Chapter 3

The Power of Persuasion

Sungyeol glanced at Sungjong curiosly. The boy was looking at his cell and smiling to himself. When Sungyeol asked; “Who is it?”, Sungjong quickly stowed his phone back inside his pocket, as if caught red handed. “A friend. You know, the one I was supposed to pick up when you dragged me along”, Sungjong didn’t miss the chance to send an accusing look in Sungyeol’s direction.

Sungyeol shifted uncomfortably; “Yeah, about that. What is your… fare?” Sungjong’s mouth pursed in thought; “Hmm.. For taxies I think it’s somewhere around 60,000 won, but then I’m not a taxi driver, so—I think 90,000 won should cut it”.

Sungjong was not in dire need of money, but he was one to hold on to deals. And the deal had been that he’d be paid ‘handsomely’.

“Aish, my CO won’t be happy… I suppose you want it in cash?” Sungyeol asked. Sungjong nodded and gave him a smile that could have been angelic if it weren’t for the mischievous glint in his eyes. Sungyeol stopped himself from inanely returning the smile and turned safely in another direction. “Follow me. There must be an ATM around here somewhere”, he said and with that marched away.

 “How’s your weekend, then? Partying on someone’s yacht?” Sungjong asked Sungyeol after inquiring about his schedules. “Nah, nothing that interesting. Me and my friends are going to just hang out, get wasted.. You know, a guys night”. Sungjong shrugged; “Well, most of my friends are girls, so…”

There was a “bling”-sound inside Sungyeol’s head.

He couldn’t help it. He was seriously curious about Sungjong’s uality. Losing his piece of mind curious. Sungjong’s appearance and all taken into account, he was deffinitely your stereotypical flaming fairy. But Sungyeol had hung out with enough big personalities *cough-Jok-won-cough* to know that looks truly can be deceiving. And now he had the perfect opportunity to find out indirectly, so as to not hurt the boy’s pride.

 “Woah, that must be amazing. You’ve probably had a ton of girlfriends by now?” Sungyeol asked cunningly (or so he thought). Sungjong, however, noticed the question behind the question immediately (he had faced enough of them since he grew up and started dressing as he pleased), but he decided to mess with the man’s head a little. “Well, you’re a celebrity, shouldn’t you have girls swarming around you constantly. Like at the airport”, Sungjong said, dodging the questions, both the voiced and the unvoiced one, expertly.

Sungyeol hid his dissapointment poorly. “It’s kind of difficult to have a normal relationship with anyone when I’m this famous” he said, raising a dramatic hand to his chest. The gesture earned a snort from Sungjong. “How your ego fits inside that thick skull of yours, I have no idea.” he said.

Even if Sungjong still found the actor arrogant, he no longer thought him unpleasant. Quite on the contrary; the man was fun to talk to, and when they parted ways Sungjong felt kind of sorry, even with his wallet 90,000 won fuller. The chances of meeting Sungyeol again were quite low after all.

Just when Sungjong was sure that the day’s craziness had passed, Nam Woohyun caught him in the building’s lobby. “Hey, wait up”, he called out when Sungjong was about to exit the doors.

Sungjong turned back hesistantly, and with a few running steps Woohyun was standing before him. “Hah, found you”, he breathed and grinned; “I couldn’t help but notice the commotion before.” Sungjong frowned. “At the hall— the scouts were buzzing around you like bees around a big pot of honey” Woohyun continued. Sungjong settled to frowning even deeper.

“They want you. I’m right, aren’t I?” Woohyun smiled again when Sungjong’s expression softened. “I want to have a word with you” Woohyun demanded and for the second time Sungjong found himself being dragged away at a swift pace. Somehow this day wasn’t going at all according to his plans.

The singer led him into a busy make-up room, with coordi noona’s and other people on a mission darting in and out of sight. Sungjong felt like he shouldn’t have been there.

When Sungjong unveiled his discomfort Woohyun merely laughed. “Don’t be silly, you are my guest. No one would even think of bothering you” he said happily. The noona shaping his hair smiled at Sungjong as well. “Alright, but I don’t really see the point of me being in here” Sungjong gave up. He seated himself on a stool next to Woohyun, only to jump up when one of the noona’s hauled it off to some other, evidently alarmingly chairless, location.

Woohyun looked at him through the mirror.

”Have you ever given showbusiness a thought?” he asked. ”I used to dance…” Sungjong shrugged dismissively. ”Oh, really?” Woohyun gave him one of his smirks again, as if he’d predicted this. “Yeah, with my hyungs. Anyway, I never felt like I was on the same level so I just quit” Sungjong finished, at the same time wondering why he was spilling his life to a stranger. A stranger he didn’t even necessarily like.

“Isn’t that giving up too easily?” Woohyun asked, closing his eyes while the hair-noona used copious amounts of hairspray for finishing touches. When the air was more or less breathable again Woohyun continued; “I mean, maybe this is your second chance”. Sungjong remained sceptical; “One can’t just become a celebrity overnight”. Woohyun smiled at the boy’s lack of selfconfidence; “Oh, with a face and character like yours, yes they can”. Sungjong sought support from the hair-noona in vain.“Don’t look at me”, she said;  “I completely agree with him”.

“So, which companies did you get?” Woohyun asked and Sungjong, slowly starting to understand that resistance was futile when it came to Nam Woohyun, handed him the cards he’d received. Seven of them, to be exact. “Whew, that’s admirable” Woohyun said as he shuffled through them. “So, how about modelling? You seem to like clothes” he asked after picking out one of the cards. And that was only the beginning.

To Sungjong Woohyun’s speeches about this company over that or about the perks of working as an idol over singing were exhausting more than exhilarating. But he did give Sungjong a lot to think about, things that only an insider would know. When Woohyun’s time was up he gave Sungjong his cell-number “for advise”, and Sungjong found himself bowing politely as the singer was hauled to another location.

Suddenly left alone, Sungjong slipped away quietly. He sat still inside his car for a while, then he leant his head back and smiled to himself before starting up the engine.

Sungjong opened the door to his shared appartment as quietly as he could. He could hear the quiet scratches of an electric quitar played with headphones on. It echoed trough the closed door to Myungsoo’s room, and Sungjong was secretly relieved that he wouldn’t have to face his roommate for now.

It was ridiculous to have to sneak around his own appartment like this. But as long as Myungsoo was going to keep up his strange act of pushing and pulling Sungjong would rather just avoid him alltogether.

Slurping instant noodles behind an unwelcomingly locked door, Sungjong started to shift trough the busines-cards, carefully Googling the names and adresses. After going at it for a while he sighed and tossed the cards into a trashcan, taking out his schoolbooks instead.

Maybe that life was meant for someone, but there was no way it was him.