Park Moondae going to meet Ryu Gunwoo with Ryu Chungwoo…
"Moondae, are you really surprised? Are you okay?"
"I'm okay."
What the hell was happening in an instant? I pressed my eyelids so as not to tremble.
Therefore… Ryu Chungwoo had now come and found Ryu Gunwoo's whereabouts. Okay, let's start with this.
"I was a bit surprised. I wonder how they got in touch all of a sudden."
"Right? So did I."
No, his reason and my reason must be different, but anyway, Ryu Chungwoo grinned and continued his explanation.
"One of the grandsons of the eldest family contacted me after meeting at the Seoul Civil Service Training Center."
"There must have been a lot of people in the family who remembered him."
That… It seemed that not many people simply remembered him.
They were probably elders in the family who wanted to make connections with Ryu Chungwoo, who was a former national gold medalist athlete and a current grand prize idol.
'It's no wonder.'
It was lethal with just one title, but it was eye-rolling because it was a double title.
So, as soon as Ryu Gunwoo's body started social life, he was found.
Regardless of the situation, I understood the logic. So I silently nodded.
'But how do I turn this car around?'
On the day that guy noticed the strange feeling between me and Park Moondae who was in Ryu Gunwoo's body, there would be an appointment made for me in the mental hospital. I rolled my head furiously.
Ryu Chungwoo should just drop me in front of Ryu Gunwoo and turn the car around and let me go out…
"Sorry. I guess I did it as a surprise because I was excited. You may need to prepare your mind for this."
He knew how to make excuses. I answered seriously, trying not to be embarrassed.
"Well, I'm grateful, but I'm a little worried about whether I can have a proper conversation because I'm nervous and bewildered. How about going back today?"
It was stupid to say something like 'I've changed my mind, I don't want to meet him' right after I had asked him to find Ryu Gunwoo when he talked about the price of his life.
'I need to take my time and change it gently.''
However, Ryu Chungwoo opened his mouth with a worried expression.
"What? Except for today, it would be difficult to make a day to meet for a while… There's a tour after the awards ceremony."
Damn.
"Hmm… I'll have to make time for it somehow."
Ryu Chungwoo smiled.
"Don't worry too much. Because I have a license… I think I can take you out of the company secretly for a while."
"… …"
"You don't have a driver's license."
"… … Yes. Thank you."
I was going crazy.
'Hoo…'
Since this guy already knew it, it would be difficult to wipe his mouth and meet Ryu Gunwoo separately.
However, it may be an emotional problem to refuse and whine to find out his contact information even though he was the one who planned it out.
'I think he changed his attitude since he was able to find him.''
He even thought that it might be best to get in the car and see him today. I counted the number of cases of this and that.
And I came to a conclusion.
"If you're very nervous, we'll leave for today, and I'll tell the company to set aside some time…"
"No. I'll try to calm down while we go."
"Hm, yes."
The moment he talked to the company, it may leak to the person in charge or to the reporter, and then it would be really shit.
'There are many people who are already interested in the past history of Park Moondae.'
Ryu Gunwoo was a commoner, but he was related to Ryu Chungwoo. I couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be anyone who dug into his finances or home environment.
"… …"
Yes, fuck. I decided that I would go right now.
Now that the situation was like this, I tried to grin. It was because it'd bemore suspicious if my expression looked like trash here.
"Anyway… thank you. It's kind of surprising and my heart is racing."
In several senses.
"Haha. Yes. We have some time, so I'll go slowly."
Before meeting Ryu Gunwoo, I tried to induce him to drop out by saying 'It's okay to drop me off and go' one last time to get rid of him, but…
"Um, how would you get back?"
I just kept my mouth shut.
Since I didn't like talking to the company, I couldn't even call a manager. If I took a call taxi, there would only be eyewitness accounts.
'Either way, Ryu Chungwoo is better for security than that…''
I gave up, it was comfortable like a lie.
I erased the text that I had written down with two or three candidate numbers for 'Keundal'. It was because Ryu Chungwoo couldn't find the record left when we exchanged phone numbers.
'I'll just pretend to exchange numbers for now.'
I came up with a few scenarios, but somehow the feeling of pulling the backbone was not unusual.
And little by little, realistic questions came to mind.
