Don't Show Off Too Much
The PD called cut and, when no explanation followed, said nothing more.
He assumed the actor already knew exactly why the take had failed. He was right.
Sh—, sh—, sh—.
Kim Hyeonju muttered curses under her breath without pause, trying to choke down her irritation.
What really burned her was that she was feeling an emotion she hadn't experienced since her younger days. And of all people, she was feeling it toward some snot-nosed kid.
"Ms. Hyeonju, are you ready to go again?"
"…Give me a moment."
Kim Hyeonju answered the PD while working to recover her composure.
The little brat who had thrown her off balance was standing there, utterly at ease. It wounded her pride.
Lee Yeonjae had returned to his mark and stood placidly in place. Nothing about his expression had changed dramatically, and yet there was no mistaking it — this was not Yuhyeon standing there, but Lee Yeonjae.
The seamlessness of his on-off switch went beyond annoying. It was enough to leave a sour taste in her mouth.
I knew I didn't like him from the table read…
Everyone else was easing off, gently finding their rhythm with each other, while this kid slammed the accelerator alone and stole every scene he could. Clearly he was a green, inexperienced rookie.
Kim Seokjun and the others had made a fuss over him, but Kim Hyeonju dismissed it as the kind of reaction people had when they'd expected nothing in the first place. Once the cameras actually rolled, she told herself, it would be different. Let's see how long he can keep his chest puffed out like that.
Now that she'd tasted a reality worse than any of her guesses, her mouth felt bitter.
"I'm ready."
"All right, taking two. Slate!"
You think I'm going to lose to you? Not a chance.
With that thought burning in her chest, Kim Hyeonju glared at him with vicious, narrowed eyes.
And she lost.
"Let's take a short break."
The PD stopped the staff member who was about to slap the twelfth slate, his voice worn thin.
The moment the words left his mouth, Kim Hyeonju pulled a face and strode straight off the set.
This is actually exhausting.
Slipping into Yuhyeon and wrenching himself back out, more than ten times over — the repetition had drained him. He wanted nothing more than to collapse right where he stood, but he held off, worried it would crease his costume.
Even after he'd drunk the water Manager Ahn Jinbae handed him and finished exchanging words with the PD, Kim Hyeonju had not come back.
Only after a little more time had passed did she return. She apologized politely to the PD and the staff, and then, the instant she was standing in front of him, murmured under her breath:
"Hey. Tone it down."
"…Sorry?"
"When the camera's on you, do whatever you want. Just don't show off so much when it's on me."
The face saying all this looked the very picture of kindly benevolence.
It was calm enough to make him wonder if he'd misheard her entirely. He couldn't understand what part of his performance she'd taken as showing off, but he knew the mood wasn't right for asking. He simply nodded, and he could see the stiffness at the corners of her mouth soften slightly.
"Cut! Yes, beautiful~. Great work, everyone."
Uncertain how one went about *not* showing off, he hesitated, then eased a little tension out of his expression.
The scene that had failed eleven times passed on a single take.
Once the rest of the shoot wrapped, Kim Hyeonju paid her respects to the PD and vanished without another word.
Yeoljae had changed out of his costume and was greeting the staff when the PD came over and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Yeonjae, you worked hard today. Rough one, wasn't it?"
"Not at all. You've worked hard too, PD-nim."
He only needed to head back to the orphanage and rest, but the PD and the crew still had filming ahead of them. After a few more rounds of thanks to the staff who patted his back in turn, he finally made it into the car.
"Actor-nim, it's getting late. Would you like to grab dinner before we head in? Or would you rather go back early and rest?"
"I'll buy some gimbap and eat it at the orphanage. You should hurry home and rest too, hyung."
As his back pressed into the familiar car seat, the tension drained out of his body. It was a short-sleeved shirt that wouldn't suffer from a few wrinkles, which put his mind at ease.
"How was the shoot today? Even though it was your first one, you were so good I was amazed the whole time!"
"Oh, no. I barely had any lines."
At his embarrassed reply, a voice came back instantly — No, really, it was genuinely great — packed with earnest force. He laughed at the intensity of the reaction and said he'd take the compliment, and Manager Ahn Jinbae told him the drive to the orphanage would take about thirty minutes, so he was welcome to nap if he liked.
But sleep wouldn't come.
What did she mean, don't show off too much?
Tomorrow's shoot was with Kim Hyeonju again. Judging by when the NGs had stopped, the problem seemed to lie with him — but he had no idea how to fix it. If he caused her trouble again tomorrow… Maybe I should ask Angae? Would he even know?
"Hyung, can I ask you something?"
No way Angae would have the answer. He gave up on the idea cleanly and turned to Manager Ahn Jinbae instead. It wasn't a private matter — it was about acting — so surely this much was fair game.
"—! Yes! Of course. Ask me anything."
"Earlier, Kim Hyeonju said something to me."
Wary of sounding like he was tattling, he chose his words as carefully as he could to make his own intentions clear, and recounted what had happened. Manager Ahn Jinbae had listened quietly the whole way through without any particular reaction, but the moment Yeonjae finished, he answered with startling bluntness.
"I'd say she felt threatened."
"Threatened?"
"Kim Hyeonju has been acting for over ten years now. Objectively speaking, you have nothing but extra work on your resume. For an actor like you to take the initiative away from her — that's not a matter of pride or ego. It becomes a matter of survival."
"I see."
"And by anyone's eyes, the initiative passed to you, and no matter how she tried — a dozen times over — she couldn't wrestle it back. So in the end, what she did was beg, disguised as a threat."
