Chapter 54: First Minor Role
…It’s over.
This one sentence popped into Bora’s mind, now blank. The busy staff rushing back and forth also stopped in their tracks.
Everyone must have heard it. Their eyes seemed like they were about to pop out, after all.
“Pfft—”
Amidst it all, Junho burst out laughing. Bora glared at him, her eyes blazing with anger.
‘Are you laughing right now? Are they both nuts?’
‘Sorry.’
He said he understood and tried hard to hold it in, even closing his eyes completely. But the more he thought about it, wasn’t it insane? He knew that guy was a weirdo, but he didn’t expect him to go this far.
“Puff, hahahaha!”
“Hey!”
Junho burst out laughing and sat down, while Bora shouted at the same time. As for the actual person involved, Park Sang-il, was he too shocked? He could only move his lips. He didn’t seem to understand the situation well.
“Hey, Junho. I’m talking to a pig right now.”
“Ah, sorry. Sorry.”
Muyoung turned his head and laughed. The acting wasn’t over yet. He’d barely said one line.
He pushed his curly hair back and looked at the AD again. Unlike his interaction with Junho, there was a stark difference in temperature.
His eyes were cold and dangerous.
“Sang-il.”
When he called his name, his face turned bright red. He felt ashamed. He realized he’d been called a piglet in front of his colleagues and coworkers, at his own workplace.
“Don’t act up.”
But Muyoung didn’t care and warned him. To him, the Park Sang-il in front of him right now wasn’t an AD.
A toy disguised as a friend. Prey in the implicit power dynamics of the classroom, even when they spent time together.
And he was the predator.
“If you don’t, you’ll be the only one who suffers. Right?”
Muyoung murmured lazily. There was a silent assurance that he could mess up his life however he wanted if he felt like it.
“I, I, I—”
Park Sang-il’s body flinched, if only for a moment. In vulgar terms, he was ‘scared.’ It was the instinctive difference in energy that animals could sense.
But he was an AD. This was a filming set. The guy in front of him was a rookie he’d never even seen before.
“You little bastard—!”
Whoosh!
If it weren’t for the staff and the filming set in his line of sight, he might have stayed immersed in acting for longer. He jumped up from his chair and pointed at Muyoung.
“You crazy bastard, you son of a bitch, who are you calling a pig, a pig, a piglet?”
“Ah, please hold back, AD-nim!”
“Let go of me! Let me go, you son of a bitch!”
But Muyoung just sat in his chair, blinking.
He had an innocent expression, as if wondering what was wrong.
“I was told to act, so I did. I was acting like a punk.”
“No— you bastard! What does that have to do with piglets? Let me go!”
“Oh. Were you really offended? I’m sorry. I was going to call you an anchovy, but no matter how I looked at it, that didn’t seem right—”
“Puffhahaha!”
“Lim Junho! Stop laughing and hold him back!”
Crash! Bang!
He tried to shake off the staff’s hands with his hefty body.
Just pretending, extremely exaggerated. He was shouting loudly, but it didn’t seem like he intended to touch anyone directly.
He knew that if he actually caused a scene, he’d be the only one to suffer.
“It’s okay. It’s okay.”
Junho smiled and pulled Bora’s arm. It looked like a Hollywood act. Look, even the staff next to them were just holding him back halfheartedly.
“Oh, stop it. How can you get so heated up over acting?”
At that moment, a man approached and lightly hit Park Sang-il on the head with a rolled-up booklet. It was PD Lee Gyeong-rok.
“I just came back from the editing room, and what the hell is this?”
As soon as he opened the door, he’d been completely drawn into Muyoung’s lines. The pull was incredible.
“PD-nim!”
“On set, with all the kids watching, what is this?”
Thwack! Again.
He lightly hit the AD’s head and then looked at Muyoung. Then at Junho, and then at Bora. Bora’s face was expressionless, but inside, she was in chaos.
‘We’ve already filmed about half of it, so he’s not going to tell me to drop out, right? Ah, fuck. God, Buddha, Allah, anyone, please just let this go smoothly. What’s so wrong about calling a piglet a piglet? Huh?’
