Chapter 24

“Look! A squirrel!”

“Taeoh, that’s a red squirrels.”

“A red squirrels? Isn’t that the bad guy that eats squirrels? It’s so cute… That’s unfair.”

Minhyuk stopped Taeoh, who was about to throw a branch at the red squirrels.

“red squirrels are larger than squirrels and have gray-brown fur. They live in trees and eat fruits and nuts directly. So the idea that red squirrels eat squirrels is just a rumor.”

“Wow… Even animals have to deal with rumors.”

“They live lives not so different from ours.”

“Sorry, red squirrels.”

Taeoh put down the branch and apologized to the red squirrels that had been staring at him with clear eyes.

But the red squirrels, seemingly annoyed, bared its teeth and hissed, causing Taeoh and Minhyuk to jump back in surprise.

Jisoo, who had been following them, nervously brushed his sweat-soaked hair back.

“Ugh… damn it… Should I just push all the squirrels and red squirrels off a cliff?”

Jisoo continued to run around the mountain trail, feeling a headache as he watched Taeoh act like a child discovering acorns and pine cones and asking, “Is this a ginseng?”

Minhyuk, who seemed like he had always lived in the mountains, kept explaining to Taeoh, “Don’t eat that. It’s a weed.”

Jisoo wished he could just abandon both of them on the trail. Unfortunately, their path was the gentlest, making the hike feel even longer.

“Oh! A voting slip!”

Taeoh found a voting slip and his voice echoed through the mountain trail as if he had found a treasure.

“You’re looking pretty hard for someone to vote for, even though Yoon Yeomin got eliminated.”

Jisoo knew that Dansol’s vote had gone to Taeoh when Yeomin, who had received three votes, got eliminated.

Even though they belonged to the same agency and often worked on the same projects, Jisoo didn’t like Yeomin either, who only sucked up to seniors and treated juniors like his servants.

If Taeoh hadn’t eliminated him, Jisoo would have dealt with him for treating Dansol poorly.

As he was considering whether to be grateful for avoiding that hassle, Taeoh spoke shyly.

“It’s not like that… I have a debt to repay.”

“A debt?”

Taeoh brushed off the pine needles on the voting slip and handed it to Minhyuk.

“Um… Minhyuk. This voting slip is yours.”

“Why are you giving me something you found?”

“I actually stole it from your pocket. I was so mad at Senior Yoon that I couldn’t see straight… I’m really sorry!”

Taeoh bowed at a ninety-degree angle, but Minhyuk didn’t take the voting slip.

“I lost it. They said to use any means necessary, so you don’t need to apologize. Consider it yours. Repay the debt to Dansol instead.”

“Senior…!”

Minhyuk, carrying his guitar, walked ahead, his hair fluttering. Jisoo laughed at his serious demeanor. While everyone else had backpacks full of food and sleeping bags for the hike, Minhyuk only carried his guitar.

Watching this, Jisoo pressed his aching temples.

“Are we shooting a drama? Hurry up!”

***

“Senior! Here’s a voting slip!”

Dansol found a paper stuck on a tree branch. It was just out of reach, hanging tantalizingly. Just as he decided to wait for Daesoo, he stretched a little further and fell.

“Ah!”

It felt as if someone had grabbed his ankle and pulled him down. He wasn’t slipping on mossy rocks or mud like in his previous life.

He was terrified, not of getting hurt, but of being labeled as a burden on the program.

Dansol had been criticized for similar reasons in his past life.

It wasn’t that he wanted to be hurt, but he had to worry about others’ perceptions more than his own body.

“Are you okay?”

Daesoo rushed over and removed Dansol’s hiking boot. As he carefully took off his sock, a swollen ankle was revealed. It looked more than just a minor sprain.

“I’m… sorry.”

Dansol glanced at the voting slip hanging from the tree.

“Damn it, who would put it there…?”

Seeing this, Daesoo cursed under his breath, grabbed the voting slip, and handed it to Dansol.

“Hold on, let’s go down.”

“What? But…”

They were only 30 minutes away from the summit. Having climbed for two hours, turning back now, or leaning on Daesoo for another 30 minutes to reach the top, made Dansol feel terribly guilty.

“I’ll carry you. Let’s go down.”

“No, that’s not…”

What worried his most was the thought of disrupting the broadcast because of him.

