CRANK 27
by twenty“Haa…. No, it’s not that. It’s just, I don’t want to make such a shameless request…. Ah!”
Then, at the perfect timing, he clutched his right shoulder. It was my fault he got hurt, after all. My conscience stung.
“What… what is it? Why are you doing that? Just say it.”
“It’s just…. Ha, geez…. I hate to ask for a favor like this…”
“It’s okay, Actor. I’ll listen to whatever it is.”
Woo Dobin looked so pitiful that even Youngjun nodded his head in the rearview mirror. As if gaining courage, Woo Dobin finally opened his mouth.
“That is… it’s nothing else, but… could I perhaps live with you, Sunbae, until I’m fully recovered?”
A moment of silence passed, and then I shrieked.
“Are you insane?”
“That’s a great idea!”
But Youngjun, who was driving, seemed to be possessed by something and agreed with shining eyes.
“Kim Youngjun, will you be quiet? Hey, why on earth would I live with you!”
I glared at Woo Dobin with wide eyes. Live together? It had been only a few minutes since I’d sworn to never let him into my house again. How could I let Woo Dobin in after everything that had happened? Who knew what kind of worse things would happen in the future?
“…I suppose that’s true, isn’t it?”
Woo Dobin tilted his head to the side.
“Right, it’s an unreasonable request on my part…. Ugh!”
“…Hey.”
His shoulder was trembling, and his face was drenched in cold sweat. Woo Dobin looked even more serious than when he was first injured. It was to the point where I wondered if the doctor had misdiagnosed him.
“…Are you okay? Shouldn’t we go back to the hospital?”
“No, I’m fine…. I’ll just go home, eat dinner alone…. Ah, I can’t eat, can I…. I’ll just wash up and sleep…. Ah, I can’t wash up either…”
As if he’d been cursed, Woo Dobin sighed while looking down at his right arm. No, seriously… My guilt pricked my chest again. It seemed the same went for Youngjun. Even though Youngjun had done nothing wrong.
“Hyung…. He’s begging like that… he looks so pitiful…”
To anyone watching, his attitude would make them mistake Woo Dobin not for a top-tier actor worth hundreds of millions, but for a homeless man without a room to sleep in.
“No, still, what kind of…”
“Hyung, you have a spare guest room anyway. You said you don’t have any schedules, so you can just help him out a bit at home.”
“That…”
No matter how you look at it, living together just isn’t right, is it? Guilt and reason were playing tug-of-war. For now, reason was still in the lead. After all, I hadn’t forgotten what happened just a few hours ago. That… kiss. And…
“It’s fine…. I’ll just live alone, somehow. How could someone like me bother you, Sunbae? It’s okay, Mr. Youngjun. Really…”
He thought I’d fall for that. My reason was working harder than it ever had in my life. I couldn’t let guilt win under any circumstances.
“Living alone is… something I’m used to, anyway.”
The eyes of Woo Dobin, who had lowered his head, flickered for a moment. Is he crying? Crazy…
“Hey…. Are you crying?”
“Crying? No way!”
Woo Dobin smiled. It was a miserable smile that looked like he was desperately holding back tears. At that same moment, the rope slipped from my reason’s grasp and drifted helplessly toward guilt.
“Haa….”
Just as I let out a sigh, the car came to a screeching halt. Startled, I looked around and realized we were already in front of my officetel.
“Actor…!”
Youngjun, who had turned around from the driver’s seat, was on the verge of tears.
“If Hyung really says it’s impossible… come to my house.”
“…What?”
“Isn’t this what helping each other out is for?”
Youngjun was thoroughly absorbed in Woo Dobin’s sadness, or his sentimentality, or perhaps his own sympathy. It was true that I liked this side of him, which is why we’d worked together for so long, but…
“Even though my place is just a one-room studio… who cares! It’s better than being alone!”
Youngjun didn’t forget to glare at me as he said that. As if asking how I could be so cold-hearted when I have a spare room at Hyung’s place. This jerk doesn’t even know what Woo Dobin did to me a few hours ago. He doesn’t know that the scandal he’s so worried about might actually happen between me and a male actor…
I squeezed my eyes shut and exhaled. Ha… f*ck…. It ended up like this again…
“…Forget it.”
