Terrible pain ripped through his head. As if someone inserted a tube and poured poison from the top of his head to the temple while he was sleeping.
Alcohol tasted good when drinking it, but the next morning was painful. He realized that fact early, but he had not yet found a way to get out of the hangover.
Inseop tried to get up from his seat. However, his body did not move as planned. It was because he couldn’t refuse the alcohol that the staff gave him while returning to celebrate his birthday yesterday and drank it all. He wanted to politely decline, but in Korea, because of the etiquette that he should drink the alcohol his superiors gave at once, he steadfastly emptied all the glasses they gave him.
Besides, yesterday was his birthday on paper. In Korea, legitimate violence given by close colleagues on birthdays was also considered a gift. What did they say about it? Birthday… what was it? That’s right. A birthday bbeong. Yesterday he got a birthday bbeong.
“Ugh… Head hurts.”
Inseop muttered, pressing his forehead with his palm. He felt thirsty as if all the moisture had evaporated from his body, but he couldn’t even dare to walk to the refrigerator.
“Would you like some water?”
“Yes.”
“Here.”
A glass of water was held over his head. Inseop reached out and accepted it, and barely got up. He closed his eyes, savoring the sensation of the cold water spreading through his body.
No matter who it was, they were very kind. How did they know he was thirsty?
“Thank you… !”
Inseop, who was about to thank the person who handed him a glass of water, spit out the water he was holding in his mouth. Water from his mouth spilled into the carpet.
“Oh my.”
Lee Wooyeon looked at the water-stained carpet with worried eyes and clicked his tongue. Choi Inseop rubbed his eyes a couple of times, wondering if he was not awake yet. Lee Wooyeon was still standing there. With just a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Why… uh… me…”
“Yesterday you got drunk and fell asleep on the street. Remember?”
Inseop opened his mouth and shook his head.
“You didn’t even wake up, so I picked you up before anyone else did.”
“… ”
“I brought you to my house. I struggled a bit with it.”
“Uh, up… … , did you carry me?”
Watching Choi Inseop’s big eyes widen, Lee Wooyeon continued speaking slowly.
“You need to gain some weight. It wasn’t because you were heavy, it was because your body is thin and our bones collided.”
“… me… ”
Due to the continuous shock, Inseop could not even respond properly.
In fact, after thinking about picking up Choi Inseop from the street, the only thing Lee Wooyeon did was raise his hand and stop a taxi. The rest was left to the taxi driver, who was generously tipped.
“Sorry.”
Inseop, who barely came to his senses, bowed his head. He was fine until he left the office desperately not to cause trouble to others, but he ended up here on Lee Wooyeon’s back.
It wasn’t just an apology to say sorry. Right now, from Lee Wooyeon’s mouth, the words, “You’re fired,” seemed to come out.
‘I’m sorry Jenny. All I can do for you is…’
“What are you doing?”
“Yes?”
“You have to wash up. Did you forget filming starts today?”
Lee Wooyeon asked, drying his wet hair with a towel. Inseop, who was lying obliquely on the sofa, jumped up at those words. Although his head was still ringing, he entered the bathroom as quickly as possible.
Outside the bathroom, Lee Wooyeon said warmly, “Prepare quickly.” Getting hit by water falling from the shower head, Inseop faced an unrealistic morning.
They left the van at the office, so they had to call another taxi. Even after changing to the van, Inseop was restless as he noticed Lee Wooyeon, who was sitting behind him.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t prepare coffee.”
“It’s okay. By the way, you’re not drunk driving right now, are you?”
“… I’m sober.”
The moment he saw Lee Wooyeon, half-naked, looking down at him, Inseop’s drunken spirit disappeared.
“Still, there must be something called blood-alcohol concentration.”
“I’ll stop by a convenience store and buy some medicine.”
“Just joking.”
“… ”
Right now, not even a word of Lee Wooyeon’s jokes could be heard. Yesterday, when he was drunk, he was worried that he might have made a mistake, so his lips were dry. Inseop bit his lip with impatience.
“Would you like to have breakfast?”
Normally, he would have prepared for Lee Wooyeon’s food the day before, but today he couldn’t.
“Let’s go to the rest stop… Nevermind. We’ll have a meal truck at the set. Let’s eat there.”
