Translator: Marctempest
Editor: Rynfinity
Chapter 124
Ignoring the chaos unfolding in my head, I answered as calmly as possible.
“Aren’t you busy now that the drama is starting?”
“Yeah! There’s still a lot of time before the crank-in… Of course, if you don’t need me, you can decline! Just let me know comfortably. I really don’t mind.”
I did mind.
Why would I reject the offer for native English lessons?
“Then, could you check my pronunciation whenever you have time?”
“Of course!”
Sung Lee-jun smiled brightly.
He smiled so brightly that it made my worrying thoughts feel embarrassing.
‘I never expected to get this kind of help.’
The agency did provide a foreign language teacher.
I even took a test for a proper lecture.
The result wasn’t the worst, though it wasn’t good either.
‘You have excellent memorization skills. Your word acquisition is fast, and your grammar is decent. But your pronunciation… Have you ever traveled or studied abroad?’
‘No.’
‘Ah… Nowadays, many kids go to New Zealand or Canada even for a short period during vacations, so I was just asking.’
I had never traveled abroad, nor had I ever received private education.
The English I learned during school classes was all I had, so it was natural that my pronunciation was poor.
The teacher looked regretful, but it didn’t bother me.
‘As long as a Korean speaks Korean well, that’s enough.’
Conversations with foreigners might be frustrating, but they’d feel the same frustration, so why should I feel intimidated?
Still, because of that ‘actor image’, Team Leader Woo requested that I practice enough not to be looked down upon. So, I planned to focus more on pronunciation during the remaining time.
‘What should I do for Sung Lee-jun? What does he want?’
I couldn’t show him around the filming set like I did with Noh Bi-hyuk.
If anything, I should be the one receiving help, not the other way around.
“Thanks for making time. Is there anything you want? Something you need?”
“Huh? Nothing, really.”
As expected. What could I possibly give Sung Lee-jun that would be useful?
Cash? That would be like a beggar offering money to a rich person.
As I seriously pondered, Sung Lee-jun looked flustered.
“I was the one who suggested it, so it’s fine if you don’t give me anything. Yeon-jae…!”
Nothing comes for free in this world. I wasn’t that naive.
Ignoring him, I continued thinking.
Sung Lee-jun hesitated before speaking.
“Then, if it’s okay with you… can I contact you regularly?”
“Contact? We already do.”
“I mean casually, not just for work… Like sending meaningless messages. Like real close friends.”
I didn’t send meaningless messages.
I wondered what he was talking about, but I agreed for now.
Is that really worth as much as correcting my English pronunciation?
Well, at least his face was bright, so that was good.
* * *
But isn’t this too meaningless?
[Sung Lee-jun: Math is really too hard ㅠㅠ]
It was indeed a meaningless message.
I wondered why he would say something like that but quickly remembered our promise and replied.
[I find math difficult too.]
‘…Is this the right response?’
It didn’t seem like what he wanted.
I debated whether to add something more substantial but sent it anyway.
Whatever. He’d ask if he wanted something specific. For now, studying English was more urgent.
Time flew by as I studied hard.
When I checked my phone again, several messages had piled up.
[Sung Lee-jun: I thought you’d be good at math ㅎㅎ]
[Sung Lee-jun: What’s your favorite subject then?]
[Sung Lee-jun: You seem really busy. Reply when you have time.]
[Sung Lee-jun: Yeon-jae, do you like bread? I happened to buy some, but there’s too much. Can I bring some over?]
[Sung Lee-jun: Only if it’s okay with you! I thought it’d be nice to teach you English while giving you bread. No pressure.]
[Sung Lee-jun: Come to think of it, it might be burdensome ㅠㅠ Don’t worry about it!]
“…”
Why is he doing this?
I sighed deeply as I read the messages.
―Hello?
“It’s Yeon-jae. I was studying and just saw your messages. Sorry.”
―No problem. I’m sorry for interrupting. I just wanted to send a message…
“Do you want to come over now?”
He immediately said yes.
In less than ten minutes, the doorbell rang, and I opened the door.
His hands were full of bread, as if he had visited a bakery.
I quickly handed the bread to Manager An Jin-bae and dragged Sung Lee-jun to my room.
As soon as the door closed, I spoke.
“Something else.”
“Huh?”
“Instead of meaningless messages, is there anything else you want? Anything at all.”
“Huh. I’m sorry. Was I being too bothersome—?”
“I just prefer phone calls over texts. I actually don’t check my phone that often.”
Noh Bi-hyuk sometimes left long, unnecessary messages, but he didn’t care whether I replied or not.
But Sung Lee-jun seemed like he would.
His behavior was similar to what Mist did when he felt down, which bothered me.
Look, even the way he hung his head was similar.
“I just… want to be closer to you.”
“Aren’t we close enough?”
“Really?”
Of course. We had lunch together seven times despite only working together a few times.
“I’m glad you think so… I don’t have many friends my age. If it’s okay with you, I’d like to be really close friends.”
Sung Lee-jun’s eyes sparkled like dew.
Is this how people ask to be friends so cutely?
It was a bit awkward, but it wasn’t hard to nod.
“Sure. Let’s be closer.”
