As soon as I got out of the car, I ran to the main entrance of the apartment building where Jo Inchan lived. The moment I entered the passcode and the door opened, I collided head-on with a man rushing out.
Thud!
“Ugh!”
I was shoved back and fell flat onto the floor of the apartment building’s entrance.
It was partly because Han Seungbeom was ridiculously underweight for an average man, and partly because the man who ran into me was just way too big in comparison. The other guy stood perfectly fine there without so much as a wobble, while I was the only one who got thrown back. Honestly, it was pretty humiliating.
‘Don’t tell me … this is how the rest of the world has been living?‘
Because I’d fallen hard to the floor, the spot where I’d landed on kept throbbing with pain. As I frowned to bear the pain, my vision blurred. Still clutching my aching lower back, I looked up and spotted a head of hair that looked way too familiar.
“…Jo Inchan?”
When I spotted a vivid shade of red that no one with a typical job could ever have, I immediately blurted out the name of the person I was looking for. At the same time, the other person, their face drained of color as if they had accidentally hit a small animal, anxiously asked, “Are you alright?”
It was as if he was addressing a stranger.
Perhaps it was because I had my head bowed so low, or because he wasn’t yet used to my newly dyed hair, or maybe because what Jo Inchan had been looking for was my original body, but he didn’t seem to realize right away that the person in front of him was me.
‘Thank goodness I found him in time.’
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand or that I felt hurt. It had been such a fleeting moment, so I thought it couldn’t be helped. With that in mind, I purposely spoke in a calm tone.
“Are you alright? What. You’re not Cha Woon.”
It wasn’t until I said that and clearly showed my face that Jo Inchan seemed to recognize that I was Seo Yutae. He gasped, and even though he looked apologetic, I could tell he was relieved that I was here, exhaling in a quick, relieved breath as the tension left his body.
“Y-You came all the way here?”
I felt a little bad for ignoring his question, but since we were in an emergency, I grabbed Jo Inchan’s arm and asked urgently.
“Kang Hyukwoo!”
“Not yet, inside…….”
As soon as I heard Jo Inchan’s surprised and dazed reply, I clicked my tongue, grabbed him, and started running toward the car. Along the way, Jo Inchan, who had been following me with no resistance, asked in a voice full of anxiety, “Hyung, I came out because you told me to, but … Kang Hyukwoo might still be holding out in the house.”
I answered that question without a second’s hesitation, “That bastard will go back soon.”
“How can you be so sure…….”
“This isn’t the time to be wasting time here. He’s probably going to rush back to the company. The company is in flames right now, so hanging around here would make him a real madman.”
“The company, in flames?”
I meant it as a metaphor, but Jo Inchan, of course, took it literally and got completely freaked out. I mean, I wasn’t Choi Jeokhyeon, so I wouldn’t have actually set anything on fire, would I? Still, the fact that he was genuinely worried the company that had been giving him hell might really have gone up in flames … this guy was really something.
“No, it’s not like that. I blew up a scandal.”
“…Scandal?”
“You haven’t seen what’s happening online? All the crap those bastards pulled on the community just got exposed. Since there’s even testimony from Lim Seunghoon, a former internal employee, there’s no way they can talk their way out of it. Seeing him come straight to you to start more shit as soon as he had a bit of breathing room, I figured out I really shouldn’t give him any slack.”
Then I yanked the car door open and shoved Jo Inchan into the back seat, his face still frozen in shock, clearly saying, ‘How in the world did you manage to do that?‘
“Wait, slow down!”
Jo Inchan, who hadn’t even thought of resisting and had gone completely limp, flopped back onto the center console of the back seat with a thud. I heard him let out a sharp “Ow” but I ignored it and immediately scanned the surroundings to check if Kang Hyukwoo had seen the two of us together.
‘There’s … no one around.’
The only people outside were some kids playing near the playground. I let out a breath of relief and pushed my upper half into the back seat, where Jo Inchan was sprawled out. Han Seungbeom’s face stood out way too much, so my first priority was to get that hidden.
