“Senior, the word ‘living together’ sounds a bit risky. Didn’t you mean ‘sharing joys and sorrows’?”
Shin Hyojin, taking Yoon Jooho’s remark completely as a joke, smiled and added a comment.
Since the shoot was going smoothly and the atmosphere on set was already warm and cheerful, everyone burst into laughter at something so trivial. Even Yoon Jooho himself joined in.
He was laughing among the others as usual, but Song Hyunsoo could tell. That was acting. So smooth it was indistinguishable from reality.
He finally understood why Yoon Jooho was a top actor, a superstar, a giant in the industry. Song Hyunsoo himself couldn’t act like that.
The best he could manage was to smile just enough not to ruin the mood.
After what felt like an hour but was only ten minutes, the Sprinter stopped in front of the Village Hall.
Not only the lunchbox truck but also the coffee truck had arrived.
“Oh? Isn’t that the Knox Hotel logo?”
Han Jooyoung pointed at the lunchbox truck and exclaimed.
“Senior’s fans, could it be they sent hotel lunchboxes? That scale is crazy!”
Jooyoung immediately ran over to the lunchbox truck and peeked inside.
The Assistant Director, who had arrived earlier at the hall with a camera, approached and gestured to Jooyoung.
“Actors, before going in, let’s take some pictures in front of the coffee truck.”
“Are we taking photos together too? Not just Senior Jooho alone?”
To the embarrassed Shin Hyojin, the Assistant Director firmly replied while fiddling with the camera.
“We’ll take some solo shots of Senior Yoon, and it’d be great to have cuts with all the actors together. This is all movie promotion, after all. Just posting on Yoon Senior’s SNS alone is worth hundreds of millions in advertising.”
“Wow, you really see me just as money, huh?”
Jooho joked, pretending to be hurt, but the Assistant Director didn’t even blink. Shin Hyojin took out his phone and asked Jooho,
“Senior, then can I upload that solo shot to SNS? I want to leave a thank-you to your fans.”
“Oh? I should do that too. Hyunsoo, take some and upload later.”
Jooyoung encouraged Song Hyunsoo, but Hyunsoo scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Should I? But… I really don’t have many followers. I don’t think it’ll help much for promotion.”
“What are you talking about? We’ll rely on Senior Jooho. Tag his account exactly when you upload it. You’ll get a thousand followers just like that.”
Yoon Jooho beside him chuckled and shook his head.
“Well… you’re so blatantly honest, I don’t even feel like fighting back.”
The actors grabbed cups with sleeves printed with Yoon Jooho’s face and took their places in front of the coffee truck. Jooho, coming back last after wandering around to get one more drink, surprisingly squeezed between Song Hyunsoo and Shin Hyojin.
“I’ll take about four shots!”
Then his hand landed on Song Hyunsoo’s shoulder.
“……”
It felt like the weight of the entire world settled on his right shoulder. Like when you’re a teenager, and the slightest touch of the hand of someone you like makes your heart race, wondering, ‘Could it be they like me?’
After everything—after dating, fighting terribly, and breaking up. Now, like this.
Song Hyunsoo made a peace sign with his fingers and smiled as widely as he could toward the camera.
He felt that this was harder acting than during the <Dissolve> shoot. When they weren’t filming, the acting was even more demanding.
Who could blame him? Whether the relationship was going well or badly, office romance inevitably involved continuous acting. It was something they all accepted going in.
Inside the Village Hall, the mood was warm. About half the staff had arrived and already started eating.
Everyone thanked Yoon Jooho and said they would enjoy the meal, to which he politely responded.
He always thought, seeing him like this, that he seemed normal…
The Knox Hotel lunchboxes were incredibly luxurious.
Braised short ribs, seafood japchae, seaweed bibimbap, abalone sushi, grilled cod, soybean paste soup, duck salad, and four kinds of side dishes.
Everyone praised the lavish selection and taste, but Yoon Jooho himself oddly ate slowly.
“Senior, are you okay?”
Shin Hyojin asked with concern.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“You look like you’re forcing yourself. Are you feeling unwell?”
“Did I? No, I’m eating well. The grilled cod’s delicious.”
Jooho shrugged as if to say it wasn’t the case at all. But to Song Hyunsoo’s eyes, it didn’t seem like he had much appetite.
If it weren’t for the food sent by fans, he would probably have stopped eating halfway.
Still, in this situation, Song Hyunsoo had nothing to say. He chewed the abalone that was so tender it seemed unreal but couldn’t even taste it.
After the meal, there was a rehearsal with the Director.
When they moved back to the set after brushing their teeth, Yoon Jooho was already there, talking with the Director of Photography, who was setting up the camera.
Song Hyunsoo approached and bowed slightly.
“Senior, you came early. Sorry.”
“I’m just early. There’s still time.”
“Still… I should be here first.”
“As long as you’re not late, I don’t care. Relax.”
It was the kind of conversation you’d expect between seniors and juniors—polite yet with a certain distance.
“Want to smoke a cigarette?”
“Huh? Ah… okay.”
Since he didn’t expect Jooho to get involved more than necessary, his offer was surprising. Flustered, Song Hyunsoo couldn’t refuse.
They moved to the designated smoking area a little away from the set. Jooho’s manager approached and handed them a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
Silently, they each placed a cigarette in their mouth and took turns lighting them.
Unconsciously, a quiet, deflating laugh escaped Song Hyunsoo’s lips.
“Why are you laughing?”
With no one around to overhear, Yoon Jooho dropped the formalities.
“No reason… just, doing this makes me feel like we’ve gone back to when we first met.”
Those days smoking side by side in the smoking area. Before they were lovers or even ex-lovers. The night he got Jooho’s contact and stayed up sleepless.
