Episode 126: Collaboration (3)
The reason I let out that exclamation was simple.
I’d finally figured out why Chaekyung had been frowning and tilting her head earlier.
Chaekyung recognized Zia’s face.
The very first day I met Chaekyung, I was with Zia.
‘Why did I only just remember this now?’
There was no need to ask myself that question.
I already knew the reason.
I’d been too excited.
The sheer thrill of seeing Zia—not just in our private space, but even here, in a place like this.
I’d been so caught up in exchanging playful glances with her—sharing a secret mood no one else could understand—that I completely overlooked this obvious fact.
I’d always thought I was pretty good at keeping things separate—public and private, reason and emotion.
But apparently, when it came to anything involving Zia, that wasn’t entirely true.
At this rate, I wouldn’t even be able to argue if someone called me a hopeless fool for love.
‘Well… can’t be helped.’
My exclamation—and Chaekyung’s—had already planted a seed of unease in Soyoung and Nari.
If I didn’t resolve their confusion, they wouldn’t be able to focus fully on the stage Ahjeong and I were about to perform on. It might even create a crack in the trust between the three of them.
Of course, from everything I’d seen of Nari so far—and Soyoung in my previous life—neither of them was the type to pry into secrets. But Chaekyung, having to carry this secret alone, was the one I was actually more worried about.
Secrets always carry weight—burdens that can’t be ignored.
‘In that sense… I don’t think Chaekyung is the type to handle it cleverly or brush it off.’
Chaekyung’s mouth was definitely heavy.
Maybe because of the time she spent working at the restaurant ‘Scarlet.’
Or maybe she was just naturally that way, which was why she lasted so long there.
I didn’t know which it was—but one thing was certain: even in my previous life, Chaekyung had never once leaked anyone else’s secret.
Given that, rather than leaving even the tiniest possibility of it slipping out later, maybe it was better to turn it into a unifying point for the three of them.
“Chaekyung, you remembered too, right?”
“Y-Yes…”
I asked to confirm—and also because I’d already made up my mind. Chaekyung slightly averted her eyes and nodded.
“Ah.”
Only then did Lee Ahjeong let out a similar exclamation.
She seemed to have pieced together the scattered keywords and realized that the answer to the mystery was Zia.
“Um… anyway, nice to meet you all… enjoy the show. And keep working hard.”
Rushing to wrap up her greeting with the girls, Ahjeong quickly stepped back as if fleeing.
It looked a bit like she was dumping the mess on me, but I couldn’t really blame her.
‘From Ahjeong sunbae’s perspective, that was the only greeting she could give.’
This was an unavoidable collision—like a traffic accident that just happened.
Still, she wasn’t completely running away.
“Ah, PD-nim. Can we talk for a second?”
Ahjeong smoothly redirected the staff, cutting off any “ears” that might follow us.
The stage was set.
I lowered my voice as much as possible and immediately brought up the topic I knew Soyoung and Nari were dying to hear.
“Let me just give you the conclusion first… Actress Woo Zia is dating me.”
“”…””
The bomb-drop—comparable to being stranded on a bikini island—left Soyoung and Nari with expressions that could only be described as ㅇㅁㅇ (wide-eyed shock emojis).
Soyoung recovered first, probably because she’d been bracing herself somewhat.
“But Teacher… you said your girlfriend was a normal person…”
“She was a normal person.”
“Ah.”
That story was from a long time ago.
Unintentionally, it had turned into one of those “technically not a lie” situations—but really, I hadn’t lied.
“Chaekyung unnie… you already knew?”
Nari immediately turned to Chaekyung.
“Yeah… She came with Producer-nim the day I first met him. His impact was so strong that day that I forgot about it… and only just remembered now. Like I said earlier… her image is really different…”
I gave a small nod at Chaekyung’s explanation.
‘Ah, so that’s why…’
Love Luck’s music video had been a hot topic for days already, yet she only realized today. I’d been a little curious—but hearing her reasoning, it made sense.
The déjà vu gripping Chaekyung only intensified right then, when another voice flew over and grabbed her attention.
“Aigoo. I wasn’t taking care of my babies properly. Nari, hi~ How’ve you been?”
