Chapter 73: The Power of a Name

• Our Woojuㅠㅠㅠ How long has it been since he appeared in a training videoㅠㅠ

└ But he’s still so quiet.

└└ Someone hurry and bring Won Jitae in front of him;;

• Isn’t the person who filmed this showing way too much personal bias?

└ They’re just representing our bias.

└└ Don’t nitpick. They’re a hero who showed us such a good video.

• Wow but Kang Wooju? That guy’s posture is seriously good. He really looks like an athlete.

└ Well… he is an athleteㅜㅜ

└└ Not “looks like.” He is one.

• Wait but the person who briefly passed by at the end of the video… isn’t that Won Jitae?

└ Oh my god, now that I look again I think it is.

└└ What? Why did he follow him there? Did the two of them do something while living together?

└└└ Looks like itㅜㅜ His beauty shines through even that crappy video quality.

It was astonishing how people managed to find things like this.

To think they even caught the brief moment where he passed through the video.

• But athlete Baek Yunkwon is really handsome.

└ Seeing him next to Wooju, their face combination is insane.

└└ Baek Young’s future is bright.

The moment he saw that comment, Jitae’s eyes narrowed into triangles.

He glared fiercely at the screen for a while, then personally pressed the dislike button on the comment before turning the screen off.

“Jitae.”

Jitae tried to calm the irritation bubbling inside him by recalling the words Wooju had called him yesterday.

And strangely enough, the blazing fire in his chest seemed to die down instantly.

“Maybe he won’t call me that anymore.”

Yesterday, all the way back home, Jitae kept clinging to Wooju, whining for him to drop the surname and call him like that just one more time.

But Wooju only snapped back asking why he was so obsessed with something like that and refused to do it.

Jitae even made a ridiculous proposal saying Wooju should call him that if he won a bet.

But in the end he lost every single bet miserably.

As Jitae wondered how he could hear Wooju say it again, a brilliant idea suddenly popped into his mind.

He clapped his hands and jumped up.

“Won Jitae! If you’re awake, come out! Stop rolling around!”

From downstairs, Wooju’s sharp voice rang out, as if he had somehow heard everything.

Startled, Jitae quickly washed up in the second-floor bathroom and rushed downstairs before he could get scolded more.

Today was Wooju’s day off from training.

Which meant the two of them could finally spend the day together in the house again after a long time.

When he went downstairs, he heard busy sounds coming from the kitchen.

As he approached, he saw Wooju’s back in casual clothes moving around.

That was actually the biggest reason why Jitae had been in such good condition lately.

When he opened his eyes in the morning, Wooju was the first thing he saw.

“If you’re awake, you should come out immediately. Why are you rolling around in bed? No wonder you look lazy.”

“Even my mom didn’t nag like you do.”

“What?”

Perhaps the word nagging struck a nerve because Wooju whipped his head around.

Still holding a terrifyingly sharp knife in his hand.

“What did you say?”

“Ah, nothing. Just don’t make that face while holding a knife.”

Apparently satisfied with the answer, Wooju went back to cutting the ingredients.

It seemed he was busily preparing breakfast, just like someone in charge of cooking for the week.

“What are you making today?”

“Bulgogi rice bowl.”

“Sounds good.”

At some point, Wooju had started cooking meals that weren’t spicy or overly stimulating.

More precisely, it was after he found out Jitae couldn’t handle spicy food well.

Sitting at the table, Jitae stared blankly at Wooju moving around.

Then he slowly got up and approached him.

“What? Are you hungry?”

“Yeah… well…”

“It’ll be done soon.”

Wooju added ingredients and sauce to a large frying pan and started stir-frying them.

Watching his skillful hands move, Jitae suddenly cleared his throat as if he had made up his mind about something.

“Wooju is good at cooking too.”

Clank—.

At that one sentence, Wooju froze mid-motion while stirring the frying pan.

With the sizzling sound filling the air, Wooju stared at Jitae with a disbelieving expression.

“W-what is it. That’s creepy.”

“What’s creepy? I just said it.”

“Hey, if you’re bored go play over there. I’ll finish soon.”

Wooju waved his hand dismissively to shoo him away, but Jitae didn’t budge.

“Why? I woke up early for once.”

“Wow, what an achievement.”

“Is there anything I can help with? Wooju?”

Wooju slowly turned his head again.

He looked like he wanted to point something out but couldn’t quite figure out what exactly was wrong.

“What’s wrong with you today? Did you eat something weird? You picked something strange up in your room, didn’t you?”

