“Why do you ask if you don’t even care.”
“You really don’t hold back, do you. Consistently.”
“Want me to be even less considerate?”
“No thank you. I’ll pass.”
Yoo Sinju had zero tolerance for people who tried to get friendly with him without any real basis for it. Far from being the warm, approachable type, Sinju was the kind of person who never bothered with social niceties — even as a rookie, he had been called arrogant enough to catch serious flak for it. Kindness without reason didn’t exist. With his trust in people at rock bottom, Yoo Sinju preferred someone blunt and transparent over someone polished and fake. In that respect, Park Ian was the complete opposite of what Sinju liked.
“Stop being full of yourself and go on your way.”
Yoo Sinju waved him off, clearly not in the mood for small talk. But Park Ian’s attention suddenly snapped to something behind Yoo Sinju. His expression shifted so quickly it was baffling, and Yoo Sinju, noticing the change, found himself glancing in Park Ian’s direction without thinking. The transformation in his face was so stark that he involuntarily tracked Park Ian as he moved past him.
“Heesung!”
In that instant, Yoo Sinju’s body stiffened sharply.
It was still an unfamiliar name to Sinju — and yet one that had been seared into him with startling intensity. Without meaning to, he turned his head, his expression going hollow.
“Did you go get it yourself?”
Park Ian — second to none among those around him for being difficult — was right now wearing the most warm, animated smile. In front of Moon Heesung.
Moon Heesung, both hands full with shopping bags containing coffee and sandwiches, replied without expression.
“Yes.”
“Oh come on, just send the road manager.”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind.”
Park Ian naturally linked his arm through Moon Heesung’s and they walked side by side. Park Ian wasn’t exactly short, but Moon Heesung had half a head on him, which somehow made them look oddly well-matched. The sight of Park Ian of all people acting soft and amiable toward his manager was absurd enough — but the fact that Moon Heesung was over there managing Park Ian sent Yoo Sinju locking up like something in him had short-circuited.
“Don’t go out on errands like this next time. You’re my head manager now, so I don’t want you stuck with chores like that.”
“Whatever you prefer.”
The two of them moved past him, practically glued together like a matching pair — and Yoo Sinju watched their retreating figures with unsettling eyes. The look in them might have passed for a vein twitching on the surface, or might have looked like something darker taking hold.
……What on earth are those two doing?
“What’s that about…?”
Yoo Sinju muttered into the air with a menacing calm. His new manager had already stepped away to check the waiting room, so the only one left beside him was Shim Yanggu.
“S-sorry?”
At the out-of-nowhere question, Shim Yanggu responded in confusion. One side of Yoo Sinju’s cheek twitched.
“…Right now. The people who just walked past. What was that.”
“That… the manager, the former manager? Is that who you mean?”
What Shim Yanggu had seen pass by were actor Park Ian from the same agency, and Manager Moon Heesung — who had only been Yoo Sinju’s manager for a matter of days.
“Um… I heard Director Cha reassigned his assigned actor….”
“…….”
“And apparently Park Ian’s manager quit not long ago too. I’ve heard Park Ian is a difficult fit as well… but the atmosphere between them looked fine…….”
Shim Yanggu thought better of continuing mid-sentence and pressed his lips shut. The further he went, the more unsettling Yoo Sinju’s expression became.
“Ha… damn……, haha….”
Yoo Sinju bit out the curse with an eerie calm, a strange laugh slipping out. At the chilling sound, Shim Yanggu quietly began inching backward with a terrified look on his face.
Got him out of my sight…, and he pulls this.
Yoo Sinju swallowed the rest of his laugh, eyes sharp and poisonous, and started walking again. Into a life that had grown sluggish and hollow, something he hadn’t felt in a long time came flooding back — spite and stubbornness, brimming to the edge.
**
The new actor he’d been assigned to — Park Ian — turned out to be more compliant than expected. Given that Yoo Sinju had been his first, he thought someone more manageable would feel easier to handle. That assumption didn’t last long.
“I specifically told you to avoid this color!”
There were over ten identical costume sets for today’s shoot. One of them was in a gray tone, and Park Ian seemed to have a particular aversion to that color. He was hurling the clothes at the stylist and causing a scene. If gray was a problem, he could simply pick from the other prepared options — but Park Ian was using it as an excuse to throw a tantrum, and it struck Moon Heesung, watching, that all entertainers were more or less the same in the end. One of the stylists was getting hit by over ten items of clothing and couldn’t say a word. No one said anything — everyone seemed used to this kind of atmosphere.
“I told you I’m shooting with Yoo Sinju today, didn’t I — I specifically said to pay extra attention. Didn’t I say that.”