“Hello, sunbae-nim.”
The main star of today’s stage.
The ultimate role model for every trainee here, including Chaekyung.
Grand senior AZ approached them.
Looking at the three girls like they were precious gems, AZ spoke again.
“What are you doing, Yujin-ssi? Aren’t you going to introduce them? Nari already knows me, but the other two don’t.”
She urged the other main star of the day—Han Yujin—to do the honors.
“This is Baek Soyoung. She came from Jooyul Entertainment as a trainee.”
“Hello, sunbae-nim! I’m Baek Soyoung!”
“Hm. Cute. Nice voice. Nice to meet you. If she’s from Jooyul, then this must be the one…?”
And at the end of Han Yujin’s explanation,
AZ turned her sparkling gaze toward Han Chaekyung.
“Her name… ah, Han Chaekyung, right? The one Yujin-ssi cast from Scarlet.”
The moment those words left her mouth—
“Ah!”
“Ah.”
Two people with the same last name let out almost identical exclamations.
The only difference was one had just realized the secret—and the other had just been caught.
It might just be Chaekyung’s eyesight, but it also means Zia’s talent as an actress is that outstanding—so my mood getting a little better was a nice bonus.
“Wow…”
“Hoo…”
Soyoung shook her head in slow amazement while letting out a soft exclamation, and Nari placed a hand over her heart, exhaling deeply.
Seeing them express their shock in such different ways made the smile that had already crept onto my face deepen just a bit at the corners.
And when I looked at Chaekyung—who now looked noticeably more at ease compared to Nari and Soyoung—the smile on my lips grew even thicker.
“This is a secret that, even counting everyone you three know, wouldn’t fill more than two hands. You know to keep it airtight without me having to say it, right?”
Wait—maybe closer to ten people?
The thought flashed through my mind for a second, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
“Yes!”
“…Y-Yes.”
“…”
Three different shades of reply came back.
Chaekyung’s was confident and immediate.
Nari answered a beat later, with the face of someone who’d just been given difficult homework.
Soyoung silently mimed zipping her lips shut.
“Okay, so all your questions are answered now, right? Focus on the stage and watch carefully. You didn’t come here just to hang out, did you?”
“Yes!”
“Um… Teacher…”
Right after Chaekyung’s energetic reply, Nari cautiously added something.
“Is this… really the end…?”
“Hm? Of what?”
Not immediately catching the intent behind her question, I asked back. Nari glanced around to confirm no one else was listening, then continued carefully.
“I mean… like… if it ever leaks, the consequences or something…”
Hm. Looks like Nari is at least self-aware that her lie was written all over her face.
Otherwise she wouldn’t have brought up something she was trying to let slide.
But my answer to that question wasn’t going to change.
“Are you planning to go around telling people?”
“No! Of course not!”
“Then what consequences? Dating isn’t some mortal sin.”
“That’s true, but…”
“No matter what conditions you put on a leaky bucket, it still leaks. A non-leaky one doesn’t. If I thought any of you were the type to spill, I wouldn’t have told you in the first place.”
“Ah.”
Nari let out that short sound. I lightly patted her head and turned around.
And I let a small, silent laugh slip out.
‘Well… even if it does leak, it probably wouldn’t be the worst thing.’
That didn’t mean I didn’t trust the three of them.
It was just that—suddenly, the urge to shout to the world that Zia was my girlfriend had welled up inside me.
The fact that this urge stemmed from me finally realizing I’m a hopeless fool for love was, of course, a secret I’d keep from the kids.
***
“Ah, so that girl was that girl?”
Unlike me, who’d come straight home after the INDEX on AZ shoot, Zia returned a little later and flopped down beside me.
“I thought she looked familiar… That server you were paying weird attention to, right?”
“Huh?”
“The one where you dodged the question by talking about age. I just remembered.”
I gave a wry smile at Zia’s words.
She even remembered how I’d tried to brush it off by bringing up Chaekyung’s baby face.
As expected—I hadn’t completely fooled Zia back then.
“So I was right. Even while you were with me, you still had room in your head to think about work, huh?”
She narrowed her eyes slightly.
Her tone carried a faint sharpness, just like that look.
It seemed like she was pouting, but I knew it wasn’t real anger.
