Chapter 65: Becoming Friends

The rumors from industry insiders—
that he got roles through connections,
that he had sponsors,
that he blocked articles with money—

didn’t hit Jitae very hard.

Compared to what Kang Wooju was saying now, things like that didn’t even qualify as real wounds.

After all, in Jitae’s world, only one person could truly hold meaning.

“Don’t get too used to it. You’ll get sick like that.”

Yet Kang Wooju always uncovered the parts Jitae himself hadn’t looked into and gently soothed them.

“Are you trying to comfort me? I’m really fine.”

“There you go again.

Well… I guess it is comforting in a way, but…

If you really have nowhere to talk about things, you can tell me.”

Wooju scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

“Speaking of which, yesterday you looked like you were in a bad mood.

But when I asked, you said it was nothing.

And this morning when I asked if you were okay, you wouldn’t even show me your face.”

“Ah, that’s…”

“So I got kind of annoyed and wondered if I was just overreacting.”

The car, with its engine still off, was extremely quiet.

Light from the underground parking lot seeped in through the windows, casting shadows across their faces.

Their eyes slowly met, cutting through the darkness.

“But after what happened earlier, I think I get it now.”

“Get what?”

“I want to be the kind of friend you can talk about your worries with.”

Ah.

Friend.

Jitae slowly lowered his head.

It was a word that heated his heart and froze it at the same time.

“What, you don’t like that?”

He had gathered the courage to say it, yet…

Wooju’s voice grew louder, embarrassed.

He hadn’t said something like that since he was a kid.

He had never imagined he would become an adult and say, Let’s be friends.

He wanted to step just a little inside the boundary Won Jitae had drawn around himself.

Back in school, they had been rivals.

But now that they had met again in different fields, Wooju wanted to redefine their relationship.

And he had finally found the name he wanted to give it.

He didn’t want to be just someone who filmed a show together once.

Or just an acquaintance.

“No, I like it.”

“Then here.”

Wooju held out his hand.

“What’s this?”

“A handshake.

Since we’re friends now.”

“…You know you’re surprisingly childish sometimes, right?”

“Well, forget it if you don’t want to.”

Wooju tried to pull his hand back in irritation, but Jitae quickly reached out and grabbed it.

A large pale hand overlapped Wooju’s calloused one.

“Thank you.”

“Just remember that.

Ah.”

Wooju cleared his throat proudly, then suddenly pulled Jitae’s hand forward.

Caught off guard, Jitae’s upper body leaned forward, and the distance between them closed instantly.

“Why suddenly—”

As Wooju’s face came close, Jitae reflexively turned his head.

“But there’s one thing I’m really curious about.

Why didn’t you look me in the eye all day today?

You looked like you were hiding inside that cap.”

He could understand refusing physical contact a hundred times over.

But avoiding even eye contact all day had annoyed him.

Determined to hear the reason, Wooju tightened his grip.

“…Because.”

“What? I can’t hear you.

Why do you always mumble?”

“…Because I look ugly.”

Jitae pulled the brim of his cap down even further.

Wooju stared blankly for a moment, unable to process what he had just heard.

“What?”

“I said… I look ugly.

I couldn’t sleep last night, woke up late, couldn’t get ready properly, and I look like this…”

If people heard this, they would probably explode in anger at the ridiculous statement coming from a popular actor.

Wooju couldn’t understand why people who already had everything always said things like that.

He slapped Jitae’s hand away from the cap, grabbed his cheeks, and lifted his face up.

Jitae flinched in surprise.

His already large eyes widened even more.

“Didn’t I tell you before?

You’d look handsome no matter what you did.”

Forcing their eyes to meet, Wooju smiled in satisfaction.

“……”

“You fraud.

Don’t ever say that somewhere else. People will curse you.”

Jitae grabbed Wooju’s wrist and buried his face deeper into his hand.

He knew he shouldn’t do this, but maybe it would be okay just this once.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go now.

The directors keep calling.”

In the underground parking lot of that building, the two of them became a little more honest with each other.

And at last, they formed a new relationship—

friends.

