SDM 12

The entire family cheered when Seong-woon said he would exercise and made an appointment with the doctor and trainer at the hospital’s exercise therapy room. Meanwhile, a few posts went up on the community where drama fans gathered.

-I heard KHS(name initial) got fired from HNJ(show title)?

-My sister says they shot it with a different actor.

20 comments

-Proof or it didn’t happen

-What is KHS(name initial)?

➥➥Seriously, what’s HNJ(show title)?

➥➥➥What is this? It’s so fvcking confusing.

-Why was Kim Hye-seong fired?

➥➥The poster said he missed it because he was sick

➥➥➥Is that why he got fired? Get your facts straight

➥➥➥➥Stop feeding the troll

-Is Great White Shark still in it?

➥Yes

➥➥It’s a shame because Hye-seong really likes Great White Shark.

➥➥➥Why is Baek Sang-hyun called the Great White Shark?

➥➥➥➥Because he was a swimmer in his debut work

-So who is filming instead?

➥CHR

➥➥Who is that, CHR?

➥➥➥Cherry lol lol lol

➥➥➥➥My sister said it’s Cherry, but I have no idea who that is

www.☆gram.com/cherryR

➥What, an influencer? Why so many followers?

RCH is KHS replacement

-That’s right, Ryu Chae-yoon. Nickname is Cherry

7 comments

-Who is that?

-Damn, stop with the unverified info

-Ryu Chae-yoon, isn’t he Ryu Shin’s youngest son? Famous for being good-looking

➥OMG, is he finally acting?

(Profile screenshot)

➥➥ Wow, this selfie is insane, what has he been doing until now not appearing on TV?

➥➥➥He is a third generation chaebol, why would he be on TV?

-His nickname is Cherry, LOL

Since it was just an unverified gossip post, and the replacement actor Seong-woon brought in didn’t have a huge fandom to begin with, it was quickly buried. However, Ryu Chae-yoon’s looks did garner some minor attention.

Some fans felt sorry for Baek Sang-hyun, who had to shoot with a newbie, and there was some anger that the shooting schedule was so delayed they were filming last minute. But it could be dismissed as just mild concerns for a tentpole production.

Of course, Seong-woon was oblivious to this situation, and RBS didn’t bother addressing the leak either. It was an outdoor shoot after all, not like they could control every passerby, and they knew they couldn’t stop related people from talking.

“Let’s give it another 20 minutes.”

“… I’m dying.”

“No, your heart rate is still manageable!”

Seong-woon was being crushed by the calamity he had brought upon himself, climbing the stairway to heaven. He had exercised to the point of his joints aching and had learned several martial arts for acting, so he had never disliked exercise before. But now he felt like he could strangle the exercise therapist who kept urging him on. The problem was that he didn’t even have the strength for that.

“I’m a patient…”

“That’s why you only do that much.”

“No…”

Honestly, walking on the treadmill for 20 minutes and climbing the Stairway to Heaven for 15 minutes wasn’t even a challenge in the past. They didn’t even increase the speed, which wouldn’t have made him out of breath before… This body is truly garbage.

To prevent any unexpected situation, a doctor was nearby throughout the exercise to check his physical condition, so Seong-woon had electrodes stuck all over his body.

“Step up slowly. Raise your feet only two-thirds of the way and pull your legs up with your thigh muscles!”

He couldn’t even imagine lifting weights. Even just doing cardio to build endurance was this difficult. Seong-woon forced himself to climb the stairs, pushing aside the urge to collapse.

“…Alright, that’s all for today.”

The moment the machine stopped, Seong-woon came down and plopped onto the floor.

“Are you okay?”

Hyeong-seok approached, looking at him with concern, and handed him water and a towel. Seong-woon weakly dropped his arm to take the water bottle.

“How about I put it in your mouth for you?”

“… No.”

Barely pushing away the manager who was acting like he would have to feed him, Seong-woon tremblingly opened the cap and guzzled the water down.

Even after finishing the entire bottle, he didn’t have the strength to get up, so he sat on the floor for a while. No one urged him to move quickly or scolded him.

“Chae-yoon-ah.”

“…Hyung?”

When he turned his head at the call from the entrance, his second older brother Ryu Chang-yoon was leaning against the doorway in a stylish suit. All his brothers were handsome and rich.

It must be the genes. Their father had a good build and their mother was beautiful, blending perfectly in their children. In Ryu Chae-yoon’s case, their mother’s genes seemed to have been expressed to the extreme.

Chang-yoon approached and lifted Seong-woon up. He didn’t seem bothered by the sweat-soaked body, hugging him tightly. With no strength to push him away, Seong-woon could only lean his face against the soft jacket.

“Let’s go somewhere with hyung today.”

“Where?”

“We rented a movie theater to show Chae-yoon something.”

“… What?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

“Then let me shower first…”

Seong-woon couldn’t refuse the loving words of those around him. Still, leaning against Chang-yoon felt so comfortable that his legs didn’t have the strength. As Seong-woon said he would shower but didn’t move, Chang-yoon whispered to him.

