# Chapter 36
“I just got a call from a staff member. They said an actor in the drama has a face and way of speaking that’s remarkably similar to Ryu Doha. So I checked it on TV, and at first, I couldn’t recognize him because it’s the face of a grown adult. But the more I watched, I could see the exact same habits Ryu Doha used when acting. The vocalization, the way he uses his face when expressing emotions—they’re all similar. The strangest thing is that the actor’s name is also Ryu Doha. What the hell is going on? If possible, check DBS now. You’d recognize him best.”
Jaei rubbed his smooth, delicately pink fingernails with his thumb while blinking slowly. Then he replied in an utterly indifferent, nonchalant tone.
“Oh, really? Has Doha come back to life? That’s nice. I should make sure to watch that drama.”
“What are you saying? Don’t joke around.”
“Maybe he came back to life because it was so unfair to die at such a young age?”
“You know I hate it when you joke about serious matters.”
“What can I do if the director doesn’t like it? I’m not feeling serious and want to joke around.”
“Lee Jaei, why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“Why do you take my jokes so seriously, Director? How could a dead person come back to life? It’s so unrealistic that you wouldn’t even make a film about it, right?”
* * *
In a barren environment where the seed of handsome young actors had dried up, Doha became a visual ray of light and as expected, began to be the talk of female viewers immediately after the broadcast. Since it was a special drama featuring teenagers, the ratings weren’t particularly high. It became a topic of conversation exactly at the level Jaei had predicted. Not overly popular, but a sufficiently successful debut.
By the third week of the drama’s broadcast, Doha, now a hot topic, wasn’t particularly interested in opinions praising his looks or acting. Some would find him handsome, others would find him unattractive. Some would be satisfied with his acting, others would find it lacking. In any case, since the work had already been filmed, he couldn’t fix any shortcomings even if they were pointed out.
With an expressionless face, he would mutter “Yes, thank you” out loud whenever he saw a positive comment, and “Yes, I’m sorry” whenever he saw a negative one, while his eyes darted around busily. Doha was currently meticulously collecting evidence about his own existence.
He had been desperately waiting for this day to come. From now on, he wouldn’t be surprised by anything that happened in his life. For example, if someone posted, “The snail we raised 11 years ago has become human and is appearing in a drama. Our first meeting was over napa cabbage,” he was prepared to humbly accept that his identity was indeed a snail.
Lee Doha had been the most popular student in his school since elementary school. Students from Haesung High School also went everywhere Doha’s story appeared and filled the spaces with beautiful anecdotes. There were plenty of lovely reviews saying he was “handsome, tall, kind, had a good personality, never cursed even once, and was never seen getting angry.”
But among these beautiful stories, there were occasionally eerie rumors mixed in. Doha’s optic nerves thoroughly responded not to the beautiful stories but to these unsettling rumors.
“Why do I feel like I’ve seen this actor in a previous life? I was shocked while watching the drama. Does this person have an older brother by any chance? And is his real name Ryu Doha?”
Current Haesung High School students, with the robust energy of youth, proudly shared Doha’s personal information without his consent, thrilled that someone they knew was on TV.
RE: I’ve been in the same school as Doha since elementary and we’re in the same high school now. His real name isn’t Ryu Doha but Lee Doha! And his cousin is a famous celebrity! Doha doesn’t go around saying this, but kids who live in the same apartment complex know. Only our homeroom teacher and a few students know, so I won’t write which celebrity it is. Doha always was careful in case it caused trouble for his hyung.
RE: RE: His cousin is a famous celebrity?
RE: RE: Yes, I’m pretty sure they’re cousins? Anyway, he does have a brother but said he’s not a biological brother.
RE: RE: I see. There seems to be some complicated story with his family. I think I have a general idea, but I’ll stop here since writing my thoughts might spread rumors.
Child detective Lee Doha, wearing black horn-rimmed glasses and sitting with perfect posture while gripping a wireless mouse and keyboard to track down the past, slammed his fist on the desk. He leaned forward as if he would be sucked into the screen of his well-positioned tablet PC, then straightened his neck and back again to maintain his posture and politely pleaded.
“Please spread the rumors. I absolutely promise not to sue.”
He started to feel breathless from frustration. He set out to find more evidence.
