“But why didn’t you tell me back then? Were you resenting me for seven whole years because I said something like that?”
At Cheonghyeon’s words, Yeonha flinched.
“I didn’t resent you for seven years. It’s just… after living as an entertainer, I came to understand. That there wasn’t a single thing I had done wrong in being isolated for all three years of high school. In this world, there were people who hated me for no reason, and there were people who were jealous that I was doing well. Looking at people like that, I realized it. Even back in high school, I’d just been unlucky. But even after time passed and I knew it wasn’t my fault, I still couldn’t argue back against what you’d said.”
When Cheonghyeon tilted his head at the contradiction, Yeonha quietly laid out his true feelings.
“I guess some part of me didn’t want to accept the fact that I was hated for no reason, so I wondered if maybe there really was something wrong with me. That’s why I kept avoiding you. Well, even if I didn’t deliberately avoid you, there were hardly any chances for me to run into you anyway. I thought I’d forgotten all of it and moved on, but then suddenly I heard that you’d handed over an advertisement that came to you to me. From the moment I heard that, I got heated and angry. I thought I’d overcome it all, but it felt like you still pitied me. Honestly, I didn’t want to contact you again because I was afraid I’d go back to being who I was seven years ago.”
Cheonghyeon sighed. He was thinking that if something was going to get tangled, it really could get tangled this badly.
“I had absolutely no such intention. Until I heard this, I didn’t even know you’d been angry.”
The sound of Yeonha’s fourth beer can opening, along with Cheonghyeon’s second beer can, rang clearly across the rooftop.
“This time, let’s clink and drink. It’s not to celebrate making up… just to congratulate you on the advertisement.”
When Cheonghyeon lifted his beer can and smoothly held it out, Yeonha also gave a small laugh and knocked his can against his.
“Is my advertisement more important than us making up? What a funny bastard.”
Under the night sky, along with the gently stirring wind, the scent of alcohol drifted faintly.
He had made another friend. One whose mouth was rough and whose appearance was sharp, but whose heart alone was soft tofu.
But a little while later, perhaps drunk on the mood, Cheonghyeon, who had fearlessly downed four cans of beer in a row, was utterly drunk and laughing. Yeonha grabbed Cheonghyeon, who was already out of his mind, and crumpled his expression hard again.
“This bastard is really no help in my life. Hey! If you sleep here, your mouth will go crooked! Tell me your manager’s number.”
“Informal speech? What commoner is being so insolent?”
“What a perfect drunken outburst to get you into an attitude controversy. If you go around drinking like this, the day you retire from the entertainment industry, the internet is going to throw a whole festival.”
Yeonha searched through Cheonghyeon’s limp body, which was like an inflatable tube man, and barely managed to find his phone. The moment he tried to unlock it by taking Cheonghyeon’s hand and pressing it to the phone, someone called.
[Seoan-hyung]
“Seoan-hyung? Hey, who’s An-hyung? Is he your friend? Can I answer this?”
“Anhyeong? Who’s Anhyeong…. Hello…? Haha.”
No proper answer came back from the drunkard. Yeonha worked hard to suppress the urge to curse and calmly answered the phone.
“Hello? Mr. An-hyung?”
—Who might you be?
“Ah, I’m Cheonghyeon’s…, friend.”
—Friend? Why are you together with him until this late?
The question that came back was sharp, and Yeonha, who had been slightly tipsy, snapped wide awake. He absolutely hated being mistaken for this drunkard’s shady friend.
Thinking that if the number was saved and the person was immediately worried about Cheonghyeon, then he probably was not a strange person, Yeonha revealed his identity.
“Um, I’m Kang Yeonha, an actor from the same agency as Cheonghyeon. I’m not a strange person. Cheonghyeon and I had a light beer on the rooftop, but he got drunk, so I was trying to call his manager….”
—I’ll come pick him up. Which rooftop is it?
“Ah… Global Semical. The rooftop of our company.”
Without even answering, the call coldly went click and ended. The chilly tone made Yeonha feel as if all his drunkenness had been blown away.
