Come Back

The plane, which had completely settled on the runway, began to gain speed, and for a moment, its body lurched and tilted. Lee Hae-seong’s arm, which had entered through the gap between his back and the sofa, tightly grabbed Choi Hong-seo’s waist. He buried his lips just below his ear, at the point where his chin ended, and whispered as if he was whispering.

“I know. Me too.”

“I know you’re just joking around on purpose. I just don’t understand why I can’t control my facial expressions at that moment.”

“Because I’m special to Hongseo.”

“……”

Only then did I gain the courage to look back at him. The smiling face was very close by. Choi Hong-seo also smiled back and nodded in acknowledgement.

“That’s right. I’m really slow to change my emotions… but I react differently to you.”

“You react differently to me… Is that a nice thing to say?”

With a languid expression, as if savoring a fragrance, Lee Hae-seong rubbed the tip of his nose against Choi Hong-seo’s.

“I know that Hongseo is like that. It has a high boiling point and a low freezing point, so it has a nickname of glycol.”

Choi Hong-seo burst into laughter at his ability to catch even the little-known details that only a small number of passionate fans know about.

“Then, are you coming into Bundang?”

The whispers of Hae-seong, who followed along with a smile, were like a kiss that kissed the ear. In response to his question, which wanted to confirm their cohabitation, Choi Hong-seo nodded with a smile on his face.

With a feeling of lightness and lift, the plane successfully took off. Choi Hong-seo briefly glanced at LA, which was tilted outside the window, and slowly grabbed Lee Hae-seong’s fingertips and pulled away with difficulty.

“But as for the agency… I’ll keep it the same for now.”

Lee Hae-seong had also made a suggestion to him, saying that he would set up a one-man agency, so why don’t you leave your current company and work independently? Choi Hong-seo’s statement now was a response to that suggestion.

A look of slight disappointment flashed across Hae-seong’s face for a moment. However, he quickly regained his composure and met Choi Hong-seo’s eyes, waiting for him to tell the rest of the story.

“I think Yoon Hye-an leaving the group ‘Titan’ was a huge blow to both the members and the company.”

“……”

“I’m borrowing your body like this because I want to clean up some of the mess that Yoon Hye-an made.”

I don’t know if that’s the way to repay Yun Hye-an. Up until now, I’ve been so busy accepting and adapting to this ridiculous situation that I haven’t even had time to think about Yun Hye-an. I still haven’t had time to relax. I still feel unstable and hopeless.

Even so, one thing was clearly accomplished by borrowing Yoon Hye-an’s body.

I met Hae-seong again, told him my heart, and heard him apologize directly. No, he even told me that I didn’t need to ask for forgiveness. That alone was enough to express in words how sorry I was for living in this body.

This reincarnation, which once felt like a punishment and a condemnation, was now considered a stroke of luck, and even though she didn’t know how long this luck would last, she wanted to do what she could for the name Yun Hye-an.

Like it or not, it was also for her own sake, who had to live wearing the mask of Yoon Hye-an. She had to shake off the dirt and grime that clung to that name.

Hae-seong said in a cautious tone.

“Yoon Hye-an actually had a sponsor. I think it went through several people.”

“I had a vague idea of ​​that too.”

“It wasn’t because of pressure from the company, but because he wanted to be sponsored on his own. He’s a person who’s been causing quite a stir around the area, so he probably has some resentment, and his interpersonal relationships are complicated.”

Choi Hong-seo met his eyes as he listened to the worried voice of understanding.

“If anything happens, I’ll tell you everything.”

“I don’t mind keeping the company as it is, but I can’t compromise on the issue of personal security and vehicle support. If Hongseo finds it difficult to speak, I’ll arrange for Director Kang to speak with the company.”

“I’ll do it as long as it puts you at ease, sir.”

Only then did the worry and stiffness in Hae-seong’s expression fade a little. The hand that had been wrapped around Choi Hong-seo’s waist gently stroked his side. Once again, the soft and gentle voice and gestures tickled Choi Hong-seo’s hearing and sense of touch.

“You won’t make me feel uneasy, will you?”

It was close enough that the hair on his cheeks fluttered at his breath. Choi Hong-seo’s exhalations became long and thin because of his lips that seemed ready to kiss him at any moment. Choi Hong-seo nodded while lowering his eyelids.

The hand that had been at his side rose up and started to play around the neckline of his T-shirt.

“When I go to Seoul, I think I’ll just have to wear shirts and turtlenecks for a while.”

Understanding voice was slightly aroused as he pressed his fingertips over the kiss mark revealed above the neckline. It wasn’t just the nape of his neck. The traces of sex he had left while staying in Malibu were overflowing inside his clothes, all over his body, and even in his secret places.

He whispered once more, pressing his lips diagonally so that they only overlapped halfway.

“It’s a good thing it’s winter.”

Click.

The sound of him unlocking his seat belt from 8km above was so stimulating that it made my shoulders hunched. California, where our dreamlike reunion had taken place, was getting farther and farther away.

