Best Friend X Swap

The budae-jjigae they finally ate an hour later thankfully turned out to be a success.
With his mouth, Seo-eul soothed their sniffly insistence that they would cook and eat separately if the ingredients made him uncomfortable, and with his hands, he demonstrated his skill of mixing seasoning by rough measure, whipping up the stew in no time. Only after he saw the two men’s faces brighten the moment they took their first bites did Seo-eul’s shoulders relax.
Maybe because it was the first day.
He had barely done anything, so he did not know why he was this exhausted.
Thanks to that, his appetite had vanished long ago, and he could not even finish one proper bowl. All of the energy he had for the day had already been drained to zero.
Sa-heon seemed to notice the state Seo-eul was in, because he did not force him to eat. If he made him eat now, the odds were high he would get sick. It was better to let him rest now and feed him more at lunch tomorrow. He had expected the first day to be like this, which was why he had packed medicine into his empty suitcase in the first place.
He did not seem aware of it himself, but Lee Seo-eul was close to a well-socialized ocean sunfish. His natural disposition was extremely introverted, and the entertainment life he had begun at a young age had, in a sense, been poison. Sa-heon knew that the sociability he displayed was something he had learned purely for survival. He wanted to be kind to everyone, yet there were times he wanted to let go of everything.
“Stop eating.”
So Sa-heon simply swapped his bowl out quietly.
He could see he was trying to sneak in another mouthful out of consideration for the younger guys.
He should act like this more often. But Ye Ju-yeol and Yoon Hyuk, who looked like men who had not eaten in days, had their faces buried in their bowls and paid no attention to this side. The shapes were awful, and aside from the slight uneasiness of the ingredients being handled by those two, it was believable enough to pass for something store-bought, so Sa-heon also emptied his half-filled bowl cleanly.
“We will do the dishes! Please get some rest!”
As soon as the meal wrapped up, the two sprang up as if on cue and volunteered for dish duty. Watching the backs of their heads as they sprinted toward the sink with the empty pot and bowls, he turned to look at Seo-eul—who, unable to leave it be, had already fetched wet wipes.
Tell him to rest and he never rests.
Knowing that scolding would not change anything, Sa-heon snatched the entire container of wipes away.
To stop him from hovering around any further, he quickly cleaned the messy dining table and gathered every piece of trash. Then he dragged the blankly standing Seo-eul to the sofa and sat him down. Judging from his expression, he probably did not know whether he was tired or sleepy, so Sa-heon simply sat beside him and dropped his head onto his shoulder.
“Why? Sleepy?”
“Yeah.”
It was just past nine. Seo-eul knew Sa-heon’s sleeping patterns were irregular at best, so he did not question it. Thinking back on the day, it did seem reasonable he would be ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) tired. So he shifted slightly, strengthening his right shoulder where Sa-heon was leaning, trying to support him better. Since the intention was obvious, Sa-heon just closed his eyes and nudged his head once. Relax.
“…….”
Having heard that murmured voice, the shoulder relaxed.
If it were not for filming, he would have taken him straight to the room, and it was a shame he could not.
After some time, a cautious shadow fell beyond his eyelids. He could tell someone was checking if he was asleep, but staying like this was comfortable, so he did not react. The hand hovering in front of him soon disappeared.
How long had it been in that position?
The noise from the kitchen drifted into the living room.

In a small voice, Seo-eul said:
“Are you done? Good work.”
“Ahh, of course…! Huh? What— is he asleep?”
“Yeah. I think he was tired.”
At the unexpected sight, the decibel of Ye Ju-yeol’s voice dropped immediately. Just earlier, Sa-heon had had his eyes wide open, but now he was asleep. He had not looked sleepy at all, so how—? It was puzzling, but since they had no idea about his sleep habits, they just accepted it. There was so little accurate public information about him that even if someone said he had narcolepsy, they would have nodded.
Still, would it not be more comfortable to lie down than to collapse like that?
Seeing Sa-heon half-folded over Seo-eul’s shoulder, Ye Ju-yeol tilted his head.
The height clearly did not match, so if he was sleeping like that, he must have been very tired. Come to think of it, had he not said he ran a half-marathon course by himself this morning?
If that was the case, then it made sense, thought Ye Ju-yeol—quietly building a world free of prejudice—while Yoon Hyuk’s expression turned increasingly strange.
“The mission starts tomorrow, so should we call it a day? We have not even finished unpacking.”
