Side Story 1: Long Take : Part 11

Expensive bags, clothes, watches, first-class tickets. Those were certainly nice to have as well.

Song Hyunsoo already had the wealth to acquire anything he wanted, but a lover’s gift meant something different.

He wanted, more than anything, to quickly become a recognized actor and make him happy.

As he set down his champagne, Song Hyunsoo suddenly remembered something and spoke up.

“Kang Jungho, do you want to see sunbae’s Passport? It’s freaking awesome.”

“Really?”

Jungho glanced at Yoon Jooho for his reaction first.

He was curious about Actor Yoon Jooho’s passport photo, but he thought Jooho might get annoyed and act bothered.

“Sunbae, let me see your Passport.”

Unaware of Jungho’s worries, Song Hyunsoo reached his hand out to Yoon Jooho as if he was just asking for something he’d entrusted to him.

And Yoon Jooho obediently rummaged through his bag and handed over the Passport.

Jungho, who had been watching the two from a fairly close distance, still found it hard to get used to the way Yoon Jooho treated Song Hyunsoo versus everyone else.

That’s why Yoon Jooho remained an unpredictable person to Jungho.

If anyone else behaved that way to Yoon Jooho, they’d have at least gotten a dismissive tongue-click and been ignored.

To think the great Yoon Jooho would act so meek.

Song Hyunsoo flipped open the Passport cover and showed it to Jungho.

“Look at this.”

“Whoa, insane…”

“Right? It’s crazy, isn’t it? Freaking awesome, right?”

Song Hyunsoo looked as proud as if it was his own photo. No, more like… a fourth grade boy showing off a new robot he got for his birthday.

“When did you take this? Jooho-hyung looks kind of young.”

“Maybe seven or eight years ago?”

From across the table, Yoon Jooho asked,

“How do you know?”

“You can tell just by the hairstyle. When you filmed <The Lineage of Monday>…”

Song Hyunsoo’s previously triumphant voice trailed off. He’d basically just proven himself a hardcore Yoon Jooho fan.

Yoon Jooho crossed his legs and rocked them, giving a loose, easy smile.

“Wow, you guessed the project just by the hairstyle? Yoon Gyeolho really is something else.”

Song Hyunsoo had declared from the start to Yoon Jooho that he was a fan.

But sometimes, he didn’t want to reveal just how much he liked him. Because of reactions like this.

“Yeah. I’m a successful fan. Doesn’t matter as long as I made it, right?”

“That’s true, you’re a super successful fan. You even made it up to my be—”

Hyunsoo cut off Yoon Jooho, who was grinning and shaking his legs, by kicking his calf.

Yoon Jooho only feigned pain, bringing his champagne glass to his lips and saying, “Ow, so scary.”

“Sunbae, when you change your Passport next time, give me one of your ID photos.”

“What are you going to use it for?”

“I want to keep it in my wallet.”

“You’re such a kid.”

Yoon Jooho let out a short laugh, as if he couldn’t quite understand that kind of behavior.

He might as well have called it childish. But it didn’t matter.

He wanted a photo only he, as Jooho’s lover, could have—not the one known to everyone in the Republic of Korea.

The Hanwoo Burger and Beef Gomtang were served.

Jungho, who had stopped anyone from touching the food and taken pictures from every angle, finally picked up his spoon and asked Song Hyunsoo,

“But hyung, why do you still call Jooho-hyung ‘sunbae’?”

“You can’t call your senior a junior.”

“That’s not what I mean. Even I call him Jooho-hyung now. Why do you still use the title ‘sunbae’?”

With a mouthful of juicy burger, Song Hyunsoo turned his head to look at Yoon Jooho. He’d never really thought about it.

Jungho glanced between the two of them.

“Don’t tell me, do you even call him ‘sunbae’ when it’s just the two of you? No way, right?”

“……”

Even when it’s just the two of them, even during sex, he called him ‘sunbae.’ Was that wrong?

They were a cohabiting couple.

Stuck together twenty-four hours a day, kissing until their lips were chapped, and whenever they were at home, Yoon Jooho would literally hang onto Song Hyunsoo’s waist.

Song Hyunsoo had to drag him around the house like that.

When sitting side by side on the sofa, whether it was his side, stomach, or arm, Yoon Jooho always tried to touch Song Hyunsoo. Like a favorite blanket.

Whenever Song Hyunsoo got up for just a moment, Jooho would look up at him with anxious eyes and ask, “Where are you going?”—even though the farthest he could go in the house was the front door.

There was never a lack of affection or expression between them.

But they weren’t the type of couple to call each other by sweet nicknames or carry each other’s photos in their wallets.

Neither Yoon Jooho nor Song Hyunsoo expected such things from the other. Come to think of it, he’d been pretty cutesy with girlfriends in the past.

