‘What the hell, seriously.’
It was a scoff as if the idea was absurd. Why? What’s so annoying about it? Sungjin was curious and frustrated inside, but he couldn’t reveal his true feelings here. He asked back while struggling to maintain a bright smile.
“Do I… not seem that way? I’m being sincere though….”
When Sungjin asked with a bitter smile, Yuwon stared intensely at Sungjin again and opened his mouth.
“No, it’s just funny. Someone who’s truly conservative probably wouldn’t come to a place like this in the first place.”
So he did add the precondition of “relatively,” didn’t he? Sungjin had been breaking out in cold sweats in front of him to the point where his stomach was starting to hurt. Why is he doing this to me? He learned the answer to that bewildering question immediately after.
“I’m very curious. Whether Sungjin-ssi is… someone who could give me a chance too.”
Huh? For a moment, Sungjin understood his words a beat late and felt like he’d been hit on the head.
Hm? Wait? Huh? So that means… doesn’t it sound exactly like Lee Yuwon is interested in him? He’d brushed off the earlier moment as his own misunderstanding, but this statement was undeniable. It didn’t make sense. Yet at the same time, it was what was happening in reality right now.
The moment Sungjin couldn’t manage his expression and froze, Yuwon smiled with a satisfied face like a cat that had just finished hunting and filled its belly. The moment those smoothly arched beautiful eyes curved, his breath caught. He was a beauty so stunning it was hard to believe he was of this world.
“Uh….”
When Sungjin, shocked, opened his rabbit eyes wide and couldn’t say anything, a staff member’s voice rang in his ear.
“Yes, cut! We’ll stop here and have the third participant enter.”
Only then did Sungjin finally exhale and return to reality. The filming team, composed of only a small number of staff to avoid being caught on camera as much as possible, came back into view. It was ridiculous that he’d forgotten about them, but just moments ago he’d been too shocked to have anything come to mind.
‘Thank goodness it’s a broadcast(?).’
Sungjin hastily felt stupid relief. Right, this was a broadcast. He’d definitely been aware of it at the beginning, but while having a conversation with Yuwon, he’d completely forgotten.
Did he deliberately adopt that concept to show a provocative image? If he’d decided to appear in order to break away from his ice prince image up until now, that too seemed like natural behavior.
‘Besides, Lee Yuwon was originally an openly bi person who doesn’t distinguish between men and women anyway.’
If he made up his mind to seduce both this man and that woman to win, there would be no more likely winner candidate than him. With a face like that, even knowing it was manipulation for the sake of winning, people would give in because they’d want to date him even one more time.
Wow, Lee Yuwon was a scary person. Sungjin came to a conclusion on his own and built up his guard. Right, you’d have to be at Lee Yuwon’s level to make the decision to seduce everyone regardless of whether they’re men or women and then win. However, he had no intention of falling for that plan.
Lee Yuwon was definitely his ideal type and possessed beauty that seemed like he’d never meet again, but that didn’t mean he was someone he wanted to date to the point of pushing his own life into hardship.
If he could openly reveal the fact that he liked men, he would have gladly fallen for that manipulation, but unfortunately, that would never happen. It would be better to quit the show than to show viewers the sight of him offering a Heart to Yuwon with his own hands.
It was an obvious conclusion. Isn’t lifelong stability more important than a few days of dating for everyone? Thanks to the production team intervening appropriately, he was fortunate to be reminded of what kind of place this was.
‘I need to keep my wits about me. If I don’t want to die from being bitten by a fox in a tiger’s den.’
When he subtly raised his head to look in the direction where Yuwon was sitting, his gaze was still fixed on him. It was a face whose intentions he couldn’t read—it seemed like he was observing something, and also seemed like he was still displeased.
Was he unhappy that he hadn’t foolishly fallen for the honey trap? Sungjin apologized inwardly. Even though he’d done nothing wrong, it was just a reflexive reaction. I’m sorry. But I’m not a celebrity like you who can live however they want—I’m an ordinary person with a job. Even though he’d resolved himself like that, when he secretly stole glances, he ended up making a stupid expression again.
‘Ah. I shouldn’t do this.’
That face kept causing trouble because his gaze kept going there even though his head knew better. Fortunately, before Sungjin’s unconscious could cause an accident, the next filming began.
