Chapter 20: Unexpected Encounters and Lingering Thoughts

Fortunately, the food distribution concluded in a flash. This was largely due to a rather impatient staff member who had simply grabbed an entire bag of sandwiches. Watching them, Seo Yeon-ho felt a mix of relief and amusement. Just as Seo Yeon-ho prepared to hand over the card and receipt, Won Seon-jae gently pulled him towards a secluded corner of the archery cafe.

“Hyung, you don’t have to rush off immediately, do you?”

“Oh, no, I don’t.”

Seo Yeon-ho checked the wall clock, then subtly shook his head. Since he hadn’t yet secured any delivery calls, he felt he could easily spare a few moments.

“Phew, what a relief. It’s truly a small world, isn’t it? Who would have thought I’d run into someone I know while ordering delivery. I’d heard you left Cherry, Hyung, but I had no idea you were working in delivery.”

“I’ve been doing this for quite some time now,” Seo Yeon-ho replied. “So, if you’re filming a web drama, does that mean you’re finally pursuing solo activities?”

“Yeah, they were so insistent on not letting me do solo work, but this year they finally relented,” Won Seon-jae confirmed. “This is already my second web drama appearance.”

“To be cast twice in just half a year is truly remarkable.”

Seo Yeon-ho carefully modulated his tone, wary of sounding disingenuous or offering a hollow compliment. He aimed for a steady pitch, neither too high nor too low, ensuring each word carried genuine weight.

“It’s less about me being remarkable and more about the company really pushing for me,” Won Seon-jae mused. “Perhaps I was simply too impatient, assuming they would naturally allow it once I had more seniority.”

Seo Yeon-ho regarded Won Seon-jae with a gaze of genuine surprise. It was unlike him to attribute such success solely to the company’s efforts.

Had his animosity towards the agency, which he had so fiercely detested when his solo activities were restricted, simply evaporated? Or had he matured, becoming adept at making such calculated statements?

‘Most likely the latter,’ Seo Yeon-ho mused.

While Won Seon-jae appeared to be focused solely on Seo Yeon-ho, he was acutely aware of the surrounding staff. The staff members, too, mirrored this behavior; though they seemed lost in thought or absorbed in their tasks, feigning disinterest, it was evident they were keenly listening to every word of their conversation.

On a film set, everyone served as a silent observer, a living CCTV for one another. They would feign indifference, yet meticulously gather every scrap of information. It was a space where secrets simply couldn’t exist, whether the cameras were rolling or not.

“Oh, by the way, Baby was also in the first web drama I filmed.”

“Baby?”

Unsure of the name Won Seon-jae was referring to, Seo Yeon-ho tilted his head in confusion.

“You know, that guy from your old group.”

“Ah, Kim Kang.”

Seo Yeon-ho recalled the stage name and birth name of his former teammate. When he had been the leader of Glitch, the name ‘Baby’ would have instantly brought Kim Kang to mind.

Now, however, his first thought was, ‘What Baby?’, a stark realization of how profoundly things had shifted. It left him with a hollow, bitter sensation, akin to discovering a beloved childhood amusement park completely overgrown with weeds.

“Is Kang doing well?”

His voice softened, almost involuntarily, as it felt like a question a former team leader shouldn’t have to ask.

“Yeah, that hyung apparently moved agencies to Instyle.”

“That’s good,” Seo Yeon-ho responded.

Perhaps his reply had been too bland, too devoid of emotion? Won Seon-jae’s gaze, fixed on Seo Yeon-ho, suddenly held a peculiar quality.

“Hyung, you don’t know where Instyle is?”

“Huh? Oh. Is it a new company?”

“It’s practically a subsidiary of Cherry Picker.”

“…Ah.”

Seo Yeon-ho belatedly grasped the full context of the situation. He had believed his former teammate had escaped the clutches of Cherry Picker, but it appeared that was not the case at all.

“Well, it’s possible you wouldn’t know,” Won Seon-jae conceded. “Hyung, you really don’t keep in touch with any of the other members?”

“No, we don’t. Everyone is busy, and our career paths have diverged completely, so there’s simply no occasion to meet.”

