“I said I’m sorry.”
“Either you drop out, or I drop out.”
In truth, the man hadn’t avoided talking to us because he looked down on us. He simply couldn’t speak properly because he was preoccupied with his ex-girlfriend. The woman glared at the man, who kept apologizing, as if she might slap him at any moment, then turned her gaze to the PD.
“PD-nim. Can’t we change partners?”
“There’s no choice. It already aired live. At least only the first episode is live, and from now on it’ll be pre-recorded broadcasts…”
The PD said this, unable to hide his difficulty with the situation. And so, an absurd situation unfolded where the ex-girlfriend and ex-boyfriend would be doing a virtual romance.
“What should we do about these two couples?”
A staff member looked at us with a gloomy expression. Lee Yeonun and I had ended up as a stranger couple, and Hong Woonhee and Sueun, a female idol, had become a female-female couple.
“Still, the response saying they’re looking forward to it is overwhelming. I guess there’s no resistance?”
“Who knows. It might develop as the broadcast progresses… Anyway, let’s end today’s meeting here, and I’ll contact you again through your respective agencies. We need to rewrite the script on our end too.”
As soon as the situation was sorted out, I parted ways with Lee Yeonun, who had another schedule. Even though Lee Yeonun had said he wasn’t expecting it, he must have secretly dreamed of his own lovey-dovey virtual marriage, as his face looked sullen even while saying goodbye to me.
“Take care.”
“Yeah. I’ll KakaoTalk you.”
Stunned by the events that happened in an instant, I also got in the car and was immediately summoned to the company.
“What, what happened?”
Director Gye and the staff members rushed over as soon as I arrived, making a fuss about wanting to know the details of what had happened during the live broadcast.
“Well—”
In the end, I explained the broadcast accident in detail. Director Gye and the staff said that while the issue was gaining attention well, they would monitor from time to time regarding any rumors or hate comments that might arise.
“How did things end up like that? Weren’t the fans praying every night for this?”
“Who knows.”
I smiled awkwardly. When I was in Fort, I was too busy with schedules to even be in a situation to appear on the <We Got Married> program, but I had seen countless comments from fans who were in tears every time it was revealed that the cast members of <We Got Married> were idols.
“You really worked hard today, now go in and rest a bit.”
Director Gye was about to see me off, telling me to go in carefully, when something seemed to occur to him now, and he suddenly told the surrounding staff members to leave first.
“No. Jerim stays.”
I was about to leave with the staff members too, but Director Gye said he had something additional to say, so I stopped awkwardly, frozen in the posture of about to leave. Seeing Director Gye brewing fresh coffee as if the conversation would be long, I wondered whether to stand, then just sat down.
Director Gye, who had brought the coffee, hesitated, saying he didn’t know how to bring this up. And at the words that followed, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment, my eyes widening.
“Jerim, are you still not in contact with your parents?”
“What?”
“I know you don’t get along, so I didn’t say much, but it might be difficult going forward.”
Ka Jerim’s parents. The problem I had forcibly pushed underwater until now, the problem I didn’t want to face head-on, had finally approached me.
“Until now, I asked them to refrain from mentioning it, but I don’t know what will happen going forward. Your parents might be mentioned during live broadcasts or interviews.”
“Ah.”
“I know you and your parents have really fallen out, but when I saw your mother during the last contract, she seemed to want to see you…”
The contract when debuting officially from being a trainee required parental consent for Ka Jerim, who was a minor. But knowing that Ka Jerim and Ka Jerim’s parents didn’t get along, Director Gye had obtained the parents’ permission through himself.
I had vaguely noticed at the time that their relationship wasn’t good, but she wanted to see him?
Then, could it be that it wasn’t the parents who severed the relationship, but Ka Jerim who did it first? All sorts of thoughts were swirling inside me, but outwardly I asked Director Gye as calmly as possible.
“She said she wanted to see me?”
“Actually, they’ve contacted us several times asking for your contact information.”
“For me?”
“Yeah. But since you dislike it so much… They’re asking to meet the day after tomorrow, but if you don’t want to go, you don’t have to.”
Honestly, I didn’t want to go. Since Ka Jerim had left no memories at all, I knew absolutely nothing about Ka Jerim. So if I went, I would obviously just do foolish things and come back.
‘Cha Hohyeon and Ka Jerim’s parents are strangers. But Ka Jerim and Ka Jerim’s parents aren’t strangers.’
However, this body isn’t mine. Eventually, after thinking it over repeatedly, I let out a heavy breath. I couldn’t keep avoiding it like this anymore.
Until now, I had unconsciously set aside interest in Ka Jerim’s life for my sake, for Cha Hohyeon’s sake, but now I couldn’t continue living without knowing anything.
“Where’s the location?”
“They said you can just come to the house.”
Ka Jerim had severed his relationship with his parents. That answer came just from looking at Ka Jerim’s phone contacts.