The moment he heard the word resting place, Lee Wooyeon skillfully turned around, seeing Inseop’s shoulders shrug, recalling bad memories.
“Let’s stop by the rest area for a while.”
“No. I don’t think I’ll have time, so I’ll just go.”
There was nothing wrong with Lee Wooyeon’s words. Time was tight because they had to arrive at the set in Gangwon-do before 9 am.
Since filming on set was a physical battle, they have to pay more attention to preparing breakfast than other days. He should have drank in moderation, but the loneliness was so intense that he couldn’t even say that he was smitten by the kindness of people, and he drank until past midnight.
Was that all? When he woke up, he was in Lee Wooyeon’s house.
Choi Inseop was tired of his own stupidity and wanted to bang his head.
“Ha…”
As Inseop let out a deep sigh without realizing it, Lee Wooyeon, who was reading the script, lifted his head.
“Why?You have a headache?”
“I’m fine.”
“How are your hands?”
“Fine. The wound has almost healed.”
It was just a razor cut, so there was more blood than the wound. There was no problem in driving. The only problem was that his hands were sweating and tingling from worrying about last night.
“I think you drank a lot yesterday.”
“Yes. It was my birthdaybbeong, so I couldn’t help it.”
“Birthdaybbeong?”
“Yes.”
Judging by his serious reply, it didn’t look like he was joking. Lee Wooyeon smiled and corrected his mistake.
“Birthday bbang.”
“Yes?”
“It’s not bbeong, it’s bbang.”
“Yes… bbang. Birthday bbang.”
Gripping the steering wheel, Inseop’s ears quickly turned bright red. Lee Wooyeon felt the urge to reach out and turn Inseop’s head back. Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to put it into action.
“I… I apologize if I made a mistake yesterday.”
Choi Inseop hesitated and opened his mouth.
“Something wrong? Ah, ha ha. There was no mistake.”
No mistake, Inseop’s heart fluttered at the meaningful words. To the extent that he wondered if there was something wrong with his now healthy heart.
“You seemed to be pretty drunk.”
“Dr, Drunk?”
He almost hit the brakes on the highway. Inseop cleared his mind and asked in a calm tone as much as possible.
“I mean… Are you saying I was drunk?”
“Yes.”
“…”
Should he just open the car door and jump out of here?
Seeing Inseop perplexed, Lee Wooyeon smiled and continued.
“Is Jenny the bad person?”
“… !”
“Is Inseop’s first love Jenny? The bad person?”
“No!”
Inseop groaned.
“Jenny is not that kind of person. If you don’t even know Jenny, please don’t say things like that.”
“… ”
He hadn’t watched the manager for a long time, but it was a coincidence since he had never imagined him getting angry in this way.
Strength entered the hand holding the script.
“Sorry.”
Lee Wooyeon first apologized. Only then did Inseop realize that he had reacted unnecessarily, and replied with a soft voice, “It’s okay.”
“No. It was my mistake to say that without knowing it.”
“…”
It was after he had already shut his mouth when he felt that Lee Wooyeon’s voice was subtly cold.
There was an awkward silence in the car. In the end, the two didn’t talk at all until they arrived on set.
As soon as he parked the car, Lee Wooyeon opened the car door and went out. Inseop sighed. In hindsight, it was usual for Lee Wooyeon to read a script or sleep in the car. It wasn’t long before Lee Wooyeon started talking to Inseop in the car.
“Never mind. Basically, this is normal.”
He mumbled bitterly.
Inseop put the car key in his pocket, gathered various supplies, and followed Lee Wooyeon. Inside the filming set, the staff who arrived first were preparing for the filming.
Seeing Lee Wooyeon greeting people with a bright smile, Inseop was relieved. He was not angry.
“Mr. Lee Wooyeon. Make up.”
The makeup team called Lee Wooyeon. Inseop sprinted after him to receive the clothes. The make-up of the main characters in historical dramas took several times longer than the make-up of modern dramas. Inseop sat next to him and waited for him until he finished his makeup. Lee Wooyeon, who had his eyes closed the whole time he put on makeup, called Inseop only after changing all his clothes.
“This.”
He handed over the clothes that he was wearing. Inseop folded his clothes neatly in the suitcase he had prepared. Lee Wooyeon started reading the script again. The conversation ended there.
