The Bee Buzzing on Set
“Ji-hyun-ya, why are you doing this again?”
“PD-nim, Deok-su’s skin needs to be a bit better. If he comes out uglier than a man······. Euk heu heuk. It’s humiliating, or something······.”
Director Lee Gap-yeon ran a hand through his hair, overwhelmed by Yoo Seon-hwa’s complaints.
At that moment, lighting director Kim Tae-min stepped in and signaled one of the staff.
“Jung-woo-ya, you know?”
Soon the lighting team member held up a reflector right in front of Yoo Seon-hwa’s face. The one she used exclusively.
“PD-nim, thank you so much! I’ll grab the coffee later!”
Yoo Seon-hwa gestured for coffee, but Director Kim Tae-min only forced a smile.
Once the set was tidy, the real filming began.
The plot was simple: Yoo Seon-hwa’s daughter stubbornly insisted she would marry the male lead, Woo-yeong, no matter what.
Her mother, Choi Seon-hwa, lay bedridden in the hospital.
Deok-su, playing her son, tried to stop her, but was ignored.
In a single room, the mother Choi Mi-yeon groaned in pain.
Yoo Seon-hwa grabbed her arm and shook it.
“Mommy—! I can’t live without that person!”
“······He already has someone else in his heart. A chaebol daughter’s heart······.”
“I’ll die! I’ll die if I don’t marry him!”
Choi Mi-yeon clutched her neck.
Deok-su stepped between them.
“Jeong Dan-hee, snap out of it. Since you were little you’ve only done what you wanted. Even now······.”
“I did everything I wanted to, oppa.
Last time I went to the department store and screamed about gap-jil with the staff, right? You know how the internet blew up?”
“Let those commoners talk all they want······. They won’t look at some guy with a girlfriend the way she does.”
“······Both of you stop!”
“Cut. Good. Long shot. Fix it.”
PD Park Hee-yeol gave the signal with applause.
While the cameras were being reset, Choi Ji-yeon whispered quietly beside Deok-su.
“······The tickets······? Are you still looking?”
“I’m sorry. I’ve tried, but······.”
“I see······? It’s hard to get member tickets too······. Okay. Don’t push yourself too hard.”
Choi Ji-yeon lay back on the bed with a disappointed sigh.
She had asked through the company or Ryu Gang-hyeok, but tickets were never easy.
Especially because they were well-known among insiders.
Filming continued.
It started with full shots, moved to medium shots, and eventually close-ups that highlighted every detail of the face.
The more it went on, the sharper Yoo Seon-hwa’s nerves became.
“······Can I just check the monitor once?”
After every check she demanded a retake.
The reason was simple.
To compare Deok-su’s skin tone with her own.
“Deok-su’s face is really white······. Mine is dark······. Can I have more lighting, PD-nim?”
In the end, the reflector and lights on her face kept growing more unnecessary.
‘Is morning drama really like this?’
Even while filming, Deok-su felt puzzled.
He had seen actresses sensitive about lighting and cameras many times, but not to this extreme in morning drama.
The production team held more power than the actors in morning dramas.
After filming ended, it was break time.
While the staff prepared the next scene, Deok-su rested in the hospital lounge.
“Deok-su, got a light?”
He looked up to see Director Lee Gap-yeon and Director Kim Tae-min.
Deok-su took out his lighter and lit it for them.
The gesture was strangely familiar.
Both directors exhaled smoke and shook their heads.
“Man······. He’s really getting on my nerves today.”
“You should’ve told the lighting team not to be so picky. Sigh, PD said it wasn’t part of the contract.”
“I gave in at first because her attitude was cute······. Sigh, even older people can be this childish.”
Who they were talking about was obvious.
They called him “PD-nim” and “Director-nim” but somehow skimmed the real work.
Bad rumors were spreading anyway.
Especially bad words from directors, particularly the real power on set—the director or lighting director.
Deok-su felt a chill.
Director Lee Gap-yeon turned to him.
“Deok-su, do you know Yoo Seon-hwa’s nickname?”
“I’m not sure. What is it?”
