Top Star By Luck [EN]: Chapter 58

58

“…….”

Sitting on the living room sofa, Lee Min-ki stared blankly at the ceiling for a while.

He slowly blinked.

‘Does this make sense?’

His heart was a complicated mess.

The reason was the proposal he received from the [Cafe del Dia] production team just yesterday evening.

[Min-ki, your coffee-making skills are superb. It’s a shame to keep it to ourselves, so how about showing it off to the viewers? I mean, to real viewers.]

That’s right.

The production presentation concept for [Cafe del Dia] was completely re-examined.

Inviting actual baristas to conduct a coffee tasting show with the main actors, including Lee Min-ki.

‘Are they crazy?’

Lee Min-ki, as the person involved, felt a surge of panic.

‘Making coffee in front of real baristas.’

Isn’t that an incredibly burdensome plan?

Of course, it’s good.

As an actor, there’s no reason to feel bad about getting even a little more attention.

But he was a novice when it came to coffee.

A complete beginner who had only started professionally learning about and handling coffee a few months ago.

People around him saw him as fairly capable.

But no matter how they looked at him, he thought otherwise.

“Ughhhhh…….”

Of course, the production team probably knew that.

It would be enough to show a *moseup* [appearance] that wasn’t too *milliji* [lacking] among the baristas.

Their goal was probably just to take a few promotional photos, regardless of the outcome.

[Actor Lee Min-ki, completes formal barista training for the sake of the work]

That’s probably the blueprint they had in mind.

In the first place, the actual skill only needed to be *guseok matchum* [a formality].

Lee Min-ki himself guessed this much.

Even so, why was he writhing in shame?

‘There’s so much bullshit in the script.’

Literally, the script was full of fake information about baristas.

It’s like, you know.

Appearing in a military drama and filming an outdoor open-chest surgery scene.

Or, during joint training with the U.S. military, *seororeul gyeonunda* [aiming at each other] with the determination to kill each other at first sight.

In reality, it’s an absurd scene.

Scenes that only veterans would scoff at.

The production team knew that.

In the first place, there were plenty of veterans among the production staff, and they had received *geomsu* [inspection] from military experts from the production stage.

Nevertheless, they knew and still filmed it that way.

Because it was more dramatic and fun.

The same was true for [Cafe del Dia], which Lee Min-ki filmed.

[Paper filter? That’s for beginners.]

[Blue Mountain, a good *weondu* [coffee bean]. It’s also a *weondu* [coffee bean] that ignorant outsiders *mulgo ppaneun* [praise excessively].]

[Ignorant owners spend thousands on machines but skimp on grinders. But remember, the difference between good coffee and bad coffee comes from the grinder.]

It’s embarrassing.

There were constant lines that would be embarrassing if knowledgeable people saw them.

If he didn’t know, he wouldn’t know, but knowing and acting like that and then pretending to be a real barista externally was embarrassing.

It was something to be called the curse of knowledge.

“……! ……! …! ……!”

Lee Min-ki couldn’t shout out loud in the middle of the living room, so he buried his head in the sofa cushion and screamed.

Creak.

Kim Tae-yang, who he thought wasn’t home, walked out of the room with a sleepy expression.

“…….”

“…….”

A moment of silence flowed.

Lee Min-ki opened his mouth with a trembling expression.

“Did you hear that?”

“What?”

“Just now.”

“Ah.”

Kim Tae-yang scratched his messy hair and said.

“Vocalization training?”

“…….”

At that nonchalant word, Lee Min-ki’s body tilted like a last leaf *tteollineun* [trembling].

‘I thought there was no one home.’

I’m so ashamed I could die.

Why did I live with someone else when I could have lived alone?

No, if I lived alone, it would cost a lot of money anyway. I couldn’t have lived in a house like this if I lived alone.

Living with someone else means I’m only embarrassed in front of Kim Tae-yang, but if I lived alone, it would have spread all over the neighborhood.

Lee Min-ki rationalized it that way.

He felt like he couldn’t bear it without rationalizing it.

“Um.”

Regardless of Lee Min-ki’s feelings, Kim Tae-yang scratched his hair and said.

“Do you want coffee?”

“Coffee?”

“I want to wake up. It’s being delivered in front, so if you want some, I’ll order it together.”

“……I’ll just make it.”

Lee Min-ki got up from his seat and walked to the kitchen.

In the cupboard, there was blending *weondu* [coffee beans] and a moka pot that he had *gongsuhae* [obtained with effort] from the cafe.

Rustle.

When he slightly opened the bag containing the special blending *weondu* [coffee beans], the *weondu* [coffee beans] roasted last week *punggyeotda* [emitted] a perfectly good *hyang* [aroma].

‘Life.’

It was counterproductive.