“Come to think of it, Hyung, you haven’t contacted me either,” Won Seon-jae observed. “If we hadn’t met purely by chance like this, I might never have seen you again, might I?”

Won Seon-jae dramatically feigned shock, his face contorting in an exaggerated display. It was as if the entire cessation of their contact until this moment had been solely Seo Yeon-ho’s fault.

While it was true that Seo Yeon-ho hadn’t initiated contact, Won Seon-jae was equally guilty of the same. From Won Seon-jae’s perspective, he might have believed he was showing consideration by not reaching out.

Regardless of Won Seon-jae’s true intentions, Seo Yeon-ho held no strong feelings about their lapsed communication. He understood that it was an unrealistic desire to expect every relationship forged in the entertainment industry to be as genuine as the one he shared with Brother Hyo-jun.

“Hyung, your phone number hasn’t changed, has it?”

“No, it hasn’t.”

As Seo Yeon-ho nodded, a fleeting expression of awkwardness crossed Won Seon-jae’s face. It appeared Won Seon-jae had, at some point, deleted Seo Yeon-ho’s number. Had Seo Yeon-ho changed it, he could have naturally requested the new one, but since he hadn’t, his unspoken plan had been foiled.

“Am I still following you?”

“Uh, I suppose so.”

Upon leaving the company, he had set his account to private and hadn’t touched it since. Seo Yeon-ho now used his social media solely to view photos posted by Brother Hyo-jun and Son Eun-hee, or to check on his younger sister, Chae-young.

“Okay. I’ll send you a DM sometime soon, then. Let’s grab a drink next time.”

“Yeah, well. Alright.”

Seo Yeon-ho, assuming Won Seon-jae’s invitation for a drink was merely a polite formality, promptly exited the archery cafe. To his surprise, however, Won Seon-jae followed him all the way to the elevator and leaned in to whisper.

“Hyung, this web drama I’m filming now? It’s a supporting role, but there might be a part opening up. I’ll put in a good word with the director, so would you be willing to come in for a meeting?”

Perhaps the offer for a drink hadn’t been an empty formality after all. Seo Yeon-ho found himself utterly flustered by Won Seon-jae’s completely unexpected proposition.

“…Uh, I haven’t, I haven’t acted in quite some time.”

“It’s fine,” Won Seon-jae dismissed with a wave of his hand. “Web dramas are crawling with terrible actors. Even the ones who graduated from university acting programs aren’t anything special.”

“The director constantly complains to me, wishing other idols could act even half as well as you. For someone of your caliber, Hyung, they’d be bowing and saying, ‘Thank Thank you, you’re a truly skilled actor!'”

“Plus, your fundamentals are solid, so you’ll pick it right back up in no time.”

As Won Seon-jae continued to lavish praise on Seo Yeon-ho, the elevator arrived. The ‘ding’ of its arrival resonated like Cinderella’s clock striking midnight, a sudden, jarring chime.

From a distant corner of the hallway, a pot-bellied man in a collared T-shirt waved impatiently at Won Seon-jae.

“Seon-jae, hurry up. The director’s looking for you.”

“Got it, Manager Hyung! I’m coming now,” Won Seon-jae called back. “Hyung, I really have to go. I’ll contact you. Make sure to check your DMs, okay?”

Won Seon-jae reiterated his instructions with earnest urgency as he walked away. With a swift motion, Seo Yeon-ho thrust his arm between the ‘sreung’-closing elevator doors. A sharp ‘tang’ echoed as the doors promptly reopened. He stepped into the elevator, his face devoid of emotion, and pressed the button for the first floor.

Observing only Seo Yeon-ho’s serene expression and steady gaze, no one would have suspected the tumultuous thoughts swirling within his mind.

‘Why did I foolishly blurt out that it had been a long time since I’d acted?’ he chastised himself. ‘I should have simply stated I had no intention of appearing in a web drama.’

Seo Yeon-ho had merely spoken out of sheer embarrassment, but Won Seon-jae couldn’t possibly have known that. The thought that it must have sounded like the response of someone still clinging to the lingering allure of an entertainer’s life left him utterly mortified.