Kang Yeonha was, by nature, the owner of a delicate heart unlike his appearance, and he tended to grow anxious around cold, blunt people like Seoan.
Cheonghyeon was lying on the bench, pedaling his legs in the air and ordering Yeonha to hurry and grab his legs because they were walking through the sky.
Irritably holding him in place, Yeonha sat neatly on the bench.
“Uwaa… Bring Henry here…. I must show him that I am walking through the sky….”
He was already so nervous that his stomach was starting to ache, and he had no energy left to humor Cheonghyeon’s nonsense.
But if the person called Seoan-hyung came and saw Cheonghyeon with his head against a hard bench, he might blame him.
Annoyed, Yeonha tugged Cheonghyeon’s hood over and placed Cheonghyeon’s head on his own thigh.
Cheonghyeon’s face under the moonlight was flushed from drunkenness, both cheeks brightly red, and every time he opened and closed his eyes, his long black eyelashes trembled softly.
But all Yeonha thought was, ‘If I slap him and tell him to pull himself together, will he cling even more…. It’s not like I got him drunk. He bought the beer himself and drank it, so he won’t blame me for letting him drink until he got drunk, right?’
Yeonha waited for “Seoan-hyung,” with both legs trembling.
Clank, clank. Creeeak.
The heavy iron door opened roughly, making an unpleasant sound.
Then a tall, handsome man who looked like a model strode toward him, staring straight into his eyes with a sharp expression.
The man’s face, lit by the bright moonlight over the dark rooftop, was truly like some bewitching spirit that led people astray.
His pale hair and eyes gave off a cold feeling, and his tall height, which seemed similar to Yeonha’s, looked like a grim reaper because of the shadow stretched twice as long by the light.
Yeonha gulped and gently shook Cheonghyeon.
“Hey…. Mr. An-hyung is here. Wake up….”
But Cheonghyeon had long since fallen asleep with his head on a soft, muscular pillow.
A pleasant buzz, the cool night breeze, and the open rooftop were more than enough of an environment to fall asleep in.
When Seoan discovered Cheonghyeon sleeping peacefully on Yeonha’s thigh, his expression hardened even more coldly.
“Um, hello. I was just talking about the advertisement with Cheonghyeon, but then he got drunk while drinking beer…. I don’t know why he bought four cans of beer either… yes….”
“Ah. You said you were Kang Yeonha, right?”
“Yes. Excuse me, but what is your relationship with Cheonghyeon…? I was originally going to call his manager, but then Mr. Seoan-hyung called, so I called you over. But honestly, since he’s an entertainer….”
His fear lasted only a moment. Yeonha soon came to his senses and tried to confirm Seoan’s identity.
Since Cheonghyeon was an entertainer, he could not just hand him over to anyone.
“I’m an old acquaintance. And I’m also the advertiser for the home appliance ad you’re going to shoot.”
“What?”
“It was a gift I gave Cheonghyeon, but you took it, and now you’re even feeding him alcohol until late at night… You’re displeasing in several ways.”
At Seoan’s words, Yeonha shot to his feet, and Cheonghyeon’s head bounced up into the air with a thump.
When Seoan’s expression grew even worse at the sight, Yeonha hurriedly tried to catch Cheonghyeon’s head, but without realizing it, his hand slipped and he ended up grabbing a fistful of Cheonghyeon’s hair.
“No, I mean… I received the advertisement without knowing that either. If I’m not to your liking, then…”
Without reacting at all to Yeonha’s stammering words, Seoan smacked Yeonha’s hand away, then carefully lifted Cheonghyeon onto his back.
“From now on, I hope there will be no more occasions where you two meet alone like this and drink until late at night. Just how far are you trying to drag down an idol’s image?”
Yeonha nodded.
As expected, since he was the advertiser, he was sensitive about image…
But how did this Cheonghyeon guy know the person in charge of Yeonggyeong’s advertising?
And were advertisers usually that young? Even being generous, he looked early thirties at most.
While Yeonha was thinking, Seoan carried Cheonghyeon on his back and vanished from the place.
eonha stood on the rooftop for a long while, dazed. He felt as if he had been bewitched and had handed his friend over just like that.
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