A Pointless Dating Rumor
After polishing off a light meal at the salad shop, I headed to our next stop with Kim Woojin.
I'd agonized over where to go at first, but the place I settled on was—
"Right here!"
"...A movie theater?"
"Yep. A senior I know has a film opening today. You'd know her—Jin Joo-hwa, from Ghost Singer."
Kim Woojin tipped his head in a small nod; he knew who I meant. We'd been in touch often enough lately to show off how close we'd gotten, so I'd already heard she was shooting a movie. Even the trailer had been enough to tell it had turned out well. On a day like this, with time actually free, I finally had a chance to see it. Any other day, I wouldn't have.
"Come on. Bathroom first, though."
"What about you?"
"Me? Obviously."
I pointed past the counter. Sweet, toasty popcorn and tempting hot dogs waited over there, and the fragrant smell of butter-roasted squid hung thick in the air.
"You just ate that much and you're going for more?"
"Obviously! I told you I lost weight recently. I have to eat it back on if I want to get to my original size."
"No... what do you even weigh right now."
"Me? Let's see..."
I started to tell him, and Kim Woojin flailed a hand at me in a panic, insisting I really didn't need to say it.
"I hit about fifty-four kilos when I weighed myself last week. But if you subtract this, it's basically forty-nine."
My hand drifted toward my chest. Kim Woojin slapped it away so fast it stung.
"What kind of woman tries to grab those in the middle of a public place! Forget it. You bought the salad, so I'll get the tickets."
"You don't have to. I was going to put it on the director's card here anyway... Fine. You get the movie."
"You were planning to swipe the director's card for everything until two seconds ago."
I had been, at first. But even if the director had come up under a famous filmmaker of a father, that was still his father's money. Investment capital or not, blowing it on something this pointless instead of actual production was out of the question.
I already paid for the salad place with that card. I should cover this myself.
I pulled out my phone, slid the card from the case, and bought enough food to last through the screening.
"Is this a bit light?"
"No, it's already plenty. I can't even eat any of this, so you'll be able to finish it all yourself... yeah. You will."
"Obviously. Who was I supposed to share this paltry amount with? I wasn't planning to give you any from the start."
Graaah—!
I snarled like a kitten guarding its food. Kim Woojin covered his face with one hand.
What? Am I embarrassing?
You think this is embarrassing?!
That was when a murmur rose around us. We were in a movie theater, so sound carrying was only natural—but this was different from a moment ago. The eyes were on us.
"Hehe. We got caught?"
"Of course we did. We're standing out here in the open."
We'd been caught since the salad shop, actually. Kim Woojin still didn't seem to know that. In which case, there was no particular reason to tell him.
"Let's go in. It's about to start."
Loaded down with everything I'd bought, I showed our tickets to the staff and headed inside. Weekday afternoon, lunch just winding down: even with the movie starting, the seats sat almost empty.
"Is it that unpopular?"
"These days people watch more on streaming at home than they do in theaters."
"Then who were those people outside?"
"Those people were probably on da—"
Kim Woojin cut himself off, as if the rest of the word had gotten stuck.
"Da? Da-what? Why'd you stop talking?"
"It's nothing. Looks like it's starting."
The screen lit up and the ads rolled. The theater I'd thought would be ours alone started filling one or two at a time, and by the time the film began it was about a third full.
I locked my eyes on the screen. My hands kept traveling in a steady circuit—popcorn, squid, hot dog, cola—shoveling it all into my mouth. Not once in the process did I glance to the side. My eyes were already on the movie. Thanks to that, I never noticed the cameras I would have caught on any other day, and I walked out about two hours later having watched nothing but the film.
Bzzzt. Bzzzzzt.
The phone I'd silenced for the movie started vibrating.
"Huh...? Why is Hoyeon unnie calling?"
By the time I picked it up to switch the ringer back on, more than ten missed calls and a stack of texts from Hoyeon unnie were already waiting.
"Give me a sec. I just need to take this."
"Then I'll clean up. Hand it over."
"Okay. Thanks."
While Kim Woojin gathered every scrap of trash I'd stuffed into the disposable popcorn tub, I answered the phone.
"Hello? Hoyeon unnie? What's going on, calling in such a rush?"
Hahh....
A heavy, irritated sigh rolled through the speaker, and a chill ran down my spine before I could stop it.
"Uh... what did I do wrong?"
It's not that you did anything wrong. I'll send you a link first. Look at it and call me back.
What was that supposed to mean?
