By Zephyria 
A look of sensitive caution flashed across the faces of the two sitting on the sofa.
“What… you have?”
At his mother’s sharp gaze, Yoon Joo-ho smiled.
“Do you think the content I sent was just for testing the waters? To get me to notice you, to get your attention? Do you think I’m still a ten-year-old whining because I’m thirsty for your affection?”
Director Bang, holding the tray with the drinks, sighed and took it back to the kitchen. Yoon Joo-ho continued,
“I’m prepared to go all the way, I am now.”
“So you’re saying you’ll peel the skin off your parents’ heads, huh?”
At Yoon Joo-ho’s father’s remark, Song Hyun-soo clenched his fists. Fuck, who’s one to talk?
Yoon Joo-ho, perhaps thinking the same thing, let out a faint chuckle. He shrugged his shoulders with a deliberately casual demeanor.
“If you want, release the photos. Then I’ll just publicly admit it, what else.”
His mother scoffed, as if it were absurd, as if he could never do such a thing.
“Admit it? You think you can continue acting after admitting you’re gay?”
“Gay, Mother? You shouldn’t disrespect the women I’ve dated like that. I’m bisexual, bisexual.”
“You… you vulgar bastard…”
His father repeatedly hit his thigh with his trembling fist. But Yoon Joo-ho remained unfazed. His eyes glinted, and with a sinister smile on his lips, he taunted.
“Anyway, I’ve earned more money than I can rot. I can just live working with directors who seek me out for my acting alone.”
It didn’t sound like he was just saying it. It seemed he had prepared himself for that point. Even for letting go of the name Yoon Joo-ho completely.
“Do you think an audience can immerse themselves in a melodrama by an actor branded as gay?”
“I’m not just a handsome actor who can only do melodramas.”
“So? You’ll continue your acting career pathetically by doing independent films, low-budget films? You’ve always been a popular star since you were young, so you don’t know. How miserable that is.”
At his mother’s words, Yoon Joo-ho lowered his head and chuckled. His broad shoulders shook.
“Miserable?”
Then, with a lightly clenched fist covering his mouth, he looked up at his mother.
“I did everything you told me because I wanted your parental affection. For 30 years, I was treated like a money-printing machine, unable to do the works I wanted.”
“……”
“My own parents made me work as a male prostitute!”
“……”
“Do you think that’s not misery?”
Director Bang’s gaze, standing by the kitchen, turned towards Song Hyun-soo diagonally opposite. He was concerned that Song Hyun-soo, who was an outsider anyway, was hearing too deep a secret.
“Joo-ho-ya.”
Director Bang immediately intervened to stop Yoon Joo-ho.
However, Yoon Joo-ho raised his palm towards Director Bang with a suddenly calm face and voice.
“It’s okay, Hyung. Hyun-soo knows too.”
“…You know?”
“I told him.”
Yoon Joo-ho’s gaze slowly turned halfway around, this time towards Song Hyun-soo. The man who had been shouting at his parents in anger now looked at Song Hyun-soo with gentle eyes that pleaded for sincerity.
“Because I wanted sympathy.”
“……”
“Because I liked it when you felt sorry for me.”
Song Hyun-soo unconsciously clasped his hands tightly in front of his navel. He felt like he had to hold onto something to endure. It was difficult to watch Yoon Joo-ho standing alone. He looked incredibly lonely, standing before his parents. As he unconsciously took a step forward to approach him, his father slammed his hand on the coffee table.
“That crazy bastard… who is he talking to?”
His father, having lost the thin thread of reason he was barely holding onto, seemed to have lost it completely upon realizing that Song Hyun-soo knew a secret that could shatter Yoon Joo-ho’s acting career and their own positions.
His mother was colder and more rational than his father.
“You’re going to expose that? Don’t you know that it won’t do you any good if that gets out?”
She continued.
“You weren’t a minor at the time. Legally, you can’t hold us solely responsible.”
“That’s right. I was an adult at the time. However, if it goes to court, I will emphasize that I have been continuously abused since I was three years old.”
“Abuse? Abuse?? After all the support I’ve given you and pushed you to this position, abuse?? You damn bastard!”
His father, looking for something to throw at Yoon Joo-ho, stirred and looked around. He picked up the photo album lying on the sofa and threw it with all his might towards Yoon Joo-ho’s face.
For a moment, Song Hyun-soo gasped.
Fortunately, Yoon Joo-ho raised his arm, lightly blocking it and swatting it away. The photo album Yoon Joo-ho had flung landed with a clatter in a corner of the living room.
“Stop it!”
Song Hyun-soo, standing at the living room entrance, rushed to Yoon Joo-ho. Grabbing his arm and pulling him, he shouted at his father.
He was someone so precious to me, someone I always wished would shine from a high place.
From that young age until now, I thought he was living like a prince.
