Checking his wristwatch, Siwoo turned his gaze from the window to look at Evan sitting next to him. He truly envied him. To be honest, he’d been continuously envying him for a long time. Even if he regressed again, he would envy him.
The first time, the second time—whenever Siwoo debuted in the profession of singer, Evan also debuted as a member of the group Ocean every time. Even when Siwoo wasn’t a celebrity and was living university life, he was a star.
There was no dark period, and from the moment of their debut, Ocean, which gathered the world’s attention, firmly maintained their position at the top. Their promotional periods never overlapped even once, so this was the first time seeing him in person like this.
He’d never once been invited to the various year-end award ceremonies where he could meet many celebrities.
Siwoo lowered his table, rested his chin on it, and properly looked at his profile.
As expected, he’s an Alpha.
That was the first thought that came to mind. Coming and going to broadcast stations, Alphas and Omegas were familiar beings to him. But Evan had a different feeling.
Hair dyed deep gray, a profile with strong lines, clean yet natural makeup as if he’d been to a salon.
This was also a broadcast, but he was ashamed of himself for not doing anything, thinking it was the end of his life anyway.
I should have dyed my hair a bright color, and even if I couldn’t go to a salon, I should have at least applied some BB cream. At least some lip balm on my dry lips.
Still, this regression seemed somewhat okay. He had financial comfort, traveled to various countries, and saw many beautiful and wonderful things. With his gaze fixed on Evan’s face as if he were a painting, Siwoo’s head filled with various thoughts. Above all, he hoped it wouldn’t be a plane accident.
Suddenly Evan turned his head, and their eyes met precisely. Realizing this fact, he should have immediately turned his gaze away, but he couldn’t. Evan slightly frowned, then raised his hand to sweep back his softly waved hair.
Siwoo tilted his head. Handsome people really look cool doing anything. The rumor that regardless of Alpha, Omega, Beta, men, women, young or old, if eyes meet they’re captivated within 3 seconds wasn’t false.
He couldn’t move his gaze from his face.
“Coco.”
“Hm?”
“Do you like my face?”
Siwoo, who had been resting his chin and appreciating him without avoiding eye contact even when their gazes met, blinked rapidly at his smirking expression.
Barely escaping from their entangled gazes, he quickly turned his eyes to look at his left wrist.
12:01.
The spell was broken. He hadn’t died, and for now, no one he knew had died either. There was no problem with the plane. While looking at the watch, the last digit changed to 2.
Siwoo bit down hard on his trembling lower lip. He couldn’t think of anything, and his heart began to beat rapidly. Along with that, his left chest ached, and he couldn’t breathe comfortably.
A water droplet fell with a plop onto the watch. It took quite a long time for one drop to fall, but once it started, the droplets continued to fall on the watch, the back of his hand, and his arm.
When his face became damp, he carelessly wiped his face with his right hand.
In the meantime, the last digit changed to 3.
He’d awakened from a terrible nightmare. The moment he realized that fact, rather than joy and elation, anxiety swept over him. Siwoo knew the repeating time all too well, but the future was a first.
“Coco.”
“What… what’s today’s date?”
Still looking at the watch, Siwoo released his bitten lip and threw out the question in a trembling voice. Perhaps the watch had broken.
“November 12th.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. November 12th. 12:04 AM.”
“Thank goodness. Really, thank goodness.”
Siwoo buried his face in both hands. And he didn’t hold back the tears flowing out. He bit down hard on his lower lip to avoid making crying sounds. He wasn’t crying from sadness or from happiness. If someone asked why he was crying, he couldn’t give a reason.
The tears just overflowed.
“Right. Thank goodness.”
Lost in his own emotions, Siwoo didn’t hear what Evan said. Siwoo didn’t know what he said or in what kind of voice.
How long had he cried? Sniffling, Siwoo rummaged through his backpack and took out a handkerchief. He roughly wiped his face soaked with tears and called the flight attendant.
He asked for warm water and to unfold his seat so he could rest comfortably, then went into the bathroom. Seeing his reddened nose tip and puffy swollen eyes from crying, he immediately washed his face with cold water. There was no time to lose his mind.
A new reality had unfolded. He didn’t know when he might return again, but he intended to do his best in this moment. The reason he’d been able to endure through countless regressions until now was thanks to his optimistic personality.
He wiped his face, even redder from the cold water, with the handkerchief and took a deep breath.
He didn’t want to unnecessarily draw people’s attention. Pretending to wipe his face with the handkerchief, he returned to his seat.
Thanks to his small build, he sat on the unfolded first-class seat where he could rest quite comfortably and first took off his shoes.
He drank the warm water the flight attendant brought, properly wore a moisturizing mask, then put on a heated eye mask to soothe his swollen eyes. He lay down comfortably and pulled the blanket up over his head. Suddenly, sleep rushed over him unbearably. Many things confused his mind, but Siwoo closed his eyes and chose to fall into the sleep pulling him in.
