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Chapter 18
All I had to do was hit send, but something felt off. A reporter’s intuition.
“Suspicious?”
She looked at her friend.
And who was that friend?
The very person who had connected the dots between the moment Go-geon stopped wearing his ring necklace in old photos and the breakup of Pink Pop.
How much she’d regretted it when she ignored her friend back then and everything blew up.
You couldn’t dismiss a veteran fan’s instincts—fans were the ones who could uncover secret relationships from the tiniest clues.
Gyeong-eun added a line at the end of her article: “Some people say…”
It was purely to boost clicks, so she didn’t bother getting confirmation. If it turned out to be a mistake, that just meant more controversy.
“Oh, hey! A new video’s up!”
Maybe she’d replayed the suspicious clip so many times because there was nothing else to watch—her friend’s attention quickly shifted elsewhere.
“Whose?”
“Go-geon! ‘Lover Version’ video, part two! Yesterday’s fortress-wall date!”
“What? They already uploaded something from yesterday?”
“When the iron’s hot, you strike. SNS is nothing but talk about Go-geon kissing. They know when to rake in views.”
“They must’ve worked the editor to death.”
“Shh, shh!”
Though it had gone up just two minutes ago and ran 25 minutes long, it already had over 500 comments and more than 100,000 views.
People were pouring in.
Some people say, “If they’re really dating, why does the woman act so awkward? Isn’t this public relationship just a publicity stunt to promote the drama?”
“Reporter Oh Gyeong-eun is sharp. Right—something does feel off.”
Bom skimmed the article.
No matter how many people doubted it, once dating articles kept coming, the sheer volume would drown everything else out.
Sometimes people would come back later saying, “You were right,” like a pilgrimage to a holy site—but the truth would never actually come out.
Bom didn’t leave the house all day.
She was supposed to go to Yun Myeong-jo’s filming site, but yesterday’s date had blown up so much that Il-ju ordered her to take a forced day off.
If you go to the set, all the attention will be on you and it’ll be disruptive.
She’d turned off her phone completely—work and personal alike—because as soon as they were charged, calls and message notifications from all directions drained the battery dry.
She was staying in touch through her laptop messenger.
She’d never underestimated Go-geon’s popularity, but this was on another level compared to when they announced their public relationship or uploaded the role-playing video.
Go-geon, too.
Walking along the fortress wall yesterday had worn her out, so she slept soundly past nine.
When she turned her phone back on, there was a flood of messages and missed calls. The hottest thread among them was from Go-geon.
He’d told Bom not to contact him until 9 a.m., yet he’d sent messages all night during every break in filming.
If someone else saw her phone, they might think she was looking at porn—there were so many photos like that.
The photographer said it looked sexy, so we shot it like this. Thanks.
Photos of Go-geon wearing nothing but a triangle brief, muscles bulging.
The kiss mark Bom had left on the back of his neck was vivid.
“Why would you use these as-is?! You should’ve censored them!”
Embarrassing no matter how many times she looked.
Annoying every time she looked again.
And yet… even so—his body looked amazing.
Lying at an angle, head tilted so the kiss mark on his neck showed, his body revealed clean muscle lines without an ounce of fat.
A thick chest, chocolate-bar abs below, and something impossible to miss.
Bom stared at the ceiling and took a deep breath. She swallowed hard.
Then a message notification popped up.
From Go-geon.
Yesterday’s date video is up on the channel.
It was a company decision. The reaction on SNS is good, so they wanted to ride the wave and uploaded it early.
“Already?”
She was sure they’d said they’d upload it after the drama aired.
Apparently yesterday’s date had become an even bigger issue than Bom realized.
But something felt odd.
If it were Go-geon, he’d usually add something—at least a “ㅋ” or “ㅋㅋ.”
Bom clicked the link he sent and watched the video.
It was a premiere; the live chat was active.
As the countdown ended, the video began.
—A hand.
It started with Go-geon holding out his hand.
└ Aaaaaah!!
└ Geon-aaah! Our Geon-geon!
└ Is this the video from yesterday’s date?
└ ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ Isn’t this just a public-dating thing or drama viral marketing?
└ Why aren’t you holding hands? Go-geon, my hand is right here!
