Music Video Filming (1)
On the day of their first music video shoot, the members and the film crew arrived at a rural middle school that had only recently been closed down. It was a place with more loneliness and stillness than anything ominous, and fortunately, it had been kept remarkably clean.
Wearing his school uniform and waiting behind the school building, Woo Cheong plucked a foxtail grass from the ground, set it on the bridge of his nose, and grumbled.
"I wear one every day at school. Why a uniform again?"
Achoo!
He had been toying with the foxtail grass when it tickled his nose the wrong way, and after sneezing, he muttered again.
"I'm sick of uniforms. Why do people even like these?"
He wore an Early Brand backpack slung over his shoulders like a school bag. Woo Cheong recalled what Baek Gi-yeom had said during the music video planning stage.
Rather than tailoring it to us, I want Cheong and Gal-chae to do as many things as they can only do now, if they don't do them at this moment.
With Baek Gi-yeom's suggestion being strongly embraced by Baek Yuri and Yeo Do-bin, the backdrop for their first music video became a school.
Woo Cheong picked up the self-cam. They hadn't secured enough staff to film behind-the-scenes footage, so whenever the members had a free moment or were waiting around, they planned to film it themselves in bits and pieces.
Woo Cheong lowered his voice into the self-cam so no one else could hear.
"Ahem, ahem...! Truth is, I wanted something dark and sexy and totally cool! Monster! Dracula! Antihero! That kind of thing!"
But seeing the members' eyes sparkling as they talked through the music video story against the backdrop of classrooms and the school library, he couldn't bring himself to push for the exact opposite concept. They looked too happy.
It had been Baek Gi-yeom's idea in the first place, meant for Woo Cheong and Lee Gal-chae. It felt a little awkward to disappoint Baek Gi-yeom, who had been thinking of them, just because he alone objected while everyone else was in favor.
We're not making just one album. Let's save that for next time!
He had let it go with that thought, but now that he was actually putting on the uniform and preparing to shoot, his lingering attachment to a decadent, intense concept only grew stronger.
"The hyungs probably wanted me and Gal-chae to wear uniforms because we're still students. Do you all think a uniform is the most student-like thing on a student? I look good in anything, though."
Lee Gal-chae, who was waiting beside him, fiddled with his tie and said, "...I think I know what the hyungs meant."
"Hmm?"
"As time passes and you get older, there are things you want to do but can't, because they feel out of place or you worry about what other people think. Maybe they just wanted us to do what suits us best at the prettiest age of our lives."
After his parents died, Lee Gal-chae had spent far more time on sets than in school, because he had to shoulder the burden of making a living.
Whether it was film, drama, bit part, or supporting role, if there was work available, he joined without hesitation. He had auditioned countless times.
He had been too busy to enjoy ordinary experiences other people took for granted, like studying for exams, joining a school festival, or taking part in a sports day. He hadn't even been able to go on the school trip, and had lived every day straining to keep his footing.
So he wanted his younger siblings to experience everything they could while they still had the chance. He was especially worried about the second son, who took care of the youngest while also looking after their grandmother whenever Gal-chae was working.
Lee Gal-chae's grandmother, too, always regretted and felt sorry that he couldn't enjoy his school years like other boys his age.
But Woo Cheong saw it a little differently.
"What does age matter? Our team leader still does whatever she wants now."
Woo Cheong's mother, the leader of the dance crew Bigbee, was still very active despite being in her mid-forties.
She lived freely and happily, ticking off the things she wanted to try before she died one by one. She even kept uploading bucket-list challenge videos to her MuTube channel.
Not long ago, she had gone to Disney Land dressed as a princess because it was Halloween season.
"You just do it. What's there to stop you? It's not like someone else is living my life for me!"
Woo Cheong's parents had often gone on overseas trips as a couple from around the time he entered middle school, leaving their son home alone. Because of that, he had grown up very independently.
Since he didn't quite understand, Woo Cheong sat down beside Lee Gal-chae.
"They say there's a prettiest age? Anyone beautiful stays beautiful at any age."
"...That's true. You're right."
Lee Gal-chae nodded.
"My grandmother is still absolutely lovely too."
The wrinkles that time had carved into her face had depth, and that depth made them meaningful and beautiful. The knobby joints of her fingers, the calluses worn into her hands, and the strands of white hair turned silver with age were beautiful too. Even though her body was not well, there was still brightness in her eyes.
But Lee Gal-chae remembered a video he had once seen of his grandmother when she was young. She had been a loud, mischievous girl, eating cake with a fork and a smear of whipped cream on her nose while chatting brightly with her friends.
After seeing that lively childhood version of his grandmother, he understood. He understood why adults always told the young to enjoy their "good time," and why they kept looking at them and saying they were pretty.
"You're still beautiful, but..."
Lee Gal-chae thought of his grandmother's stooped back. How many worries and hardships had brushed past her before the straight-backed girl was bent so helplessly by life?
"She's not feeling well, so she stays home most of the time. She used to love going to see the sea."
Now she no longer had the strength to travel for hours by train or car.
"Your mother probably isn't living exactly as she pleases either. There must be things she puts up with. Within the bounds she's been given, she just enjoys life as much as she can without pushing herself."
Lee Gal-chae murmured as he looked at the staff busily preparing for the shoot.
