/
– Min Jiheon: Congrats
As expected.
– Me: ㅗ
After quickly replying, I turned my head towards my manager.
“I’ll be back after meeting with Min Jiheon-sunbae.”
“Min Jiheon?”
“Yes, we got pretty close during the shooting. He said we should grab a cup of coffee now that the final shoot is over.”
We really did get close. At this, my manager seemed to regard me proudly rather than finding it strange.
“That’s great! It’s good when people from the same agency get along.”
“…We really are close.”
Close enough for me to occasionally wish I could send Min Jiheon to hell.
As I got off near the cafe Min Jiheon had suggested, I saw him in a corner, sipping coffee with a tired face.
He had apparently rented out the entire cafe, which is why there wasn’t even a single employee in sight.
As I plopped down opposite Min Jiheon, there was already a frappuccino that he had ordered for me.
“Hello.”
“…What is it?”
“Ah, just…I’m tired….”
His usually buoyant mood seemed deflated. I understood his mood when I saw a script severely creased and stretched across the table.
Even the skilled Yu Jia was having a hard time these days because of the emotional lines in the drama. I couldn’t imagine how tough it was for Min Jiheon.
“You’ve successfully finished your first drama shoot. Congrats.”
“Thanks. Heard you’re quite popular in China and Japan.”
“Haha, it doesn’t feel real yet.”
Min Jiheon’s popularity skyrocketed with this drama. He already had a huge fan base not only in Korea but also overseas. Now, I heard he could command any price he wanted in China… But let’s talk about that later.
“That’s enough small talk with sunbae.”
I took off my hat and asked him,
“Did you hear?”
“About the ratings?”
“Yeah, 18 percent. That’s the number you mentioned.”
Min Jiheon crunched the leftover ice cubes from his finished coffee into his mouth.
“Yeah. I thought it would be around that.”
What a frightening guy. At this rate, I was starting to think it might have been better to just stay low-keyed.
“Then, you should give me answers.”
“Wasn’t there one more condition?”
Min Jiheon had set two conditions for me.
The ratings would hit 18 percent, and I would act better than Lee Kangseok.
I stroked my chin.
“I will act better than Lee Kangseok.”
It was already done.
He’s no match.
His controversy heated up thanks to the leaked recording. Since Lee Kangseok had left the drama and the already filmed scenes, excluding the broadcasted ones, were being re-filmed with another actor, there was no one to compare me with.
But I couldn’t mention that… I smiled naturally as I stroked my chin.
“Honestly, didn’t I do well?”
It was usually best to live with a bit of shamelessness.
“Of course, it’s nothing compared to you, but I thought I did pretty well for a rookie.”
“Well, you did great. You really did. The staff members love you.”
Min Jiheon smiled as if he found it amusing.
“But I told you to surpass Lee Kangseok’s acting, not to send him down the drain.”
I tilted my head as if I didn’t know anything, but Min Jiheon seemed to have caught on.
“Were you planning to kick him out completely?”
…There was no evidence.
Even if he found out that I had subtly baited the camera director, there would be no evidence that I had directly influenced it. In reality, I didn’t do anything.
I just let it slip.
I hesitated for a moment. I was conflicted about whether to deny that I had such intentions or to get angry and argue back.
But before I could answer, Min Jiheon spoke up as he fiddled with the edge of his cup where he had eaten all the ice.
“When I think about Lee Kangseok, it’s a bit… regrettable.”
“…”
“He had a subtle talent. If it wasn’t for the recording—no—if it wasn’t for his inferiority complex, he would have gone a long way with his acting skills.”
His tone of voice…
I just looked at Min Jiheon. With his long eyelashes lowered, he seemed unfazed by Lee Kangseok’s bullying.
…Ah.
I finally realized.
I looked at him and asked,
“You knew, didn’t you?”
“…”
“You knew from the moment we made a bet… that Lee Kangseok would blow up.”
Why did it have to be Lee Kangseok in the first place?
Just because he wanted to get rid of him?
If you were to compare acting, it wouldn’t be fair to compare my acting to a sub-male lead of a drama showing at the same time as ours, but rather, with an idol who was at a similar supporting role level. There have been many cases like that.
So, Min Jiheon saying that he was only setting a comparison between myself and Lee Kangseok was a lie. He just wanted to see how I would act with a problematic guy like Lee Kangseok beside me.
As soon as I said that, Min Jiheon chuckled as if he found it amusing. His expression alone was enough to tell me.
That I was right.
“Hyung, your mind works really fast.”
Crazy.
Min Jiheon was not just looking the other way.
His ability to read a person was eerily accurate.
“I told you, when I was young, I behaved stupidly and caused a lot of trouble… I’ve practiced a lot since then. Now, I can tell what kind of a person someone is.”
“…”
“The homemade carrot cake was… um… unexpected.”
