Substitute-Chapter 54

The one who took over Gwak Hyesung’s spot after he got kicked out was, surprisingly, Han Seoho.

Jiwon was as shocked as if he'd seen a ghost, and Han Seoho’s eyes went wide too.

“Hyung!”

Han Seoho lit up like he was reuniting with a long-lost brother. He hugged Jiwon and got misty-eyed.

“They said you didn’t make it—what happened?”

His voice was innocently curious.

“Uh, that... that’s what I thought too...”

“That’s amazing! I made it in too. Isn’t that great?”

He smiled brightly.

With Han Seoho’s appearance, the vibe within the crew changed completely.

Dressed in a sailor uniform, Han Seoho stood out more than anyone. At twenty-three, he was fresh, his exposed body was solid, and he lacked nothing.

Jiwon had always known he was slim, but he hadn’t realized how curvy he was. He’d only seen him in regular clothes a handful of times, but it had never felt like this.

But the Han Seoho who showed up after all this time had a body that had clearly been trained and sculpted.

Maybe the reason he disappeared suddenly was because he heard he’d made it in as a late addition.

‘That kid’s a player. A broker and a player. I’d bet anything he’ll be invited to the party. He’s got a reputation for being insanely good.’

Just like Choi Minjae, Han Seoho was at ease. He slipped into the circle of sailors without resistance.

He was also the youngest in terms of age, and his cheerful, polite demeanor made everyone dote on him.

“That kid really is like Lee Uju’s twin.”

Park Geonwu, on the other hand, was indifferent.

“He probably brought something with him too.”

“Maybe so.”

Jiwon was glad to see Han Seoho, but also uncomfortable.

Han Seoho was more surprised than anyone by how different Jiwon looked. He was genuinely happy and kept bringing up old stories as if reminiscing was fun.

Like how Jiwon didn’t care about his looks at all when he worked as a private chauffeur for a room salon, how he was terrible at talking, or how they’d share nearly expired triangular kimbap.

Each story made Jiwon sound like a total misfit.

Since none of it was technically wrong, it didn’t really piss him off—he mostly accepted it. After all, Seoho had still hung out with him back then.

But Park Geonwu and Kim Yunho saw it as straight-up shit-talking and called him out for being rude.

Then Seoho would pout cutely and say, “Aw, come on, hyungs. You can’t take a joke so seriously,” acting all playful. He often called out, “Jiwon-hyung~,” asking for help.

The atmosphere turned strange.

“I heard you three are like the Three Musketeers?”

Seoho asked as the three of them headed toward the fitness room.

“If you know that much, then fuck off.”

Park Geonwu snapped.

“Geez, Geonwu-hyung. Why are you being so scary?”

Seoho pouted.

Stuck in the middle, Jiwon didn’t know what to do.

“We trained in the basement too, wearing just T-thongs.”

Crazy, huh?

Seoho laughed.

“Did you?”

“Yeah. Hyesung-hyung didn’t say anything?”

“Don’t really talk to him.”

Jiwon deflected.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t close with him. It was that he couldn’t be close.

“I get it. That guy’s kinda selfish.”

Seoho scrunched his nose.

“Still, I didn’t think he’d get cut. Lucky for me, though—I got to move up.”

Just like the other sailors, Gwak Hyesung barely touched his dinner and went back to his room during rest time and apparently masturbated with a dildo. They’d even conveniently left lube in the drawer to encourage it, so there was no stopping him.

The admin monitoring for “abnormal behavior” on CCTV caught it instantly, and he got kicked out that same evening.

But the replacement didn’t arrive until the next morning.

“We deserve rest time too in the evenings.”

That was Seoho’s excuse. Everyone could tell it was flimsy, but no one pressed.

“But man, it’s a whole different world up here.”

“What was it like down there?”

“Eh, it was alright. The rooms looked like motels. Totally cheap. But this place? It’s like a five-star hotel. Should’ve come up sooner.”

He said it like it could’ve happened that way.

And maybe it could have.

A broker and a player. There’d be no reason not to bring the prettiest of the lookalikes to such a major party. Maybe they delayed bringing him in because Seoho was too easy to tempt. If he pulled something in front of everyone, not even they could keep using him.

“But didn’t Hyesung-hyung win first place in the honey harvest yesterday? That’s crazy money. And he blew it jerking off?”

Seoho groaned like it was {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} his money that got wasted.

“Hyung, don’t end up like that. Let’s survive till the end, okay?”

He made a cute fist.

You just couldn’t hate him.

That kid showed up often in Jiwon’s head.

Ah. That kid.

Just as something started to surface, a shrill electronic tone rang out.

6:15. The fitness room door closed.

This time, even the police officers were present.

Seoho’s eyes lit up. Of course, he was obsessed with the cops.

“Whoa. Fuck. What the hell are they? Their bodies are insane. Hyung, those T-thongs are crazy stimulating, right?”

Even though he said they wore the same thing in the basement, he acted like he was seeing it for the first time.

A huge smile spread across his face, which only made his pretty face stand out more.

Jiwon’s eyes naturally drifted to Seoho’s chest. He had the same tattoo as the rest of them, but the skin around it had slight bumps like it was fresh. The color was overly dark, too.

Did he just get it done this morning?

“Hyung, you took the development class too, right?”

That damned development class.

