By Zephyria 
Expensive bags, clothes, watches, first-class tickets. Those things would be nice, of course. Yoon Joo-ho was already wealthy enough to have whatever he wanted, but a lover’s gift was different.
More than anything, though, Song Hyun-soo wanted to become a recognized actor quickly and make him happy.
Putting down the champagne he was drinking, Song Hyun-soo said as if he had just remembered something.
“Kang Jung-ho, do you want to see Yoon Joo-ho sunbae’s passport? It’s amazing.”
“Really?”
Jung-ho first looked at Yoon Joo-ho. He was curious about actor Yoon Joo-ho’s passport photo, but he thought Yoon Joo-ho might get annoyed and make a fuss.
“Sunbae, give me your passport.”
But Song Hyun-soo, unaware of Jung-ho’s concern, reached out to Yoon Joo-ho as if asking for something he had left with him. And Yoon Joo-ho obediently rummaged through his bag and handed over his passport.
Jung-ho was watching the two of them quite closely, but he still found it difficult to adjust to the difference in Yoon Joo-ho’s attitude towards Song Hyun-soo and everyone else. Because of that, Yoon Joo-ho was an unpredictable person to Jung-ho. If someone else had acted like that towards Yoon Joo-ho, they would have at least been met with a dismissive click of the tongue and been ignored. Yoon Joo-ho, of all people, was acting so docile.
Song Hyun-soo turned the cover of the passport and showed it to Jung-ho.
“Look at this.”
“Wow, crazy…”
“Right? It’s crazy, isn’t it? Amazing, right?”
Song Hyun-soo was as proud as if it were his own photo. No, more like… a fourth-grade boy showing off a new robot he got for his birthday.
“When was this taken? Joo-ho hyung looks a bit younger.”
“About seven or eight years ago?”
Yoon Joo-ho asked from across the table.
“How do you know?”
“I can tell just by the hairstyle. When you were filming The Genealogy of Monday…”
Song Hyun-soo’s triumphant voice trailed off towards the end. It was as if he had proven himself to be an ardent fan of Yoon Joo-ho.
Swinging his crossed legs, Yoon Joo-ho smiled smoothly.
“Wow, you can deduce a work just by the hairstyle? Yoon Gyeol-ho is something else.”
Song Hyun-soo had declared to Yoon Joo-ho from the beginning that he was a fan. But sometimes he didn’t want to reveal how much he had liked him. Because of reactions like this.
“That’s right. I’m a successful fan. Whatever, it’s a success, so it’s all good.”
“That’s right, a huge successful fan. You even climbed onto my bed…”
Song Hyun-soo kicked Yoon Joo-ho’s shin as he wiggled his legs and grinned, making him shut his mouth. Yoon Joo-ho only pretended to be scared, bringing the champagne glass to his lips and saying, “Oh, scary.”
“Sunbae, next time you renew your passport, make sure to give me a headshot.”
“What are you going to use it for?”
“To carry it around in my wallet.”
“You’re such a child.”
Yoon Joo-ho chuckled as if he found such behavior difficult to understand. It was the same as saying it was childish. But it didn’t matter. He wanted a photo that only he, as his lover, could possess, not the Yoon Joo-ho that everyone in Korea knew.
Hanwoo burgers and beef bone soup were served.
Jung-ho, who took photos from various angles before letting anyone touch the food, finally picked up his spoon and asked Song Hyun-soo.
“But hyung, why do you still call Joo-ho hyung ‘sunbae’?”
“I can’t call a sunbae a hoobae, can I?”
“That’s not what I mean. Even I call him Joo-ho hyung. Why is your honorific still ‘sunbae’?”
Song Hyun-soo, who had a mouthful of juicy hamburger, turned to look at Yoon Joo-ho. It was a topic he had never thought about.
Jung-ho looked back and forth between the two of them.
“Don’t tell me you call him ‘sunbae’ even when you’re alone? No way, right?”
“……”
He called him “sunbae” even when they were alone, even during sex. Was that not okay?
They were a couple who were living together, no less. They were together 24 hours a day, kissing until their lips were chapped, and when they were at home, Yoon Joo-ho literally clung to Song Hyun-soo’s waist. Song Hyun-soo had to drag Yoon Joo-ho around with him clinging to his waist.
When they sat side by side on the sofa, Yoon Joo-ho would always try to touch Song Hyun-soo, whether it was his side, stomach, or arm. Like a security blanket. Even if Song Hyun-soo got up for a moment, he would ask, “Where are you going?” and look up at him with anxious eyes. Even though the farthest he could go in the house was the front door.
He had never felt that affection or expression was lacking.
But they weren’t the kind of couple who called each other sweet nicknames or carried each other’s photos in their wallets. Neither Yoon Joo-ho nor Song Hyun-soo wanted that from the other. Come to think of it, he seemed to have had quite cute relationships when he dated girlfriends.
