CH 12

“…  lip.”

“Are you awake?”

Choi Inseop, who was getting up, felt dizzy and laid back down on the seat again. Lee Wooyeon closed the book he was reading. Inseop stared blankly at the movement of his fingers. As Jenny said, they were long and beautiful fingers.

“Do you have a headache?”

“… Fine.”

“I’m sorry. If I had known you wouldn’t like it that much, I would have stopped you. I never thought you would pass out.”

“… Did I faint? Me?”

Choi Inseop traced his memory. He had never been on a ride because of his congenitally weak heart. Now, he can do activities similar to ordinary people, but rides were still psychologically unreasonable for him.

“Yes. You got off the ride and passed out right away.”

“…”

Choi Inseop bit his lip. Come to think of it, he couldn’t even imagine it. An adult man who faints after riding a ride.

“Fortunately, there was a doctor among the people waiting to ride the rides and looked after you, but they said that you just passed out. So I brought you to the car, would you like to go to the hospital?”

“No. I’m fine.”

When Choi Inseop tried to stand up, Lee Wooyeon raised his hand and stopped him.

“Lie down more. After all, Manager Cha will take some time to come from the province.”

“Is Manager Cha coming?”

“Yes. You passed out, so the manager said that he was coming. It will take about an hour. Lay down and rest.”

Choi Inseop touched his head with his hands. He passed out, and even the chief of staff had to come here. Today was really the worst day.

“… Filming?”

“It’s fine. Everything went smoothly.”

“That’s good…”

He muttered helplessly. Lee Wooyeon laughed. Every time he saw that smiling face, Inseop’s heart ached. 

Prince-like face, sweet smile. 

It was all a lie and it sounded like Jenny’s screams, telling him to quickly tell the people his true nature.

Lee Wooyeon reached out and placed his hand on Inseop’s face. He froze on the spot with the feeling of his hair standing up.

“Your face is red. I thought you might have a fever.”

“Oh, no.”

He stood up. Much better than before. Even when he moved his body, he didn’t feel dizzy.

“I will contact the manager and tell him that I will just drive and go.”

“That’s okay. Rest. There is nothing urgent, right?”

Even if he died soon, there was no word from Lee Wooyeon’s mouth that he would drive back. Among the information Choi Inseop found out, it seemed to be true that Lee Wooyeon never drove with anyone.

“Because of me… sorry.”

He bowed his head and apologized. Lee Wooyeon laughed it off. In this way, he was a very kind and nice person. 

He gradually lost his confidence. Will he be able to discover the nature hidden within that thick mask? 

“Ah. That’s right. Mr. Inseop.”

“…Yes?”

“Can you give me back what I left with you?”

“Ah, ah… rock. lucky stone.”

Choi Inseop answered while rummaging through his pockets. But the box was not where it should have been. He looked in the other side just in case, but it was the same. 

“Uh, uh… ”

He got up from his seat in bewilderment and banged his head on the roof of the car.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“No, the box was definitely there before…  I’m sure… ”

Even though he was busy, he put his hand in his pocket and checked the box every now and then. Until he got on the ride.

“Did you lose it?”

“… ”

It was evident that the box in his pocket fell while riding the ride. Fear of riding a roller coaster for the first time, he did not even think about having to leave the box with someone. 

“I think I dropped it while riding a ride.”

“Um, I see.”

His expression grew more and more pale. He looked even paler than when he got off the ride.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’’s okay. Things like that happen.”

“… sorry. It is all my fault.”

Choi Inseop’s shoulders shrank more and more. He had a frightened face, like a child with his hand in the head of a lion. 

Lee Wooyeon felt better. To be so sorry for a stone that was so insignificant. The new manager fell like a piece of paper even if burned a little. He was sure. That he can fire this human off any time he wanted.

“II can’t helped. It was a precious thing, but what can you do with what you’ve already lost?”

Precious thing. 

It changed often. He put stones, leaves, and key chains in a box inside the cabinet and asked the manager to hold it for a while, saying something like a lucky charm. Seizing the opportunity, he didn’t forget to steal the item and throw it in the trash. The reactions of those who were afflicted with this childish, dog-like trick were almost identical. It was embarrassment at first, then sorry, then resentment. It was a consistent excuse that they clearly had the item, but that it had disappeared.

‘Tt’s gone because I took it.’

“Don’t worry.”

Lee Wooyeon smiled and said, but Choi Inseop didn’t say anything. An awkward silence passed inside the car.

“I will go to the bathroom for a while.”

Choi Inseop stood up and muttered. Lee Wooyeon nodded and opened the book he was reading earlier. 

