On the way back to the dorm, the Manager, face uncharacteristically grave, impressed a few points on him.One: under no circumstances let anyone other than the members realize he’d lost his memory.Two: if he wasn’t sure or things got tricky, keep his mouth shut and step back.Three: no one expected him to act well; just please, at the very least, get through the shoot in one piece.They were dire, important words, and yet Sihyeon’s expression as he listened was so absurdly carefree it made the Manager burn up inside; but he couldn’t bring himself to say anything and turned his head, feeling like death warmed over. If the CEO or reporters twigged that Sihyeon remembered nothing after the accident, the worst-case scenario would be inevitable. Sihyeon had always been a thorn in the eye, but his skills were tolerable, and that was the only reason they’d kept him without swapping members despite all the messes he’d made. Looking at the current Sihyeon who didn’t remember a thing—dance, singing, anything—the Manager’s already weak nerves went cold as he pictured reporters swarming like hyenas and the CEO blowing his top.For now he’d drilled the members as well, and Sihyeon had always been painfully shy with few words, so if he clammed up and stepped back in awkward situations, no one would think it strange.Even so, that carefree face kept snagging in his mind, making his tongue itch.The upcoming shoot was a bit worrying… no, honestly it was driving him insane, but it was a situation he couldn’t do anything about, so he was half resigned.This drama wasn’t his first acting attempt or debut, but it would’ve been better if it were, because he’d never been particularly good to begin with. He barely rose above the “reading from a schoolbook” level; with a light bit-part he could scrape by on that inhuman face, but give him anything with a little more depth and the bottom showed right away—that kind of level. He didn’t flub lines or blocking, and yet there was something off, and on his first lead in “The Day We Must Love,” he was absolutely dragged through the mud.Even so, the reason he was cast this time was, as ever, that face.A cold, brooding loan-shark with striking looks. The title alone made mouths water; even if they hated Lee Sihyeon, they clearly intended to aim at hearts that fluttered for Lee Sihyeon’s face. In a word, typical marketing—since the role itself was cold by nature, it was basically an order to stand there in silence, deadpan, as the face of the show.Say it like that and of course I’m pissed—what, is our Sihyeon just a prop screen? Huh? If it weren’t for that damned signing bonus… I’d… ugh… I would have…!Unaware that someone up front was getting angry on his behalf, Sihyeon was reading the script he’d been handed. Rajoon, sitting beside him, fidgeted, testing the waters by taking his hand or playing with his hair, and Sihyeon said nothing. Bolstered by that, Rajoon reached out and began to touch Sihyeon’s hair. The fine strands, dyed in two tones, had grown out to a decent length—enough to style. The way it slipped through his fingers with a soft srrk srrk tickled for some reason, and though he kept stealing glances to check, Sihyeon’s eyes were still fixed on the script, as if he didn’t care what was happening over here. That made Rajoon both happy and, somehow, a little hurt, so his fingers moved even more busily.“Done.”He loosely braided the soft hair behind his ear and fixed it with a clip; the hidden side of his face came completely into view. Lowered eyes, a sleek jawline, a white nape. The shirt buttoned up to the neck should have looked prim, but somehow it made Sihyeon seem more austere—and in another way, sexy. Flustered, Rajoon hastily pulled the clip out and mussed the hair.“Ah.”But maybe he was too hasty: the clip scraped hard behind Sihyeon’s ear. A short groan escaped at the sudden pain and his brow knit; Rajoon, startled, stared at him wide-eyed. He’d been someone who hated even being touched. The thought that he might get angry alone was enough to scare Rajoon stiff; his lips worked. He was sure he’d be met with that same chilly stare as back then; he needed to apologize, but the words clogged in his throat. As he fidgeted, old images of Sihyeon playing on repeat, the gaze that had been on the script drifted slowly this way. Lips parting, unhurried.