MTV Awards 'Best Kiss' Performance (1)
"What kind of crazy, out-of-control piece of shit acts like that?!"
Inside a private room of a thoroughly soundproofed club, Susan, who had just downed three consecutive shots of tequila, spat out her fury.
The table was an absolute mess. Spilled alcohol, empty glasses, half-drained bottles, and cigarettes of every brand. While there were no "drugs" commonly found in such places, the alcohol and tobacco alone were enough to turn the brains of those spending the night there into a sticky, melted mush.
Unable to cope with the stress they had accumulated, the three lead actors—excluding Chelsea—had fled to the club. A club, simply put, was a place where humans laid bare their deepest desires. Inside, power and wealth were flaunted in ways far more direct than in the outside world. Through this, they validated their status and satisfied their cravings. That was exactly what they were doing now.
Frederic, who had been kissing a girl clinging to his side, let out a smirk. "They say he's on a completely different level from us TV actors. Man, I've completely given up. The bastard just breathes, and everyone around him showers him with praise. What can lowlifes like us even do?"
"That bastard? Who's that?" the girl in Frederic's arms asked, her interest piqued. Frederic grinned, raising his chin slightly as he replied, "I'm talking about Sion Lee. He's filming with us right now."
Sitting directly across from him, Susan snorted in disbelief at his boastful tone. It was painfully obvious he was trying to puff himself up by riding on Sion Lee's coattails, acting as if working with him made him a big deal.
Sure enough, the eyes of the girl they had picked up solely for her looks lit up the moment she heard the name. "Whoa, seriously?! I was so moved when I watched Fragments of You!" "Sion's visuals in that movie were legendary!" "Right, right! His acting was amazing, too! And Elena was no joke either...!"
At the same time, the two girls sitting next to Max chimed in, their eyes sparkling. The sudden, enthusiastic reaction of the three ordinary girls caused Frederic's and Dominic's expressions to sour instantly. However, blinded by the alcohol and the dim lighting, the girls failed to notice and kept gushing about Sion.
"Just seeing the two of them together made me go, 'Now that's what a real star looks like!'" "Exactly! Seriously, I'd die happy if I could just see Sion in person once!" "Hey, can't you invite Sion here? I heard he goes to parties all the time..."
At that moment, a splash of water hit the face of the girl who was excitedly babbling. Frederic had suddenly grabbed a glass from the table and thrown its contents right at her. "Kyaah!" "W-What are you doing?!" "Ah, sorry. You guys were being so fucking loud and clueless that it was ruining my drink."
"Are you guys deaf? Is your brain rotten? What did you just hear? I said I don't want to be associated with that crazy, out-of-control piece of shit!" As Susan, who was pouring her fourth shot of tequila, made a motion as if she was about to hurl the bottle, the girls immediately cursed and stormed out of the room.
A chilly silence hung in the room for a moment, but it quickly dissolved when Dominic started chuckling. His role among the "friends" was always the same.
"Ah, shit, are we going to get another article written about us tomorrow?" "We're not Sion Lee. You need to have that kind of class for people to even care enough to write about you~." Susan grumbled, throwing back her fourth freshly poured shot of tequila.
At first, they had been bursting with ambition, determined to beat Sion Lee. But as time passed, they grew increasingly exhausted by the "overwhelming" presence Sion displayed both on and off the set. In moments like those, they turned to the easiest pleasure within arm's reach—alcohol. Despite their empty promises to stay out of trouble and do things right, they had once again slipped down the path of self-destruction.
But they figured it was fine. After all, they were the lead actors of The College Player, which was currently in the middle of a highly successful third season. In a Hollywood overflowing with talent, these young actors in their early twenties had no choice but to believe that once the temporary storm passed, everything would return to normal. They lived under the delusion that their current glory would last forever.
"True. Only an actor of Sion Lee's caliber gets articles written about him constantly. TV stars like us don't even get that luxury~. Ah, I fucking hate this. Should I just say I'm quitting the show?" "Do it if you're confident you can pay the penalty fee~." "...Damn it, let's just drink."
Max patted the slumped Frederic on the back, trying to liven up the mood. "Yeah, yeah. Let's not get so depressed. Guys, how long has it been since we last went out to have fun? The season is starting soon, so let's treat tonight as our last hurrah. Let's get absolutely wasted!"
"Hell yeah~. I'm going to drink this next tequila as if I'm swallowing that son of a bitch Sion Lee whole~." "Susan, don't drink too much. You kiss literally anyone when you're drunk." "One of you two better prepare yourselves tonight~." Susan giggled, downing her fifth shot of tequila. It was going to be a long night.
The next morning. Frederic arrived at the filming location, Stanford University, nursing a mild hangover. He let out a long yawn and smirked.
Even though they had filming the next day, Frederic, Susan, and Dominic had partied in the club until sunrise, and they were feeling a pleasant fatigue from it.
