Chapter 58

The expressions on the production staff’s faces gradually turned strange as they stared at the Time Booth monitoring screens.

All the staff hesitated to say anything and cautiously watched Producer Yoo’s reaction instead. Once again, the brave soul who finally spoke up was the youngest assistant producer, Kim Yoonjung.

“Producer...! Uh, is this really okay?”

Good job, Kim Yoonjung! Every single person in the room was silently cheering him on.

“What is?”

Resting his chin crookedly against one hand, Producer Yoo answered without even twitching a brow. His eyes remained fixed on the monitor.

The response was so absurdly calm it nearly drained the momentum from the room, but carrying everyone’s hopes on his shoulders, Kim Yoonjung forced himself to continue.

“The Time Booths. Both sides feel kind of weird right now.”

“What’s weird about them?”

Ah. There it was again.

Producer Yoo’s chronic habit—his trademark style of interrogating people with endless questions. Even when he already understood perfectly well what someone meant, he deliberately forced them to spell everything out themselves.

But after months of surviving as the lowest-ranked assistant producer—getting verbally beaten down, ignored after asking questions, and scolded over every tiny thing—Kim Yoonjung no longer shrank from something like this.

So he boldly laid out the facts.

“One pair has been hugging each other motionlessly for over ten minutes, and the other pair is fighting.”

“......”

“You’re watching it too, Producer.”

He was absolutely right.

Both couples shoved into the Time Booths had reached a complete stalemate.

Go Gyeol and Sun Choi had started off well enough. No, more than well—the atmosphere at first had been unmistakably soft and romantic. Even the production staff had smiled fondly at the screen. When the two suddenly embraced, Kim Yoonjung had nearly screamed.

But the problem came afterward.

After going as far as hugging, the two of them whispered something in voices too quiet for even the microphones to catch... and then completely stopped moving. At one point, apparently worried Gyeol’s posture might become uncomfortable, Sun had adjusted him so he could lean fully against his chest.

But that was it.

Not another word afterward.

“Do you think Gyeol fell asleep?”

One of the assistant directors nervously added his own opinion.

Only then did Producer Yoo finally turn his head and send him a chilling stare.

The assistant director nearly cried. Why does he only ever do this to me?

“They’re measuring pheromone levels, aren’t they? Both of their readings are coming out perfectly fine.”

“Well, yes, but... they’re literally not moving.”

“Then leave them alone. What exactly do you want us to do? Tell them to do more?”

That was unusually restrained for Producer Yoo. If anything, he almost seemed indifferent. Normally, this was exactly the kind of situation he would gleefully stir up, yet now he simply stared blankly at the monitor.

“Thennn... what about over there?”

Woo Seok Jung and Jaekyung Park were still arguing nonstop.

It had started when Woo Seok suddenly slung an arm around Jaekyung’s shoulders. Jaekyung immediately twisted away, clearly uncomfortable, but Woo Seok grabbed him again and told him not to pull away. Jaekyung rejected him a second time. Then Woo Seok insisted they were supposed to be doing skinship and abruptly pulled him into a hug.

At that point, Jaekyung exploded in anger and shoved him away.

Woo Seok flew backward like a paper doll and collapsed awkwardly across the sofa.

Apparently, Woo Seok genuinely believed Jaekyung liked him and was just playing hard to get.

Considering everything he had done yesterday, it was an impressively delusional fantasy.

— “You’re acting expensive, Jaekyung?”

Woo Seok sneered after his pride got hurt.

That single comment lit the fuse.

— “What did you just say? Say that again.”

Later, Kim Yoonjung would recall how vividly he could see Jaekyung’s rage escalating in real time through the monitor.

And they had remained stuck there ever since.

— “What, you didn’t like me? You kept saying you did. You picked me during the favorability vote too. You were flirting with me.”

— “Are you insane? When did I ever? I did vote for you, but I never liked you that much, okay? And the flirting part is something you made up in your own head. Also, could you stop talking down to me every five seconds?”

