# Chapter 81
His eyes met with Seo Eunho’s. Jaei exchanged a light eye greeting with him and immediately averted his gaze. Similar ringtones could happen to anyone. The incident quickly disappeared from Jaei’s mind.
Since Seo Eunho appeared as someone in Doha’s circle, whenever Lee Jaei and Seo Eunho had overlapping shoots, Ryu Doha was always present at the location as well. However, Doha wasn’t appearing in today’s shoot.
The current scene being filmed was as follows: Jaei, playing the role of a young photography professor at a university, becomes concerned about Doha’s whereabouts when he doesn’t attend the practical class. He suspects that the female lead, whom he hasn’t been able to contact since the night before, spent the previous night with Doha.
At this very moment, Doha is filming with the female lead at a different location. Until now, Doha had always inserted himself between them, ensuring that Jaei and Seo Eunho never had contact alone. Jaei, who always listened attentively to Doha, reminded himself once more of Doha’s warning not to be alone with Seo Eunho. Of course, with the many staff and supporting actors around, there was nothing to worry about even without Doha’s presence.
While filming a scene of a studio photography practice with students, a minor accident occurred. A standing light taller than a person toppled toward Jaei. It could have injured his face or head if things had gone wrong. In that situation, the person who most actively stepped in and caught the falling light was none other than Seo Eunho. Eunho stretched out both hands and desperately protected Jaei’s face.
“Be careful, your face is your livelihood.”
In that moment, Jaei couldn’t help but feel deeply moved. He expressed his gratitude with all his heart.
“Thank you so much, Eunho-ssi.”
Seventeen-year-old Seo Eunho, who came to the set alone without a manager, simply returned to his position.
Jaei thought that, as a decent human being, he should properly express his thanks. This wasn’t about ignoring Doha’s warning to never let down his guard even when someone was being nice. Being cautious of Seo Eunho and fulfilling his own responsibilities were separate matters. He only wanted to have a brief conversation while his personal staff were standing by, so there was no risk of danger.
After filming ended and while the drama production team was packing up, Jaei started a conversation with Seo Eunho over drinks. Surprisingly, Jaei could see that Seo Eunho’s phone lock screen was a photo of Lee Jaei—himself. It was the light blue ribbon photo that Doha had recently taken and uploaded. Eunho, noticing Jaei’s gaze directed at his phone screen, said:
“Like I told you before, I really like you, Jaei-ssi.”
“I couldn’t believe you were serious. I naturally thought you would hate me.”
“At first, my fondness was mixed with some resentment. But as time passed, that all disappeared. Now, if someone speaks badly of Lee Jaei-ssi, I step forward and tell them that’s not who you are. I can even show you the comments I’ve posted.”
Jaei smiled and shook his head, saying that wasn’t necessary. Then he said sincerely:
“To be honest, I thought that if I continued working actively, it would hurt Eunho-ssi’s feelings. So I briefly considered retirement. But that’s difficult for me. I love this work, and I don’t know how to do anything else. I’m truly sorry.”
Seo Eunho was shocked. Or more precisely, he became indignant.
“What are you talking about? Keep working hard. Don’t ever retire! Who gives you permission to retire?”
Then he continued to ramble about what he wanted to say.
“I really loved watching ‘Fruit Bat.’ Now I just see myself in your character in that movie. I’ll cherish it dearly until the day I die.”
“I couldn’t imagine that Eunho-ssi would be able to watch that movie with such feelings.”
Seo Eunho didn’t respond to Jaei’s question. Jaei continued:
“I don’t know how you’ll take this, but… I really want you to be happy now, Eunho-ssi. I’ll do whatever I can to make that happen.”
“Whatever… you’ll do? Really?”
For a moment, Eunho’s eyes sparkled. So Jaei quickly added conditions once more:
“Among the things I can do. Wanting to date me or asking for Doha is absolutely not possible. Those are things I cannot do.”
Then Seo Eunho replied with a gentle smile. It was a smile Jaei had never seen before.
“Just maintain your position as the best actor like you are now. And keep seeing Doha.”
He appeared much more stable than when they first met. Jaei smiled along with him.
Doha, who had finished his schedule with another filming team, contacted Jaei’s manager and joined Jaei. He heard from Jaei’s staff about the kindness Seo Eunho had shown Jaei today. It was a perfect episode to soften the already tender-hearted Jaei. Before Jaei’s heart completely melted into a slime, Doha thought he should take active measures.
