# Chapter 99
It was the day before filming began for his first leading role. Doha, who would be busy starting from tomorrow, held a special class for Jaei. He began basic training for reincarnation for Jaei, who was relatively weaker physically than Ryu Doha and had suddenly become 7 years older.
Of course, the primary goal was to live a long, healthy life with Jaei. However, this education was being done as hedging, in other words, for risk management purposes. Just as Ryu Doha lived with the hope that he could always come back to life even in the worst situations, now he wanted Lee Jaei to seriously prepare for the risk of death.
“Just beat it up, a soul trying to seize someone else’s body isn’t human but an evil spirit, so just beat it up. It might not be caught by humans, but souls can grab each other. Do you understand, Lee Jaei-ssi! Think ‘I am a soul’ and try to hit! Forcefully!”
“Oof.”
With a heart full of concern under the Spartan education of the strict instructor, Jaei hit Doha’s shoulder with hands lighter and more trivial than a cotton bat. He seemed to have instinctively hit Seo Eunho like crazy last time, but that was because Doha had collapsed after picking up poison, so gamma waves of anger that didn’t originally exist had erupted. In reality, Lee Jaei as a human had no talent for assault whatsoever.
Instructor Ryu Doha, standing with his hands behind his back in military-style camouflage pattern pajamas, looked at Jaei’s thin hand hitting his shoulder and sarcastically expressed his dissatisfaction.
“Lee Jaei-ssi, what is this? A feather duster?”
“Don’t belittle me! That’s a personal attack!”
“Even a cat hitting would hurt more than this!”
“Cats have claws!”
“Even a fennec fox passing by and hitting with its ears would hurt more than this!”
“Hitting others is too hard mentally!”
After throwing more than 100 slaps and punches using Doha as a sandbag, Jaei soon collapsed on the living room floor. Ryu Doha was truly a cute and affectionate person who tried his best to conserve Jaei’s energy, but he sometimes had the characteristic of not tolerating Jaei’s weakness.
“Get up. You can do it.”
Doha grabbed Jaei, who was stretched out like a rug, forcibly lifted him up, and moved on to the next step.
“We will now start practicing takedowns like in wrestling.”
“…”
“Lee Jaei-ssi, are you not paying attention?”
Doha grabbed the dazed Jaei and lightly tapped his cheek with his palm. Fluttering like a paper doll, Jaei made a tearful face and pointed to the written pledge with his finger. Clearly, in the last paragraph of the pledge, written in Doha’s handwriting, it said:
[I, Ryu Doha, do not make any decisions by myself. As a servant of my master and parent, Lee Jaei-nim, I only follow my master’s words.]
Doha, with his eyes half-open, stared at the pledge with an indifferent expression before shifting his gaze to Jaei. Then, looking down at Jaei with lowered eyes, he said in an incredibly arrogant voice:
“So what? It’s just paper that will disappear if I tear it up and throw it away.”
“What? You’ll tear it up and throw it away? Then what was your intention when you wrote that? Was it all a lie?”
As Jaei went wild at the shocking statement, Doha tilted his head slightly to the side, put his face close to Jaei’s, and quietly said:
“I’m always looking after you, Lee Jaei-ssi. Don’t forget.”
“Are you really Doha? Hasn’t someone else taken over Doha’s body?”
“Calling me ‘you’ during education? Lee Jaei-ssi, do you want to be scolded by me?”
Doha said as he unbuttoned one of Jaei’s pajama top buttons. Jaei stepped back, startled by Doha who seemed completely possessed by someone else.
“Don’t call you ‘you’? Ha, this is really absurd. Look at this person! So cold and sexy!”
At this moment, none of Jaei’s beauty tactics, tantrums, aegyo, or whining worked. Too surprised by Doha’s forceful demeanor, Jaei covered his mouth with both hands, laughing, gained energy, and excitedly flipped and threw him down.
“I’ll listen well! I’ll do as you say! But if I can’t do well, you can scold me!”
After the hellish training ended, Jaei was held in the arms of Doha, who had returned to being a big, gentle baby bear, and was comforted for a long time. Jaei, who felt interested in building physical strength and consuming energy by moving his entire body for the first time in his life, wriggled in Doha’s arms and cheerfully said:
“Doha, I like this. It’s fun.”
“Yes, yes. When I have time, let’s do it again, Jaei.”
Hiding his flushed cheeks with both hands, Jaei gladly gave Doha the title of “great actor.” It was truly moving that someone so naturally gentle and mild-mannered could show such a new side.
He noticed that what Doha had said earlier contained sincerity, but even if it was sincere, it wasn’t a problem at all. He wasn’t Jaei’s servant but the most wonderful and beautiful prince in the world. Although Jaei had never explicitly said so.