Then, I affectionately smacked Jo Inchan’s leg, which were still stretched out over the seat I needed to sit, and said, “Don’t space out. I’d really rather not let Kang Hyukwoo see the two of us together, so hurry up and get inside.”
At that, Jo Inchan hurriedly folded his long legs and squeezed into the seat, while I finally had a spot to sit and plopped down onto the seat myself.
“Phew…….”
‘Thank goodness the car is spacious.’
Back when I was in my original body, I’d always click my tongue, wondering how he managed to perform at concerts or even work out with that frame. But now, seeing him from this body, he looked as big as Namsan. It wasn’t my fault. The tallest members of Prism, who I was using for comparison, were just too big.
‘So, all this time, he’s really been letting Kang Hyukwoo beat him up … with a body like that…….’
Jo Inchan, who had been huddled in the corner, was massaging the muscles around his neck. He was probably doing it because, after the unexpected confrontation with Kang Hyukwoo, he’d tensed up too much while bracing himself for violence.
‘Looks like there’s no injury. That’s a relief.’
Kang Hyukwoo was even shorter than Han Seungbeom, so if he really wanted to, Jo Inchan could’ve easily overpowered him. But Jo Inchan, whether it was because of his nature or the leverage Kang Hyukwoo had on him, just let himself get hit.
‘If someone like Nam Yihwon had been in that situation, he would’ve lost it and beaten that bastard to the brink of death, contract be damned. I guess Kang Hyukwoo also knew better than to pick the wrong fight.’
Seeing how intimidated Jo Inchan looked, I clenched my jaw and then spoke while massaging his arm with my hand, “Next time, no matter what happens, don’t ever open the door.”
“…….”
“Once the contract is over, change your phone number and move out. I don’t want that bastard to come looking for you…….”
I stopped in mid-sentence because, even as I urged him to do so, I honestly couldn’t help but think that Kang Hyukwoo would somehow find a way to track him down. Jo Inchan, as if he knew what I was thinking, weakly smiled and shook his head.
While I let out a deep sigh at his overly docile reaction, Jo Inchan suddenly stiffened up in his seat, as if he’d found something wrong. Then, like a robot, he jerkily turned his head and checked the driver’s seat.
“Aaaah, oh!”
The one sitting in the driver’s seat was none other than Choi Jeokhyeon.
As soon as he spotted him, Jo Inchan let out a raw scream. Then, with his eyes wide open like a cat whose fur had stood on end, he quickly turned to look at me, unable to hide his bewilderment.
‘What do you want me to do. How can I help. What do you need help with.’
When I just gave him a lukewarm look, Jo Inchan looked back at Choi Jeokhyeon again and then awkwardly bowed his head. It was an ambiguous and uncomfortable greeting, not like meeting a close friend of his hyung, but also not like bumping into the boss of a job he had quit.
Choi Jeokhyeon simply placed his wrist on the steering wheel and smiled in a relaxed manner.
‘That guy’s at it again.’
It hadn’t even been an hour since he told me not to help Jo Inchan. Yet here he was, putting on such a perfectly composed, professional face in front of him. I wasn’t sure whether to call it impressive or creepy.
As I thought about it, I suddenly remembered a memory from the past.
‘No, seriously, that person is really weird when Hyung’s not around?”
“…How much worse can it get than that? He’s already living however he wants right now anyway. That guy has always been weird to begin with.”
“Ugh, this is so unfair … He’s already weird now, but he’s going to get even weirder. He knows you’ll get mad if he acts weird toward us in front of you, hyung, so he’s just pretending to be innocent for show.”
According to the members, Choi Jeokhyeon seemed to have a drastic difference in his attitude depending on whether I was around or not. But honestly, the same could be said about the Prism members, so I didn’t pay much attention to their comments. Whenever the members acted so hostile toward Choi Jeokhyeon, I used to wonder what their problem with him was.
However, seeing Jo Inchan scared in a way that was different from how he reacted to Kang Hyukwoo, it made me think that the members might have been right.
“Hyung…….”
