The Dog Remembers
“Wooju has been acting for five years, and nothing like this has ever happened before. He nails every take without a single NG. I'm so sorry.”
The trainer bowed his head in apology again and again, but it did nothing to lift the gloom hanging over the production staff.
“Is there really nothing we can do?”
“What if we put some treats behind Woo Jun-seo to lure him over?”
Pressed by a punishing schedule, the crew tried every trick they could think of, and not a single one worked. All the dog had to do was pounce on Woo Jun-seo and lick his face, but he dug in his heels as if he couldn't bear so much as a fingertip's contact with the man.
“Wooju, come on. Please? Hm?”
Even his trainer's pleading couldn't pry the dog away from my side.
If he'd been uncooperative from the start, fine—but he'd shot every earlier scene without a hitch, so his sudden rebellion had everyone baffled. And with a dog that size repeatedly trying to climb into my lap, I was getting a little awkward myself.
“Wow… Wooju really loves Seul-ho-ssi.”
“You didn't hide treats in your pockets, did you?”
The staff murmured among themselves, and I laughed helplessly.
“I think it'd be best if I made myself scarce. That way Wooju can focus on the shoot. I'll head out for now.”
So I said my goodbyes and left the park—only to get a call from a staff member thirty minutes later. “Seul-ho-ssi, just come back. Wooju's been staring in the direction you left this whole time…”
I hurried back to the park, and sure enough, just as the staffer had said, there was the dog, watching for me, waiting.
“What do we do about this?”
“Nothing we can do. We scrap today's shoot, try again tomorrow, and if it still doesn't work, we swap in a different dog.”
“Then we throw out every scene we've already shot? And what if the new dog won't cooperate with Jun-seo-ssi either?”
“Ugh. I'm losing my mind. He was shooting perfectly fine and then suddenly—why does this only happen with Actor Jun-seo?”
The voices of PD Jang and the staff carried across the set. And I wasn't the only one who could hear them. Sure enough, when I stole a glance at Woo Jun-seo, his expression was murderous.
Might want to work on that poker face, buddy.
Not that I blamed him for being annoyed—but was scowling going to fix anything?
Keep furrowing your brow like that and even the friendliest dog alive won't come near you.
The real Woo Jun-seo would have smoothed things over with some line like, “Maybe I'm too tall—this little guy finds me scary~” But between his conversation with Choi Ran earlier and an exhaustingly packed schedule that had left him no time to rest, the usual composure was nowhere to be found. Instead—
“Haah, what the hell are we even doing because of one lousy mutt. Fuck's sake, this is so annoying.”
He muttered it under his breath, dripping with irritation—and at a volume that was anything but quiet. The newer staff around him froze, faces going stiff as they darted nervous glances his way.
Though to be fair, that only applied to the rookies without much set experience. The veterans had seen their share of celebrity meltdowns; they let his cursing wash right past them and kept on working.
So what the hell do I do here?
Wondering whether anything would've changed if I'd never come to watch the shoot, I stroked the dog's fur.
“Hey, Wooju.”
His ears, which had been drooping as he kept an eye on everyone around us, shot straight up. I gently rubbed the perked ears and spoke.
“It's hard, huh? I tried acting for myself recently—it's no joke, I get it.”
―Huff, huff.
“But you can do it just this once, right? You're an actor too, aren't you?”
I wrapped my arms around the big dog like he was any ordinary kid and patted his back. I honestly doubted he understood a word I said, but there was nothing to do but ask.
“Just one take for me, okay? And I'll buy you something delicious afterward. Ah—but nothing too pricey. I'm flat broke right now.”
―Woof!
“Fine, fine. Something *a little* expensive, then.”
Just as I'd been whispering to him for a while, PD Jang called out in a loud voice.
“Alright, let's go again! One last attempt before the sun sets!”
There was no hope left on his face as he said it. The staff listlessly hauled the equipment into position, and Woo Jun-seo took his mark with a scowl. The trainer fussed over the dog with a stream of coaxing words, then stepped back, and Choi Ran took the leash.
And the dog went quiet.
“………”
Then, before I knew it, my feet were moving. After a quick word to PD Jang for permission, I stepped onto the set.
I strode right up, and Choi Ran looked up at me with wide, round eyes.
“Oppa?”
“Hold on a sec. I've got something to say to this guy.”
I knelt down and brought myself eye to eye with the dog.
“Wooju. Look over here.”
Those black jewel eyes turned to me. Once I was sure he was fully focused on me, I began walking backward—slowly, steadily. The dog's gaze stayed locked on me the entire way to where Woo Jun-seo was standing.
“Sunbae-nim, what are you doing right now?”
The moment I bumped into him, the irritated voice came straight at me. I ignored it, keeping my eyes on the dog as I turned. Ha. Didn't think I had it in me to go this far.
