Chapter 96

Meanwhile, Kisoo Yang's jaw dropped as he watched the latest episode of R-Connect 10.

“Are you saying you joined to meet a specific contestant?”

“...Yes. I decided to appear because of that person.”

Kisoo had always known Jun Shin was abnormal.

The guy had been completely unpredictable ever since his trainee days.

Back at LM Entertainment, he had practically been a designated person of interest.

Of course, being unpredictable wasn't necessarily a bad trait for an aspiring celebrity.

It meant having a strong character.

And unpredictability was often attractive to the public.

Even so.

This was beyond anything Kisoo had imagined.

“Y-you insane bastard...”

His eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“You said that on television?”

Fireworks exploded inside his brain.

The dopamine hit was undeniable.

But how exactly was Jun planning to deal with the aftermath?

Was he trying to retire from being an idol?

The truth was that Jun had essentially blindsided Kisoo too.

Yet Kisoo couldn't bring himself to hate him.

Jun didn't feel like a stranger.

It was ridiculous, but part of him always assumed there had to be reasons no one else knew about.

Wrong was wrong.

SAVE ME had already been sinking.

Jun may have delivered the final blow, but he wasn't the iceberg.

He wasn't the thing that truly destroyed the ship.

At first, Kisoo had resented him.

Resented the reckless teenager who had thrown everything away.

Especially whenever he watched Gyeol lose direction afterward.

The sight had torn him apart.

But now, eight years later, he couldn't blame only Jun.

Before anything else, Kisoo himself had failed.

He had failed to properly manage and protect those kids.

Everyone else could criticize Jun.

Kisoo couldn't.

Not when he carried responsibility too.

And buried beneath that belief was guilt.

Years ago, Kisoo had run into Jun at an airport.

Jun had handed him a tissue with an email address written on it.

He had asked Kisoo to pass it on to Gyeol.

The short version?

Kisoo never gave it to him.

There hadn't been some unavoidable circumstance.

No emergency.

No accident.

It had been entirely Kisoo's decision.

Back then, Gyeol had been barely holding himself together.

Kisoo already knew Gyeol's brother had spent years draining him financially.

Sometimes Gyeol would come to him with a face full of guilt and ask how much his settlement payment might be.

Whether it was possible to receive an advance.

And whenever Kisoo asked why he needed money—

the answer was always the same.

His brother.

Then that same brother, Go Joon, created a disaster that could never be undone.

One day he vanished.

Then suddenly resurfaced pregnant.

He claimed he didn't even know who the father was.

By then it was too late.

The baby was already far along.

He didn't have enough money to feed himself.

Debt collectors pounded on his door daily.

He begged Gyeol for help.

Said he was scared.

Said he couldn't survive alone.

Said that if Gyeol abandoned him, both he and the baby would die.

Gyeol had never been capable of turning him away.

Outwardly, he was strong.

But when it came to his brother, his heart always weakened.

Years of exposure to Go Joon's chaos during childhood had conditioned him that way.

So Gyeol worked nonstop.

He took every job he could find.

Paid off debts.

Paid hospital bills.

Then the baby was born.

And before that baby reached one hundred days old—

Go Joon disappeared again.

Leaving behind only a newborn child.

And debt.

At exactly that point, Kisoo—still working for LM Entertainment—had encountered Jun at an airport during a business trip.

How could he possibly have told Jun what was happening?

How could he have handed that note to Gyeol?

Kisoo spoke with Gyeol regularly.

Helped him whenever things became urgent.

He couldn't bring himself to place another burden on someone already drowning.

It wasn't that he intended to hide the note forever.

He kept thinking:

Later.

When things settle down.

When childcare becomes easier.

After Yuli's first birthday.

When Yuli starts daycare.

Then I'll give it to him.

He kept postponing it.

And postponing it.

And before he realized it, years had passed.

Meanwhile, Jun became a household name.

He dominated variety shows.

Became the nation's favorite younger-brother figure.

By then, even Kisoo couldn't ignore it anymore.

The gap between Jun and Gyeol had become enormous.

Can I really give this to him now?

The question haunted him.

Eventually he tested the waters.

Carefully.

“Jun Shin? Why are you bringing him up all of a sudden?”

“No reason. I was just wondering how you feel these days.”

“I don't feel anything.”

Nothing.

“I don't think about him.”

At those words, Kisoo tightened his grip around the now-worn note inside his pocket.

Then Gyeol continued.

“Honestly?”

“I don't ever want to think about him again.”

“...”

“I don't want to get involved with him either.”

Kisoo released the note.

Gyeol wasn't someone who spoke carelessly.

Every word was considered.

