You Watched That?

You watched that?

Not long after The Garden of Evil went live, behind-the-scenes footage had begun trickling out, one piece at a time. Sensing that the reaction to Baek Jin-ri was anything but ordinary, the production company went so far as to plan special content featuring Yoon Jay and Yoon Jay alone.

Baek Jin-ri was a seasoning of a character wrapped around the late-story macguffin, which meant a dedicated camera had been assigned to the brand-new rookie Yoon Jay. There was plenty of material to work with.

("So I hear you're a fresh rookie whose agency contract ink hasn't even dried yet. How are you feeling?")

("Nervous.")

("This is your first time on an actual production shoot, isn't it?")

("My first time in a special appearance role.")

Yoon Jay had deflected the question with practiced ease, and not a single person caught it. Everyone simply chalked it up to nerves and moved on.

("Looking forward to working with you today.")

His first shoot. That shy, self-conscious smile carried all the unmistakable freshness of a rookie.

And then, a little later, when he was running the dry rehearsal while listening to the director's notes — even viewers who had never once sought out Yoon Jay content could plainly see how tightly wound he was, fumbling every other step.

At that point, the wariness surrounding his supposed camera phobia still lingered. Watching him tense up so visibly, the cinematographer had tilted his head, clearly uncertain.

But the doubt dissolved almost immediately. Standing before the camera, Yoon Jay carried his role through without a single NG.

("Oh... he's good.")

("Not bad at all, is he?")

The footage caught several people nodding along. Later shots showed the staff riveted by his acting — one of them, thinking no one was watching, sneaking a thumbs-up.

("How was Yoon Jay's performance?")

("So flawless I could hardly believe he's a rookie. Baek Jin-ri is the key to the second half, so I'd been worried — but now I'm the one racking my brain over how to frame this acting so it shines even brighter.")

Woven between the scenes were interviews with director Park Hyun-seung. Recorded right after the shoot wrapped, they were wall-to-wall praise of Yoon Jay's acting; the whole thing might as well have been a dedicated Yoon Jay special.

("You can project even more than usual, right? Go in with the feeling that you're just going to annihilate it.")

("...I'll give it a try.")

Then came the moment Yoon Jay found his answer to the camera phobia and suddenly burst out laughing — and the comments came flooding in, one after another, all saying the same thing: is that Yoon Jay or Baek Jin-ri?

("...Haha!")

And then there was Moon Changmin, so thoroughly overwhelmed by Yoon Jay that he forgot his own lines and bowed his head.

("...I'll go again!")

In truth, the production company had agonized over whether to include that scene, and had ultimately gone to Moon Changmin for his blessing. The drama was carried by Moon Changmin as its one and only top-billed lead — it was no exaggeration to say his involvement was what got the production greenlit — so they had little choice but to tread carefully.

("You're keeping that scene in, right?")

("Hah. Do rookies these days all come like that? Doesn't feel like I was anything close when I was a rookie.")

("He's a brand-new ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠debutant — but that's beside the point. If anything, I was the one learning from him.")

Moon Changmin threw back his head and laughed, and gave his consent. A junior he liked, someone genuinely skilled, charging up the ranks — that was, to him, a pure pleasure. And many people knew exactly how sincere he was about it.

On screen, Moon Changmin steadied his breathing and started the take over. In the wake of the two actors' whirlwind scene, the view count soared on what was, after all, just promotional material.

Even though fragments of his past had come to light, he remained an enigma — and there was still so much people were curious about.

("I just tried it, and it worked.")

And then there was the pupil performance that had flattened everyone on set. Behind the aghast director, visible only in miniature, an exhausted Yoon Jay crumpled to the floor.

The chronic camera phobia had been cured — but summoning Asad Yasin Qadir as his reference for the scene had thrown his body out of order. His breathing turned ragged; his hands and feet trembled. Yet his manager, Han Jin-woo, and the drama staff had all assumed it was simply the toll of deep immersion, and saw him home.

But the twins, who watched every single piece of content their brother appeared in without exception, had sensed that something was off at exactly this moment.

"Huh?"

"Yoon Do-jun, you felt it too?"

"You did too?"

The twins, eyes locking, murmured blankly at each other.

"He looked really worn out, didn't he?"

"Yeah."

The early trajectory of The Garden of Evil had been quite good. Everyone assumed it would coast along smoothly — until Baek Jin-ri's catchphrase and his unhinged dance pulled in a flood of late arrivals.

