“I want to choke your neck. Can I?”
It was really strange. The violence that didn’t come out well in front of other people boiled up uncontrollably when with Hwi-gyeom.
“No……”
At the tearful voice, he barely came to his senses. For a moment, he’d almost really choked Hwi-gyeom’s neck. Yi-hyun raised his eyebrows and smiled like a boy.
At the innocent smile, Hwi-gyeom stealthily bit the flesh inside his lips.
“Why? Hyung likes painful things.”
Stretching out the end of his words, Yi-hyun tilted his head. Hwi-gyeom inwardly flinched but averted his gaze and bit his rolled lips.
The body’s owner hated painful things. He’d just stayed docile because he didn’t have the courage to resist. Being a tender-hearted person, he was hurt a lot even by thoughtless words the three people said.
“……Yeah. Right.”
There was no strength at all in his voice. At the face deeply resigned, Yi-hyun lowered his head and kissed Hwi-gyeom’s cheek.
When Hwi-gyeom raised his head while covering his cheek with his hand, he playfully made smacking sounds kissing his lips repeatedly.
“Okay. I won’t choke. So relax your expression. I was just joking.”
Because even toys break if handled too roughly.
Yi-hyun recalled the parrot he’d received as a gift when young. Finding it fascinating that it mimicked speech and being quite smart too, he carried it around all day.
Then one day, he’d just stroked its head because it was pretty, but the parrot pecked his finger. When he came to his senses a moment later, the parrot was already dead.
He was very upset. Looking at the parrot that no longer called his name, he starved for three days and nights. His parents, unable to watch, bought him a new parrot, but it couldn’t be the same as the dead one.
After that, he didn’t raise pets. Because he didn’t want to experience the same sense of loss.
Why was he thinking of that time now? Yi-hyun fell into thought while fiddling with Hwi-gyeom’s cheek. The small face seemed like it could be completely covered with one hand.
Even when he applied slight force, Hwi-gyeom only frowned around his eyes but didn’t push him away. Or was it that he couldn’t?
For a while, Hwi-gyeom had withered like someone who’d lost all vitality. Then from one day, he smiled prettily like when they first met. He talked well too, and his eyes were bright.
From Yi-hyun’s perspective, it was good. Because he could play with Hwi-gyeom enjoyably again.
But why did he suddenly regain energy?
Ah, is it because of that?
“President Hong gave you a script, right? I talked well to that side. That they’d regret it if they let hyung go.”
“Script?”
At the word script, Hwi-gyeom’s eyes widened. What is this? At the face full of puzzlement as if hearing it for the first time, Yi-hyun’s eyes became thin as threads.
“I mean the drama script. I sent it to President Hong a while ago. Saying I’d insert hyung.”
“……I haven’t received it yet.”
The finely trembling pupils were pitiful. Yi-hyun fiddled with Hwi-gyeom’s sideburns and stood up from his spot. Hwi-gyeom, suddenly pushed to the sofa, looked up at Yi-hyun with a surprised face.
Looking at that face made him want to flip him over right away and pound him, but vibration sounded from the watch on his wrist. It was a message from his manager saying he’d arrived in front of the officetel building.
Since he’d stopped by taking a brief break, he had to go. Contrary to the public’s view that Yi-hyun did acting activities as a hobby, he was quite serious about this work. He had never once blown off a schedule.
“Hmm. I’ll talk with President Hong. It’s a drama made from bringing a famous webtoon original IP, so it has quite a bit of buzz. The director isn’t a complete novice either. Moreover, the leading candidate for the female lead is ThirTease’s Sim Hye-ryeong. You know ThirTease, right?”
“Yeah.”
At Yi-hyun’s words, Hwi-gyeom made an excited expression. The relationship between the two was like a crocodile and a plover bird. A symbiotic relationship where they each had something to gain. The body’s owner was one-sidedly exploited in this relationship, but Hwi-gyeom wasn’t. He intended to extract as much as he could.
“……Can I really get a good role if I audition?”
Originally, Hwi-gyeom’s dream was also to be an actor. He’d acted quite well too. However, because of his ordinary appearance that didn’t stand out anywhere, he repeatedly failed auditions.