As soon as he smelled it, he was *chimulhaejyeotda* [depressed] again by the production presentation.

But Lee Min-ki shook his head and bravely shook it off.

‘No. I need to practice making coffee even at times like this.’

As the saying goes, *insaengjisa saeongjima* [life is full of ups and downs].

Lee Min-ki *sosimhage* [timidly] vowed to accept this situation positively and started boiling water.

And it was at that very moment that he was about to put the water on.

Beep beep-

Suddenly, his phone rang.

‘Who is it? There aren’t many people who would call in this situation. Is it Teacher Ah-sung?’

He picked up his phone, thinking he should check the message first.

There, a message he didn’t expect at all had arrived.

[Gym Boss: Member]

[Gym Boss: You haven’t been coming to *undong* [workout] *yosae* [lately].]

That is, it was a message he didn’t expect at all.

* * *

Just two hours later.

Lee Min-ki, who visited the gym in an awkward posture, coughed and said.

“Ahem, I didn’t expect you to come all the way here.”

To that, a muscular man reminiscent of a Renaissance statue responded in a gentle voice.

“There’s no need to feel *budamseureowo* [burdened]. Where the *hoeonim* [member, honorific] is, is where I should be.”

It was Director Kwon Jun-yong.

He was standing in front of Lee Min-ki.

Yes, this itself is not *isanghal il* [strange].

But Lee Min-ki was clearly feeling *ijilgam* [heterogeneity] in the current situation.

Why.

‘He came all the way here?’

Because Director Kwon Jun-yong had suddenly appeared at the gym near his house.

Like a foreign mercenary.

Moreover, he seemed to be very close to the director of this gym.

“*Seonbaenim* [senior], make yourself comfortable.”

“Oh, yeah, thanks.”

To be precise, it seemed to be a very distant *seonbaenim* [senior] of Director Kwon Jun-yong.

It was a strange situation.

Why did Director Kwon Jun-yong appear here, and why was he naturally declaring that he would teach him?

‘What is it?’

His head was spinning.

The truth was this.

‘I can’t miss the *mulgogi* [fish] that came into the *geummulmang* [net] and *tongtong olratneunde* [became plump] in the meantime.’

Director Kwon Jun-yong had come all the way here after Lee Min-ki.

Some time ago, he had received a shocking notification from Lee Min-ki.

[I’m moving.]

He was leaving far away.

To a place 30 minutes away from Director Kwon Jun-yong’s base, [집 근처 헬스장] [gym near the house].

It was absurd.

‘A gym is something that becomes *gwichanahjigi* [annoying] to go to even if it’s only 5 minutes away from home, but he’s going 30 minutes away?’

Then there’s no way he’ll *seongsilhage* [diligently] come out.

Immediately after moving recently, Lee Min-ki’s frequency of *chulmolhaneun* [appearing] at the gym has been reduced by more than half.

From 7 times a week to 5 times, from 5 times to 3 times.

Recently, it has been reduced to 2 times.

Of course, the filming schedule was the biggest reason, but this was not important to Director Kwon Jun-yong.

Originally, *undong* [exercise] is something you come out to every day!

Just as people eat, breathe, and walk on two legs, lifting *soe* [iron, weights] is also an extension of *uisikju* [food, clothing, and shelter]!

‘The body I worked so hard to make will all *nokseulgetgun* [rust]. No, I already *chejibangi buteotda* [gained body fat]. It’s all because the *undongnyang* [exercise amount] has decreased.’

No.

It’s because Kim Tae-yang is good at cooking.

Lee Min-ki wasn’t the type to refuse what others did out of *hooeui* [kindness].

No, in fact, these things don’t matter.

There was a real problem.

There was also something that made his teeth *gallineun* [grind].

‘I worked so hard to raise him, am I going to *tteomeogeo* [spoon-feed] to someone else?’

Lee Min-ki had left.

He had worked so hard to take a *badipuropeul* [body profile picture], and he had worked so hard to shoot an *gwanggoreul* [advertisement].

Thanks to that, [집 근처 헬스장] [gym near the house] also saw a *hongbo* [promotion] effect and was about to *suhwakharyeoneun yeolmae* [reap the rewards].

But he’s leaving.

‘No way. Once a *hoeon*, always my *hoeon* [member].’

As Director Kwon Jun-yong, who dreamed of a glamorous *insaeng 2mak* [second act of life] as a star trainer using Lee Min-ki as a *hongbo* [promotion] model, he could not accept it.

So he came.

To the gym near the house where Lee Min-ki lives.

Fortunately, it was a place run by a distant *hubae* [junior], so it was easy to get a *jari* [position].

[Business trip training?]

