#082
“Are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
At Shin Gihyeon’s question, Lee Yeonwoo examined his reflection in the mirror. Unlike his usual preference for training clothes, he was dressed up to the nines today.
Today was the day of Kang Dojun’s movie premiere. Yeonwoo said with a somewhat excited voice:
“It’s my first time going to a movie premiere.”
“If it were a VIP premiere, you wouldn’t have been able to go. It’s a good thing it’s a general premiere…”
“VIP?”
“Yeah. That’s the day after tomorrow.”
If it had been a VIP premiere where only fellow actors, directors, and reporters could attend, and then the remaining seats were filled by general public applications, Yeonwoo’s attendance would have been difficult.
Though sunbae-nim would have gotten tickets for him separately anyway. Shin Gihyeon didn’t bother to voice that thought.
Shin Gihyeon lightly ignored his words and checked the time to see if they’d be late.
He had attended every single one of Kang Dojun’s movie premieres without fail. Sometimes as a supporting actor, sometimes in a special appearance, sometimes getting premiere tickets through personal connections.
Thanks to this, Shin Gihyeon’s fans couldn’t miss Kang Dojun’s movie premieres for different reasons. Where Kang Dojun was, Shin Gihyeon was there, and where Kang Dojun’s fans were, Shin Gihyeon’s fans were there.
‘There’ll be a lot of people…’
“Hey, if people crowd around later, go to the car first, okay?”
Yeonwoo listened with half an ear and put on the watch that was Grace merchandise given to him by Jinhyeong on his empty wrist. Because the engraved letters were small, you wouldn’t know it was merchandise unless you looked closely.
Finally, he put on his mask and shoes before heading out.
“I’m thinking of buying a car too.”
While going down in the elevator, Yeonwoo suddenly blurted out.
“You? You’ll get in an accident.”
“I won’t.”
Though Shin Gihyeon tried to dissuade him, Yeonwoo maintained a firm attitude. He couldn’t always mooch rides everywhere he went, and from now on he’d be frequently traveling between Seoul and the countryside, making it difficult to insist on public transportation.
“Why don’t you practice with sunbae-nim’s car instead?”
Yeonwoo pursed his lips as they got off in the underground parking garage. It wasn’t that he hadn’t considered that, but his car was too expensive for a beginner like himself to drive.
“What if I scratch it?”
“Sunbae-nim wouldn’t mind.”
“Let’s buy drinks before we go.”
So he casually changed the subject while opening Shin Gihyeon’s car door. Sitting in the passenger seat, he meticulously checked his appearance using the car’s built-in mirror.
“Why are you being so cringey?”
“I’m going to see our hyung, so I need to look pretty.”
Shin Gihyeon frowned. There was no such thing as that kind of brown-nosing. He thought Kang Dojun was bad in that department, but now he could see they were two peas in a pod.
Then he noticed that Yeonwoo’s wrist, which usually wore wooden prayer beads, now had a wristwatch instead.
“Where are your prayer beads?”
Yeonwoo took out the prayer beads he had carefully placed in his pocket to show him. Shin Gihyeon asked with curiosity:
“But why do you wear those around? Are you Buddhist?”
When they were there, he never thought about it, but now that they were gone, he was suddenly curious. Was it some kind of superstition?
Yeonwoo answered nonchalantly while fastening his seatbelt:
“I don’t believe in that stuff. I just wore them because they were there.”
He stuck to superstitions but didn’t particularly believe in anything specific. It was just that they weren’t uncomfortable in daily life, so wearing them regularly had become a habit.
“Did you buy tiger year prayer beads or ox year ones?”
“……”
Yeonwoo rolled his eyes and avoided answering, then quickly hid them back in his pocket before Shin Gihyeon could check the prayer beads.
“Well, obviously you bought tiger year ones.”
Since it was easily predictable, Shin Gihyeon started the car without hearing an answer. Yeonwoo remained silent to the end.
“Iced americano with four extra shots, please.”
