Yu-hyeon, After the Ending
"I really, really wanted this award, so I'm so happy to receive it. And getting it together with Yu-hyeon makes it even better. Hyowon-ah, I'm sorry. Just let it slide for today."
As Han Seyeong sniffled with a laugh, Seong Ijun pulled the exact same expression right on cue.
The two of them, cut back and forth on the screen, were a match made in heaven.
What on earth am I doing sitting here?
The moment my disgruntled stare at the two of them was caught on camera, the laughter around us swelled even louder.
"Actor Lee Yeonjae, would you like to say a few words as well?"
"Ah, yes."
I gathered myself at the MC's prompt and stepped up to the microphone.
"Thank you. Acting as Yu-hyeon has been an incredible learning experience. Winning an award like this is astonishing in itself, but getting to stand up here alongside Nabi makes it all the more special."
Not too light, but not too heavy either.
I remembered the instructor who, sweating buckets, had drilled into me the art of delivering a witty acceptance speech. Listening back then, I'd wondered whether I could ever actually pull it off — I never dreamed I'd be using it this soon.
"...At least, for now, Nabi is still with me."
I let the last words trail off and fixed him with a meaningful look. Seong Ijun, catching my gaze, stiffened his face in reply.
Laughter rippled through the hall one wave after another, and a comparatively lighthearted atmosphere settled over the audience.
At this rate, I doubt my instructor regrets teaching me.
"Now, shall we take another look at the famous scene that earned actors Lee Yeonjae and Han Seyeong the Best Couple award?"
The moment the MC finished speaking, the enormous screen behind us switched.
"Nabi. I..."
"..."
"I'm so glad you exist."
"Ahem. This is the momentous scene where the 'Yu-hyeon Fever' that swept the second half of this year began."
"Social media absolutely exploded over it! They say no one who watched it watched it only once — some people just haven't seen it at all!"
Yu-hyeon Fever — fine, I could let that slide; it was probably a term written right into the script.
But the next words out of the MC's mouth made even me blurt out a question without thinking.
"Could we perhaps ask you to reenact that line from just now?"
"Excuse me?"
"It's a happy occasion, and the new year is right around the corner! Just once, please!"
Just like that? I could feel my own pupils trembling with bewilderment.
I had no idea whether he genuinely wanted me to simply recite the line, or actually perform it.
Before I could even fully process what the MC had said, the crowd erupted into cheers and the mood was set.
How am I supposed to handle this? Concealing my flustered state, I glanced to my side—
There stood Nabi.
Han Seyeong, dressed in a resplendent gown that looked like it belonged on Nabi, was staring right at me.
"..."
Ha. Well, there's no backing out now, is there. Time was already slipping away.
I swallowed a breath and closed my eyes.
And slowly, I curled my hand into a fist.
The moment I opened my eyes, my cheeks lifted naturally into a smile.
"Nabi. I..."
Before me stood Nabi.
Staring at that strangely unfamiliar face — Nabi, standing there looking as if he knew nothing at all — I dredged up the last of my smile.
"To have you here..."
It's so good. Nabi. I love you.
I love how you never once collapse, no matter what happens — how you always, always find a way.
I love how you took care of me, a boy whose name was the only thing I had to my name, simply because I was sick.
The noisy, chaotic market streets, the paper doors that let the cold wind whistle through, the sound of the stream where I dragged my feeble body to drink — with you beside me, every last one of them becomes something good.
Even though you abandoned me.
"I truly..."
Before me stood Nabi.
Still standing there with that face that knew nothing at all.
Why is it that you still don't know?
"..."
I felt the corners of my mouth go stiff.
And Nabi's once-bright face stiffened along with them.
I didn't know why, but I thought, I can't let it freeze over.
So I tried to smile again, forcing my lips upward — but my useless mouth betrayed me.
The moment my helpless lips quivered, Nabi spoke.
"What's wrong, Yu-hyeon?"
What's wrong? How am I supposed to answer that when you're the one asking?
"...You abandoned me."
"Me?"
I bit my lip and nodded.
My center lost, my gaze wavered wildly.
What's wrong with me? I couldn't understand why I felt so desolate.
"Why would I ever abandon you? Don't even think like that."
Nabi's words were as warm as they had always been.
That bastard who stole my dragon robe and wore it — he must have felt the same warmth.
Then I remembered that day.
The last day I ever faced you — your face, seized completely by terror.
Why did you look at me like that? Was it because I pressed a blade to that man's throat? Or did you think I was a fraud, spouting lies about being the real crown prince?
And if neither — was it because I still loved you?
"Nabi. I..."
It's so good to have you. I love you so much.
But in the end, you'll abandon me again.
And I'll have to run away once more.
There is no place in this world for me. And so, I—
"...I hate you. I truly hate you."
At my whispered words, the pupils staring back at me dilated.
Watching those shock-frozen eyes, a thrill of exhilaration surged sharply through me.
So that's how it is. Even now, I'm still someone who can shake you this much.
The thought brought me relief.
Before I knew it, I was smiling.
"Cut!"
Someone shouted from far away.
The voice was small, yet unmistakably familiar.
It was the well-worn signal that filming had ended — and the instant I heard it, my mind returned to me.
I hurriedly composed my face, but the tears already brimming in my eyes had no chance of being wiped away; they came streaming down.
"...Wow! That gave me actual chills."
"Me too. Whoa, I thought we were filming the drama itself. An actor's acting really is on another level!"
"Yeonjae is a phenomenal actor. If he's this good right now, imagine him on an actual set."
While my back was turned as I fixed my face, Han Seyeong smoothly picked up the slack for me.
After easing the tension from even my throat, I looked forward again.
I exchanged a friendly bow with Han Seyeong and headed off the stage, though my head was still foggy.