Before, they’d filmed indoors with a fixed camera—clean angles and framing. This time, it was footage from an action cam clipped to Bom’s collar.
The quality wasn’t great, but somehow the shaking had been stabilized.
Because it was attached to her collar, unless Bom fully turned her body, Go-geon didn’t appear clearly on screen. Even so, people loved it.
└ Twisted-donut shop info [**Glutinous Rice Twisted Donuts]…
└ He has a photoshoot that day, so he wouldn’t be eating flour while cutting weight
└ Why can I see the sugar on the donuts in detail but not Go-geon’s face?
└ Stop eating and look at your boyfriend! If it were me, I’d be walking backward staring at Go-geon! Why aren’t you looking at that national-treasure face?! At least show us!
└ OMG is he eating with her because he’s worried she might be hungry? So sweet ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ i love gogun!!
└ Having to watch him date another woman like this hurtsㅠㅠ but I still love itㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ The vibe is so good. I’m going to ask my boyfriend to go on a date there.
└ Go-geon’s expression looks so happyㅠㅠ
└ LOL they already uploaded yesterday’s stuff. The editor must be dyingㅋㅋㅋ Thanks!
Since the shots were mostly straight ahead and of the scenery, every time Bom lifted a donut and crunched into it, a fleeting glimpse of Go-geon’s face would appear and vanish.
It was a trick because he didn’t show up much—and you could tell the editor enjoyed it too.
As they walked up the fortress wall, there were conversations about his past—personal stories only those close to him knew, never revealed to the media.
And Go-geon’s own story.
—In the end, you rejected me pretty hard, and I followed the path my father wanted. But I didn’t want it to end like that.
└ How could anyone reject this man?!
└ You can tell how much Go-geon really likes her
└ How do you get loved like that? Do you have to save a country? How many reincarnations does it take?
Along with envious comments, insults toward Bom started pouring in.
Then came the long-awaited night-view scene.
Against a screen filled with city lights, Go-geon hugged Bom from behind—and the live chat exploded into nothing but consonants and vowels.
—Honestly, I don’t want to work today. How am I supposed to leave you behind?
At the regret in Go-geon’s voice, yesterday came rushing back to Bom.
At first, it was supposed to be just acting out a kiss.
All they had to do was pretend, but in her flustered state, their lips touched—
And right then, the kiss moment appeared.
“No—stop! Stooop!!”
The screen went black, and a montage of the couple’s kissing clips from SNS began to cross-cut.
Bom covered her face, but slowly her fingers spread apart.
“Why are they showing it for so long?! They’re way too serious about the edit!”
Viewers who were fully immersed went wild.
A caption even appeared saying the edit was made with the consent of those who filmed it.
“What about my consent?! My consent!”
Bom screamed, clutching her laptop—then reality hit her.
“Oh… right. I did consent. I sold my image rights.”
At least Go-geon’s body blocked her face, so it didn’t show clearly.
Their kiss had been immortalized online, and everyone who needed to know, knew.
As Bom regretted everything, the kiss ended and a shot of them holding each other appeared.
Go-geon’s alluring low voice flowed out.
—I shouldn’t be doing this.
“…Did you even say that?”
She didn’t remember.
She must’ve been completely out of it not to recall.
The video showed Bom grabbing Go-geon’s hand and running when they noticed a crowd, ducking into an alley to catch their breath.
Even with stabilization, the footage was a mess from their panting—which only made it feel more real.
You could feel a couple’s racing hearts through the screen.
As Bom lifted her head, Go-geon came into view.
He was smiling brightly.
And with the silhouette of the lovers standing in the alley, the video ended.
A kind caption announced that there would be more later.
“It’s not the end? There’s another episode coming? That’s just cruel!”
Her public humiliation wasn’t over yet.
The chat exploded—though for very different reasons than Bom’s.
└ Next episode!!
└ That’s it?
└ The bar next to that alley posted a photo saying Go-geon and his girlfriend drank there—why cut it off here??
└ He did a photoshoot with a kiss mark on his neck that day, right? And he said it was real, didn’t he?
└ Bring the editor here! Upload the rest!
└ They’re kissing and my lips are parting tooㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ I’m so lonelyㅠㅠㅠㅠ
└ You unleashed poison