Choi Inseop, who went out like that, did not come back. He closed the book only after confirming that it had been 20 minutes since he left the Benz.

‘Where else did you fall?’

Recalling Choi Inseop’s pale face as he left, Lee Wooyeon clicked his tongue. It didn’t matter whether he fell or not, but if something went wrong, his name would be up and down in the newspaper. There were too many eyes that saw Choi Inseop, who fainted, to pretend not to know.

“You are bothering me.”

Lee Wooyeon put his hat on and went out. He had to walk for a long time to go to the bathroom because he purposely parked the car far away. Hoping that Choi Inseop was lying nearby, he moved on.

However, there was no body of the fallen manager in the nearby bathroom or nearby. Choi Inseop’s words came to mind as he was wondering whether he was going to call manager Cha. 

“No way.”

He walked towards the roller coaster where he was filming. It was a cold winter, so there were few guests left until this time. Profanity came out of Lee Wooyeon’s mouth along with a breath.

“Where the hell is this bastard?”

Below the roller coast was a small man-made lake in an amusement park. It was a small puddle of water to add to the horror as the train plummeted down. 

It was as expected. Choi Inseop was looking for a box in the pool of water with his pants rolled up. His whole body trembled as if he was about to collapse.

Lee Wooyeon smirked. What the hell is the need to look good to him by doing that?

“Mr. Choi Inseop.”

When Lee Wooyeon called him, Inseop was surprised and raised his back. The wind caused him to lose his focus and fall into the puddle of water. 

This asshole was really different.

Lee Wooyeon suppressed his irritation and made up a worried voice.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, yes. I’m fine.”

Choi Inseop, who was about to get up, stumbled again and fell. Lee Wooyeon laughed and swallowed the swear words.

“What are you doing? In there.”

“… I was looking. Box.”

The box Choi Inseop was looking for was in Lee Wooyeon’s pocket. In the car, Choi Inseop lost consciousness and was lying down so he took it out and put it in his pocket. He saw the opportunity and decided to throw it in the trash.

“That’s okay. Come out. Hurry.”

“I can find it.”

Choi Inseop stubbornly closed his mouth and put his hand into the puddle again. 

“Come out. You’ll catch a cold.”

“It’s fine. Please go inside.”

It didn’t look good at all. Even in the dark, Choi Inseop trembled with his slender shoulders and searched through the water.

“Mr. Inseop. It’s ok, please stop.”

Even when he said that, Choi Inseop did not pretend to listen. So he stopped saying that. Lee Wooyeon leaned against the tree and waited for Choi Inseop to walk out on his own. 

However, he struggled to find the box with the hand that was not even in the water for ten minutes. 

“You don’t have to. A stone like that.”

“No.”

“Yes?”

“It’s just a stone, but it’s important.”

“… ”

Lee Wooyeon took off his shoes and rolled up his pants. 

“… !”

Choi Inseop opened his mouth and was surprised to see him walking into the water.

“Aren’t you going to stay until we find it?”

“…Yes.”

“Then let’s find it together. That would be better.”

“I’ll do it alone… ”

“I’m already all wet. Let’s look for it quickly. It’s cold.”

Lee Wooyeon put his hand in the water and spoke. The water was so cold that it made his bones shiver. Choi Inseop’s lips were red from the cold. If he had left him like that, he would have really had to clean up the body. It was the worst scandal that he couldn’t handle it. 

And above all, he was curious. The reason why the stupid manager bastard pretended to be his fan and did this while lying.

Lee Wooyeon took advantage of Choi Inseop turning his back to look for the box, took the box out of his pocket and threw it in a suitable place. Then he tapped Choi Inseop on the shoulder and motioned for him to go near there.

“I’m going here, you go over there.”

“Yes. All right.”

While answering, he looked at Lee Wooyeon with worried eyes. 

Don’t worry about me, you asshole.

That was what he wanted to say, but he quietly smiled.

“Huh!”

Choi Inseop, who found the box, ran to him with his eyes shining. He shouted, picking up the wet box.

“I found it!”

“Really?”

He answered, wiping the water off his hand. 

“Let’s quickly. We’ll catch a cold.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

As soon as he got out of the water, Inseop wiped the water off the box he was holding and checked the inside.  

“It’s okay.”

“… That’s right.”

He handed the box to Lee Wooyeon. Lee Wooyeon put the box in his pocket and said.

“Thanks. Thanks to you, I found it.”

“No. I did not watch it well…”

When he came out of the water, hiss face became even whiter. He trembled so much that people passing by looked at him. Lee Wooyeon took off the jacket he was wearing and covered his body.

“It’s dine…”

“That’s okay. Put it on.”