“Yes, third participant entrance standby complete. 5, 4, 3….”
The short countdown ended and a savior appeared who would change this awkward atmosphere.
“Oh my, goodness! Isn’t that Lee Yuwon-ssi?!”
The third participant was a female participant wearing a flashy sundress. She was a beauty with an impressive face that gave off an intellectual image, with a tall stature that seemed over 170cm and long straight hair. When she appeared like a goddess, her white dress that matched well with the blue emerald sea fluttering, several cameras moved busily. They were capturing Yuwon and Sungjin’s reactions on screen simultaneously.
‘Don’t think about other things. Where do you think you are?’
Sungjin quickly changed masks to a good-natured, caring face, stood up from his seat, and greeted her.
“Hello, nice to meet you. I’m Yoon Sungjin.”
Then the woman, as if only now recognizing Sungjin’s existence, looked at Sungjin with an expression that said ‘Ah. There was a person there too’ and said.
“Ah! Hello, I’m Kim Sina. Nice to meet you.”
They exchanged greetings and shook hands lightly, but their hands didn’t stay together long and separated quickly. After exchanging greetings with Sungjin, Sina immediately extended her hand to Yuwon as well.
“You’re Lee Yuwon-ssi, right? I’m really a fan! I’ve been a fan since the S brand main campaign was up on the XX Building in New York.”
Ah, so this is her. That law school participant who studied abroad. There was also a feeling that she was someone more comfortable with English than Korean, with her accent having a slight stress.
‘If she lived abroad, it makes sense that she’d be happier to see Lee Yuwon.’
It was natural for a celebrity whose solo pictorial was hung in the middle of New York to receive more attention than some ordinary Korean office worker A. Yeah yeah, that’s right. Sungjin lightly stepped back to make room for the two to talk.
“I never thought I’d meet you in a place like this! I’m so happy!”
Sina continued, unable to hide her excitement, but for some reason, Yuwon didn’t seem very interested.
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
With that indifferent answer as the last, he crossed his arms and didn’t even look at the hand Sina had extended.
“……”
“……”
As a result, silence flowed through the filming location for a moment.
“……”
“……”
It was a situation like a kind of battle of wills. Sina didn’t withdraw her extended hand, and Yuwon seemed to have no intention of clasping hands with her. It was a contrasting reaction to when Sungjin had extended his hand for a greeting earlier—he’d gripped it tightly as if he didn’t want to let go and held on until Sungjin flinched. Sungjin, caught between the two of them, felt like a shrimp caught in a whale fight.
No, just shake it! It’s not like your hand will wear out from shaking hands once, and she’s even a fan! Setting aside how it would look on the broadcast, it wasn’t even polite as person to person. Aren’t celebrities people who can even hug fans? What’s the big deal about briefly touching palms? Yuwon held his head up stiffly and looked down at Sina with eyes that said ‘What are you doing?’ It was an expression as if written on his face saying, ‘I have to keep standing for courtesy’s sake because you’re not sitting down.’
Then… then you could just shake her hand! Sungjin screamed inwardly. But Yuwon didn’t seem to have any intention of uncrossing his arms, and Sina continued to glare at Yuwon with a smiling face and extended her hand once more.
“……”
“……”
What on earth is this situation? He could feel the cameras quickly capturing the two people’s war of nerves on screen. Sungjin wanted to escape from this awkward atmosphere.
“……”
“……”
However, there was no concession from either side. They confronted each other tensely as if to see who could hold out longer with their stubbornness, and as a result, Sungjin had no choice but to step in to handle this destructive atmosphere. It was because the PD beyond the camera glanced at Sungjin with a flustered face.
Sungjin cleared his throat with a cough and interjected with a smiling face.
“Instead of all of us standing here like this, let’s sit down first. You both just came from America, right?”
Only after Sungjin broke the ice with a soft eye smile did that tense war of nerves finally end. It was Sina who salvaged her pride first.
“Ah, yes. Vacation just started.”
Then she plopped down, putting her bottom on the sofa. When Sina sat down first, Sungjin and Yuwon followed and took their seats as well.
Judging from Yuwon’s reaction, having quickly determined that becoming a good relationship seemed wrong, Sina’s body was already facing the direction where Sungjin was sitting.