■

“A mistake is a mistake that can be forgiven and undone, and a mistake that cannot be forgiven is a sin.”

The dozen or so people sitting around the table, including director Kang Woo-hyun, the producer, and the main actors, were only listening to Park Dong-ha’s voice.

“What you did to me! That… That wasn’t a mistake.”

He continued his lines in a slightly exaggerated tone, moistening his lips with his throbbing tongue and rolling his eyes unsteadily as he looked around. He must have been able to tell from the atmosphere floating among the people that his part wasn’t going well, but he couldn’t just skip the rest of his lines.

“That’s a sin! You have to pay the price!”

Park Dong-ha had no choice but to shout and deliver his last line in a self-deprecating manner. That was the last scene of today’s script study.

“hmm…”

Director Kang’s ambiguous response continued. He bit his lower lip hard and held the script in his hand with a gloomy expression. The gesture of his hand sweeping back his bare hair was rough.

“Everyone worked hard today. But Dong-ha seems to be having trouble concentrating today? Is it because it’s been a while since he last studied?”

“sorry.”

The director’s tone was as gentle as usual, but he lowered his head so much that the tip of his throbbing chin touched his collarbone.

“No, I’m not asking for an apology. Dong-ha’s fundamentals are solid. I was just wondering if he wasn’t feeling well.”

“No. I don’t quite get the character’s psychology in this part… But Lee, I’ll definitely give you a satisfactory interpretation when I read it!”

“Yeah, I know it’s an important scene, so there’s a lot of psychology involved. Think about it a little more. You don’t have to be so desperate. When you go out on set, you can come up with ideas on the spot. That’s why filming movies is fun, isn’t it?”

Despite Director Kang’s urging, Park Dong-ha’s expression did not improve at all. No, it was becoming even more ashen. Choi Hong-seo, who was sitting diagonally across from him, could clearly see the boy’s expression and the emotions contained within it.

It was Dong-ha’s first lead role in a big production, so I had high expectations… but it didn’t work out ㅠㅠ

I couldn’t help but be conscious of the news about Park Dong-ha that I had heard from Manager Yongjae. He was a guy who always diligently studied the script, so there was no way he would have prepared today’s scene, one of the most important scenes in the movie, carelessly. Perhaps that incident had an effect on Park Dong-ha.

“We’ll soon start the full-scale script reading, and next month we’ll finally start filming, right? All of our actors are doing great, so let’s just take care of our condition.”

At the sound of Director Kang’s lively voice, the actors finally broke out of their stagnant mood and began to buzz with anticipation for the start of filming.

“Oh, and before the after-party today, I have something to tell you. It’s not something outside of the work, so it’s nothing to worry about.”

Once again, all eyes were on Director Kang.

“It’s the phrase that the investor Lee Hae-seong suggested last time. He said that we should insert a message commemorating Private Choi Hong-seo into the ending credits. We’ve decided to cancel that, so I think the actors should be aware of that as well.”

Director Kang Woo-hyun announced it as if it was nothing serious, as if it was something that had already been decided and that everyone just needed to know. Then he left the room to give instructions for the after-party as usual.

Most people didn’t show much interest in it. As Director Kang said, it was an external aspect of the work that had nothing to do with the actors’ performances. They were all excited about the filming that was finally approaching.

“Why did you suddenly change your mind when you gathered everyone together and made a grand announcement?”

There were very few actors who had such curiosity. Jo Won-tae stepped forward to answer the young actor’s question, shaking his head indifferently.

“How can we know what people in such places are thinking?”

Choi Hong-seo knew the reason.

This was a piece of writing prepared to commemorate the death of Choi Hong-seo, but now to Lee Hae-seong, Choi Hong-seo was no longer a dead person. To him, it was now a terrible thing to commemorate his lover who was alive and well.

Seo Jun-young, who was listening to the story, snorted.

“I guess you finally came to your senses. It’s not like I’m going to ruin the movie by putting in a memorial for someone who died in a bad way… Honestly, it was a stupid idea from the beginning.”

“The Vice President graduated with honors from a prestigious university and completed a Ph.D. in business administration at Stanford.”

Before Seo Jun-young could even finish his sarcastic remarks, Choi Hong-seo’s rebuttal followed, cutting off the end of his sentence.

“Yes, graduation. Not a doctoral degree, but a graduation. Is that so great? If I had been born as the grandson of Lee Kang-moon from the Hanseo Group, I would have graduated with a doctorate from Stanford or Harvard. With money.”

“Senior, it seems like everyone else’s accomplishments are funny. I could tell that the Vice President is a smart person just by talking to him for a few minutes.”

“Didn’t Ms. Yoon Hye-an drop out of high school in the US? How can someone whose final level of education was a high school dropout have the intellectual ability to make judgments about whether or not they are smart?”

“I think I have the intellectual ability to recognize that my senior is lacking in judgment.”