He thought he would continue to refuse, so Lee Wooyeon held the jacket. Choi Inseop bowed his head and muttered a word of thanks. Lee Wooyeon wiped his feet dry and put on his shoes. Even wearing one more layer of clothes, Choi Inseop could not stop his body shaking. 

“Hey there, maybe…”

To make matters worse, a group of women who recognized Lee Wooyeon surrounded the two of them. Lee Wooyeon pressed the hat deeply, and pulled Choi Inseop’s clothes. Choi Inseop, walking through the women, apologized, asking for forgiveness. Even at this time, the manager looking for manners was frustrating, but Lee Wooyeon walked ahead without saying a word.

“Isn’t it Lee Wooyeon oppa?”

“No.”

He lowered his voice to answer, but to no avail. The falcon-eyed women quickly surrounded him and shouted.

“Hey! Oh my, this is the real Lee Wooyeon.”

“Oppa. Please sign.”

“Let’s take a picture together. I am a fan of yours.”

The women surrounded them and shouted, but Lee Wooyeon pretended not to know and walked only looking ahead. Choi Inseop could instinctively know that his mood was not too good. 

“Oppa! Hold on, oppa!”

A female student grabbed Lee Wooyeon’s hem and pulled him away. In the meantime, a group of women from the same party surrounded Lee Wooyeon. The people who heard their screams also turned their eyes to their side wondering what was going on.

“Wooyeon brother. I really like you.”

“Oppa, please sign.”

More and more people started coming in. Choi Inseop, whose behavior and judgment skills became sluggish because of the cold, was embarrassed and did not know what to do.

Lee Wooyeon suddenly grabbed his hand. Then he started walking fast. The women who were left behind continued to follow him and call him, but he never looked back.

“Uh, there…”

He was going to say that the direction of the parking lot was not this way, but that way, but Lee Wooyeon strongly grabbed his hand and pulled him with his mouth shut. Because of the height difference, Inseop had to walk almost like he was running.

The screaming women were startled by the cold behavior of the man they believed to be Lee Wooyeon, and followed them from a reasonable distance. 

Lee Wooyeon took Choi Inseop into the Ferris wheel. 

“Oh, sir. Now the deadline is over… ”

“Turn one round, please.”

Lee Wooyeon took off the hat he was wearing and smiled. The staff recognized him and asked him to sign an autograph. 

“Just one round. Please turn it slowly. Because I am being chased.”

Lee Wooyeon said, pointing to the women walking towards this side from a distance. The staff laughed at his playful voice and closed the Ferris wheel door. As he moved away from the ground, Choi Inseop sighed and sat down. Lee Wooyeon also sat across from him.

“…sorry.”

Choi Inseop said with blue lips like a dead person.

“What?”

“”Because of me… this wouldn’t have happened if I had kept the box well in the first place… sorry.”

Lee Wooyeon leaned against the window and looked at Choi Inseop, who was bowing his head in front of him. He could see that the apology was sincere.

It’s okay, Lee Wooyeon just turned his head. For some reason, he didn’t feel like pretending to be nice right now.

In the quiet Ferris wheel, the sound of Choi Inseop’s teeth chattering was particularly loud. 

“Cold?”

Seeing Choi Inseop trembling, he asked. 

“… Yes. A little.”

“Come sit by my side.”

Lee Wooyeon pointed to the seat next to him. However, Choi Inseop only shook his head and did not move.

“Why? Don’t you want to come by my side?”

“No… no.”

Inseop, who was shaking slightly, had no choice but to approach Lee Wooyeon and sit down. Just by feeling his warm body, he felt guilty. According to what he believed, Lee Wooyeon’s body had to be cold  with no warm blood flowing. However, in this narrow space right now, it was impossible to avoid Lee Wooyeon openly. Thinking that a fan or an ordinary manager would do something like this, he gave justification to his actions.

“Mr. Choi Inseop.”

“Yes?”

In the appearance of Choi Inseop shivering from the cold, Lee Wooyeon thought of a wet puppy. It wasn’t a cute puppy that had gained weight, it was a pup that was skinny and somehow encouraged people’s cruel instincts. 

Lee Wooyeon smiled at Choi Inseop, who was looking up at him with frightened eyes.

“Why did you become my fan?”

“Yes? Oh, watching a movie… ”

Choi Inseop was perplexed. He had imagined that he would be asked about this, but he never dreamed that the person in question would be Lee Wooyeon himself. 

“How was the movie?”

“It was good.”

“Why?”

It was a question that felt somewhat obsessive. Choi Inseop responded calmly, pressing his fingertips with his fingernails.

“Eyes looking at the sea…, I liked your expression… It felt like you were lonely, so… I thought it was good.”