Jo Inchan, after seeing Choi Jeokhyeon’s smile, looked around nervously as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have, then cautiously pressed the back of his hand tightly against my arm. His hand was damp with cold sweat. Our seats were separate, so even if he moved closer, his large figure wouldn’t be hidden. But what could I do? I couldn’t exactly push the scared kid clinging to me away. I had no choice but to just leave him be.
As I stared blankly into the air, I heard a small voice behind me say, “Why … why did you come with him?”. Watching his face, unusually pale, I found myself wondering why every single member of Prism seemed so uncomfortable with Choi Jeokhyeon.
As far as I remembered, every time Jay saw Choi Jeokhyeon, he would glare at him like he wanted to kill him, while Lee Chise and Nam Yihwon would just avoid him without being told, and Cha Woon and Jo Inchan seemed terrified. The only one who was even somewhat similar to Choi Jeokhyeon was Seo Yuseong, but whether it was due to some kind of same-species hatred or something else, he openly despised him and and would pull all sorts of strings to try and get him away from me.
‘Honestly, it’s just because Prism have nasty tempers. Other people would’ve been too intimidated to even talk to him properly, just like the members of Pantheion.’
Ah, come to think of it, it wasn’t just those Prism guys who didn’t like him. There wasn’t a single person around me who liked Choi Jeokhyeon.
‘Isn’t that guy just living his life all wrong?’
Having finally realized that fact, I stared at Choi Jeokhyeon with pity in my eyes. In response, he tilted his head and met my gaze in the rearview mirror with that signature radiant smile of his.
‘…He looks happy.’
The moment I took in that face, I decided to stop thinking about Choi Jeokhyeon. In this world, the only thing more useless than worrying about a celebrity is worrying about a lunatic. With a clear mind, having completely cast aside any concerns about Choi Jeokhyeon, I gave Jo Inchan a simple answer to his question.
“There are no taxis, and I don’t have a license … I need to get you out of there as soon as possible, so what am I supposed to do?”
Then, perhaps realizing that I didn’t have a license in this body, Jo Inchan let out a small “Ah” and mumbled in a small voice, “…I’m sorry, hyung, for causing you trouble again.”
“Forget it. I told you not to say things like that to me. Why are all the habits I fixed during my time in Prism coming back?”
It was something I said to mean ‘don’t worry about it‘. However, Jo Inchan just lowered his gaze and didn’t give much of a response. I stared intently at his face, but he avoided making eye contact with me and awkwardly brought up a different topic, as if trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.
“…What about the members of Pantheion?”
I couldn’t figure out why he was bringing up the Pantheion members at this timing. I tilted my head in confusion, but still answered briefly, “We’re on a break before our last activity. Still sorting out contract issues”. He then mumbled, “Oh, I see…….”, with a subtle tremor in his voice and nodded his head.
Then, with a slightly more downcast expression, he consciously placed his hand, which had been drifting anxiously in the air, on his knee all of a sudden. I frowned at the sight of him tightening his grip on his already bad knee and reached out, but Jo Inchan flinched and pulled his body back away from me.
It seemed like it wasn’t a conscious action, as Jo Inchan looked up at me with an expression full of regret, as if he realized he had made a mistake. I, too, was taken aback, with my hand still outstretched in the air, frozen in place.
“…….”
“…….”
An awkward silence fell over the car for a moment.
I could feel Choi Jeokhyeon’s red eyes silently watching the two of us through the rearview mirror.
Jo Inchan, after swallowing his dry saliva in the cold, heavy atmosphere, finally managed to get the words out.
“Hyung, thank you so much, but still, next time, please don’t come to a place where Kang Hyukwoo is.”
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Translator’s Corner:
The last thank you so much part, if translated in literal way is “I’m really grateful” ….I just use thank you instead since it’s a better fit after saying sorry
I tried to do workout after years of not moving my body … and it’s not even the hard one, just the 30 minutes beginner work out video on youtube …. and now i feel like i’m going to die, my legs hurt asdfghjkl i want to be consistent, BUT JUST DAY 1 IS ALREADY HARDDD …. I truly respect people who can do it daily for years ….
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