Vol. 2 Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Vol. 2 Chapter 38:

Translated by Chef

Edited by Chef

A boy sitting by the window was reading a book. His hair glistened in the sunlight. His heart warmed just by peeping at him secretly.

He closed the book the boy was reading and stood up. He looked his way. When their eyes meet, his heart beats like crazy. To the point where he was afraid that his heart would break down and something big would happen.

He lowered his head and closed his eyes. As he exhaled slowly, his heartbeat gradually returned to normal.

‘I like you, you know?’

A soft voice approached and kissed him. When he opened his eyes in surprise, the man was looking down at him.

‘I’ll do whatever you want.’

The man whispers as he clung pathetically.

Inseop blinked his eyes. His throat choked at the endless kindness he showed. He wanted to say something, but his voice didn’t come out as if his mouth was stuck together.

‘It’s okay because it’s a dream.’

At the word “dream,” he unknowingly say “ah” and understood. With the understanding, the sense of bewilderment rushed in.

‘I’ll listen to everything.’

The man whispered like a dream. It was so kind. It was so sweet that it was almost scary.

He learned from the children’s books he’d read countless times about what kind of ending he’ll face if he becomes greedy for something he can’t have. He still wanted to have it. He reached out his hands and pulled the man into a hug.

He didn’t ask for much. Just like a normal person, like a normal lover…

Beep beep beep

He woke up to the sharp alarm sound. As usual, he fumbled for the bedside table, but he couldn’t reach the cell phone. Inseop, who was slowly opening his eyes and trying to find his phone, jumped up at the thought that suddenly crossed his mind.

“…!”

Inseop immediately said, “Ugh,” and furrowed his eyes. A thumping pain came from his head. He held his throbbing forehead for a while, then gasped and sighed. Memories of yesterday flowed in.

‘It feels good to have a drink like this after a long time.’

Lee Wooyeon smiled and handed him a drink. Because his voice was sweet and kind when he said that, Inseop gulped down whatever he gave him.

When he was drunk, he tried to say that he would stop drinking, but Lee Wooyeon smiled several times sweeter than usual and filled the glass. The memory after that evaporated.

“What happened?”

Even if he tried to connect his memory, it was only hazy like fog.

“Ah, alarm.”

Inseop turned off the alarm after he found his cell phone still beeping inside the pillow. Then, he found several text messages sent by CEO Kim and Manager Cha.

CEO Kim: [Are you okay?]

CEO Kim: [Inseop. Everything’s okay, right? Everything’s fine, right?]

Cha: [Are you alive? Is everything OK?]

Cha: [Inseop. Call me as soon as you wake up. I don’t care any time.]

Cha: [Inseop…!]

Choi Inseop sent a text message to CEO Kim saying that he came home safely and that he was sorry for making him worried. Then he called Manager Cha right away. After a few beeps, Cha’s urgent voice was heard.

“Manager. I’m sorry to call in the morning.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Inseop answered and asked carefully.

“I drank too much yesterday, so I don’t remember, did I make any mistakes?”

Seeing that CEO Kim and Manager Cha alternately sent text messages, it was clear that he caused an accident while drunk.

Cha asked back with a tone of absurdity.

“How was everything yesterday?””

“I’m sorry for showing you something bad.”

Inseop’s face flared up at once. An adult man who cried after drinking. It was close to visual pollution.

Manager Cha hung on the end of the sentence.

“Isn’t he sleeping at home?”

Cha’s voice sounded bewildered.

Inseop looked around just in case. He could not see Lee Wooyeon. If Lee Wooyeon had come here yesterday, he would have been lying in bed without any clothes on by now.

While Cha murmured in a disbelief tone, another phone call came. When he checked the screen, it was CEO Kim.

“The CEO is calling me. Can I call you back later?”

Cha hung up the phone.

“Hello.”

Inseop tilted his head at CEO Kim’s urgent voice.

“Yes, thank you.”

CEO Kim over the phone breathed a sigh of relief.

Inseop blinked and began to say, “CEO.”

“Was I that drunk yesterday?”

Cha said it was okay, but it was clear that something had happened.

CEO Kim replied with a smacking of his lips. Inseop’s face ripened again.

“I’m sorry. It’s been so long since I drank that I think I made a mistake yesterday.”

It’s been a while since he’d drunk so much that he’d lost my mind.

It was because he lost his memory while he ended up getting drunk.

“I don’t usually drink like this…”

Inseop, who said so, closed his mouth. Something was out of the ordinary. Lee Wooyeon knew better than anyone else that he was weak on alcohol. So he always made him drink with his drinking capacity in mind.

However, yesterday’s Lee Wooyeon poured alcohol as soon as Inseop’s glass was empty as if he were determined. He didn’t urge or force him to drink quickly, but he smiled at Inseop, staring at him until he poured his glass.

CEO Kim’s generosity doubled Inseop’s embarrassment.

“I’m so sorry. I became a manager and couldn’t take care of the actor in charge…“

At Inseop’s words, CEO Kim asked back as if he had heard something wrong.

It was the same reaction as Cha. It seemed that he went home with Lee Wooyeon from the drinking party.

“Yes. I think Lee Wooyeon went back to his house after we drank together yesterday.”

“Schedule?”

Lee Wooyeon was a person who rarely got drunk and did not feel a hangover even if he was drunk.

Inseop’s face suddenly darkened.

“Lee Wooyeon, did he drink too much yesterday?”

Inseop’s face became even more emaciated by CEO Kim’s answer. Nevertheless, if the schedule was canceled, it was clear that something was wrong.

He had to go to Lee Wooyeon. Inseop hurriedly came down from the bed and frowned at the pain that was coming up.

CEO Kim was running out of breath as he poured out questions.

“What? Oh, no.”

