Chapter 44

The previews, edited to about one minute and uploaded to the official R-Connect YouTube account, were essentially trailers.

R-Connect always cut off each episode at the point designed to provoke the strongest curiosity, then rolled the ending credits over a black screen.

It never aired separate trailers.

Instead, two days before the next episode’s broadcast, it uploaded a preview to reignite public interest and anticipation.

Episode seven had ended with Tommy’s adorable confession.

It had cut off at exactly that point.

Because the ending impact had felt weaker than other episodes, Kisoo had found it odd. As the trending short-form video proved, the ocean scene between Jun Shin and Gyeol Go in the middle of the episode had generated far more buzz.

He had dismissed it as a simple matter of awkward editing.

What a ridiculously complacent thought.

Cold sweat ran down his back.

He had never imagined the preview video would be edited like this.

Didn’t Gyeol’s remark about feeling “uncomfortable” sound like an answer to Tommy’s confession?

Next, the preview rapidly cut between Hanseul’s conversations with the Alphas, Woo Seok approaching Gyeol during dinner preparations, and all the contestants gathered around the campfire for drinks.

[- We will now proceed with today’s favorability vote.]

[- Right now. In this very place. Please tell the person who moved your heart today how you feel.]

After the narration, the cast gasped in surprise.

Then came the final scene.

After a cut to black, Gyeol’s individual interview slowly faded in.

His gaze lowered as if he were turning something over in his mind, then he smiled faintly, almost like a wince.

“There’s nothing I can do about it.”

That single line was the end.

It was a perfect bookend.

At this point, Kisoo could not even bring himself to deny that the voice from the beginning had belonged to Gyeol.

His mouth fell open.

His jaw seemed to have dropped completely and had no intention of returning to its place.

It’s malicious editing.

Demonic editing.

There was no other way to think of it.

The comments beneath the video and the online communities were already in chaos.

Comments and posts refreshed at an insane speed.

Holy shit, what the hell is wrong with Gyeol Go’s personality??? Did he say Tommy’s confession made him uncomfortable?

Wow I feel so betrayed;

No but from the preview alone we have no way of knowing whether Tommy’s confession made him uncomfortable, Hanseul made him uncomfortable, Woo Seok made him uncomfortable, or the face-to-face favorability vote at the drinking party made him uncomfortable ㄷㄷ

Producer Yoo is a terrifying woman... This edit is honestly possessed. Feels like she came armed with a knife this time

What’s insane about the episode 8 preview is that they showed basically everything, and I STILL have no idea what the episode’s actually about ㄷㄷㄷ

I knew this would happenㅋㅋ They pushed Gyeol so hard early on I expected a twist.. Producer Yoo’s human social experiment + reversal drama

But seriously R-Connect 10 is peak dopamineㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Best season ever..

I’m so fucking stressed... Who would watch after they edit the preview like this... obviously me, yes, I know. 48 hours until R-Connect 10 airs (time run faster

Calm down, the actual episode isn’t even out yet..ㅠ This auntie believes in our Gyeol..

It’s not like R-Connect being impossible to predict is newㅋㅋ Producer Yoo, become a fisher of people

The world seemed to spin around him.

Kisoo minimized the webpage for the moment, pressed his forehead against the keyboard, and steadied his breathing.

What should he do?

Should he contact Producer Yoo even now?

R-Connect was a pre-produced program.

Filming had already ended six months ago.

Even if two days remained before the actual broadcast, there was a high chance the final cut had long since been finished.

No.

It was certain.

Even so, he could not just sit here and do nothing.

He had to do something.

That had to be the right thing to do for Gyeol, who had worked so hard for so long.

“Kisoo Yang. Do your damn job.”

After taking a deep breath, Kisoo called Producer Yoo.

As if mocking the effort he had just put into psyching himself up, a recording informed him that the line was busy.

“Ah, shit.”

Kisoo tossed his phone aside as if throwing it and clutched at his hair.

Well, of course.

With a preview like that released, people from every direction were probably swarming her like rabid dogs.

Reporters, agencies, whoever else.

After wrestling with the busy-line announcement and calling again over a dozen times, his anxiety only grew sharper.

He felt like his blood was drying up.

He could not keep sitting there like this.

Trying the call again, Kisoo opened a webpage and logged in.

First, he would at least send an email.

The customer you are calling is currently—

Just as the automated voice repeated itself like a parrot, his phone vibrated.

“What is it in the middle of this emergency?”

He ended the call and checked.

One text message had arrived.

The sender was none other than Producer Yoo.

Producer Yoo Kijeong

CEO Yang, you don’t need to worry. I’ve had to enter an urgent meeting, so I’ll call you shortly.

He didn’t need to worry?

Caught in an emotional whirlpool where he could not tell whether to laugh or cry, Kisoo stared blankly at the message.

***

Pheromone Island, evening of day five.

Amid the bustle of dinner preparations, Gyeol once again played an active role as usual.

