I Want to Stay for Just One More Minute (9)
“…You want me to cry?”
“Ah, no. Don’t look at me like that… just hear me out.”
Was she some kind of pervert? Woo Dan-wol’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. Ju Ha-ryeong waved her hands frantically in denial. While her request did contain a sliver of genuine desire, she had a legitimate reason. It was all for the sake of character analysis.
“You seemed a little different on set earlier.”
“In what way?”
Woo Dan-wol’s expression softened. He had thought she was the same type as him, but if she turned out to be a pervert, that would be quite disappointing. Still, if this was about the scene they had just filmed, he could understand to some extent.
It made sense. When Woo Dan-wol used his ability, it didn’t just affect him; it also influenced the counterpart whose breath he shared on screen. That was why Ju Ha-ryeong was asking such a question. He finally understood.
She began to speak about the character. Woo Dan-wol listened attentively.
“So, in that scene earlier…”
“Yes.”
“Ha-min’s emotions… they were a bit…”
Ju Ha-ryeong let out a long sigh as she struggled to continue. She had no idea what she was even saying anymore. The more she spoke, the more embarrassed and frustrated she became, until the reality of the situation hit her like a truck. She couldn’t even get to the main point and was just rambling in circles. In the end, she had no choice but to rely on Woo Dan-wol’s help.
“So what you’re saying is, Ha-min’s feelings toward Lee Shin-woo are ambiguous? You want to run the scene again to feel it out properly. Is that it?”
“That’s… exactly it!”
The direction was different, but surprisingly, the destination was the same. Looking slightly guilty, Ju Ha-ryeong nodded slowly. She felt like she was committing some kind of crime.
Was she deceiving her junior to satisfy her own selfish desires? No. Ju Ha-ryeong vehemently denied it to herself. Just as Woo Dan-wol had said, she had requested this because she wanted to express the character’s emotional arc in greater detail.
Once the topic turned to acting, Woo Dan-wol didn’t seem to find anything strange about it. He simply began to perform.
“Shall we begin, then?”
“Yeah. Let’s redo that scene from earlier.”
A few seconds of silence passed. Then, tears began to flow from Woo Dan-wol’s eyes.
“Ugh…”
“……”
This was strange. Was this not Ha-min’s emotion? Ju Ha-ryeong started to raise her hand to tell him to stop, but hesitated. She kept wavering.
No matter how much she tried to dress it up as character analysis, the truth was that her own heart and desires were reacting. There was no escaping that.
Woo Dan-wol looked up at her. The natural height difference between them was evident. He sniffled, his body trembling faintly. Every gesture perfectly embodied Lee Shin-woo’s emotions. The tears streaming down his face, the confused gaze.
Ju Ha-ryeong, on the receiving end of it all, felt as if her heart was being squeezed. Her chest trembled. A whirlwind of emotions too complex to name swirled inside her. But one thing was certain.
His appearance was incredibly stimulating to her, at the very least. Could a man crying really look this beautiful? She knew she shouldn’t feel this way. Guilt toward him mingled with a subtle, forbidden pleasure.
Just as he was sobbing and pouring out tears, a knock sounded at the waiting room door. It was Lee Hye-ri, who had come looking for them after noticing Seong Ji-hoon had been kicked out.
-Knock, knock, knock.
“Dan-wol? Ha-ryeong? Are you in there?”
“……”
Silence fell. Woo Dan-wol’s tears stopped, and he slipped out of the Lee Shin-woo persona, returning to his normal self. The situation was awkward. Ju Ha-ryeong was just as flustered. It was genuinely a difficult predicament.
At that moment, Woo Dan-wol opened his mouth. Like flipping a switch on and off, he could exit immersion in an instant. It was a natural response.
“N-noona… I-I’m fine…”
But the problem was that his voice still carried the remnants of sobbing. Of course it did. Even if he left the role, his tear-soaked throat wasn’t going to recover instantly. He wasn’t a superhuman. It was impossible.
To anyone listening, it sounded like he had been crying. Lee Hye-ri’s voice paused for a full second as she assessed the situation. Then the door burst open violently.
“What the hell are you two—!”
“……”
Ju Ha-ryeong squeezed her eyes shut. This wasn’t just anyone; this was Lee Hye-ri, former team leader at E-Doon Entertainment. She could already imagine the string of curses starting with male anatomy that might come flying out.
On the other hand, after stepping into the waiting room, Lee Hye-ri was too busy trying to process the scene. The three seconds of silence felt like three whole minutes.
Woo Dan-wol had clearly been crying. Even though the tears had stopped, the traces remained. His face looked exactly like someone who had just been weeping. And facing him was Ju Ha-ryeong.