He couldn’t express how fun the training with Doha was. If only the news hadn’t broken that the rumored counterpart of Doha’s dating scandal had joined Doha’s drama as a supporting role, or if only comments confirming the relationship between actor Ryu Doha and the girl group member hadn’t appeared under the article, Jaei would probably have spent a very hot and sexy time with Doha. He even had thoughts of wearing a bushy fox tail on his butt and calling Doha “master” while riding the mood.
Doha was very bewildered watching Jaei’s body, which had been heated up, cool down in real-time. He urgently rubbed Jaei’s hands and feet, but Jaei’s cold and stiff limbs showed no signs of softening. Extremely irritated, Jaei called Doha with a stern expression and harsh tone.
“Hey.”
“Yes, master. You called?”
Doha, who had become very humble, pointed to the pledge and said:
“Should I recite that three times? I’ll do it now if you want.”
“Aish, really, this… I should just go public with our relationship.”
Jaei muttered to himself, throwing down his phone, leaving Doha’s arms and trudging toward the bathroom. Doha, who had thrown off his sweat-soaked military pajamas, put his hands together and politely followed his master. Jaei flung open the bathroom door forcefully, and seemingly concerned about his statement, rolled his eyes and stammered:
“When I just said ‘this…’ I wasn’t directing it at Doha. The ‘aish’ too. I was just expressing my frustration with the situation. I’m sorry if you misunderstood.”
Doha broke into a broad smile at Jaei’s apology, nodded his head, and let Jaei into the bathroom. Regaining his smile, Jaei blinked his eyes cutely and said:
“I love you.”
“I love you too. Don’t get stressed. You shouldn’t get sick.”
To prevent Jaei’s hair from turning white, Doha gently tapped Jaei’s scalp with his fingertips. And without anyone initiating it first, they kissed.
* * *
Under the agreement of both agencies, no response was made regarding Doha’s rumor. Issuing an explanatory article would make things even stranger. There was a world of difference between rumors circulating among netizens and an official article being published. One could accidentally make even people who knew nothing about the rumor aware of it.
It was absolutely something that should not be done—having an article linking the male lead to romance issues with someone other than the female lead right before the start of a romantic comedy drama. Anyway, this was a problem that would be resolved once Doha excellently performed his role of being passionately in love with his co-star in the drama.
For Jaei, who would have to endure a difficult process for about three months, Doha gifted a scalp massager to help blood circulation and a massage chair. Before leaving for his first day of work, Doha held Jaei tightly in his arms, closed his eyes firmly, and said:
“Thank you for teaching me various emotions. I learned everything from you. Most of my emotions were all created by you, Jaei. Until I met you, I didn’t know what it was like to miss someone.”
“I’m the same, Doha. You created me.”
Whenever they reminded themselves of the reason why they were inevitably a part of each other, both of them lost the slight stress and anxiety that came from being actors by profession. So Jaei could send Doha off to the filming set with a happy heart and without anxiety.
He only prayed for Doha’s health, safety, and that he would receive plenty of praise and love on set.
After sending Doha off to work, Jaei visited Seo Eunho, or rather, Kang Seungyeon. Kang Seungyeon was reflecting on his crime and living an exemplary life. He told Jaei, who had become the only person he could open his heart to:
“If I return to society, I’d like to try acting, but it will be difficult as someone who came from a juvenile detention center.”
At Kang Seungyeon’s words, Jaei laughed hollowly and answered firmly:
“Even if you say that, I absolutely won’t give you a chance. The opportunity for me to help you has already passed. It’s really foolish. Being deceived by that crazy person’s words, not knowing how attractive your appearance is, not knowing how talented you are in acting.”
“Are you being serious right now?”
“Why would I lie? Because of you, I’m now wasting time looking for a new talent to bring into our company. Do you think it’s easy to find a young man who’s good-looking and good at acting? This could have been solved by just bringing you into our company and working together.”
Kang Seungyeon smiled with an embarrassed expression at Jaei’s praise. Jaei continued, scolding him:
“Criminals shouldn’t appear on TV. That’s my belief.”
“I understand. I’ll handle it myself. I’m not asking for help.”
Smiling, he cut off Jaei’s nagging and stared into space as he said:
“When I get out… I want to find my real name.”
Jaei, who had been nodding with his mouth tightly closed, soon bowed his head deeply and prayed. The destination of his prayer was the most famous among the ancestors directly or indirectly connected to Lee Jaei.
Jaei prayed that the person who had plunged numerous people into pain would receive a punishment befitting his crimes. As Lee Jaei of the Jeonju Lee clan, a descendant of the Joseon Dynasty, he believes that his ancestral spirits will surely grant this wish.
