Woo's
"Wasn't it hard to get a reservation with the timing being so awkward?"
"It is the middle of the lunch break, but luckily we managed to snag a table nearby."
After showing the others to their seats, Yeon-woo headed for the restaurant with Min-su, who had come back to pick him up.
The sliding door rattled open as Yeon-woo and Min-su stepped inside.
"Yeon-woo!"
His friends, who had been chatting quietly with his parents about university, shot to their feet the moment they saw him walk through the door.
"Thanks for coming all this way."
Yeon-woo smiled and went over to pull them into hugs.
His family had already exchanged greetings back in the waiting room, so Yeon-woo turned to Hong Yu-ri beside him and offered his hand.
"Noona, it's been a while."
"Yeon-woo! I've been working hard on the fan cafe, you know."
Hong Yu-ri was, in fact, one of the admin staff for Woo's — and Yeon-woo knew it perfectly well.
"I'm really grateful. After we eat, since you're already here, would you mind filming a video letter and taking some photos for the fan cafe?"
"F-for real? That would be amazing!"
Yeon-woo occasionally dropped into the fan cafe to read the posts, but he had never written anything or participated himself. The thought of the members' joy when a bombshell like this dropped made Yu-ri's grin stretch from ear to ear.
On top of that, Yeon-woo didn't even have a personal SNS account like everyone else these days — the only photos that ever surfaced were the occasional schedule shots on LN Entertainment's official page. His fans lived in a perpetual drought of new pictures. Back in high school, the rare shots of Ryu Yeon-woo that appeared on Woo Seong-sik's account had racked up a follower count rivaling most influencers.
Before long the course meals arrived, and everyone finished eating amid warm, lively conversation.
Then they cleared a corner of the private room, and Yu-ri started shooting Yeon-woo.
Yeon-woo had brought along the name tag from the premiere flower wreath the fan cafe had sent. He posed with it for several photos, then filmed a video letter as well.
"To all of you at Woo's who always give me so much love — thank you. Please keep loving this film, Spring's Lover, and although I can't give you exact details yet since it's still in production, I'll be coming to you soon as the lead in another movie, so please…"
The lines poured out of Yeon-woo without a single hitch.
"Whose son is this, talking like that?"
"Ahaha."
Even in front of Yeon-woo's friends, Ryu Cheol-ung's parental pride showed no signs of stopping. The friends laughed awkwardly.
The moment Yeon-woo's silver-tongued message wrapped up, Hong Yu-ri — special envoy charged with a weighty mission from the fan cafe admins — seized the chance she could not afford to miss.
"Actor Ryu Yeon-woo, do you have any plans to start a personal SNS for your fans?"
Looking mildly flustered by the question, Yeon-woo scratched the back of his head.
"Ah, well, the agency brought it up once, but I'm not really good at that kind of thing… Still, I'll learn and try to get one going soon. Haha."
"Yes!"
Today, Hong Yu-ri had achieved both her personal goal and the fan cafe's goal in one stroke.
After seeing his friends off, Yeon-woo returned to the officetel with his family.
The moment they stepped inside, his mother opened the refrigerator and let out a sigh.
"I knew it. So-hyun, get the bag."
His little sister hauled a cooler bag stuffed with homemade side dishes out of the trunk. Mother and daughter set to work packing the fridge full of food.
"Oppa, if you keep eating like this you're actually going to get sick."
His little sister had grown big enough to scold him now. Yeon-woo graduating high school meant that So-hyun, three years younger, would soon be a high schooler herself.
"Haha. Got it, So-hyun. Thank you, Mom. I'll make sure to eat properly."
The family spent the rest of the day together until evening, then set off for Daejeon. The photos and video for the fan cafe, which Yeon-woo had expected to go up right away, only appeared around nine that night.
Apparently Jun-su and Yu-ri had managed a decent little date of their own.
Yeon-woo logged into the fan cafe, reading the comments as he stretched out on his bed.
Regardless of her personal connection to Yeon-woo, Hong Yu-ri had been active since the early days and earned her admin role on merit. She "came out" as his high school senior, explained how she had ended up at the premiere, and wrote a review so vivid you could almost smell the theater. She turned out to have a real gift for writing — the post was genuinely entertaining, and she had attached photos taken on-site as well.
So that's what it was like before they even went in.
Yeon-woo smiled as he read about Yu-ri's unexpected physical comedy routine in front of his parents.
Below that were the photos and video of Yeon-woo taken at the restaurant.
The post had only been up for about thirty minutes, and the comment count had already blown past two hundred.
Aside from sleeping, Yeon-woo spent nearly all his time at the agency practice room analyzing his character for Master Plan and drilling his performance.
Today, however, he surrendered himself to the hands of stylist Ye-eun, who had shown up at the officetel before dawn.
