# Chapter 89
Jaei, who had been eating tteokbokki, put down his chopsticks and quietly blinked his large eyes. Doha stared at Jaei with a calm expression, then suddenly made a heart with both hands and shyly turned his head away to avoid eye contact. Jaei opened his eyes narrowly. Ryu Doha, who was pretending to be shy and providing celebrity fan service, seemed incredibly shameless.
Of course, he had been thinking that Doha would soon go to meet Seo Eunho. Doha had declared that he would somehow resolve Seo Eunho’s issue while Jaei was away from Korea, and Jaei had decided to go to America knowing all of this. He wasn’t quite sure how Doha planned to resolve it, but if Doha hadn’t continued talking about meeting Seo Eunho, he would have thought they were meeting secretly behind his back.
With a generous expression, he nodded and picked up his chopsticks again. He put a piece of rice cake in his mouth and, with his lips tightly closed, chewed and swallowed it before magnanimously permitting Doha’s outing.
“Okay, Doha. Enjoy your date with another man. I need to think about the subway advertisement design that will be displayed on Line 2. I should hire the most famous designer in Korea.”
Jaei had already selected photos for Doha’s subway advertisement and had finished contacting a famous advertising agency. He was planning to plaster subway stations with ads on Ryu Doha’s upcoming first anniversary, and he had carefully selected photos for that purpose. However, there was a risk that the message might end up urging retirement on his first anniversary.
If Doha committed infidelity, he planned to hang different advertisement boards at each station—Gangnam, Yeoksam, Seolleung, and Sadang—and fully disclose even his childhood photos to damage his reputation as much as possible. If there were fans who would embrace Doha’s unethical private life, the disclosed photos would be good fan service for them.
Doha said in an aggrieved voice:
“Don’t call it a date. It’s absolutely not a date. A date is what I do with my honey.”
“Eating together, walking around, and then talking at a café—that’s a date. Just thinking about it makes my hair turn white. Yesterday, Sean plucked one out for me during filming.”
At Jaei’s confession, Doha became serious and bristled momentarily.
“Ha, really. Don’t entrust your white hair to that man.”
“When I wake up tomorrow, there’ll be lots more. While I’m sleeping, you’ll be going on a date, so my hair will turn white even in my sleep. Then I’ll have to ask Sean to pluck them out again. Tomorrow I’ll lie down using Sean’s lap as a pillow.”
“Please calm down. If you don’t like the course of having a meal and going to a café, I’ll meet him at an internet café. How about that? This way you won’t get white hair, right?”
Jaei rolled his eyes from side to side. It wasn’t a bad suggestion.
“Okay, do that. I heard internet café food is good these days. They even sell Americanos. You don’t need to let me hear your conversation in real-time. Instead, make sure to take pictures of what you eat and send them. Meet at the internet café and part at the internet café.”
There was only one reason why he said he wouldn’t listen to the conversation between Doha and Seo Eunho. Partly because he planned to go to bed early, but mainly because it didn’t look dignified. No matter how much anxiety was latent in his heart, it wasn’t Lee Jaei’s place to act so sordidly.
Doha, who stood up and stepped back, positioned himself so that his entire body was captured by the laptop camera. He politely placed his large hands on his stomach and bowed at a 90-degree angle, giving a formal bow. With his posture now correct, Doha blushed his cheeks into circles and said modestly:
“Since you’ve given permission, as a token of gratitude, I’ll broadcast myself showering from now on, honey.”
“Oh, if you try to slide by with something like that, I’ll naturally fall for it. I’ll go brush my teeth quickly. When I’ve fully prepared for bed and am lying down, start your shower broadcast.”
“Alright. You can do whatever you want while watching me shower, honey.”
When Doha messaged Seo Eunho asking if they could meet “at an internet café” today, Seo Eunho was extremely pleased and accepted the proposal at once. With his face hidden by a hat and mask, Doha, following Jaei’s orders, set the meeting place at the internet café and met Seo Eunho there.
Seo Eunho, who sat next to Doha, had a hairstyle similar to Jaei’s. Seeing that even the hair color was almost identical, it didn’t seem like he had suddenly visited a hair salon today. Of course, Jaei had changed his hairstyle now because he had started a new project. Seo Eunho probably wouldn’t know that fact.
Doha was calmly playing baduk with the mouse, while Seo Eunho, whose real age was 30, launched a game that was popular about 15 years ago. He looked at Doha, who was playing baduk, with questioning eyes before starting to say what he wanted to say. Currently, he was extremely upset that all of Hong Duyoung’s films had been deleted from Jaei’s official profile.
“Why did you delete all of that from the profile?”
“How creepy and unpleasant it must be, a film made by a murderer. Anyway, after Hong Duyoung’s final sentence is announced, all VODs will be taken down too. I’ll give you a ‘Fruit Bat’ Blu-ray next time. I have several. Watch that instead.”
“Lee Jaei is really full. After appearing in such excellent works and receiving such precious awards. You’re saying that level of career means nothing to Lee Jaei.”
Seo Eunho seethed with a voice full of anger.