It would at least have been entertaining if the argument evolved into new territory, but they kept circling around the exact same topic over and over.

“Ugh...”

Making a disgusted face, Kim Yoonjung shook his head.

“If Jaekyung hadn’t shoved him earlier, I was planning to stop things immediately. But after throwing Woo Seok like that, I think it’ll probably be fine.”

Honestly, “threw” was not even an exaggeration. Kim Yoonjung could already picture gifs of Woo Seok toppling backward circulating online.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, he asked,

“You’re seriously going to let them fight for an entire hour?”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that.”

“Huh?”

Kim Yoonjung frowned in confusion.

“Kim Yoonjung. You’ve still got a lot to learn, don’t you?”

Producer Yoo smirked and pointed at the monitor.

What is he talking about?

Kim Yoonjung turned toward the screen—

—and his face immediately filled with shock.

The two people who had been fighting moments earlier were suddenly hugging.

— “Jaekyung, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have upset you.”

— “......Really?”

Jaekyung’s voice sounded miserably fragile as he asked.

Woo Seok nodded emphatically and stroked the back of his head.

— “Of course it’s true. You trust me, right?”

— “I don’t......”

— “Aww, our Jaekyung’s really upset, huh? From now on, hyung will make sure not to confuse you anymore or hurt your feelings. Okay? Promise.”

Holy shit.

The second Woo Seok started calling himself hyung, Kim Yoonjung nearly wanted to rip his own hair out from secondhand embarrassment.

— “Hm? Jaekyung. Promise.”

Apparently copying something he had seen somewhere before, Woo Seok even held out his pinky finger.

A wave of exhausted sighs spread through the staff room. There were some things even a handsome face could not save.

It was strange.

Both screens showed couples hugging.

Yet one side looked endlessly beautiful, while the other was almost impossible to watch with open eyes.

In the end, Woo Seok and Jaekyung hooked pinkies and made up.

— “You’re my number one, Jaekyung. You always have been from the beginning.”

— “......? But at first you picked someone else.”

— “Ah, that’s because... I thought you’d be too popular. Haha.”

The ease with which Woo Seok lied without even blinking was honestly astonishing.

Kim Yoonjung had already seen every type of human disaster imaginable through previous R-Connect seasons. After joining the staff, he had even heard behind-the-scenes stories too insane to air publicly. The staff jokingly referred to it as “the curse of R-Connect.”

It supposedly drove people insane.

Still, he had never imagined he would witness a celebrity with both his name and face publicly known acting like that.

Watching the screen with horrified disbelief, Kim Yoonjung heard Producer Yoo chuckle quietly.

“See? I told you.”

“You knew from the start this would happen?”

“More or less.”

In Producer Yoo’s eyes, Woo Seok was the type with strong pride but low self-esteem. Thanks to his decent looks and internet popularity, he had become famous as everybody’s “boyfriend material” model shot. But afterward, his actual modeling career had never amounted to much.

How could someone who wore every emotional fluctuation openly across his face ever truly succeed as a model?

During interviews, Woo Seok repeatedly said the same thing:

“I absolutely want to become a final couple.”

There was never a specific target attached to those words. He simply wanted someone. Anyone.

It was obvious he desperately wanted the Season 10 final-couple title.

Jaekyung, on the other hand, genuinely did have feelings for Woo Seok. Throughout every interview, he consistently ranked Woo Seok as his number one interest.

His sudden emotional outburst last night, the gossiping, even choosing Jun Shin during the favorability vote—all of it had probably stemmed from jealousy.

If he truly had not cared about Woo Seok, then Woo Seok flirting with Gyeol or choosing someone else would never have bothered him at all.

“K-Kiss!”

Kim Yoonjung’s shout interrupted Producer Yoo’s thoughts.

Not a hoarse yell this time.

One of the couples—

had just pressed their lips together.

“Zoom in. Get the shot properly.”

“Yes!”

The screen zoomed closer, filling the monitor with the image of the two people kissing.

Smack.