That quiet, ordinary day—like the calm before a storm—slowly passed by.

After finishing a packed schedule for an entire week, Won Jitae went straight to bed the moment he returned home.

As if proving that he hadn’t slept well the previous night, he slept until dinner time.

Then after eating dinner, he fell asleep again.

Meanwhile, Wooju watched TV and even went out for an interview.

He made coffee and took a walk around the neighborhood.

He also tended to the small garden.

Later, sitting blankly on the living room sofa after dinner, he suddenly remembered something Jitae had said during the interview earlier.

“Rail… was it?”

Almost unconsciously, Wooju picked up his phone and searched for it on a portal site.

As soon as he typed Movie Rail, information poured out.

The ratings were in the 9-point range, and reviews praised it as a rare masterpiece.

Audience reactions were overwhelmingly positive.

Among the many comments, three things appeared everywhere:

The concept is incredibly fresh.

The direction is insane.

Won Jitae’s acting stands out.

“Hmm…”

Honestly, Wooju hadn’t realized it was this big of a sensation.

Even reaching ten million viewers in this era was already amazing.

But suddenly he wondered why he had never tried to watch it before.

After hesitating for a moment, he searched for nearby movie theaters and checked the showtimes.

Since it had been quite a while since the release, the only available showings were late at night.

But that might actually be better.

At that hour he wouldn’t have to worry about microphones, and going out alone wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Of course, he needed Sunhyeok’s permission first.

But once he made the decision, he acted quickly.

When he asked, Sunhyeok allowed him to go out without hesitation.

Filming inside a theater would require advance permission and approval from the theater anyway, which was troublesome.

And since the show currently focused on their daily lives helping each other as managers, it didn’t seem to matter.

After changing clothes and heading out, Wooju suddenly thought about Won Jitae.

He was clearly still deep asleep.

Waking him up just to say, “I’m going to watch your movie now,” felt a little embarrassing.

After some thought, Wooju decided to leave a simple message before leaving.

He walked toward the front door—

when suddenly he heard a door opening upstairs.

“Kang Wooju? Where are you going?”

Won Jitae came down the stairs, still looking half-asleep, staring at Wooju with a dazed expression.

“Ah, well…”

Scratching his cheek awkwardly, Wooju ended up confessing his plan.

Jitae immediately frowned.

Of course he should go with him.

He quickly got ready and came downstairs.

“You’re unbelievable.

How were you planning to go alone?”

“I’ve told you five hundred times already that I didn’t want to wake you while you were sleeping.”

Wooju sat in the passenger seat of Jitae’s car, desperately defending himself.

The car navigation showed the movie theater address Wooju had searched earlier.

Why did he have to wake up at exactly that moment?

Wooju added that he was planning to leave a message before going out.

“You said we’re friends…”

Jitae muttered sulkily.

Wooju couldn’t help but feel awkward.

He didn’t want to wake Jitae intentionally.

But he also didn’t have the courage to honestly say he suddenly wanted to watch Jitae’s movie.

Considering he had just been the one talking about becoming friends earlier, it felt a little embarrassing.

“So why suddenly a movie?”

“Huh? Well… it’s been a while since I’ve gone to one.”

“What movie are you planning to watch?”

The answer should have come immediately.

But Wooju simply stared silently out the window.

Since they were quite far from Seoul, the scenery outside was mostly grass and plain residential areas.

Even the evenly spaced streetlights barely lit the darkness.

“Just…”

Seeing how strangely Wooju avoided the answer, Jitae started listing the names of movies currently showing.

Unfortunately, Wooju hadn’t heard of more than half of them.

In fact, he hadn’t even known that so many films were playing right now.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

In the end, Wooju shut down the conversation with a vague answer.

Jitae immediately began scolding him for not even checking the schedule in advance.

Normally Jitae was the reckless one and Wooju was the one getting frustrated.

But now the roles were reversed.

The closest theater was about fifteen minutes away by car from their accommodation.

It was located in the center of a lively downtown area.

Fortunately, because it was late at night, there were barely any people in the parking lot or inside the theater.

Of course, both of them had their caps pulled down low.