"When there are family members you have to carry all the way to the end... a person turns into a coward."
"......"
Woo Cheong lowered the camera and looked over at Lee Gal-chae.
Family members I have to carry...
He already knew the story that Lee Gal-chae, the child actor, was the son who had become the family's breadwinner. The day his parents died in an accident, the portal site's front page had been plastered with related articles.
There were even rumors that when reporters swarmed the funeral home and made a racket, Lee Gal-chae's grandmother had chased them off by throwing water at them.
Woo Cheong looked down at the ground and asked, "You too?"
"...Yeah, I guess. Everyone is like that."
"I should call my mom and dad after filming today and tell them I love them."
"That's a good idea."
"Let's succeed! Let's make our first album a smash and earn a ton of money!"
So that nothing would be frightening anymore. So that he could stop being afraid and do whatever he wanted.
Woo Cheong swallowed the rest of the sentence.
Lee Gal-chae nodded quietly, looking into the distance.
"Of course."
After Woo Cheong and Lee Gal-chae had already changed and finished preparing for the shoot, the other members in their uniforms began to emerge from the building one by one. Their makeup had also been done lightly so it would feel natural and student-like.
The members, chattering noisily as they came out, all looked unusually excited.
"Wow! When was the last time I wore a uniform? Baek Yuri! Do you remember our middle school uniforms? They were really awful!"
"Huh? Oh, right! The red-bean porridge color!"
"Right! Red-bean porridge! And that checked tie was so weird!"
Baek Yuri and Baek Gi-yeom were lost in old memories, laughing and talking over each other.
"I like Korean uniforms...! Ours in school were completely green!"
"It feels like we've gone back to school. I haven't worn one in ages, either~"
Yeo Do-bin and Ha On-ha were excited too.
Woo Cheong narrowed his eyes and looked at the members, making a reasonable suspicion.
It wasn't just that they had chosen this for the youngest members...
"Looks like the hyungs just wanted to wear uniforms themselves."
Woo Cheong pointed at them one by one.
"Look there."
"......?"
"Yuri-hyung, who dropped out in tenth grade. Do-bin-hyung, who wanted to try on a Korean uniform. On-ha-hyung, who only finished middle school. And cheerful little cutie-hyung, who just looks thrilled. You're all excited."
Baek Gi-yeom snatched Baek Yuri's tie and started running, teasing Yuri by calling him a turtle.
"Hey! Who are you calling a turtle?"
Baek Yuri darted after him to get the tie back, and Ha On-ha copied Baek Gi-yeom's prank by snatching Neoul's tie and running off, only to nearly topple forward.
"Ack!"
"Careful..."
"Hahaha! I didn't fall~! Wow, I want to play soccer!"
Ha On-ha took off again, and Neoul shook his head and moved at an unhurried pace. Then Yeo Do-bin, excited on his behalf, ran after Ha On-ha instead.
It was as if everyone had put on uniforms and turned back into students.
"Of everyone, the one who never even got to attend school because he was sick is the most unfazed?"
"...Neoul isn't interested in clothes."
It was something they had learned while living together in the dorms. And his lack of interest was so complete that he was still wearing the practice outfit issued for the Idol Travel shoot.
Woo Cheong raised the camera again and filmed the members running around the schoolyard.
Yeo Do-bin had stopped midway through his run to conserve his stamina for the actual filming. As a result, he was playing the world's slowest game of tag with Ha On-ha, who was fleeing in the opposite direction.
"Even if you stand still, they'll bring the tie back once filming starts anyway. Why bother chasing him?"
"...Good point."
The sight of him calmly trying to persuade CEO Kim Woohwan, or leading meetings, had seemed so very grown-up. Right now, though, they all just looked exactly like high school boys.
When Woo Cheong turned the camera the other way, Baek Yuri was now applying an arm bar to Baek Gi-yeom after catching him.
"Weren't those hyungs only swimmers and taekwondo people? Why are they doing judo?"
"...I don't know."
Baek Gi-yeom's scream rang out.
"Aaagh! I surrender! I surrender! Gal-Neoul! Help!"
"Don't act. I wasn't really doing it seriously."
Baek Yuri let go of the hold, stood up, and dusted off his clothes before straightening his tie neatly again. Then he scolded Baek Gi-yeom, telling him to get up quickly before his clothes got dirty.
Baek Gi-yeom sprang up as if he had never been milking it at all and hurriedly fixed his rumpled clothes. Then he dashed off to the director, who was calling them over.
Woo Cheong turned the camera and filmed Neoul this time. Neoul was staring intently at the school building.
"Everyone, it looks like Neoul-hyung is more interested in the building than the uniform."
Woo Cheong narrated like a commentator as he zoomed in. Neoul's handsome face filled the screen. His dark eyes, heavy with melancholy, were fixed on a window along one side of the building.
"Is there something over there?"
Woo Cheong looked away from the camera and toward the building. He studied it carefully, wondering whether a staff member was waving from the window, but there was no one near it.
Woo Cheong shouted to Neoul, "Neoguri-hyung! What are you standing there like a pole for?! What are you looking at?"
Neoul tore his gaze from the window and turned his head. Noticing that Woo Cheong was filming him, he walked over.
"Ah. It is nothing much."
Neoul glanced at the window and said, "A ghost had its head stuck in the glass."
"......!"