“Taking everything that others want to do but can’t.”
Doha silently stared at him. It seemed that Seo Eunho hated Hong Duyoung, but nevertheless, appearing in his works appeared to be the greatest goal of his life.
Online too, there was a group that continued to follow Hong Duyoung and spew misguided madness. They argued that Hong Duyoung’s artistry should be considered separately from his crimes. In particular, they thought of Jaei, who had been Hong Duyoung’s muse, as a traitor. Now it seemed Seo Eunho was one of those types.
He appeared to have been brainwashed by Hong Duyoung to a more severe level than expected. Even so, right now Hong Duyoung was completely ruined and just a prisoner locked up in jail.
Seo Eunho muttered:
“…Fine. He can add them back to his profile later.”
At his muttering, Doha momentarily made a wrong move in baduk and lost.
Among the three methods that Doha had been diligently devising, Plan 1 was to persuade Seo Eunho by soothing him well. It was the most humane and peaceful solution, but it could cause serious side effects.
To persuade Seo Eunho, he would have to directly build up his self-esteem and soothe his wounded growth process, but wouldn’t that make Seo Eunho’s love for him grow even bigger? And in a situation where he couldn’t even directly heal Jaei’s broken heart, it didn’t make sense, common-sensically, to devote efforts to the mental health of a man who was trying to kill Jaei.
“By the way, where are you staying now? Are you still at the orphanage?”
“No. I left long ago.”
Through the conversation that started this way, Doha was able to gather various information. Seo Eunho said that he was currently living among people who illegally distribute drugs.
“How do you get what you want? Without money?”
“There are ways.”
Those “ways” were more wretched than imagined. Doha sighed at Seo Eunho’s life, which had hit rock bottom.
“Don’t you think your life is too precious to waste? How did you find this life again?”
“I don’t like myself very much.”
After that, Seo Eunho’s laments continued. He had been compared to Jaei by Hong Duyoung since he was eight years old, attending acting academy. Until he became seventeen, he was constantly compared to Lee Jaei. Both in appearance and talent. Hong Duyoung had told him, drilling into Seo Eunho’s ears, that Jaei should debut quickly, that it would be good if Jaei could play this role.
Doha said resolutely:
“I’ll tell you one last time. Get your head straight and stabilize your heart. Reclaim your real name and start doing theater in a small theater. Even with a small role, succeed as your true self.”
“With my appearance and talent, I can never succeed anyway. I’ll probably spend my whole life playing minor roles with just two lines of dialogue. Because I’m not Lee Jaei.”
Seo Eunho’s self-esteem was shattered to a terrible degree. In the end, everything stemmed from Hong Duyoung. It was Hong Duyoung who created the terrible desire in Seo Eunho to become Lee Jaei.
However, Doha couldn’t comfort and console Seo Eunho beyond the words he had just said. This was the best he could do for him. Thus, Plan 1 had failed.
Plan 2, which Doha had in mind, was a method to be used in the worst moment: sending Seo Eunho back to the afterlife. But this should really be postponed until the very end. How could Ryu Doha, who was kind and full of compassion, easily kill someone who had lived unhappily all his life because of Hong Duyoung? Additionally, it was a choice that would ruin his own life as well. Of course, if a moment ever came when Jaei’s life was truly threatened right before his eyes, he would mercilessly kill Seo Eunho.
Thus, as expected, Plan 3 was adopted. Plan 3 would proceed flexibly while monitoring Seo Eunho’s movements.
Seo Eunho went outside while receiving a call from someone during the game. He seemed like a person among those who distribute drugs. Doha, looking at his back, was deep in thought. He thought that the reason Seo Eunho actively sought drugs wasn’t just for his own corruption. It would be drug procurement disguised as corruption. Wouldn’t he use the various drugs he obtained to harm Jaei? Since the target he wanted to harm was a famous celebrity, drugs would be most suitable.
There must be a lot of information on the phone he carried out. Call records with those who illegally distribute dangerous drugs, an address book, or open chat messages.
And there was a laptop inserted in the bag Seo Eunho had brought. Wouldn’t there be quite a lot of information in there as well? How could he get all the “evidence of seeking drugs to kill someone” into his hands?
* * *
After sleeping and waking up early, Jaei returned from exercising. Recently, he had been exercising diligently every day to avoid collapsing like slime or flattening like a rug. If he took verification photos and reported to Doha, he could receive praise. Working in a regular environment and taking care of himself, Jaei was slowly recovering his heart.
On his way back after finishing exercise, he received a formal love confession from Sean Alex, his fitness mate. The request was for Jaei to visit his room if he accepted the confession. It wasn’t particularly sudden.
Jaei rummaged through his bag that was hung on his shoulder and took out a mini Doha, the only one chosen from 50 cotton balls. And while poking Doha’s small nose with his finger, he answered.
My boyfriend, ma baby is always with me.
After coolly rejecting the confession and returning to his lodging, Jaei connected with the large Doha via WiFi again. Inside the screen, Doha, who had taken off his upper clothes, was kneeling.
