Chapter 11: Unfollow
by GideonI couldn’t tell if his question—asking if I didn’t know—was meant as a joke or if he was serious, but it still made me feel good.
“Why do you always put yourself down, sunbae? It’s like you’re constantly undervaluing yourself.”
It was a habit I couldn’t break. The standards for my life and my measure of happiness had always been external, never internal.
So, even when I tried to act unfazed and pretend everything was fine, my self-satisfaction remained abysmally low.
That didn’t mean my self-esteem was in the gutter, but I was always my own harshest critic.
I had never once truly acknowledged my own abilities. I had always felt like I was falling short.
I think I was at my lowest point when I met Do Zion. Every time I closed my eyes, all my efforts seemed to crumble around me.
“You’re the only one who keeps treating me like some kind of celebrity.”
“The ‘Nation’s Little Brother’ title isn’t something you get just by luck, you know.”
Is that so? Now that I think about it, I probably just got lucky. I appeared at the right time, riding the wave of a trend.
We’d been talking so long I lost track of time. Jubin grabbed his phone and stood up to leave.
“Thanks for the drink. I’m heading out. I’ll see you at the full reading.”
As Jubin rose, Zion looked up at him, his question laced with a challenge.
“You’ll call me, right?”
“About what?”
“Personally.”
The words snagged in my chest. That sounded a little dangerous.
“I’m not your boyfriend. What’s there for two guys to talk about personally?”
He gestured toward Jubin’s phone with a glance.
“Is the guy who just messaged you any different?”
What…?
For a moment, Jubin couldn’t control his expression. Does he know Na Hyeon-mo? No, before that…
He and Do Zion were absolutely nothing to each other, yet Zion’s gaze felt like an accusation from a lover who’d just caught his partner cheating.
“You said you didn’t have a boyfriend,” Zion continued, his tone laced with resentment.
Jubin swallowed hard and tried to answer as calmly as possible. “…I don’t.”
“Then, are you talking to someone?”
Why the hell is he grilling me about this? Jubin was bewildered by the sudden surge of emotion he was feeling.
“Oh, not just talking? Maybe a partner?”
This time, Jubin completely lost his composure. Zion’s dark brown eyes, hiding a deep-seated jealousy, fixed on him with relentless intensity. A slow smirk spread across one side of his lips.
“I was just poking around.”
Zion brought the coffee straw to his lips with a deliberate slowness, adding a cryptic remark.
“And with a man, no less.”
What’s the big deal? Why is he acting like this is some kind of revelation? Cha Jubin told himself to stay calm. He replied with a level tone, as if it were nothing.
“So what? It’s not like it’s a big deal in this day and age.”
“I knew you were an Omega, but I didn’t know you preferred men. I assumed you liked female Alphas.”
Zion sipped his coffee through the straw, his movements as elegant as a scene from a high-fashion editorial. Jubin recognized that smoldering gaze—he’d seen it before.
“What’s your goal, Senior?”
Right. Back then, this kid looked at me with the same fierce determination, as if he’d just found a new rival.
For Cha Jubin, it was a moment that felt like a recurring trauma.
This guy was a predatory Alpha.
After quitting acting, he’d met countless people—men, women, Alphas, Omegas, Betas, all of them.
When he was younger, he’d believed love was everything. But as time passed, he realized it was more practical to find someone to enjoy casually than to give his heart away completely. That was why he stopped caring about gender or secondary gender.
Yet, there was still one thing he couldn’t resolve.
The intoxicatingly sweet scent Zion was giving off right now—a mix of apricot and peach. He had never encountered an Alpha with pheromones like this. Zion was the only one.
If there’s a problem with the pheromones, it’s my job to fix it.
“Anyway, don’t drink too much at the company dinner. If Do-won catches you, he’ll make you crawl home on all fours.”
Is this a warning or a threat? It felt more like a threat disguised as concern.
“Even if you end up crawling, at least make sure you find your way home.”
“Don’t get cocky about your drinking. Just have a little. Got it?”
Where did he learn to talk like a nagging wife?
Maybe it was the mature vibe he’d developed over the last six years, or the fact that he’d outgrown his boyish looks, but the tone didn’t feel out of place at all.
Jubin took a step back, keeping his distance.
“Sure, I’ll keep it light. Don’t worry.”
Forcing a relaxed smile, Cha Jubin gave him a light pat on the shoulder before turning to leave.
“I’m really going now.”
“Call me. I’ll be waiting.”
“I don’t check my phone when I’m drinking.”
He turned away, deliberately ignoring the hopeful expectation that had just brushed against him.
