By Zephyria 
“What did you buy as a gift? You must have thought about it.”
“A baseball cap. Noona likes them.”
“That’s a relief. That you chose well.”
“Yes. I chose well.”
Then there was a moment of silence. Hae-jun tapped a stone decoration at the entrance of the bar with his toe.
“Where are you?”
“I’m in Seocheon right now. I’m preparing to film at the reed field here.”
“Ah. They said they were going to film a scene of a mother’s attempted murder there, right?”
“Yes.”
A son who couldn’t stop his mother from killing him, and a mother trying to stop her son. But the son, who had become a murderer, wanted to kill his mother, and it was time to film the scene where the mother and son chased each other. It was the climax of this movie.
“Okay. Do a good job. You’re coming back tomorrow, right?”
“Yes, hyung. You have fun at the birthday party too. I’ll call you again later.”
“Okay. Hang up…”
He was about to hang up but then paused. Lee A-gon’s voice asking, “Hyung?” could be heard through the phone.
“Lee A-gon, when is your birthday?”
“Mine?”
“Yes. When is it?”
He realized now that while he celebrated others’ birthdays, he had never asked when Lee A-gon’s birthday was. Since they had been together for almost a year, it was likely that it had already passed, but Hae-jun asked with anticipation.
“Mine has already passed. It was July 20th.”
Indeed. Hae-jun pressed his forehead, a look of regret on his face.
“I’m sorry. I let your birthday pass by.”
―It’s okay. Even if I had known, you wouldn’t have been able to take care of me then. Because…
Lee A-gon trailed off. Hae-jun knew why Lee A-gon was trailing off.
Because at that time, the two of them had separated and weren’t even seeing each other.
“I’ll definitely celebrate it next year.”
―Yes.
“Really. I’ll make sure it’s the best birthday ever.”
Laughter could be heard from the other end of the phone. It sounded like he didn’t believe it.
Every time this happened, Hae-jun grew anxious. He felt frustrated by Lee A-gon’s behavior, as if he were holding back when talking about the future.
―Before that, I’ll celebrate your birthday. December 24th. Christmas Eve. It’s your birthday.
“You knew?”
―Yes.
His hurt feelings warmed up again. Hae-jun laughed out loud.
“I miss you.”
―…
“I miss you, Lee A-gon.”
―I can see you tomorrow.
“Yeah, I know. But I still miss you.”
He didn’t say he missed me too. He would stroke my bruised feet a hundred times and worry about me getting hurt, but he wouldn’t promise a future a year away or say he missed me.
‘It’s okay. It’s all my fault.’
Sad as it was, regrettable as it was, it was all because of my lies. To give Lee A-gon trust, more time was needed than now.
―I should go in now. I’ll call again.
“Okay. Go in.”
The call ended. Hae-jun suppressed his disappointment and slowly put down his phone.
“Is that Lee A-gon?”
Just then, Seo Ji-hoon’s voice came from behind him. Hae-jun spun around.
“Oh… Why are you out here?”
“To smoke.”
Seo Ji-hoon offered his pack of cigarettes and asked, “Want one?” Hae-jun shook his head.
“I didn’t know you smoked. You didn’t smoke when we were filming
“I had quit then. Now, I can’t stand it if I don’t smoke.”
Leaning against the wall, Seo Ji-hoon lit a cigarette and took a puff. Then, he exhaled a deep, sigh-like plume of smoke.
“Is something not going well?”
“How many actors want to be here? There are too many guys who are just good-looking and just okay at acting. They’re a dime a dozen.”
“That’s true.”
Hae-jun stood beside Seo Ji-hoon. He couldn’t smoke with him, but he could listen to his story.
“How about you?”
“What about me?”
“Lee A-gon.”
Seo Ji-hoon blew smoke towards Hae-jun and said, “He’s doing well these days, isn’t he? After appearing as a significant supporting character in that Umyung zombie drama, he got a movie that’s almost a lead role, and now he’s filming a movie where he’s the actual lead, right?”
Hae-jun waved the smoke away with his hand, saying nothing. He could sense the unsuppressed jealousy in Seo Ji-hoon’s voice.
“Must be nice for Lee A-gon. Well, with the Umyung name, it’d be weirder if he wasn’t successful. Guys like me don’t get calls, so I’m struggling just to get by day by day, but Lee A-gon will be successful his whole life thanks to Umyung. I’m jealous, damn it.”
A curse slipped out at the end of his words. Seo Ji-hoon lowered his head and mumbled something to himself. It was all about how he envied the Umyung bloodline.
The Lee A-gon who used to drift through independent film sets was worlds apart from the Lee A-gon of today. Seo Ji-hoon felt inferior to Lee A-gon, who had returned as a young master of Umyung.
“It’s true that Lee A-gon has Umyung backing him,”
Hae-jun began slowly.
“But that doesn’t mean he lacks talent. You know that too, right?”
