— Hello… Jeongju-ssi?
When the other person recognised him, Jeongju was a little taken aback. Huh? Was it someone he knew? The moderately low voice was quite resonant, so it was pleasant to hear. At that moment, Jeongju hurriedly recalled he had exchanged contact information with a fellow actor, and he wondered if he had dialed this number by mistake. Having multiple cell phones seemed to have caused an embarrassing situation.
First of all, Jeongju pretended to recognize the other person, and acted perfunctorily.
“Ahh, yes. Hello, what can I do for you?”
— It’s quite noisy these days. Are you doing well?
It was an unfamiliar voice no matter how much Jeonju listened, so there was a high possibility that they only met each other and greeted each other briefly… his head spun.
“Yeah, well. It’s routine, haha.”
— Take it easy. It will be fine.
“The industry is always like that, well,” Jeongju skillfully countered the pretense of knowing with a rounded tone. Meanwhile, now wanting to know who it was, Jaegyeom stopped eating his meal and glanced at him. Jeongju was the epitome of what it meant to have a social life.
“How are you doing these days? What did you say you were doing?”
— Ah, I’ve been cleaning things up since yesterday and getting back soon.
Attempts to dig up hints failed. “Oh, right, right.’” Jeongju nodded, trying to sound as cheerful as possible. Of course, his expression was grim on the contrary.
“We should have a meal when it’s convenient.”
— Oh, is that so? That’d be an honor.
The other person expressed his gratitude politely,
— By the way, what are you doing now?
Suddenly, he changed the topic and asked.
“Um, I’m studying and reading the scripts.”
— Ah. Then you must be busy.
“Yes, right.”
While he was talking on the phone, Jeongju hurried over to the sofa and picked up his cell phone. He checked the screen intermittently and dialed the other person’s number to see if it was a number he had saved. He wondered if he should just ask him honestly who he was, but asking that at this point was… Oh, he should have asked from the beginning….
‘Ah. It’s driving me crazy. Who on earth is it!’
While Jeongju was scratching his head and looking through his phone,
— I must be bothering you while you’re busy but…
“No, no.”
— Can you open the front door?
“Yes yes. Of course.”
— Thank you.
“Aiyo, no need for…”
Instead of laughing and replying, Jeongju paused for a moment.
“Yes??”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“…”
— …
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“Qt- ktja vbbg?”
— Ktf ogbca vbbg.
“Fw, P’w rbggs, ktfgf jgf sbe?”
— Ktf ogbca vbbg bo mbegrf.
Mierafgfv, Afbcupe jvvfv lc vfrqjlg.
“P wfjc, ktb lr mjiilcu?”
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“What on…”
His face burned red from the tremendous embarrassment.
Jaegyeom, who was scooping tofu out of the stew, accepted the phone unexpectedly. “What’s wrong? What?” Then, he heard a voice say something on the phone, so he first brought the phone to his ear.
— Nari-ya, open the door for me.
Jaegyeom’s eyes widened at the familiar voice.
***
Jeongju wanted to make a hard impression on Yoon Taehee.
“Do you understand? You have to set the record straight from the start.”
In front of the front door, Jeongju whispered with a stern face. As if he were a sports team coach, Jeongju put his hand on the shoulders of Jaegyeom and Mesani and continued advising seriously.
Earlier, as soon as he had hung up the phone, he hurriedly grabbed Jaegyeom as he went out to open the door.
‘Jaegyeom! What are you doing!’
‘Why?’
‘What why! You can’t look easy!’
“You have to make sure you beat the opponent to the punch. So he hangs his head down as he comes in.”
“Got it?” Jeongju, who ordered the operation, patted Jaegyeom and Mesani on the shoulders with grave eyes. Jaegyeom, who was dragged out from eating his meal, scratched his nose with an expressionless face.
“Hey, the soup is cold. Can’t we just open it?”
Jeongju put on a straight face.
“Is that a problem? You can put the soup on the stove.”
Mesani just nodded, not knowing anything.
“Hello. Good morning.”
As soon as they opened the front door, Yoon Taehee greeted them refreshingly. Meanwhile, Jeongju looked Yoon Taehee up and down without replying. Wearing a large khaki cotton jacket with a gray hoodie underneath, jeans and boots, Yoon Taehee looked just like a youthful college student.
‘Shit, son of a bitch. Indeed, you are very handsome…’
Jeongju grumbled internally while maintaining his poker face. It was the first time the two of them had met since that day. At that time, because Yoon Taehee’s face was bleeding, he didn’t have a chance to take a closer look at his features like he did now. Jeongju cleared his throat.
Yoon Taehee, who entered the front door, politely brought his words out first.
“It smells like food. Were you eating?”
Saying that, he took off the hood he was wearing. He must have left the house right after washing, and the smell of perfume was more damp than usual. Yoon Taehee smiled and lightly tousled his slightly dry hair. It smelled like a cool-scented shampoo.
“…”
“…”
“…”
No one responded to what he said. It was Jeongju’s order. Jaegyeom, Jeongju, and Mesani. The three members of the family stood in a row in front of the entrance, silently looking at Yoon Taehee standing in front of them. Faced with the three, he suddenly laughed soundlessly.
“Are you standing by height?”
He casually threw out a joke.
