Chapter 10
“Are you saying you understand that explosion of inferiority? You? You, whose very existence is the opposite of inferiority? Don’t lie, seriously.”
Wooyeon almost spat the words out in indignation.
“Do you think I’ve been watching you day in and day out? It’s been twelve years since your trainee days, you brat. You’ve been the top ace since joining the company, so why are you trying to deceive anyone?!”
“…I told you to fix that tone of yours. You do realize it’ll all come out on broadcast eventually, right?”
Doha gave Wooyeon a look of utter exasperation.
“You hide it well enough.”
“But eventually you’ll get caught.”
“I can manage it, so just answer the question.”
“…You’re really stubborn too, aren’t you.”
Doha shook his head as if exhausted by the stubbornness, closing his eyes.
“How could I not know about inferiority? Every time I see you, I’ve felt it.”
Wooyeon turned in shock to look at Doha. She couldn’t believe it.
Doha, who everyone said was born to be an idol, had inferiority?
He was so perfect that even his haters could only nitpick—saying things like, “There’s something off,” “It must all be fake,” or “Nothing about his personal life or past is known.” The legendary Doha, with all his perfection… and he actually felt inferior?
“You?? You, Doha, felt inferior seeing us?? Why? When? How?”
Wooyeon asked, stunned.
“C-could it be… jealousy of my perfect face…? Was that your type, my face…?”
“Just die.”
Doha’s words, said with complete sincerity, made Wooyeon pretend to be hurt—but she slid closer to him anyway.
She half-sat up on the bed, resting her chin on her hands, looking down at Doha.
No matter how she looked at him, she couldn’t understand what he was saying.
“Then what is it? What do you lack, you greedy, sinful guy?”
“…”
Doha snorted at Wooyeon’s incredulous voice.
“…A place to return to.”
“!”
“You have… somewhere to return. No matter what mistake you make, someone will always have your back.”
When the whole world turns its back on you…
Even if everyone is watching us now, there will come a time when no one remembers us.
At that time, there’s a place to return to.
Doha knew that the more love he received from the public, the greater the hatred and disappointment he’d feel when he made mistakes.
That’s why he envied his members even more.
They had a family that would always support them, no matter what mistakes they made.
“If the fans turn their backs on me, I really have nowhere to go…”
Doha muttered.
At the end of that voice,
Wooyeon didn’t answer hastily.
Thunk.
“??”
She kicked her old friend in the side.
“What are you doing…?”
Wooyeon smirked as she watched Doha’s bewildered expression.
She knew well that she was the only one who could make the usually perfect Doha show such a candid expression.
“You do have a place to return to, brat. Want me to make you listen to that?”
“!”
At that moment, Ye-won climbed onto the bed.
For some reason, she had a strong intuition that she shouldn’t listen any further.
“…So that’s why.”
He thought he had nowhere to return to. That’s why he never opened his heart to anyone.
That’s why he was cold to Ian, who wanted to rest. That’s why he didn’t want to disappoint his fans.
Ye-won buried her face in the pillow.
She understood Doha’s feelings better than anyone.
When you disappoint the world, you know there’s nowhere to hide—so you struggle not to disappoint even a little.
‘…Then.’
My existence…
cannot become the world’s disappointment.
Ye-won began thinking quickly.
My existence must not be a disappointment to the world—it should become a reason for the world to love Doha even more.
‘…And someday.’
I want to be a place for Doha to return to.
Like Uncle Wooyeon.
…But first.
‘I need to get Uncle Wooyeon back to the dorm quickly. For everyone’s sake.’
Looking at the situation now, it seemed quite possible.
They were much closer than expected.
Despite their bickering, the underlying affection seemed deep.
‘Then I need to create that opportunity.’
As soon as possible.
“Hey, guys~! I’m here~!”
Yeong-oh burst into Doha’s house late at night.
He appeared with a bag in each hand labeled “Jangchungdong Dae-Wang Jokbal,” smiling brightly.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
Of course, the three who greeted him didn’t look happy at all.
“Uh, uh…? Why is the mood here so gloomy…?”
Yeong-oh, sweating nervously, trailed off.
Even though he had sent the cheerful Wooyeon from Glitt to lighten the mood…
Something clearly wasn’t going right.
‘…Why does even Wooyeon look so gloomy…!’
Yeong-oh wanted to bite his tongue.
Even usually unflappable Wooyeon looked like this—there really was no hope in this house.
“You bought jokbal…? Or bossam…”
“I got half jokbal, garlic bossam, and large fruit makguksu! Do you think I don’t know your tastes?”
“Good job…”
Wooyeon muttered, taking the jokbal and shuffling it onto the table. Doha quietly followed behind her.
“……?!”
Yeong-oh, flustered, quickly pulled Ye-won aside to whisper.
“Ye-won, what happened while the uncles weren’t here…?”
She looked at him with pity, sighing.
“They both cried. Hugged each other.”
“!!!”
The ones who wouldn’t bleed if stabbed actually cried?!
Yeong-oh shivered down his spine.
“Why… why did they cry…?”
“Because they love each other too much?”
“…?????”
This was the most unbelievable thing Yeong-oh had heard all year.
Ye-won just shrugged.
It was true. Believe it or not.
So, in that pit of suspicion, the four quietly began eating jokbal and bossam.
“Hey, Ye-won. You can’t eat spicy jokbal, right? Such a shame. It’s amazing.”
“…….”
Wooyeon’s playful voice made Ye-won quietly grind her teeth.
Her favorite dishes were very spicy ones—spicy jokbal, spicy tteokbokki, and so on.
But…
‘If a 7-year-old likes spicy food, that totally ruins her character.’
As an actor, “character ruin” was unacceptable.
“Yes. I can’t eat it. Spicy food hurts my stomach!”
“Ha, poor thing.”
Wooyeon shoved the spicy jokbal into her mouth, pretending to pity her but clearly not caring, with a face that said: “Jealous, right?”
“…….”
Annoying as hell.
Ye-won smiled but muttered a tiny curse under her breath.
“I told you not to come, to rest. If you do this, I’ll feel bad letting you handle anything.”
At that moment, Doha spoke coldly to Yeong-oh:
“I-I didn’t come because I wanted to…”
“Hey, he’s a worker too. Why would he want to visit a cold person like you on his day off? Looks like he came with something to say.”
“Something to say?”
Doha frowned at Yeong-oh.
“The CEO… asked… how things are going…”
“!”
From the situation, it seemed that only the manager and Uncle Doha had handled the agreement with the fake uncle.
But now… the CEO had heard everything.
Ye-won quietly ignored it and kept eating bossam.
Of course the CEO would know, after the mess at the funeral.
‘…The CEO probably stopped any news from coming out until now.’
“Seems like they told everything, huh. Typical of the CEO’s nephew. Yep.”
“Told everything?”
Doha’s expression was about to harden.
“Th-they told everything!! But it’s not necessarily bad!!!”
Yeong-oh quickly shut his eyes and confessed.
“Not bad? Huh? You internal spy, traitor, betrayer… What do you mean not bad? That’s why there’s no one in the world you can trust, see?”
Wooyeon lightly scolded him (though her words weren’t light at all).
“….”
Under Doha’s lethal gaze.
“Really!!! The CEO listened to everything and said, ‘That’s perfect!’”
…Perfect?
What on earth does that mean?
All three simultaneously dropped their jokbal and stared at Yeong-oh.
