By Zephyria 
It was an unprecedented statement for Choi Hong-seo. Usually, the sugary whispers were Lee Hae-sung’s department.
It wasn’t as if the man was right in front of him, nor was Park Dong-ha teasing him from the side, yet his face suddenly flushed hot. He lightly pressed the cold champagne glass against his cheek. Because the tension of being on the clock kept his intoxication from showing on the surface, it had gone unnoticed, but it seemed he had had a bit too much to drink.
I’m definitely drunk.
Otherwise… he wouldn’t have sent such a… whining message… and to a busy person, at that.
Rising from his seat as if escaping, Choi Hong-seo pushed through the crowd and headed for the restroom. He wanted to wash his face and sober up, but he couldn’t risk ruining his makeup or messing up his hair. For now, this was still an extension of work. He washed his hands and used the remaining chill to lightly cool the heat in his face.
The music thrummed even into the restroom, so it didn’t make for a very good sanctuary.
He checked his wristwatch. It was a watch Lee Hae-sung had gifted him in LA. One with a blue dial.
He had received three or four more watches from him since then, but this one remained special.
It felt impolite to leave now; he figured he should stay for at least another thirty minutes.
What time will he be able to get home today?
Tomorrow was Saturday, and although it was already past 10 PM on Friday, he hadn’t left work yet. After a final check of his reflection in the mirror, he lowered his shoulders and let out a long sigh. Through the thin layer of base makeup, a reddish flush of intoxication was visible. He seemed to have sipped too much since the flagship store because the champagne was so easy to drink. Ah, I really need to stop drinking. He shook his head a couple of times to shake off the buzz and exited the restroom.
After walking only two or three steps down the hallway, a familiar voice drifted from a few paces ahead.
“Long time no see, huh?”
Even as he reflexively looked up, in that brief moment, he had a bad feeling.
“……”
Kim Jae-won was leaning against the hallway wall with a slouching, arrogant posture.
He was someone who brought no benefit from long conversations. Wondering how to handle it, Hong-seo gave a slight nod of acknowledgment and hurried his pace.
“Why so cold all of a sudden?”
Kim Jae-won stretched out his leg and pressed his toe against the opposite wall of the hallway. It wasn’t as if he was bragging about his leg length… Hong-seo clicked his tongue and looked at him, baffled by behavior that seemed fit for an elementary schooler.
Go ahead and try to pass me if you can. With that expression, Kim Jae-won quirked an eyebrow. His thick, long eyebrows that swept upward—almost like his mascot—twitched.
“You changed your name, and it seems you’ve been keeping a low profile lately?”
“……”
“I thought the ‘lost my memory and became modest’ concept wouldn’t last a month.”
“Wasn’t the issue with you, Mr. Kim Jae-won, settled back then?”
“Back then? When? Ah… your birthday?”
Kim Jae-won raised an eyebrow as he searched his memory, then tilted his head crookedly.
“What do you mean ‘settled’? It was a unilateral ceasefire because you showed up with some middle-aged man.”
Kim Jae-won shook his head, correcting his own words.
“Ah, no. Because of that man, you and I were forcibly separated.”
The restroom hallway wasn’t very wide. As people tried to pass through, Choi Hong-seo had no choice but to step aside. Just as Kim Jae-won retracted his leg and turned toward Choi Hong-seo, the distinct giggling of two men passing by reached his ears.
“Hey, Kim Jae-won. Kim Jae-won, right?”
“Fuck, it is him.”
At the sound of whispering from just a few steps away, Kim Jae-won’s face stiffened. Choi Hong-seo tried to use the opening to leave. As he attempted to slip past the shoulder blocking his path, Kim Jae-won reached out his arm this time to block the way.
The two men continued to chatter.
“Isn’t his profile height 185? Looking at him in person, he doesn’t even look 180, let alone 185. What the hell is with the 185?”
“Right? Looking closely, he definitely got his nose done.”
“Excuse me.”
Kim Jae-won finally couldn’t hold back.
“Why are you pretending not to know? You two, you little squids. I’m talking to you.”
The men hesitated and looked back. With his back completely turned to Choi Hong-seo, Kim Jae-won walked toward them with his chin held high.
“They say you only see what you are. Fuck, who got their nose done?”
The men, who looked to be in their mid-twenties, appeared flustered. Although they had spoken knowing Kim Jae-won could hear them, they hadn’t expected him to actually call them out.
Approaching them closely, Kim Jae-won bent his waist forward to peer closely at their faces.
“Chalk shoved up the bridge of the nose, eyes sliced open, filler in the lips… you’ve both done everything possible to your faces. Why? You spent the price of a mid-sized car on your face and you’re still a squid, so it hurts to see a real handsome man? Fuck, I only had a slight correction on my uneven eyes, okay?”
“What is this? Is this guy completely insane?”
“Want me to post this online? ‘Eyewitness account of Kim Jae-won’s total lack of manners’?”
Now the men raised their voices and lunged at Kim Jae-won. People entering the restroom, people leaving the restroom, and Choi Hong-seo—everyone was stuck, unable to move forward or back, watching the fight because of the three men dominating the narrow hallway.
Kim Jae-won grew more wild.
“Is there anyone in Korea who doesn’t know Kim Jae-won is an insane prick? You bastards who bitch about others while knowing you’re being heard—is your character so fucking great?”
