He’d always been a fucking ridiculous bastard.
Acting indifferent to everything in the world, but when something he wanted to do came up, he’d become shamelessly brazen like a lunatic—that was especially so. Whether it was song practice or annoyingly hovering around his side.
He’d once asked out of curiosity what the hell he was thinking.
‘Doesn’t it bother you?’
‘What?’
‘I heard people whispering that you hang around with someone whose personality exploded.’
When he asked with a strange expression, Do Yeonjae chuckled and answered indifferently.
‘Your tone is your responsibility, what does it have to do with me?’
‘…Why aren’t you refuting that my personality exploded? Did my personality explode?’
Do Yeonjae stared at his frowning face, then put the bread he was holding into Kwon Isoo’s mouth. Very calmly, as if dealing with some kind of seizure patient.
‘Isoo. Is personality a water balloon? To explode. Stop being cranky and eat this if you’re hungry.’
‘……’
The taste of the red bean paste bun he’d chewed with a displeased face seemed to linger on his tongue even now. Anyway, he was a strange guy. Looking back, there were quite a few such incidents… Not confronting anyone in the practice room, but after the situation passed, things would be as Do Yeonjae wanted. Or when something needed to be decided, gazes would naturally gather on Do Yeonjae’s face.
He didn’t even give particularly warm words, but guys who wanted to hear Do Yeonjae’s advice lined up. Just quietly listening and saying a few words would make the other person tremendously grateful. Then Do Yeonjae would answer with a dry expression.
‘No. It’s nothing much.’
As he said, it really was nothing much, but everyone going crazy over it was absurd.
What was even more ridiculous was that while always being at the center of people like a human magnet, sometimes he himself seemed to find it bothersome. Didn’t I say he was a strange guy?
And what about when that Do Yeonjae occasionally had clumsy days? For example, the day he perfectly executed a dawn escape but his face swelled up alone the next day and got caught by the trainer. Or the day he said he’d cook but held onto the completely burnt frying pan for a while without changing his expression. When such things happened, people would gather around him even more for the absurd reason that he was ‘humanlike.’ And what about himself at those times? He was…
‘Do Yeonjae, are you hurt?’
‘Uh…’
‘Come out. What are you spacing out for?’
‘…I guess cooking isn’t for me.’
‘You’re just realizing that now?’
Looking at how he ended up chuckling at Do Yeonjae’s stupid face while managing the situation, I guess sucker #1 around Do Yeonjae was me.
Does that shitty habit still remain?
Otherwise, there was no explanation for why he’d brought Do Yeonjae inside.
Hearing that one line not to reject even this, he let Do Yeonjae into the building without hesitation. Kwon Isoo, quite displeased with his own sucker power, got on the elevator with a sullen face.
Should I tell him to fuck off even now? While he was deliberating, Do Yeonjae, who had followed him on, naturally pressed the 15th floor button. He was amazed at that sight.
Is this his house?
While he was dumbfounded, the elevator door closed.
Kwon Isoo stared at Do Yeonjae’s face with a displeased expression. The ends of his hair were slightly wet, as if he’d showered after practice. His face without a hint of makeup shone freshly. Watching quietly, he unconsciously thought. It’s fortunate I went to the salon today.
“……”
And exactly 5 seconds later, he scrunched up his face.
I decided not to care, so why am I throwing a fit again?
Kwon Isoo, thoroughly annoyed at his own inconsistent emotions, turned his arrows outward.
Who the hell did the shitty thing of leaking the schedule? Moon Sunwoo? Or the manager? There were so many people Do Yeonjae could sweet-talk that he couldn’t even guess. Kwon Isoo pressed down on his throbbing head and said bleakly.
“Hey.”
Do Yeonjae, who had been looking at the ascending elevator number panel, turned his head with a ‘?’ face.
“The more I think about it, the more absurd it is. Just because I don’t have a schedule tomorrow, I have to drink with you?”
“Mm, that’s not it, but.”
Do Yeonjae, as if he’d already anticipated this level of pickiness, immediately pulled out the move he’d prepared.
“If you drink with me, I’ll tell you a secret.”
“A secret?”
“Last time, what you were curious about.”
Haah… Kwon Isoo, who sighed, looked down at Do Yeonjae with an expression that said he was utterly pathetic.
“Are you a child? To be swayed by that kind of thing.”
Then he roughly swept back his hair with an annoyed face. Acting like he absolutely wouldn’t be swayed by that kind of thing, yet the words to go back didn’t come out until the number panel reached the 15th floor.
