Yeonrok’s expression turned sour, and as he glanced toward the exit, wondering if he should leave right now, Choi Hwan grinned and tugged at his sleeve.
“I’m kidding! Sit down, sit down. Ah, seriously! I said I’d show you a good time.”
Choi Hwan’s eyes sparkled with mischief. It was obvious he wanted to see Yeonrok struggling in an unfamiliar place. Not particularly wanting to meet those expectations, Yeonrok let himself be dragged back to his seat. Unfortunately, the seat was right in the center, with people on both sides, making it difficult to escape.
“So who is he really? A rookie?”
“Why would I bring a rookie here? The CEO would tear me apart for corrupting them. This guy is…”
Choi Hwan trailed off. He couldn’t say ‘Name Partner,’ and thinking it was an ambiguous relationship to describe, he pondered for a moment before opening his mouth.
“A temporary manager?”
“A manager? With that face and dressed like that?”
Just like the director at the filming site earlier, the reaction was one of disbelief. Yeonrok half-tuned out of the conversation and rubbed his empty stomach. Just then, the staff was bringing out this much alcohol and snacks. Oh? They’re already bringing out pizza? Yeonrok brightened up.
“You saw him last time. The person sitting there wearing a cap.”
“Huh? Was there someone like that?”
“I thought it was Junho hyung.”
They chatted amongst themselves, and then one of the somewhat familiar faces spoke to Yeonrok.
“Excuse me, how old are you?”
In the meantime, Yeonrok, who had already devoured two slices of pizza, answered. He was amazed that they even had kimchi fried rice as a snack, which seemed out of place here. There was even lobster baked with plenty of cheese on top. Busy filling his stomach, Yeonrok answered offhandedly.
“Same age as him.”
“Then you’re younger than me?”
Everyone seemed to be managing their weight, as no one was touching the snacks. He didn’t know why they’d ordered them if they weren’t going to eat, but with even sashimi available, only Yeonrok’s mouth was having a good time.
“You know me, right? I recently shot a cosmetics commercial.”
Although his appearance was handsome, perhaps because Yeonrok didn’t give off the vibe of a celebrity, they treated him relatively politely.
“I’m not interested in cosmetics, so I don’t know those kinds of commercials.”
“Aww…”
The person who had pretended to be disappointed at Yeonrok’s words then widened his eyes.
“But even if you haven’t seen the commercial, you know me, right? I’m famous. It’s Kim Jiho, right? Can I call you hyung?”
“Oh? You recognize me?”
“I really don’t know this hyung… But he does look young. Are you really a hyung?”
“What? Hahaha! Right, actually I’m not a hyung!”
Yeonrok, who had received all kinds of affection from Ms. Park and gotten friendship chocolates from the bodyguards, displayed his affinity. Sure, he’d been depressed for a while from the shock of his broken relationship, and then got so busy working and making a living that he’d lost touch with all his friends, but originally Yeonrok had been pretty good at social relationships.
As things flowed completely differently from his expectations, Choi Hwan’s expression turned sour. However, thinking that what’s good is good, he soon began chatting comfortably with his acquaintances.
“What’s with your outfit today?”
“Why? It suits me well.”
“What does the costume team say?”
“I don’t know. My manager hyung will probably nag like crazy. Like I care? Today I’m just going to drink myself to death.”
Actually, Yeonrok had come here with some prejudices. It was probably because he’d seen a few articles in the news about celebrities’ private lives. It was also because Choi Hwan had a history of receiving drugs from an acquaintance who was stupidly doing drugs.
But watching like this, none of them did anything strange at all—they just sat around endlessly chatting. Even talk about the acquaintance who’d been caught with drug possession came up.
“Man, that bastard was really a scumbag. I never dreamed he was doing that shit behind the scenes.”
“Fuck. Do you know how scared I was because I was registered in his contacts? After I got investigated along with everyone else, I checked the articles every day.”
“Hwan hyung must have felt betrayed too. That hyung treated you so well. You didn’t know he was looking for a money source.”
“But unless you’re an idiot, who would take suspicious drugs like that?”
When Yeonrok stared at him, Choi Hwan, feeling guilty, kept his eyes fixed on his drink glass and absolutely refused to make eye contact. Then he quietly got up from the sofa and left. Someone looked at Yeonrok with admiration.
“Wow, Yeonrok. You really eat a lot.”
“I have a metabolism that doesn’t gain weight easily.”
“I’m really so jealous.”
“Please just take 1kg of my weight…”
If he could, Yeonrok really wanted to do that too. Even eating like this to maintain his weight was slowly becoming too much. Yeonrok watched Choi Hwan excitedly hanging out with people he knew, then suddenly got curious and asked.
“Don’t you all go out to play together?”
“Huh? I’m not good at dancing…”
“Last time I acted tough saying I’d film without a stuntman and threw out my back.”