“Why? Did I say something weird?”

“No, not really…”

He hadn’t said anything strange.

Most likely Wooju was reacting like that because Jitae suddenly dropped the surname and called him in a friendly way.

Since he couldn’t get a familiar way of addressing him through betting, Jitae decided to change strategies entirely.

It was a kind of brainwashing tactic.

If he kept calling him “Wooju-ya” first over and over again, maybe one day Kang Wooju would respond the same way and change how he addressed him.

That was the desperate hope behind his plan.

“Anyway, sit down. It’s done.”

“Okay.”

Wooju neatly scooped rice onto a large plate and placed the delicious stir-fried bulgogi on top.

He set the steaming plate in front of Jitae before sitting down himself.

“I’ll eat well, Wooju-ya.”

“…Yeah, sure.”

Wooju answered a beat late.

It seemed he didn’t even feel like arguing about it anymore.

“Won Jitae, do you want to go for a drive nearby this afternoon? I heard the writers talking earlier. Apparently there are some nice big cafés around here.”

“Sounds good.”

Still Won Jitae, huh.

Jitae shoveled rice into his mouth with a slightly disappointed look.

But he didn’t feel particularly impatient.

“Then let’s leave after we finish eating.”

Sharing their plans for the day, the two of them finished their meal.

“I’ll do the dishes, so Wooju you go get ready.”

“Huh…?”

Startled, Wooju placed the empty dishes into the sink and quietly went into his room.

“What’s with him today, seriously?”

As soon as he closed the door, Wooju muttered with a serious face while sitting on the bed.

At first he thought he had heard wrong.

The sudden barrage of “Wooju-ya” had completely caught him off guard.

Once might have been manageable.

But hearing it two or three times made his face heat up strangely.

“Am I actually sick or something?”

Wooju nearly grabbed his hair in frustration as he silently screamed to himself.

“Wooju-ya, I’ll get ready too.”

At that moment, Jitae’s voice called out from outside again.

Wooju’s mouth fell open as he collapsed backward onto the bed.

“……”

When no response came from Wooju’s room, Jitae pouted slightly in disappointment.

“So this method doesn’t work either…”

After finishing the cleanup, the two of them prepared lightly and left the house.

Before coming out, Wooju had searched online for cafés worth visiting nearby.

But Jitae kept insisting they should just wander around and enter any random place, which caused some bickering and delayed their departure a little.

As always, after receiving one smack on the back from Wooju, Jitae quickly became obedient and quietly sat beside him while Wooju searched for a place.

The café Wooju chose was about a 10-minute drive away, near the supermarket the two often visited.

He deliberately tried to avoid cafés that were too famous.

If there were too many people, filming might become difficult due to crowds even if they cooperated.

And since Won Jitae was literally a star actor, fans would definitely gather.

So Wooju searched for places with good ratings but not many reviews, and eventually managed to find the perfect spot.

“The atmosphere is nice.”

As soon as they parked and got out of the car, Jitae looked around the café and murmured.

“See? It was a good idea that I searched beforehand.”

Wooju stood beside him proudly with his hands on his hips.

Seeing that cute pose, Jitae’s face twisted slightly again.

Like their lodging, the café was also located a bit out of the way.

It stood beside a single-lane road with barely any traffic and was situated right below a low mountain, making the area pleasantly cool.

Most of all, the scenery was beautiful thanks to that.

One of the writers had already contacted the café in advance to arrange filming cooperation, so they were able to enter without trouble.

The moment they stepped inside, a spacious interior opened before them.

The café had a neutral-colored interior with cute yellow light bulbs softly illuminating the space.

The café building had three floors in total.

On the first floor, various baked goods were displayed.

While Wooju was scanning the menu board to order drinks, he suddenly noticed the space beside him felt empty.

Turning his head, just as he expected—

Won Jitae was nowhere to be seen.

Wooju turned around completely and looked toward the bakery display area.

There he saw a large man excitedly examining the bread.

“Wooju-ya, let’s get bread too.”

“We literally just ate.”

“This isn’t a meal. It’s dessert.”

Wooju let out a deep sigh.

Won Jitae already had a small appetite and rarely ate much.

Even then he often left food unfinished.

Just this morning he had eaten only about two-thirds of the bulgogi rice bowl Wooju had proudly made, leaving the rest.

Even that was only after Wooju forced him to eat more.

And now he wanted to fill his stomach with bread instead.

He really was like an elementary school kid who loved snacks.