That was also the responsibility of those two seemingly carefree friends, Muyoung and Junho. If she’d been alone, she would’ve folded her hands and prayed.
“Is Ha Muyoung over here?”
“Hello.”
“Nice to meet you. MeTube was impressive, but you’re even more so in person.”
He didn’t know if it was about the acting or the looks. But judging by the slight smile, it seemed like a positive compliment?
“Thank you.”
“But for an extra role, standing out too much is problematic. I just need someone who can do some good back-and-forth next to him. The protagonist in that group is the second male lead, after all.”
Oh. That wasn’t it.
What Muyoung had shown was the role of someone higher up in the group’s hierarchy.
Especially someone from a wealthy family who was good at studying and had good social skills… the complete punk that Junho had talked about. A student that even most adults couldn’t beat. Muyoung answered confidently.
“That’s possible too.”
“Of course it is.”
Nod, nod.
The PD scrutinized Muyoung carefully.
He could act like that, sure. But, well, his looks were too striking. It was true that his appearance was more impressive than expected, and that was a concern. The second male lead might get overshadowed.
‘But—’
Wasn’t it said that this was a Jin Gyeong-mun film shoot? In a year, he met dozens, even hundreds, of rookies, but strangely, the promising ones always stood out.
‘Just like a volcano has warning signs before it erupts.’
MeTube was a huge success, his first work was with Director Jin Gyeong-mun, and even though he was an SNS model, BORNTORE was showing a hot response in the current market.
It was only natural to be curious about a rookie who was doing so well.
“Would it be okay if I wore glasses and went for a nerdy look?”
“Glasses? My eyesight is 2.0, though?”
“Non-prescription ones. You idiot.”
Bora poked Muyoung’s waist.
Oh. He thought it was something else! Muyoung laughed awkwardly and nodded.
“No problem.”
“Good. Do you have an agency?”
“Yes. Big Win Entertainment.”
“Assistant director, get his contact information. Clean this up! What are you all doing? Don’t you have work?”
At the PD’s words, the staff hurriedly started moving. They’d been standing there, dazed, watching them.
The AD wiped his sweat and glared at Muyoung intently.
“Thank you, PD-nim! I’ll work hard!”
But Muyoung, too happy, unintentionally ignored him completely. He kept bowing to the PD.
“Just do it roughly. Roughly. Are there any precautions I should take?”
“I’m filming a movie, so as long as I don’t change my hair, it’s fine.”
“Right. That’s Director Jin Gyeong-mun, right?”
“Oh! How did you know?”
“Word gets around in this industry.”
Chatter, chatter. The two continued their conversation fluidly. The PD had been curious about Muyoung from the start and had him in mind.
With the cheerful atmosphere, Bora let out a sigh of relief.
“Phew. Really.”
“It’s a relief. I told you, didn’t I? It’s not me, it’s Ha Muyoung. You need to shut that guy’s mouth. He’s crazy.”
“He’s your friend!”
Bora playfully punched Junho’s shoulder. The two couldn’t hide their laughter either.
The only one feeling sour was Park Sang-il, standing alone like a Nakdong River duck egg.
‘You son of a bitch. Just wait.’
To be humiliated like this in front of so many people!
And by a rookie, no less. The assistant director gritted his teeth and left the set. The staff, who’d been watching him with white eyes, quietly smirked in triumph.
‘Serves you right, you piglet!’
‘So that’s why you should live decently. Tsk, tsk.’
“What? Why’s the atmosphere like this?”
Meanwhile, Daryeong, who’d entered with a stylist, tilted her head at the strange atmosphere. Strangers caught her eye.
“Oh? Who are they?”
“Why? Who are they?”
“I don’t know. They look like newbies.”
The coordinator noticed Daryeong’s peculiar gaze as she watched them. They were both good-looking, but she didn’t know who she was looking at—the uniform-wearing guy or the guy next to Bora.
“Why? Do you like them?”
“What are you talking about, unni? Anyway, let’s fix my makeup.”