“Why, are you bored?”The voice was gentle. His gaze was loose too, as if he were genuinely wondering whether Rajoon was bored.“Uh… I….”“I’ll play with you after I finish this. Hold on.”The truth was, he wasn’t bored so much as spaced out. He stared back with a pretty dumb look, but the original face was so gorgeous he just looked cute, not foolish. Sihyeon studied him, puzzled, then turned back and refocused on the half-read script. At the strange sight, Kang Euihyun, sitting directly across, clicked his tongue, face drained.Rajoon had always been a goner for Sihyeon. For reasons no one knew, when they first formed the team—and even when Sihyeon’s off-kilter antics cut deep fissures among the members—Rajoon alone would read the room and take Sihyeon’s side.Sihyeon had never treated Rajoon particularly well; if anything he seemed uncomfortable and irritated by Rajoon’s devotion, turning his head with a chilly look or standing up to leave whenever their eyes met. Even so, for some reason, Rajoon trailed after him.If he followed even when he wasn’t treated like a person, what would it be like now.Watching the phantom of a nonexistent tail wag-wag behind Rajoon’s back, Euihyun sighed. You’re going to burn a hole in his face, you punk. He scolded him in his head as Rajoon openly turned to stare at Sihyeon, but it seemed the words didn’t reach him.Sanyoo, in the passenger seat, glanced back with a smile that held no readable meaning; Chan, sitting opposite Rajoon, wore the same blank face as ever, impossible to read. He looked once, long, at Sihyeon silently reading the script, then closed his eyes, and silence settled over the van again.It was an afternoon two weeks after Lee Sihyeon had opened his eyes again.The miniseries “Blue Thorns” was twenty-four episodes, a romance-thriller that depicted the events between “Inhu,” a genius cop who was anything but righteous—full of quirks, impossible to read—and “Jua,” who had been living an ordinary life until she was accidentally entangled in a certain incident and dragged into a pit.Just as the diligent, considerate heroine—who seemed like she could live fine even without laws—was being ground down by a ruthless world and cruel people tightening around her, she ran into Inhu like fate. Cornered by her distrust of people, Jua kept pushing Inhu away, but as he silently stayed by her side and appeared dramatically to save her whenever she was in danger, she slowly opened her heart.The role Sihyeon had taken, the loan-shark “Jihan,” was the villain who slipped slyly between them.Hearing the rumor that his long-standing nemesis Inhu had lost his head over a woman, Jihan approached Jua on purpose. Claiming to be Inhu’s closest friend, he lowered her guard and cleverly earned her trust. In the end, he coaxed Jua—who was drowning in massive debt—into borrowing money legally from his workplace: pay off the urgent debt first, then repay the rest slowly, he said. She refused, of course, but under Jihan’s relentless persuasion, she signed without even properly reading the contract—and for the first time, she saw Jihan’s face looking down at her, expressionless.The interest rate was outrageous, and the workplace she thought was legal turned out to be an illegal loan office. Jihan—who’d claimed he’d joined recently—was in fact the dangerous, nasty man who oversaw the whole operation. Watching Jua’s face as she reeled, Jihan explained the hell she’d be living through from now on. With a bleak, cold face handing down sentence, Jihan drove Jua back into despair.Then, belatedly, Inhu finally grasped everything. He came to her furious for the first time, and at the sight of him, Jihan…“Hyung, we’re here.”At Rajoon’s bright voice, Sihyeon lifted his eyes from the script. The van had stopped at some point near a residential neighborhood.“Ah, fuck—they’re everywhere… How are we supposed to get through that.”“Right? There are more than usual.”“Wasn’t his discharge supposed to be a secret today?”