“This person looks so much like my elementary school classmate and has the same name. I thought he lied about his age to debut, but there are graduation photos and classmates who go to school with him now. What’s going on? But he looks too young to be my age. There’s quite an age difference.”
RE: Did you move to a different region for middle school?
RE: RE: Yes, I moved when I was in 6th grade.
RE: RE: I graduated from the same elementary school around the same time as you, and I think I know who you’re talking about. That kid couldn’t debut. Because… So I think it’s a family member or relative. Seems like the name has been changed.
It felt like he was choking. Doha pounded his desk with his fist repeatedly and shouted.
“Tell me too!”
To summarize the evidence so far: there’s another person named “Ryu Doha.” He’s quite a bit older than me. And Lee Doha looks enough like that Ryu Doha to be presumed his younger brother or relative. So where is that Ryu Doha now? Why is everyone being cautious and stopping mid-sentence? If he’s really my family or relative, why do I remember my name as Ryu Doha?
Goosebumps spread across his skin, and a chill ran down his spine. An eerie energy was spreading behind him. Doha slowly turned his head to look back. He wasn’t alone in the room. When had he come in? Jaei had quietly entered the room like a cat and was lying on the bed with his arm as a pillow, watching the young detective’s investigation.
Terrified, Doha ran to the bed and shrank his large body to dive into Jaei’s arms. Blinking his large, round eyes, he looked up at Jaei.
“Hyung, I’m scared. It seems there’s another person called Ryu Doha besides me. What on earth is going on?”
But Jaei knew that Doha’s eyes, pretending to be pitiful and trembling in his arms, were full of curiosity. He kissed Doha’s eyelids, who was doing such a good job of acting scared, and gently rubbed his back with his palm.
“Let’s go to the company tomorrow to sign the contract. The contract announcement will be released right after the drama ends next week. There will also be an announcement saying we’ll immediately sue without leniency for spreading false information about you, and we’ll register a new official profile on portal sites. I’ve also arranged an interview with a reporter, so just talk comfortably and be yourself.”
Jaei had left a company that had neglected and abandoned him to malicious comments, baseless rumors, false information, malicious articles, and privacy violations for the past seven years. Since the company took no action, the young Lee Doha said he would protect his hyung and actively reported these violations himself. Stock losses truly had no impact whatsoever on his contract renewal.
What saddened Jaei the most was that the story of “Lee Jaei’s best friend who died in middle school” was circulating in a strange way. That friend’s death had somehow become evidence of Jaei being gay.
Former classmates who weren’t close to Jaei compiled interviews where he mentioned losing his first love, and testified that “the dead kid was a boy.” They had used Doha’s death to create gossip about actor Lee Jaei and to substantiate rumors that Jaei was dating Hong Duyoung. Back then, he cried so much out of guilt toward Doha that he couldn’t function normally for a week.
After establishing a new company and starting fresh, he had declared all-out war against those who excreted useless words with their fingers. Perhaps the biggest reason his former classmates were now being careful with their keyboards and restraining their fingers was that to explain the story of Ryu Doha who died in a motorcycle accident 12 years ago, they would inevitably have to bring up actor Lee Jaei as well.
Actor Lee Jaei had requested that CEO Lee Jaei prioritize the safety and protection of actors when they signed the contract. So naturally, Doha as a contracted actor was no exception. There was a time when Jaei endured by hurting himself. He didn’t care what people said about him or how he was dragged through the mud. At some point, it became so familiar that it felt normal. Only recently did he realize that state was the most dangerous.
Not anymore. He would be healthier than anyone, maintain a stable state, and not get hurt physically or emotionally. That was the only way he could take responsibility for Doha.
And he would clearly show Hong Duyoung. He didn’t know what Duyoung considered “art,” but he would demonstrate that an actor could deliver excellent performances without destroying their body and mind.
Doha, who had been pretending to be fragile in Jaei’s arms to receive his affection, wiped away the fear he had forcibly plastered on his face, escaped from Jaei’s embrace, and said in a low, thick voice.
“CEO, wait a moment. I’m curious about my rumors. Please don’t stop people from talking about me.”
Jaei bumped his forehead against Doha’s incredibly bright and innocent forehead.
