I’m Not That Obsessive

Chapter 26

Junman simply thought that this foreigner couldn’t be Geon-woo’s friend, so it must be Mitchell. He casually mentioned Mitchell’s name.

“Yes!”

Of course, that was correct. Then, all he needed to say was ‘You can press Mitchell’s doorbell to let them know you’re here,’ but how should he say that sentence in English?

He definitely knew the word ‘push’ – he’d seen it countless times in restaurants. But standing in front of an American, even the most common English words seemed to evaporate from his mind.

“R-real friends?”

“Yes!”

“O-okay.”

With one more confirmation, he allowed the stranger to enter, despite not having the authority to do so.

Even after that, Junman dismissed any concerns, thinking there wouldn’t be any big problems. His only thought was to quickly put down the heavy groceries he had bought.

He entered Geon-woo’s house, while the American went towards Mitchell’s house.

Junman had no idea what he had just done. He was busy getting drunk in broad daylight, gulping down the beer he had bought.

***

“Good. This will do. Alright! Good job, everyone.”

The director, who had been looking at the monitor, announced the end of filming. Simultaneously, people began bustling about, cleaning up the set.

The last scene shot was a kissing scene between Mitchell and Lydia. Although it was a scene from the latter part of the movie, it had to be filmed in advance today according to the script.

Geon-woo watched the two of them kiss on set. Perhaps because he had heard Mitchell say he wouldn’t fall in love with Lydia, he didn’t have any particular thoughts about it.

Even if Lydia were to make a move on Mitchell, Geon-woo trusted Mitchell. For some reason, Mitchell seemed like a person who kept his word.

Whether this was prejudice or simply wishful thinking, he wasn’t sure.

In any case, Geon-woo watched every moment of their lips meeting and tongues intertwining, without missing a detail. He didn’t even blink as he absorbed everything into his memory. Mitchell’s hand placement, the angle of his head, his expression after the kiss, and even imagining the movement of his tongue inside his mouth.

It might have been just acting, so he couldn’t know what kind of kiss Mitchell actually preferred. Still, Geon-woo meticulously analyzed every aspect of Mitchell’s kiss. Driven by the thought that he needed to know everything about Mitchell, he studied it like a subject.

“Good work everyone. I’m heading out. See you tomorrow.”

After exchanging greetings with the staff, Mitchell walked towards Geon-woo. Mitchell looked a bit tired. It was understandable, as he had been filming intense scenes all morning, like hanging onto cars or rolling on the ground.

“Good job.”

Of course, he must be tired. On one hand, Geon-woo envied that. Until recently, he had been the one in front of the camera, not outside it.

Although Geon-woo would start filming soon, it wouldn’t be the same as before. Starting from the bottom after reaching the top left him feeling conflicted. It wasn’t so much longing for his successful past, but rather the precariousness of his very existence. Being forgotten by the world was that painful.

Geon-woo’s shoulders slumped. As he unconsciously let out a long sigh, Mitchell abruptly said,

“Rest a lot now. When you start filming, I won’t go easy on you. I’m going to work you hard, so be prepared.”

According to the script, Geon-woo’s role was to conflict and fight with Mitchell. Naturally, there were scenes where Mitchell would beat Geon-woo mercilessly.

Despite the threatening words telling him to prepare to die, Geon-woo couldn’t help but smile. Whether intentional or not, Mitchell had instantly flipped Geon-woo’s sinking mood. Thanks to that, his distracting thoughts disappeared, and he felt he could focus solely on the upcoming filming.

“Alright. Thanks. I think I’ll enjoy getting beaten up by you.”

Geon-woo playfully nudged Mitchell’s shoulder. In response, Mitchell whispered in Geon-woo’s ear,

“I didn’t know you were a masochist. Just say the word. I’ll beat you to death when we get home.”

Geon-woo’s expression crumbled in real-time.

“Mr. Bae! Mr. Bae!”

Just then, both Geon-woo and Mitchell turned their heads at the sound of someone calling for Geon-woo. Two staff members from the movie stood in front of Geon-woo with troubled expressions.

“There are reporters from Korea who say they want to meet you, Mr. Bae. We’ve kept them from entering this area, but did you have any prior appointments with them?”

The news that Geon-woo would be joining “Racing Instinct” as a supporting actor had reached Korea.

Although he hadn’t started filming yet, Geon-woo had been consistently coming to the set. With so many people watching, information naturally leaked out, and finally, reporters from Korea showed up. They had rushed over to be the first to uncover the whereabouts of ‘Bae Geon-woo,’ who had disappeared from the public eye.

