Chapter 97 – Result – Part 5

Chapter 97 – Result – Part 5

The three people’s gazes fixed on Lee Hyerim.

She wasn’t very wet, but she looked like someone who had just escaped a sudden downpour.

Woojin stood up, took off his jacket, and approached Lee Hyerim.

Her eyes and expression looking at him were anxious and fragile.

He could fully alleviate these emotions.

Because Woojin knew Lee Hyerim well.

Whenever he understood the other person’s needs, that is, what the other person wanted, he could either provide psychological stability or, conversely, bring about mental collapse.

Woojin chose the former.

“Did you get caught in the rain? You’ll catch a cold.”

Woojin wiped her shoulders and arms with his clothes.

He also wrapped her hair with his clothes and squeezed out the water with appropriate force.

Lee Hyerim couldn’t move.

As always, Woojin’s tone was calm, but this was the first time he had acted this way.

With the hand wearing the watch she had given him, towards her.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask Woojin, but those thoughts had already flown away, and she was feeling a different emotion.

Her body felt cold, but what was this feeling?

Woojin is warm.

Then Woojin looked at Kim Min and Park Inhyeok and introduced her.

“This is my friend I mentioned earlier.”

Lee Hyerim tucked her hair behind her ear and bowed slightly.

“Hello. I am Lee Hyerim.”

“You are incredibly beautiful! I am Kim Min.”

“I am Park Inhyeok.”

As Lee Hyerim sat in the chair, Woojin offered her a metal bowl.

Glug, glug, glug.

As Woojin poured the rice wine, Lee Hyerim stared at it intently.

“It’s savory and a little sour. It’s damn delicious.”

Lee Hyerim, who inadvertently let out a small laugh, brought the rice wine to her lips.

It was her first time tasting rice wine, but perhaps because her throat was parched, she drank it all in one gulp.

Then she put down the metal bowl and let out a refreshing sigh.

“Haa…”

Woojin placed a pink sausage on Lee Hyerim’s small plate and said,

“You should eat it right away.”

Her eyes wavered slightly.

Even now, it’s different from usual.

Lee Hyerim, who was munching on pink sausages, smiled broadly at Woojin.

“It’s good.”

Kim Min and Park Inhyeok, who were watching Lee Hyerim, had subtly changed expressions.

They had expected her to recognize them and smile brightly, and normally they would have been asked for autographs or photos, but she didn’t even pay attention.

Was it like becoming a mere background? No, that expression wasn’t enough.

It felt like they had become invisible.

Park Inhyeok spoke up.

“Are you perhaps an aspiring celebrity?”

“No. I’m just an ordinary person. Actor Unknown, how’s acting? Is it manageable?”

“You can just call me by my real name.”

After all, Actor Kim Min already knew, and some of the filming staff and organizers also knew.

As long as it didn’t leak out, that was all that mattered.

That was something Director Jo Jeonghwan was carefully taking care of.

Woojin tasted the oyster pancake and shook his head.

“It’s alive. It’s alive.”

“So Actor Unknown’s real name was Woojin.”

Woojin nodded lightly and drank the rice wine.

Park Inhyeok asked.

“Woojin, you said earlier that through observation, you can predict how a person will move, if you understand them. It seems like it would be very helpful for acting too… Do I only need to observe what’s visible?”

Park Inhyeok genuinely coveted the observation Woojin was talking about.

Woojin lightly shook his head. Park Inhyeok opened his mouth again. No, Lee Hyerim was faster.

“Are there any inconveniences when filming?”

“I don’t think there are any in particular.”

“Mr. Woojin, then how should I understand the other person?”

“You have to listen. There’s a saying, isn’t there? No tree falls if you chop it ten times.”

Park Inhyeok’s brow furrowed slightly.

He was trying to understand Woojin’s words, but nothing came to him.

“What does that mean? I don’t quite understand.”

Woojin didn’t answer immediately.

Park Inhyeok stared at Woojin, who was eating pancakes, with a piercing gaze.

“First, you explore by matching the other person’s interests. The other person is the tree, and the questions are the axe. Instead of just asking questions from one angle, as if to cut down a tree, you try chopping from various angles. It’s similar when you’re trying to attract someone.”

That’s why Hyerim was there.

He had understood Hyerim’s shortcomings from before, filled them, and gave her psychological stability and made her feel good every time they met.

“If you understand their state through observation and grasp them through questions, then you can move them like herding sheep. A simple example would be labeling.”

Park Inhyeok blinked.

He said it was ‘labeling’ as a simple example, but it was a very unfamiliar word.

“I’m ignorant in that area, so what is labeling…?”

As Woojin brought the ringing cellphone to his ear, Park Inhyeok couldn’t help but smack his lips.

[Detective Kim Taehyun]

Woojin answered the phone.

At that moment.

Kim Taehyun, who had called Woojin, said while looking at someone tearing at their hair in the detention cell.

“Woojin, Ms. Hyerim visited. I should have told you sooner, but I forgot. She seemed really angry with me.”

-She couldn’t help it.

“Right? She’s your girlfriend, isn’t she? I thought lasers were shooting out of her eyes. She really seems to like you.”

-We’re not like that.

“You two seem to suit each other well, so give it a try. The more you date, the better.”

-I think differently.

You need to meet many different people….

Kim Taehyun quickly shut his mouth.

If Woojin says so, then it must be so.

“Let me know when you have time. Let’s go eat something delicious.”