“…Yeah, I didn’t expect that either.”
Min Jiheon ran his fingers lightly over his arm as if he was really creeped out.
…However, Min Jiheon knew about Lee Kangseok’s bullying and pretended not to know and still treated him the same. Min Jiheon was far from a guilty party.
Baking a carrot cake and seeing ghosts…
The former might be better. At least it was cute and delicious.
Whether he knew my thoughts or not, Min Jiheon shrugged his shoulders and returned to the main subject.
“Right, I knew. If I just wanted to see acting skills, I wouldn’t have to bring up a comparison, let alone bring Lee Kangseok in…”
“…”
“…Well, it was a test to see if you would really take the bet or… if you would use tricks.”
Of course, I would, you little shit.
“It looks like you’re thinking, ‘Of course, I would.'”
“You left out the ‘little shit.'”
“Aigo.”
I made the wrong choice from the beginning. Anger? Denial? How could I have thought something like that would work on a guy who had swallowed a hundred cunning snakes?
I admit it. I underestimated Min Jiheon.
From the very beginning, Min Jiheon used Lee Kangseok to test me, using quests as a pretext. He was thinking a few steps ahead, and I couldn’t reach that far.
“I originally set the condition out of curiosity, whether you would use a trick or not… but the more I see, the more I realized that, of course, you would. You don’t care about anyone unless they’re your people.”
Min Jiheon lifted his head and said in a tired voice.
“So, is hyung a trash? I don’t think so.”
“…”
“You are just a pitiful person. A pitiful person who can never change.”
Min Jiheon looked at me and gave a bitter laugh.
“…Whoa.”
Pitiful and self-deprecating… that wasn’t important right now. I pressed between my eyebrows and asked,
“…So, are you going to cancel the bet?”
“Ah, no way. Hyung is good at acting, right? In the first place, there’s a dummy called ‘Lee Jeonghun’ that’s you… but if you’re going to count that, it’s unfair for you, right?”
“It’s unfair.”
“Then, you understand. You’ve worked hard. Jiheon will tell you now.”
I was finally getting the answers I wanted but in an extremely annoying way.
It felt like my sinister intentions were being dissected before Min Jiheon.
“I’ll explain three things to you. Starting now.”
“Why three?”
“Koreans usually do things in threes.”
Whether I looked displeased or not, Min Jiheon lightly shook the bracelet he was holding.
“Now, let’s start from the beginning. Do you know what this is?”
“No idea.”
“Just think of it as something similar to a Buddhist rosary. Anyway, this is like a medium. A medium that contains my ability.”
This is ridiculous…
Even if what he said was true, I wouldn’t know anything of that sort. I felt an inexplicable urge to question Min Jiheon’s words, but he bravely continued his explanation despite noticing my sour expression.
“When I shake this, I can see the ghost’s true form. That’s why I carry it around all the time. It helps me distinguish whether I’m seeing a ghost or a real person.”
“So?”
“I’m saying the ghost’s true form becomes clearly visible when I shake this.”
Having roughly finished the explanation, he flicked his finger.
“Now that I’ve laid the groundwork, let’s get to the main point. Back then, I used this to banish your possession. This was the first thing I was going to tell you.”
“…Are you talking about some sort of crazy conspiracy right now?”
“Haven’t you been watching dramas lately? These kinds of things come up quite a lot.”
Min Jiheon saw me frown, and his expression said, “Ah, what should I do about this.” But he soon continued with explanations.
“How can I explain this more simply…? Right, it’s about the blob that’s been sticking to you like glue. It may not be visible to you, but it’s at the level of possession.”
“Hmm.”
So, it was stuck to me, almost like a possession. I thought “it” must be referring to the system window. Then, a thought suddenly flashed across my mind.
“Is my possession, perhaps, created because of my accumulated infamy?”
“Excuse me?”
“When I first came to this world, there was talk about infamy points accumulating. It also mentioned that I had met the conditions to start the game….”
“…Infamy points?”
Min Jiheon frowned and then burst into fits of laughter. Not understanding why my words amused him, I watched Min Jiheon laugh for a long time before he wiped away his tears.
“Ah, it’s really hilarious… Infamy points, huh… You must be joking.”
“…”
“Try living a little more virtuously, hyung…”
…Let’s just ignore him.
I began to sort out the information. If my infamy was seen as connected to this possession, was that the condition to start the game? I seemed to understand why the system window disappeared when the possession was gone.
“Hem, I don’t really know what that blob is, but I can tell you one certain thing.”
“…”
“What I did then wasn’t meant to have you relive your trauma. Do you think I’m insane? I simply detached ‘that thing’ that was stuck to you.”
Min Jiheon…was quite taken aback.
If I thought about how he behaved back then and now, as if he couldn’t imagine that I would have such severe trauma, there was a high probability that he wasn’t lying.