“That’s practically espresso. I’ll have a cafe latte.”
Even though he wasn’t the one drinking it, Shin Gihyeon was shocked and handed his card to the staff.
While waiting for their drinks, he sat down and asked Yeonwoo:
“Didn’t you sleep last night?”
“I slept fine.”
“Then why are you drinking it so strong? It already has two shots as standard…”
Spicy and salty things, sweet and bitter things.
He enjoyed strong stimulations from crunching on hard candies and ice, or drinking bitter alcohol like water.
However, thanks to Kang Dojun, candy had become soft chocolate, and he couldn’t even touch alcohol or stimulating foods that would serve as drinking snacks.
If he wanted to find stimulation somehow, he could only eat plenty of nose-stinging wasabi or drink coffee as bitter as possible. Without realizing it, his hands kept reaching for such things.
“Your order is ready.”
At the staff’s words, Yeonwoo grabbed his drink, inserted a straw, then pulled down his mask and inhaled it all at once. Because he sucked so hard, his cheeks caved in.
“Drink slowly.”
“Yeah, I’m done.”
Though Shin Gihyeon tried to stop him, Yeonwoo had already finished his drink. Since there was nothing left to come out, a slurping sound came from the straw.
After finishing his entire drink right there, Yeonwoo returned the plastic cup and moved along with Shin Gihyeon. Even as they went outside, they didn’t stop their bickering.
“Is that the first water you’ve had today? Why are you in such a hurry?”
“It’ll be a burden later.”
“Are you going to look for the bathroom in the middle of the movie? You can’t leave during a premiere.”
“Would you take off your shoes on an airplane too?”
Having easily caught onto Shin Gihyeon’s intention to scare him, Yeonwoo chuckled and retorted.
“Yeah. I do take off my shoes on airplanes.”
Not to be outdone, Shin Gihyeon stubbornly fired back with nonsense.
“Gihyeon-ah.”
Yeonwoo looked at him with pitying eyes.
“Then people will curse at you.”
“Huh?”
Shin Gihyeon watched with a dumbfounded expression as Yeonwoo said this and leisurely returned to the car. He was so flabbergasted that he let out a hollow laugh. He had dug his own grave.
Glancing sideways at the cafe staff, he could clearly see them holding back laughter. They had figured out the identity when Yeonwoo took off his mask to drink his beverage, if not earlier. No, probably from when he was ordering.
“…I wear shoes when boarding.”
Embarrassed, Shin Gihyeon muttered as if making an excuse and hurriedly followed after Yeonwoo.
***
“Is this the place?”
After entering the massive building, Yeonwoo was busy looking around constantly.
“Yeah, 6th floor here. Want to take the stairs?”
“We can take the elevator.”
At Shin Gihyeon’s suggestion, worrying about the crowds, Yeonwoo pointed to the elevator.
When they boarded the arriving elevator, people kept packing in endlessly. They positioned themselves next to the button on the right so they could get off as quickly as possible.
But the last person couldn’t quite get in when the door started to close. Yeonwoo reflexively reached out and grabbed the door to prevent the elevator from closing.
“Thank you.”
At the thanks he heard, Yeonwoo bowed his head and stuffed his hands into his pants pockets. He felt the prayer beads he had put inside.
“There’s an open button too. That was dangerous.”
“I was in a hurry.”
Despite Shin Gihyeon’s scolding, he didn’t care and grumbled while fiddling with the prayer beads.
Inside the elevator, they could hear murmuring from people who had already figured out their identities. Fortunately, they had arrived right on time and could enter immediately without waiting.
‘We need to go straight in as soon as we get off.’
Worried about crowds gathering, Shin Gihyeon quickly grabbed Yeonwoo’s wrist and tried to enter as soon as the elevator door opened. When they showed their tickets to the staff, they were able to enter quickly as expected.
The ticket seats were in row A, which allowed viewing from the very front. Sitting in his seat, Yeonwoo sipped the drink placed next to him to suppress his rising anticipation.