Inseop looked down at himself. It was too clean to think that something happened yesterday. However, a subtle pain came from below to ignore.

Did he fall down the stairs on his way home?

Inseop calmly spoke to CEO Kim while scratching his cheek.

“I’ll check his condition and contact you right away”

“But he canceled the schedule. He must be ill.”

CEO Kim called Inseop in a voice full of sighs.

“But you never know.”

Lee Wooyeon was healthy. His natural health included skin, teeth, hair, and even eyes, and his eyesight was so good that the eye test table was meaningless. His immunity was also different, so he never caught a cold in winter.

Once, there was a flu epidemic that was severe enough for half of the actors, as well as the filming team, to lie down. The other half was not immune. One by one, the flu spread like a plague, and eventually had to postpone filming for a while. Among them, Lee Wooyeon was the only one who maintained a perfect health condition.

It was an anecdote that could not be laughed off by CEO Kim’s joke that the future of human health may lie in Lee Wooyeon’s serum research.

“There’s no way that such a person would suddenly cancel his schedule without a reason.”

CEO Kim, who said so far, slowly swallowed his breath as if his emotions were rising, and soothed Inseop.

“Did he cancel his dinner schedule?”

There was an interview during the day and a meeting with a new drama writer in the evening.

“Yes. Thank you for your concern. I’ll hang up.”

Inseop finished the call and texted Lee Wooyeon.

[Call me when you wake up.]

He was thinking of calling him, but he was wondering if he was asleep. After waiting for a while, no answer came.

Inseop immediately started taking a shower. Lee Wooyeon walked out of the drinking party unharmed, but he couldn’t help but feel worried. He seemed to be able to feel relieved only if he went to see him with his own eyes.

He was roughly dressed and drying his hair when the doorbell rang. It was early morning. Inseop ran to it and opened the door wide. Lee Wooyeon, who was standing outside the door, lowered his hood and frowned.

“You don’t really listen. Do you know who it was and just open it?”

“Sorry. I’ll be careful next time… Are you okay?”

In response to Inseop’s question, Lee Wooyeon made a face as he heard a strange question.

“I think you drank a lot yesterday.”

“You know I don’t have a hangover.”

“What happened yesterday?”

“Inseop was very drunk, so I brought him here. I went right back.”

Lee Wooyeon smiled refreshingly and closed the front door. However, even after hearing his explanation, Inseop couldn’t shake off the feeling of worry left in a corner of his heart.

If it was the usual Lee Wooyeon, there was no way he would just go home.

“Did I make any mistakes at the drinking party?”

When Inseop carefully asked, Lee Wooyeon smiled silently. Anxiety spread in Inseop’s chest.

“Did I ever say something bad?”

He thought that Lee Wooyeon might have fallen out of love with him because of his ugly side. Lee Wooyeon laughed briefly, haha.

“Do you know how to say bad things? I’d love to hear it when I get a chance. Now, this.”

Lee Wooyeon held out the package in his hand.

“What is this?”

“I got this drink to go. This is a hangover cure drink.”

“Sorry. You have to take care of me.”

Inseop accepted the package with an expression of embarrassment.

“Eat well.”

“…won’t we eat together?”

Come to think of it, Lee Wooyeon didn’t even take off his shoes.

“I was on my way to a workout.”

As if to prove his point, he was wearing a training suit and sneakers.

He was even awed by his amazing stamina.

“And I canceled my schedule this morning. I can’t do an interview while smelling like alcohol.”

Far from the smell of alcohol, his face seemed to smell fresh fruit.. When Inseop looked up without saying anything, Lee Wooyeon tilted his head slightly and asked.

“Do you smell alcohol?”

“Oh, no. It smells good.”

Every time Lee Wooyeon moved, the smell of citrus-scented shampoo wafted through. He had used it when taking a shower at his house, so he was able to recognize it at once. Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since he took a shower at Lee Wooyeon’s house. Thinking that he had remembered something useless, Inseop lowered his head. He felt Lee Wooyeon’s gaze. Heat rose from the bag of hangover soup in his hand.

Lee Wooyeon opened his mouth and said,

“I’ll go alone for the afternoon schedule.”

“Yes?”

“I’m meeting the writer anyway, so there’s no need for a manager to accompany me.”

Inseop blinked his eyes slowly. Obviously earlier…

“Didn’t you cancel all of today’s schedules?”

At Inseop’s question, Lee Wooyeon’s eyes caught a long smile.

Inseop liked Lee Wooyeon as an actor. He has seen all of his works, and he has even watched the same work dozens of times. So, sometimes, unintentionally, there were times when he could read Lee Wooyeon’s expression accurately.

“Who said that? The CEO?”

“Yes. I spoke on the phone earlier.”

Lee Wooyeon’s eye smile deepened. Inseop realized at once that he was lying. And that fact he noticed that he noticed too.

It was embarrassing.

“I guess so. I’ll check again later.”

“Okay.”

Lee Wooyeon’s hand came unexpectedly. Inseop flinched involuntarily and stiffened his shoulders.

“Bubble”

Lee Wooyeon smiled as he showed the toothpaste bubbles on his fingertips. Inseop tried to laugh along, but there was only an awkward twitch at the corner of his stiff mouth.

“Then I’ll just go.

Lee Wooyeon, who was about to leave the front door, turned around and said, “Ah,” as if he had remembered something.

“Why did you suddenly ask to see me yesterday?”

“Just..”

“Just?”

Lee Wooyeon playfully urged Inseop to say the next thing.

“…I was thinking of having dinner together.”

“Do you want something to eat?”

His voice when he asked was so soft. Inseop barely shook his head.

“Then think about it until tomorrow.”

Inseop replied that he would do so in a small voice. The front door was closed. The plastic bag containing the hangover soup fell to the floor.