“It’s not like I’m the only one you have. I was worried it would be bothersome to make you worry unnecessarily.”
“If you say you’re coming, I’m the kind of person who’d make time even if I don’t have any. Where else is there someone like me besides me?”
At CEO Choi’s words, Muyoung flinched in surprise at the fact that the one person who suddenly came to mind was Dowon. He hadn’t even consciously thought of him. Would he reflexively come to mind like this just because of a joke from a few days ago? Honestly speaking, CEO Choi was the one who’d done more for him and endured more. Feeling guilty even at the thought that only occurred in his mind, he fussed with his clothes pretending otherwise.
“It’s not anything else, but some projects and advertisements came in. But it’s not confirmed yet. You’ll have to do some auditions too.”
As signs of getting to the main point appeared, Muyoung straightened his posture and focused on CEO Choi’s words again. Section Manager Kim, who was also curious, sat opposite Muyoung and watched CEO Choi approach with an armful of scripts and proposals.
Several documents and three or four scripts were placed in front of Muyoung. Exhaling slightly at the sudden increase in things to look at, he opened the scripts one by one.
“One movie and the rest are all dramas. The dramas are all supporting roles and the amount is similar to what you’re filming now. The movie is at the supporting lead level, but it seems the lead hasn’t been decided yet. So I thought if you look good at the audition, you might be able to try anything.”
Pretending to listen to CEO Choi’s words explaining slowly one by one, Muyoung found it difficult to decide on a project right away. Most of all, to pay attention to auditions, he needed to keep up physically, but right now when even usual activities were occasionally burdensome, he couldn’t prepare for auditions while filming. Right now, he was managing well without the two of them noticing, but it was time to start talking about wanting to rest gradually.
“And there are three advertisements, one of which is solo. Even if the advertising fee isn’t top tier, it seems they’ll match it at a decent level.”
“They want to shoot Muyoung as the sole top model?”
“That’s right. Since our Muyoung is working hard, I guess days like this come too.”
Muyoung, who was watching with a tone that rose much more than the movie and drama explanations as if he was more excited about the advertisement coming in, burst into laughter.
“Somehow, CEO-nim, it seems like you like advertisements more than me doing projects?”
“No way. It’s just that the production companies for the dramas are so lukewarm with their bites that it’s awkward to recommend you try something.”
At CEO Choi crumpling his expression as if he didn’t like it even though they’d received scripts, Muyoung nodded saying yes. CEO Choi, who was reading Muyoung’s reaction, said let’s look at the advertisements he’d explained and opened the proposals one by one.
While explaining the projects negatively, he’d been thinking he’d have to push Section Manager Kim to adjust the schedule right away if Muyoung showed even a bit of greed, so it was fortunate. CEO Choi continued talking about the advertisements while he was at it.
“You can’t do all the advertisements either. Since these are places where agencies asked for sub-model recommendations, you’ll be able to get into about one without difficulty. Insurance, bank, campaign came in, and the place that proposed you as sole top is a new clothing brand—the period is a bit long but the model fee is decent and the image isn’t bad…”
As Muyoung was concentrating and listening to CEO Choi’s increasingly long explanation, he couldn’t endure his suddenly blurring vision and shook his head. Even though he shook it lightly without showing it, he suddenly bent his upper body forward at the momentarily dizzying vision.
“Muyoung-ah?”
Section Manager Kim, who sensed something strange, quickly approached Muyoung’s side and wrapped his shoulders to straighten his upper body. Muyoung, who was equally flustered by the suddenly arriving dizziness, could only barely put strength in his body and endure to prevent the useless swaying.
“What’s wrong with him!”
“Muyoung-ah, are you okay? What a mess.”
Unlike the thought that it would just be dizzy for a moment, a nosebleed burst from Muyoung’s nose and was flowing down. Feeling the hot liquid flowing down between his fingers covering his face, he couldn’t open his mouth.
CEO Choi, who rummaged through the office to find a towel he’d received as a promotional item, hastily handed it to Section Manager Kim. Section Manager Kim, who removed Muyoung’s hand and made him lean his upper body forward very slightly as is, then wrapped his nose with the towel, finally caught his breath.
“Hospital, we should go to the hospital. Should I call an ambulance?”
“…No. I’m okay, CEO-nim.”
At the words to go to the hospital, Muyoung, who had closed his eyes briefly waiting for the bleeding to stop, quietly opened his eyes and turned his head toward CEO Choi. CEO Choi finally frowned looking at Muyoung who couldn’t quite grab him because of the blood all over his hands and was floundering awkwardly in the air.
“You fool, if your body isn’t well, you should naturally go to the hospital.”
“It’s not like that. It’s summer, so I guess I quickly got exhausted.”
“Stop making him talk. Let’s talk after his bleeding stops.”