“The Bee. She buzzes during filming and makes it annoying.”
Lighting director Kim Tae-min sighed.
“Her face got pimples today. Makeup came off. PD helped a lot······. If I reduce the shading, the face looks shadowed again······. Grateful for coffee, yeah, but still. When I work with PD Park, I’ll have to say I can’t deal with the Bee.”
“Yeah. Sigh, do you do that to your boyfriend too? Deok-su, what do you think?”
Deok-su only smiled awkwardly.
The directors finished two cigarettes and left.
Lee Hui-yeong approached next.
In her hand was an empty protein shake box.
“You’re greeting me again?”
“I have to hustle right now. I wish it was coffee······. It was a bit oily though.”
Deok-su felt guilty.
The cost had come from the company corporate card.
It was the card they gave him saying “add oil.”
He was using part of it this way.
Lee Hui-yeong crushed the empty box and puffed her chest.
“But the senior manager of Yoo Seon-hwa didn’t react much to the coffee. Do these people prefer Park X’s more?”
Deok-su just shrugged.
That day the shoot dragged on for hours.
After the Jongno hospital location ended, the crew moved to a park in Siheung.
Dawn at the park was quiet, perfect for filming.
Deok-su sat on a bench reading the script.
Yoo Seon-hwa plopped down beside him.
“Did I bother you?”
“It’s fine, senior.”
“Rumors are really just that—rumors.
Your skin is way better than they say.
They say real handsome guys have nothing but the face.”
Deok-su smiled shyly.
She mentioned skin first, so he knew exactly what she was after.
Yoo Seon-hwa glanced around and whispered secretly.
“Hey, Deok-su, where do you go for a shop?”
“A shop?”
“To keep skin like that, you probably don’t go to some regular place. Tell me. Huh?”
Deok-su blinked slowly.
Skin care mattered for idols, but he had no time or money now.
He was too busy studying acting and building his body.
Fortunately his natural skin was good, and he had used the products he already had.
Lee Hui-yeong’s advice had stopped him from switching brands out of fear of skin trouble.
“I don’t go to a shop.”
“You’re a guy. I’m an actress. Even if the areas are different, you can teach me······.”
“I just eat instant ramen and work out hard. I use a lot of products. Want me to recommend any?”
When the shop question didn’t come up, her face twisted.
“Rude. Maybe it’s a place only company people know? Then I’ll take better care of you······.”
“Why would I lie to my senior? I don’t go to any shop.”
Yoo Seon-hwa stared at him.
Among everyone she had met, Kim Deok-su’s skin was top-tier.
Even compared to actress Kim Hye-ji, it didn’t fall short.
Kim Hye-ji had her own shop, expensive as it was······.
“Fine. If you don’t want to tell me, forget it. Rude to have just one shop······.”
Yoo Seon-hwa’s face flushed red with embarrassment.
“······Insane. Are all actresses this rude?”
Deok-su’s head throbbed.
As an extra he had almost no contact, but now he saw the difference.
“We’re starting filming!”
Even so, Yoo Seon-hwa was professional.
As soon as the cameras rolled, she launched into an emotional scene as Dan-hee.
“······If you’re my brother, act like one! Live properly! Live!”
“This, don’t let go!?”
Deok-su grabbed the hand choking his collar and pushed her away hard.
“You let go of your mind over a man and don’t care about your family!”
“Hah! Who do you think you are to be interested!?”
PD Park Hee-yeol slightly adjusted his headset and whispered to the assistant director.
‘What happened between them?’
‘No. Is there a problem?’
‘They seem really fighting. The faces are good though······.’
Whether lucky or unlucky, filming moved fast.
No more reflector talk or poshness.
“······Thank you for your hard work.”
At dawn, as soon as filming ended, Yoo Seon-hwa rushed out of the set.
The staff wondered at her unusual behavior but didn’t pay much attention.
PD Park Hee-yeol caught Deok-su for a moment.
“Deok-su, good work.”
“Thank you. Did you have something to say······?”
“About Choi, the teacher. She said she tried to get Signature tickets.”