Even Seoho asked like it was a given.

Then—

“Am I the only one whose nipples stick out this much? It’s embarrassing.”

He said, bashfully.

But it was all an act.

Seoho loved the attention on him. He truly enjoyed it.

Not that he was the only one. They all did. Not much difference.

Choi Minjae and Gwak Chan raised their hands to show where they were.

This is nuts.

Jiwon tried to avert his eyes—and locked eyes with Number 3.

Just two days.

Number 3 smiled softly.

To Jiwon’s surprise, he felt like he missed him.

Had he lost it?

They barely did anything—what the hell was he missing?

He had to be insane.

Had to be.

There was no other way to explain this shit.

Maybe it was the outfit. Maybe it was because they were wearing underwear you couldn’t even call clothing.

Jiwon felt dizzy.

The team leaders came in. And so the routine began.

Jiwon’s workout partner, Nam Gyuwon, came again today and got 5 penalty points. Surprisingly, the others held it in well.

Was it because the week was almost over? Or because Hyesung’s expulsion helped them get their heads straight? Everyone endured in their own way.

After the two hours of hellish exercise and a meal, they all got skincare and scalp massages.

This time, they also checked for full-body hair removal. Jiwon didn’t have regrowth yet, and even when there were tiny hairs, they only confirmed it without removing them. Instead, they helped exfoliate and applied moisturizer to prevent dryness. The workers used sprays and tools—never once touching skin with bare hands.

“But the hair’s gonna grow back like crazy next week. Then what? Hairy guys don’t even last two weeks. I’m one of ’em.”

Park Geonwu grumbled.

“Right? Why’d they make us do it so early? Everyone knows Brazilian waxing works best three or four days before a party.”

“My point exactly.”

Then they looked at each other and muttered, “Shaving play?”

Jesus, they were two peas in a pod.

“Who the hell planned this? Fucking meticulous.”

They actually admired it.

Jiwon gave a dry, deflating laugh.

‘Filthy, disgusting bastards. Not even worth pity.’

The cop had been wrong.

Even if they were filthy and disgusting—they were still people.

Just like that kid, they didn’t spend every day having sex. They all had dreams and lived their own versions of daily life.

Nam Gyuwon, the most sensitive and the quickest to come, was a college student prepping to return to school after finishing his military service. He studied Korean literature and wanted to work at a library.

Park Geonwu said he wanted to get married when this project was over. He didn’t want to drift from club to club looking for sex partners anymore, didn’t want to keep living wild. If his soulmate was a woman, he hoped she’d love sex as much as he did. If it was a man, he planned to move back to the U.S. where he could legally marry.

Kim Yunho’s dream was to be an actor. He’d only done small roles in a few dramas, but after the project ended and he paid off his debts with the money, he planned to join a theater company. He said he wanted to focus entirely on acting without worrying about living expenses.

‘What about you, Jiwon?’

‘Me? I dunno.’

‘Can you pay off all your brother’s debt?’

‘Probably.’

‘Even if you can, don’t pay it all off. Just some. Use the rest for your own life.’

Yunho had advised him.

‘I told you, right? My mom wasted her whole life repaying the debt her piece-of-shit husband left behind. Then that debt got passed to me. If some civil servant at the community center hadn’t told me there’s a law that lets you reject an inheritance, I’d have inherited it too. But even then, what difference does it make? I didn’t have shit. Even just ten million won changes everything. I had fifty thousand. How the fuck does a high school junior live on fifty thousand won?’

Yunho didn’t cry. He wasn’t self-pitying.

He’d lived like that his whole life, but he didn’t blame anyone except his father. He said some people succeed despite shitty circumstances, and since he hadn’t worked hard, he had no right to complain.

That was why Jiwon felt sorry—because Kim Yunho, who had nothing, was sincerely trying to comfort him. frёewebnoѵēl.com

Kim Jiwon’s life and Yoon Jiwon’s life were polar opposites.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

“Huh?”

“See? Told you. Jiwon-hyung totally zones out sometimes.”

Han Seoho laughed like he’d proven a point.

“That’s your charm, though.”

“Excuse me? Quit flirting.”

Park Geonwu still saw Seoho as a thorn in his side.

Seoho pouted but turned his head quickly, probably scared of getting scolded again. Instead, he turned his attention to Lee Jihoon, now left alone.

But Jihoon didn’t seem to like Seoho either. He acted distant toward the way-too-friendly Seoho. Maybe he was still depressed because his best buddy Gwak Hyesung got kicked out.

“Kim Jiwon, I wasn’t gonna say this, but... I’m really glad we don’t look like that guy.”

Out of nowhere, Park Geonwu said.

“What kind of thing is that to say?”

Jiwon laughed.

“At least we can count on him not wanting to fuck us, right?”

If that’s what he meant, then yeah—thank God.

Sex with Han Seoho? Not a fucking chance.

Not because he looked like that kid.

Even in the past—right now too—Jiwon never projected that kid onto him. Even if that kid had been more of a pervert than anyone here, he couldn’t do it.

How could he mistake that kid for someone else?

He knew very well that what happened had spiraled out of control mostly because of that kid. But that didn’t mean he deserved to die. Unless someone had actually pushed another to death, there was no one who deserved to die.

Beep— The electronic tone rang again.

Break time was over.