It was a far harsher assessment than he'd expected. The word choice sat so strangely against the mild eyes he glimpsed in the rearview mirror that it caught him off guard.
When Yeonjae remarked that he seemed to know a great deal about film sets, Manager Ahn Jinbae gave an embarrassed laugh and added that it was only because he loved acting — that the words had slipped out for no good reason.
"Watching movies is my hobby, you see. Watching them, I can't help muttering to myself — was that performance any good, was it not — and I suppose all that thinking turned into useless commentary."
"Not at all. It really helped. Thank you."
"Glad to hear it!"
"…You love acting that much — have you never thought about becoming an actor yourself?"
It felt like far too private a question for him to be asking, but curiosity got the better of him; he couldn't hold it in.
"Ah, there was a time I prepared for it seriously. But it turns out I'm someone who loves watching acting more than doing it. The moment I realized that, I switched over to the management side."
So that's it. Now it made sense.
Granted, looks and profession had no necessary connection, but it was something Yeonjae had quietly wondered about all along — why a man this strikingly handsome was working as an ordinary manager.
He was still nodding to himself when Manager Ahn Jinbae glanced at him, careful and a little hesitant.
"Actor-nim, if it isn't out of line… may I say one more thing? About your acting."
"Of course. Go ahead."
The car rolled to a gentle stop at a red light, and their eyes met across the rearview mirror.
"Losing the initiative was Kim Hyeonju's problem, not yours. There's no need to blame yourself or apologize over it. It's just… this isn't a fight, you know?"
"That's true."
"It isn't a match to prove who's the better actor, either. And of course, I'm absolutely not saying you acted like you were heading into a bout or a competition. But your level of immersion in a character is so high that to an actor who can't keep up with it, it can feel overwhelming. A little… merciless."
Yeoljae blinked at the unexpected word. Merciless. He turned the meaning over in his head and nodded slowly.
"Do you think I overacted, hyung? I mean — in a way that didn't suit a supporting role."
"'Overdone' is never meant as a compliment, is it? Your acting today went past good into excellent. Truly. The PD didn't say a single negative word about you, did he?"
"But he didn't say anything positive either."
"It must have been hard to say it in front of Kim Hyeonju. He was making a choice for the sake of the overall atmosphere on set."
The answers kept coming, gentle as the smooth glide of the car. This man even spoke the way he drove.
"I'm not saying you acted like a supporting actor, or that you did too much. What I mean is… that I think it would be good if you paid a little more attention to matching rhythm with the other person."
"Rhythm?"
"Unless it's a monologue, dialogue has to flow naturally. An actor's performance is only ever judged through the finished footage. Even if you're brilliant on your own, it means nothing if the final result isn't good."
Yeoljae remembered the words 'mutually complementary relationship' that Actor Lee Jeonghyeon had explained a few months back. And along with them, the crumpled square.
No — that's not something to dwell on right now.
"So even if I express Yuhyeon perfectly, if the other person can't keep up, the result won't turn out well. Is that it?"
"Exactly. But honestly, that's only natural. On a first shoot, everything is supposed to be a chaotic mess — and aside from rhythm, you didn't have a single problem. Your rhythm is bound to be shaky, since you've only ever practiced alone. I wish you could have seen me embarrass myself on my first shoot."
"Your shoot? What did you film?"
At the unexpected remark, Yeoljae leaned forward without meaning to.
Asking to see it would probably be overstepping. He was biting back the words when Manager Ahn Jinbae shook his head with a wry smile.
"Just what my club shot back in high school. It's not even up on Y**Tube or anywhere like that. The only copy is a DVD at my place."
"I see…."
"Would you like to watch it?"
"Ah, I don't have a DVD player."
"You could watch it at my place!"
"…At your house?"
He was so flustered that his voice wavered. Were they really close enough for that?
He was still searching for what to say when Manager Ahn Jinbae burst into cheerful chatter, his voice climbing a full register. Anyone could see how excited he was.
"I think that would be wonderful! It's a little embarrassing, honestly, but since we're here — why don't you stay at my place tonight? You've got a shoot tomorrow, so it'd be an easy commute. We could watch the DVD and practice matching rhythm together."
"……"
"Ah — I'm sorry! I got carried away… that was thoughtless of me. Please forget I said anything!"
"No, don't apologize. It's just… I was wondering whether I was allowed to come over."
Wasn't someone's home the most private space there was?
He had been to Actor Lee Jeonghyeon's place, sure, but there'd been a concrete purpose — practice. Manager Ahn Jinbae, by contrast, was someone he knew purely through work.
And now the stated reason for the visit was watching DVDs of a man's high school film club days.
"What are you even saying? Of course you're allowed. As long as you're comfortable with it, Actor-nim, I couldn't be happier!"
Faced with that glowing, brightened expression, Yeonjae couldn't bring himself to refuse.
In a daze, he explained the situation to the orphanage director over the phone, and the car that had been bound for the orphanage made a U-turn on the spot.
Is it really okay to be going to someone's house like this?
Granted, the someone had invited him personally… and they were going to practice anyway, so it didn't matter, right?
All of those tangled thoughts evaporated the moment he stepped out of the car.
"…This is your home?"
"…? Yes!"
What building is— No matter how far he craned his neck back, he couldn't see where it ended. When he let his aching neck settle back into place, he found Manager Ahn Jinbae beaming, slightly giddy with excitement.
"Shall we go in?"
All right. Let's just go in and see.
He nodded and took a step — and before he'd walked ten paces, he had no choice but to stop again.
…Why is there a restaurant inside the apartment building?