Thoughtful.

If he didn't mean something, he simply wouldn't say it.

And so Kisoo never gave him Jun's email address.

Pushing away the headache-inducing memories, Kisoo scanned the community forums with tired eyes.

The place was a war zone.

New posts appeared every second.

/ HOLY SHIT they said Jun was bringing something huge but WHAT THE FUCK

/ Jun just retire at this point

/ Public opinion is rough but honestly I felt Jun's sincerity 😭

The atmosphere was obvious even from the titles alone.

Moving fans had flooded in alongside existing viewers.

Everything was chaos.

/ RPF DREAMS DO COME TRUE ★

Feeling dizzy, Kisoo finally tore his gaze away from the forum and looked back at the broadcast.

“Isn't this kind of random?”

He frowned.

“Why are they suddenly airing a pre-show interview they've never shown before?”

Then he stopped talking.

Because the answer appeared immediately afterward.

Day 8.

Morning.

Jun walking toward Ivory Mansion to pick up Gyeol.

Even without Jun explicitly naming anyone, everyone could tell who he had been talking about.

The person he wanted to meet was Gyeol.

And the show had deliberately placed that scene right after the interview.

“That's basically a kill shot.”

A few moments later, Gyeol used his Golden Date Card on Jun.

Kisoo nearly dislocated his jaw.

“...That little bastard.”

His eyes widened.

“He never told me any of this?”

Melancholic music began playing over the date.

A famous breakup song reinterpreted as a piano arrangement.

Jun and Gyeol shared cotton candy.

Took Polaroid photos.

Walked through nature together.

Talked.

Everything felt painfully natural.

Jun looked happier than Kisoo had ever seen him.

And the way Jun looked at Gyeol—

Nobody could possibly doubt his feelings after seeing that.

As if proving the point, countless community posts appeared discussing nothing but “Jun Shin's eyes.”

Watching the date unfold, Kisoo's emotions became impossible to describe.

The men on the screen were in their mid-twenties now.

Yet he kept seeing the teenagers they used to be.

Unable to take it anymore, he pulled out a cigarette.

Lit it.

“Three-day quit attempt. Failed again.”

His voice was miserable.

He inhaled deeply.

Maybe it calmed him down a little—

“WHAT THE FUCK?”

Then the complete Golden Date Card rules appeared onscreen.

Rule Four hit him like a truck.

“Two full hours?”

He stared.

“No cameras. No staff. Total freedom?”

At once he understood.

Producer Yoo had gone all in.

And suddenly Kisoo understood why Gyeol had chosen Jun.

“This.”

He laughed in disbelief.

“Jesus Christ. This...”

The screen followed the car carrying Gyeol and Jun onto the roads of Seoul.

Then returned to the island.

Leaning against the back of his chair, exhaling smoke, Kisoo suddenly remembered something.

A conversation from months earlier.

After filming had ended.

When Gyeol had stopped by the office.

“Have you ever run into Jun Shin at an airport?”

“Huh? Ah?”

“You have.”

“...Yeah. Why? Did Jun say something?”

“Yeah. He mentioned meeting you.”

“Really? What'd he say?”

Gyeol had casually flipped through a script on his desk.

Then answered without much interest.

“Nothing important.”

“That's it?”

That had been all.

Kisoo's chest tightened.

At the time, he hadn't thought much of it.

There were cameras everywhere.

How much could they have talked about?

But now?

There had been free time.

Two full hours.

No cameras.

No staff.

Which meant—

Gyeol might have heard everything.

“Ah, fuck...”

Six months had already passed since filming ended.

During that entire time, Gyeol never once asked for details.

Never blamed him.

Never confronted him.

Instead he remained exactly the same.

Quiet.

Hardworking.

Reliable.

And he thanked Kisoo over and over again.

The guilt hit like a truck.

Even if he had done it for Gyeol's sake—

he had still hidden the truth from him.

Eventually Gyeol and Jun reappeared onscreen after free time ended.

Jun's eyes were swollen red.

“Holy shit.”

Kisoo stared.

“He cried?”

What the hell had they talked about?

His brain stopped functioning.

At this point he was too scared to even check the community again.

“Nothing happen between you and Jun while filming R-Connect?”

“...”

When Kisoo had cautiously asked that question months ago, Gyeol had only given him a bitter smile.

Nothing else.

Kisoo hadn't pushed further.

And now he discovered all of this had happened.

“Ah—hot!”

Lost in thought, he failed to notice cigarette ash burning his finger.

He crushed the cigarette out with a grimace.

By the time he looked back up, the episode had already moved on.

The favorability vote.

Jun Shin stood in front of the mailboxes.