Chapter 61

Woo Seok, who had jerked his head up as if about to protest immediately, hesitated.

As if hiding something dirty, he slipped his hand behind his back and shook his head.

“Interrupting? Yo Han Sung, of course not.”

The face forcing itself into a smile was pathetic. A frown, panic, and an awkward grin all tangled together. He seemed desperate to look composed for the camera, but it was a complete failure.

The way Woo Seok acted in front of Yo Han went beyond bullying the weak and cowering before the strong. It was downright servile.

The man who had been overpowering Gyeol with brute force was gone without a trace. Now he had tucked his tail and shrunk back like a hyena before a predator.

“I see. Strange. Go Gyeol looked startled to me.”

Speaking in a leisurely tone, Yo Han naturally shifted his body, no longer blocking Gyeol from the front.

That was better for Gyeol too. He had already been worried about the camera catching a composition that made it look like Yo Han was protecting him.

“Startled? I would never do anything like that to Gyeol Go...”

Woo Seok mumbled his words and glanced at Gyeol.

His face was shameless. He was clearly looking for rescue.

Normally, Gyeol would have denied it just because of the camera, but as Yo Han had said, he had been startled badly enough for his heart to pound, and his mouth would not open easily. The most he could do was soften his expression. At least the path had no lighting, and the sun had set enough for their surroundings to be dim.

“Right, Go Gyeol?”

Woo Seok forced another grin and called to him again.

If Gyeol hesitated any longer, the scene would become awkward.

He was about to answer reluctantly when a third voice cut in.

“Yo Han, I told you we should go together.”

The person approaching in quick steps, panting for breath, was Hanseul Ga. After tidying his disheveled hair, he came right up beside Yo Han and stopped.

Yo Han did not answer. He only continued looking down at Woo Seok.

Woo Seok, who had been oppressed by his presence and only shifting his eyes, visibly brightened at Hanseul’s appearance.

“Why is the mood like this?”

A normal celebrity would not point straight at a sore spot in front of rolling cameras. But Hanseul Ga was not a normal celebrity.

Whether he had no tact, was pretending to have no tact, or simply believed he had no need to care, he casually blurted out words that deliberately framed the situation in a bad direction.

As if seizing an opportunity, Woo Seok’s voice gained strength.

“No, it just seems like Yo Han misunderstood something.”

At that moment, Hanseul glanced briefly at Gyeol.

As though checking his expression.

“Gyeol Go nearly fell just now, so I caught him. But then suddenly...”

Hanseul’s eyes rolled blatantly back to Yo Han. Looking up at him with round, catlike eyes, he spoke in a tender voice.

“I saw a little of it too. If Woo Seok hadn’t been there, that could’ve been bad, Gyeol.”

What Gyeol thought then was not that Hanseul was hateful or revolting.

He thought something was strange.

Between pieces that had previously seemed disconnected, moving separately with no link, a faint thread had appeared.

The piece called Woo Seok Jung and the piece called Hanseul Ga.

There was some kind of connection between them, even if he could not yet define what it was.

“Exactly. There are so many rocks here. If you fell, your knees could’ve—”

Woo Seok, who had eagerly picked up Hanseul’s words and started babbling, trailed off.

Because Yo Han gave a soft, breathy laugh.

Woo Seok’s eyes shook violently.

As if annoyed by the black hair blowing in the sea wind, Yo Han swept it cleanly back from his forehead and lifted his chin.

“So you caught Go Gyeol because he almost fell?”

The content sounded as though he had not dropped his suspicion, but his tone was so smooth that no emotional texture could be felt in it. As if he were simply confirming the facts without assuming either truth or falsehood.

“Th-that’s right.”

Seeming somewhat confused, Woo Seok stammered before fixing his expression and stubbornly insisting on his innocence.

“Hm.”

After a low hum, Yo Han turned to Gyeol this time and asked casually,

“Is that right, Go Gyeol?”

Was it his imagination? His voice sounded softer.

It felt like permission.

Like he was saying Gyeol could say whatever he wanted to say.

A faint strength entered Gyeol’s tongue. Words crowded into his mouth.

Woo Seok was lying.

Gyeol had never almost fallen.

He had felt burdened by the time alone with him and wanted to quickly join the other cast members in the lounge, but Woo Seok had suddenly grabbed his arm and pressed him. That moment had been a little frightening, and it had triggered his trauma.

And then you appeared and helped me.

...Just as he finished thinking that far, the red light blinking beside the camera lens suddenly entered Gyeol’s vision.

“...Yes. That’s right.”

Even while feeling a trace of frustration, Gyeol answered that way.

Maybe he would have made a different choice if he were the type of person who could behave recklessly in front of a camera like Woo Seok or Hanseul.

But in the time it took for a few words to be exchanged, his reason returned and locked down his speech and actions.