“What do you mean forget it?”
“I said forget it. Just… ha, just…”
Woo Dobin looked up at me with sparkling eyes, like a cat from an animation.
“Just…?”
“F*ck…”
In the end, I got dragged into it like this. Woo Dobin, Kim Youngjun. It was a 2-on-1 fight I had no chance of winning from the start. No, perhaps it was a 3-on-1 fight, if you count guilt.
“Hyung, watch your language!”
Ignoring Youngjun, who was worried about my image even in this moment, I flung the car door open and got out. Then, I walked around and opened the door on Woo Dobin’s side, as if to escort him.
“Sunbae…”
“What are you doing, get out.”
“But this is…”
He looked as if he wanted to ask, ‘This is Sunbae’s place, isn’t it?’ Can I get out? Can I live with you? Are you giving me permission? Even without him saying it, I could feel Woo Dobin’s emotions vividly.
“…Yeah. Get out.”
Woo Dobin smiled brightly and leaped out of the car.
“Ugh.”
Even a weak jump is bound to make you stumble upon landing, and Woo Dobin grabbed his right shoulder from the impact.
“Hey, be careful.”
“Yes.”
Woo Dobin smiled like a dog, mouth wide open, and headed toward the officetel entrance, seemingly worried that I might change my mind. Watching his over-excited back, exhaustion washed over me.
I walked over to Youngjun, who was sitting in the driver’s seat looking at us with a satisfied expression—or rather, a look like I was some kind of ‘Daddy Long Legs.’
“Kim Youngjun.”
“Yes, Hyung.”
“Do some digging into Woo Dobin’s manager.”
“The actor’s manager?”
“Yeah, find out if he’s really on vacation or whatever. It’s weird. It’s strange how Woo Dobin keeps avoiding calling his manager…”
Because it’s possible that the agency is mistreating Woo Dobin since he’s a rookie. Youngjun seemed to catch on without me finishing the sentence and nodded.
“Understood.”
“Get home safe, and don’t be late tomorrow.”
“Yes!”
Youngjun gripped the wheel, then turned back to look at me.
“Hyung.”
“What.”
“My eye for people really wasn’t wrong. Hyung is truly loyal!”
“Shut up.”
“Tsk, stop cursing! I’m off!”
Loyal, my foot. Leaving behind words so typical of him, Youngjun’s car drove away.
“Sunbae! Welcome!”
I looked at Woo Dobin, who was waving his hands at me from the officetel entrance, and let out a sigh he couldn’t hear. In the end, I got dragged in again. By that jerk…
Why on earth do I keep getting dragged in by Woo Dobin? Honestly, it was true that I felt sorry. I had kicked Woo Dobin, and that’s why he was hurt. Of course, Woo Dobin was guilty of touching my… that before that, but I had accepted Woo Dobin’s kiss even before that. Regardless, if we were counting the blame, I was more at fault.
But that was that. No, it was exactly because of that that I didn’t want to let Woo Dobin into my house. Now that I’d realized the true depth of Woo Dobin’s desire to kiss or have s*x with me, I knew. Who knows if I might end up kicking Woo Dobin’s crotch again during the second round?
“Sunbae!”
Unaware of my complicated heart, Woo Dobin smiled purely.
“What would you like for dinner?”
It was already past eight in the evening. Even though I’d eaten plenty using the drinking snacks as an excuse, I felt hunger after returning from the hospital. Woo Dobin opened the fridge to check the ingredients.
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“You said you couldn’t eat or wash on your own. Isn’t that why you came to my place?”
“Ah…”
Woo Dobin came right up next to me and smiled.
“Right. I was just looking. To see what you had.”
I narrowed my eyes and stared at Woo Dobin’s shoulder. Is he really in pain? But the doctor said it was painful, so…
“Ah, you need to take your medicine. What do you want to eat?”
I recalled Youngjun’s warning, delivered like a pharmacist, that he absolutely had to take his antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and muscle relaxants after a meal.
“Are you going to make it for me?”
“No? I’m going to order delivery?”
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