Haeyoung was doing the dishes.
Yoonhyuk leaned casually against the doorframe, silently watching her for a moment.
Should he say she hadn't changed?
He was glad he had agreed to this absurd plan after all. Having the chance to observe Haeyoung's every move up close was fascinating.
Yoonhyuk picked up a few empty glasses left on the table and brought them over to her.
"Oh! You scared me," she said in surprise.
Haeyoung, wearing rubber gloves, jumped in surprise.
Her startled expression was amusing.
"Why are you cleaning everything?"
"Huh?"
"I mean the cleaning. The dishes. Why are you doing it all?"
"Anyone can do it."
"Exactly. If anyone can do it, why are you the one doing it?"
Haeyoung tilted her head, as if she genuinely didn't understand the question.
A kind person.
To Yoonhyuk, kind people only existed in fairy tales.
The people around him either hurt him, cursed him, or resented him.
His parents never told him to be kind—only to be smart and calculating.
They said good people only end up getting stepped on by others.
In Yoonhyuk's world, goodness held no value, it didn't even seem to exist.
At least, not until he met Haeyoung.
"People like that exist? Why?"
That was what young Yoonhyuk thought the first time he met her.
A massive bubble of air had risen, and through it reached out a small hand—Seo Haeyoung's.
"Is she stupid? She's going to die with me at this rate. Idiot. How can someone throw their life away for a complete stranger?"
That moment remained vivid in his memory.
As for Seo Haeyoung, she clearly didn't remember it at all.
Still, whether she remembered it or not didn't really matter.
What mattered was that, after that day, a subtle crack appeared in Yoonhyuk's world.
A crack that suggested—just maybe—he had been living the wrong way all along.
Since that day, Yoonhyuk had thought of Haeyoung from time to time.
He wondered what had become of that ridiculously kind girl.
Was she still the same as an adult? Or had she, like everyone else, eventually changed?
That's why every moment now felt fascinating.
When he saw how badly she'd been hurt by her ex-boyfriend, he thought,
Maybe she's still stupidly kind.
But then, when she suddenly announced she wanted revenge, he found himself intrigued—was he about to witness her change?
And yet, she's still the same. Still kind. Still stupidly kind, all on her own.
A small smile slipped out. He wanted to know more.
Yoon-hyuk rolled up his sleeves and took the cup from Hae-young's hands.
"I got it. I'll finish it."
"Give it back. You'll only understand why I volunteered for this if you do it yourself."
Hmm. He didn't get it.
Even after finishing the dishes, he still couldn't understand why she insisted on doing this alone while the other cast members had already gone to bed.
It was inefficient, uncalculated, and offered no real benefit. If anything, maybe it made her look a bit nicer on camera?
But the chances of this dull, repetitive scene actually making it into the final broadcast? Pretty slim. And somehow, he felt Seo Hae-young wasn't doing it for that small chance, anyway.
"It's just something you do. That's all."
Hae-young wrung out the dishcloth with practiced hands and wiped down the sink. Once all the water was gone, the surface gave off a soft shine, like something out of a model home.
"When it's clean like this, whoever wakes up early tomorrow will feel good, right?"
So. Why should it matter if someone else feels good?
Yoon-hyuk didn't argue. Instead, he reached out and stopped Hae-young just as she was about to head upstairs.
"Don't go. Stay with me."
Later, word spread that the show's producer did a little happy dance in the editing room after hearing that line—but of course, Hae-young knew nothing about that in the moment.
Hae-young simply looked at Yoon-hyuk with a quiet gaze.
"Okay."
Her response was calm, but inside, Hae-young's thoughts were spinning as she tried to guess why Yoon-hyuk had stopped her.
Did he have something to say? Maybe. It was the first day, after all. He might have something on his mind. Maybe he needed her help.
She slowly followed behind him. Her gaze moved from Yoon-hyuk's broad back to his straight neck.
His clean, unblemished neck was both masculine and beautiful. It was just his back, and yet it was striking.
Yoon-hyuk sat down heavily in the middle of the sofa, holding a glass and a water bottle.
"Sit."
It was an abrupt command, spoken informally. It seemed he knew no other cast members were nearby.
Should I sit for a bit?