As he walked down the stairs, he sent a message to Na Hyeon-mo.
I don’t think we can see each other much anymore.
The reply came instantly.
Did you get a boyfriend?
Cha Jubin let out a short, dry laugh.
“A boyfriend? Please…”
After a few hookups, he’d learned. Na Hyeon-mo was the type who got lonely easily and attached quickly. He wasn’t the right kind of partner for what Jubin wanted.
They were supposed to seek each other out only when they needed something, but the frequency of their meetings had become too high.
The sex was incredibly good, which was part of the reason, but Hyeon-mo was starting to treat him like a boyfriend. It was getting uncomfortable.
Jubin knew he fell fast himself, but he preferred the sweet spot—the space where you like someone without actually being in love. Once either person crossed that invisible line, the whole arrangement became pointless.
Go find someone better than me.
Without a second thought, he unfollowed him.
He deleted all their messages, too. Just like that, he’d erased another person from his life.
It was a routine occurrence.
Meat sizzled over the charcoal grill. The restaurant buzzed with the lively chatter of actors and crew members.
Today, the entire place had been rented out by the team from Leaf on the Snow. Drinks overflowed from clinking glasses, and the energy in the room was electric.
Cha Jubin was already several bottles of soju deep, trying his best to mingle with everyone. He was thrilled to be acting again after so long, and his ambition to see this project through to a successful end was immense.
“Jubin, did you book the action school?”
“Yes, Director Bae introduced me to the action director, so I’ve already got his contact info.”
Kim Do-won, who had clearly anticipated a grueling shoot, held up a slightly crooked finger as a warning.
“Make sure you practice your choreography with Do-won. If you go into a shoot without enough rehearsal time because your schedules don’t match, you’ll end up with a fractured finger like this.”
Do-won stared at his injured finger, his face crumpling into a pout as he let out a heavy sigh.
“Ha, I suddenly miss our Actor Do. I have no one to banter with.”
He pulled a tumbler from his bag, unscrewed the lid, and took a deep sniff.
“It’s brand new, but I swear it smells like him.”
“Are you a pervert?” Actor Seo asked, horrified.
“Do-won is an Alpha. I was just wondering if it would smell like his pheromones or something.”
“Even when you’re drunk, try to keep it classy!”
In the end, Do-won got an earful from Actor Seo.
Zion, who had missed the first team dinner, had sent a ‘limited-edition branded tumbler’ to all the staff and cast members. It was his way of showing he was with them in spirit, even if he couldn’t be there in person.
Touched by the gesture, the staff and actors had even brought his life-size cutout to the restaurant, propping it up by the entrance for everyone to see.
Unfortunately, Jubin was seated in a spot where he felt Zion’s cut-out peeking at him every time he looked up. He found himself averting his gaze over and over. It’s just a cutout…
“Zion’s not coming, is he?”
Seo Ji-soo turned her head and glanced at the cardboard cutout by the entrance, her voice tinged with disappointment.
“He hates company dinners,” Do-won said with certainty. “Especially smoky, smelly barbecue places like this.”
So he hates barbecue restaurants, I noted inwardly.
“But why does Zion never do melos?” Seo Ji-soo asked, genuinely curious.
Actor Park, who was playing the role of the Upper Attendant in their current project, tilted his head. “Wait, Do Zion has never done a romance?”
“Never. Even in this drama, he doesn’t have a love line with me. We’re just political allies. He’s in love with the Royal Consort.”
The Royal Consort in question was Hyeonseo, played by Cha Jubin. When Seo Ji-soo spelled it out so bluntly, Actor Park crossed his arms and nodded in agreement. “Ah, right.”
Do-won, who usually loved jumping into conversations, was strangely silent, a faint, knowing smile playing on his lips.
Sensing something, Actor Seo shot him a sideways glance and decided to throw a line out. “Do Zion has a lover, doesn’t he? Am I right?”
“Do Zion? Oh, he’s got plenty of lovers~”
Plenty of lovers? What does that even mean…
Everyone else looked completely bewildered, but Jubin—the only one who grasped the context—nodded in agreement. “He really does have a lot of lovers.”
Having practiced their lines together, Jubin had naturally developed a sense of closeness with Kim Do-won.
“So you know a bit about Actor Do, huh?”
“Huh? He really has that many lovers?”
Seeing an opportunity to play along, Cha Jubin replied with a smile. “Do Zion is famous for how much he communicates with his fans. He’s so busy taking care of them, he probably doesn’t even have time to date.”
0 Comments