Side Story 2: Déjà Vu : Part 11

Song Hyunsoo pouted beside Yoon Jooho, who was leaning against the Island Counter drinking carbonated water.

“But really, you’ve been buying only my things lately.”

“What is it that I’m giving you, if not money?”

“……Love.”

Song Hyunsoo answered reluctantly, then spoke in a dejected tone while watching Yoon Jooho’s profile as he drank the carbonated water.

“I even heard people asking if I was the son of a rich family. I never thought I’d hear something like that in my life.”

“From whom?”

“Jang-woo Hyung. He said the Bag was another one he hadn’t seen before.”

Yoon Jooho clicked his tongue disapprovingly and tugged on Song Hyunsoo’s earlobe.

“Are you going to keep boring me by talking about another man?”

“You’re the one who asked…”

“Why is that Hyung so interested in you?”

“It probably means Sunbae is buying me too much. Please, really stop buying things for me now.”

“It’s not like I bought it with debt, nor did I buy it with a card I got from my Parent. I’m gifting my Boyfriend within my means using the money I earned. Is there a problem?”

“It’s not that there’s a problem… It’s just that I can’t do for Sunbae what you do for me, yet I keep receiving…”

Yoon Jooho’s expression, which had been playful until then, turned a bit serious. He put down the water bottle on the counter and asked.

“Is our relationship a give-and-take one?”

Song Hyunsoo shook his head several times, saying that wasn’t it.

He knew what Yoon Jooho was saying, and he knew his heart.

However, it didn’t feel comfortable to keep receiving an excessive amount of material things.

It was even more so because it was coming from the person he loved.

Since he loved him, Song Hyunsoo also felt the same way about wanting to give.

“But living in Sunbae’s House, driving the Car you bought me, wearing the clothes, shoes, and Bag you bought… Sometimes it feels like this isn’t right.”

“Are you saying you want to live separately now?”

“……”

“Is that it?”

Yoon Jooho’s voice turned harsh. His face looked like a debt collector who had barged in to collect money.

Back in his early 20s, when Yoon Jooho was just pretty, he wouldn’t have been able to make or pull off such an expression.

Now, it felt like he could even take on a mobster Role.

“If I said I wanted to, would you even give me permission?”

“……”

Yoon Jooho’s face hardened even more threateningly. That wasn’t a joke.

Sensing a threat to his life, Song Hyunsoo instinctively approached him and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“I take back what I just said.”

“Take it back? You’re going to say ‘cancel’ after killing someone?”

“I only said it because I knew for sure you wouldn’t give permission.”

“What if I said I’d permit it? Then would you leave?”

Yoon Jooho tried to pull Song Hyunsoo’s arms away, but the more he did, the more Song Hyunsoo burrowed into his embrace.

“No, that’s not what I meant… I want to be with Sunbae too. I like living together. Don’t misunderstand me for nothing.”

“……”

Only then did Yoon Jooho’s expression soften slightly. His movements to pull the arms away also stopped.

He looked down at Song Hyunsoo, who was pressed against his chest, and let out a huff of breath.

Then, he wrapped his arms around his Lover’s back, hugged him once so tightly it felt like he might burst, and then loosened his grip.

While holding Song Hyunsoo, he swayed his body back and forth, tilting left and right, and spoke.

“You didn’t not know that I was an incredibly wealthy person.”

“I knew. Any person in Korea knows that Yoon Jooho is rich.”

“And?”

“I just never thought of that money in connection with myself.”

During the journey to this point, Song Hyunsoo’s romance with Yoon Jooho hadn’t been smooth.

Winning his heart, disarming the defensive man, fixing his habits—he had his hands full just solving the problems that came stage by stage.

Being with another man, the fact that it could become a major problem if revealed, Yoon Jooho’s money…

He had fallen for him so headlong that he didn’t even have the chance to weigh those things.

“Then think about it from now on. Because this is your reality.”

“Why is this my…!”

“Do you think that while dating someone and even entering a deep relationship, you can avoid being connected to that person’s money?”

“If you talk in such difficult terms, I won’t understand.”

Song Hyunsoo looked up at Yoon Jooho. Looking down and meeting his eyes, Yoon Jooho stopped swaying.

“If I move into an Ok-tapbang and live with you, would it be fair then? Eating pork belly on your Birthday, and for a Birthday Gift, we set a mutual amount that isn’t a burden to exchange. When I want to go to a resort for a vacation to rest comfortably, you just see me off at the Airport. Are you going to date me like that?”

