Episode 38
Ansan-daek was gasping for breath. She looked in so much pain that, without meaning to, I clutched at the hem of her clothes.
How long did I stand there like that? When the pain finally seemed to ease a little, Ansan-daek hurriedly wiped the sweat from her face first.
I asked softly, “Auntie, does it hurt a lot?”
Ansan-daek turned around in alarm. “Ah, Gongja. Let’s get going, quick.”
She was desperately trying to change the subject. So I asked again, “Does it hurt? Does it go ouch?”
For a moment, moisture gathered in Ansan-daek’s eyes.
Damn it.
This really was a serious illness.
No, if you’re sick, you should be in the hospital.
Why are you still working?
I stared at Ansan-daek in silence.
Honestly, I knew the answer too. There must be a reason. If anything, the person who would most want to rest and be hospitalized was probably her.
Ansan-daek shook her head in a hurry. “No, no. Auntie isn’t hurt!”
Ansan-daek. That excuse won’t fool even a baby.
No choice.
I took a deep breath. Coins are the only answer. I should tell Mom too, but...
Ah, coins.
Maybe because they were Love & Peace Coins, they somehow felt like something meant only for health and healing.
Still, this life is comfortable enough. Taking care of the people around me isn’t a bad way to live.
It’s the same as when it was Mom.
I just had to save up coins.
I muttered inwardly, Total coins!
23,453
After working myself to the bone, I’d managed to save up quite a lot.
All right. Now I need to check how many coins this will cost.
I muttered inwardly for the first time in a while. Use coins!
How would you like to use your Love & Peace Coins?
Make Ansan-daek healthy!
To make diligent Ansan-daek healthy, 100,000 coins are required. Execute?
I was startled all at once.
Huh?
No, why was the inflation this bad?
What exactly happened that it costs one hundred thousand coins?
Was it just my imagination that everything was getting harder and harder?
Ugh.
I pressed a hand to my forehead.
Well, I guess there’s no helping it.
That also meant Ansan-daek’s condition was seriously poor.
Then I’ll have to save up.
But how?
What’s there to think about? I just need to act well enough to move people.
And the chance was right in front of me.
“Gongja, let’s go?”
“Yesss!”
Ah, right. I was on set. And the shoot was about to begin.
The scene where the director wants absolutely nothing from me!
I clenched my fist. This scene had just gained one more reason to be remembered as a masterpiece for generations to come.
So this is the scene where Han Woo-jin is holding me, right?
Honestly, chemistry mattered most in a scene like this.
And to build chemistry, the best thing is to get close.
How was I supposed to get close in a baby’s body, though?
Then, as if by magic, just when you mention a tiger, there he comes. Han Woo-jin was wandering over at an easy, unhurried pace.
Good.
I turned my head right away. The moment our eyes met, Han Woo-jin came over to me.
Let’s be close for this limited-time period.
Han Woo-jin couldn’t take his eyes off me. I flashed him a wide, beaming smile.
“Oh? Director! The baby’s smiling at me!”
“Huh? Really?”
“Looks like the kid can tell I’m handsome.”
“Babies naturally like pretty faces.”
That’s not it.
But it’s probably better to go along with it.
I held out my arms. “Hug meeeee!”
The second I said it, I wanted to die of embarrassment.
So humiliating.
At my age, I had to ask to be picked up!
But if I want to act this scene, Han Woo-jin has to hold me anyway.
Then I might as well start building the picture for the camera now.
Besides, for a popular actor, Han Woo-jin isn’t even difficult.
We had once worked on the same project, though we’d never shared a scene.
In that drama, I played the heroine’s uncle, and I was a con artist.
And he was the scientist protagonist.
So we never even met on set.
Still, I’d heard enough. Han Woo-jin was so upbeat and funny that he always made the set feel better.
So he won’t be fussy with a baby like me.
Han Woo-jin picked me up and gave me a little sway. Honestly, it was a bit uncomfortable, but I figured he was trying to play with me in his own way.
Then I should play too.
