He crossed his arms tightly over his bare chest and leaned against the wall to focus on the call.
[Mr. Jooho, I’d say your plan worked. As soon as I casually mentioned that Yoon Jooho was looking for him… he immediately changed his attitude. Seems he happens to be a fan of yours. He said he’s willing to lower the price you suggested.]
A faint smile and a sigh of relief escaped from Yoon Jooho’s lips as he brushed his hair back from his face.
“That’s good to hear. Please tell him I’ll visit personally to thank him.”
[Your client will really be pleased! He’s also a valued customer, so if you handle it like that, we’d be very grateful.]
The voice on the other end of the phone calmed down from its earlier excitement and added cautiously in a steadier tone.
[Both you and your client are VIPs, so the manufacturer agreed to approve this as an exception… but you know, it’s usually a very rare case.]
“I’m aware. It was a difficult request, so I asked the director personally. I’m very grateful. Do you remember the color I mentioned?”
[Of course. 911, Turbo S, Cabriolet, Shark Blue.]
Yoon Jooho’s lips curved into a faint smile once more as he confirmed the exact model and color he wanted.
[It should be delivered within a month.]
“I’ll ask you to hurry as much as possible. I really need it urgently.”
Song Hyunsoo knew that what Yoon Jooho wanted wasn’t a diamond-studded Made in Switzerland wristwatch or a luxury imported car.
Those things alone couldn’t be the deciding factor to change someone’s mind.
But for Yoon Jooho, he had to try everything he could grab onto. As Director Bang said, whether it ended up as success or failure, it was better than doing nothing at all.
He met with his trainer and they moved together to the fitness center downstairs. Few guests at the quiet provincial tourist hotel came to work out intentionally.
Only a middle-aged man was running on the treadmill.
《I’m going to start training. Eat lunch if you’re up.》
Yoon Jooho didn’t forget to send a message to Song Hyunsoo in advance.
Despite turning the ringtone volume to the maximum, Yoon Jooho kept checking his phone intermittently during the workout. The trainer jokingly asked if he’d started dating someone.
After finishing five sets of twenty reps on the power leg press, drenched in sweat, Yoon Jooho wiped the sweat off his phone with a towel and scoffed.
“Dating?”
“The guy who’s usually so focused during workouts keeps checking his phone between sets. That’s what I said.”
The trainer, who had worked with him for a long time, handed Yoon Jooho a tumbler.
It was ironic to be asked if he had started dating only after he himself had destroyed his relationships.
After confirming that Song Hyunsoo had read the message, Yoon Jooho adjusted the bar height on the Smith machine to fit his height and replied.
“Not yet. I’m still working hard on the charm offensive.”
“You?”
The trainer raised his eyebrows in disbelief.
“Yoon Jooho works that hard to woo someone and still hasn’t won her over? She must be incredible.”
“She is. Definitely not ordinary.”
“You say that much?”
“She drives me completely crazy.”
The trainer smiled with interest.
“So you’re the one holding the initiative? Not Yoon Jooho?”
Yoon Jooho bitterly smiled as he inserted the selector pin to adjust the weight. Then, as if recalling something, he looked back at the trainer.
“You felt it when you met your sister-in-law for the third time, right? That she was the one you’d marry.”
“Yeah. I felt electricity running through my body. Even now, just thinking about that moment makes me tremble when I see my wife… Why? You’re saying you’re feeling the same way now?”
“Yeah, something like that.”
Nodding, Yoon Jooho grabbed a towel and wiped the sweat off his face once more. Then he glanced down at the silent phone resting on the bench beside him and said,
“If I lose her, my life’s screwed.”
“Wow… even you, Yoon Jooho, get days like this.”
The trainer, unaware of the seriousness of the situation, seemed to think it was just the stage of teasing and playing hard to get. Yoon Jooho, who’d only ever had casual relationships lasting one or two months at most, was now seriously invested in a romance, which clearly fascinated the trainer.
“You said you followed a junior actor you’re filming with this time, right?”
Yoon Jooho flinched slightly at the mention of following someone on SNS while taking another sip of water. He put the tumbler down on the bench and answered briefly.
“Yeah, I did.”
“Does she say anything about it?”
