came out wearing a white short-sleeved t-shirt with a neat navy short-sleeved shirt over it and carefully asked Yeonwoo.
Yeonwoo looked over Shin Gihyeon’s outfit once, then strode into his room and rummaged through his clothes.
Then he discovered a t-shirt that occupied one layer of the closet by itself. Not only the tag but even the packaging hadn’t been opened.
“This is our couple tee.”
It was the t-shirt that Kang Dojun had bought three of last time – one for himself and Yeonwoo, and the last one for Shin Gihyeon.
“That’s for collection. Don’t touch it.”
“For collection?”
“It’s like merchandise.”
“Merchandise?”
At Shin Gihyeon spouting incomprehensible words, Yeonwoo just fiddled with the t-shirt. Shin Gihyeon snatched the t-shirt from Yeonwoo’s grasp.
“I told you not to touch it?”
“Anyway, that means you’re not going to wear it, right?”
“Right, I’m going to preserve it forever.”
A smile spread across Yeonwoo’s lips. Shin Gihyeon dusted off Yeonwoo’s fingerprints and carefully put it back in place, then arranged his shirt collar and asked.
“But how about this? Is it okay?”
“Yeah. It’s fine.”
Even at the soulless answer, he looked satisfied as he looked in the mirror. After finally putting on sunglasses, he urged Yeonwoo.
“Let’s go quickly. I’ll call a taxi.”
***
‘Yees, like this. Haa, I miss you.’
“Yeonwoo-ssi?”
“Yeah. He told us to come play at the company. He’ll show us around.”
Park Daeho’s eyes turned cold as he was getting coffee from the vending machine. He probably just didn’t like seeing them alone together.
A smile curved at the corners of Kang Dojun’s mouth as he checked his messages.
“They’re coming.”
That’s also an illness, an illness. Park Daeho clicked his tongue.
“Right, you need to go on a variety show. As a daily guest.”
“…What?”
Having bad memories of variety show PDs, the news he heard wasn’t very appealing.
“Your image was briefly… kind of bad. Go on for image recovery and movie promotion. The film production company recommended it, so you can’t refuse.”
Kang Dojun rubbed his smooth forehead. He wasn’t good with words, and variety shows made him sick to his stomach.
“It won’t be fun if I go on.”
‘Your face will be super entertaining.’
Park Daeho swallowed his words deep in his throat without saying them out loud.
“What kind of variety show?”
“A life documentary variety show.”
“How is that different from Rural Conquest?”
“All variety shows are like that these days.”
It was a variety show where cameras were installed throughout the house to watch what kind of life a celebrity lives for a day, along with MC panels.
As soon as he heard about the program content, Kang Dojun’s expression crumpled completely.
“I don’t want to. Isn’t there another variety show?”
“This is the better option. Is it because of Yeonwoo-ssi?”
Why ask when you already know? He couldn’t leave Yeonwoo somewhere else while filming the variety show, and when he had to be apart from him, work-related reasons were enough. He didn’t want to increase other situations.
Park Daeho hit his chest and spoke confidently.
“I already made that request in advance. No cameras in Yeonwoo-ssi’s room, and even if he appears in the living room, his screen time should be within 10 minutes.”
“Not 10 minutes – you should have requested complete editing out.”
“…That was rejected.”
At those words, Kang Dojun’s eyes turned fierce.
Rejecting complete editing meant they definitely wanted Yeonwoo to appear.
“This won’t do. I’ll have to take him to a hotel during filming.”
Shin Gihyeon, Kim Haseon. There were many places to leave him, but Kang Dojun was determined to hide his honey jar Yeonwoo tightly in the safe called a hotel.
***
“This isn’t the right place.”
Lee Yeonwoo, who had arrived at his destination by taxi, muttered while looking at the massive building in front of him. It was so tall he had to crane his neck to look up.
“It is DH Entertainment. Sunbae-nim’s agency. Why? Did you newly realize what an amazing person sunbae-nim is? But my agency is also this big? Ahem, well… it’s not bragging, but I’m also pretty amazing.”
“Hyung told me to come through the back door. There are a lot of people in front.”
Yeonwoo cut off his words and showed Shin Gihyeon the address Kang Dojun had sent.
“…Really.”
Shin Gihyeon blinked. Usually big agencies like this have other entrances, and even his own agency had a back door. It was a mistake he made because his head wasn’t working well due to excitement about ‘his star’s company.’
Not only that, but he made the mistake of personally guiding Yeonwoo to the main entrance. If people gathered because of this, it would be a big problem. To somehow fix the situation, he quickly called him to stop.
“Then let’s quickly go to the back door now.”
Yeonwoo used his strength to pull Shin Gihyeon, who was trying to drag him, back to his side instead.
“We’re already here, so what? A back door or front door are all the same door.”
The population distribution is different, you fool.
Yeonwoo pulled down his hat and mask tightly and passed through the many fans waiting at the main entrance. Following his footsteps, the fans’ gazes also moved quickly like bullets. Their eyes were full of anticipation, wondering if he might be a celebrity.
And naturally, a security guard blocked their path. Yeonwoo’s current appearance, with his face completely covered, looked suspicious to anyone.
If they had just met on the street, it would have been fine, but this was in front of an entertainment agency. The security guard carefully asked, wondering if he might be a celebrity.
“Who are you? Did you receive contact before coming?”
“I came to see Dojun hyung. Kang Dojun.”
At Yeonwoo’s confident words, the security guard’s half-believing heart tilted. With the conviction that he was just a fan, he pointed to the fans camping at the entrance.
“All those people came for the same purpose. If you wait, he’ll come out eventually.”
‘Eventually’ meant there was a high chance he wouldn’t come out.
Well, what celebrity would think of coming out through the main entrance where fans are camping? It could happen for fan service, but that would be rare.
When Shin Gihyeon, who couldn’t stand it anymore, was about to take off his sunglasses and step forward, the fans at the main entrance all screamed in unison.
‘Ha, my popularity is at this level. Look well, Yeonwoo.’
“Jaihan oppa–! Please look here!”
“Baby! Kyaa Hanjin! Look at noona! This way, this way!”
“The oldest and youngest appeared! Heart! Please make a hand heart just once!”
There were celebrities who frequently came and went through the main entrance. The job category called idols, who receive fans’ attention and love in a slightly different sense from actors.
Shin Gihyeon awkwardly put his sunglasses back on, making the ones he’d taken off meaningless.
It was Grace’s appearance.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