When he walked into the dressing room, smelling strongly of alcohol, barely having slept, and with his face and eyelids completely swollen, the stylists were utterly horrified. For those tasked with keeping the actors' appearances in peak condition during filming, this was a literal bolt from the blue.
While they hesitated, the head stylist stepped forward to take control of the situation. "Get some ice, quickly!" "What? Ice? I hate cold things." "...We need to reduce the swelling. If you go on camera like this, your face will look like a full moon." "Then you'd better prepare enough for three." "What does that mean...?"
Before those ominous words could even settle, Susan and Dominic stumbled into the dressing room one after the other. Seeing their state, which was no different from Frederic's, the head stylist's face went from shocked to utterly despondent. To make matters worse, Susan's hangover was so severe that the moment she arrived, she rushed to the restroom in the corner and threw up violently.
"How are we supposed to..." "Are you going to report this to the producer? Go ahead. We have nothing to lose anyway." "No, Frederic. That's not what I meant. I'm just worried about whether we can stay on schedule..."
No matter what antics they pulled, the actors' condition on set was always the top priority. Furthermore, rented filming locations always came with strict time limits. The crew had to take all of this into account. The heads of each production department were the managers responsible for overseeing their respective areas, and above them was the producer, the overall person in charge.
The producer, who had already read the newspaper article that morning, came over upon hearing that the three had arrived and let out a heavy sigh. "I thought you guys were finally pulling yourselves together lately. What is this again?" "What? Grown adults are allowed to have a few drinks." "We won't ruin today's shoot, so don't worry about—urgh!" Susan bolted back to the restroom.
The producer let out a long sigh and scratched his head in frustration. Actors were treated well because they were irreplaceable, but it was also a position that demanded a corresponding level of responsibility. With dozens of crew members ready to go, today's schedule was on the verge of being completely ruined. The producer opened his mouth to say more, but ultimately just sighed and turned away. The three of them giggled, thoroughly enjoying his reaction, intoxicated by the feeling of being in control.
Yes, this was it. The thrill of bending the set to their will. The sense of omnipotence that came from knowing no one could touch them. As they relieved their work stress in the most childish way possible, Chelsea, who had arrived early and was waiting, approached them with a worried look.
"How much did you guys drink last night?" "Who knows? I woke up at home. Only slept for two hours." "...Susan, are you going to be okay today? You have an intimate scene with Sion." "What can I do? Even if it's disgusting, I have to do it~. Though I might throw up in the middle of it. Ah, urgh..." Susan dry-heaved again.
At that exact moment, Sion, who was entering the dressing room to get his makeup done, widened his eyes.
"..." "..." Silence fell the moment Sion made eye contact with the four actors inside.
The crew couldn't help but be aware of the conflicts brewing between the actors on set. No matter how much they tried to hide it, someone was bound to notice. And lately, their strained relationship had been glaringly obvious.
Chelsea looked deeply uncomfortable, while the other three stood beside her, looking utterly wretched yet somehow smug. As the surrounding stylists watched in tense anticipation, Sion took in the situation and spoke his first words.
"Are you having morning sickness?"
"W-What?!" Susan, instantly flaring up with anger, bolted upright only to dry-heave again.
"Must be. Because if you were in your right mind, you wouldn't be drinking all night until dawn on a shoot day and then showing up on set to throw up. I wanted to believe the tabloids were lying, so I was just exploring other possibilities. What do you think of my deduction? So, which of you two is the father?"
Sion, too, had learned about their wild night out from the newspapers. Hearing him mock them so casually and cuttingly, an infuriated Frederic lunged forward and grabbed Sion by the collar. Having already half-given up on ever besting him, Frederic was completely blind with rage.
"Say that again, you piece of sh—Ah, ah, AAAARGH!" The raw, beastly anger he was channeling instantly dissolved into a high-pitched shriek, sounding like someone overreacting at the dentist's office.
Sion, who had been watching his movements closely, had ground his heel into Frederic's foot the exact moment his collar was grabbed. It was a perfect execution of the "destroy them while pretending to defend yourself" technique he had mastered back in the day during scuffles with overexcited fans and paparazzi. With his young body and the physical coordination he kept sharp through acting, his body moved exactly as he wanted.
Forced to let go and step back, Frederic glared at him with tears welling in his eyes. The head stylist quickly stepped between them to mediate. "E-Everyone, calm down! There's no need to fight!"
"Ah, a fight? No way. I was just startled and stepped back, and accidentally trod on his foot. If it looked like that, I'm sorry. Don't worry." Sion lied through his teeth without batting an eye. Glaring at him, Frederic burned with pure hatred. I'll kill him. No matter what, I'll definitely...
Sion, on the other hand, calmly looked at the idiots who were ruining the set and thought, These dumb, childish brats. There's a limit to how much you can mess around. I definitely need to put them in their place.
