# Chapter 59
Doha inadvertently smiled as he spoke Jaei’s name. The New Year’s wish of twenty-year-old actor Ryu Doha was for a famous news agency that covers entertainment gossip to break “photos of Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei kissing in H Apartment’s parking lot” on January 1st.
They had actually kissed in the parking lot several times. They might have already been photographed by journalists staking out to confirm Lee Jaei’s love interest. Of course, both of them knew well that something worthy of decorating the main portal page in the new year wouldn’t happen since they were both men.
However, the desire to become “Lee Jaei’s man” and actively spreading stories about Jaei from his side were separate issues. While he freely showed his love and respect for his senior Lee Jaei, he absolutely never brought up stories about Jaei’s private life or official schedules. But today, he had to very recklessly mention Jaei’s private life with his own mouth.
Among Jaei’s fans currently watching his live broadcast, there would be those who welcome Jaei’s personal stories from his mouth, and those who would be displeased. Their feelings might be hurt. He truly felt sorry about that.
No one could imagine it, but Doha had supported Jaei alongside them for a very long time. That’s why he understood their feelings better than anyone. Having overcome and endured together through various malicious rumors about Jaei, he also felt a sense of comradeship with them.
“He went to discuss the project with Director Hong Duyoung. We were eating shaved ice when the director called for Lee Jaei sunbaenim, so sunbaenim went to the director’s house, and I’m doing a broadcast after briefly stopping the car while on my way home with my manager hyung. Oh, what kind of shaved ice did we eat? We had strawberry shaved ice. No, we shared one.”
In reality, after Doha’s debut, Jaei and Doha, as diet mates, have been sharing one portion of all foods half and half without fail after 6 PM.
Contrasting reactions immediately rose to the information Doha had spoken. Among Jaei’s fans, many considered Hong Duyoung as family and liked him. They called him by a nickname that attached the word “god” to Hong’s surname, and supported Hong Duyoung and Jaei together. On the other hand, there were also reactions telling Doha not to make careless remarks about other actors, conscious of the dating rumors between Hong Duyoung and Jaei.
Then Doha’s fans who were watching this became indignant. And ordinary people who casually liked Doha and were watching the broadcast were asking questions like “Where is your hoodie from?”
Lee Doha, who had lived as Lee Jaei’s passionate fan for a full 8 years, deeply understood everyone’s feelings. If it weren’t for a day like today, he would never have acted like this. Even if it was unavoidable, he wanted to appease their anger.
He pushed his face, which was perfectly handsome yet still baby-cute due to his youth, close to the lens to fill the screen. When he blinked his large eyes, those who witnessed the shocking beauty soon plastered the chat with words of praise.
Having revealed Jaei’s whereabouts to the world publicly as planned, Doha checked the current time and continued with what he had to do. After continuing the broadcast for about 10 more minutes, he naturally accepted viewers’ requests and attempted to call Jaei.
“If I call sunbaenim like this, he’ll probably say later that I did well. He’s our company’s CEO.”
He smiled with his eyes slyly. With the broadcast phone well secured, he called Jaei on his personal phone. However, from the speaker phone, came the guidance that the customer’s phone was turned off.
Though this was well within the expected range, Doha momentarily hardened his expression, stared at the broadcast phone camera, and tilted his head as if something was strange.
Just then, more viewers were flocking in, having heard rumors that Ryu Doha was going to talk on the phone with Lee Jaei during his live broadcast. Doha tried calling a different number.
In reality, since beginning his full-fledged romance with Doha, Jaei has been using separate phones for business and romance to avoid mistakes. However, Doha wasn’t now calling Jaei’s sub-phone. If the phone was turned off, naturally both phones would be in the same situation, and there was no need to unnecessarily reveal the useless fact that Jaei uses two phones in a broadcast everyone could see.
“Since Lee Jaei sunbaenim has turned off his phone, I’ll call someone else.”
Soon, a call connection tone was heard through the speaker phone.
