The relationship that fans saw between them was not very good.
Things like ignoring each other, not caring about each other, or being indifferent. Or there were plenty of videos where even Siwoo could tilt his head at the subtle discomfort detected.
The two rarely looked at each other, and there were no scenes of them having intimate conversations.
There didn’t seem to be any playful banter exchanged either. They really seemed like people in a relationship who only worked together formally.
Siwoo, who had been watching videos for a while, turned off the screen he was watching.
The appearance captured in videos could easily be misinterpreted. It could be due to editing, and when doing group activities, there were naturally conflicts and many times they had to broadcast in situations where emotions weren’t sorted out.
Even while lost in thought, videos of Evan and Siwoo actively working together that he didn’t know about kept circling in his mind. And vividly, situations where emotions came alive and raged overlapped. Siwoo’s fingertips touched his lower lip. And he felt the sensation of his soft, yielding lips.
“Ha…”
He didn’t know anymore. Whatever will be, will be.
He put down the phone he’d been fiddling with. Then he pulled up the blanket covering him all the way to the top of his head.
Anyway, he didn’t know anything.
A life that would regress again. He’d been given the opportunity as an Ocean member with definitely guaranteed popularity.
Then let me also live as a god idol. What’s there to living in the world? Make lots of money, gain popularity. Let’s live again. Let’s make memories to draw from again and again. I did try clumsy love play too.
Let’s just sleep.
For a while, there would be many things to pay attention to in order to understand relationships with people. So he needed to rest sufficiently at times like this.
* * *
Evan stood blankly. His two arms that had been floating awkwardly in the air fell weakly downward.
The person who had been in his arms just moments ago disappeared in an instant.
The warmth he’d been conveying, the body that trembled delicately as if anxious. And the moist, soft sensation they’d touched all seemed like illusions.
A late rainy night.
Siwoo’s house. He’d been in his study.
The two had been facing each other and…
Evan, who stopped thinking, looked around.
His room at his parents’ house in England.
When he regressed, Evan always returned to his room at his parents’ house in England.
“Damn it.”
Spitting out a rough curse at the rushing emptiness, Evan kicked the large doll in front of him. The large bear doll he’d received on his seventh birthday was always there in that spot.
Whether the doll fell to the side or not, Evan paced the room with large strides.
He couldn’t believe what had just happened to him. It had been the timing to explain everything.
Slowly, everything one by one. If he didn’t understand, it had been an opportunity to talk for hours, as many times as needed until he understood sufficiently.
Pacing the room, Evan found his phone on the desk. When he confirmed it was an older model than the one he’d been using, his mouth tasted bitter.
Everything had adjusted to the regression.
The first thing he checked on the phone after unlocking the pattern was the date.
Suddenly the phone rang loudly.
A name he knew, a number he knew.
Ocean General Manager Heo Jaehyung.
“Yes.”
Walking to the window, Evan looked down at the garden.
His gaze, which had been watching the gardener managing the garden for a moment, soon reached the fountain spouting water refreshingly.
It had been autumn, but now it was summer.
Seeing Rush, the puppy his family raised, following the gardener uncle around and bothering him, he could only laugh hollowly.
Really came back? Why on earth? What was the problem?
Hadn’t the regression stopped?
“There’ll be cameras for picking up the kids too, so be prepared. You’re saying you’ll come to the airport on time on your own? Why don’t you just move with me?”
“No. What time was it? I’ll match the time and go to the airport.”
Not wanting to think long, he answered roughly. He needed time to organize his thoughts alone.
When he checked the date, he realized he was twenty years old. Then he’d probably debuted with Ocean. There was nothing more to find out. Moreover, hadn’t Jaehyung called?
Regression.
If not that, there was no way to explain this situation.
Then he had to start from the beginning.
Since he already knew about his past, his name and school, what he needed to do now was go to Korea and find him.
Finishing the call, Evan prepared to leave and met Jaehyung in the airport waiting room.
A fresh start. He’d been just before reaching the finish line, but everything had returned to nothing.
From the moment he knew he was his pair, he’d made a resolution. Even if by any chance he regressed, he just had to find him again. And start over again. He’d thought that before.
Even while waiting for the Ocean members to arrive, the person who filled his head was Siwoo.
“What’s the schedule?”
Anxious and uneasy, but he had to do what needed to be done. Siwoo would be a college student now.
The first summer vacation after becoming a college student. What would he be doing? Did he go traveling with friends? Was he studying languages? While thinking such things, he asked Jaehyung formally.
