CH 2

Manager Cha Hyungyu was busy smoking a cigarette. He came here after President Kim’s order to closely monitor Lee Wooyeon, but the funeral home was very uncomfortable. Reporters lingering near the funeral home trying to catch a story, and female idols who were secretly fighting in the midst of this were also tired. 

It’s been over ten years since he’d worked on this floor, but at times like this, he felt skeptical about the place. He felt a vibration in his pocket. Manager Cha put his cigarette in his mouth and pulled out his cell phone. 

“Yes. This is Cha Hyungyu. Oh yes. I’m in front of the hospital’s front door, so come over here. Call me when you arrive. Alright.”

After the call, he put out the cigarette he was holding. It seems that Lee Wooyeon’s manager, who was supposed to start work today, arrived.

He had a quiet and calm voice. The words of CEO Kim, someone who will never quit, came to mind. 

“Tsk, I have no luck.” 

Lee Wooyeon had a bad personality. The only people who knew the true nature of that person were Kim and himself. At first, Manager Cha also thought that Woo-Yeon Lee was an angel that could never exist. Seeing his consistently sincere, polite, and humble behavior, he told other celebrities working in the same agency to watch and learn from Lee Wooyeon. It was by accident that they discovered the dark secrets hidden in the angel’s skin. 

Cha Hyungyu took out a new cigarette from the pack and lit it. Poisonous cigarette smoke rushed into his lungs. 

“What. Oh, it’s Lee Wooyeon.” 

“It’s a celebrity, a celebrity. The good looking Lee Wooyeon.” 

As the waiter opened the door, the people outside seemed to be able to see the scene inside the room. Two men passing by suddenly raised their heads and spoke. It was rare for drunk people, especially men, to part quietly when they saw a male celebrity. 

When CEO Kim offered to buy alcohol to commemorate the successful end of a drama he had filmed a while ago, it was situations like this that Lee Wooyeon expressed his concern about. But the CEO said he would prepare a good room, so he should come.

Because it’s the CEO’s who said this, Lee Wooyeon reluctantly followed. It was a special place prepared by CEO Kim for Lee Wooyeon, who only goes to and from the filming site when working, and from home to the gym when taking a break. It was Kim’s advice that, sometimes, one needs to open their world like this to increase their charm. For Kim Hakseung, the CEO of JN, who is known to be strict at work, to say this to the rookie Lee-Woo Yeon, he felt that he should listen. 

The waiter panicked and tried to close the door, but the men had already recklessly entered the room. 

“Oh, you look good in real life. You’re Lee Wooyeon from ‘Something in the Wind’ right? Nice to meet you.” 

Lee Wooyeon got up from his seat without showing any displeasure, answered yes, and reached out his hand to ask for a handshake. 

“My niece likes you. Please give me some autographs. Let’s take some pictures, no, no, give me your phone number. I’ll call my nephew later.”

“I will do it later. I’m with other people right now. I’m sorry.” 

Lee Wooyeon bowed his head politely. But it didn’t matter to the men who had already reached the point of intoxication. 

“What? Are you saying you won’t sign this?” 

“Ah, fuck. You’re playing hard to get.” 

CEO Kim’s expression darkened at the bleak atmosphere. The waiter hurriedly tried to get the men out of the room, but to no avail. 

“Guests. This is where other guests are, so you have to leave.” 

“You bastard. Don’t you know who I am? Is this Mr. Song’s shop? Are you doing this because you don’t know who’s looking after Song?” 

“Shut up when I say something nice. You asshole.” 

At first glance, they were men who did not have good personality. While the waiter did not know what to do, the man started arguing with Lee Wooyeon again. 

“Is it that hard to sign autographs?” 

“Sorry.”

Everyone in the room knew it wasn’t a request that ended in autographs. 

“You’re just a rookie and you can’t even give an autograph?” 

CEO Kim beckoned to the Manager. Manager Cha got up quickly and tried to sort out the situation.

“Sorry. This guy is too drunk to sign autographs. Please understand.”