Before his regression, Yiyeon had carried Dansol down the mountain midway, arriving after the sun had already set. The staff waiting at the summit for Dansol and Yiyeon were already in a bad mood.

The staff waiting below the mountain also saw Dansol as a nuisance. As a result, he became so timid that he couldn’t speak a word properly and got caught up in attitude controversies.

Though it was a romantic moment for the two, watching the edited version made Dansol see himself as a major inconvenience.

Yiyeon kept reassuring his that it was okay, but once Dansol’s shoulders slumped, they didn’t straighten easily.

What did others say back then? Did they blame his for the prolonged shoot?

Like waking up from a nightmare, he couldn’t remember anything after that day.

Suddenly, a headache surged.

The kind faces in front of his now felt like they belonged to someone else.

“Are you okay? Why are you sweating so much?”

It was Daesoo who broke into Dansol’s sinking thoughts. Before he knew it, he was drenched in sweat, and his lips were turning pale.

Though it was his ankle that hurt, seeing Dansol’s worsening condition, Daesoo didn’t hesitate to offer his back.

“Get on, let’s go down.”

“No… no. We can’t be late for the broadcast.”

“Is the broadcast the problem right now? You’re hurt….”

Daesoo yelled in frustration at Dansol, who was pushing away his back with a face as white as a heet. But facing his tearful face, he quickly apologized.

“Sorry, I wasn’t yelling… If we’re going down, we need to go now.”

The sun set quickly on the mountain. Even if they started down now, Daesoo wasn’t sure they could reach the base before dark. But he was more worried about Dansol’s injured ankle.

“…I’ll go up.”

“Don’t be stubborn. Can’t you see your ankle is swollen?”

“If we go up, there’s a medic at the summit. With some first aid….”

It was the medical staff called by Director Choi for safety. But they probably only had supplies for bruises and muscle pain, yet Dansol continued to be stubborn.

“What if your bone is broken?”

“Then what do I do? If I stay here, I’ll get… criticized.”

Daesoo ran his hand through his hair in frustration. For him, already established as an actor, this broadcast was just a break, a mere episode.

Once the broadcast ended, he could just go back to filming movies.

But it was different for Dansol. A small agency, unimpressive album results, and apparently many members. It seemed Dansol was the only somewhat recognized member.

He couldn’t imagine the weight on his small shoulders.

Though he constantly faced the public, everyone found him intimidating. Even critics who harshly reviewed his movies were overly polite when they met him at film festivals.

But Dansol… He thought of Yoon Ye-min, who openly called Dansol a “failure idol.”

It made a bit of sense why he was so dedicated to even a small broadcast.

Daesoo sat back down, offering his back to Dansol. Despite his attempts to push him away, he didn’t budge and said,

“We’re not going down. Let’s go up.”

“What?”

“I can… walk. Just find me a stick. Besides, the slope here is too steep.”

This route was entirely different from the one Yiyeon carried his up. The slope was steep, and even climbing on his own was breath-taking.

“Should I carry you? Or will you walk?”

Daesoo asked with a stern face to the still hesitant Dansol. Though he knew he wasn’t a gangster or Yakuza’s son, he instinctively step back.

Carefully wrapping his arms around Daesoo’s neck, Dansol was lifted effortlessly, his arms draped more firmly over his shoulders by Daesoo.

“Anything you need from your bag?”

“N…no.”

Unable to ask him to carry his bag as well, Dansol unknowingly sighed against his neck.

“I’ll come back down to get it later.”

Daesoo’s jaw clenched at the sensation.

Her soft body was lighter than he expected, and his breath against his ear was stimulating. He felt blood rushing to his lower body. It was a relief that Dansol couldn’t see his face.

Hating himself for having such thoughts about an injured person, Daesoo sprinted up the steep path like it was a touchdown. It was faster than Dansol walking on his own.

Clinging to Daesoo’s back, Dansol felt like he might roll off at any moment. he tightly grabbed his neck and shut his eyes.

The steep slope below was more dizzying than a roller coaster at an amusement park, causing his soft cheek to press against Daesoo’s neck.

‘This is really dangerous.’

They both thought the same thing at that moment.

“Ugh…!”

Daesoo paused briefly, causing Dansol’s ankle to jolt, and he let out an unintended groan.

Then Daesoo let out a loud “Uwaaah!” and ran even faster up the mountain path.

***

[PREVIEW]

XXX: I’ll tell you about the time Jung Daesoo ran with an erection.