“Pardon me.”
“What are you—”
And then I threw my arms around Woo Jun-seo.
“Oh my.”
A ripple of murmurs ran through the staff, mingled with the sharp intake of breath from the man in my arms. Yeah, I know. You hate this too. And I swear, I hate it more. But just bear with it a moment.
I turned my head to the side and called out to the dog watching us.
“Wooju! This guy and I are friends now. See? We're super close.”
―Woof!
“The second you hear 'cut,' you come running to me. Got it?”
At the sight of me shouting while clinging to Woo Jun-seo, the surrounding staff started bursting into laughter one by one. I knew exactly how ridiculous I looked. When PD Jang hollered, “Let's hope Wooju appreciates what Seul-ho-ssi is doing for him!” the laughter only grew louder.
“Wooju, fighting~!”
“That's it, Wooju~ Just once, come on!”
The staff's laughter-filled eyes and cheering reached the dog. The set, which had been sunk in gloom moments before, turned warm and festive in an instant.
―Huff, huff.
Only after I saw the stiffness melt out of the dog's back did I finally let go of Woo Jun-seo.
“………You could have at least *consulted* me first.”
Everyone around was laughing, so maybe he felt he couldn't quite snap at me outright—Woo Jun-seo just grumbled it out sulkily. I apologized, claiming I was sorry, and ducked behind the cameras as fast as I could.
And the shoot that followed…
“Cut! Aaah, beautiful!”
…ended with PD Jang wearing an ear-to-ear grin and flashing the okay sign. Flawless action with not an inch of error, dialogue timed perfectly between the actors—a perfect scene, born in a single take.
PD Jang, clearly in high spirits, turned to the trainer with his face all lit up.
“Wooju was fantastic. Thank you for your hard work, Trainer-nim.”
“I didn't do anything. It's all thanks to Seul-ho-ssi. Whew, if it weren't for him…”
“Haha, I guess Seul-ho-ssi hugging Actor Jun-seo did the trick after all. Seul-ho-ssi! You'll come by whenever Wooju's on set, right? You can be his personal manager!”
I smiled back at PD Jang as he grinned my way. I couldn't exactly hold a conversation, though—because the dog, sprinting toward me the instant he heard “cut,” had bowled me clean over.
―Huff, huff.
“Good grief, you're a whirlwind.”
I gave the dog a distracted, one-armed petting as he clung to me, tail spinning like a helicopter rotor. Choi Ran came over with a look of pure wonder and asked, “Oppa, did you spray yourself with some kind of dog pheromone or what?”—but the dog was licking my face so thoroughly I couldn't even answer her.
―Woof!
“Yeah, yeah. Let's go get you something tasty.”
―Woof! Woof!
“I know, I know. Something a *little* expensive, just for you.”
And so my first-ever set visit concluded without incident.
…Or so I thought.
Who could have guessed the internet was about to catch fire over this?
The production team did their best to control the area around the park, but there was nothing they could do about shots taken through apartment windows. One resident's video became a hot topic and spread across community after community.
Of course, at that level it was just the sort of minor episode any drama production experiences. That is—it was, until the next post went up.
The moment it went up, the post went viral like mad. When the first few shelter photos were dismissed as possibly staged, the original poster fired back with more—old selfies of Yoo Seul-ho from his volunteer days, shots of him and Wooju together back then—and as they poured in, the suspicion evaporated.
In some corners, conspiracy theories popped up: “Yoo Seul-ho's agency laid the groundwork on purpose,” “They must have booked the dog knowing all along.” But a single comment from an industry-savvy user—“You really think Yoo Seul-ho's company is capable of pulling something off that smoothly?”—won the argument in one blow.
The emotion and fascination over this fateful reunion ultimately boiled down to one question: “So what's the name of this drama again?”
An advertising effect money couldn't buy, and the production company and broadcasting station were thrown into an uproar of delight. PD Jang and the crew called Yoo Seul-ho, wailing, “You could have TOLD us you had a connection like this!”—but Yoo Seul-ho, who couldn't exactly admit that even he hadn't known, simply laughed it off.
“Wow, how does a connection like this even happen?”
“I think I'm going to tear up every time I see Wooju and Seul-ho-ssi together from now on…”
“Next time those two meet up, we're getting a photo and posting it. Free publicity!”
“………Ugh. You're killing my buzz. Seriously.”
“Oh, come on! Thanks to Seul-ho-ssi, our investment money just got fatter. Everyone's happy here!”
The whole set spent a jolly stretch of time talking about Yoo Seul-ho, who wasn't even there.
And in the middle of it all, exactly one person—
“………”
—the lead actor, Woo Jun-seo, sat in unreadable silence.
The next day, after all that waiting, Yoo Seul-ho's first day of filming finally began.