An unforeseen follow-up hit. And so the production company scrambled to bring Yoon Jay back in for an additional interview ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠video.

"Hello."

"Jay! It's been a while."

He was already acquainted with the reporter from the promotional shoot they'd done before the drama's release. Back then the other lead actors had been there too, so Yoon Jay's share of the footage had been slim.

Now, it was Yoon Jay solo. It seemed like even more staff had gathered for the interview than back then.

"Did you know? Ever since Baek Jin-ri's unhinged dance went up on Cookietok, the drama's viewership has shot way up."

"I'm glad I was of some use."

"Any regrets? You know — 'I should have charged more for this'?"

"No."

Yoon Jay shook his head. Moon Changmin was a good man, and so was director Park Hyun-seung. If the drama did even better because of him, and he could repay them for it, so much the better.

"How have you been? Did you have any idea Baek Jin-ri would become unexpectedly famous off The Garden of Evil?"

"Honestly, no. It was a simple special appearance, and my screen time was quite limited."

"Well, none of us can predict what's coming — that's life, isn't it? Just as people have now discovered how you seized that brief screen time with pure acting."

"Wow — thank you for those kind words."

Under Yoon Jay's gleaming gaze, the reporter found himself flustered for no good reason and cleared his throat with a slight cough.

"That pupil performance Moon Changmin praised so extravagantly — how did it come about? How is something like that even possible?"

He meant the thousand-yard stare — the constricted pupils Yoon Jay had produced by drawing on his memories of war.

Yoon Jay fell silent for a moment. He remembered the director asking, half in jest, whether he'd actually ever touched drugs; saying the performance was rooted in lived experience seemed unwise.

"Hmm... to be honest, I'm not entirely sure myself. So if you're asking how it was possible, I genuinely don't have a way to explain it."

"Must have been the immersion."

"Yes. In fact I barely remember that moment. My vision just went white, and then this wave of aches came over me all at once and..."

"Born to be an actor, then."

Plenty of people had clicked the clip out of pure curiosity about what Baek Jin-ri even was, only to come away saying it felt like staring into an uncanny valley — surely it was post-edited, they insisted. Of course, that controversy died the moment the behind-the-scenes footage came out.

"Well, we're nearly out of time — could we get 'that line,' just once, straight to the camera?"

"Right now?"

Yoon Jay, sheepish, tipped his head back — and then abruptly faced the camera, recreating that day's atmosphere and movement to the letter. An expression that shimmered between rapture and a glimpse of madness.

"This is grace."

The reporter let out a small gasp of admiration at how the entire atmosphere had shifted in an instant. Yoon Jay obliged every request made of him, and the interview rolled along in high spirits.

"How did the people around you react? Your younger siblings, or close colleagues like Kwon Min-jae?"

"The twins... they start their day by sending me that line."

"Really?"

"Ten, twenty times a day, I'd say. Lately they can't even be bothered to type it out — sometimes just a single 'EC,' and that's it. And without fail whenever they eat something delicious."

"Haha! That's delightful!"

Word was that not only Do-jun and Do-hwa but the members of Buster and Flava had joined the trend, flinging grace around with abandon. Kwon Min-jae, on the other hand... well. The man who used to message him constantly had gone quiet of late.

Busy with a new project, probably.

He still answered when Yoon Jay texted first, but something about the tone felt different. Lee Seo-won had invited him to a gathering of his acquaintances — if he went, no doubt he'd run into Kwon Min-jae there.

"Even people I'd lost touch with send me that line out of the blue. It's turned into something like a greeting, a bit like with my siblings."

"Ah — like 'have you eaten yet?' sort of thing?"

"Yes. And I'm grateful for it, honestly. It means they've seen how I'm doing."

The acquaintances he'd come to know through his past works used the line as a way of saying, I know you're doing well these days.

It didn't grate on him at all, so he answered each and every one — which was how he ended up sitting at his computer for hours at a stretch.

"What kind of character would you like to play next?"

"At this point, I wouldn't mind trying someone kind and wholesome for a change."

"Ahh... and yet in the soon-to-premiere Crown, you're playing a dangerously seductive — yes, that sort of role again, aren't you?"

The reporter couldn't quite bring himself to say the other man, so the words trailed off. Crown, a pre-produced drama shot in parallel with Daldongne, would premiere simultaneously on a terrestrial broadcaster and Nflix.