Deok-su sighed.
He had no idea how the conversation reached the PD.
But the next words were completely unexpected.
“She said her daughter is studying abroad in a foreign country.
She came back for a month, but she’s too busy with work to spend time with her daughter.
So she asked to watch the Signature concert together, something her daughter likes······.”
“That’s news to me. I looked into it······.”
“Deok-su probably did too. It’s a bit sad. I heard she’s a Cast fan······.”
“Wait a second. Cast······? Gang-hyeok?”
Something clicked in Deok-su’s mind.
One week later, morning.
Deok-su, dressed in a work outfit without the coat, sat in front of the TV.
Beside him sat Jung-mi and Hui-yeong.
“Huh? It’s starting.”
Just after eight, the drama Elegant Love began.
“Deok-su, is that you?”
While passing the opening title, Jung-mi spotted Kim Deok-su’s name.
“······In My Hwarang the opening didn’t show names.”
The two women erupted in noise.
Names appeared, faces didn’t, too bad.
In stark contrast to the calm Deok-su.
Ten minutes into the drama, Deok-su appeared on screen with the department store.
In his burgundy suit he pushed staff to their knees and pointed a finger.
“······Anyone like you can be swapped out anytime. You’re just a spare tire. Act like it and do your job properly.”
“······.”
Deok-su’s face on the TV twisted.
His voice was sharp and light.
“······Worst.”
Jung-mi’s quiet voice startled Deok-su.
She covered her mouth in shock.
An awkward silence followed.
“Ah, haha······. L-let’s just keep watching.”
Luckily Lee Hui-yeong stepped in to fix the mood.
The scene was short but impactful.
Comparing a department store subordinate to a spare tire and insulting others openly made even Jung-mi angry.
“······Deok-su, you don’t act like that now, do you?”
“O-of course I don’t.”
Deok-su waved his hands strongly at his mother’s question.
The day for Elegant Love filming arrived quickly.
Deok-su and Lee Hui-yeong finished preparations faster than usual and headed to the set in Silim instead of the studio.
Inside a luxurious pension in Silim, a hooded man waited for them.
“Thank you.”
“It’s my day off too. I came to watch you anyway.”
Ryu Gang-hyeok sat in the back seat of the small car and stretched his legs forward.
Deok-su pushed the seat forward, but the small car was still narrow.
“It’s pretty cramped, huh?”
“It’s fine. You didn’t rent a vehicle? Why drive your own?”
“I did apply, but I haven’t heard back yet.”
He had applied, but JMT only covered fuel.
Ryu Gang-hyeok frowned.
“I’ll talk to them······.”
“It’s probably not going to happen.”
“Why? The company usually listens to me.”
Ryu Gang-hyeok tilted his head.
Deok-su answered calmly.
“It’s because I don’t have enough money yet. The company isn’t running a business······. Soon when I get a raise, things will change.”
“······Are you really Kim Deok-su?”
“What?”
“You’ve really grown up!”
While the two men joked, the small car arrived at OBC Broadcasting Station.
When the three entered the set, everyone’s eyes widened.
Their gazes all fixed on Ryu Gang-hyeok beside Deok-su.
‘Oh my god. It’s Cast?’
‘Wah. The leader of Signature?! He was close to L’Vyu!’
‘L’Vyu said he’s quitting Signature. Why is he filming with the leader?’
Deok-su’s group had been in the middle of rumors about conflict with Signature.
The industry was sensitive to every bit of it.
Deok-su’s group greeted the staff calmly and headed to the waiting room.
Knock knock—
“Come in.”
The door opened to Choi Ji-yeon, who had just finished makeup.
She waved indifferently at Deok-su, then saw Ryu Gang-hyeok and her eyes widened.
“S-signature leader?”
“Nice to meet you, senior.”
“Y-yes.”
Deok-su smiled at her embarrassment.
“I heard your daughter is a Cast fan. I can’t get tickets, but a phone call might be possible······.”
“Phone call? Senior, when your daughter has time, ask her to come visit the set.”
While switching between the two, Choi Ji-yeon blinked.