Her career wasn’t short, but taking care of Woo Dan-wol always brought new surprises. A deep sigh escaped Lee Hye-ri’s lips.
“What… exactly is going on here?”
“Hic, huu, I-I’m fine. It’s nothing…”
Woo Dan-wol’s acting prowess shone through. He made it look like it truly was nothing. But that only made the situation resemble something far more specific.
It looked like a victim trying to hide and cover things up. Ju Ha-ryeong’s face gradually turned deathly pale. Because of what he had said. She felt like the perpetrator. No—was she the perpetrator?
After all, she had made his eyes water. In a way, she was. Lee Hye-ri’s icy voice rang through the waiting room. Ju Ha-ryeong’s survival instincts kicked in. In times like this, an immediate apology was the best move.
“I’m sorry.”
“Senior, you didn’t do anything wrong…”
A senior actress apologizing. A junior saying it was fine. To an outsider, it looked like a superior scolding a subordinate. It was a situation ripe for misunderstanding.
Still, the moment an apology was offered, Lee Hye-ri’s tense aura eased considerably. Even in the same situation, there was a world of difference between starting with an apology and stubbornly making excuses.
After hearing the full story, Lee Hye-ri sat down in a chair with the expression of someone who had aged ten years. Rehearsing emotions… Did they really have to do that at a time like this?
Even so, she couldn’t completely hide her lingering suspicion. She asked,
“…This is really not what it looks like, right?”
“N-no, of course not. I cherish Dan-wol very much.”
“Hmm…”
“It’s true. Senior takes such good care of me.”
What exactly had she taken good care of? When she tried to think of something, nothing came to mind. She recalled the cold way she had treated him all this time. Ju Ha-ryeong felt an unexpected pang of guilt.
In the end, Woo Dan-wol was hounded by Lee Hye-ri for quite some time after that day. Whenever she had a spare moment, she would ask, “This isn’t what I think it is, right, Dan-wol…?” until he nearly developed a neurosis.
Autumn passed, and December arrived, when the word “cold” finally began to rear its head. Winter was drawing near.
I Want to Stay for Just One More Minute had aired up to episode ten. Before long, it was time to film Woo Dan-wol’s final scenes. Although the weather was freezing, the indoor setting meant there were no major issues.
The director’s signal came, and the final shoot began.
“Action!”
In the end, Lee Shin-woo dropped out of school. He prepared for the qualification exam and took on whatever part-time jobs he could find, steadily building his future. Even so, his passion for boxing never faded.
Ha-min’s skills improved day by day, eventually growing strong enough for her to become a national representative.
A ticklish romance and a story of growth. In the end, it was Lee Shin-woo who stayed by her side and looked after her.
Even while pretending to hate it, pretending to find her annoying, he was the one who cared about her more than anyone else.
That ticklish line of emotion. Under the common ground of boxing, the two gradually sparked curiosity in each other. They had watched each other closer than anyone else.
They had never confessed, but their feelings for one another could only be described as tender. And now.
The match that would define their relationship was about to begin. From the coach’s seat, he watched her with nervous eyes. Although this was acting, his own heart was poured into this moment.
Thanks to Ju Ha-ryeong’s passionate commitment to the role, the scene was being filmed on a real boxing ring. A ring where professional matches took place. They had rented an actual arena for the shoot.
Countless cameras captured the ring. Because the setup was so close to a real match, even Ju Ha-ryeong looked visibly tense.
At that moment, Woo Dan-wol delivered a line that wasn’t in the script.
“Ha-min!!!”
“…?!”
Eyes from all around turned toward them. In this instant, he was no longer Woo Dan-wol. He had set his own dreams aside for a while, but for the friend standing in the place he once dreamed of.
So that the friend who shared the same dream could achieve it in his stead. As a coach, as a friend, as someone with feelings for her, Lee Shin-woo spoke words of encouragement.
“If you win, I’ll grant you one wish!!”
At those words, the tension on Ha-min’s face melted away. The extras standing in for the audience let out a roar. His sincere line transformed the filming set into a real arena.
The cameras captured burning passion. For this one moment, the monitor in Seong A-reum’s hands showed footage that felt less like a drama and more like an actual match.
The kind of heat, romance, and youthful freshness that would make any woman instinctively clench her fists. The drama she had longed to create was finally coming to life.
The bell signaling the start of the match rang. Ju Ha-ryeong took a deep breath. The safety of the actors was paramount, but she had decided to trust in Ju Ha-ryeong’s three years of boxing experience.
“Ready… fight!”
Ha-min’s fist met her opponent’s, and the match began.