"Since it's come up — I did watch that Crown trailer too."

"And how was it?"

"Oof — my face is going red just thinking about it. Can you see it?"

The reporter pointed at her own rapidly flushing cheeks. Yoon Jay laughed, a little awkwardly.

The kids absolutely lost their minds over it.

Thanks to Park Hyun-ah's invitation to share a New Year's meal, Yoon Jay had stopped by the neighborhood near the twins' family home.

In his debut days, people had stared simply because he stood out. Now, the moment he walked into any given place, far more people would brighten with recognition — Huh? Wait—

"Come in. Happy New Year."

"Have you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been well? This is..."

"Oh my, you really didn't need to bring anything."

"Thank you for inviting me today."

"Oh, come off it. We're family."

"Still."

It was New Year's, and his family were all in America — she had called him over because she hated the thought of him being alone in a foreign country. Yes, that was exactly why.

Park Hyun-ah simply smiled at the look in Yoon Jay's eyes, which seemed to see straight through her. Quick-witted as he was, he took after nothing of her late husband. Surely he got it from his birth mother?

They had just been trading news of their lives when she noticed a stir rising from outside. Park Hyun-ah smiled. It was much the same commotion as when Yoon Jay himself had first walked into the restaurant.

"Looks like the kids have arrived."

"I saw them at the awards ceremony — they have an enormous fanbase. And they're so good on stage..."

"Right?"

Hearing it from Yoon Jay — whom the kids adored so devotedly — was its own kind of joy. Park Hyun-ah beamed as her children flung the door open and poured in.

"Mom!"

"Been keeping well?"

Yoon Jay quietly watched the twins throw their arms around their mother and ham it up shamelessly. He'd crossed paths with them briefly at the awards ceremony, but it had been a long while since he'd seen them in private.

"Hyung."

"Oppa."

"Why are you staring like that?"

Having detached themselves from him just as they had from their mother, the twins fixed their eyes squarely on his face. It was because of the wrongness they'd glimpsed in the Garden of Evil making film.

Something had been off back then... it hadn't looked like simple exhaustion from immersion... it had felt like that moment in Daldongne — the one where he hoisted Choi Ahra onto his back and ran.

Maybe I'm imagining it?

He looks perfectly fine.

But the Yoon Jay before them now was so entirely his usual self. The twins, who had been trading glances, smoothed their expressions into smiles almost at once.

"No, it's nothing."

"What, then?"

"You're handsome. I was staring."

Saying that only made them more curious — but the twins showed no sign of actually talking. And so the whole family took their seats, and the real conversation began.

"You're adults now too. How does it feel?"

"Same as always. Just a bit sore that we can't appear on broadcasts past ten PM anymore..."

"Wait, so now you can watch R-rated films?"

Park Hyun-ah and Yoon Jay listened with happy faces as the twins rattled on and on.

"Hyung, what were you doing when you were nineteen?"

"...I'd rather not remember."

"Why? Why, why!"

Yoon Jay gave a hollow laugh. At nineteen, he had just finished Navy SEAL selection and was running training exercises at his unit when he caught Phil's eye — and was hauled off to Afghanistan.

He'd heard it was exceptionally rare to pass selection at that age, but the news had been anything but welcome. From then on, it had been nothing but living hell.

He forced the memory out of his head. Dwelling on this kind of thing for no reason only cost him his composure.

"You two wouldn't tell me yours earlier either, so I'm not telling you mine."

"Aw, come on!"

"Tell us, tell us!"

Yoon Jay felt the twins' hands grabbing at him, shaking him — and his eyes went wide. Wait. They'd said they could watch R-rated films now. And they'd said they'd watched every piece of content he appeared in. Which meant...

"Don't tell me you watched the trailer that dropped yesterday?"

"Of course we did."

"You... you watched that?"

Yoon Do-jun and Yoon Do-hwa covered their faces with their hands and rolled about the floor. Yoon Jay — normally so unshakably composed — stammered, for once.

Crown had come back from review with a 19+ rating. The trailer had gone boldly along with it, and his partially exposed scenes had made the cut.

He didn't care a bit about strangers watching. But family members announcing that they'd watched it — that felt strange, didn't it?

"Your meal is served."

"Whoa!"

The twins' eyes had already gone gleeful and mischievous, but mercifully the food arrived and broke the flow.