[Yeah, I’ll also *bwajugo* [check] the *jase* [posture] of your gym’s *sonnimdeul* [customers]. I heard it’s hard to find a *sillyeok inneun* [skilled] trainer these days? I heard a *nallari geondeuryeotdaga* [playboy touched] a married woman and almost got *kalburim* [stabbed] and quit. Hey, I’m a *yubunam* [married man], so that won’t happen.]

[Wasn’t he a *yubunam* [married man] too?]

[Are you, are you treating me like that *sseuregi* [trash] right now?]

[Huh?]

[Is *seonbae useuwo* [senior funny]?]

[…….]

[I’ll forgive you just once if you make a *jari* [position] for me at that gym.]

[……I don’t know what that has to do with this, but if you really want to come.]

He got a *jari* [position] here under the *myeongmok* [pretext] of a business trip training.

As a result, the [집 근처 헬스장] [gym near the house] headquarters had no choice but to *biul* [empty], but recently the number of *hoeoni* [members] had increased a lot, so there was no problem because he had put a *siljanggeup* [manager-level] trainer there.

“Okay, then, let’s start lightly with dumbbell lunges as a warm-up?”

Director Kwon Jun-yong brought the dumbbells with a bright smile and handed them to Lee Min-ki.

Lee Min-ki, who received it, said with his facial muscles *ssillukgeorimyeo* [twitching].

“……The weight has increased a bit?”

As he said.

It was clearly heavier than what he usually *deureotdeon* [lifted].

Even 3kg.

“I think you brought the wrong one?”

No, it’s definitely *goeui* [intentional].

Looking at Lee Min-ki, who was full of *bulsinhamyeonseodo gutji mureobon* [distrust yet still asking], Director Kwon Jun-yong replied with a nonchalant expression.

“You’ve been resting a bit lately.”

“I’ve been a bit busy because of filming.”

“Right? If you’re busy, you have to do it properly when you do it.”

“I heard that if you *undong* [exercise] too *gwahage* [excessively], your muscles will *ohiryeo nongneundago* [melt]?”

“Really? Then let’s just do it until right before it melts and stop.”

“…….”

The person is *makmugaenae* [unreasonable].

But Lee Min-ki soon sighed and silently started doing lunges.

‘Oh well, I don’t know. He came all the way here to teach me, so I should learn *gamsahi* [gratefully].’

A person who is a director is coming all the way on a business trip to *bwajusigetdago* [personally check] PT *sonsu* [personally].

Logically speaking, it’s an *hwangdanghagi jjakieomneun il* [absurd thing], but Director Kwon Jun-yong was not originally a *sangsikjeogin* [sensible] person.

Rather, he’s closer to a silverback gorilla who has succeeded in *sahoehwa* [socialization].

Of course, there will be a clear *gibeu aen teikeu* [give and take] in teaching like this.

But.

“Fourteen and a half of a half of a half! Fourteen and a half of a half of a half of a half!”

When you hear his voice, which is the most *sinnan* [excited] in the world, it’s also true that you feel motivated to *undong* [exercise].

‘I don’t know. I have to work hard.’

If you think about it, isn’t this also *inbok* [good fortune in people]?

Instead of *gungsireonggeoril* [grumbling], Lee Min-ki decided to lift the dumbbells and soon began to *yeoljung* [concentrate] in *undong* [exercise].

Meanwhile.

‘Who is that person?’

‘He’s so handsome.’

‘헐 [Heol, expression of surprise], I think I’ve seen that person in a movie.’

‘Lee Min-ki? Is it someone who looks like him? Isn’t it him?’

‘He has a good *deungppal* [back muscles]. I should ask him about his *rutin* [routine] later.’

In this gym, the *siseon* [gazes] that *heulgitgeorineun* [glanced] him also grew more and more.

* * *

After some time.

The production presentation officially began.

[Cafe del Dia], which became a hot topic when director No Ho-yeon, a *neimdeu* [named] director, entered the drama industry and directly *japda* [grabbed] the megaphone.

The fact that it was a drama with a food *sojae* [subject matter] that had been *heunchi anatdeon* [rare] recently attracted great attention from the public.

In addition, Lee Min-ki, a *sinin* [rookie] who has been *hathan* [hot] recently, appeared.

The production team took advantage of this momentum and declared a *isaek* [unique] production presentation.

[We invite you to the production presentation of director No Ho-yeon’s new work ‘Cafe del Dia’]

[A time to breathe together with the actors in the same space and freely talk about the work and coffee from a closer distance.

We invite you to Cafe del Dia!]

The atmosphere was quite different from the production presentations that usually invite *eolleondeul wijuro* [media mainly].

The contents are.

[The actors make coffee themselves?]

It was enough to *jumokhalsaram* [attract attention] for someone.

But for someone else.

[He’s acting like a *kkolgap* [show-off].]

It was also something to *sal ageui* [invite malice].