The director called for Lee Wooyeon, and he left. After contemplating for a while, Inseop left his outerwear and headed to the parking lot to put away the clothes in the car. Putting his clothes in the van, he double-checked that the van’s doors were locked. This was because there were many fans who followed to the local filming location, opened the car door, and stole the things of their favorite stars. When he was following behind him to dig up information about Lee Wooyeon, he witnessed a lot of things before his eyes as to how far a stalker fan could go.
It was said that the day would be sunny, but the set in Gangwon-do was cold. Inseop had a hot pack in his pocket, considering Lee Wooyeon’s waiting time. There wasn’t even room for a hand in his pocket.
Inseop moved his steps, melting his frozen fingertips. As he walked down the street, blowing his hands, he couldn’t even see who was walking in front of him.
“Hey.”
Not even aware that the arrogant voice was calling him, Inseop walked forward.
“Hey, hey. You. Lee Wooyeon’s manager.”
As the tone of his voice increased, Inseop raised his head in surprise.
It was Kang Youngmo.
After finishing the makeup, Kang Youngmo, who was walking with his manager, gestured to Inseop.
He quickly bowed his head and greeted Kang Youngmo.
“Come here.”
Choi Inseop went and stood in front of him. Kang Youngmo placed his hands on his waist and arrogantly raised his chin.
“When you see someone, you have to say hello. What are you doing?”
“What? Just before…”
“Say hello!”
Wondering if he didn’t see it, Inseop bowed his head again and said, “Hello,” louder than before. Kang Youngmo smashed Inseop’s head with the script he was holding.
“Can’t you say hi? Didn’t you even learn to say hello?”
“… ”
Surprised, Choi Inseop blinked his big eyes and tried to understand the situation. He must have seen him say hello on this street. In the end, the reason why Kang Youngmo was doing this wasn’t that he didn’t like the greeting, but that he didn’t like him. No, to be precise, it meant that he didn’t like Lee Wooyeon’s manager.
“Say hello properly.”
Choi Inseop bowed his head more deeply than before. He said hello in the most polite voice possible, but Kang Youngmo’s script slapped him in the head again.
“Hey, you bastard. Who taught you to greet like that? Your mom and dad said it like that? Is your boss like that? Or is the actor you are in charge of teaching you that way? You have bow enough to touch your knees.”
“…”
Tears seemed to flow from the sadness and sorrow. Seeing Inseop struggling with being caught by Kang Youngmo, no one helped. People who clearly knew Kang Youngmo’s personality did not want to interfere and create problems.
“I’m sorry.”
Although there was nothing to apologize for and nothing wrong with him, Inseop bowed his head and apologized for now. He didn’t want to create any problem either. If there was a problem with Kang Youngmo, Lee Wooyeon would also get involved. He absolutely wanted to avoid it.
However, what came back this time was a bundle of rolled up scripts.
“You have to say hello properly from the beginning. Do you think you’re something? Since you’re Lee Wooyeon’s manager, you can’t see anything?”
Kang Youngmo could not touch Lee Wooyeon, so he was arguing with the manager under him. Even though he knew that Kang Youngmo’s reason for tormenting him was unreasonable, Inseop didn’t say a word.
“Are you sorry?”
“Yes.”
“If you’re sorry, go and buy a plate of sashimi.”
“What?”
“I want you to buy me a plate of sashimi.”
It was forced. To buy sashimi, he had to drive a car for a long time. Inseop could not be absent for such a long time. Whatever the purpose, for now, he had to keep his position as Lee Wooyeon’s manager. That was his job.
“I’m sorry. I can’t leave right now.”
“Then you’re just saying you’re sorry?”
Kang Youngmo tapped Choi Inseop’s forehead with the corner of the script. Inseop, who was stunned by his insulting remarks, saw the figure of Lee Wooyeon. Lee Wooyeon, who was walking from the other side while talking with the director, saw him. Their eyes met.
“What are you looking at? Why are you looking the other way when I’m talking?”
Choi Inseop quickly lowered his head.
“Why? Is it even possible that Lee Wooyeon is behind me? Are you going to tell him?”
Kang Youngmo smiled and pretended to look back. Inseop shook his head.
“Heh. Go ahead and tell him like last time. Why? You can’t do it?”
The edge of the script that stabbed his forehead started to hurt more and more. Choi Inseop bit his lip because he thought he was about to cry.
