But was that the important point? Yuwon had looks that made even passersby turn around. Yoon Sungjin was a person with excellent aesthetic sense. You could tell just by looking at this space, which he personally conceptualized and planned. There was no way his appearance wasn’t his taste. That was a fact already confirmed several years ago. Nowhere in this world could you find a face like his.
Yuwon ignored the fact that he was the same way and recalled Sungjin’s stupid face. He didn’t know if he really couldn’t remember, or if he kept making that spaced-out expression pretending not to remember. The remaining time was six days at most. Within that time, he had to remove his mask and reveal his true nature.
“……”
As he kept recalling that smooth face, strength gradually began to enter his center, which he had barely calmed down. Yuwon deliberately shook his head and shook off the excitement.
As soon as he returned to the room having barely calmed his center, his heart beat rapidly again upon seeing Sungjin sleeping with his mouth stupidly open, but this time he didn’t need the bathroom’s help again.
And so the first night passed, each spending a troubled time.
***
The next morning. Sungjin woke up earlier than anyone else and carefully left the room. Because he didn’t want to make a fuss in a room shared with other people, he quickly moved to the bathroom to prepare to start the day. Because he had to make twice the effort as others to be captured on screen looking decent.
When he was diligently shaving cleanly from the morning and doing basic care, the bathroom door suddenly opened and an uninvited guest entered.
“Oh, hyung was here. What are you doing here?”
Startled, Sungjin almost dropped the basic products he had secretly brought to the bathroom.
“Huh? Uh uh… No, just….”
Jiyoon, who confirmed the product Sungjin was holding in his hand with eagle eyes, smiled and asked.
“Oh, is that good? I was interested in that too. Isn’t that the product Han Sehee advertises?”
He didn’t know he’d identified the brand in that short time. In a society where a man who doesn’t make a living with his face would immediately be asked if he’s gay for using a product that’s not all-in-one, being caught using a product with a popular male idol as a model was something that shouldn’t happen. That’s why he had deliberately fled to the bathroom like escaping, but he got caught by the very person he least wanted to be caught by. Sungjin hid his embarrassment and answered.
“Really? I got it as a gift, so I don’t know well. Is it good?”
He deliberately pretended not to know anything, but Jiyoon’s eyes were sharp.
“Really? Wow, when that was released it came out as a limited package, so it must have been hard to get…. Didn’t you get it from your girlfriend?”
While mischievously giggling, Sungjin had to swallow a scream inside. Jiyoon meant it as teasing in the sense of ‘you have a girlfriend but came on a dating show,’ but inside Sungjin’s head was only thoughts like ‘Did he figure out I’m gay?’
That was because Jiyoon was quite a famous gay, and also because he boasted about his gaydar on his personal broadcast, so there was an underlying fear that he might recognize his preference like a ghost and expose it.
“It’s not like that. Do you want to apply some too?”
Sungjin desperately pretended nothing was wrong, smiled, and passed it over. Then, as if proving to Jiyoon that this item had no particular value to him, he readily offered it, and Jiyoon didn’t refuse.
“Uh uh uh uh, I wanted to try that!”
As Jiyoon said, it was a product he had difficulty obtaining, so he didn’t want to use it carelessly, but if he showed signs of valuing it here, it would be like advertising ‘I’m a gay who cares about basic skincare products,’ so he deliberately gave him more than the standard amount. At the amount that was clearly a lot even at a glance, Jiyoon couldn’t hold back his laughter.
“What, I don’t need this much? Do you think my face is as big as a playground?”
Even so, humming a tune while happily applying it, he didn’t seem to feel bad.
“Ah, nice, it absorbs right away and doesn’t feel sticky either.”
It was a part Sungjin agreed with too, and that’s why he chose the product, but outwardly he couldn’t agree. That was too… typically the kind of conversation men who like men would have.
“Really? I don’t really know. Since it’s good, I should use it sparingly.”
Sungjin’s utmost acting fortunately wasn’t caught. Jiyoon soon left the bathroom saying he should go eat breakfast, and Sungjin quickly finished all preparations by applying sunscreen. He already felt drained just from this, but his ordeal was just beginning. It meant the real trials hadn’t even started yet.
‘Today’s schedule….’
Sungjin, recalling the schedule he had confirmed last night in despair, squeezed his eyes shut. Today was the day with ‘that’ schedule. The terrible war over a special date ticket taking place on the beach. Because of this, how many packs of chicken breast had he eaten during the preparation period? In his dreams, Sungjin had to apologize to hundreds of chickens for stealing their breasts while being chased by them.
COOL&BEAUTY was a video for adult viewing, although it was also simultaneously broadcast in a clean version. That meant they shouldn’t betray the needs of viewers who expected visuals unsuitable for minors. Trunk pants for men, mini dresses or swimsuits for women were mandatory.
In short, everyone had the obligation to show off wonderful bodies with lots of exposure. Sungjin also managed with a stricter diet than usual to meet those needs. He was fairly confident in his physique in his own way, so he wouldn’t be lacking compared to other male cast members, but he was far, far from lacking in confidence.
I want to run away. But there was nowhere to retreat now. Let me just close my eyes and think I came to a swimming pool… but Sungjin had never in his life gone to a place like a water park on his own feet.
Places like that are only for people who have lovers or friends to play with. There was no way Sungjin had friends who could handle each other’s exposure. Because the few friends Sungjin had, who naturally lost contact after graduating from university and going through major upheaval, were all disqualified people who were outside the boundaries of bright and lively social activities.
No… thinking about it, he had been once. During the time he was preparing for employment after graduating from university, on a trip to broaden his horizons before joining a company, he had stepped into a pool party that was quite famous among locals. And that very day, he encountered the only moment in his life worth seeing the light, but there was no need to say more about how it ended.
‘If only I’d had a little more courage then….’
Could he have gone all the way with that man whose face he couldn’t even properly remember now? Or would he have been stripped not only of his wallet but also his organs, left as a cold corpse in the middle of the desert? It was a question with no value to chew over now, so he shook his head to shake off the distracting thoughts.
Anyway! Today it’s not just me stripping, so there’s no need to be too embarrassed. Everyone’s doing it to make money. As he came out of the bathroom with his eyes tightly shut, people were waking up one by one and starting their morning. Meanwhile, Sungjin wanted to check how people were using the communal kitchen he had carefully decorated.
I really worked hard on planning it. He had obtained sponsorships for famous brand kitchen appliances and brought them in, and also provided toasters and plates famous on SNS. Each piece of tableware was also prepared with matching designs. I hope everyone likes it… Cautiously stepping into the kitchen, Sungjin soon had to back away as if fleeing.
Because the very person who had made Sungjin keep watching out yesterday was making coffee in the kitchen. There were other people in the kitchen too, but they were talking among themselves and didn’t seem interested in Sungjin or Yuwon.
Let me go in when Yuwon takes his coffee and moves to another place later. Sungjin carefully hid his body in a corner of the living room and waited for Yuwon to leave, but he took the coffee with ice and sat down pulling out a chair in a corner of the long table.
Although it wasn’t the glass table he had wanted in the concept stage, Yuwon drinking coffee from a long glass while sitting in a seat with a view of the emerald-colored beach looked like a scene from a pictorial.
“……”
Sungjin found himself staring at Yuwon as if possessed by something without realizing it, but when he felt the gaze and turned his head toward where he was, he quickly hid. Even knowing that getting caught while avoiding like this would look stranger, like a pheasant that hides its head first when in danger, his body moved first.