“Coco.”
At the low, quiet voice, Siwoo raised his hand and fiddled with his ear. The voice calling his nickname and the hand carefully touching his shoulder drove away the sleep that had permeated his entire body. He tried to slowly open his eyes but felt stuffiness, so he fumbled with his hands and first removed the heated eye mask.
“Are you awake?”
After blinking his bleary eyes a few times, he involuntarily flinched back at the tall face visible right in front of him.
Evan.
The moment he recognized whose face it was, everything that happened before he fell asleep vividly came to mind.
“I was going to let you sleep more, but I thought you’d be hungry.”
Evan, who had bent down to match the eye level of Siwoo lying on the comfortably wide unfolded seat, spoke truly gently.
“Hm?”
“You skipped the first in-flight meal, but I think you should eat now.”
Siwoo sat up unable to hide his dazed expression. Looking at his watch, he covered his mouth with the back of his hand and yawned lazily. More than half of the flight time had already passed. That meant he’d slept for quite a long time, and it indeed proved that he hadn’t returned to the past.
Confirming that Siwoo was fully awake, Evan returned to his seat.
Although it was an airline famous for delicious in-flight meals, he had no appetite and just poked at it with his fork. Then he looked that way like a startled rabbit at the sound of a voice from beside him.
As expected of a superstar, not just anyone could be an idol. Unlike Siwoo who had completely forgotten about the self-cam, Evan was speaking in a quiet voice.
He was talking about how much flight time had passed and about the second meal.
“I think I’m fine, but Siwoo doesn’t seem to find it tasty.”
When his name suddenly popped out of Evan’s mouth, Siwoo opened his round eyes even rounder and looked at him.
“Ah. Really, the nickname Coco fits Siwoo perfectly. When you open your eyes wide like that, you look even more like a quokka. Your cheeks are chubby too. Siwoo-ya, say something.”
Soon he appeared in the camera angle Evan was holding, but Siwoo still blinked with the tip of the spoon slightly in his mouth.
“Actually, Siwoo just woke up not long ago. He must have been tired because he fell asleep as soon as the plane took off, and I just woke him up. Told him to eat and sleep. But he’s not eating much and doing that.”
When Siwoo didn’t answer in time, Evan continued speaking with a pleasant smile so there wouldn’t be dead air.
“I was so excited about today’s filming that I couldn’t sleep yesterday. I loaded a bunch of movies on my laptop, but I couldn’t watch any of them.”
Having been spacing out for a moment, Siwoo quickly removed the spoon from his mouth and spoke. What he filmed alone had an extremely low probability of being broadcast, but what Evan filmed would definitely make it, even as an episode. While he was speaking enthusiastically, a plate with iced persimmon was placed on his table. He’d already finished eating his own that just came out.
“Siwoo likes iced persimmon. You know, right? That I don’t like persimmons.”
Having already eaten one, Siwoo was about to say it was okay, but at Evan’s words, he closed his lips that had been moving. How does he know I like iced persimmon, and more than that, at the following words about not liking persimmons, he couldn’t refuse.
Siwoo picked up the spoon he’d put down again. He had to eat it when it was moderately crispy before it completely melted and became mushy. Not knowing whether he’d continue filming with him or what, he glanced at his self-cam.
“Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.”
After saying a few more words and turning off the camera, Evan spoke quietly, and Siwoo took a bite of the iced persimmon clamoring to be eaten quickly.
There were many modifiers following Evan around. Starting from being an Alpha, his outstanding appearance, his musical ability to freely cross between rap and vocals. Even his dancing skills were full of praise. They said even his personality was the best, and it seemed all of that wasn’t false.
He was treating Siwoo, whom he’d just met and barely exchanged a few words with, as if they were close friends who’d known each other for years. Thanks to his outstanding affinity, Siwoo felt extremely comfortable with him. Above all, he was curious about how he knew so much about him, but since it didn’t seem like a question he should ask with his own mouth, he kept his lips tightly shut.
Only after Evan finished eating and fell asleep did Siwoo turn on his laptop and put in earphones. While watching a hot action movie, Siwoo glanced at the sleeping Evan several times. He couldn’t quite concentrate on the movie.
Now he’d become a servant attending to four Alphas and two Omegas. The 8 nights and 10 days seemed like they would be very long. He couldn’t quite predict what he’d be like when this filming ended. And he couldn’t predict what would happen after the broadcast aired either.
This broadcast might elevate him to stardom. Even if it was just riding on the popularity of the most popular stars, if he rose high even briefly, he might get a glimpse of their lives.
But conversely, the probability was also high that he’d be buried without even becoming an issue, being about as significant as their doormat.
“If it flops, I’ll just go to the military.”
Siwoo muttered as if it was nothing and closed his eyes.
