# Chapter 72
Jaei tilted his head as he checked the contents displayed on the tablet PC, then turned toward Doha. With one hand propping his chin, Jaei blinked mischievously and asked Doha, “Do you feel like we’re compatible, Doha-ssi?”
“That’s why we’re close, aren’t we?”
Doha, who still didn’t know much about Jaei but was definitely feeling like he liked him a lot, answered evasively. After all, it was true that Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei had maintained a friendship for a very long time. Jaei nodded and stared at the camera, speaking deliberately.
“Well, everyone has different innate qualities. People’s natural personalities might really not match, but when you spend a long time together, you start to resemble each other. Habits, expressions. Especially speech patterns become very similar. Even when friends chat for a long time over messenger, they end up using similar speaking styles, right? With friends you’ve known for a long time, your speech habits become alike. Using similar words, speaking in similar sentences.”
Then he turned his head again to look at Kim Ilhun. Jaei spoke as if trying to convince him, who was arguing that “Ryu Doha and Lee Jaei aren’t compatible with each other.”
“Even if you know your personalities are too different and don’t match, you can still like the other person. In those cases, try making small concessions and efforts for each other. Then it’s really possible to maintain a good relationship for a very long time.”
Behind Jaei, who was giving a speech based on his experience, Doha chimed in with a small voice, “Right, right.” Soon, Doha got hold of the tablet PC and after directly confirming the text saying that Kim Ilhun and Jaei’s personality types were the most compatible match, he pouted his lips. However, for the sake of smooth content filming, he tucked his lips back in and continued with the progress in a slightly awkward and naive tone befitting a young rookie.
“What aspects do you two sunbaenim think make you compatible with each other?”
Kim Ilhun, who had been fidgeting with his hands nervously thinking he’d lost the focus to Doha, shouted as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“No matter what I do, Jaei-ssi accepts it all. Even when others don’t laugh, Jaei-ssi laughs alone.”
Lee Jaei, an actor of eight years, didn’t deny those words and nodded.
“That’s right. He’s a fun friend. When I’m with Ilhun-ssi, I feel like I can keep laughing without thinking much. I’m a bit introverted, but since Ilhun-ssi doesn’t get shy around new people, I feel comfortable too. And he’s so honest. You can tell everything he’s thinking.”
He smiled, thinking of Kim Ilhun who didn’t hide his desire to openly ride the “Lee Jaei bus.” After confirming Jaei’s change in expression, Doha’s lips subtly pouted out again. But like a professional, Doha tapped his lips with his finger to tuck them back in.
Kim Ilhun started excitedly sharing how he became friends with Jaei, who was the same age as him.
“We really get along well. There was this one time…”
Since he hadn’t asked and wasn’t curious either, Doha just let his words flow in one ear and out the other. At this moment, Doha felt frustrated that he couldn’t recall any memories with Jaei. And he stared fixedly at Jaei, who was laughing happily while looking at Kim Ilhun. Just as he started to feel somewhat sulky and forced a smile, Jaei, who had fairly extracted content from both sides, suddenly became serious and wrapped up this segment of the content.
“But I only look at these things for fun.”
And finally, he left an educational message like a public service announcement.
“When you meet people, don’t make hasty judgments about your relationships based on personality types. Someone you think you don’t match well with might unexpectedly become your most precious connection.”
Doha discarded his momentary sulkiness and smiled. Jaei, who had his gaze elsewhere, naturally reached out his hand as if to comfort Doha and massaged his shoulder.
In this way, Jaei, with Kim Ilhun and Ryu Doha who had no personal connection with each other on either side of him, extracted as much content as possible from between them. After finishing the shoot, he took a labored breath, exhausted. He had spent all his prepared energy and found it difficult to move even a single step. Originally, in situations when he was this tired, Doha would either hold him in his arms or carry him on his back, becoming his hands and feet.
Of course, since the current Ryu Doha had forgotten all his promises to become Lee Jaei’s servant, he just brushed past Jaei. However, after going a short distance, he stepped back and looked over Jaei, who was standing blankly like a mannequin. He checked his crown, his pale blue face, and his stiffly frozen hands. Then, like the young kid who had just graduated high school, he opened and closed his lips in front of Jaei, asking. He was mimicking a fish.
“What’s this?”
Jaei sighed with a smile and told the answer with an expression that said who wouldn’t know this.
“Sea bream.”
“Wrong.”
“Yellow croaker.”
“Correct.”
“Really?”
The baby yellow croaker gave Jaei a deep bow before leaving, but suddenly grabbed his waist, screamed, and collapsed.
“What’s wrong! Are you okay?”