Slowly chewing on the Hanwoo patty, which filled his mouth with flavor, he carefully watched Yoon Joo-ho across from him.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, Yoon Joo-ho, who had been checking something on his tablet, looked up at him.
“Eat. It’s getting cold.”
Even in those two curt words, Song Hyun-soo felt overflowing affection.
He felt that was enough.
S#2. The City of Light
As soon as Yoon Joo-ho’s figure appeared at the arrival gate of Charles de Gaulle Airport, screams that seemed like they would paralyze the airport erupted. That was Song Hyun-soo’s first impression of Paris.
Enthusiastic screams and flashes of light bursting from everywhere.
Yoon Joo-ho’s fans waved cell phones with neon sign apps displaying cheering messages or placards, welcoming the two of them, or rather, Yoon Joo-ho. The number of people wasn’t enough to warrant mobilizing airport police, but it seemed to be well over a hundred at first glance.
Yoon Joo-ho’s bodyguards immediately surrounded Yoon Joo-ho and Song Hyun-soo, creating a narrow path. Pushed by the rushing people and outstretched arms, Song Hyun-soo couldn’t get his bearings.
Yoon Joo-ho firmly grabbed Song Hyun-soo’s arm and stood close to him.
“Say hello and wave.”
As he whispered in his ear, he mechanically smiled, bowed, waved, and moved forward. It seemed like those people only wanted Yoon Joo-ho.
Joo-ho! Joo-ho!
The pronunciation was very clear, although mixed with a foreign accent.
Countless people shouted his name at the top of their lungs. Some shouts even sounded like screams.
Hyun-soo!
He might have misheard, but Song Hyun-soo looked around as he was being pushed along, thinking he had heard his name. But all that unfolded before his eyes was a scene of utter chaos.
Yoon Joo-ho’s bodyguards led them to a car parked right in front of the arrival exit. However, fans were crowded around the car, so they couldn’t leave right away even after the doors were closed.
Yoon Joo-ho, who was sitting in the inner seat, put his hand on Song Hyun-soo’s shoulder and asked.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m a bit disoriented, but I’m okay. I think I’m okay.”
Only then did Song Hyun-soo let out a sigh and smile.
“Wow… the overseas fans’ power is no joke. Is it because they don’t get to see you often?”
“I guess so.”
“It wasn’t like this when I saw it in videos, but experiencing it directly is no… no…”
He trailed off, realizing he had made a mistake, but Yoon Joo-ho, who had already noticed everything, tilted his head and smiled contentedly.
“What viideoss?”
“Tch.”
“I see. Our hoobae was even looking up my arrival and departure videos.”
“I told you, I was a fan of sunbae.”
Song Hyun-soo, who had sullenly admitted it, thought there was nothing more to hide now that things had come to this.
“Isn’t it even more crowded during fashion week? I think I saw a video of the airport almost being paralyzed before.”
“When I enter the country for such official schedules, there are definitely more people.”
Outside the car window, fans continued to chant Yoon Joo-ho’s name and surround the car, and the bodyguards were skillfully managing them. Song Hyun-soo, who was looking out the window, carefully examined a neon sign in Korean written on a fan’s cell phone.
Juheheesu
“Sunbae, what is Juheheesu?”
Yoon Joo-ho, who hunched over and checked the direction Song Hyun-soo was pointing, shrugged.
“I don’t know. Is it a new slang term that fans use among themselves?”
He added that there were many newly created slang terms and the trends changed so quickly that even he had a hard time keeping up.
“Oh? Sunbae, look over there! My name is there too!”
Song Hyun-soo stuck to the window with a voice full of emotion.
Hyun-soo, WELCOME TO PARIS
A brightly decorated picket in A3 size flickered in the back row.
Song Hyun-soo hurriedly took out his cell phone and pressed the record button. It wasn’t clearly captured, but you could make out the letters if you zoomed in.
Yoon Joo-ho ruffled the back of Song Hyun-soo’s head, which was pressed against the window.
“Do you like it?”
“Right now, I’m just dazed and… amazed.”
The car, having confirmed that safety was secured, slowly began to move. Song Hyun-soo looked back at them as they moved away and muttered.
“That someone in such a faraway place knows me.”
Yoon Joo-ho’s hand lightly massaged the back of Song Hyun-soo’s neck. Song Hyun-soo turned to look at his lover and gave an awkward smile with a complicated expression.
“What’s with that subtle smile?”
Song Hyun-soo glanced at the foreign driver in the driver’s seat and then spoke cautiously.
“I suddenly feel guilty for monopolizing sunbae.”
Yoon Joo-ho, whom so many people wanted so desperately.
Yoon Joo-ho leaned his upper body and brought his face close to his. As if telling him to look closely.
“So? Should I share?”
Song Hyun-soo smiled and pushed Yoon Joo-ho’s chest away.
“I can’t do that.”
It was the beginning of Paris.