"However… Did you make an appointment with him?"
"What?"
Ryu Chungwoo shrugged.
"He got a call too. A relative who went to the training center with him told him, 'There is someone who wants to meet you. Can they see your face for a moment?'"
What?
• * *
After a while, a training center outside Seoul…
People who had just finished today's training poured out of the door.
Due to the issue of appointments, only Seoul had been urgently scheduled for training, so there was no camp schedule, only commuting schedules were being carried out… It wasn't something I knew because I couldn't even stick to it.
The Important thing was that 'Ryu Gunwoo' was in the restaurant room next to it.
'This bastard.'
It was amazing. I didn't doubt that he got tricked with the flimsy words of, 'there is someone who wants to meet you'.
It was a good trick.
"Uh, um, hello."
Looking at that reaction, what was inside was 'Keundal''. I was convinced as I listened to the tone of the guy who was about to break out in a cold sweat.
It was frustrating, but It was also true that it was reassuring.
After seeing him in the imaginary world, I somehow thought that seeing this guy in real life would make me feel a similar sense of discomfort, but I didn't.
On the contrary, it was the first time seeing him move Ryu Gunwoo's body… These feelings were new.
Perhaps, if I had a younger brother, I would feel this way.
"You came to see me… ?"
Yes, you punk. Let's find out why he jumped out of such a dubious promise.
… I couldn't say that, so I calmly lowered my head for the time being.
"Hello. Hyung."
"What, what?"
"Do you remember me? I am Park Moondae, who hyung helped."
My words were right. For the most part.
Keundal quickly looked at me and Ryu Chungwoo, and then answered as if an exclamation mark had floated above his head.
"Ah, ahah~ Moondae…!"
"… Yes."
It was ruined. This guy had no talent for acting.
However, Ryu Chungwoo looked a bit puzzled, but he smiled and said hello, perhaps because he was embarrassed.
"I was also surprised to hear that there is a relative who helped Moondae a lot. Thank you for meeting us like this."
We would continue to sit with our asses in consideration of the fact that various embarrassing situations may arise due to our jobs.
In fact, there was nothing to blame since this guy was a relative of Ryu Gunwoo and Park Moondae's colleague.
'On the contrary, he might get hurt if I send him out.'
He would probably leave on his own when he thought that things had calmed down enough. Until then, there was no other way. I looked at him with mixed feelings.
"Thank you… ! What should I say? I'm Gunwoo… Hmm, hmm."
And I knew it would be like this. I immediately changed the topic.
"Let's start by eating."
"Ah, then. What about Gunwoo hyung? Oh, is it okay if I call you like this?"
"… Yes."
I was doomed. I was going to go out quickly after drinking tea, but he even ordered me to eat.
My stomach hurt when I saw Ryu Chungwoo ordering a course meal. I already had a long way to cover it.
'Damn it.'
… And an hour later.
While I ate the whole thing and put the main course, Peking Duck, in my mouth, the remarks of Keundal that I collected would exceed five times.
"… …"
It was a record of its own.
'I guessed it.'
It was at this point that inertia developed. In fact, Keundal wasn't even that careless. While Ryu Chungwoo kept talking to lighten the mood, he inadvertently came up with the wrong designation once in a while.
For example, the story when explaining how Park Moondae and Ryu Gunwoo met.
-Ah, really, at that time, while buying food, he gave me a lot of advice even though I was seeing him for the first time…
-Hyung did that. I still remember it well.
It was like this. It was close.
Keundal tried to speak as consciously as possible about his position and our changed bodies, but it was not easy for a guy who had only studied for 4 years to do so while eating.
By the way, it was when he ate Dongpa-yuk immediately before.
-At that time, Gunwoo hyung…
He made a mistake with the name.
I wouldn't lie. I broke into a cold sweat here too.
-… Yes. I said 'Gunwoo hyung was very helpful, thank you'.
-… …
I honestly thought I was screwed.
However, Ryu Chungwoo answered softly.
-Oh, I see.
And after a while, he lowered his voice to me and whispered.
'It must be a bit difficult for him to speak too much because he has been studying for a long time. I will restrain myself.'
'… …'
After tea, Ryu Chungwoo made another excuse on his own. He was a sincere personality who tried to understand others.
