The Stage Was Already Set

'Is that too arrogant a thought?'

I wondered if I was failing to see myself objectively, but even when I turned it over calmly, it was a reasonable inference.

I wasn't a deer; I was a human being, and I'd shown my fans all kinds of sides of myself by now.

Which version of Lee Yeonjae they liked, I couldn't say. But…

'They like me because I'm Lee Yeonjae.'

By any current measure, that was an inference solid enough to stand on.

Then, all at once, I felt my spirits lift.

The comments were piling up fast.

"…?"

And there was a microphone in my hand. Wait, what.

'When did they hand me this?'

Looking up, I saw Junghyun hyung valiantly fighting back a grin. What could possibly be that entertaining.

I let out a hollow laugh and raised the microphone.

"You've all laid the stage out for me like this, so it doesn't seem right to walk away from it. I'll sing one song and then wrap up today's broadcast."

This was my first time singing in front of a crowd this size, but I wasn't particularly nervous.

I wasn't a singer. There was no reason I had to be good.

"I'll sing Sehyeon hyung's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠'Weather.' It's a song I got to know because of Bihyeok—ah, Bihyeok is my closest friend, by the way."

A staff member searched for the song on the karaoke machine.

Summoning the melody and lyrics in my head, I kept talking.

"Bihyeok recommended it to me for breath training, actually. And it really did help a lot."

'Weather,' the first solo release from Space's Sehyeon, was not a flashy song.

There were no cascading high notes, no technique that demanded special virtuosity.

It was a song built around tone color, so even staying on pitch wasn't difficult. The problem was the breathing.

'It's been a while.'

It was a song you had to murmur low and carry a smooth current through from start to finish—never an easy thing.

Still, I'd sung it countless times in practice, so I didn't give it much thought.

Fortunately, three minutes passed without a hitch, and after delivering my closing greetings with proper courtesy, I ended the broadcast.

'Feels like a storm has passed.'

Long after the stream cut out, I sat there in a daze.

Someone crouched down in front of me, and when I lifted my head, sure enough, it was Junghyun hyung.

"Did you keep your promise?"

"I believe I did."

"Good boy. That's my Yeonjae."

"Hyung, can I ask you one thing?"

Whenever you want.

The moment those gentle words landed, I asked.

"Do you like me that much?"

"……"

Junghyun hyung's face went blank for an instant before he burst out laughing.

"PUWAHAHA! I'm losing my mind."

He absolutely lost it.

I regarded the man laughing until tears streamed down his face with considerable displeasure.

'I'm not joking around here.'

I genuinely wanted to know.

Was I really so likable that he'd put together something on this scale just to look after me?

Why, though? What had I ever done for him?

I knew why people liked me. It was just that the answer never felt like enough to explain this.

Even as I stared at him in open dissatisfaction, Junghyun hyung refused to answer properly.

"I'll do better."

"Do better at what?"

"Until you don't need to ask questions like that anymore."

All he offered was this kind of riddle.

He said I'd worked hard today and reached out to ruffle my hair, and for now, I simply enjoyed the touch.

"Shall we head home? You need to wash up and get to sleep quick."

"Yes. Let's go home."

Taking the hand he held out before me, I hauled myself up with a groan.

"Hyung, how about we run lines for the next scene on the way home?"

"…Is your stamina infinite or something?"

"Sorry?"

"Nothing. It's just that I left my script behind."

"Ah, don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠worry about it. I stuck about three copies in the car."

"…Right. Thanks."

Junghyun hyung smiled a complicated, conflicted smile and muttered under his breath.

Something incomprehensible about how he was going to have to start taking his supplements from today on.

"You can really sing."

That was the first thing actor Kim Seokjun said to me the moment I arrived on set.

He was dressed in the combat fatigues Agent Jang Yoseok always wore.

"Thank you. You're dressed already, I see."

"Yep. Didn't have anything better to do."

Then couldn't you leave the house a little later?

I was the type to arrive three hours before filming myself, but actor Kim Seokjun was always there before me.

The more I learned about him, the more genuinely diligent a man he proved to be.

"I watched your video from start to finish."

"Really? It was two hours long."

"Told you. Nothing better to do."

He surely had a mountain of better ways to kill time than watching my live broadcast.

But I held my tongue and let it pass.

"There was that kid you said was your closest friend, right?"

"…? You mean Bihyeok?"

"Yeah. Is he an actor too?"

"No, he's an idol trainee. Under WB Entertainment."

"Oh, is that so?"

I wondered why he was bringing this up out of nowhere, and then actor Kim Seokjun pointed squarely at something behind me.

The moment I turned my head, his voice followed.

"When he introduced himself as your close friend, I thought his name was Bihyeok."

He added, a touch sheepishly, that come to think of it, he hadn't even asked the kid's name—but I couldn't manage a proper reply.