“Hey, let’s go, let’s go. Fuck, you can’t even reason with him.”
“I’ll eat dirt if that bastard’s popularity lasts much longer.”
When it became clear that Kim Jae-won’s anger showed no sign of subsiding, the men began to retreat, pulling at each other’s sleeves. Kim Jae-won screamed at the backs of their heads as they fled.
“Hey, where are you going? Come back here! You little shits, how tall are you? Who said 180? If I’m 180, you guys aren’t even 170! Fuck, come back and let’s measure!”
Even after they were completely out of sight, Kim Jae-won didn’t seem satisfied. He strained his voice toward the end of the hallway where they had disappeared.
“Those fucking bastards, those are the types who leave hate comments on the internet! Who the hell is judging whose character!”
Kim Jae-won messily ruffled his styled hair and turned around. He then glared with raised eyebrows at the people who were stealing glances at him.
“Is this a show? Go on your way.”
At Kim Jae-won’s menacing aura, the people hurried away as if avoiding him. Choi Hong-seo tried to blend in with them, but he was stopped again.
“You stay.”
This time, a hand gripped his upper arm firmly and pulled him roughly against the wall.
“Yoon Hye-an.”
“It’s Hyeon-seo.”
He shook his arm violently to escape the grip, but the distance was too close.
“Legally, you’re still Yoon Hye-an.”
Kim Jae-won snapped in irritation. In the next moment, as if immediately regretting it, he ruffled his hair and muttered curses.
It was true that while he had changed his stage name to ‘Hyeon-seo,’ he had kept his legal name as Yoon Hye-an. He had done so as a small gesture of sincerity toward the previous ‘Yoon Hye-an.’
Last year and the year before, on the date Choi Hong-seo had awakened in Yoon Hye-an’s body, he had visited Dongho Bridge with Lee Hae-sung. The two had promised to treat the date Hong-seo woke up in the body as Yoon Hye-an’s anniversary of death.
They didn’t perform a shamanic ritual or write talismans. After visiting the ‘Bardo,’ neither felt the need for such things. They decided to prioritize ‘faith and sincerity’ itself over being bound by religious branches or forms.
Standing side by side, they gazed at the black waves for a long time with calm and reverent hearts. With all their sincerity and devotion, they prayed for Yoon Hye-an’s soul to rest in peace and expressed their gratitude.
That even if it was his fate to never wake up and breathe his last, they were grateful he lent his body. That as long as he lived in someone else’s body, he would not bring shame to it, but would cherish the name and body and live well before returning.
Looking straight into Kim Jae-won’s eyes, Choi Hong-seo continued to apply pressure to shake off the hand. His other hand, which attempted to push the shoulder away, was caught by Kim Jae-won. A struggle of pushing and shoving ensued. The more Choi Hong-seo resisted and acted cold and fierce, the more a hint of a smile played in Kim Jae-won’s eyes.
“See. You doing this… the old you is still in there.”
Someone coming out of the restroom was passing behind Kim Jae-won. Since it wasn’t a fistfight but just two men pushing each other, the passerby didn’t seem to think much of it. They likely just thought, COC’s Kim Jae-won is causing trouble again, while stealing a glance at the face that was said to be so handsome.
“Excuse me! Mr. Kim Jae-won seems very drunk, so please call someone!”
Over Kim Jae-won’s shoulder, Choi Hong-seo shouted to the man. The man flinched but nodded.
Suddenly, Kim Jae-won dropped his head low.
“Let’s do it.”
Hong-seo knew what object was missing from that mutter. Goosebumps broke out across his entire body, and he froze.
“I’ll book the suite you like. Let’s do it today.”
Though his lips trembled and he stammered, Choi Hong-seo shot back.
“Stop saying creepy things… let go. Someone will be here soon.”
“Fuck, I’m so frustrated and miserable I could die!”
Kim Jae-won slammed his head against Yoon Hye-an’s collarbone several times, shouting as if wailing.
“You know my company. They see me as nothing more than a money-making machine.”
“How many more times do I have to tell you that I don’t remember?”
“My contract expires at the end of the year, and it’s obvious to everyone that I’m not going to renew. That’s why these bastards are working me to death.”
When will someone come? Choi Hong-seo stared only at the end of the hallway, and Kim Jae-won looked at that ‘Yoon Hye-an.’ With an expression like someone who had been betrayed.
“Even now, I was originally supposed to go to a reception for some overseas investors.”
“……”
“I threw a fit saying I wouldn’t go, which is why I came here.”
I cleared my busy schedule and stopped by here specifically to sleep with you. Is that what he wants to say?
“What a tear-jerking devotion.”
At Choi Hong-seo’s cold, unwavering sarcasm, Kim Jae-won glared at him with flashing eyes. The grip on his arm and wrist tightened painfully.
“This is something that definitely happened between you and me, so is it all gone just because you forgot? If you say you don’t remember, am I just supposed to accept it obediently?”
“You said we weren’t lovers or anything, just sex partners. Do I have to take responsibility for that too?”
“Just sex partners?”
Kim Jae-won’s burning gaze turned cold in an instant. His lips twisted into a forced, bitter smile. Then, Kim Jae-won changed his tactic.
“The one thirteen years younger that Vice President Lee Hae-sung has been carrying around lately. That’s you, isn’t it?”
That was certainly a statement capable of pinning Choi Hong-seo down.