'Let's finish it quickly.'
I quickly accepted and ate it and moved on.
And now, right before the meals finally arrived…
"I'll be back after I take this call."
"Yes!"
Ryu Chungwoo left.
Tak.
The moment the door closed, I could see the guy on the other side sighing.
"Phew… …"
He suffered.
I folded my arms and looked at the guy in front of me. I was looking down to see if he knew his mistake.
"… …"
"… …"
Good. There was no one around.
I untied my arms and opened my mouth to get to the real point.
"Why didn't you contact me?"
He looked fine, though. The calculation became complicated because I wondered if there was another problem.
But the guy on the other side was startled.
"I did… ! I did!"
What?
"I didn't hear from you at all, so I was going to contact you separately, but what are you talking about?"
"Oh, I thought this was the contact… … Oh no. Once I…"
Keundal replied with a face of great injustice.
"I texted you right away when I saw that you were winning…"
"… …"
Wait a minute. I already checked once.
"Right after watching the live broadcast?"
"Yes… There was no reply, so I waited because I thought you were busy."
Hey.
"I… I told you to contact me after the awards ceremony."
"What??"
It was a stupid expression that showed exactly what I expected. I spoke with a headache.
"Numbers not in my contacts list are all blocked, and I can't change the settings because I don't have time to look at my smartphone while being at an awards ceremony."
"… ! Whoops."
The texts were all filtered out and all came at the same time when I won the grand prize. Keundal hit his head.
"Sorry… !"
"What's done is done."
It was my fault for not explaining the reason in detail. I held my breath.
"And if someone you don't know asks to meet like this, ask them for more detail."
I didn't know how he had the guts to accept such dubious words.
The guy on the other side muttered in a dejected voice.
"No… I thought this was something like an autograph from hyung to me."
"Autograph?"
"I wondered if it was because it was the same 'Ryu' that he contacted me like that… … Because there is Ryu Chungwoo among the members…"
"… …"
His imagination was really rich. But he was unexpectedly getting to the point, so it was funny.
I chuckled.
"Okay. You were right this time. But be careful in the future."
"Yes!"
It felt strange to see a proud expression on Ryu Gunwoo's face. More than expected, it didn't feel like me.
'Depending on who's inside, the impression changes like this.'
I shyly admitted it, then passed on the topic.
It was the most urgent subject.
"And what I care most about right now is to be careful with what you say so that you won't get caught."
"Oops. Yes…"
He bowed his head as if he was frustrated.
"Actually, this situation is also my fault for asking Ryu Chungwoo to find out where you were. So don't worry too much. I will continue to cover you."
However, I explained that he should avoid answering for a long time and cut off his answer short by saying, 'I'm tired from training.'
The guy nodded his head wholeheartedly. He seemed well informed.
I also gave myself a task.
"From now on, I will deal with the topic well so that only our past will not come up as a topic."
The guy on the other side rolled his eyes.
"Ah, then should we talk about TeStar?"
"It's okay."
"Hmmmm, with that, we can talk all the way from the real debut."
Oh, my.
Perhaps a little relaxed, he let his shoulders hang down a bit. I gave up a few pieces of the Peking Duck left over in the relaxed atmosphere of the room.
"Answer slowly while eating."
"Yes!"
However, apart from the calming atmosphere, there were thoughts that naturally connected with the debut story.
The experience of that imaginary world, where the scene from our debut song, the Magical Boy teaser, spread out on the veranda window.
This guy's remarks that caught my heart there.
"… …"
I opened my mouth slowly.
"About you…"
"Yes!"
"… The other day, you said that you would like me to take care of you 'for a while'. Are you planning to come out of that body soon?"
"… …"
"There is no need for that."
His face, which had shown expressions of bewilderment and joy until now, stiffened slightly. Instead, a strange expression appeared on his face, even slightly less human.
It was the feeling I saw in the imaginary world. I closed my mouth.
His answer came without hesitation.
"There is a need for it."
What?
"But hyung, I don't think so."
"… Then."
"I… The last day you live as a human is fixed, right?"
The day this guy fell off the railing and made a wish on the system.
"That's next summer."
"… …"
"So, the time that I can use this body is… Until next summer."
Fuck.