SWAP 3

“…….”

It was a voice I couldn’t possibly fail to recognize.

Setting aside that characteristic rasping intonation, he was someone I faced every single day; it would have been stranger not to realize it was him. As I froze completely, wondering why on earth he was here, a slow chuckle vibrated against the shell of my ear. I reflexively leaned my body forward at the ticklish brush of his breath, but he followed right along.

Seoul, letting out a short groan at the heavy weight suddenly pressing down on him, hurriedly raised his hands.

I tapped on the thick arm already wrapped around my neck, but instead of pulling away, I felt him bend his waist even further. The intentionality of his touch against my skin was overwhelming.

“Seo Saheon, stop messing around.”

“I’m asking if you have one.”

I tried to warn him in my own way, but of course, it didn’t work. Seoul blinked, wondering what he meant by such a vague question, before realizing the meaning a beat later. Do you have any best friend other than me? I couldn’t understand why he was asking something that wasn’t even worth answering.

Since he knew every single detail of my narrow social circle anyway.

The way he tried to confirm it like this every time felt childish, yet on the other hand, it felt like he was forcing a vow out of me, which inevitably made my mood sink.

“…Get off, will you?”

I couldn’t let it show, though.

Hiding his expression as if nothing were wrong, Seoul tapped Saheon’s arm once more. CEO Yeom, sitting across from them, didn’t even look over, as if this situation weren’t a first or even a second occurrence. He looked like someone who had learned through countless experiences that the one who pays attention is the one who loses.

It wasn’t exactly a wrong assessment.

My strength drained away along with a thought that bordered on self-deprecation.

Whether he noticed that or not, his low voice dug into my ear again.

“Who is it?”

“I told you to stop.”

“Who is it, I said.”

“Hey.”

“Seoul-ah. Who is it?”

“…….”

“Did you really hide someone from me?”

“What are you…”

Hide someone? As if.

It was an absurd nitpick, but by this point, it was better to just keep my mouth shut.

Knowing he would cling to me until he heard the answer he liked, Seoul let out a small sigh and declared an early surrender. He could already picture a future where Saheon would ask over and over and eventually find a different way to torment him. Seo Saheon was more than capable of that.

“There’s no one, there’s no one, so stop leaning on me… How many times do I have to tell you that you’re heavy?”

“I’m not heavy, though?”

Don’t make me laugh. He had plenty to say for someone who had already surpassed 180cm back in middle school.

For a moment, the memory of his youthful face complaining that his joints were aching made me almost want to laugh, but I managed to hold it in. It was an excessively shameless remark for a guy who was now well over 190cm and built like a barn door.

Still, it must have been the answer he wanted, as I felt him slightly loosen the strength in his body that had been crushing me in a near-embrace. Seoul decided not to miss the opportunity.

“Did you grease your lips?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me see.”

When I pointedly tapped the seat next to me, I heard a snort of laughter.

Since we were in a relationship where we could practically see right through each other’s heads, his gaze said it was obvious that this was Seoul’s ploy to get him to detach.

However, it was always Saheon’s role to blatantly let it slide. Slowly pulling away from Seoul, Saheon lightly brushed the backrest with his palm. Then, in just a few steps, he circled the sofa and plopped down right next to Seoul. He didn’t forget to show off his handsome face as if inviting me to “check.”

“Well?”

He tilted his cheek at the angle where his jawline looked most prominent, as if telling me to take a good look if I was going to look at all.

It was kindness I hadn’t asked for, but because his face was—as always—so dazzling it felt unrealistic, Seoul was momentarily lost for words.

Maybe it was because he was a model. Even though he was in comfortable clothes with his disheveled hair unstyled, Seo Saheon always looked like a person placed in the middle of a photo shoot. Seoul, who unintentionally stole a glance at the oddly shaded eyes between his sharp features, muttered words he couldn’t actually spit out only inside his mouth. Well what? You’d be horrified if I told you the truth…

So, there was only one thing I could say.

“Grease them some more.”

As I answered nonchalantly and whipped my head away, I saw out of the corner of my eye his shoulders shaking as he chuckled. It was a common laugh he only showed to one specific person, while usually remaining expressionless. Seoul, who didn’t fully understand that disparity, glanced at CEO Yeom, who was now preoccupied with his phone. The silence despite Saheon’s sudden appearance was bothersome.

“So why did you come here?”

“I went to pick you up but got stood up, so I chased you down?”

“…You came to the set?”

“Yeah. I arrived 10 minutes early, but you had left 20 minutes early.”

I had indeed wrapped up my schedule faster than usual, startled by the mention of a variety show.

Seoul, looking embarrassed as he never imagined Saheon had come to pick him up, muttered.

“You should have contacted me in advance… I was out of it because I got a sudden call.”

“Right. I guess you were out of it.”

With those words, Saheon’s hand reached out straight toward Seoul’s chin.

I knew he wouldn’t, but for a second, I thought he was going to grab me by the collar.