It was the day of Yeon-woo's graduation ceremony.
Fortunately, his sister So-hyun's middle school graduation fell a day apart, so the family could attend both.
He had originally planned to go down looking natural, but Ye-eun — who had fully expected as much — showed up and was now doing his makeup herself.
"Yeon-woo, there might be reporters there, and you were going to go barefaced? Ah, well, barefaced is fine too, I guess."
She nodded at her own answer, then pressed on.
"But still! There'll be photos, and your graduation pictures are going to be immortalized on the internet forever."
"Mm, that's true, noona."
Since she wasn't a professional makeup artist, Ye-eun kept it lighter than usual. Looking in the mirror, Yeon-woo thought it actually looked better — more natural.
"Alright, let's leave it at this. Can't be late."
"Thank you so much for coming this early, Ye-eun noona."
The smile Yeon-woo gave her with his freshly made-up face turned Ye-eun's cheeks red in an instant.
"I-it's fine. Let's just go downstairs. Min-su oppa is waiting."
They rode the elevator down to the parking garage together and climbed into Min-su's car. Yeon-woo dropped Ye-eun off near her place along the way, then headed straight for his school in Daejeon.
Yeon-woo had doubted any reporters would bother showing up for a graduation ceremony out in the provinces — but Ye-eun had been right.
The moment Yeon-woo stepped out of the van in the school parking lot, two reporters approached.
"Hello, Mr. Ryu Yeon-woo. If you don't mind, could we do a short interview on the way up to the school?"
"Ah, that's fine. I'm a little short on time, though — would walking and talking be okay…?"
The reporter answered in a hurry.
"Of course. Thank you. We understand you applied to Hankuk University's Economics department for this year's admissions — is that correct?"
"Yes, that's right. I applied to other departments as well, but it's my first choice."
"Will you be receiving any awards as a representative at today's ceremony?"
"Well, I haven't heard anything from the school, so I'm not sure yet. I was busy with work on and off, so I wasn't exactly a model student… Haha."
Yeon-woo gave an embarrassed laugh at the reporter's question.
They asked a few more questions as they walked up toward the main building, and near the entrance Min-su cut the interview short.
"I'm sorry, but our actor needs to head inside now."
"Ah, yes. Of course. Mr. Ryu Yeon-woo, thank you so much for the kind interview."
"Take care, both of you."
Yeon-woo made his way to the auditorium where the ceremony was being held and exchanged warm greetings with friends buzzing with pre-graduation excitement.
And then, contrary to everything he had expected, the ceremony itself cast him as the graduating class representative to deliver the oath. He took photos with his family, who had arrived in time.
After that — with only a slight exaggeration — he might as well have taken a photo with the entire student body. Yeon-woo answered endless photo requests and celebrated graduation to the fullest with his friends.
In those pictures, Yeon-woo's face was bright with laughter.
The awkwardness that used to surface from the age gap left over from Jeon Su-hwan was nowhere to be found. The way he fit in among friends his own age felt like the complete adaptation of a twenty-year-old young man named Ryu Yeon-woo — reborn as someone new.
Fans watching the flood of photos with Ryu Yeon-woo pouring onto Byeolstagram beat the ground in regret, wailing that they should have gone even though they weren't graduates.
And the next day.
Jinhwa Girls' Middle School was turned completely upside down.
The reaction from the soon-to-be high school girls was so intense it nearly derailed the ceremony. Yeon-woo found himself wondering whether his presence was more of a burden on the school than a blessing, and whether he ought to just leave.
Of course, the fact that he was So-hyun's older brother was already common knowledge on campus, and people had been hoping he might show — but the real thing appearing in the flesh hit the hearts of girls who had just graduated middle school with the force of a nuclear bomb.
"O-oppa, let's just go home already."
Uncomfortable with all the attention, So-hyun took a quick photo and hurried home with their parents.
But before long she changed clothes and headed back out, saying she was going to hang out with friends.
Yeon-woo spent the day talking with his parents in Daejeon, then returned to Seoul the following day.
He was deep in acting practice when his phone buzzed.
Yeon-woo tilted his head at the message, then clapped his hands together.
"Ah. It's today."
He had been so unbothered he'd completely forgotten — today was the regular admissions results day.
The announcement window had opened about twenty minutes ago.
Yeon-woo stepped into the empty conference room next to the practice studio, opened a browser, and navigated to Hankuk University's admissions page.
"Exam number is…"
He checked the memo on his phone and typed it in.
He entered the information, hit confirm — and the acceptance notice appeared.
Accepted in both Group A and Group B.
Being admitted all over again as a freshman to Hankuk University's Economics department — the same one he had gotten into some twenty years earlier in his previous life — left Yeon-woo with a strangely complicated feeling.
Just then the conference room door opened, and the publicity team walked in for a meeting.