Planting my strength into my legs with every step as I made my way back to my seat, I was met by the PD — the very person who had called cut a moment ago.
"Yeonjae, you really are..."
With a solemn expression, the PD stroked my shoulder over and over, mumbling about how he'd need me in his next project too.
Actor Kim Seokjun beside him was even worse.
His eyes were glistening, as though he'd been moved to tears — an honestly comical sight, yet I couldn't bring myself to laugh.
He must have realized that the Yu-hyeon I'd just performed was the Yu-hyeon of after the drama's final scene.
The scene from the finale, which I'd seen exactly once, must have left a deeper impression than I'd thought.
Throughout the entire performance, Actor Kim Seokjun's expression had lingered unbidden in my mind.
The face of a man discovering that the person he had loved all his life feared him.
I felt sorry for Actor Kim Seokjun, who must have endured that same aching, desolate heartbreak for the whole duration of the filming — so after a moment's hesitation, I patted him gently on the back.
"I'm home."
"Oh, you're back? What's with the face? You won a bunch of awards, didn't you?"
The wife of Kim Minseok, main PD of The Butterfly Flower on the Zelkova Tree, asked with a bewildered look.
Kim Minseok didn't even have the energy to answer; he flapped a hand vaguely and shuffled into the bathroom.
"Haah..."
The hot water beating down on him only made the emotions well up all the more.
Even now, Kim Minseok hadn't managed to pull himself out of the scene he'd witnessed hours ago.
'...You abandoned me.'
The instant he'd heard that line, Kim Minseok had groaned out loud.
Up on the stage, Lee Yeonjae had been standing there, biting down hard on his lip, steeped in sorrow.
His brimming, wavering eyes darted about restlessly before settling on Han Seyeong.
'Why would I ever abandon you? Don't even think like that.'
Despite the line being improvised on the spot, Han Seyeong answered back without a hint of panic.
The camera director, the MC standing dumbly at the side — everyone was gazing at the two of them with glazed eyes.
The presence of the hundreds of people filling the hall faded into a blur, until it looked as though the two of them existed in a space of their own.
'Nabi. I...'
The voice, steeped in tears, drifted without anchor.
Yu-hyeon, staring at the other with those black eyes as if searching for something he couldn't name, whispered those words in a voice that had gone hoarse from disuse.
'...I hate you. I truly hate you.'
The dialogue, the expression, the look in his eyes — not a single one matched the original scene.
And yet anyone who had watched the drama through to the end would have recognized it at a glance.
That's right. Lee Yeonjae had been performing Yu-hyeon after the drama ended.
The PD, the writers, the viewers — Yu-hyeon's aftermath, which by now everyone had simply forgotten.
Those relentless eyes, which had chased Han Seyeong's every reaction as though unable to afford missing even one, slowly, softly warped.
Unlike the upward curl of his lips, his eyes were flooded with moisture.
Watching him sink deeper and deeper into the emotion, Kim Minseok felt the weight of his duty and rose from his seat.
'Cut!'
It was an abrupt, unprompted outburst, yet no one held it against him.
On the contrary, the audience — who had been sitting there as if bewitched — snapped back to their senses at his shout.
The frozen cameras began rolling again, and Lee Yeonjae, just as he always did after a take with that dazed blink of his eyes, leaned on Han Seyeong and descended the stage steps.
By the time Kim Minseok rushed over to him, much of that fog had already lifted.
Facing the boy whose eyes had sharpened back into focus, all he could manage was to rub the boy's shoulder, over and over.
"How does he act like that..."
Leaving the water dripping unheeded from his hair, Kim Minseok sat in his study for a long while.
Yu-hyeon had drawn some attention thanks to Lee Yeonjae, but outside of the romance plotline, he had remained a character kept far from the main story's progression.
The role of officially clashing with the adult Hyowon had been given to the Queen Consort.
Yu-hyeon did storm the palace and throw a tantrum in the later episodes, but that amounted to nothing more than an episode depicting the end of a character who, once again, simply ran away.
That was why, even without the story ever showing what became of Yu-hyeon after he vanished like that, viewers grumbled that it felt unclean — but few bothered to rage that it lacked plausibility.
Kim Minseok himself had never once asked a writer what became of Yu-hyeon afterward, never once wondered.
Yu-hyeon was, quite literally, nothing more than a 'fugitive' — from beginning to end.
'Filming wrapped ages ago, though... Did he rehearse it separately?'
Lee Yeonjae had transformed into Yu-hyeon in the literal blink of an eye.
The boy who'd stood there looking mildly annoyed only moments before had vanished, and in his place stood Yu-hyeon.
And not just any Yu-hyeon — a Yu-hyeon from a time the actor himself had never performed.
"Haah... I'm torn."
"About what?"
His wife answered absently, bringing over a towel.
Savoring the feel of her hands ruffling his hair dry, he went on.
"There's an actor I'm dying to work with... but it feels shameless to ask him to appear in my next project too."
"Why?"
"What that kid needs right now isn't another crowd-pleasing drama — it's a film soaked through with artistic merit. But asking him to pass on other opportunities for my sake feels like a waste of him. That's the problem."
Kim Minseok groaned and sank into thought.
His wife, deliberating alongside him, said, "Hmm... but does that actor actually want to work with you, honey?" — which he'd been smoothly letting slide in one ear and out the other.
"Honey, your phone's ringing."
"Ah, right."
At the sharp ring of his cell phone, Kim Minseok hauled himself up.
Checking the screen as it rattled violently in his hand, a hollow, exasperated laugh escaped his lips.
"Unbelievable."
"What is it?"
"Makes me think this hyung of mine is no gentleman either."
The name on the screen read: Director Yoon Kang-yeon.
The film director who, at last year's Cannes Film Festival, had become the first Korean ever to win the Palme d'Or.