Because You Were Found

His nerves were gradually becoming frayed.

He wanted to be left alone in a quiet place, inject his medication, and close his eyes leaning on its effect.

Taehwa took a vial from his bag, shook it, and openly showed his annoyance.

“Shouldn’t you go? I heard you’re busy with company work lately.”

But Tae-in was not one to be bothered by just that.

“Why an idol, of all things? I wonder if Yeon Se-jun will even care.”

Taehwa muttered as if sighing.

Yoon Ji-ho, really useless….

He hoped Tae-in would tactfully disappear, but he knew Tae-in’s temperament wouldn’t show such consideration voluntarily until he had obtained all the information he wanted.

Though reluctant, he opened his mouth, knowing that if he didn’t speak, he would dig into things he didn’t want revealed.

“Everyone probably thought that. Since there’s no one to handle the monster, they have to at least attach a watcher. At least they put up an engagement, so we should be grateful.”

“Who called you a monster?”

“I’m saying everyone being so proactive about my marriage is probably close to that psychology.”

At the dry voice showing not a hint of hurt, Tae-in closed his mouth.

“If you’re worried about my safety, rather than marriage, wouldn’t it be better to tie me up and imprison me?”

“…….”

“In that sense, marriage isn’t even a second-best option for me.”

The headache intensified.

As a temporary measure, Taehwa closed his eyes and rubbed his stiff neck with his hand.

Leaning his head on the sofa, he recalled a memory from a few days ago.

“I heard marriages without love are common in your world.”

He looked like he wanted to curse outright.

He seemed dazed as if he had been violated, then, once he grasped what he had just been told, he acted as if he was tolerating it because the other was an investor.

Tossing out words that were hard to tell if they were jokes or serious.

“This feels like… watching a drama. Hearing you, with that face, say something the male lead of a morning drama would say.”

“That kind of face?”

“An arrogant, unlikeable face.”

That earnest ‘idol’ who had been diligently promoting himself, immediately changed his expression upon hearing Taehwa’s contract proposal and remained indifferent until the moment they parted.

After their meeting, that early morning, the text that arrived, waking him from a rare deep sleep—far from being reassuring—made him lose sleep pondering the reason for the sudden change in attitude.

–”…Then, is there also a penalty fee?”

The next day, hearing his voice on the phone, he had thought it might just be capriciousness, but….

Now, without erasing the faint smile that had formed, Taehwa slowly opened his eyes and raised his head leisurely.

He spoke towards his brother, who was watching him from not far away.

“It’s not ‘why an idol of all things,’ but rather, it’s fortunate he’s an idol. If he weren’t, I wouldn’t have even found him.”

“Found?”

For an instant, he recalled the pure warmth and touch, untainted by any pain.

“This time, I’m not thinking of postponing the marriage, but of making it as if it never happened.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but thanks for telling me in advance.”

“Hyung, just pretend you don’t know. Don’t unnecessarily intervene and complicate things.”

As if to cut off any further conversation, Taehwa said, “Now go.”

“Not going?”

Tae-in wanted to discuss more about the help he could give, but he thought if he lingered a bit longer, he might end up slammed against the wall like in some unfortunate past time.

Tae-in obediently dusted off his rear and stood up.

Since he had heard everything he came to hear anyway, his mind was light.

“I’m going.”

“Not seeing you out.”

“Didn’t expect you to.”

Tae-in took a few steps, then stopped abruptly and turned around.

Taehwa, who had been drawing medication from a small vial with a syringe, looked up at his brother’s lingering and furrowed his brows as if to ask, ‘Now what?’

“Ah… It seems your fiancé has properly co-opted Joo Tae-young.”

****

“Please come in. Nice to meet you. I’m Yoo Jung-rim.”

It was a meeting set up because writer Yoo had requested, ‘I must meet at least once with my writer’s authority before the script reading.’

“Ah… Hello. I’m Goo Yoo Hyun.”

For a moment, Yoo Hyun wondered if he had come to the wrong place.

She was younger than he expected.

Even considering she looked young for her age, she seemed to be in her mid-thirties at most.

Judging by her appearance, she could even be in her late twenties or early thirties.

He was worried enough that someone might see and misunderstand.

“Did you hear? I pestered the director so much to cast you, Yoo Hyun-ssi.”

“…….”

“I heard you avoided romantic dramas, Yoo Hyun-ssi?”

Yoo Hyun, who had gulped down water as soon as he sat down due to his parched throat, choked and coughed violently.

Was she sent by the director to scold him for being impudent?

Regarding his past refusal of the casting, Yoo Hyun had nothing to say.

Because writer Yoo Jung-rim’s words were true.

At that time, Yoo Hyun had plenty of opportunities without taking risks, and he had not a shred of intention to appear in this drama.

“Sorry…”

Writer Yoo, quietly observing Yoo Hyun’s flustered face, continued.

“I’m not blaming you. Don’t feel too disheartened. I’m not trying to scold you. If I had known you were refusing to appear because of love scenes, I would have changed the story earlier.”

Yoo Hyun’s eyes widened.

To think she wanted to cast him enough to change the story….

“Uh… The reason writer-nim had me in mind…”

“You didn’t hear from Director Baek Hyun-soo?”