That was true. To find out about the actor Lee Wooyeon, he watched the movie he appeared in dozens of times. The most watched work was his first independent film. 

Starting with throwing the woman he loved into the sea, the entire movie was shot with the beach in the background. It was a work that was praised for its excellent acting on the sadness that was buried in small and ordinary daily life. Most of all, Choi Inseop did not forget the last scene of the movie. 

The face of Lee Wooyeon, who looked at the sea alone without saying a word, was terribly silent. He had a face that was completely alone, as if all humans had disappeared and he was left alone on Earth.

A person who is completely alone. He didn’t know if that was the right expression, but every time he saw Lee Wooyeon, the words came to mind.

“I was going to tell you before but I couldn’t.”

Lee Wooyeon’s friendly voice brought him back to reality. 

“Which day are you talking about?”

“It was the day we ate together.”

Choi Inseop nodded his head. That day, Lee Wooyeon was going to say something to him, but he remembered that he left because of the chef’s food.

“I’ve seen a lot of fans who like me.”

“…Yes.”

His mouth seemed dry as he answered. Choi Inseop diligently pretended to be a fan, but worried that his attitude was lacking.

“Actually, I have a hard time dealing with people who like me.”

“… Okay.”

“I don’t know what part of me they like, and I wonder if that’s the truth. Of course, I am always grateful to the fans who like and support me.”

Lee Wooyeon’s words were not as sincere as he tried to make it. He was annoyed by his fans. He didn’t like the people who ran rudely on the road, and he hated the young women who screamed without shame. For him, fans were just a means to prove his position.

“That’s right. If this person likes me, I am more concerned about my actions, and I am worried that they will be disappointed.”

“…I see.”

Although he was answering thoroughly, Choi Inseop could not understand why Lee Wooyeon was saying these things to him… Maybe he was saying that he was annoyed by him because he was a fan.

Choi Inseop, unexpectedly, thought that he should go home and write down the fact that he could be good at acting tonight.

“Mr. Inseop, do you like me? Or do you like my work?”

In response to the unexpected question, he widened his eyes and looked at the man sitting next to him. Thanks to this, the defenseless expression was clearly revealed. 

“I want to know which one it is.”

“Ah… I am…”

A big bang occurred in his small head. 

Would it be better to say that he liked him, or would it be better to just say that he liked his work? Even so, if he says that he didn’t like him and he only liked the work, wasn’t it a bit wrong? But, obviously, Lee Wooyeon said to him that it would be a bit uncomfortable if someone liked him. Worries about which side would be helpful for future work filled Choi Inseop’s head.

“I am…  a fan of Lee Wooyeon as an actor.”

To be honest, it was close to an anti disguised as Lee Wooyeon’s fan, but for now, it was best to say that. 

“So I wanted to help you out so that you could do better, and now… That’s right.”

For today, Inseop practiced a lot while looking in the mirror. It was more difficult than expected for him to deceive someone, who had never lied to anyone. But he had to.

“A fan of Lee Wooyeon as an actor?”

“Yes.”

At Choi Inseop’s unhesitating answer, Lee Wooyeon burst out laughing. Inseop looked at him blankly as he tilted his head back and smiled. 

Maybe he said the wrong answer?

“That’s fortunate.”

“… !”

“I’m glad, because I thought it could be burdensome for Mr. Inseop to expect too much from me.”

Lee Wooyeon placed his hand on Choi Inseop’s shoulder. It was a natural attitude. It was a hand that maintained a moderate crush and distance.

“Let’s do a good job from now on.”

“… Yes.”

Lee Wooyeon’s palm lightly patted his back. An unknown sensation ran through his back. He tried not to do that, but he trembled without realizing it. 

A strange smile appeared on Lee Wooyeon’s face when he saw it. 

“Cold?”

“… Yes.”

Hi body had warmed up a lot more than before and it wasn’t that cold, but Inseop had no excuses other than those words. 

“A little bit more. Closer.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Lee Wooyeon watched the other person’s expression harden whenever their shoulders touched. Choi Inseop didn’t know what to do when he felt the gaze, so he turned his head out the window.

It was clear he didn’t like it.

Lee Wooyeon raised his chin and raised the tip of his lips while looking at Choi Inseop. It wasn’t pleasant to see the bewildered look of the manager whose plans he did not know, but it made him curious. 

Why the hell was this bastard so clumsy and trying to trick him?

He thought he’d put it aside for a bit. It didn’t matter. No one gets tired of something as easily as him, so if he gets tired of it, he’ll cut it off.

Inside the narrow Ferris wheel, the two looked at the distant light, immersed in different thoughts.