The Doppelgänger on the Riverbank
"You're in for a surprise too, you know? Ah, right—they say if you meet your doppelgänger you die. What if you two just drop dead on the spot? Then wouldn't I be the only one with all the suspicion on me, for nothing?"
What a racket.
I barely managed to keep my brow from creasing at the grating noise as I walked. Kim Jin-ho, who had landed in my class this term, talked. Constantly. To the point of uselessness.
"Really? But can anyone actually look that alike?"
"I told you already. They're completely! Identical, I'm telling you—. There he is. Hey! Kang Tae-il!"
Kim Jin-ho, who had been rattling on, suddenly raised his voice. The crude, gaping yawn of his mouth—close enough that I half expected spray to come flying out—made my expression stiffen against my will. I dipped my head and quickly checked whether anything had landed on my clothes, and that was when an unfamiliar voice drifted past my ear.
"Hey there~. Is that him?"
When I slowly lifted my head, the first thing that entered my vision was the harsh sunlight. And then my eyes met those of a boy sitting on the riverbank. The collar of his stretched-out T-shirt hanging limp around his neck, his rough, unkept hair, the way he sat on the dusty ground without a second thought. There wasn't a single cheerful thing about the picture. And yet I smiled.
The moment I saw those glossy, unguarded eyes, the corners of my mouth lifted before thought could catch up.
"Hi. I'm Lee Jin-woo. Jin-ho was right."
"……"
"We really do look alike."
I felt something trickle down my back. The sweat I'd been shedding in the sweltering heat felt strangely, unnaturally cold.
"Holy crap, up close you really are identical. Shouldn't you two be on TV or something?"
"Haha. I suppose."
It wasn't funny. But I had to laugh anyway. I dragged the corners of my mouth upward for dear life as they threatened to slide down at speed. Fortunately, the expression I'd managed to cobble together must not have looked too bad, because the boy who'd been staring at me in a daze suddenly bounced to his feet.
"Whoa! Wow~. That's freaking amazing. You really do look just like me. I thought Kim Jin-ho was making it up."
"Why would I make that up, you idiot?"
"Because you need my attention? Jin-ho, you can't live without me~."
The voice that spilled out, playful and loose, was brimming with energy. Every time I felt that gaze flick over me, again and again, in disbelief, my stomach lurched. I wanted to throw up. There was a sour taste creeping up my throat, but I laughed as though I knew nothing. Thankfully, this was not the first time I'd done it.
"I thought Jin-ho was exaggerating too. It's really something. Let's hang out like this often, okay?"
"Fine by me~! Just the two of us works too! I'm always here around this time."
The face that nodded along, bobbing its head, wore a bright, unclouded smile. It was an expression I had never once seen in the mirror. So my face can make that expression too.
"Could you give me your number? Or even just your social media handle?"
My mind spun into motion. Look unremarkable. Look appropriately interested. I let my voice out gently, the distance between us carefully measured—and the boy faltered, then promptly made a face on the verge of tears.
"I don't have a phone. Sorry."
No phone?
Before I could even chew over those incomprehensible words, Kim Jin-ho butted in.
"Oh, I forgot to mention. Um... Kang Tae-il, Tae-il is, um...."
The moment I turned to watch him stammer like a tongue-tied fool, a cheerful burst of laughter exploded beside me.
"What? Why are you laughing all of a sudden?"
"No, it's just—you. Pfft, why're you acting like such a loser?"
"Lo...ser? You wanna die? And here I was, looking out for you."
Those eyes, creased clean open, were full of laughter. Kang Tae-il, chuckling away, turned to me and looked me dead in both eyes as if it were nothing at all.
"I live at an orphanage right now. That's why I don't have a phone."
The voice was utterly unbothered, not cowed in the slightest. Then the least I could do was meet him on his terms.
"Then if I want to see you, I'll just come here. How rustic. I like it."
"……"
At an answer delivered straight through the silence, a pair of eyes narrowed faintly and swept slowly over my face. A moment later, I caught the pleasant upward curl at the corner of his mouth.
"You little punk... I like you."
I smiled back. Watching my own reflection caught between his eyes.
Then, faintly at the edge of my hearing, I had the strange illusion of hearing a chime announcing the start of an exam.
"Cut!"
A voice rang out, loud and sharp, like a bolt from the blue—as though the world itself had cracked open. I flinched for a moment. Someone hurried over and spread an umbrella above my head. In the shade, with every slow blink of my eyes, my mind drifted back little by little.
"...How long did it take?"
When I asked with my head fully clear, Manager Ahn Jinbae, still holding the umbrella, smiled and whispered. Eight seconds—that's not bad. A month ago, it had taken me twelve to come back to myself. If I kept practicing, it would shrink further someday.
I was quietly waiting for the director's next instruction when an intense gaze landed on me from up front.
"...You're seriously good at this."
"Thanks. You were great too, hyung."
I answered Nam In-hoo, then turned to Seong Ijun beside him and told him the same.
"Acting opposite you is honestly such a joy...."
The chattering middle schooler who'd been flapping his mouth nonstop was gone somewhere, and only a sheepish Seong Ijun remained.