After checking that they had tomatoes, eggs, green onions, cabbage, and pork shoulder prepared, Gyeol was also the one who decided today’s menu would be tomato and egg stir-fry and spicy stir-fried pork.

Except for last night’s dinner, when he had been away on the Ivory Mansion date, Gyeol had led the cooking at every meal.

By now, the cast naturally followed his direction.

“Let’s split into three teams. Rice team, tomato and egg stir-fry team, and spicy stir-fried pork team.”

“Uh... how should we split up? Based on what everyone wants to do?”

Once again, Jun Shin smoothly assigned people who were awkwardly hovering without knowing where to go.

“Tommy and Hee Jun are decent cooks, so you two take the spicy stir-fried pork. Isu, you take the tomato and egg stir-fry. Sun, please split the firewood again today. Jaekyung, you’re good at measuring water, so take the rice.”

Without exchanging even a word in advance, Gyeol and Jun moved perfectly in sync.

It was a scene that had already repeated itself several times on Pheromone Island.

“Mm, and Actor Yo Han Sung and Hanseul...”

“Actor Yo Han Sung. With me, tomato and egg—”

“It’ll be hard for Sun Choi to do it alone, so I’ll split firewood with him.”

“Ah, that sounds good. Hanseul, you can do tomato and egg stir-fry.”

“......”

It had been the same eight years ago during SAVE ME’s activities.

Gyeol, the leader, led the team, while Jun handled all the annoying work and supported him.

Gyeol forced himself to ignore the old past and the long, exhausting feelings tied to it.

Sharp-eyed Jun also did not linger near Gyeol and instead went outside the lounge to join the rice team.

“Gyeol! What should we do with this pork shoulder?”

“First, cut it into bite-sized pieces...”

While handling the most troublesome, labor-intensive ingredient prep, Gyeol repeated the recipe several times.

With too many cooks around, the same questions came up countless times, but Gyeol answered kindly each time.

He peeled an entire pile of onions and began cutting them.

There were so many that the more he chopped, the more his eyes stung.

He blinked for a while, trying to clear his blurry vision as tears gathered.

Then, behind him, a presence suddenly came close.

“Gyeol.”

“......!”

Gyeol’s shoulders jerked in shock.

Just as confusion surged at the soft, fleshy sensation against the tip of the knife, a sharp pain sliced through the fingers of his other hand, and blood immediately welled up.

“Ah, Gyeol, you’re bleeding!”

Tommy, who had been diligently cutting meat at the edge of the counter, shouted in horror.

Blood dripped onto the cutting board.

Worried it might splatter onto the food ingredients, Gyeol quickly wrapped his hand around the injured finger.

“Uh, uh? What do I do? Gyeol. I’m sorry. I was just trying to help. Uh...”

Woo Seok, the very person who had suddenly appeared behind him, panicked.

He had left earlier during dinner preparation, saying he was going to the bathroom, only to suddenly approach Gyeol out of nowhere.

“I’m fine. It’s just this much. Sorry, but we still need to finish dinner preparations, so could you clean this up for me, Woo Seok?”

Gyeol spoke calmly, indicating the blood on the cutting board with his eyes.

Woo Seok nodded and immediately grabbed a dishcloth lying nearby.

“No, don’t use a dishcloth. Put paper towels over it and—”

“Are you insane?”

The person who strode closer cut off Gyeol’s words.

Before Gyeol could even identify who it was, his wrist was pulled away.

His gaze followed.

Their eyes met.

It was Yo Han Sung.

The area around Yo Han’s eyes distorted faintly when he saw the tears gathered in Gyeol’s eyes.

“What do you mean, you’re fine?”

Thinking Yo Han had mistaken his onion tears for something else, Gyeol found himself making an excuse before he realized it.

“No, this is because of the onions...”

“You’re bleeding this much.”

“Uh...”

Gyeol let out a small sound.

Even though he had pressed his hand tightly over the cut, a thin stream of blood was running down his palm.

Yo Han wiped away the blood with his own hand without hesitation and said,

“Open your hand.”

“...It’s not that deep.”

“Now.”

“......”

Jun Shin and Sun Choi, who had entered the lounge a moment late, watched the situation from a distance.

The other contestants had stopped what they were doing as well and were staring at the commotion.

“I’m really fine. Everyone, please keep working.”

Shaking his head toward the others, Gyeol slowly opened his hand.

Of all places, he had cut his thumb fairly deeply.

“Doesn’t that need stitches?”

Someone added in a worried voice.

Feeling bad for ruining the atmosphere, Gyeol was about to say again that he was fine when Yo Han, who had been studying the wound closely, let out a low sigh.

“Thankfully, it’s not deep enough for stitches.”

Relief crossed several faces.

Only then did Yo Han lift Gyeol’s hand high and let him go.

“Keep it like that. Don’t lower it below your heart.”

“What? Yes...”

His mind was not working properly because he was so flustered.

Even when Yo Han wiped away the tears clinging to the corners of his eyes, Gyeol only stood there blankly.

In one of Yo Han Sung’s hands was Gyeol Go’s blood.

In the other were his tears.