“About what?”
“You’re the only one she follows. It’s such an unusual thing that it even made the news. Aren’t you jealous?”
At the word ‘jealous,’ Yoon Jooho gave a bitter smile this time.
“She told me to cancel the follow.”
After news about it started spreading here and there, Song Hyunsoo contacted Director Bang.
‘It’s not good to create issues like this unnecessarily. Wouldn’t it be better to cancel it now as if it was a mistake?’
It seemed Song Hyunsoo was more worried that Yoon Jooho might suffer damage from this. Director Bang relayed that message.
It had to be so. If it was Song Hyunsoo—if it was the Song Hyunsoo Yoon Jooho knew.
Director Bang also tried to persuade Yoon Jooho to cancel it now.
‘It’s just an SNS follow. People who put too much meaning into it are the strange ones. Don’t pay attention to those articles.’
‘You were silent for five years and suddenly followed one person. How can that be “just nothing”? You followed Hyunsoo because it means something to you.’
‘……’
‘If you don’t want to cancel Hyunsoo’s follow, then add others too. Hyojin, Jooyoung, Director Hwang Sooyoung, the Editor-in-Chief of <ONCE>, Hair & Makeup Directors… It’d be great to follow each other in this opportunity. Then following Hyunsoo wouldn’t seem special. It’ll die down.’
‘I don’t want to.’
‘Don’t want to? What’s wrong with you? Are you broken? You’re the kind of guy who would never let anything harm your career, so why are you stubborn about something so weird?’
‘Damn it, can’t I even follow whoever I want on SNS? I followed because I wanted to, and I’ll only follow who I want. End of story. Don’t bring it up again.’
As of today, Song Hyunsoo’s followers had surpassed 120,000. According to Director Bang, there were interview requests pouring in from various places since then.
But it was something that couldn’t be accepted until <Dissolve> wrapped up filming anyway.
The trainer’s eyes gleamed as he lightly tapped Yoon Jooho’s shoulder.
“Oh, that’s jealousy for sure. Looks like she’s not indifferent to you.”
“She’s not indifferent to me.”
“Not indifferent?”
“She’s scared of starting something with me. Because I can’t give her trust.”
“Ah… even I wouldn’t trust Yoon Jooho.”
“……”
Noticing Yoon Jooho’s sharp gaze, the trainer ended his playful smile and brought up a fairly convincing point.
“You have to be consistent. To build trust, that’s the only way. A tower you build with care can collapse in an instant. No matter how many times you do well, if you slip once, it all falls apart. Right?”
It was a statement that fit his situation too well, so a dry laugh slipped out.
The trainer, standing behind Yoon Jooho who had just set himself in a squat position with his hand on the bar, asked with a smile full of amusement.
“Is she that good? Even better than acting?”
Yoon Jooho fixed his posture, looking straight at himself in the mirror opposite before starting the exercise.
“One thing’s for sure: without her, I can’t act either.”
A whistle-like or relieved sigh escaped from between the trainer’s lips.
“Yoon Jooho can’t act?”
He shook his head at Yoon Jooho’s reflection in the mirror.
“You really found your match.”
After training, he returned to his room and finished showering. Meanwhile, the manager had set up the meal brought from outside on the table and left.
Although it seemed that Director Bang in Seoul was personally taking care of things knowing Yoon Jooho had no appetite, even facing his favorite sashimi and marinated crab did nothing to stimulate his hunger.
Sitting in a bathrobe at the table, Yoon Jooho sent a message before even picking up his spoon.
《I’m back and showered. Got scolded by hyung for losing weight and muscle mass.》
《He asked why.》
《I’m going to eat now and head to the set. How about you? Did you eat anything?》
He forced down a few spoonfuls of food for the shoot, but he felt like if he pushed any further, he’d get sick again like last time.
Director Bang asked repeatedly what he wanted to eat and said he’d prepare anything, but only one thing came to mind that he wanted.
And it was such a rare dish that even Director Bang couldn’t get it.
Without looking at the food on the table, Yoon Jooho turned his body sideways and fiddled with his phone instead. Then he typed out a 124th unanswered message.
《I want Kimchi Pot Rice.》
《Not anything else. The one you made.》