Survive! Foolish Bottom!

 

After passing the audition, all that remained for Haeun was to wait for the script reading and filming dates to arrive. Through his time spent in acting classes, he’d learned that to perform well on set, it was essential to know who everyone involved was, from the actors he’d be sharing scenes with to the director and writer and their previous work.

 

So, with the script reading approaching, Haeun decided to spend his days practicing his lines and researching his future colleagues. What started as a chance encounter with a new challenge—the sudden final character he aimed to tackle, Kim Gyowon—had grown into a genuine interest in both acting and watching others perform. 

 

“Maybe I should start by watching some of Kim Gyowon’s past work? Or should I check out Ham Dabi’s family drama roles first?”

 

Just then, a familiar system alert popped up with a cheerful chime to mark the new day.

 『It is the Day 43 of Play!』 

Lately, the system seemed to intrude less, maybe because Haeun was spending his days immersed in acting. It no longer scolded him about “professional idol behavior” whenever he let slip his usual way of talking during practice, which he appreciated. 

 

“Guess I was born to be an actor, huh?” 

 

Haeun muttered to himself as he sprawled on the bed. The system shot back a notification as if it couldn’t resist refuting his musings:

 『Professional idols don’t consider switching careers!』 

Haeun laughed to himself. Besides, he was only confident playing roles that had special traits like Soohyung’s. It was basically method acting, really. Nobody would hand over a future project to someone whose acting range only spanned between “Park Ha” and “Soohyung.” The system had nothing to worry about.

 

As he glanced over his schedule, he saw it was clear today aside from practice. Next, he opened his quest log. Since most of his recent work involved auditions and acting practice, nearly all his quests were aligned with these tasks. He assumed it’d be more of the same, but surprisingly, there was something different listed today:

 [Daily Quest] Drink Coffee at the Café in Front of Yejun’s Agency (0/1) 

Yejun. Haeun hadn’t seen him or even heard his name since the God Of Live shooting. 

 

Haeun only knew Yejun’s social media handle, with no contact number or any other way to keep in touch. Not that he felt the need; he wasn’t particularly keen on becoming closer to Yejun. Besides, Yejun was a target character in his story route, so as long as Haeun followed the storyline properly, he’d have enough chances to meet the minimum friendliness requirements. 

 

Still, seeing the name again brought an odd wave of familiarity, as if to say, “Ah, right, this guy.”

 

Haeun was in the habit of completing daily quests whenever they appeared. He’d learned from his experience with the recent radio event that quest points could serve as lifelines, valuable enough to potentially pull him out of a tight spot one day. If a quest required too much effort for the reward, he’d skip it, but having a coffee at a café? That was hardly difficult.

 

‘Alright, coffee it is. Then I’ll grab some snacks on the way back and watch that drama.’

 

With nothing urgent to do, it felt like a good excuse to get some fresh air and maybe pick up a few treats on his way home. If he happened to run into Yejun by chance…

 

“…Should I thank him?”

 

Honestly, he did owe Yejun a bit of thanks. Normally, his first activity arc would play out without major impact, maybe gaining him a few fans and slight recognition, but this time, the reaction was far stronger. The likely reasons were twofold: a little incident Haeun hadn’t foreseen and Yejun’s unexpected shout-out.

 

Haeun’s little “incident” had been a double-edged sword. It brought attention and became a talking point, though it also gave him a slight reputation hit.

 

But Yejun’s post, tagging Haeun, had been a pure gain. Haeun also uploaded the same photo to his own official account, and the reaction was explosive—retweets and likes on that post far exceeded any he’d received before. 

 

Stone Cherry’s official account even saw a boost of tens of thousands of followers afterward. Most of them were Yejun’s fans, but a good number of new comments came from people declaring themselves fresh fans of Stone Cherry, and that was incredibly gratifying.

 

‘Guess I should thank him after all.’ Haeun decided. Although, the odds of seeing him were low. 

 

Plenty of fans camped out at the café near Black Bers’ agency, but those lucky enough to spot Yejun were few and far between. Haeun expected his trip to be no different—just coffee and a quick return.