“Yes. Let us do that, hyung. Things might get intense starting tomorrow, so I think it is better to sleep early today.”
“Mm. I agree!”
“Alright. Then let us do that… What about roommates?”
“…Sorry?”
What did he mean, what about it? Was the room assignment not already decided? Both Yoon Hyuk and Ye Ju-yeol wore confused expressions, so Seo-eul pointed at the move-in guide sitting on the living-room table and explained further.
“I also thought the rule was that the pairs would share a room, but earlier it looked like that was not the case.”
The two hurriedly grabbed the guidebook.
A line they had missed—because they were fixated only on the final section—finally came into view.
[Friendly House Move-in Guide]
♣ Best Friend☓Swap is a 24-hour healing observational variety show. The four cast members may freely decide their roommates.
(However, after the first night, roommates cannot be changed.)
“Oh? It is true.”
If they had to make a final decision tonight, then now was the time. As they nodded, Seo-eul asked hesitantly, with a touch of concern:
“Actually, I do not mind things as they are… but he is someone who overheats easily. If either of you is like that too, it might be better for you to room together.”
For Seo-eul, it was an obvious consideration. Had they not witnessed Seo Sa-heon melting from heat earlier that morning? At home it was fine because they used separate rooms, but here, they could not. So Seo-eul believed that sharing a room with someone whose body temperature matched would be much more comfortable.
For him, of course, being with Sa-heon was the most comfortable option.
But he hated the idea of Sa-heon pushing himself or getting sick out of consideration for him.
“Aah. If that is the case, Hyuk— mmph!”
That was the moment. Just as Ye Ju-yeol smiled brightly and began to give his opinion, his mouth was covered like a kidnapping victim by Yoon Hyuk. Maybe the rumor about him boxing when he was young was true; his arm shot out at lightning speed. Without the slightest sense of shame, he stomped sharply on his friend’s foot and said:
“Hyung, sorry, but both of us have really cold hands and feet and very low body temperature types. I think it makes more sense if you two share a room.”
“Mmphh ubbvbbbh!(You said you were the opposite type!)”
“What? You feel like you are going to throw up because of the budae-jjigae?”
Of course, it made zero sense. Ye Ju-yeol had never once thrown up food in his entire life—he was a born-to-be eater. But that was not the point. Avoiding Seo-eul’s puzzled gaze, Yoon Hyuk performed ventriloquism on the level of the musical .
You clueless idiot. He is not asleep right now.
After passing the warning to his best friend—who finally stopped struggling—Ye Ju-yeol looked as if he wanted to argue, But he is not moving at all, when suddenly, as if responding to the ventriloquism, Seo Sa-heon’s eyes opened.
Dry, sharp eyes. Not a trace of drowsiness.
Still leaning on Seo-eul’s shoulder, he simply stared at the two of them.
In other words, it looked like a scene from a horror movie.
“Are you okay? Do you really feel like throwing up?”
“…….”
“Looks like you have indigestion. You did eat a lot earlier…”
“I have medicine. Should I give you some?”
It was right then—when Seo-eul, sensing something off in the way both of their faces froze over, spoke worriedly. Flinching at the voice coming from right beside him, he turned his head. Seeing Sa-heon awake, Seo-eul let out a small breath of relief. He did not trust himself to drag that body up to the second floor.
“You are awake?”
“Yeah.”
“Then go sleep in the room. I will bring your meds.”
“Oh, no, no, no…! We are okay!”
Just as he recalled the emergency meds inside Sa-heon’s suitcase, Yoon Hyuk—springing up as if on cue—frantically waved his hands and rejected the offer. Had he not said a moment ago that he might throw up? Sending him a confused look, Yoon Hyuk removed his hand from Ye Ju-yeol’s mouth and declared firmly:
“He swallowed it. Right?”
“Huh? Uh… huh?”
“You heard that. It is solved, so the medicine is fine, and we will head up first, hyung. As for roommates… it is best if the pairs stick together. Then, good night.”
And with that, carrying Ye Ju-yeol like a keychain at his side, he thundered up to the second floor. Stunned by the rapid-fire pace, Seo-eul nodded without thinking, then belatedly muttered, “Swallowed it? What…?” He stopped himself from imagining further. Beside him, the root cause of this entire situation—Sa-heon—spoke calmly:
“Ah. Then we cannot change roommates anymore.”
D-13
And that concluded the first two-week shoot, during which only Ye Ju-yeol was relentlessly and unfairly targeted by fate.