[Ah, your appearance is too disappointing. If you were at least ugly but had character, I would have used you as a supporting role, but you look too ordinary. Maybe as an extra, but supporting role seems difficult.]
Though his acting ability was okay, he always heard that his appearance was lacking. Still, wanting to land even a small bit part, he continued auditioning while working part-time, but at a young age he was given a terminal diagnosis. After that, he lived a depressed life until death. There was no joy in life at all.
When he thought everything was over, he gained a new opportunity. He’d even entered the body of someone with far more wonderful appearance than what Hwi-gyeom had dreamed of.
“With hyung’s appearance, up to supporting male lead is possible. They said there are almost no lines. Since it’s a university student role, great acting ability won’t be necessary either. You can definitely do that much, right? It’s fine to audition for the male lead role too. Whatever it is, I’ll try hard so hyung can definitely film the drama this time.”
For the first time, Yi-hyun’s expression slightly crumbled. He couldn’t make eye contact with Hwi-gyeom and rolled his eyes slightly. Since he’d lived a life where others watched his mood from birth, Yi-hyun had little talent for lying.
Suddenly, the image of Hwi-gyeom acting came to mind. Yi-hyun quite liked Hwi-gyeom, but he absolutely never wanted to act with him. Hwi-gyeom’s acting had the power to make even his partner look like they were acting badly.
“Anyway, be prepared. When you receive the script, memorize all the supporting male lead’s lines without fail. You can do at least this much, right?”
Yi-hyun asked while lightly stroking Hwi-gyeom’s head. Hwi-gyeom quickly nodded.
After seeing Yi-hyun off, Hwi-gyeom belatedly took care of his meal. While eating the lunch box heated in the microwave, Hwi-gyeom searched for ThirTease on his phone. Since it was such a popular group, numerous information came up.
“Wow, her SNS follower count is 5 million.”
Seeing the follower count of Hye-ryeong, the most popular among ThirTease members, his mouth fell open.
Hwi-gyeom reflected his own face on the phone screen. With this level of appearance, getting up to 1 million followers seems doable.
The problem was the contract written with the agency president. The president absolutely had no intention of letting Hwi-gyeom go free. As a goose laying golden eggs, he planned to use him thoroughly until all the juice was squeezed out, then discard him later when he got old. Or completely destroy him.
“I do need to deal with the agency president though……”
Hwi-gyeom muttered while cleaning up the finished lunch box. He looked around inside the officetel. The structure with one room and an attached living room was just right for living alone.
Though what was visible outside the window was another officetel building, so even during the day he had to live with the curtains covering the windows, it was much better than the semi-basement studio he’d lived in before.
However, considering the money and interests Hwi-gyeom brought in while receiving sponsorship, at minimum he should have been given an officetel with a Han River view.
It was when he was lost in thought, tapping the table top with his fingertips. Bzzzz. Vibration sounded from the phone placed on the table.
Looking at the message that appeared on the screen, Hwi-gyeom grinned.
“Can’t be a gentleman, huh.”
It was a message from the agency president saying he’d send Manager Kim tomorrow morning so come to the company. Looking at the message with only the business briefly written, his fingertips turned cold.
Hwi-gyeom familiarly rubbed his hands. Though the body’s owner had left, his memories remained wholly with Hwi-gyeom. Perhaps because of that, when the body’s owner felt extreme fear, reactions came to the body like this.
But Hwi-gyeom found even this situation fun. Having experienced all sorts of things before dying, most things were whatever to him.
“I should watch a horror movie and sleep today.”
Preferably a horror movie with ugly gangsters appearing. I should watch one where they die miserably at the end.
2.
“Did Hwi-gyeom arrive?”
At the gentle voice, Hwi-gyeom whistled inwardly. This person definitely wasn’t ordinary either. He was impressed every time he saw him.
A kind-looking man in his 40s wearing rimless glasses smiled benevolently at Hwi-gyeom. It was none other than Hong Du-shik, the president of PP Entertainment, the company Hwi-gyeom belonged to.
