Chapter 148

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Holy shit!”

The celebrities seated in a circle erupted into a collective uproar.

One curled up on the sofa, another became so excited they leaped out of their seat, and someone else threw the cue card in their hand into the air.

The cue card that fell to the floor bore the glittering words R-Connect — Season 10 in brilliant colors.

They were all hosts and panelists for R-Connect.

Korean dating shows had an unwritten rule.

Celebrity panelists gathered in one place to watch the recorded footage, reacting and offering commentary in real time.

Their remarks, woven between scenes, gave viewers the satisfying sensation that someone was saying exactly what they themselves wanted to say.

Through the comments of quick-witted panelists, viewers experienced catharsis, and some remarks were immortalized as famous quotes that circulated online. At times, the panelists’ unfiltered reactions drew even more attention than the main program.

Ultimately, dating shows were another form of human-observation variety programming. People even joked that dating shows were a kind of social experiment, because the public witnessed and experienced a wide range of human behavior through them, beyond merely enjoying secondhand romantic excitement. That was why viewers became so deeply invested in this fabricated world.

“Look at Jinsu covering his mouth. Why are you doing that?”

“No, no......”

“Wow, I seriously can’t calm down.”

What they had just seen on the screen was Yo Han and Gyeol’s kissing scene.

The sticky sexual tension had already been unmistakable in the living room. As though entering the swimming pool in an unbearably romantic way and making the panelists’ hearts race had not been enough, the two had ultimately gone mouth-to-mouth and kissed.

And the one who initiated it had not been Yo Han.

It had been Gyeol.

“I never imagined Gyeol would kiss him first.”

“Exactly. I thought Yo Han would be the one to do it.”

“No, even Yo Han making the first move would already be unrealistic enough. But Gyeol doing it? That is genuinely, genuinely unreal.”

Ha Jinsu, who had remained curled up on the sofa, finally straightened and rubbed his chest.

Among the R-Connect panelists, he was responsible for being the voice of reason. The fact that a man who always maintained a cool head was this shaken meant the situation was anything but ordinary.

“Honestly, a kiss itself isn’t that major a development on R-Connect. But I think the combination of Yo Han Sung and Gyeol Go has an incredible impact. The scene looked like something from a movie too.”

“Exactly. It really felt like watching a film.”

The other panelists nodded in agreement with Ha Jinsu.

However, the things that would leave them even more stunned had only just begun.

Yo Han and Gyeol’s physical contact had not stopped at the kiss they were discussing—the simple touching of lips that could be called a peck.

When rapper Big Shot saw Yo Han remove both his own microphone and Gyeol’s and throw them into the water, he shouted,

“Yo Han Sung! Are you going to reimburse them for those microphones?”

Immediately afterward, the two began an intensely deep French kiss, leaving the panelists unable even to laugh at his remark.

“Can’t we zoom in? Can’t you make it bigger?”

Veteran actor Shin Kyunghee, seated in the center, reached over to close Ha Jinsu’s hanging jaw as she asked.

“As you know, during Ivory Mansion dates, the cameras are installed out of sight to push the contestants’ sexual tension to its limit. In places such as the swimming pool, hot tub, and bedroom, they are positioned especially far away—”

“Arang. I didn’t say that because I didn’t know.”

Shin Kyunghee playfully cut off idol Kim Arang’s explanation.

The image filling the screen was beautiful and romantic. The nearly dark sky was washed in a soft violet hue, and the light spilling from the mansion and swimming pool made the pair look even more perfect together.

The low, sensual background music was excellent as well. Since the two had discarded their microphones, neither their conversation nor the sounds that might have accompanied their kiss could be heard, but the music filled the silence.

“Watching it like this is even more provocative.”

“Right? Because we’re seeing it from a fixed viewpoint at a distance, it feels more vivid, like we’re genuinely watching someone else’s relationship from the outside.”

“Aren’t they kissing for too long? Hmm? Yo Han!”

“Throwing away the microphones was seriously cruel. It looks like they keep saying things to each other.”

The screen then shifted to the annex. The panelists burst into laughter as Tommy and Hee Jun Kang splashed into the swimming pool.

“What is this difference in atmosphere?”

“This side is on a school trip.”

“Don’t say that. The giant potato has plans too.”

After showing the two of them, the crosscut returned to Gyeol and Yo Han, who stopped kissing in surprise at the sound of others nearby.

“What? Did all of that seriously happen at the same time?”

“Wow, what do we do?”

“Tommy interrupted them from over there.”

“Hee Jun was there too, you know?”

The panelists were deeply disappointed, thinking the two would stop kissing altogether.

But the physical contact did not end there.

Yo Han lifted Gyeol into his arms and carried him into a blind spot beyond the cameras’ reach.

“Yo Han Sung!”

This was Big Shot’s seventh shout-out to Yo Han in this episode alone.

“Big Shot, you’re going to lose your voice.”

“Drink some pear and bellflower-root juice when you get home.”

“How can they go somewhere we can’t see? How are we supposed to know what they’re doing?”

The panelists read the hidden meaning in Shin Kyunghee’s words and admonished her to stop.

