After Story 244

“Reminds me of a close friend I had in school.”

Maru took his eyes off the script. Seokjin, who was looking at his script, smiled and looked directly at him.

“That guy had really good handwriting. And he was good at taking notes too. He was so good at it that he became famous in our year. Everyone tried to get notes from him. Your script feels exactly like that.”

Seokjin asked if he could have a look at it. Maru handed over the script.

“You wrote every little thing down.”

“It became a habit of mine. It makes me uneasy if I don’t write them down because I feel like I’m going to miss them later.”

“I guess that meticulousness of yours is reflected in your acting too. I really like your acting. There are no flaws in it, and even then it doesn’t feel stiff. I should strive to become like you too.”

Seokjin returned the script. He was an honest person who respected others regardless of age and strived to learn. Maru liked that honest part of Seokjin.

“You’re doing plenty well yourself.”

“But I want to do better. Have I told you this before? Back when I first started acting, I always wanted to play supporting characters. I know that lead characters are too much for me and beyond my league. Instead, it became my objective to play supporting roles that add spice to the story and help the story progress.”

“I think you achieved your goal already.”

Seokjin chuckled.

“I do feel satisfied, but as I got older, I started getting greedy for money. Lee Dongseok, Park Junghan, Yoo Ul, Lim Jinseo — I’ll become high-class supporting actors like those people and get paid a lot. I wanna get married, but a single-room basement apartment is not good, is it?”

“You’re getting married?”

“Hopefully.”

“What the heck? Is there someone you’re seeing?”

“Maybe sometime in the future.”

Seokjin smiled with a mischievous expression. The way he used himself as a topic of his jokes was one of his specialties. Being someone who was considerate and good at talking, it was natural that people flocked to him.

Well, except one person.

Maru sipped some of his coffee before speaking,

“Are you still in a cold war with Haeun?”

“It’s not really a cold war. We just pretend we don’t know each other.”

“Personally, I don’t mind whether the two of you get along well or stay enemies as long as you don’t cause problems, but it seems our director Lee is quite concerned about it.”

“That’s because Yoonseok is too good for his own good.”

“You see, this is his second work, and for his first, his friends helped out as members of the staff. Sure, there were quarrels, but generally, they were harmonious throughout the whole thing since they were friends.”

“That kind of atmosphere is good, but it’s only possible when you’re doing a project with friends. This isn’t a place to reaffirm friendship, but a place where people get paid to do work. I know that’s a bit too extreme, but it’s the truth.”

“My words exactly. It’d be great if everyone got along, but even if it doesn’t, it should be okay as long as the project is going well.”

Seokjin rubbed the back of his neck.

“Looks like I’ve been causing trouble for our director. Geez.”

“Hyung-nim,” Maru said as he looked at Seokjin, “What happened between the two of you? I thought something must’ve happened the moment I saw you two say hello at the first get-together. I’m not a kid, so it wouldn’t be funny if I asked every little detail, so I’ve been staying still until now, but I think I’m starting to see a few things.”

“What do you see?”

“You’re both consuming your emotions because you’re conscious of each other. You don’t really have a problem, but Haeun does. Her acting is all over the place on days you’re here. I’m honestly worried because she has talent, but her skills are diminishing as time goes on.”

“If other people can spot it, then I guess it is?a problem.”

“I’m sorry I’m telling you something like this, but I want to finish off this film well. As much as director Lee.”

“Me too. No, I’m sure everyone here feels the same. Who wants a work under their own name to do badly?”

Seokjin reached his hand out, asking for some coffee. Maru handed over the coffee he was drinking. Seokjin emptied the cup in one go before standing up.

“I’ll go ask her now. It’s not something I can decide by myself.”

“If it’s something too difficult to talk about, you don’t have to.”

“No, actually, this is the perfect opportunity.”

Seokjin looked around before moving. He was heading over to Haeun. The two had a conversation.

Maru looked at the two people for a while. Both of them spoke awkwardly before finishing things off with apologetic smiles.

Seokjin returned and spoke,

“For now, I hope only Yoonseok and you know about this. It’s not something we’re really proud of.”

“Of course.”

“And also, I might be overstepping my boundaries here, but I hope you can tell director Lee to adjust the schedule a little so that Haeun and I don’t overlap. I think that’ll be better for both of us.”

.

Maru nodded. That was the easiest solution, so there was no problem with that. Seokjin coughed wryly before speaking.

“I used to date Haeun.”

“...What?”

That was an answer he didn’t expect at all.

“Everyone reacted the same way. We’re pretty far apart in age, I mean, 12 years is quite a lot.”

Seokjin looked at the floor.

“A nameless actor who’s old enough but doesn’t have a stable income and an actress just starting off with her lessons. If I think about it now, we should never have started our relationship in the first place.”

Seokjin spoke quite plainly. He said that he rejected Haeun’s confession and that later they ended up dating. Then, once the affection cooled down, they were hit with a realistic problem until they broke up.

“If it was some amazing story instead, I would make it sound really cool, but it’s just a typical relationship between a man and a woman, so it was hard to bring it up. I heard that people in America maintain good relationships with ex-spouses, but that’s kinda amazing. I don’t think Haeun and I can ever be like that.”

“This is the first time you’re seeing each other after you broke up?”

Seokjin nodded. “I almost freaked out when I went to the get-together. I mean, I was like this, so what would it be like for her? Something bad happened between us when we broke up, so I just pretended I didn’t know her. I had forgotten her number as well, so I hadn’t even contacted her after that. When I saw her face at the first shoot, I told her that this is work we have to do, so we should pretend to not know each other.”

