Chapter 2

The Press Conference

The mood inside Sungjong’s small Hyundai Elantra was gradually getting worse as Sungyeol’s mouth kept yapping on. If he wasn’t complaining about the fact that his legs couldn’t fit properly, then it was the way Sungjong drove. “The speed limit is 60 by the way, not 52” he commented at one point. “You could have made it” he said when Sungjong put on the brake to let a train of cars pass by. That is when Sungjong had enough. He stopped the car altogether, despite the queue lining up behind them. “I swear I’ll throw you out right now if you don’t keep your mouth shut about my driving. My car, my rules.” Sungjong said, eyes shooting lasers at his passenger.

Sungyeol opened his mouth once more, but closed it again with obvious difficulty. “Great” Sungjong said and pushed down the pedal, waving at the cars honking behind him.

After Sungjong’s little outburst the air inside got chilly, despite the 28°C temperature outside. When they were standing still on the traffic lights, however, Rainbow’s “A” started playing on the radio. Both Sungjong and Sungyeol darted towards the volume button and looked at each other in surprise.

“I was going to turn the volume up, that okay?” Sungyeol asked. “Me too” Sungjong smiled sligtly. He started humming the tune while his hands appeared to twitch to the music on their own accord. Sungyeol remembered the dance as well, so he started to make larger movements. It didn’t take long for Sungjong to follow, starting a full on diva-dance on the driver’s seat. By the chorus they were both moving around so erratically that Sungjong nearly missed the green light.

Even while driving Sungjong sang along the lyrics while Sungyeol jumped up and down on his seat like an overexcited bunnyrabbit. When the song came to a halt Sungjong turned towards him; “I guess anyone that knows the choreography to “A” can’t be a bad person”. Sungyeol smiled back; “Yeah, maybe I misjudged you.” He continued with an impressed look; “Those moves were no joke though. They were like… fierce”, Sungyeol praised. “I’ve been dancing girl group dances since small; they’re so much fun” Sungjong chattered.

Somehow the mood in the car was suddenly much cosier, even though the radio had started playing a sobby ballad. The man’s voice was easily recognizable; it was somehow soft and thick. “I know this singer. He’s going to be in the same drama with me.” Sungyeol said. “Oh, do I get to meet him as well? His voice sounds nice” Sungjong said. Sungyeol frowned; “Believe me, you don’t want to. Woohyun’s voice is nothing like his personality.” “Nam Woohyun? Now him I’ve heard of. He’s a friend of my uncle’s. I’ve never met him, though…” Sungjong thought out loud.

Once they arrived at the location Sungyeol abandoned his makeshift chauffeur with nothing but the number of the room that the press conference was supposed to be held in. Feeling a bit irked and out of place, Sungjong looked trough the list of floors of the building and settled on taking the elevator to the 5^th one.

Sungjong found that the “room” was more like a hall, and with a rather loud group of people pooling around the entrance he could easily slip in unnoticed.

The languid mood inside the hall changed when the actors and their managers entered through a side door and ascended on the platform up front. The cheerful conversations stopped, and suddenly all eyes were on them. Sungjong had to admit that the actor’s and actresses did look dashing lifted above the black mass of reporters. They bowed and sat down, not a single hair out of place, complexions polished to perfection.

A man with a bad posture and a voice as dry as parchment opened the conference, and Sungjong’s eyes driffted towards Sungyeol. He had been groomed and given a new wardrobe. He actually looked really nice, but there was no way Sungjong would ever say that out loud. The actor was self-centered enough without him adding fuel to the fire.

A good-looking man sitting next to Sungyeol caught Sungjong’s stare, and kept glancing at him curiously. Sungjong tried to ignore him, which became easy when a short woman with life-threateningly high heels turned to talk to him. “Which company are you from?” she asked. They got a few disaproving looks from the rest of the reporters, so Sungjong lowered his voice; “Me? I’m not in any company. I’m a student”.

The woman’s eyes roamed over him, shamelesly inspecting and setting a value to every inch. Apparently she liked what she saw. “It’s a shame. Here, have my card. I’m not really a scout, but I think you have the right look for our company” she hissed, still producing enough voice to make more people near them turn their heads. The woman’s painted lips molded to a perfect business-smile as she shoved a card inside Sungjong’s jacket-pocket.