If he had eyes, he couldn’t deny it. Unable to refute Hae-jun’s words, Seo Ji-hoon quietly drew on his cigarette and weakly conceded, “That’s true…”
“I didn’t realize when I was filming the movie. That there was such a gap between him and me.”
Seo Ji-hoon said in a voice devoid of its earlier sharpness.
“When I saw the finished film… my face turned red at the premiere. When I and Lee A-gon were in the same frame, I was invisible. I had never seen an actor with such screen presence before. That’s not something you can catch up to with practice.”
With a deep exhale, the filter glowed red as it burned.
“It was such a stark contrast to me. Both my looks and my acting…”
Hae-jun, who had been listening quietly, tilted his head at that. He understood the acting part, but what did he mean by looks?
“Are you subtly calling him ugly right now?”
“What are you talking about?”
“That’s what it sounds like. You get the acting, but anyone can see you’re better looking, so you’re just saying it indirectly, right?”
Seo Ji-hoon, who had been leaning askew, straightened up, his hair disheveled.
“Are you subtly mocking me right now?”
“No?”
“Then you genuinely think Lee A-gon is uglier than me right now?”
“Yeah. I’m objective.”
No matter how much you like someone, if they’re ugly, they’re ugly. Hae-jun wanted to date Lee A-gon despite his perceived ugliness.
“Do you have no eyes?”
Seo Ji-hoon spat out his cigarette and crushed it on the ground. Annoyance was evident in his movements.
“If Lee A-gon’s face is a face, mine is a spatula. No, wait. No matter who you put next to him, compared to his face, they’re nothing more than spatulas or kettles.”
“Do you have no eyes? Or are you making fun of Lee A-gon right now?”
Hae-jun was starting to get a little angry. This was clearly a veiled insult towards Lee A-gon.
“Have you even properly looked at his face? Did you see how ridiculously long his eyelashes are? His face is pale like a sick person’s, his eyes are too big, and his nose sticks out too much.”
“Have you looked at his face? It’s famous how long his eyelashes are, his skin is flawless and even translucent. What do you mean his eyes are too big and his nose sticks out too much? His eyes are long and narrow, and his nose is sharp; he just looks manly.”
“Hey, what are you… Never mind. Let’s not talk about it.”
Hae-jun pressed his forehead. No matter how different people’s tastes were, this was beyond that. It seemed that in Seo Ji-hoon’s eyes, Lee A-gon was a peerless beauty. Even though that was absurd.
“Hae-jun. You should get yourself checked again. It seems you’re an Ability User, not an Assistant.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m asking if you have a mental illness.”
Seo Ji-hoon looked genuinely concerned, and Hae-jun clenched his fist.
“Having excessively high standards is also a mental illness. You should definitely get checked.”
“Seo Ji-hoon, you should get checked yourself. Having excessively low standards isn’t normal either.”
“No matter how I look at it, he seems like an Ability User.”
“You little punk.”
The two of them playfully sparred with meaningless punches.
“If you keep this up, I’ll report you as an Assistant.”
“Go ahead, do it. Try it. If you report me, I’ll report you too. Do you think I’ll die alone?”
“Huh? You’re really going to do it? I’m going!”
“Go ahead, I said. Who’s stopping you?”
Now, they exchanged empty threats instead of punches. ‘You son of a bitch, wanna go? Go on, go!’ they said, pushing each other’s backs.
“There’s a blood donation center across the street. Go there.”
“You think I won’t go just because you tell me to?”
Reporting a Guide was the easiest thing in the world. Just dial 113, and the country would come looking for you via location tracking.
If you wanted to go in person and report, that wasn’t difficult either. Each district had a Guide reporting office, and administrative welfare centers accepted applications at all times.
Paperwork could also be submitted at blood donation centers or mobile blood donation vehicles. If you went to a police station and said you wanted to report, they would connect you to the relevant department. I even heard they had them at fire stations. The country was desperately searching for Guides. The power of self-defense!
The two who had been bickering suddenly collapsed and laughed hollowly. Although they had worked together on two projects, this was the first time they had spoken alone. Hae-jun felt a slight sense of closeness to Seo Ji-hoon.
“What are you two doing out here? Come in quickly!”
Just then, the shop door opened, and Jin A-reum appeared, shouting. Hae-jun replied, “Yes, noona,” and stood up.
“Hey.”
“What.”
Suddenly, he thought he could ask Seo Ji-hoon. Why hadn’t he thought of it sooner? He was currently dating another Ability User, and he knew Hae-jun was an Assistant.
“You said the person you’re dating is an Ability User, right? Are you still dating?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, um… uhm…”
“Ah, what is it? Stop beating around the bush and ask.”
“Does your… your Ability User also… examine you when you come back from going out?”
“Examine what?”
Seo Ji-hoon asked back. Hae-jun gnawed on his lip, hesitated, then realized there was no way to beat around the bush and finally asked directly.
“I mean, do they examine if someone else has touched your nipples or… your holes?”