Summer Day's Time Loop: The Film Department Dungeon
Hanseong Arts High School really did have a dungeon. The Film Production Department building—Film Dept for short—was the practice studio for its students, and that was it.
Security was tight from the get-go. CCTV was standard issue, iron bars dotted the place, and the doors had locks installed.
[Please authenticate your student ID.]
They actually use these things here. He'd heard they planned to use them in the cafeteria and school store but scrapped it. He'd figured the library was the only place that ended up using them.
After authenticating and stepping inside, darkness unfolded before them. The basically diurnal Kang Saero freaked out immediately.
"What the hell? Why's it so dark in here?"
Was it possible Kang Saero had never set foot in this building? She sure seemed like the popular type.
Meanwhile, he felt an oddly familiar comfort. The cozy darkness and blackout curtains. The cool, damp breeze drifting through the halls. He even knew about the residents here. Their daily energy drink and coffee consumption. Their nocturnal lifestyles. How they got pissy if you talked to them while they were working.
What is this? It's basically me.
Pulling Kang Saero's hand along, he answered nonchalantly.
"People around here are just like that."
Composers were one thing, but the film kids were the same. The Film Dept building had been shrouded in darkness since the school was built. And no one complained. If anything, they welcomed it. Because every resident here loved the dark.
There was the practical reason that you needed darkness to judge video color accurately, but at their core, they were children of the shadows.
Fear came from the unfamiliar. The sunlight-like Kang Saero started eyeing her surroundings warily.
"Hope there aren't any weirdos."
"It's fine. They won't bite."
"What? Cannibals?"
"We're good because a senior I know introduced us."
They walked down the hall. Fluorescents were on, but it felt dimmer and paler than other buildings. The ceiling panels looked less like gypsum board and more like asbestos. That eerie vibe. The facilities weren't that outdated, but it really felt like a horror game. Or dark fantasy.
The hum of dozens of PC towers whirring somewhere. Energy drink cans and instant noodle cups piled in a trash bin down the hall. It was like a boss was about to spawn.
"Almost there."
He kept walking toward the heart of the dungeon without stopping. Toward the Film Production seniors gathered in the editing room after hours.
As he grabbed the doorknob, Kang Saero urgently clutched him and whisper-yelled.
"Hey! Aren't you supposed to knock?"
"They hate that, so it's better to slip in quietly."
The natives of Hanseong Arts High's Film Production Department, dwellers of the dungeon. Never provoke them.
Creak.
He carefully opened the door and entered the pitch-black room. A senior had told him no one would care if he did this.
Maybe their silhouettes were too unfamiliar. The reaction was nothing like expected.
"Gasp."
Kang Saero swallowed beside him. Eyes in the dim room locked onto them all at once. Like a zombie movie scene.
Students with dark circles down to their chins. Wild, stress-messed hair. An Eiffel Tower made of empty energy drink cans. Faces pale from monitor blue light.
Even for an arts high school, weren't the teachers letting this slide? Nah, they probably snapped to attention and cleaned up like crazy when teachers showed. That's probably why they were staring now.
1. Strangers enter.
2. Teachers?
3. Bail now.
Something like that circuit, maybe.
The Film Dept seniors narrowed their eyes at the intruders.
"What... light...?"
"Freshmen?"
"Sorry, no outsiders allowed."
He could feel the natives' savage hostility. Kang Saero tensed beside him, but he didn't back down.
"Han Soye sunbae from the Entertainment Department introduced us. I'm Kim Seryeon, first-year."
And a miracle happened.
"Kim Seryeon?"
"The Star's Birth Kim Seryeon?"
"Huh? Hey, lights on."
Click clack!
The children of darkness in Film Production unanimously agreed to turn on the lights. Burning sleep and eyes in the process.
"Ughhaaa!"
"Who turned on the lights?!"
"My eyes hurt... Mom..."
"Why lights? Teacher here?"
Yawns and screams erupted everywhere. But the screams soon turned to cheers.
The first seniors to clock it were shaking their still-dark-adapted comrades awake.
"Hey! Kim Seryeon's here! Kim Seryeon!"
"The living Kim Seryeon!"
"Whaaat."
"For real. Real Kim Seryeon! I thought he was just a cyber lifeform from TV screens!"
Lifeless eyes started sparkling. Sparkling turned to mania. To properly take in the new visitor.
"Eyes hurt. But gotta see. Damn. It's Kim Seryeon."
"That's an idol, right?!"
"Gonna burn this image into my retinas now."
Film Production Department. Scary people!
"Eek! Real-life creature Kim Seryeon!"
What the hell was "creature" Kim Seryeon? Not a fish market.
Ignoring the cheers filling the room, he headed to the back of the studio. A personal laptop glowed on the desk. And under a pink elephant blanket, something slept soundly.