“Drunk?”

The man looked at Lee Wooyeon’s face carefully. He drank a few drinks, but not enough to get drunk. Lee Woo-yeon bowed his head once again to apologize.

“Then pour me a drink or two.”

The man said as he raised a glass that was on the table. 

“Even if you’re drunk, you will be able to pour a drink. Let’s have a drink served by a celebrity. I’ll drink that and leave.”

Lee Wooyeon hesitated for a moment, then grabbed a bottle of liquor and filled the glass. When the glass was filled with high-quality western liquor, the man exclaimed, “Stop,” as if satisfied. The man who was holding a glass to his thick lips suddenly called out to Lee Wooyeon, saying, “Hey.”

The man poured the alcohol on Lee Wooyeon’s face. It happened in an instant. Alcohol flowed down Lee Woo-yeon’s sharp jawline.

“You bastard with no manners.” 

The man threw the glass on the table and left the room. The waiter bowed his head to bring a towel and left. 

“Are you okay?” 

CEO Kim asked. Lee Wooyeon replied with a smile. 

“I’m fine.”

“Oh really. There are people like that everywhere.” 

The manager of the car pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and tried to wipe his face. Lee Woo-yeon raised his hand and pushed the manager’s handkerchief away. 

“…?” 

“You put your handkerchief away. If you bring me a towel, I will wipe with it.” 

“I’m sorry. This was a place for you to feel good.” 

CEO Kim Hakseung offered an apology. Lee Wooyeon responded with a polite, cool smile. 

“No. CEO. I think this is also a social experience.” 

CEO Kim and Director Cha felt apologetic as they wondered if there was such a person. Lee Wooyeon thanked the waiter who brought the towel as well. Looking back, the waiter didn’t close the door right away, so this unfortunate incident happened, but he didn’t show any annoyance, let alone get angry. The waiter bowed his head repeatedly and apologized. Not long after, even the manager came and offered an apology. 

“Who are they? Those people.” 

CEO Kim asked in an irritated voice. The manager only returned an apology reply. The man who said that he knew the owner of the place didn’t seem like he was lying.

“It’s fine. Once the alcohol dries up, I’ll go home and take a shower anyway. Stop it.”

The manager said that he won’t be charging them for the drinks today, so they can order as they wish and then he disappeared. CEO Kim was annoyed and lit a cigarette. 

“I think you have become famous though. For people to recognize you like that.” 

When the manager Cha tried to lighten the mood with a joke, Lee Wooyeon replied with a smile. 

It was not uncommon for people to argue when they saw celebrities outside. It was the celebrities who had a lot to lose if they got into an argument. So it was best to just be patient in a place like this. In particular, it was best to avoid those of poor quality, as they even threaten them when something happens. 

Lee Wooyeon roughly wiped the alcohol with a towel. Outside the door, he saw the man passing by who had just argued with them. 

“I’m going to wash up.” 

“Are you going to leave like that?” 

“The bathroom is right in front, so it will be fine.”

Lee Wooyeon went out. The manager sighed and said. 

“Oh, he’s so gentle, I’m worried if he’ll get through this rough world well in the future.” 

“No. Even if it looks like that, that guy is quite strong. He will definitely become bigger.” 

He was put in a small role in the drama, but the response from the viewers was amazing, so the writer eventually changed the story and he became a major supporting role. He even received more spotlight than the lead, and rumors circulated that the lead said he would never work with Lee Wooyeon again.

CEO Kim, who has been working here for a long time, trusted his senses. Lee Wooyeon was a big fish. This was just the beginning. 

“The response is good this time, and I’m sure there will be better work next time, right?” 

“We’ll have to choose wisely. If we don’t, his image will be negatively affected.” 

“Yes. A lot of scripts have come in for Lee Wooyeon, haven’t they?”

“I’ve heard of a few, but I’ll have to check them out.”

“It would be fine to shoot a good movie, but …But why isn’t he back yet? Could it be that he is in another argument again?”