I flapped my arms. “Heehee! I’m happyyy!”
“Huh? Happy?”
“Yesss! I’m happyyy!”
Han Woo-jin lifted me and shook me a little more roughly. In a way...
It felt like I’d become a tin can being shaken around, but...
I still had to appreciate it. He was trying so hard.
I screamed with all my heart and soul. “Aaah!”
Maybe that was why Han Woo-jin’s shaking didn’t stop for quite a while.
“Huff, huff!”
Han Woo-jin was panting. Seeing the sweat running down his forehead, I gave a faint shake of my head.
He’s trying that hard just because I’m happy.
He really was a good person.
I giggled and kicked my legs. Han Woo-jin just stared at me.
I tilted my head and asked, “Why?”
“Damn. You’re seriously cute.”
Han Woo-jin shouted to PD Lee Jemin, “PD-nim! I’m not allowed to bite him, right?”
Yeah, no, you’re not.
“Hahaha! Why is he that cute?”
“Yes! Looking at him makes me want to have kids too.”
“That much?”
“Yes. Look at the way he smiles. Those cheeks, and these little hands!”
Han Woo-jin showed my hand to the director. “They’re this tiny, but they still move, you know?”
Wow.
Seems like he really loves kids.
Han Woo-jin kissed my hand, then started to put it in his mouth. The director hurriedly stopped him.
“Woo-jin. The baby will cry.”
“He won’t. Look.”
Right. I wouldn’t cry. No, more importantly, I wasn’t allowed to cry here.
Aaah-
I laughed while kicking my legs.
“See? He likes it.”
“Well, most babies would cry.”
“Maybe he’s not most babies.”
“Yeah, after watching your variety show, I figured he wasn’t ordinary.”
Good. The atmosphere was heating up. I looked at Han Woo-jin and said, “Mister is nice!”
“Huh? Mister? Me?”
“Yesss! Nice!”
Huh. The reaction was a little odd. Han Woo-jin shook his head frantically.
“Not mister. Call me big brother!”
“Big bro?”
“Yeah. Big brother. I’m not a mister yet!”
R-right. Fine. Let’s go with that.
He does still look like a big brother, if you go by appearance alone.
Though he was supposedly pushing forty in two years.
But if I want to get close, there’s no helping it.
I had to get the scene right.
I said with a bright smile, “Big bro! Nice!”
Then a caption popped up right in front of me.
Actor Han Woo-jin likes being called big brother.
Love & Peace Coins increase by 200.
Wow.
That went up a lot.
So that was touching enough to make a difference.
For some reason, my heart got a little tight. Fine, then. I decided I’d keep calling him that.
“Big bro!”
“Yes, yes. Oh, man. That’s touching my heart. Kid. But what’s your name?”
You didn’t know?
“Gongja!”
“Huh? Gongja? Why is a kid named that?”
“No! Gongja!”
“All right, Gongja. Ma Soo-jung’s taste is really something. The kid’s name is Gongja?”
Unable to watch any longer, PD Lee Jemin said, “Woo-jin. Not that kind of Gongja. It’s his name.”
“Huh? Gongja, as in the Confucius in ‘Confucius said, Mencius said’?”
“Yes.”
“Then with the surname too, it’s Ma Gongja?”
Yes, that’s right.
Han Woo-jin stared at my face.
“Hmm, that’s a little unusual, but it suits him. Maybe because the kid’s so cute.”
“Right? That was my first thought when I heard it too.”
“Damn. He’s so cute. He’s not shy at all, and he smiles so easily.”
“That’s why I cast him.”
Han Woo-jin adjusted his grip on me. “So this is my son?”
“Mm-hm. The son you’ll be seeing for the last time.”
“I’m doomed.”
Han Woo-jin rocked me gently. I played along again.
“Aaaah!”
The director just watched us in silence. Han Woo-jin took my hand and said, “How am I supposed to walk away with him stuck in my head? Of course I’ll tell the lead actor to take good care of him, but still.”
“Is it that hard?”