 

The next morning, he got ready to head out, donning a cap and mask as a minimal disguise; he wasn’t as widely recognized as Black Bers, but he was still an idol, after all.

 [Seongjae] ? Where’s Park Haeun running off to?   (Running bunny emoji) [Haeun] I am going to a cafe for a bit [Seongjae] Buy me iced americano on the way. (Wondering bunny emoji) 

Haeun didn’t think they would know that he was leaving but Seongjae must have noticed that he was not there. Haeun was already at the cafe in front of Black Bers’ company when he checked KaTalk.

 

After coming all this way just to buy a cup of coffee, Haeun felt a bit deflated. It wasn’t even that far, yet feeling this way made him realize how impressive it was that fans would travel long distances just to catch a glimpse of a celebrity.

 

“Let’s just imagine this is the best coffee shop ever,” he thought as he opened the door and walked in.

 

Then, he encountered something he hadn’t expected at all.

 

Standing in front of the counter, ordering, was a man dressed similarly to Haeun himself. In other words, a suspicious-looking figure wearing a cap and mask. He even had on sunglasses—practically a dead giveaway that he had to be a celebrity; no one else would walk around so thoroughly disguised.

 

Being at the Black Bers’ agency building, it wasn’t unusual to see celebrities dropping in for coffee. With so many idols at a major agency, it made sense. But somehow, Haeuun’s instincts kicked in, and he got the feeling that this guy might actually be Yejun—the very reason he had come here.

 『Quest has been updated!』 

A notification from the system popped up, sounding almost like praise. Haeun pulled out his phone and checked the app, ignoring the stacked messages in the Stone Cherry group chat. The quest details had indeed updated:

 Drink Coffee at the Café in Front of Yejun’s Agency (1/1) (New!) Have coffee with Ye-jun: (0/1) 

It turned out that the guy was indeed Black Bers’ Ye-jun. But… drink coffee with him? Was he supposed to awkwardly shuffle over and say, “Hello. I’m the Mang-idol you helped out before. Would you mind having coffee with me?” 

 

Haeun hesitated, debating whether to try speaking to him or just be satisfied with completing one part of the quest and head back. Eventually, he edged toward the counter, feeling the stares of other people in the café settle on the two suspiciously disguised figures. 

 

Yejun (probably) was definitely aware of these gazes too, but he acted as if he didn’t notice, which Haeun thought was a skill worth learning.

 

“Iced Americano, to-go. Oh, and one slice of apple pie.”

 

Haeun stood awkwardly beside Yejun who was ordering. Haeun tried to look like any other customer approaching to place an order. Yejun instinctively stepped aside and looked over at him, then paused in recognition.

 

“Park Ha?”

 

Startled, Ha-eun’s hands flew up to cover his already masked face. The system didn’t narrate every action, but he’d gotten used to his body sometimes reflexively behaving like the original Park Ha. 

 

Even though he was used to it by now, it was always embarrassing when he acted so cluelessly out of habit. Hopefully, his reaction wouldn’t lower Yejun’s favorability.

 『Yejun’s favorability has increased by 2!』 

Though flustered, it seemed Yejun found his awkward reaction endearing. He quickly turned back to the counter and adjusted his order.

 

“Actually, hold on. Is there a private room available on the second floor?”

 

After hearing that there was a room available, Yejun turned back to look at Haeun.

 

“What do you want to eat?”

 

Hadn’t he spoken more formally last time they’d met? When did he start acting as if he’d been talking casually for years? But since Yejun was waiting for an answer, Haeun replied.

 

“Yes? Uh… I’ll have a caramel macchiato and a slice of cheesecake.”

 

“Cancel the takeout I ordered earlier, please. We’ll have it in the second-floor room. Also, add one caramel macchiato and a slice of cheesecake.”

 

With seamless confidence, Yejun finished the order and turned back to Haeun, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Still a bit confused, Haeun hesitated, wondering aloud, “Did you order that because you wanted it too, sunbae?”

 

Yejun looked back at him, baffled.

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