“Yeah, you’re right, he really does have a good look. Kind of androgyne. Ever heard of Ye Ranji?” a hip-looking man on Sungjong’s other side slipped his own card inside the confused boy’s pocket. “A fashion model? Aniyo, he should deffinitely audition for Woollim” a middle-aged businessman leaned closer and patted his back familiarly, pushing another card in his pocket. Sungjong was in the process of trying to look as insignificant as he could as more and more people chatted around him, putting him in a spotlight.

After the conference ended, Sungyeol signaled Sungjong to come to the front. To Sungjong’s marwel, he got introduced to Yoon Eun Hye (even if a bit halfassedly) when she was passing them. “This is…” Sungyeol began, realizing that he had never taken the iniative to learn the boy’s name. “Lee Sungjong” Sungjong interjected. “He’s here to replace my manager” Sungyeol said. Eun Hye bowed and smiled at Sungjong politly before turning back to Sungyeol; ”Why? Is he alright?” “Umm.. I guess I don’t know. He never showed up” Sungyeol said. “He could be seriously injured” the actress said with the air of a mother lecturing a thoughtless child. “Great, now I feel like a terrible person” Sungyeol frowned. Eun Hye just laughed and waved at them as she walked away. Before Sungjong could strike up a conversation with Sungyeol about how nice she seemed, the good-looking man from before appeared by his side out of nowhere.

“Who did you bring with you? You stud you” the man poked Sungyeol’s side with his elbow and smirked. Sungyeol’s face turned to an interesting patchwork of red and white. “You… you devil” he stuttered. “C’mon, is that a way to introduce me in front of such charming guests. I’m Nam Woohyun, pleased to meet you”

Oh, so this was the Nam Woohyun that Sunggyu had mentioned. Quite a colorfull persona, wasn’t he? Sungjong had rarely met such straightforward flirtation before, and suddenly he didn’t feel like revealing their connection after all. He merely grasped the offerend hand and uttered a lame “Pleased to make your aquintance.”

Woohyun didn’t let go of his hand like the social rules would dictate. “I don’t think I caught your name there, sweetie” he nigh purred. The tone was so greasy that it made Sungjong yank his hand back with the risk of being rude; “That’s because I didn’t say it”. Woohyun turned towards Sungyeol. “This one has spirit. I like it”, he laughed and sent a wink towards Sungjong. Sungyeol looked utterly scandalized; “Ugh, I think I’m going to vommit”.

He looked like he meant what he said, too.

Woohyun turned his smiling eyes towards Sungjong once more; “So, what are you doing here?” Sungjong pointed at Sungyeol; “I just drove him here”. “Ooh” there was a dangerous smirk on Woohyun’s lips “Since when have you two been driving around together”. Sungjong didn’t like the way Woohyun emphasized that sentence. Not one bit.

Neither did Sungyeol, apparently, because he grabbed Sungjong’s arm to drag him away. “We’re leaving” he huffed. “Hey, it was just a joke. God, you’re so humourless sometimes.” Woohyun’s voice followed them.

“What did he mean with ‘this one’?” Sungjong asked as he struggled to keep up with Sungyeol’s pace. “He’s just trying to mess with your head. He’s a head-messer. That’s what he does when he’s not trying to get into someone’s pants. I think those are like the two of his most favourite things to do.” Sungyeol rambled on, obviously too frustrated to have any control over his words. He finally stopped in front of a coffee machine, letting Sungjong even his breath. He dug out his phone to check the time, but found a message instead. It was a reply from Dongwoo that he hadn’t noticed in the hectic flurry of the conference.

“No problem bb, just don’t let him drug you and make you his -slave. You know that’s my privilige”.

Sungjong stared at the screen for a moment. Nope, not Dongwoo. From the look of things Hoya had snatched his cell again. Damn people and their crooked sense of humour.

***

“Hey, give it back” Dongwoo was jumping to reach his cell, while Hoya was expertly dodging his paws. He was holding Dongwoo’s Samsung as high as he could as he typed in a message. “It’s not my fault you’re a dwarf” Hoya stated. “Well that’s just pot calling a kettle black!” Dongwoo said and changed his tactique to wrestling.

“Aaand send.” Hoya said smugly, panting slightly from all the action. He gave in and handed Dongwoo his phone back. Hoya’s smile grew even wider when Dongwoo found the message and drooped his head miserably. “I’m dead.”