Seeing his bewildered expression, writer Yoo shrugged her shoulders and answered as if there was no clearer reason.

“The action. It’s an action drama.”

It was a completely unexpected reason.

The writer smiled and added.

“I don’t remember the exact date, but it must have been about three or four years ago. One day, bored, I was flipping through TV channels and happened to see you, Yoo Hyun-ssi. It was a survival variety show. The rules changed each episode, but the format was celebrities forming teams for team competitions.”

Yoo Hyun immediately knew which program she was referring to.

‘All-Rounder.’

It was a sports variety show where intense physical activity was the main mission, frequently causing serious injuries to participants, leading to its eventual cancellation.

However, while airing, it gained explosive popularity.

It was a program Yoo Hyun was personally deeply attached to.

“I get tired eyes if I watch screens for too long, so I don’t watch TV much, but the episodes with you, Yoo Hyun-ssi, I watched intently, losing track of time. Sometimes even after taking headache medicine. And when I couldn’t see you on that show anymore, I made up my mind. I would definitely have you appear in my drama.”

‘All-Rounder’ was a grateful program that instantly boosted the recognition of MA:IN and Yoo Hyun, who were at rock bottom, and allowed the team to continue activities despite generating no profit.

In fact, one of the typical confessions he heard when meeting fans was, ‘I had no interest before, but while watching All-Rounder, I found you cool and became a MA:IN fan.’

Yoo Hyun’s athleticism was well-known to the point that the saying, ‘He’s too good for an idol, they should ban him from idol sports variety shows,’ became a half-joke, half-serious meme.

When he was first cast, ‘All-Rounder’ itself was just a pilot program before regular scheduling.

But thanks to Yoo Hyun’s performance, it gained massive media coverage, leading to its confirmation as a regular program.

Even during his time as a fixed panelist after the regular scheduling, he often heard comments like, ‘Shouldn’t you be in an athlete’s village, not a variety show?’

The nickname he earned from the program was ‘Joker,’ meaning the strongest card.

But who would have thought that was the decisive reason for the casting?

As they say, living diligently pays off eventually.

While pleased, another question arose.

“Uhm, writer-nim. But if it’s because of action, aren’t there many people who are good at action besides me?”

“Good people who? Are there people as young and handsome as you, Yoo Hyun-ssi? Tell me if there are.”

“Uh…”

Yoo Hyun blinked blankly, then, feeling his face heat up, bowed his head abruptly.

“Th-thank you.”

At the awkward reaction from someone who seemed like he would be full of self-love, writer Yoo burst into laughter.

Jung-rim contained her laughter and spoke in a calm voice.

“The reason I asked to meet today is because I wanted to explain the work to you. I think acting knowing and acting not knowing would be different.”

“Yes.”

“The drama I’m writing this time is about my friend. It’s reconstructed based on a true story, and I expect it will cause quite a controversy. Director Baek Hyun-soo and I think it’ll be a miracle if it airs safely until the final episode.”

“Ah, then your friend must be consulting…”

“He’s a friend who is no longer in this world.”

Before meeting that friend, Jung-rim didn’t know.

The Center, Espers, Guides.

Not only did she not know what they did, she didn’t even know they existed.

Supernatural abilities were merely unusual phenomena occasionally encountered in overseas topic videos, a realm she rarely had the chance to access.

That friend, who seemed like he came from another dimension, told Jung-rim that special story little by little every day.

“Being someone’s one and only reason not to want to die is a terrible thing. Because even if you don’t want to see someone’s foolish actions, you have to keep watching them.”

“Foolish actions?”

“Actions where they risk their lives because they want to live.”

“They were just trying to protect you.”

“Then they should have lived.”

At the end of the tense story, the friend’s lover, who had probably lost his life, appeared.

Like the little match girl in midwinter, the friend would be briefly happy and long sad each time she told the story.

“A shower on family land, a ray of light in the darkness? That’s romantic. It means you’re that special.”

“Do you know what their characteristic is? They’re too insignificant to change anything in the end.”

“Anyway, being someone’s hope is what’s important.”

“That’s not just hope. It’s false hope.”

The friend died a little each day from the sorrow of losing her lover.

“I think it would have been better if we had never met.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Immensely. Because he said he loved me. By letting me live, by making me want to live.”

“…….”

“So now, I don’t want to live.”

After the friend left, Jung-rim decided to forget.

All the stories she had heard.

Every time she reflected on her friend’s story, she suffered greatly from the sorrow the friend had left behind.

The reason Jung-rim decided to take out that story again was due to a very coincidental catalyst.

While listening to a certain late-night radio broadcast.

“You like cats but can’t keep one because of allergies…. Ah, you’re in a similar situation to me. So I satisfy myself by searching for videos. There’s love that becomes salvation just by existing, right?”

She told Yoo Hyun she wanted to cast him after seeing him on a variety show, but that wasn’t actually true.

It was because of that late-night radio.

Jung-rim, who listened to the radio more than watching TV, saved and listened to that episode of the radio that Yoo Hyun hosted over and over.

It was from then that she began vaguely dreaming of Yoo Hyun appearing in a drama.