Chewing the flavorful Hanwoo patty slowly, Song Hyunsoo stared intently at Yoon Jooho across the table.

Sensing his gaze, Yoon Jooho, who’d been checking something on his tablet, looked up at him.

“Eat. It’s getting cold.”

Even in those curt two words, Song Hyunsoo felt overflowing affection.

He thought that was enough.

S#2. City of Light
La Ville Lumière

The moment Yoon Jooho appeared at the arrival gate of Charles de Gaulle Airport, an ear-splitting scream echoed as if the airport was about to shut down.

That was Song Hyunsoo’s first impression of Paris.

Wild screams and flashes bursting everywhere.

Yoon Jooho’s fans were waving phones displaying support slogans on neon sign apps or holding up placards, welcoming both of them—no, just Yoon Jooho.

It wasn’t enough to warrant calling airport police, but there seemed to be well over a hundred people at a glance.

Yoon Jooho’s bodyguards quickly surrounded Yoon Jooho and Song Hyunsoo, creating a narrow path.

Pushed by the crowd and reaching arms, Song Hyunsoo could hardly keep his head straight.

Yoon Jooho grabbed Hyunsoo’s arm firmly and stood close.

“Wave and greet them.”

Following his whisper at Hyunsoo’s ear, he mechanically smiled, bowed, and waved as they walked.

It felt like all those people only wanted Yoon Jooho.

Jooho! Jooho!

Even with foreign accents mixed in, the pronunciation was startlingly clear.

Countless people shouted his name at the top of their lungs. Some cries were so loud, they sounded almost like screams.

Hyunsoo!

Maybe he heard wrong, but he thought he heard his own name.

As he was being pushed along, Song Hyunsoo looked around. But all he could see was utter chaos.

Following the bodyguards’ lead, they got into a vehicle parked right outside the arrivals exit.

But with fans crowded around, they couldn’t leave even after the doors closed.

Seated inside, Yoon Jooho placed a hand on Hyunsoo’s shoulder and asked,

“You okay?”

“It’s a little overwhelming, but I’m fine. I think I’m fine.”

Only then did Song Hyunsoo let out a sigh and manage a smile.

“Wow… the firepower of overseas fans is no joke. Is it because they don’t get to see you often?”

“Probably.”

“I’ve seen videos before, but it’s nothing compared to this. Experiencing it myself, it’s just… wow…”

He trailed off, realizing he might’ve slipped. But Yoon Jooho, who’d already caught on, tilted his head and smiled in satisfaction.

“What videos?”

“Che.”

“So that’s how it is. Our junior here even looked up my airport arrival videos and all that.”

“Told you. I used to be your fan.”

Having admitted it sulkily, Hyunsoo figured there was no point hiding it now.

“Aren’t there even more people during Fashion Week or official events? I remember seeing videos of the airport almost getting shut down.”

“There are a lot more people when I enter for those official schedules.”

Outside the car, fans were still chanting Yoon Jooho’s name and surrounding the vehicle, while the bodyguards handled them expertly.

Watching the scene, Hyunsoo noticed a fan’s phone displaying a neon sign with a Hangul phrase.

Juhhsoo

“Sunbae, what do you think ‘Juhhsoo’ means?”

Yoon Jooho hunched over to check the direction Hyunsoo pointed, then shrugged.

“No idea. Maybe it’s some new slang between fans?”

He added that there were so many new slang terms and trends changed so quickly, even he couldn’t keep up.

“Oh? Sunbae, look over there! My name’s up, too!”

With an emotional voice, Hyunsoo pressed up against the window.

Hyunsoo-ya, WELCOME TO PARIS

In the back row, he glimpsed an A3-sized sign colorfully decorated.

Hurriedly, Hyunsoo pulled out his phone and hit record. It wasn’t clear, but zooming in made the words readable.

Yoon Jooho tousled the back of Hyunsoo’s head as he pressed against the window.

“Happy?”

“It’s still just… surreal and amazing.”

Once the bodyguards confirmed safety, the vehicle began to move slowly.

Song Hyunsoo looked back at the fading crowd and muttered,

“That someone so far away knows me…”

Yoon Jooho’s hand gently massaged the back of Hyunsoo’s neck.

Song Hyunsoo glanced at his lover, giving a complicated, awkward smile.

“What’s with that weird smile?”

After glancing at the foreign driver, Song Hyunsoo spoke carefully.

“I suddenly feel guilty for having you all to myself.”

So many people, wanting Yoon Jooho so desperately.

Yoon Jooho leaned in, bringing his face closer as if to say, ‘Take a good look.’

“So? Should I share?”

Hyunsoo laughed, pushing away Jooho’s chest.

“No way.”

And so began their time in Paris.