Recognition
So-hyun had come home expecting an empty house, so her brother's voice nearly made her jump out of her skin.
"Huh…? Oppa, you didn't go to the academy?"
"Yeah. There was a gas inspection scheduled, so I was waiting it out before I left."
Looking a little sheepish, So-hyun scratched the back of her head and turned to the friends still hovering behind her.
"Come on in, guys. This is my oppa."
The girls who'd been dithering in the entryway, unsure whether to step inside at the sound of someone already home, ducked their heads in greeting at So-hyun's invitation and filed in.
"Hello. I'm Ye-ji, So-hyun's friend."
"Ah, is that so? Hi."
Ye-ji finished her greeting, lifted her head to get a proper look at So-hyun's older brother — and froze solid on the spot.
"…Ah?"
The friend coming in right behind her slammed face-first into Ye-ji's back when she stopped dead with that single strangled sound.
"Ow — what the hell? Why'd you just stop?"
"Whaaaaat…? Cha Woo-joo?"
It was no longer a strangled sound. She was full-on screaming.
"What? What's a Cha Woo-joo — wait. Holy crap, he's gorgeous."
The friend who'd followed her in took one look at Yeon-woo's face and swallowed hard.
"Wh-what is this?! So-hyun. Why is Cha Woo-joo standing in your living room?!"
Faced with a question that was half shriek, So-hyun scratched the back of her head again, looking thoroughly put-upon.
"I already told you — he's my oppa… I thought he'd already left."
"…Hold on. Ryu Yeon-woo. Ryu So-hyun. Wait — oppa?"
Ye-ji ran through the name of the actor she'd been obsessing over lately — the one playing Cha Woo-joo — and her face lit up as the pieces clicked into place.
"No way! Is this real? For real?"
"What is it, what is it! Who even is that oppa!"
Se-hee, the friend who'd come in last, shook Ye-ji by the shoulders, determined not to be left out.
Yeon-woo, who'd been watching the whole scene with an awkward little smile, spoke up again.
"Ye-ji, right? And your friend next to you — thanks for being good to So-hyun."
The soft smile that curved his eyes as he said it sent Ye-ji stumbling a full step backward.
A second later it became clear the retreat had only been to gather momentum, because she launched herself straight at him.
"Oppa! I'm a real fan! I've watched Summer's Closet live from episode one! This is insane! Oh my god — ahhh!"
"Uh — yeah? Thank you. Haha."
Confronted with a hyperventilating teenage fangirl in the middle of his own living room, Yeon-woo managed a slightly flustered thank-you.
When Se-hee kept demanding answers, Ye-ji shot her a withering look.
"Yah, Yoon Se-hee. I recommended Summer's Closet to you like a hundred times and you still haven't watched it? This oppa is the male lead!"
"Well… not the male lead. Supporting role."
Yeon-woo murmured the correction under his breath — the actual male lead was Jin-uk hyung, after all — but the distinction meant absolutely nothing to the two fangirls currently staring at a cast member from their favorite drama in the flesh.
"So-hyun! How is your oppa Cha Woo-joo and you never told me?! I sent you so many screenshots over KakaoTalk!"
"Mm, I kind of missed the timing?"
So-hyun gave an embarrassed little laugh and threw in a wink for good measure.
In the end, Yeon-woo held a full mini fan meeting right there in the living room with his sister's friends — photos, autographs, the complete fan-service package — before he finally handed the gas inspection off to So-hyun and headed out for acting practice.
He arrived at the acting academy with nothing more than a simple mask on, knocked, and stepped into the director's office.
"Aigoo, our big star has arrived."
Jeong Cheol-min bent at the waist in a theatrical bow, grinning.
"Haha. Teacher, come on."
"Word's already gotten around. These days every student and parent who comes in for a consultation only wants to talk about you."
Cheol-min's smile stretched ear to ear as he looked at Yeon-woo with pure fondness.
He found himself thinking back to the first time Yeon-woo had come in with his father for a consultation. Honestly, between the looks and the way his acting kept improving, Cheol-min had always expected the boy would make a name for himself. What he had never expected was that Yeon-woo would grow this fast — fast enough to land a major role in a drama in such a short span of time.
How did a golden goose like this just wander into my academy?
The heart-eyes were getting a little intense, so Yeon-woo hurriedly changed the subject.
"Any students giving you trouble?"
"The enrollees? Honestly, I only teach a handful of them myself. I mostly sit in on the college-prep classes I've been running for a while. New students go to Teacher Min and Teacher Kim."
Just then there was a knock, and a staff member came in. Her expression looked grim enough that something was clearly wrong — until she spotted Yeon-woo and her whole face lit up.
"Director, Teacher Min— oh my! Yeon-woo, you're here?"
"Hello. Haha."
Cheol-min turned to the staff member who was beaming at Yeon-woo.
"Something happen with Teacher Min?"
"Ah! Yes — it seems she was in a car accident on the way here."
Cheol-min and Yeon-woo both stared.
"An accident? Is it bad?"
"Oh, nothing like that — she isn't hurt, but the car's pretty wrecked, so dealing with the aftermath is going to take a while. The thing is, she has a beginner-level class today."
Cheol-min nodded.