“If you’re too tired, should Hyung help you shower?”

Crazy guy. Seong-woon mustered superhuman strength to power his body. He roughly wiped his face and nape with a towel draped over the equipment, then spun around as laughter erupted behind his back.

Yeah, laugh all you want. After quickly showering and coming out, Chang-yoon, who had been waiting there, extended his hand. Wondering what it was, Seong-woon simply stared at the outstretched pale palm.

“… What?”

“Hold my hand.”

“No thanks.”

This sort of thing didn’t faze him anymore. Ignoring Chang-yoon’s hand, Seong-woon casually swept back his half-dried hair.

Hyeong-seok naturally stepped back, and Seong-woon went to the parking lot and got into the passenger seat of Chang-yoon’s car.

“Do you drive yourself, hyung?”

“Yeah, I don’t want other people riding in my car.”

“But I’m a ‘other people’ too.”

“Why would Chae-yoon be ‘other people’?”

Chang-yoon started the engine but waited for the security guards to prepare. Meanwhile, he played with Seong-woon’s hair.

“You should have dried your hair completely.”

“It’s summer.”

“The air conditioning will make it cold.”

No point in arguing. Seong-woon turned his head towards the window without replying. The gentle stroking of his hair made him drowsy. Seong-woon opened his half-closed eyes.

“By the way, hyung, they said my heart muscle is moving a lot.”

“Yeah, I heard.”

Since he started going to the hospital daily for exercise, he had another detailed check-up recently, and the doctors were amazed. His previously dead heart muscle had started showing movement. They even said the unrepaired valve perforation seemed to have narrowed slightly.

“Apparently you’re the one who installed the camera in my room?”

No matter how severe the illness, having a camera installed in his room seemed too excessive. But Seong-woon recently heard it was his second brother Ryu Chang-yoon who strongly insisted on it. The other family members objected, saying “That’s a bit…” but Chang-yoon pushed for it very forcefully alone.

“Because I’m the one who discovered it.”

“…What?”

“I’m the one who discovered your heart had stopped.”

He didn’t know that… It’s not like he does anything strange in his room, and sometimes he completely forgets the camera exists. But with strange holograms popping up and voices echoing in his head, he didn’t want a camera in his room, at least, to avoid looking like a crazy person talking to thin air.

“Since I’m wearing this watch, wouldn’t it be okay to not have a camera?”

Seong-woon had to wear his smartwatch all the time except when sleeping or washing. At first, Seong-woon thought it was Ryu Chae-yoon’s taste, but after Hyeong-seok nagged him whenever he didn’t wear it occasionally, Seong-woon realized it was a device that could roughly assess his physical condition.

“They said if I improve more, they can remove the defibrillator too.”

“Yeah, if you improve more.”

Chang-yoon smiled faintly. His tone sounded comforting, but there wasn’t the slightest gap for even a needle to enter.

Knock knock, at the sound on the window, Ryu Chang-yoon rolled it down. A towel was abruptly shoved through the gap.

“Dry your hair before we go.”

“…”

Chang-yoon paid no mind to Seong-woon’s tired look, Chang-yoon carefully dried his hair until there was no moisture left near the scalp, then turned on the air conditioning.

Considering how much he cared about Ryu Chae-yoon’s health, it seemed unlikely he would agree to remove the camera right away… Maybe just bringing it up was progress.

Should he consider the heart muscles that were almost dead for over 10 years now moving due to his changed soul? Seong-woon pondered the relationship between the soul and body, but unsurprisingly couldn’t find an answer.

“What movie is it?”

Did Ryu Chae-yoon have a favorite movie? Maybe he was a fan of a particular actor and, using his wealth was going to show him an unreleased or pre-release film of that actor.

“It’s not a movie.”

“Then why the movie theater…”

“Strictly speaking, it’s not even a movie theater.”

The place Chang-yoon parked the car was RBS’s parking lot. Following his guidance, they went to a small screening room that RBS’s broadcasting station had set up for internal previews.

“Come on in.”

“Huh?”

“Son, come here.”

Inside were all of Ryu Chae-yoon’s family, including his aunt Ryu Young-joo.

“… Why are you all here?”

“We gathered to watch our son’s first acting performance.”

“What?”

“The CG and editing for Chae-yoon’s appearance part is done, so Auntie brought it.”

“…”

Isn’t that a complete abuse of power? Even if the production company’s president wanted to see it, no one could stop them. But taking just the edited scenes of a minor role from an unfinished series?

“…Wouldn’t it be better to watch it once the whole series is released?”

The Webflex release was at the end of the month, so it was less than three weeks away.

“We only took Chae-yoon’s scenes. Auntie personally brought them, so there won’t be any leaks.”

He thought he should just view it as a chairman’s privilege. Not wanting to dampen the family’s excitement, Seong-woon sat in the front row, in the seat reserved between the chairmen. He wondered why they had popcorn for just a few minutes of screen time.

“Chae-yoon, here’s your orange juice.”

Instead of the cola he was reaching for, he was handed freshly squeezed orange juice. Sipping it through a straw, Seong-woon stared at the darkening screen.