Thanks to Section Manager Kim cutting off the conversation as the back-and-forth was about to continue, both Muyoung and CEO Choi stopped talking and firmly closed their mouths. How many minutes had they stayed still? His head wasn’t dizzy anymore and the feeling of the nosebleed flowing from where he was blocking it also disappeared. Muyoung slowly lowered the towel to check the condition.
In the meantime, Section Manager Kim had taken out another towel, wet it with water, and brought it over. Looking at CEO Choi’s expression, his startled heart still hadn’t calmed down as he couldn’t take his eyes off Muyoung. At least it was fortunate that Section Manager Kim was there together to calmly deal with it.
“Let’s wipe your face first.”
“Give it to me. I’ll do it.”
“What are you going to do without even a mirror? Stay still.”
But Section Manager Kim must have been quite startled too, as trembling could be felt in the touch of his hands gently wiping Muyoung’s blood-stained face with the wet towel. He might startle them even more in the future. Muyoung thought he should talk about the problem with his body even now, but when he actually confirmed the agitation with his eyes, a heart wanting to run away suddenly sprouted, thinking wouldn’t it rather be better to hide it until the end.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Don’t make things to be sorry about. I thought my heart dropped, you brat.”
CEO Choi, who had been looking closely at Muyoung’s face as he apologized while completely shrunk, seemed to think it was enough and plopped back down in his seat while exhaling deeply.
“Let’s go to the hospital first tomorrow. I was already anxious because you seemed to be getting too thin lately, and this disaster finally happened.”
“I’ve had no appetite lately so I skipped meals and got anemia. I’m really okay.”
“…You’re not even a kid. Do you hate going to the hospital that much?”
“Resting at home is a hundred times better. When the weather gets a bit cooler, I’ll get a regular checkup while taking a break from my schedule. Don’t worry.”
As the hospital talk came out even from Section Manager Kim’s mouth who went with him every day, Muyoung refused with a serious face. When Muyoung persuaded again, even mentioning the regular checkup he’d repeatedly emphasized, both of them seemed to judge there was no choice and said they understood while just checking his complexion. Section Manager Kim only left to put away the towel after thoroughly wiping even Muyoung’s hands clean.
Somehow he’d wanted to go home early—he must have had no energy all along because this was going to happen.
“Muyoung, if it’s too hard, let’s hold the projects that came in for now and just go with the advertisements.”
“…Is that really okay?”
CEO Choi spoke as if he’d made up his mind to Muyoung who was still sitting powerlessly on the sofa. Muyoung, who had been thinking he’d gather the scripts and look them over at home then reject them one by one with excuses, looked at CEO Choi with surprised eyes as he spoke decisively.
“What wouldn’t be okay? Your body is important. There really isn’t any other problem, right?”
CEO Choi, who had sat close next to nodding Muyoung and was checking outside, asked in a small voice.
“There was nothing wrong while working, right?”
“…There wasn’t. Really.”
“Make sure to go to the hospital. Go with Section Manager Kim. But are you going to keep Section Manager Kim in the dark like that?”
“…I was going to talk soon.”
“Alright, the timing was missed and I just left it since you were managing well. But I feel bad to Section Manager Kim too for not knowing. He’s always the one sticking with you.”
When they talked about not revealing his trait publicly, Section Manager Kim wasn’t there. So it became a secret that only CEO Choi and Muyoung knew until now. Until now, because he could avoid revealing his trait, it made no difference whether someone knew or not, but now the situation had changed.
“Yes, when I started work I only went around with you, CEO-nim, so I didn’t think that far either.”
“For us, taking care of you is naturally our job, but you should take good care of your body too. If you talk to Section Manager Kim as quickly as possible, you can get help and your mind will be more comfortable too. Go to the hospital together right away.”
“I can go alone on a day without a schedule and it’ll be fine.”
“How can I send you alone when we don’t know the cause? What if you collapse on the street or something?”
“I’m not that weak.”
“That’s not the problem. Seeing the news about a trait holder accident recently, I wondered if it was okay for you to go around like this.”
The CEO trailed off as if thinking it was a hasty worry, but Muyoung tried hard not to show his agitation outwardly. Only after rolling his hands tightly into fists until his nails dug into his palms could he smile as if nothing was wrong. The goosebumps that rose sharply in that instant cooled his neck coldly.
“…My trait is weak so I’m okay. I haven’t made you worry about such things until now.”
“That’s true, but I’m saying this because you don’t tell me every little detail either. If you’re really having a hard time or something happens, make sure to tell me. Anything is fine. You know?”
“…I will. But is it really okay to just do advertisements?”
It seemed worry was added since he’d just poured out a nosebleed right in front of him. From Muyoung’s position, it was fortunate that he didn’t have to make a reason to refuse projects. On the other hand, for CEO Choi who had to be responsible for the loss from reduced work, another problem would arise.