"Well, at least she's all right. Got it — I'll cover for her."
The staff member closed the door behind her. Cheol-min thought for a moment, then looked at Yeon-woo.
"Actually — want to take it yourself, Yeon-woo?"
"Sorry? Me, teach a class?"
It was a beginner class anyway, Cheol-min argued — just breathing and vocal work. If a working actor like Yeon-woo couldn't teach that, who could?
"I'm not sure I have the skill for it. I'd hate to shortchange the students."
"Shortchange them? Please. If you walk in there, they'll lose their minds. Do your old teacher a favor and save a little face for me."
"Hmm. Well, I've never taught anyone before, but since it's a beginner class… all right. I'll give it a try."
Hearing the pitch, Yeon-woo found he actually wanted to try it — and for the mentor who'd given him so much without holding anything back, this much effort was nothing.
"Good. I'm sure you'll do fine, but if anything comes up, just call me."
Yeon-woo organized everything he'd learned from Cheol-min along with what he'd picked up on set, and headed for the classroom.
The door slid open.
Students who'd been stretching or chatting among themselves all turned as one.
"Oh my god —"
"Waaaaah! It's Cha Woo-joo!"
"Holy crap. Is this real life."
About half of them froze where they stood, hands clapped over their mouths. A few drifted toward Yeon-woo. In the corner, someone with earbuds in pretended not to care while sneaking glances.
Yeon-woo greeted the students who came up to him, then stepped up onto the platform at the front of the room.
"Nice to meet you all. I'm Ryu Yeon-woo — I recently debuted in Summer's Closet. I'll be your guest instructor for today."
"Waaaaah!"
Even the kid in the corner who'd been listening to music pulled out his earbuds and locked in. Apparently class was still class.
"Teacher Min had a personal matter come up and is running late, so I'm filling in. Can anyone tell me what you covered last session?"
"We were practicing breaking down the breath in our lines!"
A boy near the front raised his hand.
"Thank you."
Watching Yeon-woo smile as he answered, the boy muttered to the friend beside him, Yeah, that's what an actual celebrity looks like.
"Practicing how to break down your lines is incredibly important once you get onto a real set, too."
Yeon-woo taught with everything he had — drawing on his own experiences, demonstrating the way he usually practiced, holding nothing back.
"Man, this is a masterclass. Feels like the tuition's actually worth it."
Like most absolute beginners, Ji Su-hyeon had spent three months after enrolling doing nothing but fundamentals without ever touching a single line of dialogue, and her interest had been steadily draining away.
"Forget the lecture — just looking at that face is entertainment enough, isn't it?"
That was Yu-jin, who'd signed up the second she heard that the academy Su-hyeon attended was the same one Cha Woo-joo trained at.
"Well, Yu-jin, mission accomplished. You wanted to meet him. Cha Woo-joo."
"My heart is pounding so hard right now."
For the next two hours, Yeon-woo taught with total commitment. Working through the fundamentals, he found that concepts that had been fuzzy even for him snapped into sharper focus.
"All right — shall we wrap it up here for today?"
At his words, the students stood and bowed.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"You all worked hard too."
And then, as if they'd been waiting for the signal, the students — led by Yu-jin and Su-hyeon — swarmed him.
"I'm a real fan! I enrolled at this academy just to see you, oppa!"
"Haha. Thank you."
Faced with the flood of photo and autograph requests, Yeon-woo handled them with practiced ease by now.
"All done?"
The classroom door opened and Jeong Cheol-min walked in.
"These kids won't even look at me. Hearts in their eyes, the lot of them."
Watching the students completely ignore the open door in favor of cramming into photos with Yeon-woo, Cheol-min just smiled, thoroughly pleased.
Time flew, and the Lunar New Year holiday drew near.
Yeon-woo and his family were up before dawn, preparing for the trip to Seoul to visit the main house. They'd already spent two days with maternal grandmother in Daejeon.
Most of Yeon-woo's memories had returned, but he claimed residual aftereffects still left him fuzzy on the relatives' faces. So the day before, he and his father had gone through the family albums, studying wedding photos until every face stuck. For someone who'd once made a habit of memorizing the faces of every civilian moving through an operation zone, it was child's play.
"Mom, do we really have to leave this early?"
"We have to beat the traffic. And your aunt's shoulder has been bothering her — we should get there and help out."
So-hyun whined with her eyes half-shut. After living in Seoul their whole lives and only moving down to Daejeon the year before, this was their first New Year's trip back up to the capital.
At a rest stop along the way, Yeon-woo ducked in for a quick bathroom break — and even with a hat on, fans spotted him. Within moments he was surrounded.
"Oh my goodness. Our Yeon-woo is this popular? Am I dreaming or is this real?"
It was the first time his parents had truly felt the scale of their son's fame. Father Cheol-ung stepped in like a manager, steered Yeon-woo back to the car, and they finally got back on the road.
"Oppa, from now on you really need a mask every time you go out."
"Hahaha. There were a lot of students around — that's probably why they recognized me."
Yeon-woo scratched his head.
"Oppa? There are students everywhere."
At So-hyun's pointed correction, Yeon-woo could only nod.
At last the family arrived at his uncle's apartment. They parked, went up, and were welcomed with open arms by his uncle and aunt.