“Hard doesn’t even cover it. I feel like I’d have to swim back across the Sanzu River.”
PD Lee Jemin grinned. “Want to change the ending?”
No.
“Should we change it?”
Don’t change it.
“Bwahahahaha!”
Oh no.
He’s joking, right?
Han Woo-jin shook his head a little while holding me. “No way.”
“Right?”
“Still, it does feel like I’d be able to sink into it more deeply. Ah, that scene I mean. He goes into the room where the baby is, and that was basically it, right? Just watching the child smile?”
“Right?”
“But if the baby role is Gongja, I feel like I could lift him in my arms and go in like that.”
The director stroked his chin and looked at me. I smiled brightly and said, “Big bro! Nice!”
“Hahaha! The kid really likes me that much.”
No, he didn’t.
But believe that.
At least until the shoot was over.
“Not bad. You know what, Woo-jin? I’ll delay the cut. Let’s shoot a little more.”
“Wow, PD-nim. You trust me too much.”
The two of them laughed at each other.
Wow.
I quietly clapped my hands.
Clap, clap, clap.
At the sound, both of them looked at me. I smiled brightly and said, “You’re close!”
There was a reason the mood on set was so good.
I kicked my legs and offered my praise. “Be friends foreverrr!”
After all that praise, the two of them fell silent. The air grew still instead.
Was that a little too far?
Just as I was starting to regret it, PD Lee Jemin said, “Was that... praise we just got?”
“I, I think so?”
“Ah, praise from a baby...”
“Jemin hyung, how old is Gongja?”
“About two?”
“Ha, ha ha.”
Han Woo-jin patted me and said, “The funny part is, I actually feel pretty good!”
Yes, yes.
“Kids can’t lie.”
“Exactly!”
Thank you for taking it so well.
Han Woo-jin adjusted me in his arms and rubbed my back. “Gongja. Thank you for the compliment?”
“Yesss!”
“Anyway, I’ll keep shooting it like this.”
“Okay. Get ready.”
“Yep!”
PD Lee Jemin turned and walked away. But Han Woo-jin had no intention of putting me down.
I got a lot out of that conversation.
He’d definitely said he’d delay the cut.
Then all I have to do is match him, right?
Let’s think, Ma Gongja.
This was the scene where a dying doctor saw his son for the last time.
What kind of expression should I make?
Should I cry?
That’s no good.
The audience needed to cry, not me.
Then should I smile?
Not bad. A little plain, though.
Hmm. Instead of focusing on crying or smiling, I think I should focus on something else.
The scene itself was sad, but people usually feel even sadder when they can relate.
Isn’t relatability usually strongest when something feels familiar?
Then inspiration struck.
I should make it ordinary.
Do the kind of thing a child would normally do when seeing his dad.
Well, I don’t have a dad, so I wouldn’t know, but I do know what it’s like to meet Mom when she gets home from work.
I lifted my chin a little. Han Woo-jin’s jaw came into view.
I can think of him as Mom.
A grin slowly spread across my face.
I’m looking forward to the shoot.
My heart thudded at the thought of standing before the camera again after so long.
Besides, I think our chemistry is good.
Han Woo-jin crossed the set. Looking where he was headed, I saw he was going toward the other actors.
He’s probably taking me over there to show me off because we’re close.
What a kind man.
All right, then. I’ll play along.
He was the one who’d just given me 200 coins. That much was easy.
Sure enough, the moment he reached his fellow actors, Han Woo-jin said, “Isn’t he cute?”
“Oh! It’s Gongja!”
“I wanted to say hello earlier, but the director was there. I wanted to see him up close, and luckily the senior brought him over!”
“Really? You two are close already?”
“Wow, already? It’s true, Gongja?”
I couldn’t exactly say no.
So I answered with a sunny smile, “Yesss!”
“Aww, he’s adorable!”
“He’s been calling me big brother all on his own.”
Excuse me?
“Aw, that’s because the senior insisted on being called big brother, right? He probably would’ve called you mister otherwise.”
Han Woo-jin turned solemn in an instant.