Chapter 5: Dissolve: His Last Choice

Song Hyunsoo got off the bus, crossed the crosswalk, and headed down toward Exit 3 of Sinsa Station.

He hadn’t been outside for long, but his ears were already aching.

Was it minus 10 degrees today? Or 15?

But the cold was the least of his worries right now.

Humming along to the music playing through his earbuds, he sang softly under his breath.

It was Growing Up, a song by the idol group Layered— a track few people knew was written by Choi Hongseo, the group’s leader and Song Hyunsoo’s only same-age friend.

Choi Hongseo, Jung Jin, and Song Hyunsoo had all come from the same agency, UB Entertainment.

When the company dissolved, Jung Jin and Song Hyunsoo were left without a label, and Choi Hongseo… Well, he wasn’t breathing in this world anymore.

The bus he’d been waiting for soon came into view.

Since it was an awkward weekday afternoon, the seats were sparsely filled.

Song Hyunsoo took a seat by the window at the very back and immediately pulled a booklet from his backpack.

A satisfied smile spread across his face as he brushed his fingers over the cover.

Production Representative: Lee Kyunghyun

Executive Producer: Kim Yookyung

Director/Screenwriter: Jung Joonhee

His gaze drifted to the top right corner of the cover.

To: Song Hyunsoo

His smile deepened.

Everything had happened much faster than he’d expected.

He had thought it would take up to two weeks to hear back after the audition, but the call came the very next day. 

He’d passed.

He had screamed, running wildly around his room, too exhilarated to sit still.

And now, just two days later, he was on his way to attend the script reading for .

It would be the first script reading for the film— and the first script reading of his life.

The commute from Bogwang-dong, where he lived, to Seongsu-dong, where the production company’s office was located, wasn’t exactly convenient.

But to Song Hyunsoo, that didn’t matter at all.

Eight years.

It had taken eight years since setting foot in Seoul for his name to finally appear on the cover of a script. An absurdly long time, really.

And to think it was a project starring Yoon Jooho— a household name.

When he told his grandmother over the phone that he’d be acting in a movie with Yoon Jooho, she had choked up.

“Aigoo, my grandson is filming a drama with His Highness the Crown Prince! After all that hardship, our Hyunsoo has finally made it. He’s really made it.”

Names of directors or famous filmmakers meant nothing to her. 

But even someone like her, who couldn’t tell the difference between dramas and movies, recognized the power of Yoon Jooho’s name.

Even Jung Jin, now in Paris, couldn’t hide his excitement when he heard the news.

His usually calm voice trembled with emotion, making Song Hyunsoo’s nose sting unexpectedly.

After sharing the news with his grandparents back home and then with Jung Jin in France, his thoughts naturally turned to Choi Hongseo.

Choi Hongseo. How happy would he have been if he’d known? 

We would’ve gone wild celebrating together.

As he smiled down at the script, he bit his lip and lifted his head.

The bus slowed to a stop at the Dosan Park intersection.

At the corner, a sleek, towering building caught his eye.

Its uniquely designed exterior looked vaguely familiar…

He tilted his head back to look up.

LOOK Entertainment.

A minimalist sign was fixed at the top of the building.

It was Yoon Jooho’s agency.

The impressive 15-story building housed a plastic surgery clinic, dermatology and dental offices, a high-end barbecue restaurant, and a well-known travel agency— businesses recognizable by name alone.

The owner, who had reportedly bought the building for 30 billion won, was none other than Yoon Jooho himself.

Thirty billion won. 

To Song Hyunsoo, it might as well have been 30 trillion— an astronomical sum beyond comprehension.

He couldn’t even fathom what it meant to have that kind of money, much less imagine the kind of person who did.

They say above God, there’s the landlord. He probably struts around like some deity.

And he’s a superstar on top of that— wouldn’t it be weird if he wasn’t arrogant?

Song Hyunsoo mentally ran through all the unsavory rumors he’d heard about Yoon Jooho.

He only drinks water that costs 400,000 won per bottle.

He throws tantrums and fires managers like it’s nothing.

He openly looks down on actors he deems beneath him.

He stations managers outside shared restrooms to block others from entering when he’s using them…

If all of that were true, then filming was practically guaranteed to be a thorny path from the start.

But though he never told anyone, Song Hyunsoo had long been a fan of Yoon Jooho.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he spent his entire adolescence imitating him.

So perhaps it was only natural that even now, his excitement outweighed his worries.

As the destination grew closer, he couldn’t focus on the script.

His legs bounced restlessly until the bus finally arrived at its stop— the first one right after crossing the Yeongdong Bridge.

There was still over an hour left before the script reading at 4 p.m.

He was satisfied.

Being the first to arrive and the last to leave was, in his mind, the bare minimum for the youngest on set.

And he planned to stick to that diligently from now on.

The production company’s building was tucked away in a quiet residential alley, far from the trendy hotspots of Seongsu-dong.

It was a charming two-story remodeled hanok.

Since he’d been here once before to sign the contract, it was easy to find.

True to its nature as a film production company, the brick wall outside had a “profile box”— literally, a place where aspiring actors could drop off their profiles.

Just then, a man who looked like an aspiring actor was slipping his profile into the box.

When he turned and locked eyes with Song Hyunsoo, he averted his gaze like a guilty man and hurried away.

Hyunsoo watched his retreating figure for a moment.

Just last month, he, too, had dropped his profile into that same box.

It felt like looking at his past self.

The man would probably visit other nearby production companies.

Unknown actors usually made the rounds, dropping their profiles at every production company clustered in the area.

Among actors, it was called a “profile tour.”

These days, there were even agencies that handled profile tours for you.

Of course, Hyunsoo preferred to save every penny and do it himself.

Now, as a proper actor entering the production company’s lobby, Song Hyunsoo confidently bowed.

“Hello. I’m actor Song Hyunsoo, here for the script reading.”

The office space was open, with no walls blocking the view.

A few people glanced his way, and his eyes met one of theirs.

“Um, where should I go?”

“Just head up to the second-floor meeting room.”

“Got it, thank you!”

Even the soul-dead response of an overworked employee didn’t dampen his spirits.

He bounded up the stairs, and there it was— a door labeled “Dissolve Script Reading” in printed letters.

Grinning to himself, he pulled out his phone first.

He couldn’t let this historic moment— actor Song Hyunsoo’s first script reading— go undocumented.

Of course, he expected the room to be empty.

But as an unknown actor, he couldn’t help but open the door cautiously.

Creeeak.

When the door was halfway open, he saw someone’s back at the table.

I thought I’d be the first one here— who the hell showed up a whole hour early?

“Sol, try to understand me.”

It was Yoon Jooho.

Yoon Jooho’s voice.

“We’ve been apart for eight years.”

He was reading the script alone.

Instead of stepping inside, Hyunsoo froze where he stood.

Then, under his breath, he murmured the next line— the response of the female lead, his character’s older sister and Yoon Jooho’s counterpart in the story.

“How can you— how can you claim to understand me like this?”

“You weren’t by my side for eight years. So… I get it. That’s why I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“Even if you let someone else take my place. I’d still understand you.”

A voice sweetly sorrowful, fragile enough to shatter— Yoon Jooho’s voice, unlike anything he’d ever heard before.