“Hyung, hyung! How was yesterday?”
Jeongho rushed straight into the kitchen the moment he arrived at work, not even bothering to set down his bag.
Song Hyunsoo, who was slicing kimchi, greeted him with indifference.
“What about?”
“What do you mean, ‘what about’? The script reading, of course! Tell me everything from start to finish!”
Jeongho clung to Hyunsoo’s waist, pressing close from behind, his breath hot against Hyunsoo’s neck.
His long hair tickled Hyunsoo’s cheek.
Hyunsoo shoved him away with an elbow, keeping him at a distance.
“Disgusting. Back off.”
“How was Shin Hyojin in person? She looks kinda plain on screen, but she’s still a celebrity— she must be crazy pretty, right? And Han Jooyoung— I heard he’s some loaded chaebol heir, born with a silver spoon, total flower boy. What’s he like? And Yoon Joo-ho— does he really drink that 400,000 won water? Also, I heard he looks down on people below his rank. Did he totally ignore you because you’re a rookie? If he did, I’ll go online and expose his— mmph, mmph!”
Hyunsoo clamped a hand over Jeongho’s mouth, cutting off his rapid-fire questions.
“Blah, blah, blah. Do you people even want an answer, or do you just want to hear yourselves talk? And stop yapping so loud— your hair’s stinking up the place.”
“‘You people’? Who else is here? It’s just me.”
Who else?
You and Han Jooyoung.
Hyunsoo set down the knife he’d been using to slice kimchi, picked up a spatula, and answered silently in his mind.
Sniff, sniff.
After briefly stepping back, Jeongho was already crowding him again, this time sniffing around Hyunsoo’s shoulders.
“Dark circles are deep, lips are all chapped, and the stench of alcohol is practically radiating off you… Hyung, you must’ve gone hard at the company dinner last night, huh?”
“Yeah, so lower your damn voice.”
“Wow, I think this is the first time I’ve ever seen you hungover. For a seasoned drinker like you to end up like this… Ah! Did Yoon Joo-ho force you to drink? That’s it, isn’t it, hyung?”
Hyunsoo started scooping pre-cooked rice onto the kimchi spread at the bottom of the pot.
“Why are you so hell-bent on making Yoon Joo-ho out to be trash? Did he borrow money from you and never pay it back?”
“It’s not that. It’s just that he seems like the type who’d deserve it.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but I drank of my own free will.”
Without pausing his rice-scooping, Hyunsoo glanced at Jeongho and asked,
“By the way, Han Jooyoung’s really a chaebol?”
Jeongho nodded vigorously.
“Both his mom’s and dad’s sides are loaded with businesses. But his parents aren’t into management, apparently. They’re both professors in the US or something.”
“You could’ve told me sooner.”
Yeah, as expected— a golden spoon.
So much for hoping we had anything in common.
Over Hyunsoo’s shoulder, Jeongho’s eyes gleamed.
“Why? Did Han Jooyoung look down on you? Did he make you feel small?”
“Your tone sounds like you want him to have looked down on me and made me feel small.”
“Of course not! If anyone disrespects you, I’ll go straight online and— mmph!”
Hyunsoo shoved the spatula into Jeongho’s mouth as he mimed typing furiously on a keyboard with all ten fingers.
Then, while rummaging through the shelf for sesame oil, he said,
“Han Jooyoung isn’t even famous yet. How do you know every single rumor in the industry?”
“Well, it’s all thanks to YouTube.”
Though it wasn’t a compliment, Jeongho puffed up proudly, chewing the rice stuck to the spatula with gusto.
After drizzling sesame oil over the rice, Hyunsoo closed the pot lid and turned down the heat.
Even with just the kimchi and sesame oil, the delicious aroma was already rising.
“Ah, hyung! Where are you going? At least tell me about meeting the celebrities!”
As Hyunsoo moved away from the pot, Jeongho lunged at him again, unwilling to let go.
“Gonna smoke. Get out here with me.”
“What, are you keeping your distance from us now that you’re filming a movie with Yoon Joo-ho?”
“No. I’m keeping my distance from you because I can’t stand you.”
Jeongho pouted at the deadpan reply but finally stepped back.
“Watch the pot for me.”
“Kimchi fried rice again?”
“So, you’re not eating?”
“Who said I wasn’t? I love it— Hyunsoo hyung’s famous pot of kimchi fried rice.”