‘Should I contact him even now, to say I have no intention of attending the meeting and to give no hint to the director?’

Seo Yeon-ho shook his head, dismissing the idea. Sending such a lengthy, detailed DM would only make him appear more foolish. It would imply he had taken a casually offered suggestion, like ‘let’s grab a drink’ or ‘let’s get a meal,’ far too seriously on his own.

‘Time to work,’ he decided.

Resolving to assign no further meaning to his conversation with Won Seon-jae, Seo Yeon-ho activated his rider app.

Seo Yeon-ho’s fingers moved swiftly, busily snatching up delivery calls. As if the string of bad luck that had plagued him for days was finally breaking, he managed to secure four calls on his way back. Following that, a steady stream of lucrative ‘honey calls’ with optimal routes and high pay continued to appear.

Knowing it was crucial to ‘row while the water was high,’ Seo Yeon-ho took every call he could. He even grudged the time it would take to eat a proper meal, subsisting instead on a single bottle of water and a convenience store pastry.

It was past two in the morning when Seo Yeon-ho finally arrived at his rooftop apartment, having completed nearly eighty deliveries. His lower back, hips, and every other part of his body ached from navigating the city’s labyrinthine alleys on his scooter.

“That was tough,” he sighed.

After showering, Seo Yeon-ho, his body thoroughly drained, slumped onto the floor in front of his fan. He was too exhausted even to dry his hair, simply letting the fan’s breeze wash over him.

“It’s hot.”

He wondered if the tropical nights had already begun, as even the fan’s cool air offered little relief. It was impossible to sleep when it was this hot. Thinking he should have frozen some ice in a plastic bottle, Seo Yeon-ho rose from his spot. He hoped chewing on ice might help bring his body temperature down.

As he reached for ice, he discovered a forgotten ice pack nestled alone in the freezer. It must have been from last year. Feeling a surge of relief, he wrapped the ice pack in a towel.

Pressing the ice pack against the back of his neck offered immediate comfort, a welcome respite. After cooling down for a moment, Seo Yeon-ho picked up his phone. His initial intention had been to open the rider app and check his earnings for the day. However, whether his body and mind were disconnected, or if he was simply under some strange spell, his finger instinctively tapped the web browser instead of the rider app.

Seo Yeon-ho typed Kim Kang’s stage name and birth name into the search bar. Just as Won Seon-jae had mentioned, the agency information had indeed changed from Cherry Picker to Instyle.

That wasn’t the only alteration. The occupation field, which previously only listed ‘singer,’ now included ‘talent.’

“He really started acting.”

A strange feeling washed over him. His senses felt chaotically intertwined—cold and hot, empty yet bloated. Although Won Seon-jae had told him Kim Kang had debuted as an actor, Seo Yeon-ho hadn’t truly grasped it until he saw it on the portal.

Kim Kang had been a member Seo Yeon-ho had known for years, yet he had never once expressed a desire to act. He had always spoken of wanting to appear on variety shows or release solo albums for individual activities, so why had he pivoted to acting?

‘Perhaps his disinterest in acting wasn’t genuine after all. It didn’t seem like a lie, though…’

Though often disregarded, Seo Yeon-ho had still been the team’s leader. He had consistently conversed with the members to convey their opinions to the company, striving to remember their aspirations. Two years prior, Kim Kang genuinely had no desire to act.

Why had he changed his mind?

He found himself wondering how the other members were doing. Until now, he had been too preoccupied with paying off his debts to think about looking up their recent activities. Even if he was busy just trying to survive, had two years without checking on his former members been too long?

‘Why are you so uninterested in others, Yeon-ho? Do you have no emotions?’

‘Talking to you makes me so frustrated I feel like I’m going crazy.’

Seo Yeon-ho recalled the times the members had expressed their annoyance at his personality. Back then, he had thought they were overly emotional, but now he wondered if they might have been right. He truly was poor at understanding people’s hearts and was indeed unconcerned. It was so bad that the first person he ever dated had broken up with him, claiming even a robot would be more affectionate.