-Okay. Take care.

After finishing the call with Woojin, Kim Taehyun approached the Detention Cell.

“Are you feeling a little better?”

The Thug, who looked to be in his 40s, was in distress, but it seemed he had finally sobered up.

“I’m sorry. I’m not usually like this…”

Completely drunk, his overall memory was hazy, but a few scenes came back clearly.

He remembered getting into a fight in the Cafeteria, hitting someone with a Soju bottle, and stabbing them several times in the stomach.

“That person… What happened to them? Are they alive? They’re alive, right!? I want to meet them and apologize… They’re alive, right? Huh? They’re not dead, are they!?”

Kim Taehyun frowned and said,

“Are you still drunk? What are you talking about, old man?”

“I stabbed someone. With a liquor bottle. Ha…”

Kim Taehyun wondered what this person was talking about.

He chuckled a few moments later.

“Old man, that was a Makgeolli bottle.”

“A Makgeolli bottle? Plastic?”

Kim Taehyun nodded and said,

“You hit him on the head like a Toy Hammer. Bonk bonk. The reason you’re in the Detention Cell is for obstructing business and property damage!”

“Ah…”

He breathed a sigh of relief and rejoiced.

***

While Lee Hyerim briefly went to the bathroom, Park Inhyeok felt like he could finally breathe.

This atmosphere felt like a survival game over one person, Shin Woojin.

They were competing to talk to each other, after all.

Woojin answered Park Inhyeok’s question.

“You can understand labeling as attaching a ‘crab shell’ to the other person. You look like you’re doing something. You look happy. You look sad. You look joyful. You throw out a label and observe the other person. Then, due to the labeling effect, the other person’s emotions are amplified and flow out through their words. You can know what emotions they are feeling in what situation, and also what they want to do.”

Instantly, Park Inhyeok had to experience the shivers he’d felt on set once again crawling up his spine.

It was hard to believe he was having such thoughts with such an innocent face, but it was the truth.

Because Woojin had shown him things.

Kim Min also began to show interest in Woojin’s words.

At first, he couldn’t understand, but as the story progressed, he couldn’t help but concentrate.

Woojin understood their state.

Because their greed and desire for Observation were growing.

They would ask to meet whenever they had a chance.

Woojin was observing them while talking about Observation.

“So, Mr. Woojin, are you always Observing?”

“I used to be… but not anymore.”

Because he was gradually overcoming that guy.

But he didn’t do a room investigation.

There was also a need to call him out and observe him.

Park Inhyeok laughed awkwardly and said,

“This… doesn’t seem like a conversation to have while drinking rice wine. I feel bad about it for no reason.”

He felt like he was hearing incredibly important information.

Woojin looked much younger than him, but he felt like he couldn’t speak to him informally.

“Mr. Woojin, do you smoke cigarettes?”

“No.”

“Oh, then we’ll just go have a cigarette and be right back.”

Park Inhyeok went outside, lit a cigarette, and shook his head.

“Hey, Mina, where did you hear something like that?”

“It’s my first time, but it’s interesting.”

“You don’t know. You told me after filming, right? That the atmosphere changed completely when you were acting. That changed after hearing Woojin’s story.”

“Really?”

“Observation, huh… This is really amazing. The first time I saw him, he told me to cut down on drinking and even said I had a girlfriend? He also knows I haven’t been able to walk my dog lately.”

Park Inhyeok exhaled cigarette smoke like a ghost and rubbed his forearm.

“Damn it… I got goosebumps then. Think about it. He knows everything you do. And he can predict things and even herd people like cattle.”

“Did he receive something like a spirit descent?”

“I don’t think so…”

Meanwhile, Lee Hyerim returned from the bathroom and sat down.

Her cheeks were flushed a faint red from the alcohol.

“I heard from Detective Kim Taehyun.”

Lee Hyerim continued, her gaze fixed on the bowl of rice wine.

“I admit I’m meddling. But I’ll say it anyway. Isn’t it too dangerous?”

“It’s not as dangerous as you think.”

“But it could become dangerous, couldn’t it? What if a criminal holds a grudge…?”

“Hyerim, you know about profiling, right? It’s making deductions without directly confronting criminals. In an office or something.”

Lee Hyerim tightly gripped the hem of her skirt.

And she bit her lip to stop herself from saying something.

Woojin thought she had made up her mind. Woojin slowly nodded and looked where she had fixed her gaze.

This, too, could have a mirroring effect, like repeating the words the other person said.

-They look in the same direction.

Lee Hyerim spoke again.

“If something happens to you, I’ll have nothing left to brag about. Deputy Manager Lee will become meaningless, and so will my promotion to Sales Team Department Head.”

Slide.

The opened sliding door closed again.

Park Inhyeok, noticing the strange atmosphere, didn’t enter and simply closed the door.

“The investment, too, if something happens to you, I won’t be able to feed those stuck-up older sisters and brothers a room, right? Right?”

Lee Hyerim spouted words that only thought of her own well-being.

But Woojin not only heard, but also realized she was lying.

Suddenly.

Lee Hyerim’s shoulder flinched.

Because Woojin had raised his hand.

“Hyerim…”

Lee Hyerim’s tearful voice cut off Woojin.

Under the table, her hands, neatly placed on her knees, clenched into fists.

“You know. You know. That I like you. Going to the police station. And me acting like this now. I’m not usually like this, so… so… I hate myself for not being able to help you at all and just being stubborn with words like this.”