The Sparebucks a few hundred meters down from Siseon was not very crowded, but when two girls walking toward the door with their coffees pointed at Ji-hun and giggled to each other, he pulled his sunglasses down from the top of his head over his eyes and looked at Ho-jin, who seemed just as tense as he was. "So we're not gonna do anything at home until your mom leaves, sunbae?"

Ho-jin took a sip of his coffee and stared at him. "Even if we assume she's not home, she could suddenly walk through the door, Ji-hun-ah. I gave her my key. You saw me."

"You said we'd make rules. What are the rules?"

"No kissing in the kitchen or anything like that. Actually, nowhere. We stay away from each other's beds. We don't come out of the bathroom naked either. And you're not gonna try to get me turned on. This isn't something to joke about right now, Ji-hun. Give me some time so I can talk to my mom."

"Okay, no problem. If you want, I can stay at Won-hee's until your mom leaves."

Ho-jin did not want to get angry, but sometimes he wondered if Ji-hun was getting on his nerves on purpose. "Ji-hun... Don't act like you don't know I can't stay away from you."

Ji-hun smiled, leaned over the table, and looked at him over his sunglasses. "Don't suddenly say things like that and make my dick hard in Sparebucks, okay?"

"Stop talking nonsense. We're about to start a very important project. If you act this casually in the studio, we're fucked."

Ji-hun knew Ho-jin was extremely tense. Normally, Ho-jin would have laughed at a joke like that and pinched his cheek. "Okay. Now tell me the set rules too."

Ho-jin took a deep breath. "Don't call me Sunbae. Ho-jin-ssi is fine. Absolutely no touching. Don't even put your arm over my shoulder. If we've had an argument outside the studio, you're definitely not bringing it in there." He took a sip of coffee and continued. "And don't get cocky and finish my sentences or make it obvious you're used to me taking your pictures. Just act like a professional model, Ji-hun. I'll treat you like one too. We don't have another choice."

"This isn't my first time working with you. Everything will be fine."

"You're absolutely not gonna get too familiar with Yoon Ba-da. Keep your hands to yourself. I don't want you getting close to her. We don't even know if someone working on the set is selling stories to Mispatch. Watch what you do."

"Calm down, Ho-jin sunbae... I'm a little too gay for Yoon Ba-da."

"I'm trying to calm down, but when the person in front of me is you..."

But he was wrong.

With his polite, calm, and extremely modest behavior, Ji-hun first won over the production manager, then the Wersace advertising and marketing director. By the time Yoon Ba-da arrived, Ji-hun was about to go into makeup. Ba-da walked past everyone important in the room and headed straight for Ho-jin, and Ji-hun understood immediately who the real star of this campaign was.

"Shin Ho-jin! How long has it been?"

"Ba-da-ya. How have you been?"

"I'm good. They said there was a campaign, so here I am," Ba-da said with a laugh. When she finally turned toward the Wersace representative, her eyes caught Ji-hun standing off to the side. She ignored the man who already had his hand extended and went toward Ji-hun instead. "Hello, I'm Yoon Ba-da. Nice to meet you. Let's work well together."

Ji-hun smiled politely and bowed deeply. "Hello, I'm Moon Ji-hun. I'll do my best to be worthy of working with you."

For the moment, Ho-jin was happy with how things were going. "You can go into makeup, Ba-da," he said.

Ba-da and Ji-hun were taken to the makeup room with the production manager, while the Wersace representative stood there alone watching them leave. Once he realized nobody was paying attention to him, he moved aside and started playing with his phone.

Then the shoot began.

When the lighting crew started moving around them for the test shots, both Ba-da and Ji-hun looked really cool. Ji-hun looked at Ho-jin from the corner of his eye. Ho-jin was talking to his assistant, who was showing him the light meter.

Ji-hun had always admired Ho-jin when he worked. He had loved watching him do his job since middle school. You're something incredible, sunbae. I love you so much.

As if he had heard him, Ho-jin looked at Ji-hun, but his face showed nothing. "All right, we're starting," he said, picking up his camera and walking closer to them. "Just let me work. Stay relaxed."

He took a few shots of Ba-da first, then Ji-hun. After stepping back, he signaled to one of the assistants. "I want wind. Turn on the fan on the right." Then he told Ji-hun to move closer to Ba-da and look at her. "Ji-hun-ssi, put your hand on Ba-da's waist. I want the look in your eyes to be passionate." He turned to Ba-da. "Ba-da, close the distance. Put your hand on Ji-hun's face."

Ba-da did as she was told and moved closer. She put her hand on Ji-hun's face and looked into his eyes in a way that made everyone in the studio stop what they were doing.

Ji-hun was looking back at her, and there were not even five centimeters between their faces. Girl you have no chance. Then something happened that surprised him.

"Ba-da," Ho-jin said. "Can you move back a little?"

Ji-hun did not take his eyes off her as Ba-da moved away. Nothing changed on his face, but his eyes were smiling. Sunbae, you are my hero.

By lunchtime, everyone was genuinely tired.

Ho-jin was no joke. He had tolerated neither Ba-da's attitude nor the Wersace representative's ridiculous suggestions. Everyone knew who was in charge of that set. But when it came to Ji-hun... No. Ji-hun had not made a single mistake. He had done everything he was told the first time and worked with an unexpectedly high level of professionalism.

When Ba-da suggested that the whole crew go to a luxury restaurant for lunch, Ji-hun very politely suggested they do it after the shoot was finished that day instead. He even convinced Ba-da that wasting time over lunch would gain them nothing.

Ho-jin was having a peaceful day, and he had already started to relax.