Survive! Foolish Bottom!

 

Gyowon remained seated, gesturing with a quick nod as if urging Haeun to get in quickly. To make matters worse, Junwoo gave Haeun a shove from behind, leaving him no choice but to stumble his way into Gyowon’s van.

As soon as he climbed in, Gyowon closed the door and turned his attention to his phone, not diving straight into any explanation. Given the dramatic entrance, Haeun had expected something urgent to happen right away, but the atmosphere was unexpectedly mundane.

“I have something I need to wrap up real quick… just a moment.”

Normally, Haeun would have snapped back with,

If you’re busy, maybe handle it before dragging someone into your van.

But he was too disoriented to think straight. He ended up nodding automatically, only realizing too late how that bruised his pride a bit.

“Want some candy?”

Once again, Haeun reacted without thinking, holding out his hand reflexively. Gyowon picked up a hard candy from the compartment next to him, expertly twisting off the wrapper with two fingers.

He’s actually unwrapping it? Thought he’d just hand it over whole…

Haeun thought as he stared at the unwrapped candy left in his palm. After a moment’s hesitation, he popped it into his mouth.

“Mmm!”

The unexpected burst of flavor drew an involuntary exclamation. Still half-hidden behind his phone, Gyowon didn’t even glance at him as he spoke smoothly.

“You shouldn’t take candy from strangers, Haeun ah.”

What is he even saying after handing it over himself?

Ha-eun, thoroughly baffled, shot back defiantly.

“Did you spike this with laxatives too, senior?”

『The word laxatives is too crude! Let’s refrain from using it! (｡ﾉω＼｡)ﾟ･｡』

Despite the questionable exchange between him and the system both blurting out the unsavory term, the candy in his mouth was oddly sweet. Strawberry flavored?

Looking at Gyowon, with his slicked-back, sophisticated appearance, Haeun couldn’t imagine him eating anything but mint candies, yet here he was with fruit-flavored ones neatly stocked in the car.

“Nope. What I give is perfectly safe to eat.”

His nonchalant reply made Haeun chuckle under his breath.

Seriously? Is this one of those ‘All men are wolves, but you can trust me’ tropes?

The thought was ridiculous enough to make him shudder, and he quickly shook his head to banish it from his mind. Instead, he glanced at Gyowon, gauging his reaction. 

Despite her audible scoff, he showed no signs of offense. That was a relief—if he had been even slightly annoyed, the system would have immediately flashed a warning.

Gyowon remained focused, tapping away on his phone. At a glance, he looked like one of those rude people who ignored their companions in favor of messaging. But since he claimed it was important, Haeun gave him the benefit of the doubt.

The car had already started moving, yet Gyowon’s expression remained unchanged. 

Does he never get motion sickness?

“I’m all done.”

Haeun had just crunched down on the remaining sliver of the candy when Gyowon finally spoke. Seizing the opportunity, Haeun immediately asked.

“Why are you here?”

Gyowon glanced at him briefly before casually looking back toward his phone.

“I saw the article yesterday and contacted your company, but they wouldn’t give me your number.”

Haeun blinked, unsure what to be surprised about first — the fact that the article only came out yesterday, or that he actually went as far as contacting his company.

Come to think of it, we never exchanged numbers.

Haeun had swapped contact info with Ham Dabi, who played his older sister in the show, but not with Gyowon.

Couldn’t he have just asked Dabi for it? Or did Gyowon somehow not have her number either? That would be absurd, considering they were the lead actors.

Wait….was Gyowon actually ostracized on set or something? Haeun asked directly, unable to suppress his curiosity.

“You don’t have Dabi sunbaenim’s number?”

“I do?”

The confused expression on his face seemed genuine. No matter how good an actor he was, there was no reason for him to lie here. Thankfully, it seemed he wasn’t the outcast on set.

“Then why didn’t you just ask her?”

“Wouldn’t it be rude to just ask for someone’s number like that?”

Haeun couldn’t quite understand since he wasn’t particularly sensitive to such things. He wondered if it was okay for him to ask the company, but not the actor directly. Still, he didn’t press further.

“I didn’t think I’d have time to wait until the next shoot, so I just came here.”

Gyowon continued, as if it was the most natural thing. Haeun didn’t know how to respond. It didn’t make sense to him. Someone as busy as Gyowon, who couldn’t even jump straight to the point when they met, would come all the way to his meeting?

Was he worried about me getting criticized?

As he thought about it, that possibility crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it. The idea of Gyowon coming all the way here to look out for him seemed too presumptuous. 

After all, they weren’t that close, and from what he knew, Gyowon didn’t strike him as someone with that kind of warmth. At least, that’s how it appeared to Haeun.

“Well, I guess I should start by apologizing, right?”

Gyowon spoke up while Haeun was still thinking. Haeun turned to look at him in surprise. It was unexpected that he would start with an apology.

“What are you apologizing for? Did you just kidnap me?”

“Kidnap? You got in here of your own volition, so I’m quite hurt that you said that.”