Doha was momentarily lost in deep thought as he watched the backs of Jaei and Seo Eunho sitting side by side at the table, chatting. Soon, he strode up behind them and said:
“Want to go see a movie today?”
“Oh? Doha.”
Jaei turned around with a bright smile, happy to hear his voice. He was about to answer, “Sure, we’re off tomorrow anyway,” but noticed that Doha’s gaze was directed not at him but at Seo Eunho. Making direct eye contact with Seo Eunho, Doha repeated:
“Let’s go, Eunho. We can have dinner together too.”
Only then did he shift his gaze to Jaei and said:
“Hyung, go home and get some rest. I won’t come back too late.”
After staring blankly at Doha with his mouth open, Jaei blinked five times and then replied:
“Oh, you want to do that? Go ahead. Do you need some pocket money?”
Jaei smoothly handled the awkward silence he had created. And in that moment, both Doha and Jaei could clearly perceive: if Seo Eunho wanted to be the lover of either Ryu Doha or Lee Jaei, it was definitely Ryu Doha. Seo Eunho, who had received a date invitation from Doha, was showing an expression never seen before.
Doha gave Jaei a secretive glance and reached out to draw a heart on Jaei’s cheek with his finger. Jaei kissed that finger as it moved away.
“Doha, Doha.”
The voice now wasn’t Lee Jaei’s. It was Seo Eunho’s. Doha had an incredulous smile. Seo Eunho, who had been watching and observing them on set all this time, was blatantly imitating Lee Jaei’s manner of speech and making similar expressions. Doha also confirmed that Eunho had the same ringtone as Jaei and had set Jaei’s picture as his lock screen.
The movie they watched with Seo Eunho today was “The Secret Envoy,” which Jaei had filmed last year. After thoroughly enjoying the film, Seo Eunho began to analyze Jaei’s acting in detail. Doha, who had been casually agreeing while wearing his hat pulled low during dinner, began to ask the questions he’d wanted to ask.
“That lie about us being in a relationship. Was it because of Jaei or because of me? I’m confused.”
“I never lied. You really made me misunderstand.”
It was such an unexpected answer that Doha could only laugh hollowly. Seo Eunho continued:
“When I met you again after 13 years, I realized it. That I liked you. Ah, I’d been waiting here for you to return, so if I came back to life, I should find you. That’s what I thought. But you flatly denied it. My feelings changed a lot after that day. If you had liked me too, wouldn’t many things have been different? Like, my life plans.”
It was a meaningful story. Doha, deliberately not adding any comments, completely changed the subject. After chatting about useless gossip for a while, he brought up what he wanted to say.
“Have you ever failed to prevent a hiding soul from rushing in and claiming an empty body? I’ve prevented all of them. Because such things shouldn’t happen.”
Seo Eunho answered brightly:
“I’ve rarely been successful at preventing it. That’s why it took 13 years.”
He was so cheerful that it was infuriating. Doha tried to suppress his anger as he asked:
“I see. Then what happens to the soul whose body was taken? Do they lose their chance for reincarnation?”
“Since they’re officially still alive, of course they can’t go to the afterlife and can’t be reincarnated. With nowhere to go, they just vanish forever. Leaving their body behind.”
Seo Eunho said with an amused smile.
In that moment, Doha lowered his head to hide his devastated expression. He could figure it all out from their conversation today.
Now he clearly understood the reasons: why Seo Eunho didn’t seek out his sister after reincarnation, why he rejected Lee Jaei’s offer to sign him as an actor and help with his future acting career, preferring to appear just briefly on screen, why he didn’t hold any particular grudge against Hong Duyoung, why he had no intention of resolving his resentment and grievances—in short, why he treated his life as “Seo Eunho” like a temporary residence despite having reincarnated with such difficulty.
Because everything becomes unnecessary once the goal is achieved.
As soon as Doha opened the front door, a small, round ball of cotton shaped like Lee Jaei flew into his arms. Doha embraced it preciously with both hands and said:
“Oh, this is my boyfriend! Our baby.”
While Doha was kissing the tiny Jaei, now numerous mini Dohas began to fly at him in succession. Jaei, who currently owned as many as 50 mini Dohas, continued to attack Doha with cotton balls without stopping. Doha, holding the small Lee Jaei in his arms, rolled on the floor to protect his boyfriend from big Jaei’s attacks.
“I’ll protect you with my life! Jaei!”
“Doha. I got stressed waiting for you and got gray hair. For real!”