Jaei was gathering all his strength to act out the emotion of resignation. Even though he was producing excellent results at every moment, the experience of giving a performance he was satisfied with himself was rare, but now he seriously saw a glimmering golden Oscar statue before his eyes. Though he wasn’t particularly greedy, he was gripped by the ambition that “I must hold that in my hands.”
“If I forgive the director… you promise you won’t touch Lee Doha? Please don’t touch him.”
Lee Jaei at this moment is a character who, despite having the background to counterattack Hong Duyoung in any way, is psychologically pressured by the setup of having been gaslighted for a very long time with “you are in the palm of my hand.” He’s captured by the trauma of having lost Doha once and has a desperate heart that he absolutely cannot lose Doha a second time.
If the film “Detox” is ever released, it really seems like he could attend the Academy Awards. Though there will probably never be another time when Hong Duyoung’s films reach theaters again.
To be honest, Hong Duyoung looked like he would depart for the next world if the grown Doha struck his head just once with his fist. Recently, with his deteriorating health, he looked so much like a bellflower root that one couldn’t distinguish what was human and what was bellflower root. In contrast, Doha was full of vitality and freshness, and his fists were very solid and large. There wasn’t much difference between the size of Jaei’s small head and Doha’s fist.
Of course, those who can kill and those who cannot are distinguished not by physical strength but by heart. There are those who can kill someone and those who cannot. Doha and Jaei were clearly the latter, and Hong Duyoung was a person who acted knowing this fact very well.
But Ryu Doha, whose fists had become enormous and height had grown as tall as a refrigerator, and Lee Jaei, who had spent his adolescence with a baby bear returned from the afterlife and grown quite solid, weren’t afraid of Hong Duyoung at all. They were adults who weren’t psychologically intimidated, being swayed by emotions at his every word, unlike when they were 14-year-old boys.
Jaei approached Hong Duyoung without making any sound. And like someone who had given up everything, he embraced him with a soulless gaze. Hong Duyoung’s eyes, accepting this act as forgiveness and choice, were surrounded by a light saying “finally reached the ending.”
“Jaei, the forgiveness I’m talking about is choice. Get this exactly right. A choice that can never be changed forever.”
Jaei, whose eyes had become completely empty, closed his mouth and nodded. As if he had no choice but to forgive Hong Duyoung and do as he wanted.
At that moment, Hong Duyoung’s phone vibrated. The caller was Ryu Doha. Hong Duyoung clicked his tongue as he looked at Doha’s name.
“I’m right, it’s been about exactly an hour. Young kids are really predictable.”
When Hong Duyoung reached for his phone to reject the call, Jaei, who gently gripped just above his left wrist, made eye contact with Hong Duyoung and calmly said:
“I want to tell Doha now. Not to come looking. I’ll stay here tonight.”
For a moment, Hong Duyoung’s hand reaching for the phone hesitated. Jaei continued:
“You’ve always pretended to be different from others, but isn’t this the real ending you want, Director? People who commune spiritually through their work eventually become one in body too, something like that. Film directors especially seem to like that sort of thing. You assign so much meaning to sleeping together.”
“…”
“This settles everything now, right?”
Jaei slowly blinked his wet eyes. Hong Duyoung’s pupils, looking at Jaei, became turbid and stupid.
After a long, long wait, the call connected. Doha greeted Hong Duyoung, pronouncing each of the three syllables of his name:
“Hello, Director Hong Duyoung. This is Ryu Doha.”
Jaei’s precarious voice flowed through the speaker phone.
―Doha… Don’t come here… Don’t come for my sake. Don’t contact the police or do anything. Your brother… I asked if the director killed him… He says it wasn’t him. The director says it wasn’t him… We… We seem to have… misunderstood…
At that moment, Doha saw about 3,000 instances of the word “whoa” all at once. It was the first time in his life he had seen so many of the same character simultaneously.
