SDM 24
by Soraii“All done. I didn’t do much to your hair.”
“Okay.”
They had given his bangs a bit of volume and swept them back slightly. Due to its thickness, the back didn’t seem to need much volume, so they just seemed to have blow-dried it and fixed it with spray.
“Our little sister is so pretty!”
“She’s a celebrity, a celebrity!”
What a fuss.
But Seong-woon didn’t mind the commotion and smiled, lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Sister is indeed pretty.”
“…Where did you learn to say things like that?”
Ha-yoon approached Seong-woon with teary eyes and cupped his cheeks. Seong-woon leaned back from her fervent gaze that looked ready to shower him with kisses.
“I didn’t learn it anywhere.”
“Your memory…”
Ho-yoon covered Ha-yoon’s mouth as she was about to mention the memory loss. Seong-woon carefully gave a thumbs up at the right time, and both nodded repeatedly.
I guess Ryu Chae-yoon didn’t say things like this often.
Watching Ha-yoon still moved by a single comment, Seong-woon felt a slight bitterness in his mouth. He could understand Ryu Chae-yoon, who was too ill to care about his surroundings, and he could also understand the family who must have been anxiously watching him.
“Let’s change clothes and leave.”
Seong-woon, who had been wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, put on a light bluish-gray suit that Ha-yoon handed him. Whoever chose it had quite a sense, as it seemed to make his complexion pop.
“We’ll be late. Let’s hurry.”
Following Ho-yoon, who was urging them while checking his watch, Seong-woon headed to the Bloom Hall of the Grand Hotel. As it was almost time to start, the cast members were filling up the photo wall, but fortunately, there weren’t many people at the staff entrance.
“I guess we go in that way?”
Following the siblings who weren’t making a fuss about being VIPs, Seong-woon suddenly felt a gaze digging into his neck and turned around. Even from a hundred meters away, a man, who was clearly a reporter, was staring intently at Seong-woon before quickly raising his camera to take a burst of photos.
Seong-woon smiled brightly, and when the camera sounds stopped, he made eye contact with the reporter before turning back.
Will this make the news? It would be nice if it did, but it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t.
The staff seats were right in front of the press section. It was a position where he couldn’t turn his head comfortably due to the pressure, and any wrong move could lead to an article with a strange headline. Seated between the twin siblings, Seong-woon took out his phone once but put it back in his jacket pocket when he saw that even that screen was about to be photographed from behind.
Soon, an RBS PR staff member came up and started explaining the guidelines. As Seong-woon was letting the familiar content go in one ear and out the other, he widened his eyes at the person who came to sit in front of him.
“Wow. It’s Baek Sang-hyeon?”
Ho-yoon whispered in Seong-woon’s ear. Seong-woon lightly pressed his slightly throbbing head.
Was this the schedule he skipped school for?
No, that’s not the important thing… How far are those Reincarnation Management Committee guys involved? There’s no reason to make them meet even in a place like this, right?
“Chae-yoon, does your head hurt?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“How’s your blood pressure?”
Seong-woon always wore a smartwatch. Although it was a simplified device with low reliability, he would occasionally measure his blood pressure and ECG as it provided useful reference points. Recently, after passing the quest, the values had become much more stable, suggesting that his illness had partially recovered.
…Could it be that Ryu-shin Electronics started developing smartwatches early on because of Ryu Chae-yoon? He vaguely remembered hearing that they were particularly obsessed with improving the accuracy of ECG and blood pressure measurements. Now that he thought about it, it seemed like a quite plausible guess.
“It’s okay.”
Seong-woon showed the watch’s results to the two worried individuals. However, they didn’t seem particularly relieved.
“If you feel anything wrong, tell us immediately. Understood?”
“Got it.”
Knowing that Ryu Chae-yoon’s physical condition was unstable, Seong-woon was being extremely cautious. He didn’t touch caffeine or alcohol, exercised daily with a doctor present, and even avoided cold showers. He was doing absolutely nothing that could strain his heart.
“By the way, Chae-yoon. You don’t like Baek Sang-hyun anymore?”
Ho-yoon whispered in a voice low enough not to be heard by others. Ryu Chae-yoon… liked Baek Sang-hyun?
“…Me? Baek Sang-hyun?”
“Yeah, you… Haven’t you opened that place?”
“That place? You don’t mean…”
That ‘fanboy room’? Not daring to look into Ryu Chae-yoon’s depths, Seong-woon had never opened that room since waking up in this body.
…Could it be that the person Ryu Chae-yoon wanted to be entangled with was Baek Sang-hyun?
If so, everything made sense now. All those quests that seemed to forcibly create coincidental meetings with Baek Sang-hyun. Weren’t all the quests related to Baek Sang-hyun?
The first quest had him enter as a minor role in a work starring Baek Sang-hyun, the second quest had him audition for a lead role in Baek Sang-hyun’s work, the third quest had him bump into Baek Sang-hyun at a drinking party, and the fourth quest had him join the same study group as Baek Sang-hyun.
Seong-woon called up the hologram window. There, Ryu Chae-yoon’s final wish was written.
[Want to be entangled with ㅁㅁㅁㅁ ㅁㅁㅁㅁ]
If ‘Baek Sang-hyun’ goes in there, what words would fill the other four squares?