“You said you saw a past traffic accident. I don’t know why… It might have touched the trauma since it’s part of your core as a side effect.”
I bit my lip. Tapping the table with my finger, I pondered.
“Well, as for the second.”
Min Jiheon was now holding his chin with one hand as he looked at me.
“How did the character PD Lee Jeonghun come into the world?”
That drama character was initially based on my life. The reason I started acting was to know the circumstances and to dig out secrets from Min Jiheon.
“Do you know why?”
“Of course.”
Min Jiheon let go of the hand holding his chin and pressed his eyes tightly.
“It’s the fragments of the original being that are flowing in. So, the drama and the role of Lee Jeonghun must have come out.”
“…”
“But ‘that thing’ stuck to you is desperately blocking the fragments from flowing out.”
When I heard him say that, I found myself involuntarily gasping in surprise.
“Why?”
Why was the system window blocking them?
“What is that? Why block it?”
Words just popped out of my head without any filter or calculation. Even I couldn’t stop myself. But Min Jiheon didn’t care much about that question.
He just tilted his head.
“Well…?”
“…Hey, you said you’d tell me anything.”
“I really want to tell you… but this isn’t something others can guess. Well, that’s the end of the second thing I know.”
Min Jiheon smiled, stroking the corners of his mouth. And then he lifted three fingers.
“Then the third and last one. It’s a bit related to what I just said.”
“…”
“Why only you… Why is such a thing happening… Why is PD, who used to live in Seoul, reverted ten years and is now struggling to live as an idol? It’s because you’re lucky…”
Min Jiheon smiled deeper. It looked a bit pitiful.
“Because you’re loved.”
“…?”
“Ahh, what can you do if you love someone? You can’t help but abandon everything and cling to them. Just like everyone else…”
What was this… strange thing he was saying?
Min Jiheon, however, stirred his straw as if he had said everything he wanted to. He tightly closed his mouth, apparently unwilling to answer any more questions.
I looked at him for a long time. Then, after wiping my face, I added,
“Is it normal that none of the three things you said are helpful?”
“…That’s a bit harsh.”
Min Jiheon had spoken at length, but it was all conjecture. I still had no idea what this was all about. I also listened to this strange nonsense until the end… It was quite amazing.
Min Jiheon just scratched his cheek.
“Well, I’m also sorry, you know.”
But it wasn’t like I was completely without gain. My mind was occupied with sorting out three pieces of information he’d spilled when Min Jiheon seemed to have finished his business and stood up.
“Anyway, yeah. There are all sorts of things in this world. This is the most fascinating case among them.”
“…”
“But~ you can’t change, hyung. That’s absolutely impossible.”
He’d always tormented people with nonsense like “humans are selfish,” “they can’t change,” but in the end, that was all there was to Min Jiheon’s view. I sighed heavily.
“…Is that what you think?”
“Yeah, in my own way.”
…I’d heard everything Min Jiheon had to say, so I figured it was time to speak my mind. I took a sip of my frappuccino, which had melted to the consistency of water, and wiped my mouth.
The shooting went off without a hitch.
I’d heard all the nonsense (all three points of it).
I wouldn’t have to see much of Min Jiheon in the future… Good.
Shall we try it?
Since the cafĂŠ was rented out, there was nobody around, no CCTV, and Min Jiheon was not the type to record conversations like me. I called Min Jiheon.
“Jiheon.”
Since I always cursed at him when I called him, this was the first time I’d called him in such a friendly manner, so Min Jiheon’s eyes widened. I nonchalantly snapped my fingers.
“Come here.”
“Huh? Why?”
Surprisingly, Min Jiheon obediently approached. He was pretty obedient at times like this.
“Bend your head a little.”
“Mm.”
And when Min Jiheon bent his head…
Bang!!!
“Ouch!!”
I smacked Min Jiheon’s head.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
I had the quite satisfying illusion of an echo reverberating. Min Jiheon shouted and fell, but I was still annoyed as I continued to sip my beverage through a straw.
“You’re annoying, really….”
“What, what….”
“You pretend to know even though you don’t… And you, you said you know my real age. Then why are you being so cheeky? You must be living comfortably these days?”
I was determined to give Min Jiheon a smack when the shooting ended, and I no longer had to see him regularly.
I felt so relieved.
“Why… why did I get hit?”
“You still don’t know, Jiheon?”
I smiled warmly.
“You were nagging….”
“…”
Min Jiheon looked stunned as if he couldn’t believe it, but my business was done after hearing everything and giving him a smack, so I waved my hand lightly.
“Okay, go on now.”
“…You heard everything?”
“If not, why would I be with you? Get lost quickly.”
“…You are really, really, really nasty and the worst. You know?”
“Do you not know?”
Perhaps because today’s shooting was over, Min Jiheon’s left wrist was flaunting a bracelet.