“……”

“If there’s a guy who talks as if he can date someone wealthy without getting entangled in their money at all, that’s actually hypocrisy.”

“To that extent…?”

Yoon Jooho’s words were strangely persuasive. There were parts that at least made him think.

But at the same time, to Song Hyunsoo, it sounded like a somewhat difficult, conceptual talk.

All Song Hyunsoo wanted was for him to give a little fewer gifts.

Yoon Jooho’s Hand brushed back the hair on Song Hyunsoo’s forehead.

“Are you meeting me because of money?”

“…I’m meeting you because of your face.”

Yoon Jooho gave a short laugh at the immediate response, which sounded like he was asking why he’d ask such an obvious thing.

“Or, am I trying to do something to you with money?”

Song Hyunsoo shook his head.

“I’m not trying to control you with money, and you don’t treat me differently because of money. Then that’s enough.”

“……”

Is it really? He didn’t know if it was enough or not, but Song Hyunsoo reluctantly nodded his head.

Yoon Jooho gazed at Song Hyunsoo. It was a complex-looking face that was lovely, affectionate, yet also disappointed.

“Whatever I give you, you’ll soon be able to buy it with your own strength. It’ll be soon.”

The face saying those words looked lonely, so Song Hyunsoo shook his waist where he was holding him and said in a confident tone.

“No matter how much money I earn, what Sunbae gives me is special because Sunbae gave it to me.”

A faint smile appeared around Yoon Jooho’s eyes and mouth.

He playfully kissed Song Hyunsoo’s exposed forehead with a smack and picked up the water bottle he had placed on the counter.

“Then buy the bracelet.”

A way of speaking that sounded like a joke, yet also like he was serious.

Song Hyunsoo followed him as he walked toward the Living Room, almost pleading.

“What you’ve given me so far is enough. I’m not saying don’t do it at all, but it’s too much.”

Ignoring Song Hyunsoo’s words, Yoon Jooho sat on the Sofa and calmly drank water while looking out the window.

Then, as if suddenly remembering, he looked back at Song Hyunsoo sitting beside him.

“Ah, the promotion schedule is mostly out.”

“Al-already?”

“What do you mean already? The Production Report is just around the corner.”

At the mention of the Movie’s promotion schedule, Song Hyunsoo’s interest couldn’t help but be entirely focused there.

“Want to see the schedule?”

“I want to see it.”

Yoon Jooho brought the Tablet from the Bedroom and handed it to Song Hyunsoo.

Song Hyunsoo’s eyes trembled with anxiety as he scanned the schedule.

The schedule, starting from next week and continuing until next January, was packed without any gaps.

“Th-there are this many??”

“More will be added to that. That’s just what’s set for now.”

Yoon Jooho, who stretched his arm behind Song Hyunsoo’s back and rested it long across the Sofa’s backrest, said in a casual voice.

There were four or five small Press interviews scheduled a day, and there seemed to be three or four major shoots or interviews a week.

Interviews for entertainment programs and movie introduction programs on public broadcasting stations were, of course, included.

But among them, there was one that made Song Hyunsoo particularly nervous.

“‘Chef’s Living Room’?? I have to go on this too??”

“I think they requested it. For the four of us to appear.”

“This place has over 2 million subscribers.”

“That’s why you have to go on and promote it. YouTube channel promotion is essential.”

Song Hyunsoo also subscribed to the channel, which was a talk show format where the host prepared food themselves and treated the guests to food and drinks while chatting. On there… I’m appearing?

“Can’t just… Sunbae and Hyojin Nuna go? You two are the leads.”

Yoon Jooho, who was fiddling with Song Hyunsoo’s hair with his arm draped on the sofa, seemed nonchalant.

“You told me not to overprotect you.”

“I’ve only done one Photobook shoot so far… Such a huge YouTube… I’m definitely going to say nothing but nonsense.”

“Are you chicken?”

Song Hyunsoo swallowed hard at Yoon Jooho’s provocation.

“I want to act tough… but honestly, I’m chicken.”

Yoon Jooho ruffled Song Hyunsoo’s hair messily.

“Where did that gutsiness go, the one that told me to fuck off?”

“Don’t joke around. I’m really worried.”

“It’s nothing much. You’re good at matching the atmosphere at drinking parties. Just do what you usually do.”

“Do what I usually do? Should I sit on Sunbae’s lap and do a love shot or something?”

As if imagining himself actually pushing through with such a thing, Yoon Jooho chuckled with his head down, his broad shoulders shaking.

He raised his face, which still had traces of laughter, and looked at Song Hyunsoo.