From Sion's perspective, he had treated them as gentlemanly as possible up until now, yet they still dared to crawl all over him without knowing their place. Sion began to formulate a plan in earnest.
Filming proceeded under a tense, hostile atmosphere. "Alright, everyone, let's not bring personal feelings onto the set! We're professionals, aren't we?" Even the producer, whose anger had been boiling over when he saw the three actors this morning, had to step in as a mediator.
Frederic, Susan, and Dominic were visibly sulking, whereas Sion, in stark contrast, remained completely relaxed. Perhaps provoked by his easygoing attitude, the three of them actually delivered professional performances once the cameras started rolling, making their earlier hangovers seem like a non-issue.
"Hey, Max! Over here!" "No, no...! Anyone but Ryan!" "Why not him?" "...That guy, uh, well, he's going to hurt Belle! I know it!" Frederic and Dominic acted out their scene, running down the corridors of Stanford University, which had been rented for the day.
The scene shifted. The two characters spotted Belle and Ryan alone in an empty lecture hall. They were standing quite close. Ryan, who had been excitedly showing off some programming logic he had written, stumbled as he stood up, accidentally bumping into Belle, sending them both tumbling to the floor together.
At that moment, Sion made a conscious effort to act with extra gentleness. He naturally wrapped his arm around Susan's waist, cradling her head so it wouldn't hit the hard floor. The two of them ended up in a deep embrace. With their faces naturally close, he spoke to her in a soft, caring voice. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt anywhere?"
"Huh? Uh, yeah..." Susan's delivery was so awkward that it practically guaranteed a retake. But that was exactly what Sion wanted. He knew that to tame the remaining troublemakers—excluding Chelsea, who was actually dedicated to her craft—he first needed to drive a wedge into their little alliance. As the first step, Sion had decided to play nice with Susan.
Sion's face was a formidable weapon against the opposite sex. No matter how much hostility someone harbored, having that face thrust right in front of them was bound to make them drop their guard, even if only for a split second.
Whoa, holy shit... In the sequence of events, his glasses had naturally slipped off, revealing Sion Lee's breathtakingly handsome face instead of Ryan's thick, nerdy spectacles. Having lost weight for the role, he exuded a sharp, decadent masculine charm, boasting a jawline that could make any woman's heart skip a beat.
H-His frame is so broad, too. And why is his acting so good? Just as he had planned, Susan, held tight in Sion's arms, found herself plunged into a state of deeply unsettling confusion.
"Cut! Alright, let's take it from the top one more time!" As the crew reset the scene, Sion sat back down, pretending to be indifferent, and spoke to her. "Be careful not to bump into me this time." "...What?" "Your stomach must be upset from the hangover." "What? Hmph, please... Why are you acting like you care when you were talking all that shit earlier?"
Sion didn't bother to reply. However, Susan's prickly attitude had noticeably softened. In stark contrast to his earlier harsh remarks, Sion was more dedicated than anyone to playing his part opposite "Belle" during the shoot. Confronted with this, Susan—both as Belle and herself—couldn't help but feel conflicted. She hated how arrogant and dismissive he usually was... yet, she didn't entirely hate him.
After a few more retakes, the producer finally called out, "Good! That's a wrap for today, great job everyone!" "Good job!" Amidst the crew's cheers, Sion casually spoke to Susan, who was standing beside him. "You did pretty well today."
"...Whatever. Don't talk to me. You talk to a girl like that and now you're trying to act friendly?" "I apologize for that. I came here ready to work hard, but seeing everyone in such a terrible state made me lose my temper." Sion offered a playful smile but made sure his apology was sincere.
At his words, the deep-seated grievances buried at the bottom of Susan's heart spilled out. "I-I didn't mean to ruin the shoot either. But we started drinking, and things just got out of hand. What was I supposed to do? You know how it is! People like us have nowhere else to relieve stress except through drinking..."
"I know, I know. I used to be like that too." A word of comfort, and a touch of empathy. "But we still have to treat work like work. We're professionals." "T-That... I'm sorry too." "It's fine. You did great today. Feel free to show up drunk next time too." "Pfft, whatever~. I'm not drinking anymore. Why would I want to get lectured again?" "Are you talking about me?" "Who else?!"
Her mood completely restored, Susan laughed, a tiny tear of emotion glistening in the corner of her eye. This should be enough. Sion had successfully planted the seeds of discord among the "three inseparable troublemakers." Having accomplished his mission, he parted ways with Susan, promising to see her later, when something caught his eye in the corner of the set.
Wait, what? Someone who shouldn't be here... No, actually, if she wanted to, there were plenty of reasons for her to be here. ...But he never expected her to show up at a time like this. "Hmm." Elena Asimov was standing there, wearing a soft smile. Her face was infinitely gentle, looking like the Holy Mother herself.