Not even until the moment he entered the door code.
Do Yeonjae neatly arranged his removed shoes. Having been here once, the house was quite familiar. He put down the bag on the living room table, washed his hands in the bathroom and came out. Then he sat on the stool next to the sofa and began to take out what he’d bought one by one.
It was a composition of things swept from a nearby convenience store. Two bottles of soju, two snacks, one chocolate milk, three pills with hangover relief effects.
He even opened the snack bags and neatly took out paper cups. Kwon Isoo, sitting sprawled on the wide sofa, looked at the table and said crookedly.
“The snacks are fucking poor. For someone who insisted on drinking.”
“Sorry. It was late so all the nearby stores were closed.”
Do Yeonjae poured soju into two small-sized paper cups in turn and pushed one toward Kwon Isoo.
He definitely had nothing to say about the snacks. Originally he’d planned to do the live broadcast only briefly, but Yuni hyung suddenly came, making it longer than expected. After it ended and he washed his sweat-soaked body, it was past midnight. But picking another day was awkward with schedules…
Should I order late-night delivery even now? He considered it, but Kwon Isoo, who had actually complained, didn’t seem to care much. He glanced over the table, raised his eyebrows, and picked up the pills as if he’d seen something very strange.
“Why did you buy three of these?”
“Ah, it was buy two get one free.”
“You need hangover relief after drinking just two bottles? And I don’t drink soju.”
“Really? I like soju. It’s just that soju doesn’t like me.”
Judging by ‘just two bottles,’ does he have a high tolerance? He doesn’t seem to welcome soju that much though… I’m weak with alcohol but quite like soju, but Kwon Isoo seemed to be the opposite.
As he was gauging his tolerance, it really hit him that this was the first time drinking with Kwon Isoo. While he stopped for a moment in unfamiliar sentiment, Kwon Isoo crunched on turtle chips and asked dryly.
“Why did you come here?”
A direct question. Do Yeonjae slowly raised his gaze.
“I told you. To drink.”
“So why.”
The eyes asking again were sharp. Do Yeonjae quietly chewed over that question.
Why did I come……
Right.
The song he’d desperately wanted to sing had already been deleted, and he knew what Kwon Isoo, who he’d wanted to work with, thought of him. Because of that fact, his mood had been low for several days and he’d ended up ruining the live stage. Sian hyung caught that his condition was a mess, and at hyung’s advice, he’d bought soju and come all the way here.
If it were just a sense of duty to safely complete the program, he could just respond appropriately on filming days. Why would I deliberately visit the home of someone who hates me?
While even he himself didn’t understand this effort… at the same time, the answer seemed simple.
Nevertheless, I guess I still want to be close with Kwon Isoo.
Actually, it was natural. From the beginning, he’d accepted the offer knowing full well that Kwon Isoo hated him. He’d just arbitrarily had expectations during the two days attached as manager and received a shock.
Not much had changed from the beginning. The beginning… The day he reunited with Kwon Isoo, when he saw the disgust in his eyes. No. Long ago when he handed him a water bottle and was told to fuck off.
So he just needed to start over from that point.
If he wanted to treat him badly, he could accept it as much as he wanted.
Do Yeonjae’s strength was that he knew how to act quite shamelessly. It was like that then and it was like that now. If there was a difference, it was that he’d become a bit more stubborn.
When he took a sip of soju, the bitter taste lingered throughout his mouth. Silently swallowing that taste, he opened his mouth.
“I just wanted to talk with you once. Before the next filming.”
The gesture of shrugging his shoulders was light. In inverse proportion to that lightness, Kwon Isoo’s eyebrows furrowed deeply.
“You came all the way here without notice just because of that?”
“Yeah.”
“If I had been sleeping.”
“I didn’t think you would be. You seemed to go to bed late usually.”
“What if I said no and didn’t open the door?”
“Then… I’d have to blow a soju bottle trumpet while calling your name on the street.”
“Ha, yeah right.”
“It’s true though. If an article comes out, I’ll explain that I did it because I was rejected by Kwon Isoo.”
“What?”
Kwon Isoo lit a fuse in his eyes. His glaring eyes were so vicious that Do Yeonjae momentarily flinched, forgetting he’d decided to act shamelessly. Is he angry because I said I’d sell his name in an article?
But what he took issue with was an unexpected part.
“Rejected? Fuck, what do you mean by that?”
“What do you mean what do I mean?”
“This fuck, shit. We’re not even da-, dating. Why would you say that now?”