“Back to when you first met me, and you’re laughing?”
“……”
His gaze wasn’t harshly reproachful. When Yoon Jooho looked back, his eyes seemed wounded. How could he laugh when it felt like their relationship had reset to the beginning?
But he didn’t press the matter further. After a short sigh, he raised the cigarette to his lips and asked Song Hyunsoo,
“Why are you wearing that padding?”
Ah… Song Hyunsoo looked down at his chest. He wasn’t wearing the orange padding Jooho had gifted him, nor the black long padding bought right before the crank-in.
He struggled to find words.
“W-we broke up… so it felt a bit…”
Hearing the words ‘broke up,’ Jooho stared at him intently. The Jooho he’d seen on the monitor was someone who could act with his eyes at will.
The trembling in those eyes now was delicate but precarious.
Licking his lower lip, Jooho suddenly turned his head away, like avoiding a frightening scene.
“It doesn’t matter. Just wear it.”
“Still…”
“I’d look like the guy who took back even the things I gave you after the breakup. That’s why I don’t want that. No other reason.”
Spoken quickly, he fell silent for a moment. Tapping the cigarette and flicking the ashes, he then spoke slowly and quietly.
“Or… are you trying to send everything back too?”
“……”
Song Hyunsoo couldn’t take his eyes off the side of Yoon Jooho’s face as he watched the glowing embers.
“Oh, the two of you were already here!”
When Director Jung Joonhee appeared, Yoon Jooho quickly stubbed out his cigarette and left the spot.
“Since the camera isn’t set yet, shall we do a quick run-through?”
After a short rest post-meal, the Director seemed to have regained his energy. The two actors and the Director naturally found their positions amid the busy crew setting up.
“All right, Scene Number 93.”
Director Jung, arms crossed, pointed to where the actors should stand.
“San-i runs out of the pub first, and Kang follows after. Okay?”
“Yes.”
The two answered simultaneously and exchanged glances.
S#93. Myeonghaeri, Alley in front of Director Jeon Yujeong’s lodging (Late night)
A scene neither forgettable nor forgettable.
When they heard the location was Myeonghaeri, Yoon Jooho and Song Hyunsoo had rushed here that early dawn.
In their early twenties, shooting their first film, full of passion like fresh rookies, they couldn’t resist running here immediately.
As Jooho had warned, the seaside night wind was harsh. Jooho pulled the hood out from inside the collar of Song Hyunsoo’s jumper.
“‘Huh? There was a hood in there?’”
“You’ve been wearing it every day and didn’t know?”
“There’s no zipper.”
“It’s folded inside.”
He took out the hood and put it over Hyunsoo’s head, adjusting the strings just right. Song Hyunsoo recalled glancing up at his face from time to time.
“Why are you being so nice?”
“Right now, I’m Baek Kang.”
“Can’t you just be nice when you’re Yoon Jooho?”
“What can’t I do?”
Jooho’s words made Hyunsoo silently agree. There was nothing he couldn’t do. Honestly, he was really good to him.
Something stirred inside Song Hyunsoo. Like seasickness, or the feeling when he’d been harshly scolded by his grandmother for something unfair. It was a bad sign.
They waited inside the pub’s doorway.
As Song Hyunsoo stood with his head down, lost in thought, Yoon Jooho approached from behind.
His breath brushed the back of Hyunsoo’s neck and ear. He whispered just loud enough for him to hear. Start.
Taking that voice as the ‘action’ call, Song Hyunsoo ran out of the pub, fuming, with a furious stride and a sulky face that seemed unable to vent his anger.
“Lee San. Hey, where are you going, man?”
He stopped and turned around at the voice behind him. There stood Myeonghaeri, Yoon Jooho, or rather, Baek Kang. Just like that day.
A large figure with hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants and shoulders hunched high. It was Baek Kang.
The seasickness, the feeling of injustice and sorrow, intensified.
“Why are you following out? You have to properly watch that guy and the sister.”
“Why would I watch Sol?”
“That’s why you’re no good.”
The rehearsal continued smoothly. He and Jooho had practiced every scene dozens, hundreds of times.
But facing him and continuing the scene that day, Song Hyunsoo’s emotions were anything but calm.
“Marry her.”
“…What?”
“Marry the sister right now.”
The argument between Baek Kang and Lee San escalated.
“You always were going to! We promised when I was three years old!”
San’s shout mixed with tears. He looked around anxiously like a chased man, muttering.
“You should’ve married before leaving. Yeah, that’s right. You should’ve done that. Then she wouldn’t have become a traitor…”
Tears quickly welled up in San’s eyes. It was the script. But the tears bursting now were not San’s—they were Song Hyunsoo’s.
“‘That line. Isn’t the subject and object ambiguous? Cutting everything before and after just to say “Marry her”?’”
The exchange of acting and connection with Yoon Jooho that day was a moment Song Hyunsoo would never forget as an actor.
“‘Are you serious?’”
“‘What…’”
“‘Is it okay if I marry Sol?’”
Blurring the lines between fiction and reality, joking but not, sharing their hearts in that dialogue. The scene held that memory.
Jooho’s gaze flickered uncertainly, sensing something was wrong with Song Hyunsoo.
Trying not to cry, Hyunsoo clenched his lips and tightened his fists so hard his knuckles turned yellow.
Unable to watch any longer, Yoon Jooho came up behind him and wrapped his shoulder around him.
Gently pressing the back of Hyunsoo’s head on his own shoulder so his face wouldn’t show the emotions plainly.
“Director, sorry, but I’ll have San-i calm down for a bit.”
“Okay. Let me know when you’re ready.”
The Director’s worried voice was heard. Jooho pulled Song Hyunsoo along, repeatedly stroking the back of his head. The sting in his nose grew sharper.
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