“That’s mine.”
Shin Gihyeon next to him complained in a small voice. He had even taken a sip of it.
“Yeah. I drank some. Sorry.”
“I knew it from when you were drinking fast.”
At Yeonwoo’s brazen words, Shin Gihyeon poked his ribs with his elbow and moved the drink to the opposite side where his hands couldn’t reach.
Undaunted by Shin Gihyeon’s nagging, Yeonwoo looked at the giant screen in front of him. It displayed the etiquette that actors should follow when giving stage greetings.
Shin Gihyeon noticed where his gaze was directed and recited the contents point by point.
“Applause rather than cheering. Got it? You can’t yell.”
“I know that too.”
Yeonwoo grumbled with a bit of irritation.
‘What does he take me for?’
Even if it was his first premiere, he knew how to behave. He had looked it up beforehand, and just looking at the screen in front showed what he should and shouldn’t do.
Before long, the actors entered one by one.
Among them, Yeonwoo quickly searched for Kang Dojun.
Then their eyes met as Kang Dojun stood with his back to the screen. A smile subtly appeared on his lips. Kang Dojun also smiled back slightly.
While some actors wore comfortable casual clothes, he was dressed in a full formal suit from head to toe, wearing the tie pin that Yeonwoo had given him as a gift.
“That tie pin there, I gave him that as a gift.”
He whispered proudly into Shin Gihyeon’s ear. For a moment, Kang Dojun’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Be quiet.”
Shin Gihyeon pushed Yeonwoo’s face to the side. Yeonwoo turned his head back toward the screen and listened attentively to the actors’ greetings and brief remarks.
Eventually the microphone reached Kang Dojun’s hand.
Kang Dojun’s tightly closed lips parted.
“Director Oh, and I’m happy to work with other fellow actors, and to the writer who wrote such a wonderful scenario… Please put your phones on vibrate or silent mode, don’t kick the seats in front of you, and just in case of emergency, please memorize the location of the emergency exits…”
But his “brief remark” was quite long. It was content that Kang Dojun always recited to the audience whenever he had premieres. While some reacted asking why he mentioned things the movie theater already announced, the majority showed favorable attitudes, saying he reminded the audience to be careful once more and raised their awareness.
His greeting ended with thanks and passing the microphone to the supporting actor standing next to him.
Yeonwoo felt nervous for no reason and wiggled his toes inside his shoes.
The actors and director who had given their remarks soon took their seats. Kang Dojun sat about three seats away from Yeonwoo. Soon light came onto the screen and the movie began.
Yeonwoo immersed himself in the movie without blinking once.
“Then sunbae-nim has been all this time…!”
“I’ll explain the details later, but something’s strange. It seems like there’s someone on our side covering for the drug dealers. So from now on, you…!”
Kang Dojun’s eyes became lost in thought for a moment during his explanation, then gradually filled with fear and betrayal. Then a brief flashback scene appeared.
“Sniff sniff. Sunbae-nim, what are you investigating?”
“Stop sniffling so loudly and go blow your nose.”
“Drug dealers? Why these guys?”
“…Do you know something?”
The junior police officer who had casually approached while drinking coffee secretly smiled.
“I do know. Hyung-nim.”
After the flashback ended, the movie reached its climax and the fight between the two began. Every time Kang Dojun got hit, even though he knew it was fake, sweat formed on Yeonwoo’s tightly clenched fists.
In the end, the goddess of victory was on the protagonist Kang Dojun’s side. The drug organization was arrested, and the movie ended with him receiving a commendation.
When the ending credits rolled up, people began to stand up one by one. Yeonwoo also jumped up and moved his eyes busily to find Kang Dojun.
He was leaving with the other actors.
‘See you later.’
He mouthed those words and left the theater.
When Kang Dojun turned his back and disappeared, Yeonwoo’s mood plummeted rapidly.
‘It’s work.’