After all, she was not the only one letting her imagination run wild over what an aroused Alpha and Omega might do in a blind spot.

“Our show is already dangerous enough. South Korea may have become much more open-minded, but R-Connect is still constantly walking the line.”

“That’s right. Please be careful.”

“Have you all only been on R-Connect for a day or two? This is what R-Connect has always been about.”

Shin Kyunghee, the main host of R-Connect for five years, did not budge.

The next scene took place in the hot tub. The panelists dissolved into laughter when Yo Han appeared holding a bunch of grapes. His shameless attitude made it even funnier.

“It really is ridiculous, but doesn’t Yo Han seem more attractive since appearing on R-Connect? I think so.”

“I agree. He feels more human. I never knew he could be so sly either.”

“This is why you have to see what people are like when they’re dating.”

Then came the hot-tub kissing scene. The two appeared to be trying to exercise some restraint, but they could not conceal every sensual sound of friction that slipped out whenever their lips and tongues separated.

“Yo Han Sung!”

Big Shot shot out of his seat yet again.

“They should just send those two on a honeymoon.”

“Wait, aren’t they already on their honeymoon?”

“I feel like I’ve poked a hole through someone’s wall and I’m secretly watching their wedding night......”

“R-Connect production staff! Thank you for drilling the hole for us!”

The kiss, shown from a much closer angle than the pool scene, was blatantly intense.

Just as the panelists fell silent, unable to continue speaking, the screen transitioned to the pair’s dinner.

The precarious moment when Yo Han slipped and their physical contact escalated had not been broadcast. The editing cut away at the scene’s most romantic point.

“Dinner feels so healing......”

Throughout the meal, Yo Han was endlessly considerate. The panelists marveled again and again as he carefully looked after Gyeol in every possible way.

“He is the perfect example of an ideal Alpha.”

“Wouldn’t that make him something like a Lambirghini?”

“Alphas, watch and learn.”

“Yo Han Sung...... Isn’t there too much honey dripping from your eyes? I’m going to get cavities.”

Gyeol, meanwhile, seemed too embarrassed to endure the situation and repeatedly picked up the wine bottle to refill his own glass.

“Now, now. Gyeol, pouring your own drink means you won’t date for three years.”

“Does it matter? The two of them have already started dating.”

“I’ll recite Yo Han’s line for him. ‘Even better.’”

“Wish number three still hasn’t been processed. Everyone, please calm down.”

The screen showed one close-up after another: Yo Han watching Gyeol with concern, smiling at every little thing Gyeol said, resting his chin on one hand as he listened with warm eyes, and looking utterly helpless whenever Gyeol teased him.

“...I’m seriously jealous of Gyeol.”

“He must have saved a country in his past life. No, an entire continent.”

After their sweet dinner passed, the notorious bedroom scene appeared.

“Senior......”

“Big brotherrr.”

“Gyeol acting cute is completely insane.”

“I’m full-on Jekyll and Hyde right now. One moment I’m jealous of Gyeol, and the next I’m jealous of Yo Han. I’m losing my mind.”

“How could anyone not melt at that?”

“I’ll only hold your hand while I sleep.”

The panelists erupted into another round of dramatic reactions at the line.

“Isn’t that usually something an Alpha would say?”

“How should we interpret that? Jinsu, please analyze it.”

“Give me a moment...... My brain has stopped working too, so I can’t think properly......”

“Yo Han Sung! Are you good at fighting?”

Big Shot bellowed.

Ha Jinsu rapidly fanned himself with his cue card as he spoke.

“We should assume that line contains a great deal of meaning. Saying he will hold ‘only’ his hand implies that there are other possibilities beyond that. The two of them have kissed, and as everyone knows, what they did under the blanket during their first visit to Ivory Mansion became an enormous topic of discussion. So Gyeol’s line can be understood as encompassing the entirety of the Yo Han–Gyeol narrative thus far.”

“Jinsu, you’re trying so hard......”

“Yes......”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“Quiet! Yo Han is speaking.”

“He asked what he was supposed to do.”

“I don’t think holding hands alone will satisfy me.”

The panelists exchanged looks and barely managed to hold their breath.

Then Gyeol’s voice followed.

“...Then what?”

At Gyeol’s question, Yo Han lowered his head. He cupped a hand beside Gyeol’s ear and whispered something.

Unfortunately, none of it could be heard.

“Yo Han Sung!”

Big Shot screamed in outraged frustration, louder than ever before.

“That’s it. Throw this couple out. Just tell them to leave the island.”

“There are two ways to drive someone insane. One is to stop speaking halfway through a sentence. The second is to speak but make sure no one can hear......”

“Production staff, can’t you do something about this? Seriously?”

Producer Yoo shook her head from behind the camera. It meant they had failed to capture the sound.

After finishing what he had whispered on the screen, Yo Han began to straighten.

Then Gyeol grabbed both his shoulders and pulled him down.

“Huh?”

Yo Han allowed himself to be dragged onto the bed as though he had no choice.

Gyeol climbed on top of him.

“What?”

“Excuse me?”

“Yo Han Sung!”