“I have to dance like crazy in the practice room starting tomorrow anyway, so I don’t want to dance…”
Yeonrok thought to himself: These people really play clean. Choi Hwan, who said he’d show him a good time, was actually leaving Yeonrok sitting here neglected, but it wasn’t bad at all. The stories about the terrible personalities of famous celebrities he’d never known about and the shocking behind-the-scenes stories were really interesting.
If there was one downside, it was that cigarette smoke was coming from here and there, which was too agonizing for him since he’d only recently started quitting smoking.
When he felt he’d eaten enough to be full, he suddenly looked around and noticed there were quite a few more people than before. Several of Choi Hwan’s acquaintances who’d been talking with Yeonrok had gone home, but more people than that had come in.
Whether from food coma or fatigue, Yeonrok was nodding off. Then at the presence of someone sitting down next to him, he lifted his head to find Choi Hwan had returned. While watching him wet his throat, words inadvertently popped out.
“I thought you said you’d show me a good time?”
“Huh?”
Choi Hwan, who’d returned with disheveled hair, stared blankly before shrugging his shoulders.
“You seemed to be having a good time without me though? What? But where did everyone go?”
“I don’t know. I want to just go home…”
When Yeonrok responded indifferently, Choi Hwan suddenly pressed close to his side. As if to prevent him from escaping, he put his arm around Yeonrok’s shoulders first, acting all friendly, which gave him the creeps.
“What are you doing?”
“Stay a bit longer before going, will you? Hey, this is good. Try it.”
He didn’t know why Choi Hwan kept holding him back when he wasn’t even entertaining him. With a blank face, Yeonrok chewed on the skewer Choi Hwan fed him. …It is tasty though. Choi Hwan, in such a good mood for some reason, hummed along with the song flowing from the club. Watching from the side, his jawline looked particularly sharp under his slowly bobbing head. Suddenly curious, Yeonrok asked.
“Don’t you get articles written about you for going to places like this?”
“The standards to get in here are pretty strict. You have to either be famous enough to have a lot to lose or have a lot of money. So taking pictures or blabbing about it elsewhere is also prohibited. If you get caught, your membership gets cut, so people don’t really do it.”
For Yeonrok, who’d never been to a club before, it seemed like they had all sorts of strange rules.
“I thought you’d play around pretty wildly.”
“Wildly… Hey! Would I ruin my acting career? I can only play here too!”
Choi Hwan shouted loudly. Yeonrok just found it uncomfortable that the other person kept pressing so close to his side. Perhaps because he’d come back from playing excitedly, the body heat he felt was so warm that he momentarily forgot about his bad condition. And on the other hand, he realized something: Contact over clothes was pretty useless. Annoyed for no reason, Yeonrok immediately paid him back.
“Ah, right. You said last time was your first kiss. Well…”
Without finishing to the end, he trailed off, and as intended, Choi Hwan flared up.
“I just haven’t dated! It’s not that I couldn’t!”
“Isn’t it because you’re such an asshole that nobody could date you?”
“…!”
There was a brief scuffle, but both quickly calmed down as people’s eyes turned toward them. And then Choi Hwan, strangely excited, chattered on about how the song was and who he saw earlier, then said this to Yeonrok, who was just quietly listening:
“You seem pretty okay to hang out with?”
He didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives, but it really seemed like the perfect line to hear in a club. Yeonrok wondered if this guy even remembered that he was his Name Partner. Even though he said he was full, Choi Hwan kept shoving things into Yeonrok’s mouth. He seemed a bit drunk.
“They do something fun here at 10 o’clock. Just watch that and then go.”
Choi Hwan clung to him disgustingly and whined. Yeonrok struggled to escape from this big lug, then gave up and shouted.
“10 o’clock is still far away!”
“Only two hours left, what.”
Though veins bulged on his forehead, Yeonrok soon let his strength drain. He didn’t even have the energy to talk back. He was looking around vacantly when he noticed increasingly embarrassing outfits increasing in number, so he turned his gaze back to the leftover snacks.
“Hey, I tried not to say anything if I could help it, but even so, a guy with a lover should stop coming to clubs so much.”
When Yeonrok nagged, Choi Hwan covered his ears and pretended not to hear. He was no different from an elementary schooler. He was shaking his head when Choi Hwan grumbled.
“I need to breathe a little too.”
It seemed like a passing remark, but somehow it particularly caught in his ears. He was about to nag that he didn’t have to breathe only at clubs. A ringing sound came from somewhere, so Yeonrok looked around.
“I think someone’s phone has been ringing for a while?”
At Yeonrok’s words, Choi Hwan nonchalantly fumbled through his clothes, then took out his phone and said this:
“Oh, it’s my phone.”
So absurd was it that Yeonrok put down the drink he was holding before shouting.
“You said you didn’t have a phone!”
“Of course I was lying.”