When Jaei shouted worriedly and hurriedly approached behind him, Doha, with his hands behind his back, stood up from his spot. By the time Jaei regained his senses, he was being carried on Doha’s back. Doha, who had intellectually succeeded in carrying Jaei, walked for quite a while toward the parking lot as if he didn’t know anything, then pretended to be surprised upon discovering Jaei belatedly, shamelessly asking.
“Sunbaenim! Since when were you there? You’re lighter than air, so I didn’t notice!”
Jaei, who had rapidly recharged his energy thanks to Doha, happily dangled his feet and rubbed his cheeks against Doha’s hair.
In this way, he comfortably left work being carried and held by Doha in various positions on his front and back. After boarding the elevator together, Jaei sent Doha to the 10th floor and got off on the 9th floor himself. Except for being alone, it was no different from usual. He carried out his post-work routine as always.
However, after showering and changing his clothes, Jaei couldn’t believe his eyes. An unfamiliar man was standing in his living room. It was someone with sharp eyes and a pale complexion. How did he get all the way into the apartment despite the tight security? He was so shocked that he couldn’t even scream.
“What are you doing? How did you get in here?”
Actually, he had consistently thought that Hong Duyoung’s followers might harm him. Even if that wasn’t the case, there were people who either loved Lee Jaei too much or hated him too much and stalked him online. But this was the first time he’d experienced something like this offline.
With trembling lips, he grabbed his phone to call the police. At that moment, the man who had been examining every corner of Jaei’s house as if it were his own, looked at Jaei indifferently and muttered.
—Why isn’t it here. Is this not the right house?
Suddenly, his hands trembled for a different reason and his hair stood on end. Jaei lowered his gaze to check the man’s feet. There was no shadow. In fact, Jaei had seen ghosts before and had even conversed with a ghost. The very pretty, kind, cute, and lovely Doha ghost, that is.
Having identified the nature of the other party, Jaei ran to the refrigerator, sprinkled sliced garlic that he had received from a food delivery, and shouted.
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Namu Amitabul Gwan Se Um Bosal!”
He had absolutely no ill feelings toward ghosts. The kind and cute Doha ghost had broken down his prejudice against ghosts. But that was that, and being scared was being scared. It’s not like you spray insecticide on bugs because you have ill feelings toward them, right? It was just scary and troublesome that someone had entered another person’s house without permission.
Whether the garlic slices actually had any effect or not, the ghost disappeared right from Jaei’s sight. Jaei ran into his room and quickly stuck talismans on his face. Then he equipped his entire body with items that could protect him.
“I’m scared…”
He took the elevator up to the 10th floor and entered without Doha’s permission. Doha, who had just finished showering and was walking out undressed, discovered Jaei trembling in fear to the point of shedding tears and gritting his teeth.
“What happened? Who made you cry!”
Two Polaroid photos of Doha were attached to Jaei’s cheeks and both sides of his chest. The Polaroid photos that Jaei was currently using as talismans were samples of photos that would be included in Doha’s photobook, officially released by the company at the end of the year.
All the photos in the photobook were taken by Lee Jaei, who was Ryu Doha’s lover. He wanted to capture Doha’s eyes and face looking at the person he loved in a way that fans would appreciate. He only realized later that there were three heart marks stamped in Doha’s eyes in the photos.
And now on Jaei’s forehead was a photo card distributed by the cosmetic company Doha was advertising for. On his arms and the backs of his hands were stickers made from fan drawings that turned Doha into a baby bear, plastered all over. These cute stickers were purchased directly from fans by Jaei. During these transactions, he always used the alias Wang Jaeyoung.
In his arms, he was holding a 20cm doll modeled after Doha, made by fans. Actually, since Doha was an actor and a rookie, he didn’t have as many fans as idols, so the doll production was in danger of being canceled. So Jaei just purchased about 50 of them.
He had started sleeping with it in his arms after Doha departed for the afterlife, but having been used to sleeping while hugging 189cm, it felt unusually small to hold something 1/9 of that size. So when sleeping, he hugged about ten 20cm Dohas at once. When he woke up after sleeping, the small Dohas would be scattered all over the large bed.
Also, the short-sleeved T-shirt that Jaei was wearing now was an item that would be distributed as official merchandise at Ryu Doha’s first fan meeting to be held in the second half of the year. It was a sports uniform-style T-shirt with Ryu Doha’s initials and the last two digits of his birth year. Jaei, as the representative, was trying on the sample.
After plastering his entire body with Ryu Doha to protect himself, Jaei, with tears streaming down his face, said:
“Let me sleep here…”