He can’t cry. He can’t cry and be unprofessional in a place like this, where everyone was watching… He still wanted to cry.
“Sunbae. You’re here.”
A soft voice called Kang Youngmo softly.
“What?”
Kang Youngmo turned his head with a no-nonsense expression.
“The director is calling.”
Kang Youngmo, who was struggling, reluctantly walked with the script on his side. Inseop couldn’t raise his head. If he met Lee Wooyeon’s eyes right now, he thought he would burst into tears that he couldn’t turn back.
“Mr. Lee Wooyeon!”
A voice was heard calling him from afar. Lee Wooyeon turned and disappeared to the place where the director was.
When Lee Wooyeon’s back was too far to be seen, Inseop’s eyes became blurred. Tears from the corners of his eyes began to wet his shoes.
He did not expect Lee Wooyeon to be angry with Kang Youngmo in front of people. Because he wasn’t a person with the generosity to throw his image for someone else. He didn’t even want that in the first place.
…Still, he should be able to ask pretentious questions about whether he was okay. Pretending to be kind in front of people was a human trait.
Inseop muttered, wiping away the tears with his palms. He bowed his head at his own stupidity. Are people incapable of learning? Why was he doing this again? He should calm down. He shouldn’t do this. He shouldn’t be weak.
Choi Inseop slapped his cheek with his palm to cheer himself up.
“Ack, it must hurt.”
Inseop was startled by the voice coming from right behind him and turned his head.
“Come on, here.”
A woman dressed as a hostess took a handkerchief from her waist and held it to Choi Inseop. As soon as he saw her chubby and warm face, tears began to form again in the corners of Inseop’s eyes, as she reminded him of Jenny.
“Why are you crying? A grown man.”
“…sorry.”
Taking the handkerchief, Inseop quickly dried the corners of his eyes. Even today, he didn’t know how many times he apologized. He was ashamed.
It was the day where he realized he had still not grown from the skinny boy who had tears in his eyes from the teasing of Fred and the gang who had been tormenting him. He was miserable
“There are days when bullies are wild.”
“…”
“This floor is normally like that. If it’s unfair, tremble. There’s a saying like this.”
She seemed to regard Choi Inseop as an unknown assistant performer.
“Let’s go over there and sit down. A little bit of air will make you feel better.”
She pulled the hem of Inseop’s sleeve, whose face turned red from crying. Sitting on a bench at the back of the set, Inseop thanked her.
“So. It looks like you got caught by Kang Youngmo. The rumors about him are bad.”
“Yes. I see.”
“You’re not the only one that person quarrels with. He has fist fights with the staff and fights with the actors. Ugh, really. Is it enough if you are good at acting? Human nature has been spoiled. Actors have to go through personality tests too. Then they would really be eliminated.”
Inseop smiled softly at her cheerful voice.
“It’s good to see you smiling. My name is Lee Eunyoung. Yours?”
“I’m Choi Inseop.”
“Is this your first time filming? Haven’t you received the role yet?”
Choi Inseop hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“I am not an actor.”
“Staff?”
“No… Manager.”
“What? Really? Nonsense. You look so young.”
The saying that he looked young had always been heard in the United States. He thought it was because Westerners had a hard time figuring out the age of Asians, but when he heard such things even in Korea, he felt strange.
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-six.”
“Wow. OMG. At most, I thought you just graduated from high school.”
He was actually twenty-four. In Korean age, he was twenty-five, and he would have been in the military. Choi Inseop said with a bitter face, and answered Lee Eunyoung’s words.
“Whose manager? Choi Eunbyeol? Yoon Yiseok? Go Yoonji?”
Whenever the names of other actors in this work appeared, Choi Inseop shook his head.
“No way… Kang Youngmo?”
“No.”
“Then who? Who is left?”
She tilted her head and said, “No way,” and opened her eyes.
“…I am Lee Wooyeon’s manager.”
When the words of confirmation came out of Choi Inseop’s mouth, she said, “It’s nonsense,” and trembled even more than before.
“Really? Really? Are you really Lee Wooyeon’s manager?”
“Yes.”
“Wow. I envy you. Then you can see each other’s faces closely every day, talk, and eat together.”