“How much did I like Baek Sang-hyun?”
“Well… you liked him a lot.”
Ho-yoon’s answer wasn’t very helpful. The word ‘a lot’ was too abstract to mean anything.
“Tremendously?”
“Huh?”
“Ah, nevermind.”
Wouldn’t ‘Want to be tremendously entangled’ make sense too? Or ‘somehow’ could work, and if not that…. He tried various four-letter adverbs, but while they all made sense, none of them felt quite right.
Even as the production press conference began, Seong-woon couldn’t concentrate. He was startled when suddenly everyone’s gaze turned towards him, and he lifted his head abruptly.
Baek Sang-hyun in the front row was rising from his seat. The director on the stage seemed to have called him up. A middle-aged man holding a microphone was speaking jovially with a hearty laugh.
“We have to do whatever it takes to boost the ratings, don’t we?”
The actors on the stage were applauding to welcome Baek Sang-hyun. Seeing that his clothes, hair, and makeup were all set, it seemed he had come prepared for this situation.
Sang-hyun bowed slightly and sat in the prepared chair. But only after moving the chair, which had been placed right next to the director, to the very end. A staff member rushed up to hand Sang-hyun a microphone.
“Hello, I’m actor Baek Sang-hyun.”
“Sang-hyun, come over here.”
The MC of the production press conference desperately tried to move Sang-hyun to the center seat, but Sang-hyun just smiled.
“This is the kind of person Baek Sang-hyun is, everyone.”
“How could I sit in the center when the main character is right here?”
“You are the main character for the first episode though!”
“I heard you made a special appearance. What kind of role do you play?”
“Wouldn’t it spoil the fun if I told you now?”
Director Shin Seong-ok’s new work, “Short Selling,” was a drama that thoroughly depicted the power struggles in an investment company, the flow of black money that manipulates them, the resulting criminal activities, and the confrontation with the Financial Securities Crime Joint Investigation Unit trying to catch the black money.
“Are you playing a villain role?”
“Hmm… it’s ambiguous. Not completely a villain, but… It’ll be revealed tonight, so I’d appreciate if you look forward to it.”
“Since you’re only appearing in the first episode, it makes me even more curious about what role you’re playing.”
Baek Sang-hyun, who hadn’t even been sitting for long, bowed like some prince and came down from the stage. After returning to his seat, he briefly went back up to take a few photos during the photo time after the press conference, responding to the constant requests from the director, actors, and reporters.
“Well, he is handsome.”
“Huh?”
“I mean Baek Sang-hyun. Our youngest liked him so much that I ended up disliking him.”
Just how much did he like him for family members to say such things? Seong-woon, who had planned to open that ‘fanboy room’ as soon as he got home, became increasingly scared.
As soon as the venue was roughly cleared, the interior darkened and the first episode of “Short Selling” was screened on the installed screen. Director Shin Seong-ok’s characteristic fast-paced development was impressive, and Seong-woon was a bit surprised at how entertaining it was. And Baek Sang-hyun’s appearance was nothing short of a breathtaking scene
Even in the darkness, the reporters seemed busy writing articles, as the sound of keyboards typing constantly came from behind. They were trying to keep the noise down, but being right in front, it was still distracting.
“I’m hungry. Let’s go eat meat.”
Ho-yoon, who wasn’t particularly interested in the drama, stood up immediately and sang about meat, while Ha-yoon stared at the back of Baek Sang-hyun’s head with sparkling eyes.
His acting was quite impressive. It was amazing how such a handsome man could act so sleazy. It seemed a bit of a stretch in the story for him to get shot and die in a financial company, but his acting skills made it somewhat passable.
“I’m going straight home…”
“You’re leaving right away?”
“No, eat meat before you go!”
Seong-woon, who had wanted to go straight home because he was concerned about the fanboy room, was caught by Sang-hyun’s gaze. After staring blankly at each other, Seong-woon realized he had forgotten to greet him and bowed his head.
“Hello, senior.”
“You’re leaving right away?”
“Yes, I have something to do…”
“Why don’t you greet the director before you go?”
“What? Ah…”
Seong-woon was about to refuse immediately but realized that the surrounding reporters were listening to their conversation with pricked ears, so he just swallowed hard.
“It would be good to greet Director Shin Seong-ok, you know.”
“I appreciate your words, but…”
Ho-yoon, who lacked tact, poked his side and whispered.
“Just go!”
“…”
“I’ll wait outside. It’s fine, it’s a place that doesn’t need reservations anyway.”
It’s not because of the meat! Seong-woon, who had been biting his lips, made a quick decision. Ryu Chae-yoon’s fanboy room isn’t going anywhere. Nothing will change if he checks it a few hours later. But if he refuses Baek Sang-hyun’s suggestion and turns back here, who knows what articles the reporters, ready to bite like hyenas, might write.
Baek Sang-hyun was currently the highest-priced actor among male actors in their 20s, and his every word and action turned into money. So anyone associated with him was bound to become a topic of gossip. Seong-woon swallowed hard and opened his mouth.
“Thank you, senior.”
“Come this way.”
Seong-woon followed Sang-hyun close to the stage. As he watched him bow to the director and engage in a long conversation, the twin siblings put their heads close together and chattered.