“Is the director threatening you? Is he saying he’ll kill me like he killed my brother and kill my brother too?”
As he answered with an urgent voice, Jaei’s terrified voice continued:
―No, not that… I… I did something wrong to the director… You don’t need to come rescue me… I, I misunderstood. I did.
But Jaei’s voice now was clearly that of someone being threatened and filled with anxiety to anyone listening. Following this, Hong Duyoung’s voice was heard:
―Ryu Doha. If you want to come, come. If you’re going to report to the police, do it. That would also be a kind of interesting development, I think. But I don’t know what scene you’ll encounter if you come here.
The call abruptly ended. Doha hurriedly tried calling again, but in the meantime, Hong Duyoung’s phone had been turned off. Hong Duyoung probably turned it off without thinking ahead, but even if he hadn’t, Jaei would have turned it off somehow. Because from this moment on, Hong Duyoung would be receiving endless contacts.
Countless words quickly passed before Doha’s eyes.
Crazy
Crazy Jaei what the fuck aaaagh
Killed his brother? What’s this about?
Hong Duyoung killed Ryu Doha’s brother?
I’ve recorded this entire video from the beginning
Isn’t this acting practice?
Ryu Doha don’t end your livestream! It’s dangerous, don’t end it, go
Is Lee Jaei okay?
What, Jaei, what?
Isn’t this a dangerous situation? Report to the police
I reported too police have to go unconditionally when they receive reports
What’s this I was distracted and missed it please explain
Is it a script?
Let’s stay calm don’t act rashly
How can we be calm you crazy bastard it’s not your kid so you can talk about being calm
Probably film noise marketing 100%
The broadcast ended. The car carrying Doha moved toward Hong Duyoung’s house. In the meantime, Doha called Jaei’s parents to inform them of what happened in Korea. His birth mother, who had been contacted an hour ago, said she would arrive in Seoul with Seungha around midnight.
He also received calls from company employees who had been promised large bonuses from CEO Lee Jaei in return for overtime work, and from the lawyer he had met during the day.
The lawyer said that even if Jaei couldn’t secure a recording, if he heard Hong Duyoung’s confession directly with his ears, a reinvestigation would be possible. And if the motorcycle driver who met Jaei this morning had contacted Hong Duyoung, traces of that route would remain. Whether they met directly or communicated through another person.
Doha only learned today, after meeting with the lawyer, that Jaei had been steadily gathering witnesses of similar cases by finding incidents that became motifs for all of Hong Duyoung’s films through acquaintances in the film industry.
When Jaei met the actual protagonist of the film “The Servant,” he apparently shed tears feeling guilty for gaining popularity by appearing in that film while seeing a victim who had actually been gaslighted and exploited by Hong Duyoung for a long time in reality.
Despite parking the car not too far from Hong Duyoung’s house, the reporters were faster. The police arrived at about the same time as Doha.
Doha spends 70% of his energy on loving Jaei. Since his total amount of strength is so great, even after using seven-tenths on Jaei, he still had enough energy left for other things. That’s why he often encouraged Jaei, who couldn’t keep up with his energy when making love. But today he realized. Lee Jaei, who consumed energy much faster than others, was loving Ryu Doha with almost his life.
Although the time he has lived as Lee Doha is shorter than the time he lived as Ryu Doha, the time spent with Jaei is longer as Lee Doha. Doha felt that he relied on and trusted Jaei much more than he thought.
To Lee Doha, who was 130cm tall, the 173cm boy Lee Jaei was like a god who knew everything. He was faithfully fulfilling the role of a signpost with all his might, making any choice a destination without regret.
Lee Jaei still calls himself a cowardly fool just as he introduced himself as a “fool” when he first confessed his love at eight years old, but that’s just one of the anecdotes that reveals his lovability.
When he rides the elevator up and meets Jaei again, he wants to embrace that delicate and sensitive body that receives twice as much of the world’s stimuli as others, and say this:
The bravest genius cat in the world.