A short wet sound echoed before their lips parted.

Then a tongue brushed against a lower lip after sucking softly on it.

“Wow... no, seriously... they actually did it......”

Kim Yoonjung muttered blankly.

Producer Yoo maintained a poker face, but inwardly he felt relieved too.

Casting famous celebrities had been great for publicity, but he had secretly worried about one thing the entire time.

When it came to R-Connect, the heart of the show had always been its dangerously explicit atmosphere bordering on mature content.

Would a cast made entirely of celebrities and public figures really go that far?

Now it really begins.

Day 6 out of 15.

Considering all the worries he had before filming began, the results so far were not bad at all.

Producer Yoo let out a quiet breath and took a drink of bottled water.

***

/ Title: ARE THEY INSANE??? WAS THAT A KISS IN THE PREVIEW??

That was a kissing sound, right??

It literally went SMACK! SMACK!!

Are my ears broken??

If they are somebody punch and pinch me pls

No because that wasn’t just a peck THEY WERE FULLY MAKING OUT!!! HOLY SHIT if they got pheromone matched then yeah obviously pheromone matching is where R-Connect history gets written!!!

<97 comments>

— Smack ♡

↳ holy shit lmaoooooo

— Calm down kiddo. First day watching R-Connect? It’s just a kiss hohoho ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

↳ OP) FUCK lmao actually this is my first season... even the Yo Han-Gyeol bed scene last time gave me culture shock but THIS kissing sound??? Was that really a kiss?? Do people kiss this much on R-Connect??

↳ Let grandma explain. The history of REAL kissing (not pecks) began in legendary Season 5... (more)

↳ WHAT DO YOU MEAN MORE GIVE US THE REST

↳ Find out in the full episode ->>> RIGHT NOW! ▶▶{Watch R-Connect Season 5 on Mflix}◀◀

↳ damn that marketing was smooth as hell lol

— Okay but WHO was kissing?

↳ Wasn’t it Yo Han Sung and Gyeol? The vibe’s been insane ever since the Ivory Mansion date

↳ How would you know they matched during pheromone matching though

— Could’ve been Tom-Hee

↳ Sorry what the hell is Tom-Hee

↳ Tommy x Hee Jun... (tiny voice)

↳ LMAOOO HELP 😭😭 every time only the “Tom” part shows up I suddenly forget who Tommy is like he’s a stranger

↳ DON’T FORGET POTATO’S EXISTENCE!!

↳ Let us create a Potato World. Potato Beam!!!

— Don’t care. I’m convinced Gyeol’s involved somehow. Wouldn’t even feel weird if he was making out with any of the four Alphas

↳ Aren’t there five Alphas??

↳ Since last episode we agreed not to count Woo Stone as one.

↳ What the hell is Woo Stone

↳ Woo Seok + stone...

↳ holy shit sorry

↳ APOLOGIZE TO ME!!!!!!!!

↳ sory... sory......

— Obviously it’s Jun-Gyeol lol. Those two definitely rubbed their lips together plenty of times already, right? And not just lips either~

↳ If not lips then what exactly were they rubbing together

↳ Shhh.

↳ No because I honestly think Jun never went further than kissing Gyeol... like yeah he probably got worked up constantly seeing that pretty face during his hormonal teenage years, but he treasured him too much and wanted to protect him... and then later after getting first place on a music show they were supposed to lose their virginities together... (to be continued next week...)

↳ WAIT NO KEEP WRITING

↳ I’m seated. I’ll wait forever.

↳ Apparently there’s tons of stuff like this on Blue House forums

↳ Ugh R-Connect fans are disgustingㅠㅠ

↳ the love..

↳ god these ancient fandom jokes still crack me up helplessly 😭

— Waiting for the full episode kiss scene like a stone statue at the harbor 1..

↳ Harbor statue R-Connect fan 2..

↳ HarborConnect 3..

↳ That sounds like Flop-Connect now... 4..

↳ You really hit the “core issue” there! ..5..

↳ 6..

↳ 7..