The one who felt like he might get eaten alive was actually Song Hyunsoo.
He was so captivated by the atmosphere and voice radiating from Yoon Jooho that he couldn’t even move, couldn’t even think.
If an Actor like Yoon Jooho really decided to seduce someone, someone like me, Yoon Gyeolho, would have no defense— just get swept away helplessly.
No, maybe it’s not even about being Yoon Gyeolho or not.
When the face of the person you like is this close, whose heart could possibly stay calm?
Come to think of it, he was definitely gripped by one overpowering thought.
The impulse to kiss the person right in front of him.
Should I do it? Should I just go for it first?
While he was torn, staring at Yoon Jooho’s lips curved in that relaxed, confident smile, Jooho suddenly relaxed his expression and shoulders, letting out a soft laugh. Then, he gently pushed Song Hyunsoo’s forehead away.
“One bed? What do you mean, one bed? I slept in the Guest Room.”
“Oh… you did?”
“Why, are you disappointed?”
Yoon Jooho looked over at him, wrapping his hands around his mug again.
“Why would I be? If anyone’s disappointed, it’s you, sunbae.”
Yoon Jooho just kept chuckling to himself.
Somehow, today… he seemed a bit softer than usual.
He was still prickly as always, but… it felt like the usual sharpness was dialed down.
At any rate, judging by his attitude, it seemed true that there hadn’t been any physical contact last night.
If something had happened but he couldn’t remember, he’d feel regretful and frustrated. But finding out nothing happened made him feel disappointed anyway.
Even when they were both drunk, they didn’t touch each other— maybe now he really had lost all physical interest in me.
Song Hyunsoo glanced at Yoon Jooho’s profile as he sipped his coffee, but he couldn’t read a thing from it. If he kept coming over to pester me, it didn’t seem like he’d lost interest entirely, though…
Yoon Jooho checked the Kitchen’s digital clock, then set his mug down.
“Jjamppong for hangover food, right? Eat that and then go home.”
“Why? Do you have something scheduled after this, sunbae?”
“If you don’t go? Are you going to live at my place?”
“That’s not it… It just feels like you’re really pushing me out the door, so I’m curious.”
“You really don’t remember anything else?”
Yoon Jooho narrowed his eyes, looking down at Song Hyunsoo and scaring him again.
“If something happened, just tell me. And give me some clothes. Are my clothes in the Guest Bathroom?”
“They’re not there.”
Yoon Jooho cut him off firmly, then turned to look at Song Hyunsoo, abandoning his attempt to drink more coffee.
“You really need to know your own drinking limit. This is a world full of people who want to find your weaknesses. Getting tipsy is fine, but drinking until you black out is practically self-destruction.”
“Well, yesterday I was with you, so…”
Noticing the seriousness in Yoon Jooho’s gaze, Song Hyunsoo changed his tune.
“Yep, I’ll be careful from now on. I’ll never drink that much again. So if I did something wrong, just tell me straight. I’ll write a Letter of Apology or whatever.”
“You sure you can keep that promise?”
“A Letter of Apology?”
Yoon Jooho sighed and gently tugged Song Hyunsoo’s left earlobe.
“I mean, the promise that you won’t drink until you black out anymore.”
“Oh, of course. Really. I swear.”
Song Hyunsoo even raised his right hand.
“Want to write a Promise Note?”
“A Promise Note is a bit… I mean, people live their lives, sometimes you accidentally drink too much without realizing it…”
He trailed off, rubbing the edge of the counter with his confidently raised right hand.
“What if, like yesterday, you get so drunk you make promises you can’t even remember?”
“No way, even if I’m drunk, that would never happen.”
“What if it did?”
“…Huh?”
Yoon Jooho sighed, then shrugged off his robe and tossed it onto Song Hyunsoo’s shoulders.
“Your shirt’s in the wash and drying.”
“Oh… you didn’t have to go that far. Thank you.”
“I’ll order Jjamppong, so take a shower before it arrives. Eat, then go home.”
With that, Yoon Jooho walked past Song Hyunsoo, heading to the bedroom.