Watching the guy feign innocence, Song Hyunsoo couldn’t help but laugh before grabbing his jumper.
He was about to leave through the back door when he stopped, hand on the doorknob, and turned to look at Jeongho.
“Ah, one more thing.”
“Yes?”
“Yun Ju-ho drinks Samdasu too.”
Leaving Jeongho standing there dumbfounded with a spatula in hand, he stepped outside.
The weather was getting colder by the day.
The news had been warning for weeks that this winter would bring the worst cold snap in twenty years.
Shivering, Hyunsoo zipped up his jumper all the way.
The worst cold snap in twenty years…
A rooftop resident like him might need to slap some bubble wrap on the windows.
He took a drag from his lit cigarette, exhaled a long stream of smoke, and pulled out his phone, opening his SNS app.
The algorithm fed him an endless scroll of random, repetitive posts.
“You can tell at a glance they used a filter to slim their jaw. There’s a limit to how much you should edit. Even Yun Ju-ho’s jawline wouldn’t look like this. And how much did they stretch their legs? Excuse me, the telephone pole in the background is all warped.”
Hyunsoo seethed at the fake pretty boys on SNS with tens of thousands of followers.
If it looked like he was blinded by jealousy and raging— well, that’s because he was.
It was the truth. It pissed him off that these frauds got all the attention, the spotlight, the sponsorships.
Once, Hyunsoo himself had nearly 100,000 followers.
All thanks to his friendship with a rising Hallyu idol.
There was a time when he’d casually uploaded a photo with Choi Hongseo and gained over 30,000 followers in just a few hours.
Back then, he’d been so shocked he thought something had gone wrong.
A faint chuckle escaped him at the memory, but his expression quickly darkened.
He took another drag from his cigarette.
Some of Hongseo’s fans had even idolized Hyunsoo by extension, treating him like a celebrity too.
They left comments in English, Chinese, or some other unfamiliar foreign language— or in awkward Korean that looked like it had been run through a translator.
They weren’t the kind of followers who could help him land roles, but he didn’t care.
He was grateful that they cheered him on from afar, even if it was just because he was Hongseo’s friend.
A few of them even became genuine fans of his.
But after Hongseo left, Hyunsoo deleted that account entirely.
He only started a new one after joining a theater troupe— in other words, when he began trying to move forward.
Breaking free from the algorithm’s quagmire, Hyunsoo navigated to his own profile.
Posts: 576 | Followers: 2,649 | Following: 324
The follower count hadn’t changed much.
Only two or three more than yesterday.
Such was the reality of a no-name actor with no notable roles to his name.
Hyunsoo tapped on his most recent post— pictures and videos of cats he’d uploaded last night.
song.h.soooo Stray cat family living in the restaurant parking lot.
This calico mom recently had kittens— here’s the for-siblings.
The others are playing fine, but the tiny one’s too scared.
Keeps staring like it wants to join but won’t come like bro how u gonna survive this harsh world like this?
little_coco Omg they’re so freaking cute! Or is it just that oppa’s popular with cats?
s_jooo97 First time being jealous of cats lol they’re all so adorable
nueee1018_ Hyunsoo, what’s with the random broken English lol
h0ng_h0lic Oppa, it’s “four” siblings… not “for”…
no_pro.blem @h0ng_h0lic That’s not the issue here
urrvoice_jy @h0ng_h0lic I’m more worried about how oppa’s gonna survive this “harsh world how”
kichic_kai37_01 What’s with the naming sense lol Calico = “Samsaek-i” (three colors), tiny one has a spot near its nose = “Koddakji” (booger) Oppa, I’m begging you
bombom.yr0423 @kichic_kai37_01 His future kids’ names should definitely be left to his wife…
w0rld.howlive_zngd It’s “in-ma” (hey), not “im-ma”
xohongxosong Oppa, it’s okay! We don’t like you because you’re good at English
chochoahco1224 @xohongxosong This international fan is killing Hyunsoo twice over
wh_a_thap_ Say what you want, but Koddakji’s already living rent-free in Hyunsoo oppa’s mind
kitykikeywt @wh_a_thap_ Lol fr, he’s totally gonna adopt it soon
soosoosoo.h.soo @wh_a_thap_ A baby Simba dreaming of becoming Scar— that’s Hyunsoo’s charm