He had to read the external situation, not his personal emotions.

He had to think fiercely about how the production team would see it and what the viewers would end up seeing.

Gyeol did not know exactly what had happened between Woo Seok and Jaekyung in the Time Booth. According to Gyeol’s reasoning, the hickey on Jaekyung’s neck had appeared after the Time Booth. Since it had been before Jaekyung cleaned off the pheromones, it must have happened in the forest, and that scene probably had not been captured on camera.

Conversely, that meant Gyeol had no idea how much of Woo Seok and Jaekyung’s physical contact viewers would see. He would not know until the main broadcast aired.

And yet he would try to frame Woo Seok as an offender who had mistreated him over one grabbed wrist?

On a dating show built to encourage people to get to know as many partners as possible?

On R-Connect, which prided itself on being “high-intensity”?

It made no sense.

On top of that, Alpha votes had already rushed toward him twice. One small misstep could easily make him look unlikeable.

Even based on what he had shown in front of the cameras so far, if the production team decided to bare its teeth, they could maliciously edit him in any number of ways.

It might be an extreme assumption, but there was no harm in being as conservative as possible and imagining the worst-case scenario.

Even if it was frustrating, there was nothing he could do right now.

Even if he someday made a confession, that time was not now.

So Gyeol cleared his throat, feeling as though he had swallowed a whole sweet potato, and smiled at Woo Seok.

“Thank you, Woo Seok.”

Fortunately, his mind had calmed as if doused in cold water, so his facial muscles obeyed.

Seeing Gyeol put on a plausible smile, Woo Seok looked slightly flustered.

He was the kind of idiot who could not eat even when spoon-fed.

He waved his hand and shook his head.

“No, well. It wasn’t that big a deal.”

Even then, Yo Han was still staring at Gyeol.

His profile felt prickly against Gyeol’s skin, so Gyeol gave him a small smile too. Only then did Yo Han withdraw his gaze and step toward Woo Seok.

Yo Han’s hand gripped Woo Seok’s shoulder.

It was the very same hand that had pried his hand away.

“I see. You did something good.”

He patted his shoulder a couple of times as if encouraging him, then held it tightly.

His eyes curved into arcs, and a brilliant smile spread across his face. Woo Seok, who had been staring at him as if bewitched, startled and cleared his throat before grinning.

“Th-then, now that the misunderstanding’s cleared up, let’s head to the lounge. Everyone must be hungry.”

“Sounds good. I’m really hungry. Let’s go, Yo Han.”

Woo Seok strode ahead like someone desperate to leave, and Yo Han followed behind him as if blocking the space between him and Gyeol.

While Hanseul persistently kept his place beside Yo Han, Gyeol followed everyone from the very back and felt the tension drain out of him.

If I ever appear on R-Connect twice, I’m a dog.

He had thought once was a good opportunity, and yet it had him living with his heart in his throat. Doing it twice would shave years off his life.

Only after the situation settled did the sound of waves, which had been spread behind him the entire time, begin to reach him faintly.

Holding his emotions as they swayed like waves rushing in and sweeping back out, Gyeol quietly rubbed his wrist.

On the wrist where Yo Han’s brief soothing touch remained far more vivid than Woo Seok’s rough grip.

Several times, Yo Han’s gaze turned back as if checking whether Gyeol was following well.

Gyeol knew it, but he pretended not to, staring only into empty air as he slowly moved his feet.

***

Because of his injured hand, Gyeol spent an uncomfortable stretch of time unable to help with cooking.

More precisely, everyone stopped him whenever he tried to help.

Sitting alone like an island cut off from the rest, Gyeol had no choice but to watch the cast members busily prepare the meal.

The person who stood out most was, without question, Jaekyung Park.

Even though it was high summer, he was wearing a thin black turtleneck under his white shirt, covering nearly half his neck.

“Jaekyung, aren’t you hot?”

“I’m fine. I think I might be coming down with a sore throat.”

“Oh no, what do you do? Do you have medicine?”

“Yeah. I brought some basic meds, so I took some.”

After making an excuse in response to Tommy’s innocent question, Jaekyung quietly put some distance between them and went to check the rice.

Tommy, who was busy again today filling the gap Gyeol had left, fortunately did not seem to notice anything strange about Jaekyung.

A turtleneck is much safer than trying to cover it with makeup.

Silently supporting Jaekyung’s choice, Gyeol swallowed a sigh.

They said nosiness was a disease, and apparently it was true. It was not even his business, yet he kept worrying all on his own.

Don’t pay attention to it.

Repeating that to himself, he turned his mind elsewhere, only to see Woo Seok approaching Jaekyung with a friendly call of, “Jaekyung.”

It was unbelievable.

Just as Gyeol buried his face in both hands to hide the way his brow twisted on its own, a question suddenly fell over his head.

“Gyeol?”