Along Along (3)

“Our drama is blowing up right now. If it suddenly gets suspended—”

“Well, at least no one was seriously hurt—”

“It was a cigarette butt a staff member tossed. We have to contain this one, don't we?”

The production team went into an emergency meeting. Plenty of productions would have pretended nothing happened and pushed ahead with filming and broadcast anyway, but they genuinely wanted to wrap the series without a single ripple of bad press.

“There's no damage to the set, so let's keep filming and just post an apology.”

“Director—”

“The footage is already out there anyway. There's no stopping it.”

The prevailing opinion was to gloss over it as a minor mishap during filming and bury it under a wave of publicity for Yoon Jay's heroics. So they went to see the fire captain.

“No.”

“We admit it was our fault. We'll post an apology and everything. But our actor handled the initial response well, didn't he?”

“That may be, but I can't file a false report, can I?”

“Of course you should file it properly. We're not that shameless. We're just asking you not to publicize it outside—”

As the production team floundered, the fire captain glanced sideways at Yoon Jay, who was just stepping out of the emergency room.

The man's first response had been exemplary. He'd been a firefighter once, apparently, and the captain felt a flicker of kinship. But he'd also heard from his subordinates that this was an actor just starting out, and he hesitated for a moment.

“Hah. Fine. I'll go easy because of how well that man handled himself.”

“Oh, thank you so much.”

The production team belatedly followed the captain's gaze.

“Mr. Jay, are you all right?”

“I'm fine. Is— is Ms. Park Min-ji okay?”

“Park Min-ji? Ah, the makeup artist you pulled out? She burned her hand a little, but they say it's nothing serious. We're keeping her overnight just to be safe.”

Good grief. Handsome face, great acting, and a good heart too. The production manager was already completely smitten.

Having kept a major accident from spiraling out of control, Jay was met with nothing but warm looks all around.

“You honestly saved a life today.”

“I was trying to save my own, actually.”

“Haha! Such modesty.”

Only half a joke, though. Yoon Jay smiled awkwardly. Old habits died hard—the moment he'd seen the flames, his body had bolted before his mind caught up.

But even with Lee Seo-won and the investors backing him, landing a supporting role in your very first TV drama was no small feat. He couldn't afford to squander a hard-won opportunity.

“There's even talk of a commendation. Please accept it—it'll be great publicity for the drama.”

“Without you, Mr. Jay, this drama would've been scrap metal.”

The production team's praise came in an unbroken relay. Kwak Dohyun and Han Jin-woo watched the scene with fond satisfaction.

The footage is already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on social media, so it'll spread in no time.

With a fair idea of how the production team would handle things, Kwak Dohyun picked up his phone.

Curious though she was, Lee Da-hyun dutifully accepted the 500 won. A penny saved is a penny earned.

She had, in fact, been racking her brain over exactly how to spin it.

Should I keep it subtle, so it doesn't look too obvious? But it's a fact that he did a good deed—maybe loud, unapologetic hype is the way to go?

Kwak Dohyun told her that since Jay didn't want the attention right now, she should hold the material in reserve and deploy it quietly later, when the tide was right—and then he told her about his past career.

He said it with full confidence that the man would only grow more famous from here.

Lee Da-hyun, absent for several minutes, finally replied.

The video posted on social media spread like wildfire.

The image of him helping staff out of the flames, and of him pulling back a colleague who was nearly engulfed when the wind shifted, left a deep impression.

With the situation as it was, the drama's production company began building up the narrative of Yoon Jay's heroics even further.

And in step, his agency Astra quietly released favorable articles of its own, riding the wave.

Jay's image even made it onto the same network's eight o'clock news.

Word spread that the fire had been caused by staff negligence—rumor pinned it on a cigarette butt—and it drew public outrage, but the ratings didn't budge.

After all, it was true that the actor himself had stepped up and handled the emergency flawlessly. If anything, the incident became free word-of-mouth, drawing even more attention to the show.

“Hey, Jay. Morning.”

“Ah, good morning.”

Ever since the fire, Kim Hyun-jun had become a model of punctuality.

He tried to act friendly with Yoon Jay, but the staff all knew his chronic lateness had indirectly contributed to the whole mess. With the cold looks he was getting, he'd read the room and changed his tune.

Which only made the staff angrier inside. So you CAN show up on time for call. Why couldn't you do that before?

Man, if I'd shown up early that day, I could've been the hero instead of him.

Kim Hyun-jun, who had arrived late to the fire itself, had spent the whole time just spectating among the staff.

“Jay, hold still a second. You'll wrinkle your hanbok.”

“Thank you.”

Perhaps because he'd been the first to notice the makeup team's absence and had saved a life besides, Jay was now looking out for even the lowliest staff members who would once have passed him by unnoticed.

This side of the set is quieter.

Slipping away from the crowd to a secluded spot, Yoon Jay gathered his thoughts.

Today's scene was the one where his character becomes conscious of his own feelings for Jung Yeon-hwa.