“But who are you looking at? Should I go find out their names?”
Daryeong just stuck out her tongue, indicating her refusal. Was there anything more boring than a third party getting involved in a relationship? If you wanted to ask, you should ask directly.
“Forget it. I’ll handle it myself.”
She answered like that and entered the waiting room. The set was filled with the noisy chatter of three people—or rather, the presence of Muyoung and Junho.
“We’ll resume filming in five minutes!”
“Oh. I should go in too.”
Bora was startled and patted the two on the back, telling them to be careful.
Junho looked upset because he wanted to stay with Bora longer, but Muyoung dragged his arm.
“Yeah. Thanks for today, Bora. See you at the next shoot.”
“I’ll see you next time, but when will you see me again?”
On set, outsiders were a nuisance just by standing around.
Muyoung firmly closed his mouth, indicating that it was a no. Bora glanced at such a Junho and laughed.
“We’ll see each other again.”
“When? Exactly when?”
“Oh, by the way, Bora. What about Yuchan?”
Just as Bora was about to say something, Muyoung interrupted and cut her off. Junho’s eyes almost flipped! Why was he interfering?
“He’s not answering? Have you tried?”
“Me? I haven’t contacted him in a while either.”
“Bora-ssi! Come in quickly! We need to make some adjustments!”
“Oh. Yes! Sorry. Guys, I really need to go now. Be careful and go. See you later.”
She shook her phone and ran toward the makeup room. The two, who’d been blankly watching her back, came to their senses and greeted the PD and the surrounding staff.
Slam—
The set door was tightly closed. Unlike before, the hallway was quiet. As they walked together, he looked back and saw that Junho was almost pressing his nose against the phone screen, bending his waist.
“What’s wrong? What are you looking at?”
“Uh? Uh! No, nothing. It’s nothing.”
“……Suspicious.”
Your face is a mess. It’s bright red and looks like it’s about to explode. When Muyoung poked him with a suspicious glance, Junho hurried ahead.
“Where should I take you? The dorm?”
“I should go to the company. The manager hyung should be back by now. He said he was going to Jeonju because of Taeseok hyung’s shoot.”
“What about your dorm stuff? You have to move it out next week, right?”
“……That’s right.”
Muyoung answered gloomily, and Junho put his arm around his shoulder, as if it was something that was bound to happen.
“My friend, you have nowhere else to go. Come to my house.”
“Your house? That’s your parents’ house.”
“Don’t be so picky, you brat?”
Yeah. He was being picky.
He’d landed a drama role, but it would take some time before the money came in. The fact that he still had nowhere to go remained unchanged. Knowing Muyoung’s situation well, Junho kept poking him.
“I should go to the dorm before the company.”
“You’re really annoying.”
“Go and just take all your stuff out. Do it before I do, or else I’ll take your roommate’s stuff too.”
“Yes, yes. I understand……”
Ring!
He answered vaguely while checking a text message. It was from the Dr. Martel representative.
[I heard you needed a place to live last time. I don’t know your circumstances, but you seemed urgent. There’s an empty officetel in Yonggang-dong that you can use for about two months. I’d like to offer this as a token of appreciation…… There’s something you should know, though…….]
“Hey, wait a minute.”
“What’s wrong?”
Muyoung was startled and let go of Junho’s arm.
Is this a spam text right now? An officetel? For two months? Crazy! It’s too perfect! It’s perfect!
Ring!
[The previous tenant committed suicide, so the place has bad energy. There’s nothing wrong with the facilities, though. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been told. Is that okay? Or I’d like to express my gratitude with a small token of appreciation.]
“Cash is better than real estate, right?”
“Huh? Of course. Real estate is the best! That’s what my dad always says.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Yeah. Let’s go, to the company—”
“No. To Yonggang-dong.”
Muyoung sent a reply to the representative.
[Can I take a look? I can leave right now.]
How bad can the energy be?
I’ve lived my whole life in that horrible basement. It can’t be worse than that. Even if something comes out…… It’s now or never! I’ll just live with a roommate.