“I told you not to interfere? What, a nobody, trashy, unknown actor who just showed up…”
Ignoring his father, who had dropped the pretense of gentility and was spewing vulgarities, Song Hyun-soo felt Yoon Joo-ho’s arm and face.
“Sunbae, are you okay?”
Yoon Joo-ho, who had worn a momentarily bewildered expression, rolled up the right sleeve of his sweatshirt.
“Uh… here, it feels like I hit it hard, but…”
Song Hyun-soo peered closely at the part where Yoon Joo-ho had rolled up his sleeve. It looked like the skin had slightly peeled, perhaps scratched by the corner of the photo album at the moment of impact. As he stroked Yoon Joo-ho’s arm, Song Hyun-soo shouted at his father.
“Who are you hitting? Are you crazy?”
He was so afraid Yoon Joo-ho would become a victim of rumors and malicious comments. Afraid that the terrifying things that happened to Hong-seo would happen again. He was that scared. The intense anger towards these people, his parents, was enough to overcome even his fear.
“Ah, so it was you? You incited Joo-ho, didn’t you? What, were you greedy for this kid’s money?”
“Misery loves company, I guess. Do you think everyone in the world is like you?”
“You? I can make sure a punk like you never sets foot in the entertainment industry again. Watch your mouth.”
His mother, who had been sitting calmly and watching Song Hyun-soo intently, stopped her husband by grabbing his arm. Then, with thin lips that resembled Yoon Joo-ho’s, she spoke softly and coldly.
“How long do you think Joo-ho’s whims will last with a man like Hyun-soo?”
“……”
“No matter who he meets, he never lasts more than a month.”
“Yes, seeing the two of you, I can really understand why Sunbae had no choice but to be this way.”
As expected, his father, unable to hold back this time, jumped up and pointed his finger at Song Hyun-soo.
“Director Bang, what are you doing? Not dragging that son of a bitch out!”
“What do you know about Sunbae? You only think about ripping him off, you know nothing!”
Song Hyun-soo and Yoon Joo-ho’s father looked ready to lunge at each other. Just then, Yoon Joo-ho’s arm, coming from behind, crossed Song Hyun-soo’s chest and pulled him into an embrace.
[You know Executive Director Lee Seo-kyung of Hanseo Group, right? The owner’s eldest son.]
And then, a recorded voice played from somewhere.
Yoon Joo-ho’s right arm, holding his phone, came into Song Hyun-soo’s view.
[I do. His reputation is so bad, it’s impossible not to know.]
[Bad? Watch your words. He’s not like that.]
Yoon Joo-ho’s father’s voice, solemn.
[If he’s not like that?]
[He’s a very dignified man, and a man of clear calculations.]
[How do you know that, Father?]
[Joo-ho, he said he’s interested in you.]
This time, it was his mother. Her voice, gentle and cautious.
[Interested?]
[He wants to meet you.]
[Are you… telling me to sell myself now?]
[Do you have to use such crude language?]
The audacity. His father shouted back, indignant.
[Then what should I call it? Prostitution?]
[Wasn’t your bed partner one or two anyway? It’s just that your partner is becoming a man. Are you trying to act pure now?]
[Are you saying that now?]
[Your lower half has been dipped everywhere anyway, is it going to rot if you dip it one more time?]
Song Hyun-soo tightly gripped Yoon Joo-ho’s arm across his chest. It was exactly what Yoon Joo-ho had said the day he told him about what his parents had done.
“Your lower half has been dipped everywhere anyway, it’s not like it’ll rot if you dip it one more time.”
Why would he say that? My heart had torn when I heard it. Now, I understood why he had spoken that way. Because his parents treated him like that.
[No, that person can save you when you’ve become useless, so this is actually nobler than your month-long relationships.]
It was the biggest load of crap Song Hyun-soo had ever heard in his life.
“Why are you so surprised?”
Yoon Joo-ho stopped the recording and continued.
“Suspicion, documenting all agreements, recordings. I learned all of it from the two of you.”
His father’s face, and even his mother’s, which had maintained composure, hardened.
“How many recordings, messages, and call recordings do you think I’ve collected since I started thinking my parents were no longer on my side?”
His mother was the first to grab her handbag and stand up hastily. Facing Yoon Joo-ho directly, she shook her head with an expression as cold as ice and sharp as a needle’s tip.
“Honestly… I never thought I’d be this disappointed in you.”
“The feeling is mutual.”
His father also stood up, following her.
“Against my parents… you crazy bastard.”
The two of them hurried out of the living room with grim expressions, like suspects fleeing from reporters, moving quickly as if to escape. Yoon Joo-ho, releasing Song Hyun-soo’s shoulder, followed them closely, his eyes glinting as he hissed in their ears.
“You’re the ones who raised me into this crazy bastard. You should feel the reward of your upbringing!”
Then, as soon as the front door closed, he leaned his shoulder against the wall and let out a heavy groan.