I just stood there, staring blankly at Seo Jio.

'Why is HE here?'

Seo Jio, for once, was not wearing the school uniform I saw him in every time we met, but casual clothes.

Somehow sensing where my gaze had landed, the guy looked straight back at me.

"Hey, Yeonjae."

"…Why are you here?"

"Wow, you really don't check your phone, do you."

Seo Jio broke into a grin as he came closer.

"You remember that bit-part audition I told you I was taking? I didn't say anything in case I didn't get it, but it was for Killing Horn."

Ah. So that was the audition he'd said had 130 applicants per slot and no way of knowing whether he'd make it.

"So you got the part. I had no idea."

"Well, actually, I got cut."

Seo Jio looked not the least bit embarrassed while pretending to be embarrassed.

"But apparently something happened with the guy they originally cast. They contacted me last week asking if I could shoot, so here I am. I texted you right away, but you didn't pick up."

This week had been a whirlwind—the live broadcast and everything else—so my head had been all over the place.

"Anyway, congratulations. So the role you're playing is Agent Jang's nephew?"

"Yep. It's only a few lines, but I do have dialogue. And it's the first time I've ever had a role with an actual name."

"Good for you."

I knew Seo Jio had appeared as an extra in a handful of productions by now.

'This is the biggest role he's had so far.'

In the scene, Horn comes face to face for the first time with a boy his own age—Agent Jang Yoseok's nephew.

The scene's core was Horn's emotional turn: chattering away at the boy with a thrilled face, then switching gears in an instant.

Horn was the centerpiece, certainly, but the nephew's flustered reactions were also slated to take up plenty of screen time.

'And for a role like that, he doesn't look nervous at all.'

Seo Jio was, as ever, Seo Jio.

I nodded at how utterly himself he seemed—and actor Kim Seokjun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blurted something out.

"You two said you're close."

"Yes."

"Yeah."

Seo Jio and I answered at the same time, and actor Kim Seokjun's expression turned strange.

"Really…? You don't look close at all."

It struck me as unusually rude to say in front of a kid he'd just met, but I only shook my head.

"We're quite close. About as close as you are with Junghyun hyung."

"Then you're not close at all."

I smiled wordlessly at the instant retort, and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Well, fair enough… It's not my place to weigh in, anyway. Nice to meet you, kid. I'm Kim Seokjun. What was your name?"

"It's Seo Jio, sir. Please feel free to call me anything."

"Good name. I've got nothing to do anyway, so run lines with me. You have time?"

"Of course."

"Then let's go pay our greetings to the director and the staff first."

I swallowed a laugh at actor Kim Seokjun's brusque tone.

'Grumbling the whole way, but he does everything that needs doing.'

Seo Jio said he'd see me in a bit and went off after him; I gave him a vague wave in reply.

"Are you actually close with Lee Yeonjae?"

"Yes. Like Yeonjae said—about as close as you are with Lee Junghyun sunbaenim, sir."

"Well, look at you, buttering me up. And we've known each other five minutes and you're calling me sunbaenim? Just call me hyung."

I watched the two of them drift away in conversation.

'…I guess he was more nervous than he let on.'

Only once they were far away could I see it now—the faint thread of tension lingering in Seo Jio's grinning face.

That tension was thinning, little by little, each time actor Kim Seokjun threw out one of his gruff jokes.

'He's still a kid, after all.'

The boy who only ever showed me an old-soul act—it left me with a strange feeling.

Did I look that way to adults too?

'I should watch him run his lines before the shoot.'

And I needed to practice as well.

First priority was building a solid environment where the other person could show what he could really do.

So I practiced alone for a good long while before belatedly remembering my phone.

'Right, he said he texted me.'

I fished the phone out of my pocket, forgotten there for ages.

And there was an unexpected message waiting too.

Why on earth did Seo Jio text this guy too?

I sent back that yes, I was filming with Seo Jio, that I'd just found out myself—and told him to practice hard.

The moment the message went through, the "1" vanished, and a reply came flying back.

'Tch.'

I clicked my tongue at the screen.

'Anyone with eyes can see he's jealous.'

Unbelievable. I left him on read without a shred of regret and turned back to my script.

After running lines with actor Kim Seokjun and the returning Seo Jio, we moved into full preparations for the shoot.

"Rolling!"

As I took my mark, I caught sight of Seo Jio standing there, just a little stiff.

I gave a soft whistle.

"…?"

At the guy's puzzled look, I gestured for him to loosen up his shoulders.

Then I mouthed the words.

Don't be nervous. It really doesn't suit you.

The guy stared hard at my mouth, then burst out laughing. What was with him.

"First take. And—action!"

The director's voice rang out, and I closed my eyes.

"Action!"

And I opened them.