He could be so cool and affectionate, but then suddenly act like someone with no regrets and just leave.
Fingering the robe Jooho had tossed him, Song Hyunsoo watched his neat back with a sense of longing.
When he went to the Guest Bathroom, he found a new toothbrush and even new underwear prepared. Smiling at Jooho’s unexpected thoroughness, he stripped and stepped under the water.
『“Want to write a Promise Note?”』
When Yoon Jooho said that, something had snagged in his mind.
A nagging feeling that he’d forgotten something important.
Struggling to grasp a memory that kept drifting just out of reach, Song Hyunsoo accidentally turned the lever toward cold instead of hot.
“Argh! Gah! D-damn it, I almost froze to death!”
The shock of cold water must have jolted his memory, because suddenly, it came back.
『I’m thinking of signing a Contract with you. As an Actor.』
“You crazy bastard, you crazy bastard. Even if I blacked out, there are some things you just can’t forget.”
He hurried through his shower, barely drying off before stumbling out of the bathroom.
Following the rare scent of food in this house, he headed to the Kitchen, where Yoon Jooho was waging war with the just-delivered Jjamppong.
“What are you doing, sunbae?”
“Unpacking.”
Approaching Yoon Jooho, who was struggling with the plastic bag of broth packaged separately from the noodles, Song Hyunsoo nudged him aside.
“It looks like you’re losing a fight with Jjamppong. Step aside, you’re losing!”
Song Hyunsoo put the noodles in the bowl first, then, gripping the neck of the bag to prevent splashing, poured the broth in slowly.
“They say this Jjamppong is really good here, right?”
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Director Bang.”
With two bowls of Jjamppong, pickled radish, and onions between them, they sat down again at the round table in the Kitchen.
“I always wanted to try hangover Jjamppong from this place. Finally, I get to.”
Sitting at the table, Song Hyunsoo set up a tower with his noodles and began slurping away.
It really was worthy of the praise as the Republic of Korea’s best. The broth was clean and spicy, not heavy at all, and the noodles were perfectly chewy and springy.
The Jjamppong was so good, he almost forgot about the whole ‘Actor Contract’ thing.
Just as Director Bang had said, Yoon Jooho, who supposedly had a small appetite, only ate a little of the noodles he’d scooped onto his plate, then soon just started sipping the broth.
Lifting a big clump of noodles with his chopsticks, Song Hyunsoo casually brought up the topic.
“Sunbae, so when are we doing the Contract?”
“……”
He heard the sound of Yoon Jooho setting down his spoon. Song Hyunsoo looked at him.
“I remembered. You offered to sign a Contract with me.”
Yoon Jooho pulled out a tissue and dabbed at his lips.
“But why Look Planning?”
“What about it?”
“You said yesterday, like, maybe you wouldn’t be able to find Look Planning.”
Maybe having lost all interest in eating, Yoon Jooho leaned back against his chair, looking at him with a crooked gaze.
“Haven’t you seen the articles calling me a delinquent who’s fighting with my parents over Look Planning?”
“Look Planning is your company, what could go wrong? Of course it’s yours.”
“Yeah, it’s mine. It’s everything to me. I’ll never let it go.”
“……”
“That’s why I said, just in case.”
His gaze and tone were unusually serious.
There were probably only two things that could make the usually brazen, mischievous, and self-centered Yoon Jooho this serious.
Acting, and Look Planning. The things he’d devoted his life to.
“The paperwork will be ready in a few days. I’ll send you a draft of the Contract Agreement by email first. If there’s anything you don’t like, we’ll discuss it before the official Contract Agreement is drawn up.”
“Okay…”
“What, you’re not happy? Yesterday, you were about ready to pledge your eternal loyalty to me.”
Not just rookie actors— even the so-called top actors wanted to sign with Look Planning.
And now, the company’s real owner and star, Yoon Jooho himself, was making the offer. Of course he was happy.
Joining Look Planning was practically a guarantee of success as an Actor.
Poking at the bottom of his Jjamppong bowl with his chopsticks, Song Hyunsoo replied.