In episode one, the female lead, Jung Yeon-hwa, regresses into the past. Confused but pragmatic, she starts by taking stock of her situation—and when she sees the tragedy she remembers unfolding exactly as before, she becomes certain.

She adapts quickly, having grown up on the family legend that one of the treasures passed down through her line holds the power to alter time itself.

Before her regression, Jung Yeon-hwa had been a woman of gentle renown, known far and wide for draining her personal fortune to give to the poor—so much so that she'd even been put forward as a candidate for Crown Princess.

But knowing the future that awaited, she had to act differently now.

And so begins Jung Yeon-hwa's double life. The virtuous noblewoman becomes, almost overnight, a notorious villainess—while behind the scenes she runs a trading syndicate, amassing wealth with her knowledge of the future.

That accumulated money flows to the poor, and—after her mother's family is falsely accused of treason and the Crown Prince's position weakens—secretly to the Crown Prince himself.

The Crown Prince, Lee Geon, stares at the anonymous gift. Setting right what is crooked... who could it be?

Lee Geon begins looking into the organization Jung Yeon-hwa secretly runs.

Jung Yeon-hwa's efforts come to nothing—because the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rumors reach Prince Muhwi, Lee Hwi, and he takes an interest.

Slipping out of a gisaeng house, he finds her by a secluded lakeside.

At first it's mere amusement. Why would the famously virtuous Jung Yeon-hwa suddenly behave so out of character? Has she truly gone mad? Like me. His curiosity is stirred.

Contrary to the rumors—that he once flew into a violent rage because a child blocked his path—he shows tenderness even toward small, helpless creatures. And Jay's interest in this side of Jung Yeon-hwa deepens by the scene.

His character, too, plays the war-mad degenerate on the surface while secretly scheming with his close aides to bring down the Crown Prince.

From then on, without ever promising it to each other, the two meet at the lakeside and trade idle conversation.

Though she ruined her own reputation, Jung Yeon-hwa still aches at the cruel things people say—and so she uses Lee Hwi, who listens in silence, like a bamboo grove that simply absorbs everything.

Feeling slightly guilty about it, and growing curious about the man behind the rumors, she begins trying to see his face.

Friends. Friends, he says. Lee Hwi chuckles softly, removes the hat he's been wearing, and steps in front of her.

The person she has been confiding in all this time is the very man who dragged her into the abyss. Jung Yeon-hwa goes white and flees on the spot.

A face drained of all color. Did she recognize me?

I've spent more than half my life on the battlefield—there's no way she'd know I'm Prince Muhwi.

Amusing.

Erasing 'himself' and layering the character over the empty space—that work was a joy, no matter how many times he did it.

It had been the same with The Child. Erase 'me,' let Park Donghwa seep into the skin. And when the camera captured it whole, the crew would shout that's it! and cheer him on.

He loved that feeling of being the center of the whirlwind of people bustling to set up the next shot. Come to think of it, he supposed he'd always rather liked attention.

“Jay. What are you doing?”

He'd been deep in the character for a long while when Park Seo-ah called out to him. Yoon Jay slowly turned to look at her.

“They'll probably start filming soon—”

“......”

“......!”

The instant their eyes met, goosebumps raced across Park Seo-ah's entire body. On his faintly smiling face glinted a possessiveness that bordered on Lee Hwi's obsession.

While Jung Yeon-hwa was building a delicate something with Prince Muhwi by the lakeside, the male lead—the Crown Prince, Lee Geon—became entangled with her as well.

One of the reasons Along Along had been so popular was precisely the male lead's arc of regret.

Jung Yeon-hwa regressed through Lee Geon's treasure—but Lee Geon himself does not retain his memories intact.

He forgets entirely his memories and feelings for Jung Yeon-hwa, and seeks out the legendary treasure to amass power, telling himself it simply appeared in a dream, that he was simply lucky.

Jung Yeon-hwa, armed with her memories, seeks out the most useful treasures first; Lee Geon sets off hunting the treasure from his dream—and the two cross paths.

Lee Geon, believing the rumors, hurls cruel words at Jung Yeon-hwa—and she is wounded by them.

Only Prince Muhwi, Lee Hwi, has seen her true worth. Apparently, back when the original webtoon was serializing, fans used to fight over which of the two men she'd end up with, thanks to this razor's-edge dynamic.

In the drama, Lee Hwi shows her nothing but a man who frequents gisaeng houses and kills without mercy.

But in the scenes where he faces Jung Yeon-hwa, he is different. He cannot bring himself to touch her, even briefly, for fear of staining her; when words close to a confession spill from him, his voice trembles with the effort.

Don't believe only the rumors—look at what's inside me. Look at the one who listened to everything you had to say. People point their fingers at me; even my own parents scorn me. You. Only you—

It is a face of such quiet anguish that a single blink might send tears spilling down. Jung Yeon-hwa turns away, reluctantly. Their eyes meet one last time—and the episode ends.