“…! Thanks!”
I wondered why someone more famous than me was so eager, but it turned out he just wanted friends his age.
I understood now. Homeschooling made it hard to make friends.
Feeling relieved, I patted Sung Lee-jun’s back.
“Thanks for the bread. I’ll enjoy it. Since you’re here, could you help me with my pronunciation? I keep getting stuck on the same parts.”
“Sure! I have plenty of time!”
Seeing Sung Lee-jun’s brightest smile yet was quite pleasant.
Mist also smiles well like that. I miss Mist.
“Yeon-jae, repeat after me slowly. Exactly.”
“Exactly.”
“…You’re doing well, but try to emphasize the ‘za’ sound more.”
How do you do that?
“No, it’s more about letting the ‘t’ sound flow a bit more.”
But how do you do that?
Unfortunately, Sung Lee-jun, despite his good intentions, wasn’t a great teacher.
Well, being good at something and teaching it are two different things.
We ended up repeating unnecessary things for about 30 minutes.
“Hyung, could you just read these words in a row? I think it’d be better to record it and practice.”
“Huh?”
“I can’t keep holding you here.”
With a dubious face, Sung Lee-jun read the words slowly.
That evening, I endlessly replayed the video file for hours.
Sung Lee-jun was amazed exactly two days later.
“Wow! How did you do that?”
“I just copied it. Like mimicking.”
“…? Can you really do that just by copying?”
“It’s just copying.”
I imitated Sung Lee-jun’s pronunciation like I did with Park Ha-eun’s way of speaking.
It was literally just mimicking.
Still, correcting 200 words in two days wasn’t a bad result.
‘If I keep doing this a few more times, I’ll get the hang of it.’
It was a brute force method, but it worked.
I’d formally learn from a teacher after the fan meeting, so I decided to fix what I could by myself until then.
By the time I had three more meals with Sung Lee-jun, the fan meeting was just around the corner.
* * *
[Sung Lee-jun’s bestie, sexy Bi-hyuk: Good luck with the fan meeting today. Don’t forget we’re meeting for dinner with Bi-hyuk. (๓´˘`๓)]
“Where do you find these emoticons?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, not talking to you.”
I replied to Noh Bi-hyuk’s message half-heartedly and put my phone away.
Manager An Jin-bae, looking even more nervous than me, had beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
I quickly wiped his forehead to prevent sweat from dripping into his ear.
“Hyung, take it easy. We’re not even late.”
“Why are you so calm today? You were so nervous for the fan signing event.”
That was because I didn’t know what I might lose due to the experiment with Mist.
The fan signing event was like a surprise gift.
Maybe it felt unreal that I could receive such a precious gift again.
The sense of unreality made me strangely calm.
“I might freeze once I step outside.”
“It’s okay if you make mistakes. There are only people who like you out there. There’s no need to be nervous at all.”
Maybe he should say that after wiping his own sweat.
But I couldn’t be harsh to someone who was more nervous than me, so I wiped his sweat once more.
“I’ll be standing to the right of the stage. If you have any trouble or need a break, just look at me. Got it?”
“Yes. I will.”
I heard the murmur of the crowd beyond the curtain. I started feeling nervous.
‘They came all this way to see me. I should make it worth their time.’
I still didn’t understand why they liked me, but I liked their shining eyes. They made me feel greedy.
If I just pulled back the curtain, I’d see those eyes again.
Thinking that, I slowly opened the curtain.
And what I faced was a multitude of starlights.
* * *
The eyes that sparkled simultaneously upon seeing me felt like the universe.
Looking at the starlight that seemed ready to pour down, my head felt dreamy and hazy.
But only for a moment. The enormous cheers snapped me back to reality.
“Kyah! Bambi!”
“Yeon-jae! Noona’s here!!!”
As soon as I heard the deafening shouts, I grabbed the microphone.
“You’ll hurt your throat. Be careful.”
Ah, I should have greeted them first. I messed up from the start. What should I do?
“Hello. This is Lee Yeon-jae.”
Standing in front of so many people, my mind went blank.
I forced a smile.
God, my hands are shaking, aren’t they?
‘What am I even saying right now?’
I was sure the words coming out of my mouth were mine, but they sounded like a foreign language I was hearing for the first time.
Today’s fan meeting was to be conducted entirely by me without any other MC.
Thanks to the fan cafe admins who sent in suggestions on what content would be good, writing the script wasn’t difficult.
I practiced and memorized each sentence hundreds of times, so everything I said was straight from the script. There should be no problem.
No, stop thinking like this. Focus.
To clear my complicated mind, I paused my speech.
At that moment, a phrase pierced through the quiet hall and hit my ears like an arrow.
“Crazy, his ears turned red. So cute.”
The voice was too loud to be a mutter.
I didn’t know how to respond and froze with the microphone in hand.
Laughter erupted from the crowd.
I awkwardly followed with a laugh and tried to read the next line in the script. I really did.
“…”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out.
I didn’t need a mirror to know my ears were bright red. The heat rising to my neck was proof enough.
After a few moments of struggling, I couldn’t help but cover my face with both hands.
Please, everyone, look somewhere else.