“Of course I’m happy. But, well… I can’t be completely happy, because… the timing, sunbae…”
“What about the timing?”
“We, uh, it’s not like we have a perfectly clean relationship with nothing tangled between us.”
“You think I’m doing this because we slept together?”
“……”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not that sentimental.”
He was saying, don’t even think I offered you a Contract because you slept with me. Yoon Jooho cut off any room for doubt with a decisive tone.
He was offering because he saw potential in me as an Actor, so I should just be happy. And I was happy. But, at the same time, there was a strange chill in my chest.
It felt like he was drawing a line, declaring he wouldn’t go soft on me for any special reason.
Song Hyunsoo felt his appetite vanish, too, but the Jjamppong was innocent.
Once he’d polished off the remaining noodles and even drank the broth, Yoon Jooho picked up his phone and checked the time.
“If you’re done eating, get going.”
“Is someone… coming over?”
“……”
“Director Bang, maybe?”
As Yoon Jooho stood, gathering his half-eaten bowl, he looked down at Song Hyunsoo and gave a sly grin.
“That’s none of your business.”
Even as he changed clothes and brushed his teeth, Song Hyunsoo couldn’t shake the thought.
If it were just Director Bang or Manager Cha, there’d be no reason not to say so. So is someone really coming?
Even if Yoon Jooho was inviting someone over for the night, Song Hyunsoo had no right to question it.
The fact that he couldn’t demand Jooho not sleep with someone else suddenly hit him as a vivid, painful reality.
Yeah. This is what a one-sided crush is.
He’d lived a pretty popular life so far, so he’d never known this bitterness.
He spat out the foam with a bitter laugh. Maybe it was just his mood, but even the toothpaste tasted more bitter.
Once he was ready, Song Hyunsoo stood at the entrance, putting on his shoes, while Yoon Jooho leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Thanks for letting me crash here, sunbae.”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry for making you take care of your drunk junior.”
“Yeah. Reflect on it.”
Straightening his back, he faced Jooho, trying to find even a hint of regret about saying goodbye.
“I’ll come by next Monday for script practice.”
This time, Yoon Jooho didn’t even answer—just raised a hand in acknowledgment.
Failing to find any trace of regret, Song Hyunsoo turned toward the door with a bitter, self-mocking smile.
“BB bullet.”
“Why…ㅇ…”
He didn’t get to finish his question.
The moment he turned around, Yoon Jooho lowered his head and pressed their lips together. As soon as Hyunsoo started to stumble backward, Jooho closed the distance.
“Mm. Mmm.”
Pinning Song Hyunsoo against the wall, Jooho deepened the kiss. He gently gripped Hyunsoo’s jaw, and when Hyunsoo reflexively parted his lips, a slightly cool tongue slipped in.
The same toothpaste scent wafted from him, too.
The kiss was so sudden, he didn’t even think to close his eyes. Just like the kiss on Jooho’s birthday, up on the 81st floor.
He loved the way Jooho gazed down at him through lowered lashes. It was so much more intoxicating than just a simple kiss.
Once he got over his shock, Song Hyunsoo eagerly responded, softly stroking Jooho’s palate with his tongue.
Yoon Jooho slowly ran his hand from Hyunsoo’s shoulder down his entire arm.
Unlike the fierce kiss, Jooho’s long fingers moved achingly slow as they slipped between Hyunsoo’s, making his shoulders tense up again and again. It felt like he was being caressed along with the kiss.
“Mmm…”
When Hyunsoo squeezed Jooho’s entwined fingers tightly, the kiss finally ended.
Even after that, Yoon Jooho pressed his lips several more times onto Hyunsoo’s upper and lower lips, like lovers savoring the aftertaste of a kiss.
“Wh… at was that, all of a sudden?”
Rubbing his lips with the hand Jooho had released, Song Hyunsoo looked up at him, face flushed. Jooho wore a mysterious smile.
“It wasn’t all of a sudden.”
“……”
“If you’re so upset, try remembering this too.”
Then, taking a few steps back and waving his fingertips, Jooho disappeared down the hallway.