“It’s been too long since I went, so I don’t really remember the house, and I cut off contact with my parents, so I don’t know their contact information either.”
“I’ll ask for the address and let you know. And here’s the contact information.”
I received the phone number and made a note of it while thinking. It was just 11 digits, yet it was such a heavy and frightening number.
“How should I treat them.”
And I kept staring at that number until Director Gye left.
I don’t know how to treat the parents who gave birth to me and raised me.
“I’d need to have had them properly first.”
A bitter laugh came out naturally.
* * *
Go Yoon had worked late into the night and came home without even washing properly. Since it was bright morning, he collapsed onto the living room sofa as soon as he drew the blackout curtains, falling asleep in the darkened room.
How long had he been in such a deep sleep? He kept frowning at the noise scratching at his ears, and eventually got up and answered the phone irritably.
“Who is it.”
His voice was hoarse from fatigue, and his angry voice spread unfiltered through the phone. It was Go Yoon, who had finally fallen asleep after finishing grueling work. So he answered sensitively, and on the other end of the phone, perhaps noticing Go Yoon’s irritation, there was silence for a moment.
“I said who is it.”
When he pressed again, the hesitant other party finally spoke.
[Hyung. It’s- it’s Jerim.]
“……”
Go Yoon, whose face had been filled with nothing but irritation without a trace of mercy, immediately disarmed as soon as he realized the other party was Ka Jerim. He bolted upright from his half-lying position and looked at his phone with a flustered face.
“Oh, Jerim.”
[I’m in front of your house right now, hyung.]
At those words, Go Yoon, who got up from his seat entirely, pressed his phone repeatedly to check his missed calls.
‘When did he contact me this many times.’
It was full of missed calls and messages. Since Go Yoon was quite sensitive and usually a light sleeper, he would have normally noticed quickly, but he had missed it because he had fallen into a deep sleep.
[Juno hyung said you’d be resting at home right now, so I came to visit.]
“……”
[I didn’t know you were sleeping. I’m sorry.]
Was it because he had just woken up? Flustered by Ka Jerim’s sudden visit and his mind not working well, Go Yoon was silent.
Ka Jerim, thinking Go Yoon was angry because he said nothing, hugged his large backpack preciously and pitifully crouched down beside the door with a sullen face, fidgeting with his hands as he thought.
‘Juno hyung said he’d definitely be happy if I surprised him like this.’
Unfortunately, Kang Juno, who had suggested the surprise, couldn’t come along because he had a prior engagement. It was Ka Jerim’s first time seeing Go Yoon’s face in several weeks, so normally, no matter how much they told him to come secretly, he would have politely gotten permission in advance.
‘Did I come for nothing.’
But it had been so long that he got excited and came without permission. However, at the reaction different from what he expected, he felt unnecessarily embarrassed, and also sorry for waking him up.
[Are you angry?]
“No.”
But in fact, Go Yoon wasn’t angry. He was just pondering what to answer.
He rushed into the bathroom urgently and, checking his own messy state, despaired. Then, seeing the disordered living room, he clutched his head with one hand as if it ached while urgently starting to clean with the other hand.
[Hyung, are you sick?]
“……”
Go Yoon made crashing sounds as he moved hastily, and his breathing became rough.
Worried about Go Yoon’s condition, Ka Jerim kept asking if he was okay, but Go Yoon looked at the roughly tidied living room and quickly went into his room, grabbed whatever clothes caught his eye, and gathered clothes to change into.
“Just a moment, Hohyeon.”
Then he stood at the door and spoke to Ka Jerim.
“I’m going to open the door now, but come in after about 1 minute.”
[1 minute?]
“1 minute. Make sure to keep to 1 minute.”
When the bewildered Ka Jerim, still sitting, answered that he understood without knowing why, the door opened slightly with a sound. Then, through the gap in the open door, rapid footsteps were heard, and then with a thud, the door closed and the sound of water followed.
“Can I go in now?”
Ka Jerim, who obediently kept exactly to 1 minute, put back on the backpack he had set down and carefully entered Go Yoon’s house. On Ka Jerim’s back was a large backpack, which Ka Jerim soon set down in a corner of the living room as if it was heavy.
“Yoon hyung?”
Then he approached the sound of the water stream coming from the bathroom and knocked on the door. When Ka Jerim knocked, there was a brief commotion, then the shower water sound stopped abruptly.
[I’ll wash up quickly and come out.]
In fact, Go Yoon had fled to the bathroom quickly because he didn’t want to show his disheveled appearance. Ka Jerim, who had no way of knowing this, just nodded his head, thinking maybe hyung was embarrassed about washing up.
“Take your time.”
Ka Jerim looked around Go Yoon’s house, which he was visiting after a long time. When was it. It was his first time since he had fainted in the car and came to Go Yoon’s house. Back then, he had come as the junior Ka Jerim who feared Go Yoon, but now he was coming as Cha Hohyeon, so his heart felt much lighter.