Small frame under the blanket. Storyboards and pencil cases scattered on the desk. Sketches of scenes organized haphazardly. Steady breathing sounds.
He approached carefully and knocked on a nearby desk.
"Um, sunbae."
The blanket lump twitched briefly, then went still again, like it fell back asleep.
Okay, once more. Knock knock knock!
"Baek Yul sunbae?"
This time, the blanket flipped off irritably. Instead of checking the intruders, whatever was inside reflexively glanced at the laptop screen first. Then face-planted back on the desk with a thud.
"Ah... rendering's not done yet..."
Then, like the annoyance was too much, it flung the blanket off.
The blanket hit the floor with a plop, revealing messy bobbed hair and long-lashed, bleary eyes.
"Told you not to wake me."
By the way, Hanseong Arts High was pretty lax on dyeing hair. Reasons aplenty, but it was just the school culture. As if emphasizing that, the senior's hair was a bright gray bob. Below that, round glasses and a small body. As he took it in, a small gasp came from beside him. Kang Saero. And the Film Dept civilians. No wonder they were shocked.
For a just-woken face, it was way too pretty.
Skin so white it was almost transparent, fragile/delicate "protect me" vibes, summer weather but wearing the uniform cardigan, small stature pulling off unintentional moe sleeves. Anyone would mistake them for a bishoujo.
But.
"Tch..."
Fact: it was a guy. With a girlfriend, no less.
Baek Yul, third-year Film Production. Prodigy who'd swept two domestic short film awards as a high schooler. Infamous for his bitchy personality—juniors called him "White Witch" and avoided him. Film Dept overlord.
Why witch if he's a guy? Obviously 'cause he's prettier than girls.
He stared in disbelief, but sure enough, an Adam's apple stood out under the jawline.
Anyway, Baek Yul eyed him and Kang Saero alternately with sleepy eyes, then scowled hard.
"What. Sound and Music? Why're you here."
He'd thought it was just sleepiness, but nope—that was his natural drowsy voice. Now he noticed the eyes were drowsy too.
Watching carefully, he cautiously dropped the prepared name.
"Well, Han Soye sunbae introduced us."
"Ah. My friend Soye. That... hmm."
Could even a prickly type refuse an 8-year childhood friend/girlfriend Han Soye sunbae's request? Tough, even for him.
"You'll help, right?"
"Wait. Lemme think a sec."
Mundanine's teaching 1: If they're hesitating, treat it as a done deal.
He seized the opening, bowing not just to Baek Yul but the surrounding seniors too.
"Hello. Kim Seryeon, first-year Composition Department. Here to ask for music video filming."
Mundanine's teaching 2: Once you're working together, introduce yourself politely not just to colleagues but everyone around. Good for your rep.
"Kang Saero, first-year. Sorry to interrupt!"
"Whoa whoa whoa. MV shoot, right? Lemme hear the song first."
Baek Yul, de facto leader of the Film Dept natives, took charge and cut to the chase. With all eyes on them, he tensed and prepped to play the song.
"Yes. Playing it now."
"Yeah."
He carefully pulled out a tablet PC and Bluetooth speaker from his bag. Then hit play on the final mix of Blue Lemon Sky, touched up by engineer Park Jincheol.
Up to that point, Baek Yul had been yawning lazily, reaching for the blanket again. Right up to the play button.
But the moment crisp band sound flowed from the speaker.
"Oh?"
Baek Yul froze.
"Song's good."
"Thanks."
"But I'm busy. Gotta prep my grad show. What was Soye thinking introducing you."
Grad show. Graduation exhibition. For two-time award-winner Baek Yul, school expectations and his own ambition were sky-high.
"Soye sunbae said she'd get me into her club in exchange for making time somehow."
"Hmm."
Still, the reason he could even ask was a "contract" he'd made with another senior beforehand.
But Baek Yul refused.
"No time for first-year projects."
Sharp rejection—as expected. These folks were sensitive, hated unscheduled stuff.
"If not for my friend Soye, I'd have told you to get lost without even listening."
Han Soye sunbae had pegged the odds of cooperation at under 50%.
But he activated Plan B right away.
"Budget's plenty. Gear rental, editing fees, staff pay—all covered."
"I got money too. Not impressed. My family's loaded."
Too many rich kids at arts high. If money wouldn't cut it, one card left.
He played his final ace.
"How about this?"
"Help me this time, and when you shoot your personal project later, I'll act in it. No pay."
His buzz was high from TV appearances. YouTube subs climbing fast, solid online recognition. For an aspiring director, a no-pay star cameo was hard to refuse.
But.
"Pass."
"Huh?"
"Don't need you."
Baek Yul spun his chair to face him directly. Before he could ask why, a slender finger pointed right at his face.
"'Cause you're too damn handsome."
"......?"
"From a director's POV, that's not a compliment—it's a curse."