Actually, a genuine conversation between friends right after moving in was the kind of content the show would likely welcome.
Hae-young started to sit, then paused.
Where should I sit?
Sitting on the same couch felt too close. Sitting on a different one felt too self-conscious.
In the end, she sat on the floor. Leaning her back against the couch, she felt satisfied—this seemed like the perfect distance from Yoon-hyuk.
Yoon-hyuk said nothing.
So didn't he stop her because he had something to say?
Hae-young broke the silence.
"Is this awkward for you?"
"No."
"Then why aren't you going to bed?"
A faint curve formed at the corner of Yoon-hyuk's lips.
"I wanted to talk to you."
He held out a glass of liquor with ice. Hae-young hadn't planned on drinking any more.
When she hesitated to take it, Yoon-hyuk downed the liquor himself in one quick gulp, then poured water into the now ice-only glass.
Before she realized it, Hae-young was holding the glass—now just cold water carrying a faint scent of alcohol. She fidgeted with the damp glass in her hands.
The soft clinking of ice echoed quietly through the living room. It felt like an entirely different place from the one filled with noisy chatter just a little while ago.
"Didn't you say you had something to tell me?"
Unable to bear the silence, she asked first.
Yoon-hyuk stared at her intently.
Did she have something on her face? It had been a while since she looked in the mirror. Feeling awkward, Hae-young rubbed at the area where his eyes seemed to land.
"I have something to say."
Yunhyuk strode over and sat down next to Haeyoung.
Even though they had purposely sat apart, Yunhyuk's shoulder lightly touched Haeyoung's. But ignoring the closeness, his gaze remained distant.
"I'm upset."
"Why, why...?"
Upset? At me? About what?
Haeyoung was genuinely surprised by the unexpected words.
Yunhyuk tapped the table with his long fingers. The rhythmic sound irritated Haeyoung's nerves.
He showed his dissatisfaction without any filter, raising one eyebrow. Yet somehow, compared to the blank expression he had when he was with the others earlier, he looked less harsh.
"Even though I came, it doesn't seem like you're very happy."
"Me?"
"Yeah."
This wasn't the conversation Haeyoung had asked for. If so, Yunhyuk must have been pretending to be a close friend for the camera, playing a role.
If that was his intention, Haeyoung had to go along with it willingly. Hiding her embarrassment, she replied as calmly as she could.
"What are you talking about? Of course, I'm happy to see you."
"But earlier, you were just watching from afar, giggling with Jo Seongjun."
"Seongjun-nim."
"Yeah, Seong-jun-nim."
You were watching all that? No wonder you were staring so intently earlier.
"I'm just getting along well with the others, so I stepped back a bit… and I didn't want people to find out we were friends."
Yunhyuk's eyes narrowed. He clearly didn't believe her.
Haeyoung brought the glass of water to her lips again. The cool water tingled against them.
"Really? So who did you go on a date with yesterday?"
The slow question somehow felt like an interrogation. Must just be her imagination.
"Seongjun-nim."
"Still calling him Seongjun-nim? Was it good?"
"Yeah."
She had to say it was good. The version of her inside the camera still needed to look like she was choosing Seongjun—for now.
"I always thought Seongjun-nim was really handsome, but I was surprised when the viewers picked us two in the pre-show vote."
"..."
"Why do you look at me like that?"
"Your aesthetic sense is lacking."
Haeyoung opened her eyes wide like a rabbit and shook her head.
Contextually, it was a slight put-down of Seongjun's looks. He shouldn't say something like that in front of the camera.
"Y-Yunhyuk."
Flustered, Haeyoung stammered. She licked her lips with her tongue.
"Why, Haeyoung?"
Yunhyuk's eyes narrowed slightly. He was clearly teasing.
"Don't say things like that. You know I have high standards."
"No, it's more like your eyes are on the side of your head."
Yunhyuk held up two fingers and brought them close to Haeyoung's eyes.
Startled, Haeyoung squeezed her eyes shut, and he gently tapped her eyelids with his fingers before she opened them again.
"Be honest. Where did you really put your eyes? Throw away those fake ones."
"What? Seongjun-nim is handsome, isn't he?"
"You're way more precious."