Haeun had no retort; even though it had been an accident, he did get in of his own accord. He awkwardly asked again.

“Then what’s it about?”

“It’s about the article.”

Haeun’s eyebrows furrowed at this.

“Was that article your doing?” 

If he were with other people, he might’ve glanced at the system first, but in front of Gyowon, he strangely felt no need to hold back. He wasn’t necessarily someone he was comfortable with, but perhaps it was because he already knew his nature, which gave him a sense of security.

Gyowon didn’t flinch at his direct question. Instead, he murmured with a slight admiration.

“So, I guess you suspected me.” 

And then, he gave an ambiguous smile.

Listening to him, it didn’t seem like that was the case. If Gyowon had felt responsible for the article and came to apologize, it would have made more sense. Haeun furrowed his brow again and asked.

“Isn’t it?”

“What would I gain from doing something like that?” 

Gyowon responded, sounding incredulous. His words, along with the way he added that he wouldn’t do anything like that, made him seem genuine.

“Then why are you apologizing?”

“Because I should’ve stopped it before it came out but I didn’t?”

Was he saying that he could have stopped the media, as though he had the power to control it? If the article was something Gyowon had released, Haeun would have been angry. 

But if it wasn’t, then there was no need to direct her anger toward him. It was hard to understand why he was apologizing just for not stopping the article from coming out. What he was more curious about was where the article had come from.

Haeun shrugged his shoulders and responded.

“Well, I don’t know about that. There were only the three of us at the scene, so how did that article come out if it wasn’t you? Did someone just throw something out there and it turned out to be true?”

At those words, Gyowon laughed somewhat irritably. His response came without hesitation.

“No. It was Lee Jaewoon who let something slip.”

“Wow…”

Haeun couldn’t help but let out a brief exclamation. He knew Lee Jaewoon was foolish, but he didn’t expect it to be that bad. Gyowon continued to explain.

“He must’ve spilled it during a drinking session with someone he knows. He was probably talking about how he might get cut from the drama because I don’t like him or something like that.”

“Wasn’t it intentional?”

Haeun asked, genuinely puzzled. Considering the outcome, where Lee Jaewoon got off scot-free and Haeun was the one getting all the blame, it made him wonder if Lee Jaewoon had intended it from the start. But Gyowon shook his head calmly.

“The article was taken down by LQ’s side.”

“….”

“Gloomy’s agency.”

Gyowon chuckled and added, “Just in case you didn’t know.” 

His tone clearly sounded like he was teasing. Haeun furrowed his brow and responded.

“Of course I know.”

No, he didn’t to be honest.

“Really?”

Haeun said it because saying that he didn’t know would have been weird. 

Gyowon tilted his head slightly to the left. As if just passing by, he muttered, “I didn’t know.” It seemed like he truly didn’t care much about other people’s matters as he quietly said, “Well,

I

didn’t know.”

“There’s a saying that if you stay quiet, you’ll be alright. See, it would’ve been great if you, Haeun, had stayed quiet.”

Gyowon quickly changed the subject. He sighed loudly on purpose, saying it in a way that seemed like a clear comment. Even though he was criticizing Lee Jaewoon and praising Haeun, Haeun still felt like responding sarcastically.

“I wasn’t staying quiet because I wanted to. And even though I stayed quiet, I still got egged.”

He was prepared to get a comment or penalty from the system. He didn’t think he would get a penalty for just one remark. As expected, the system’s voice was heard.

『‘Gyowon’s’ favorability increased by 2! (*ﾟ∀ﾟ)』 

However, the content was far from what he expected. Haeun flinched and looked at Gyowon’s face. He was staring back at him with a nonchalant expression, almost as if he doubted whether the notification was correct.

“Didn’t your friend take the hit for you instead of you, Haeun?”

“…Either way, it was meant for me, so it’s as good as me taking the hit.”

He almost missed his chance to answer. When Haeun responded with a hint of defiance, Gyowon let out a lazy laugh and agreed without much enthusiasm.

“That’s true.”

“Did you come all the way here just to compliment me for staying quiet?”

It seemed that after staying silent for a bit, Haeun had gained a little confidence. His words became even more sarcastic. The notification that his favorability had gone up didn’t sound again, and this time, the system remained silent. Instead, Gyowon replied smoothly with a grin.

“Don’t be sarcastic, Haeun. Hyung’s hurt.”

“Who said you’re my ‘Hyung’?”

Haeun immediately shot back. 

If it were Gyowon’s personality, he would probably respond with something like, “Then am I your younger brother?” In which case, Haeun planned to reply, “I only have one older brother.”

As Haeun was mentally drafting a scenario in his head, Haeun could feel Gyowon’s gaze fixed on him. 

Despite being significantly taller than him, he was leaning with his chin propped up, making it feel like he was looking down at him from that angle. In that posture, he suddenly spoke. 

The words seemed completely unrelated to the context, but he immediately knew it was the main point of what he wanted to say.

“I’ll take responsibility.”

Hey guys, this is Flo!

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