As I regretfully averted my gaze, Min Jiheon frowned for once and started massaging his lump.
Despite that, he didn’t seem to think he did anything wrong or said anything special.
“Sigh…”
Min Jiheon pressed his forehead, then suddenly slumped over the table like a sloth.
He just grumbled and looked over at me, grimacing.
If a Min Jiheon fan had seen this, they would’ve enjoyed it like a photo shoot, but I was just annoyed.
“…But I’ll see you again next time. I’m curious about the end. It’s rare for me to get hit and still say this….”
“…”
“…Wait, is this Stockholm Syndrome, by any chance?”
I mumbled, rubbing my arm.
“Hey, stop being so… creepy.”
“If you keep saying that, I’ll bring a carrot… no, a cream cake next time.”
Min Jiheon grumbled to the end, and after checking the time on his phone, he stood up.
I raised my middle finger toward his staggering back.
“Hey! Min Jiheon!”
“What!”
“The time we spent together was disgusting. Let’s never see each other again!”
“No way!”
After shouting at him, I felt a bit better.
“That Min Jiheon, that bastard…”
Being with him was incredibly draining. I drummed my fingers on the table, thinking.
There were three facts I could confirm, given the circumstances.
First, the system window was possessing me.
Second, I get hurt and experience trauma if the system window gets separated from me.
Third, traces of my former self were flowing from the other world, and the system window was blocking it.
These facts lead me to a conclusion.
The system window was blocking contact with my original world, perhaps because…
…No.
…That was an overstatement.
I did not have enough evidence to prove my logic, so I recalled what Min Jiheon said.
Honestly, I didn’t understand the last thing he said.
‘What can you do if you love someone?’
No matter how much I thought about it…
“What a load of bull…”
It was all nonsense.
After thinking up to that point, I drank the rest of my frappuccino.
Still, I couldn’t calm down the rising anger within me.
All I got from all the hardships was this.
“Hey.”
The system window was silent even after Min Jiheon left.
It was a kind of protest that it wouldn’t answer no matter what I asked.
“Hey….”
Still, no answer.
After calling for a while, I gave up and slammed my forehead on the table.
“What on earth are you?”
It was nowhere near enough with this level of information.
In the end, I had no choice but to proceed with the main scenario to uncover the truth.
System window, this bastard.
It has been deceiving me all along, even though it said it was for me.
Despite my burning heart, my head stayed cool.
…Let’s not rush.
I had nothing up my sleeve yet.
***
[Title: ㅠㅠIn the end, there’s no JeongJeong couple…[1]
My husband and I watched it earnestlyㅠㅠ My husband pushed Min Jiheon and I fervently pushed Lee Junghoon. My husband seriously asked why I liked Lee Junghoon, do I like being bullied but…
What can I do about his handsome face…. ㅠㅠ It’s a shame. ㅜ]
[Title: Wow this was the last episode of the JeongJeong couple… Reallyㅋㅋㅋㅋ Lee Junghoon eventually became a failed stockㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ I told you he was an angel!!!!!! I told you!!!!!!
>>>>What a waste, really<<<<
Do you hear me!!!!!!
Isn’t this the number one romantic line?!
Right now, I’m listening to the OST and I’m furious. Give back the JeongJeong couple
└Calm down
└└Do I look calm?
└└Ass up there is not me
└But is that line really about that?? It seems like he’s just sorry as a sunbae
└└It seems like deliberately dropping hints oh ㅠㅠㅠWriter Sukhui, how can you throw a character that fits my taste and do this till the end~!!!]
[Title: For those who like Lee Jeonghun, know that Lee Jeonghun’s real body has a similar personality to himㅋㅋ
└Don’t talk nonsense, there’s no way an idol has such an asshole-myway-trash personality as the PD
└└No, it’s true. He’s a bit more restrained these days, but the people who know him all know… He’s rude and quite cute
└└Can you say that to an idol…?
└└It’s a passing sunset… Because it’s true… There’s nothing to say…]
[The real body is coming back in October
└What??????? Wow, he’s really working non-stop;]
With the drama ending safely and maintaining a rating of 18 percent for the finale, Please Take the Camera had a bigger response than expected.
At Daepaseong Entertainment, they put insane hashtags on every video of The Dawn to attract more foreign K-drama fans.
Because of that, views increased significantly.
With the filming done and their comeback soon, Seo Hoyun uploaded one more self-produced video.
However, that self-produced video was (again) weird.
– Mebo 1: “Well, I was a little worried. If I could find a matching partner.”
– Seobo 1: “Anyone… a quiet person. I guess in that sense, Seong Jiwon, no, Mebo 1 would be better.”
– Rapper 1: “Say hi~ I’m Rapper 1~.”
[1] Lee Jeong hun (Hoyun’s character) + Yu Jeong hwa (Yu Jia’s character) = JeongJeong