“As soon as they arrive, the kids will go into the hotel to rest a bit, and I was thinking of filming briefly even in the late evening, but the schedule got tangled so filming seems difficult today.”
“Filming?”
At his answer, Evan’s brow furrowed. He had no memory of filming in England. What filming?
“We were going to shoot the CF first, but the location procurement got tangled. It seems we’ll have to shoot the pictorial first.”
“Okay.”
Answering halfheartedly, Evan glanced at the camera. Right now wasn’t official filming. It was just rolling to make episodes.
Running his face down with one hand, Evan slightly turned and stood with his back to the camera. Though it was capturing his conversation with Jaehyung, it was being filmed by the agency anyway and there wouldn’t be any problems.
Fatigue rushed in strongly. He needed time to organize his thoughts alone and quietly, even for a few hours.
Today’s filming was canceled, and if it was from tomorrow, time had been given to him. He just needed to film meeting the members appropriately and leave.
“Is going to Korea delayed too?”
He wanted to go to Korea as soon as possible, even an hour earlier. He wanted to meet Siwoo. Even if he didn’t recognize him, that didn’t matter.
“If we delay even that, it’ll be a headache. We have to somehow solve everything within the schedule. Oh, are you really not doing ‘Lucifer’?”
“I’m not.”
Lucifer.
The moment he heard that word, Evan’s brow furrowed. ‘Lucifer’ had been the debut song. What had changed? Thinking of the age, it seemed like they were in their third year since debut. His head throbbed so he raised his hand and pressed his temple firmly.
“Do you really think Siwoo can pull off ‘Lucifer’? It seems possible but it’s really subtle, you know. You know too. That! The first time you see it, that intensity, Siwoo is lacking in that, so. How about Yechan instead?”
Evan’s hand pressing his temple stopped. And he, who had been looking elsewhere, was now looking at Jaehyung. Who did he just say? Did he mishear? Siwoo? Yechan? Why were their names suddenly coming up?
“Yechan?”
“He’s been working out lately so he’s built more muscle. If we take off his top and put wings on him, wouldn’t that be totally attractive?”
Jaehyung answered while looking at the tablet. The tablet screen came into view.
Several photos taken with wing gestures were up, as if searching for similar images.
“Oh, you said you have somewhere to go with Siwoo. If you two are going, go right now and come back to the hotel before dinner. Since we don’t know how the episode filming will turn out, don’t eat dinner.”
“Siwoo?”
The same person’s name came up again. Evan’s heart, which had been beating regularly, began to pound and gradually beat faster.
“Since you asked me to keep it secret, I didn’t tell Siwoo. Even if I told him, it’s obvious Siwoo would say he didn’t want to. Anyway, you two get along well. Why are you both like that, really.”
Siwoo. There was only one Siwoo that Evan knew. But Siwoo? Why was Siwoo’s story coming up? On top of that, their relationship wasn’t good? To the point where others would say this?
The past had changed. There was a change in age from eighteen to twenty, but since it was his room at his parents’ house, he hadn’t paid much attention to the content of the regression.
“Why? Did you change your mind now? Well, what more would you two do together than fight anyway. If you don’t want to, say so now.”
Even at Jaehyung’s gaze looking at him strangely, Evan couldn’t manage his expression.
Taking out his phone, he quickly checked his contacts.
[Coco]
What was written instead of the name Kim Siwoo was a nickname he also knew.
“Coco.”
He’d thought it was a situation he could control. He was confident he could find Siwoo while doing Ocean activities. But everything was mixed up.
Evan’s hand, which had been stroking his chin with one hand while crossing his arms and lost in thought, stopped.
While checking his contacts, he’d discovered unfamiliar names. Yechan, Chan. Names he knew, but these people weren’t Ocean members.
“Who’s coming in today?”
With a strange sense of déjà vu, Evan looked at Jaehyung.
“Are you kidding? Siwoo, Chan, Yechan, Sangjun, and with staff it’ll be about 40 people.”
From that moment, Evan’s heart raced wildly on its own.
It felt like he’d found the last lost piece.
He’d felt something strange in his conversation with Jaehyung. And now it was certain. Ocean’s members had changed.
From the moment he realized he’d regressed until now, he’d tried not to lose his composure and actually hadn’t.
But from the moment Siwoo’s name came up, everything fell apart.
“But what are you going to do with Siwoo?”
“I don’t know.”
Evan answered honestly. If he met Siwoo now, what should he do? What words would he say? How should he look at his face? He thought of Siwoo who would be living an ordinary daily life.