“Yes. We eat food sometimes…”
“I envy you! Envy! Wow, how is he? Lee Wooyeon, is he really that polite and kind?”
After hesitating for a while, Inseop answered yes.
“I saw him from a distance, and he was really handsome. He looks more handsome up close, right?”
Inseop laughed awkwardly. He had no intention to refute her statement that Lee Wooyeon was handsome.
“Are you two very close? Then can you let me take just one picture with him later?”
“I’m sorry. I think that would be a bit difficult.”
“Ah, Lee Wooyeon must hate that.”
“It’s not… I’m not close with Lee Wooyeon.”
Saying that, Inseop lowered his head.
They were not friends now, but he didn’t intend to be friends in the future. The only purpose was to quickly catch Lee Wooyeon’s weakness and go to America. He had to think about that, but he kept thinking about other things and his head got complicated.
“Have you just started working?”
“Yes.”
“Then you can get to know each other little by little. What are you so depressed about?”
Interpreting Inseop’s lonely expression in a different way, she smiled brightly and patted his shoulder. At her generous laughter, Inseop mumbled inside without realizing it.
“I’m not going to make friends.”
“Yes?”
“Friends… we won’t be friends. Probably.”
“Come on. That’s impossible. As time goes by, we’ll all get close. Don’t worry. It’s like that at first in work life. Look at me. I want to be a representative actress in Korea, but my role is always a side character. Still, I live thinking that I can play a better role in the future.”
She was a very cheerful person. He felt the contagious joy when he was next to her. Inseop said thank you in a small voice.
“Cheer up. There are weird bosses like that in the company. When I was working for an insurance company in the past, there was a manager who had a dirty temper like Kang Youngmo, and he was so annoying. When I went to an acting academy, he said to lose weight and look in the mirror.”
“Why? You are pretty.”
“Mr. Inseop knows how to flatter. That’s right. That’s how you have a social life.”
“It’s not flattery. All women are pretty.”
“Oh my. Oh my. It doesn’t look like that, but you have a Casanova personality.”
“No. I didn’t mean it like that, really…”
“Ha ha ha ha ha. I know. Inseop is so cute. You can’t tell the difference between the teasing words.…”
That was all Lee Eunyoung said. She opened her mouth with a surprised expression as if she had seen a ghost. Choi Inseop turned his head to check what was at the end of her gaze.
“You were here? I’ve been looking for you for a while.”
“… !”
Surprised, Inseop stood up from his seat. With the script in hand, with arms crossed, Lee Wooyeon was standing there smiling brightly.
“Does Inseop have the car keys?”
“Yes? Oh yes. I have it.”
As Inseop rushed through his pockets, Lee Wooyeon raised his hand as if giving up.
“We’ll talk as we go.”
Lee Wooyeon greeted the woman who was still looking at him with a surprised face and held Inseop’s arm.
Choi Inseop was startled and shook off his arm. No one saw the chill seeping into Lee Wooyeon’s smiling eyes.
“I’m sorry. Your hands would still hurt. I didn’t pay attention.”
Lee Wooyeon first made up the reason for Choi Inseop throwing away his arm.
“… Yes. It’s fine.”
Inseop, who couldn’t tell a lie, turned his gaze to the side. Watching the manager rubbing his arm with the opposite hand without making eye contact, Lee Wooyeon’s stomach twisted.
He didn’t even know why just because a bastard took good care of him like an idiot.
The side profile of Lee Wooyeon, who was walking with such a thoughtful expression on his face, the additional cast members and staff members glanced and blushed.
“I left something in the car, so please go with me.”
“I will go.”
“That’s Okay. I have to find it.”
“…Yes. This.”
Lee Wooyeon’s outerwear that Choi Inseop was holding was draped over his shoulder.
The two began to walk side by side. Lee Wooyeon hummed and greeted everyone he met while walking. Choi Inseop also greeted them, but there was no conversation between the two of them.
He was more awkward than before. He hated it… He wanted to go home.
“About before.”
Lee Wooyeon spoke first. Inseop responded with an awkward voice to his gaze looking at him with a smile.
“It’s fine. I think of it as a social life and I will endure it. You don’t have to worry about it. I don’t care.”
Having said this, Inseop bit the tip of his tongue in his mouth.
No. There was no need to add the last word. What was the difference between saying that out loud and asking him to take care of him?