“There are quite a lot of them. Seems like more than ten?”

“They’re not people I have appointments with. Please just tell them I’m not here. I’ll sneak out quietly.”

“Alright, understood. But Mr. Bae, if this keeps happening tomorrow, it might be a problem. Unlike on a closed set, in an open area like this, there’s a risk of movie details being leaked… Is there any way we can avoid this? You haven’t even started filming yet.”

A spectator causing disruptions to the filming? That’s undoubtedly inconsiderate.

The situation that should have occurred a month or more later had been brought forward prematurely, and Geon-woo couldn’t hide his apology.

“Yes, I’m sorry. I won’t come to the set from tomorrow.”

“We’d appreciate that. We’ll contact you when your filming dates are set.”

“Understood.”

Geon-woo watched the departing staff members and rubbed his face with his hands. It wasn’t because of the discomfort of the film crew or the potential articles circulating in Korea about unknown content.

‘Does this mean I can’t follow Mitchell around from tomorrow?’

The only cause of his troubled mind was Mitchell.

“Let’s go for now.”

Mitchell nudged Geon-woo’s shoulder with his own.

“Okay.”

Geon-woo slowly followed Mitchell, who was walking ahead.

Thud.

Mitchell, seated in the driver’s seat, pulled out a drink from the console box and gulped it down. Although Geon-woo had offered to drive, Mitchell didn’t give up the driver’s seat.

“What should I do now? This is a big problem.”

Hearing Geon-woo’s dejected voice, Mitchell closed the drink bottle and put it back in its place.

For a celebrity, being followed by reporters is as common as placing chopsticks next to a spoon. As far as Mitchell knew, Geon-woo had been working as an actor in Korea for several years.

Even though he had left Korea and come to America, it’s not like he could hide forever. He must have anticipated that this would happen eventually, but Geon-woo looked quite serious.

“Just brush it off casually.”

Mitchell advised nonchalantly as he started the engine. Thanks to using a back road known only to a few staff members, there was no crowd to hinder them.

“How can I brush it off when I won’t be able to follow you around from tomorrow?”

“…What?”

Mitchell burst into laughter at Geon-woo’s words. He kept chuckling as he drove quickly down the straight four-lane road.

What was troubling Geon-woo wasn’t the reporters from Korea. It was Mitchell himself. Mitchell once again thought that it wasn’t easy to guess Geon-woo’s feelings with ordinary thinking.

“So, Mitchell…”

What would he say this time? It had reached the point where Mitchell was looking forward to it. He kept his eyes on the road but opened his ears wide.

“Yeah. Go on.”

“Can you contact me every hour?”

“…”

“You don’t have to call, just a text is fine. Just ‘Filming’, ‘Break time’, just like that would be enough.”

“…”

“It’s absolutely, absolutely not to bother you, I’m just curious about what you’re doing. I’m definitely not obsessing over you. This isn’t really bad, you know. I mean, it’s hard to explain… Could you just do this for me this time? It’s really not weird…”

Geon-woo’s voice grew increasingly smaller. Mitchell remained silent, and as Geon-woo became anxious, he started talking more.

“Of course, of course you can’t text during filming. So if you could ask someone else to let me know roughly what you’re doing… Ah, is every hour too busy? How about every two hours then? Every two hours… if you could just let me know briefly… Sigh, why did the reporters have to come now…”

“Okay.”

“…Huh?”

“I’ll do it. Every hour might be difficult, but I can let you know my schedule every two hours.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Aah?”

Geon-woo considered this kind of regular reporting to be among the highest levels of difficulty. Not many people had done this for him. First was his older brother Junman. Junman would do anything for money.

The second was a celebrity girlfriend he dated for a month. She diligently kept in touch for Geon-woo’s request for a few days, but less than a week in, she left saying it was tiresome. After that, Geon-woo didn’t have any more lovers.

“But in return.”

Mitchell’s voice cut through Geon-woo’s wandering thoughts.

“You have to do something for me too. I’m doing what you asked, after all.”

“Ah… Just say it. I’ll do anything. Should I also let you know what I’m doing every two hours? No, every hour, no, I can even do every thirty minutes!”

Geon-woo’s excited voice grew louder.

“Not that. Let me eat you a bit.”

“Huh?”

“You can let me eat you once, right?”

“W-what do you mean eat?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You.”

“…Eat me?”