“They just camp out every day anyway.”Stalker fans. Despite the fairly cold weather, they had scarves wound tight and clutched their cameras like their lives depended on it. Euihyun’s face twisted in disgust at their doggedness, and he spoke like a man who’d given up. Fuck it, what else—just push through. “Rajoon and Chani, you take care of Sihyeon.” With that, he yanked the van door open before the Manager could even get out.The stalker fans who had been squinting over since earlier exploded into shrieks and surged toward Euihyun. He was notoriously hot-blooded and openly hostile to stalker fans; they didn’t dare cling, but they didn’t stop screaming “Oppa, oppa!” and firing their shutters.Thanks to Euihyun playing decoy, the crowd that swarmed Sanyoo when he got out a beat later was thinner, but hardly small. His smile iced over and he strode quickly; they nearly ran to keep up, but his much longer legs made him hard to catch. Unlike his usual warmth, he didn’t answer anything said to him; the contrast was strange.Next, Rajoon, Chan, and Sihyeon got out at once. Chan still looked blank, but a bit irritated; Rajoon stuck close to Sihyeon with a flustered look, only to be peeled off by fans’ hands. In the span of an “Huh?” the distance widened; he tried to hurry to Sihyeon, but grasping hands on his arms and body were too forceful. Because his gentle nature didn’t match his tall frame, Rajoon often got grabbed by stalker fans. He could have shaken off hands like these a few times and been done, but they were small girls, and if they got hurt… he hesitated and groaned, and that was the signal for them to crowd him harder.Meanwhile, Sihyeon, who didn’t know what “stalker fan” meant, looked curiously at the girls shrieking in front of him.They shouted at Chan, but because Sihyeon was beside him they didn’t dare approach; they whispered among themselves and kept darting glances this way, and Sihyeon, thinking Are fans normally like this? walked unhesitatingly toward the building Euihyun had vanished into—no one tried to come up to him.It was only possible because, given his pathological aversion to touch, even the stalker fans avoided Sihyeon more than anyone. But Sihyeon couldn’t know that.“Oppa! Chani oppa! Look over he—agh!”But that applied only to Sihyeon; everyone else was fair game.A small girl who was waving to see Chan beside Sihyeon couldn’t withstand the weight of other fans pushing in from behind. She lost her balance in an instant and pitched forward; everyone nearby sucked in a breath.It was bare cement—her face would be shredded. She squeezed her eyes shut against the impact that was about to slam into her, but even after a long moment, there was no impact; her body felt fine. She opened her eyes slowly. Someone was supporting her. She cautiously lifted her head. Everyone wore stupid expressions.Wondering why, she lifted her head a little higher—and the moment she saw the face of the person whose arm was around her waist.“…holy…”It was Lee Sihyeon. That Lee Sihyeon. Beautiful Scum. Personality disaster. There were plenty of labels, but his fame lay in the fact that you couldn’t find a single good one even if you scoured the earth.The thought that flashed through ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ her mind at the sight of his face was almost reflexive. Everyone was probably overlaying the old after-work incident in their heads. Now he’d shove her to the ground without mercy. If it was Beautiful Scum, he just might. The girl went ashen as Sihyeon looked down at her—and his lips opened slowly.“Are you hurt?”…?“Don’t push from behind. People get hurt.”He asked the girl, who stared at him, mouth hanging open, then raised his head and, in a low voice, spoke to the other stalker fans frozen and staring this way.“Don’t scream in a residential neighborhood.”…Yes?“You’re bothering other residents.”What is… who is that…? The fans were visibly in chaos. Sihyeon gently set the girl back on her feet, squinted slightly, and in that uniquely stern tone spoke again.“Answer.”A few of them answered by reflex, and the hard line of his mouth curved, briefly, into softness.Did Lee Sihyeon just smile…? And this isn’t a stage, there’s no filming? Am I dreaming?“Seo Rajoon, come here.”As if he no longer cared about the aghast fans, he called to Rajoon, who’d been struggling in the back. Rajoon, who’d also been staring this way in a daze, came running. “Hyeoong,” he drawled, clinging to Sihyeon’s hand like a spoiled kid. “What,” Sihyeon answered casually, and started walking. Beside them, Yoo Chan let out a short sigh and followed the two without a word, and not a single frozen fan could bring themselves to stop them.

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