As soon as Managerr Cha finished speaking, CEO Kim stood up. Since there were other people around, they stopped pouring the drinks on Lee Wooyeon, but now that he was alone, who knows what those thugs would do.

The two ran to the bathroom. He could not find Lee Wooyeon, who they thought would be in the bathroom.

“Call him.”

Manager Cha quickly took out his cell phone and called Lee Wooyeon. When the call was not answered, the manager Cha anxiously called several more times, but in vain.

“Oh, damn it. What happened? Call the manager here. If they don’t bring those bastards right away, I’ll report them to the police…”

Before Kim could finish speaking, the sound of something breaking was heard from inside the emergency exit connected to the end of the hallway. They both ran towards it at the same time. Manager Cha muttered that it was foolish of them to let him go to the bathroom alone.

CEO Kim pushed the heavy iron door back and called out Lee Wooyeon’s name.

“Wooyeon-ah! Are you oka…”

Lee Wooyeon was there. But not the Lee Wooyeon they knew.

At his feet, the gangster who poured liquor on him was lying down with white foam on his mouth. Lee Wooyeon, who had been kicking the man who had lost consciousness and collapsed, looked back without showing any signs of surprise. There was blood all over his smiling face.

“Blood…”

Manager Cha, unable to speak properly, points to his face with his finger, and Lee Wooyeon wiped it away with his palm. And then let out a low laugh.

“It’s okay. It’s not my blood.” 

He kicked the head of the man one more time. At the same time, CEO Kim and Manager Cha frowned and grimaced unknowingly. Lee Wooyeon continued wiping the blood on his shoes on the man’s clothes. 

“Why did you come? It’s cold.” 

“…you didn’t come, so we were worried that something happened…” 

Manager Cha stuttered over his words with a look of disbelief. This was something that was obviously worrying. Looking at t he man who was lying down besides Lee Wooyeon, it looked like he needed at least seven weeks to recover from the dislocations he had.

“What the hell is this… … .” 

Even after seeing the situation in front of him, CEO Kim could not believe what he was seeing. The two of them didn’t know how to react to the unexpected transformation of an angelic Lee Wooyeon, who never showed any anger, and had a smile on his face no matter what. 

“We ran into each other on the way to the bathroom.” 

“…” 

“Relax. I made sure there was no cctv over here, and I hit him from behind so he wouldn’t even know it was me. There will be no fingerprints left.” 

Lee Wooyeon pointed at the beer bottle lying on the floor with a friendly glance. He also had leather gloves on his hands. Why did he go wearing leather gloves to the bathroom? He wondered whether this really was a coincidence. 

CEO Kim and Manager Cha looked at each other.. 

Are you really saying that this person is Lee Wooyeon? Is Lee Wooyeon the person they knew, with a face that seemed unable to kill an ant and spitting out bloody words with a soft tone? 

It was unbelievable even if he saw it with his eyes and heard it with his own ears. 

“…I really don’t know.” 

It was a word from CEO Kim with complex meaning. 

“Any more questions?” 

Lee Wooyeon showed no sign of embarrassment or shame despite revealing his ugly side. He took off his blood-soaked leather gloves like it was a natural behavior and handed it to the manager. 

“Please throw it away. It’s a bit dangerous if I carry it.” 

“…okay.” 

The manager accepted the leather gloves with a shaky face. 

“Then let me go in first.” 

Lee Wooyeon, who was passing by the two of them, seemed to remember something, reached out to the manager and said. 

“Please lend me a handkerchief.” 

“…uh.” 

As if possessed by something, Manager Cha took out his handkerchief and handed it to him. Lee Wooyeon, who wiped the blood off his face with the handkerchief, handed it back to the manager. 

“Please throw this away too.” 

Then he closed the iron door and disappeared. 

The two got to know the real him at that moment. The Lee Wooyeon, who politely refused because the manager’s handkerchief would be dirtied, also disappeared. 

From that day on, Lee Wooyeon stopped pretending to be nice in front of the two of them.