While he understood, the fact that they had to go separately when entering and leaving, unlike how they always moved together, made him uncomfortable. Though his expression was hidden behind his mask, his drooping eyes couldn’t be concealed.
Shin Gihyeon picked up something that had fallen on the floor and said to Yeonwoo:
“Hey, Yeonwoo. Your prayer beads fell.”
Without answering, Yeonwoo just stared endlessly at where Kang Dojun had left.
Shin Gihyeon had no choice but to decide to give them back after leaving the theater and examined the prayer beads. He remembered not getting an answer about what zodiac year he had bought earlier and wanted to check while he had the chance.
‘Obviously it’ll be tiger…’
Then he frowned when he saw the picture carved into the wood of the prayer beads.
“…A dragon?”
***
[Shin Gihyeon, Lee Yeonwoo spotted at Starbucks!]
Where are those two going? I work at Starbucks and the two of them kept bickering while ordering drinks ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ Yeonwoo seems like he’d only drink chocolate frappé or something, but he goes “Iced americano with four extra shots please.” His taste is so firm. Are they going to meet Kang Dojun? If it’s Wureongdojun, he’d probably order coffee with four extra shots too…^^ That face says it all, you know?
Oh, and Shin Gihyeon takes off his shoes on airplanes.
-Who drinks weak americano these days? Isn’t extra shots the standard for everyone?
â””Bringing tension to the loose americano world…
-Please tell your story longer, why is it so short? What’s the last line about?
â””I don’t give a shit. I’m not interested in celebrities
â””Bringing tension to the loose entertainment world…
â””Ugh stop with the tension;;
â””Making the loose comments even looser…
-So what’s the last line about?
-Looks like they went to attend Kang Dojun’s premiere.
[BREAKER premiere review!!!]
All the celebrities came out here ã„·ã„· It’s not even a VIP premiere…….. The movie actors’ acquaintances came but they’re all luxury brand actors so their acquaintances are also luxury connections;;; It’s a clique thing, a country bumpkin like me can’t fit in….. I think I briefly saw Shin Gihyeon and Lee Yeonwoo but it was dark and they were in the front row so I couldn’t see their faces well ã… ã… But there was that drink spotting post, so I saw them right? ã… ã… Please say yes ã… ã… Well… even if the person I saw wasn’t Shin Gihyeon, Shin Gihyeon was definitely somewhere in that movie theater. I guarantee this ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹
-Which acquaintance actors came?
â””Same old crowd
-Are you disparaging country people?
â””I swear I’ve never disparaged Lee Yeonwoo.
â””From today I withdraw my support for Lee Yeonwoo. Lee Yeonwoo and I are one body united, so attacks on Lee Yeonwoo are considered attacks on me.
â””Yeah~ Dojun will support you~
-ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹Agree, Shin Gihyeon is always wherever Kang Dojun is
[Is Lee Yeonwoo a Grace fan?]
When the elevator door was closing he grabbed it really powerfully, and looking at his watch it had “Grace” lettering engraved on it. Looking closely it’s merchandise that can be worn casually ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ Turns out he didn’t come to Seoul to see Kang Dojun but came up to Seoul to stan Grace ㄴㅇㄱ
-Hey Dojun will cry ã…‹ã…‹ã…‹ Go easy on him
â””Kang Dojun: Please take down the post (room destruction storm)
-How do you powerfully grab an elevator door?
└Thwack thwack! Like this ㅇㅅㅇ
-He probably just got it as a gift from Grace ã…‹ã…‹ Here we go writing novels again
â””Listening Lee Yeonwoo: It’s bullshit but it’s not wrong…!
[Does Shin Gihyeon really take off his shoes on airplanes?]
Title says it all. But where did this story come from?;-;
-As a leading celebrity, he boards barefoot.
â””Say something that makes sense
-Why is taking off shoes wrong? Isn’t that proper etiquette?
â””Agree, I always took off my shoes
└ㅋㅋㅋ Since we don’t know the source, everyone’s just saying random things;;
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