“I guess Haeun couldn’t do that.”

“That’s because she’s a kind girl. She should just ignore someone like me and focus on work…. Anyway, that’s how it is. It feels really embarrassing after saying everything.”

Seokjin stood up after thanking him for the coffee.

“You tell director Lee about this. I feel too embarrassed and ashamed to talk about this all over again. As for the schedule, please adjust according to Haeun’s… no, Miss Haeun’s schedule. I have all the time in the world, don’t I?”

“I’ll tell Jiseon to adjust the schedule so that neither of you will feel uncomfortable. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll try to make some time on my own, so don’t worry about it.”

“I can’t be asking the main character to take the risks. Don’t worry about me and just schedule me in the middle of the night or whenever.”

Seokjin turned around with his unique, hearty laughter.

Dating someone a dozen years apart, huh? That was such a big age gap that Maru hadn’t even thought about the possibility. They were probably unbelievably uncomfortable. Seokjin said something bad happened between them when they broke up, so they were probably reminded of that every time they met at the shoot.

Fortunately, scenes that included both of them were all shot last week. As long as their schedules were adjusted, they shouldn’t ever have to meet at the shoot again.

“Excuse me.”

Just as he was thinking about what to say to Yoonseok, he found the other person involved standing next to him.

“Do you have something to tell me?” he asked Haeun.

“You’ve heard, right?”

“If it’s what happened between the two of you, then I’ve heard the gist of it from Seokjin hyung-nim. There was nothing sensitive, so don’t worry about that. Only I and director Lee will be the ones in the know about this. We have to know the circumstances if we want to change the schedule.”

Haeun sighed.

“Can I sit down next to you for a second?”

He pointed down next to him. Haeun sat down.

“He still resents me a lot, doesn’t he?”

“If you’re thinking about consulting your worries with me, then you’d better stop. Like I said before, he only said what was necessary, just enough so that I could understand why you two are acting like you do. So you should stop at that level as well. I’m not the slightest bit interested in what happened in the past between you two nor about what led you two to break up.” He then looked at Haeun and continued, “Making sure that there is no problem with the shoot, and if there is, fixing the cause of it. We managed to resolve these two problems, so the rest is up to the two adults involved. Am I right?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“I’m going to adjust your schedules so that you don’t come on the same day. That way, you can focus on acting. There’s no choice for get-togethers, so you’re on your own when it comes to that.”

“Yes. I’m sorry for making you concerned. Also, for the schedule, adjust it to whatever time Seokjin-oppa is comfortable with. I don’t mind when I shoot.”

“Okay, I’ll do that.”

Haeun left. Maru picked up his script and looked for Yoonseok. He found him eating a lunch box in front of the bookstore.

“Let’s have a little talk.”

He called Yoonseok out separately and explained the situation. Yoonseok widened his eyes in surprise.

“The two of them used to be in a relationship? How many years apart are they?”

“It doesn’t matter to us what kind of history those two had, so don’t take interest and just adjust their schedules. You don’t have any scenes with changes, do you?”

“No. The two of them won’t be facing each other either. But can’t they just let things go and shoot like normal?”

“You think they can do that when even you reacted like how you did when you heard the story?”

Yoonseok nodded in agreement.

“I’ll tell Jiseon to adjust the schedule. The two of them shouldn’t have that many scenes left, so it shouldn’t be that hard.”

“Change Miss Haeun’s schedule. Leave Seokjin hyung-nim’s as is.”

“If I change hers, she’ll have to come only on the weekends.”

“Go with that then.”

“Is there a reason?”

“Respect for the elderly, duh.”

Maru didn’t know the exact details of what happened between the two of them, but he could tell that Haeun was the one feeling more guilt. Changing her schedule would lessen her sense of guilt, and only then would her wavering acting skills return to normal.

“Well, I’ll do that for now. Man, that’s such a weird thing to happen. Having heard you tell me that, I can understand that awkward smile and that awkward gaze. If I think about it now, those two must have felt really uncomfortable,” Yoonseok said.

“Don’t show it and act like usual. And watch out for your mouth.”

“I can think for myself. I feel responsible as the director too. One thing that I deeply realized while shooting with people I don’t know is that not everyone needs to become close. I can finally understand why you told me the things you did before we started the shoot. Is this how people feel when they go to work every day?”

“That’s why everyone’s first goal is to quit the company when they join one.”

“You haven’t worked normal jobs, don’t act like you know.”

“You might not know, but I actually worked a ‘normal job’ for a long time.”

“When? You had the time?”

“In a previous life.”

“...Then I was the CEO of a huge company in my previous life.”

Yoonseok called out to Seokjin in the distance and ran over.

Maru shrugged and turned around before he made eye contact with Haeun. Haeun put on a more comfortable smile than in the morning before walking into the shade with a lunch box.

Just as Maru was about to get a lunch box of his own and go inside the bookstore, his eyes caught a customer sitting down in the café on the other side of the road. A woman in a jersey, wearing glasses with thick rims kept glancing their way.

For someone watching a shoot, her actions were rather cautious. She made glances, turned around, and then would make glances again.

He looked at the place where the woman was looking. It was where the lighting director was eating with the others.

Just what was she looking at so intently? — as soon as that thought came to mind, he suddenly found the side of her face rather familiar.

If she lost some weight from her face…

“Oh.”

He smiled and looked at the woman.