As I froze with my eyes wide at the sudden action, Saheon, instead of clutching the shirt, skillfully undid the neatly tied gray necktie.

Only after seeing him toss the long piece of fabric over the back of the sofa without hesitation did Seoul let out a short sigh.

“…Sorry.”

Because I was in a rush, I hadn’t even been able to change my clothes.

It was the result of giving in to the director’s persistence to include a shot of me in a suit, since the role I played in this movie was an office worker.

I apologized quietly in a hesitating tone, but Saheon merely reached out silently and undid one more button that had been fastened to the top of my neck. Even if it was unavoidable during filming, Seoul knew well that Saheon hated the sight of him wearing a tie to a pathological degree, so he couldn’t help but reflexively watch his reaction.

“The production company gave this to me as a gift…”

“Then you’re going to appear on the show with me, right?”

“Right. With you… what?”

Did I hear wrong?

I asked back, praying that my hearing was broken, but Saheon drove the point home without changing his expression.

“Bestie Exchange. That’s why you were called here.”

In the end, it was that program again. The fact that we had to appear as a pair was something that could be confirmed just by looking at one clip, but doing a variety show—and doing it with Saheon—was something I had never even imagined. Seoul denied it with a look of disbelief.

“That part is true, but why you… no, appear together? With you? Me?”

“Yeah.”

“Why…?”

“Because I’m Lee Seoul’s best friend.”

“Are you going to keep playing word games? CEO, what is the situation right now?”

Realizing that further conversation with Saheon would be meaningless, Seoul quickly changed direction.

Yeom Gangsik, who had been desperately pretending to be busy by faking interest in internet articles, finally put down his phone only after Seoul called out “CEO” once more.

“Uh, well…”, the way he trailed off was exactly like a calf being dragged to a slaughterhouse. Seriously, with those big eyes of his.

“No, well… what can I do when the rule is that you have to come out with a best friend. It’s not like you have any other celebrity friends, Seoul-ah, right? And just then, you two! The filming period fits perfectly too! Hahaha. Man, the timing is just incredible…”

“I believe we agreed that I would clear my entire schedule starting today.”

“Haha… That is true, but…”

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

Reading something in the expression of CEO Yeom, who couldn’t even manage any more excuses and avoided my eyes, Seoul turned his head, thinking surely not. I did think something was strange. After all, Yeom Gangsik was famous for favoring Seoul to the point where rumors circulated that they were relatives.

He was a man who hadn’t budged until now, even despite the wailing of fans begging him to increase my activities. It was a tear-jerking devotion, to the point that he was still honoring Seoul’s first request of only wanting to act.

For such a CEO to go this far, it was definitely…

“By any chance, did you say you would do this?”

“Yeah.”

I asked with a sense of “just in case,” but the answer that came back was anticlimactically simple.

As Seoul could only move his lips in shock at Saheon’s attitude—who didn’t even seem to have any intention of hiding it—CEO Yeom, his face turning even more absurd, suddenly shouted.

“Hey, you brat…! You, you told me to keep it a secret from Seoul!” The anger gauge of Yeom Gangsik, who had been forced to roleplay as a villainous CEO until now because of that one sentence, finally exploded. Having felt like a shrimp whose back was breaking in a fight between whales for the past few days, he began a rapid-fire lament toward Seoul in a near-sobbing tone.

“Seoul-ah, Seoul-ah! Your CEO is really going to lose all his hair. Really, pick a day and scold that guy severely, okay? Do you know how much of a headache I’ve had? How absurd it was when he suddenly showed up a week ago and notified me that he was going on this program with you… It’s a good thing a casting offer came in this time too, but he said if I didn’t let him appear with you, he’d skip the Carde F/W show being held this year! Does that make sense? He’s the ambassador for it!”

“…….”

It was already a fact known to everyone in the industry that Seo Saheon was the darling of the head designer at Carde. They even said the F/W show this year was preparing a collaboration with an invited designer. It was an outrageous piece of extortion even to Seoul, who was an amateur when it came to the modeling world.

It was true he had a naturally reckless personality, but he had never dragged professional matters into it like this before.

I sent him a look telling him to explain himself, but Seo Saheon looked remarkably peaceful. At an attitude that seemed as if he were listening to someone else’s story, even Seoul, who usually let things pass, felt upset.

I really can’t see into his head at all…

When I asked if that was true, my voice full of disbelief, the expression of Saheon—who had been keeping his mouth shut without much of a response—turned a bit strange. After staring at Seoul’s face for a long time while resting his arm on his knee, he muttered softly.

“Because you keep making me upset.”

…The tone was definitely like he was grumbling, but the meaning contained within was not light at all. It might be because I knew what the story following that would be.

“You said you were going to leave me and move out.”

……

“Then where am I supposed to meet Lee Seoul now?”

At that voice, which even carried a hint of grievance, Seoul had no choice but to be rendered speechless.