"Did something happen? You don't look so good."
"I don't know either. Just wait a second."
I opened the link Hoyeon unnie had fired over and checked what on earth had gone down.
Oh. This?
Someone had photographed the two of us walking out of the movie we'd just watched. I'd heard that once you became a celebrity, even ordinary people turned into paparazzi—but I'd never dreamed they'd shoot this brazenly.
Spreading a pointless dating rumor like this... I was not going to sit still for it.
I called Hoyeon unnie back.
"It's not like that, so I'll take care of it myself."
And how exactly are you planning to take care of it.
"Well... I'll just throw a little fan meeting right here."
What? Wait—
I hung up before Hoyeon unnie could get another word in.
"What is it?"
Kim Woojin had been stuck on what is it, did something happen since the call started, so I tossed him my phone.
"Whoa!"
He lunged on reflex, nearly dropped it, then exhaled in relief and looked at the screen.
"This is..."
Kim Woojin's brow furrowed.
"Yeah. That. So help me out."
"What do I need to do?"
"Simple. Pretend you're my manager, show them this, and tell the theater manager we're holding a fan meeting for ten minutes."
"A fan meeting?"
"Hurry~ We don't have time to stand around."
The longer I took to respond, the weirder the conclusions people would jump to. That, I had to stop.
Kumongdan already knew I had no intention of dating anyone. If I said it wasn't true, they'd understand. The problem was everyone else. They'd only ever seen me through the media, so of course they wouldn't know my personality, or how I felt about dating.
I'd gotten a document from CEO Jo Kyuhyun ahead of time just in case something like this happened. A so-called official request for cooperation.
"So? Did you get permission?"
"Yeah. They said thirty minutes is fine. They want some promotion in return, though."
"That's fine. Then take this card and go buy some autograph paper and pens."
"And?"
"And... that's it. That's all I need."
Kim Woojin looked at me with a faint crease of worry, but this one was on me. I should have at least covered my face. Forgetting that had been my mistake.
I opened my socials, posted a selfie with the theater location, and wrote that I was starting a thirty-minute fan meeting.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
Comments stacked up almost immediately.
"Hah... hah... I got them."
Kim Woojin had gone and come back in a sprint, autograph paper and a pen clutched in his hands.
"Good. Now, as today's guest manager, get people lined up."
"That's... sigh. Fine."
Kim Woojin nodded and flicked a glance at the crowd already packing in around us. From what I could see, there were easily more than a hundred. Before the movie, there hadn't even been thirty.
Good thing he bought extra autograph paper, just in case.
Kim Woojin gave himself a little nod and called out to the crowd.
"Those of you here for the fan meeting, please form a single line so you don't block traffic!"
The people who'd shown up for the impromptu fan meeting started lining up the way he'd asked.
He's good at this.
Watching him work, I found myself wondering whether Kim Woojin had more talent as a staffer than as an actor. While I was thinking that, the first people up were a couple, a man and a woman.
"Hello."
"Y-yes! Ah, hello."
"Don't be so nervous."
"R-right... but."
Huh?
I'd assumed the guy was my fan, but looking at them, it was clearly the woman. What was this? I had the odd feeling I had more female fans than male ones.
"I'll sign this for you. What's your name?"
"Ah.... My name is..."
Behind that trembling voice, the fan got the name out calmly enough. I signed, took photos, and ran the fan meeting for thirty minutes.
And then, the last person of the day.
We'd been short on time, so out of a hundred people I'd only signed and photographed about forty. The rest wilted at the word last.
"What's your name?"
"My name...? What's that supposed to be?"
"...Come again?"
This was not going to be easy.
"You don't know what a name is?"
"I'd have to know what it is to tell you."
"Hah... haha. Then just tell me what to write."
"Yeah, you should've said that from the start."
Watching him mutter that under his breath, my face nearly cracked.
You... I'm using you as story material on today's stream. Thanks for the content.
I signed for the last man too, then stood. I could have walked away right then.
"Everyone! Thank you so much for coming to this sudden fan meeting. And I'm sorry to the fans who didn't get a signature. I've talked to the company, and I'm planning to hold another fan meeting soon, so please wait until then. Also, I'll buy a hundred cups of cola here, so please drink up and have a wonderful rest of your day."
I bowed my head.
"Oh, and! This guy is my friend, and he came along today as guest manager, so a round of applause, please. And soon my movie will be screening here at GGV, so I'd really appreciate your support~"
Let's go for it. Ten million tickets.