Just moments ago he had been smiling pleasantly in front of Yoo Sinju, acting perfectly civil — all the while clearly packed with venom on the inside. Moon Heesung stood at the door like a guard, watching the scene with a detached gaze.
“What’s wrong with this necklace. What the hell — don’t you know Yoo Sinju gets sponsored by Cha*el?!”
“We put so much effort into the watch sponsorship… the company said we could only get one….”
The most senior-looking stylist pushed back with some effort.
“Company this, company that — this is all on you people, your ability. Don’t go blaming the company.”
Based on what he’d been briefed during handover, the role Park Ian was shooting today was one that didn’t call for luxury jewelry to begin with. Even if he wore some, he’d clearly get called out by the director — and yet he was still carrying on like this. Moon Heesung had happened to catch the stylists muttering among themselves that Park Ian was putting on an even bigger show of it to flaunt his status in front of all these staff members.
…A paradise of eccentrics.
With that dry internal observation, Moon Heesung thought of Yoo Sinju, whom he’d glimpsed in passing. His face had looked thinner in just the past few days. Moon Heesung had deliberately chosen to accept Director Cha’s offer. Yoo Sinju was hyperventilating and passing out just from the sight of him — stepping back for a little while was simply the right call.
Honestly, he hadn’t anticipated a reaction of that magnitude. What he had anticipated was the possibility that Yoo Sinju might not even recognize him. It had been a long time. This whole thing was nothing more than his own lingering attachment. Having rotted away half his life in prison, that lingering attachment was the only thing he had left.
But against his expectations, Yoo Sinju had recognized him immediately — and was hating him even more than he had imagined. It wasn’t just hatred, either. There was something else coiled deep inside, something closer to loathing. And beneath that, an unspoken grief he could feel too. Even someone as blunt and unreadable as Moon Heesung could sense it — Yoo Sinju’s emotions were that vivid.
“Which one looks better, I said?”
When he came back to himself, Park Ian had already crossed the room and was holding outfits up against himself in front of Moon Heesung. Moon Heesung, unfazed, pointed to the right without missing a beat.
“That one.”
“I asked twice. What happens if your focus is already slipping?”
Park Ian was warm on the surface and sharp underneath. He seemed to genuinely take to Moon Heesung personally, but if his behavior fell short of what he wanted, the smile would cut off mid-laugh and his eyes would go cold. In short — unpredictable.
“My apologies.”
Moon Heesung apologized without any real feeling behind it. In truth, he had no idea which one looked better. His aesthetic sense was close to nonexistent.
“That’s how I am, Heesung. Actually — I’ll call you hyung.”
“…Alright.”
It was a form of address he hadn’t heard in a long time, but Moon Heesung answered without changing expression.
“Hyung, I’m very possessive.”
Park Ian, letting the stylists dress him, watched Moon Heesung through the full-length mirror.
“I heard you were Yoo Sinju’s manager — and I really can’t stand the idea of you having any interest in him because of that.”
“…….”
“Yoo Sinju was staring at you earlier, by the way. Did he not know? That you’re my manager now.”
“As far as I know, Yoo Sinju is older.”
At Moon Heesung’s sudden remark, Park Ian turned away from the mirror to face him directly.
“…And?”
“He’s older, you work at the same company, and he’s your senior. I think it would be better, out of basic courtesy, to use the proper form of address.”
Moon Heesung made the suggestion with his characteristic arrogant politeness, and Park Ian broke into a baffled smile.
“…I heard you were interesting.”
“…….”
“You really are, hyung.”
A freshly assigned manager with no standing, telling him what to do right off the bat — it seemed even Park Ian had never experienced that before, because the smile that crossed his face was a crooked one.
“You flatter me.”
And then that shameless nerve on top of everything else. Park Ian’s smile deepened. The manager Director Cha had slotted in for him was, terrifyingly, exactly Park Ian’s type. Not professionally — personally. The styling was rough around the edges, but the height, the build, the indifferent voice, the dry yet cool energy, the unadorned presence, and the face half-hidden behind that carelessly grown-out hair. After Yoo Sinju, Park Ian was the second person giving Director Cha the most headaches.
“Did that come across as a compliment?”
“Wasn’t it?”
“…Let’s say it was.”
Park Ian — who, scheduling aside, attended debauched private gatherings on a near-daily basis and lived far more recklessly than anyone would guess — felt a familiar itch stirring at that indifference. Which was precisely why he hadn’t bothered making an issue of that arrogant attitude, even after all the theatrics earlier. If anything, he liked it. Having a man who fit his taste radiating appeal he’d never seen before made his skin prickle with wanting.
Even with a shoot right around the corner, Park Ian was already turning over in his mind how he might get that manager into bed — and he smoothed over the dangerous edge in his expression and let his easy smile return.