At that line, Mesani lifted his heels in the clear sun. What are you really doing? Jeongju lightly nudged Mesani with his elbow and looked at him wordlessly.
“Hey. What is going on now?”
Finally, Jeongju crossed his arms and said with an expressionless face.
“I heard about it from Jaegyeom. But it’s troubling if you show up unannounced like this. Like last time too. Besides, you know it’s 8 in the morning, right?”
At the cold remark, Yoon Taehee stared at Jeongju.
“Wow… It’s amazing to meet the fox clan I’ve only heard about…”
As Yoon Taehee bent down to take off his boots, he said.
“And also, you’re so much better in real life than on screen. Are all celebrities like that? It’s unfortunate that they can’t be captured on screen the way they look. Ah, I saw Jeongju’s movie a while ago… ”
Hearing that he had seen his movie, Jeongju was slightly embarrassed by the sudden off-topic story.
“It’s called ‘Save the Star’. I was really impressed with the delicate emotional acting.”
Hmph, you know the right words to say… Jeongju’s eyebrows twitched like caterpillars.
“Looking at your previous filmography, you mainly did a lot of romantic comedies. I was very surprised because it was a completely different image in this work. I’ve seen both ‘Speed of Love’ and ‘Secret Boutique’ that you filmed before.”
Jeongju widened his eyes in shock. ‘Secret Boutique’ was a flop at the box office, so few people had seen it… so he had seen that too?
“Especially in the second half, I really liked the scene where you quietly shed tears in suffering.”
“Ah, that scene… It was retaken a few times, so I had a hard time not having tears coming out later…”
Gasp, I don’t know what I’m thinking… Jeongju quickly shut his mouth, but Yoon Taehee widened his eyes.
“Oh really? It was so natural that I had no idea. There was a back story like that.”
As he looked surprised, he took off his shoes and stepped onto the floor very naturally. Then, as if Jeongju was possessed, he moved his body to the side to make way for him.
“Ah, but did you learn acting? Or self-taught?”
“Oh… um, that… I’ve had a few trainings…”
“You’re that good even though you didn’t learn it properly? You must have great talent. It must have been difficult to capture the emotional line of a character at a crossroad, but you seem to put a lot of effort into exploring the character…”
Yoon Taehee smiled as he entered the hallway.
“Oh, no…”
As if possessed, Jeongju followed him, waving his hands dismissively.
“I’m still in disbelief, actually, it’s like I’m talking to the character, not Jeongju. Ah, right, if you don’t mind me asking, can I get an autograph?”
“Um… an autograph, well, it’s not difficult…”
“Oh really? What an honor.”
The two of them chatted and disappeared into the living room through the front hallway.
“…”
“…”
Jaegyeom and Mesan, who were left alone in front of the shoe cabinet, were silent for a while.
***
Before he knew it, Jeongju was guiding Yoon Taehee to the table.
“Come on, sit down. You haven’t had breakfast yet, have you?”
Poor Mesani kept his mouth shut as he followed Jeongju’s orders, and Jaegyeom glared at Jeongju with a pitiful gaze.
He was the one saying things like ‘you need to set the record straight from the start’ or ‘beat the opponent to the punch’. Jaegyeom laughed out loud at the absurdity when he saw him pretending to be strict all by himself and then going overboard.
And you still call yourself a fox? It’s not like turning your palms over…
Come to think of it, that guy was like that from the beginning. Jaegyeom recalled the time when Jeongju was a smaller fox than he was now. At the time of their first meeting, the fox bared his teeth and acted as if he would pounce at any moment. However, when he threw a rice ball and patted him on the head, he turned over on his stomach and acted cute.
Au contraire, Yoon Taehee was more like a fox, and Jeongju was more like a bear.
“I’m sorry for your suggestion, what should I do? Unfortunately, I have to go up to Seoul right away… I don’t think I’ll have time to eat. But I’m grateful.”
Yoon Taehee, more like a fox than the one in the fox clan, smiled and waved his hand.
It was because last night, as soon as he announced his intention to return to the headquarters, he received an urgent call from Department Head Seok to enter the office within the morning of the next day. He hadn’t even formally submitted a letter of reinstatement. While I was undercover as a librarian, it was clear how much work would have been pushed back and piled up. He would be busy for a while from now.
If he had stayed for the full two months, Department Head Seok would probably have come to the school library. That’s a lot of patience for her personality. Anyway, since he had achieved what he wanted, there’s no reason to stay there any longer. The vacant librarian position would be taken care of by the headquarters, and it would be better to return as soon as possible.
“I came to say hello today. I think we’ve talked about it roughly, but I thought it would be better to explain it myself… Because now I have become my lord’s colleague.”
Jeongju, who was prepared to listen to his compliments more earnestly, made a blank face. Ever since he had disappeared from the public eye, he had been hungry for attention and love. Just when he thought he’d finally met someone who recognized him for who he really was…
“In that sense, let’s start with a proper introduction, Jeongju-ssi.”
Yoon Taehee smiled at Jeongju, who was heartbroken, and took a step closer.
“I’m Yoon Taehee, the chief of Team 1 of Naryecheong Exorcism Department.”
Thank you for the translation~
What a trio lol and Joon Taehee kinda fits ride in. Like a bunch of misfits.
Wow, really excited about this novel. Thank you very much for the translation 😁