“What do you mean? I was asking about that friend earlier.”
“What? Friend?”
“The woman next to Inseop. Is she a new friend?”
“Ah, Eunyoung… no, not friends, just…”
“Just?”
“I was just talking… I think she is a good person.”
Even as he answered, Inseop could not erase the strange feeling that he was being questioned for some reason.
“You said you didn’t need it.”
When he heard Lee Wooyeon muttering in a low voice, he asked back, “What?”
“It’s nothing. So, have you become very close with her?”
“I don’t know because I met her for the first time today.”
“Can we be friends?”
“… ?”
“You said you weren’t close with me.”
“…!”
He didn’t think Lee Wooyeon would have heard it from there. Choi Inseop’s face turned white and blue repeatedly.
“Why? Why aren’t you friends with me? You’re my manager.”
“That is…I’m not good at my job yet, so…”
“You are doing a good job, Mr. Inseop.”
Lee Wooyeon slowly closed his eyes and opened them. Inseop’s eyes were clearly engraved with a slight frown around his eyes as if he was dazzled by the sunlight.
“You are the best manager ever. You make no mistakes.”
Not knowing whether to be happy or sad, Inseop quietly nodded his head at the compliment.
“And what does being unable to work have to do with being friends? Right?”
“… Yes.”
“Besides, Inseop is my lifesaver.”
“… Yes.”
“So, let’s be friends from now on.”
At that word, Inseop’s expression was complicatedly wrinkled. Lee Wooyeon was smiling, but it wasn’t very pleasant.
The manager’s foolish attitude of not answering that he would do so even when he said something meaningless at a level of eating together someday twisted his judgment.
“Do you hate me?”
Lee Wooyeon asked.
Like a person stabbed in the spine with the tip of a sharp knife, Choi Inseop was startled and answered, “No.”
“Ha ha ha ha ha. I know. There’s no way Inseop doesn’t like me. He was the one who risked his life to save me.”
Inseop became increasingly uncomfortable with this conversation. Rather, he regretted that he didn’t hand the car key to Lee Wooyeon earlier and say that he would wait.
“By the way, what did you mean by ‘Don’t worry about it.’?”
“… It’s nothing.”
Inseop thought that Lee Wooyeon would talk about his affairs with Kang Youngmo. When Kang Youngmo smashed his head with the script, his eyes met with Lee Wooyeon from afar.
Obviously their eyes met…
“What happened?”
“No. Nothing happened.”
There was no need for him to go out and make a big deal. No, even if he said it, he didn’t think Lee Wooyeon would make a big deal out of it.
When they arrived at the place where he parked the car, Lee Wooyeon held out his palm. Choi Inseop took the key out of his pocket without saying a word.
Lee Wooyeon, wanting to find something important, pulled out a ballpoint pen from the back seat.
“I found it.”
“Do you have anything else?”
“Yes. I had to memorize it while striking the line with this ballpoint pen to get the lines right.”
Although it was questionable what Lee Wooyeon was saying, who usually memorized quite a few lines by scanning the script with his eyes, Inseop did not say anything. He locked the car door and pulled the handle twice to make sure the door was locked.
“Why are you pulling it twice?”
“Double check. Just in case.”
Lee Wooyeon’s gaze, looking down at Inseop, deepened for a moment.
“You have good pronunciation.”
“Yes?”
“English pronunciation. I think it’s better than Korean pronunciation.”
“No. No. Korean pronunciation is much better.”
Choi Inseop waved his palms as if they were fluttering, and made a serious facer. Lee Wooyeon laughed.
“I praised you for speaking good English, but you hate it?”
“…thank you.”
A cold sweat ran down his back. Again he made a mistake.
Communication was not a problem at all, but there were many loopholes in understanding jokes or understanding hidden meanings in words. Choi Inseop vowed to answer only in a short-answer form with Lee Wooyeon if possible, without saying anything other than necessary.
“If it’s cold while waiting, you can wait in the car.”
“No.”
“It will be difficult. In the case of historical dramas, the standby is long.”
“Yes.”
From afar, the assistant director spotted Lee Wooyeon and beckoned him. He took off the robe he was wearing and handed it to Inseop.
“It will be a long day.”
Before the sound of the words faded away, Lee Wooyeon stepped forward. Choi Inseop stood silently and watched his back.