This little “pretend sulk” was just Zia’s way of dodging accountability for the prank she’d pulled in the elevator.
‘Well… maybe I’ll let her win this one.’
Someone once said that in a relationship, the one who loves more always loses.
In that sense, losing here might actually be kind of fun.
“Sorry.”
“Sigh… Fine, I’ll forgive you because I can see how hard you tried to cover it up.”
“Haha.”
The way Zia slightly lifted her chin and declared that was just plain adorable.
“Thank you!”
“Eek!!”
Once again, I wrapped my arms around Zia’s waist and buried my face in her side. She let out her usual shriek and slapped my back.
“Hey! You’re always clinging and being all touchy the second you get a chance!”
She scolded me sharply, but I knew for sure she wouldn’t actually push me away.
Her arms stayed exactly where they were—wrapped around me.
“Seriously, your body’s the only thing that grew up… When are you finally going to act your age?”
As expected, she grumbled but still ran her fingers gently through my hair like she couldn’t help herself.
With my head resting on Zia’s thigh for the first time in a while, we continued talking.
“So? How did it go?”
“I just told them. That you’re my girlfriend.”
“Will that be okay?”
“Yeah. It’ll be fine.”
“How can you be so sure? You never know with people. I mean, even if it gets out, it’s not like it’s a big deal…”
The part where Zia trailed off was exactly the same as what I’d been thinking—which was why I couldn’t help but smile.
Still, laughing with my face buried in her waist would suffocate me (and tickle her sensitive sides again), so I shifted position and kept talking.
“Chaekyung is the type who bottles up secrets alone. Even if it gets heavy, she’ll just suffer quietly. Rather than let it interfere with practice, it’s better to just make it not a secret anymore.”
“…”
“Soyoung… I’m not really worried about her. She’s usually super bubbly, but when it’s serious, she gets serious. She knows how to weigh what matters and what doesn’t, so she’ll be okay. Nari… her facial expressions give everything away, so that’s a bit worrying. But she’s been at MyWay the longest out of the three. She kept quiet about Orion and even Ahjeong sunbae’s independence. Unless someone straight-up asks ‘Are you and Teacher dating?’, she should be fine.”
“Hmm. I see.”
The moment that casual-sounding voice reached my ear,
A cold winter wind seemed to sweep through me, and alarm bells rang loudly in my head.
I realized Zia’s hand—previously stroking my hair—had stopped.
Only then did I fully understand what I’d just done.
“Han Yujin. Sit up.”
The chill in Zia’s voice told me she’d caught on too. My back snapped straight like a spring-loaded soldier coming to attention.
“Our Producer Han seems to be working very hard lately. It hasn’t even been that long, but you’re already keeping such close tabs on everything, huh?”
“Ahaha…”
Even though Zia always understands and supports my work, she’s still just an ordinary woman in her mid-20s.
Maybe talking about another woman in front of her had crossed a line after all.
Of course, I’d talked about Hylliy to this extent too, but—
‘Hylliy and the kids are a completely different case…!’
Hylliy was Zia’s friend. Those three… no further explanation needed.
“I should get back to work too. I’ve got scripts to read, so don’t bother me.”
With that, Zia stood up from the sofa.
‘Oh no… what do I do now?’
My 16 years of memories from the previous life were useless in situations like this.
There was no way a man who lived like an asexual for that long would have any countermeasures for something like this.
‘Of course, this will become a memory someday too.’
Thanks to regression, I get to experience things like this—so I can’t exactly complain.
But first, I need to figure out how to fix this situation before it becomes a fond memory.
‘The problem is… I have no idea how.’
In the end, all I could do was stare blankly at Zia’s back as she walked toward the room.
At least the frozen silence didn’t last long.
“Pfft.”
The sound that reached my ear—like someone couldn’t quite hold back their laughter—snapped me out of my daze like a hammer to the head.
There were only two people here: me and Zia.
Unless a ghost had suddenly started laughing, the owner of that sound had to be…
“Woo Zia, come here.”
“Kyaa!!”
Looks like our Actress Woo has been getting a lot more playful lately.
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TL Note:
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[This series is in the “Regressed Idol” collection]
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