"I enjoy it too. Though, hyung—on that earlier cut-in, I think you could come in half a beat faster."
"Really? I was worried I'd throw off the rhythm. I have to sync it with the hand gesture."
"Then something like this might work."
I fed him the line at the timing I had in mind, and Seong Ijun ran through it a few times before locking it in almost immediately. Nam In-hoo quietly watched the two of us find our shared rhythm. After shooting the same scene from several angles like that, we switched characters.
"Hmm... should we put a bandage on his cheek? Really lean into the delinquent look."
"I think a small cut would do the job just fine."
The staff debated it at surprising length with my face right there in front of them. In the end, makeup drew a faint scratch down the bridge of my nose and called it done. My neatly combed hair was ruffled into careless disarray, and I changed into the T-shirt Nam In-hoo had been wearing just moments before.
We were about to resume filming as Kang Tae-il when the equipment suddenly malfunctioned, and we took a short break. Resting under the canopy, I noticed that Nam In-hoo was unusually quiet—strangely so.
"Hyung. You okay?"
"Hm?"
"You look a little tired."
"Ah..."
Truthfully, he didn't look tired so much as downcast. After a brief hesitation, Nam In-hoo shook his head and said he'd just been lost in random thoughts. It was obviously not that, to anyone with eyes, but I told him I understood. As long as it didn't interfere with the shoot, it was no business of mine.
"Actor-nim. They say we're resuming."
At Manager Ahn Jinbae's words, I sprang to my feet. The sun would be setting soon, so we had to nail it in one take. Unlike before, I settled onto the riverbank almost as if lying down. The gritty ground pressed vividly against me through my thin shorts.
"Rolling. Standby—."
At Director Yoon's voice, I closed my eyes. Again, my fingers moved. Tick, ti-tick, tick. The sound of nails flicking irregularly rang crisp and clear—until, at some point, it faded into the distance.
"Action!"
I'm starving. What's for dinner tonight? Maybe I'll ask Mansu-hyung to make me some kalguksu.
Where the hell is that brat...?
Kim Jin-ho was late, of all days. With no way to reach him, all I could do was wait. Yeah, I had a phone in my pocket right now—but Jin-ho had no idea I owned one.
I was staring at the river's sluggish current when a commotion stirred behind me. Finally, he shows.
"I told you! They're completely! Identical, I'm telling you—. There he is. Hey! Kang Tae-il!"
That adorable little brat.
Kim Jin-ho was a bit scattered, sure, but he had his own charm when you talked to him. I turned around grinning at the sound of his voice—
"Hey there~. Is that him?"
—and there was someone standing beside him. So this was the kid Jin-ho had raised a whole ruckus about, the spitting image of me. He'd actually dragged him here, huh. Smirking, I lifted my head to see just how alike we really were—and froze on the spot.
"Hi. I'm Lee Jin-woo. Jin-ho was right."
"……"
"We really do look alike."
The smile on his face was perfectly composed. So what? Your eyes are pure street thug.
Kim Jin-ho, you little punk, you've dragged home something interesting. I shot to my feet, meeting that fierce stare head-on—a gaze that had no business sitting in such docile, gentle eyes.
"Whoa! Wow~. That's freaking amazing. You really do look just like me. I thought Kim Jin-ho was making it up."
"Why would I make that up, you idiot?"
"Because you need my attention? Jin-ho, you can't live without me~."
Wow. But seriously, he really does look exactly like me. I wanted to show the hyungs. Was there any way to drag him back with me? They'd all get a kick out of this. I stole a glance at him, and the kid called Lee Jin-woo smiled like it had been drawn on.
"I thought Jin-ho was exaggerating too. It's really something. Let's hang out like this often, okay?"
"Fine by me~! Just the two of us works too! I'm always here around this time."
This kid is something else. His voice was still trembling like a freshly wrung-out towel, but the look in his eyes as he studied me was sharp. If I ever stood in front of the hyungs with eyes like that, they'd beat me half to death—who do you think you are, posing like you've seen the world, you little punk?
"Could you give me your number? Or even just your social media handle?"
The question slipped in all soft and coaxing, and I faltered. Damn it, I actually want to give it to him. First time I've ever seen a kid this interesting. But rules were rules. If the hyungs caught me handing out my number, I might well end up sleeping outside, stripped bare.
The instant I said I didn't have a phone, Kim Jin-ho clumsily jumped in. The way he kept sneaking glances my side while fumbling over his words was pretty funny. Honestly, what a cute little punk.
"What? Why are you laughing all of a sudden?"
My laughing out loud set Kim Jin-ho's face blazing. Through it all, Lee Jin-woo's gaze clung to my face, fierce and unrelenting. You're gonna bore a hole right through it, kid.
"I live at an orphanage right now. That's why I don't have a phone."
It was a lie, but so what. It wasn't like I could tell the truth, either. I couldn't even count how many times I'd said those words out loud anymore. I'd said them so often that sometimes I almost caught myself believing I really did live at the orphanage. The kids who heard it all reacted pretty much the same way. Flustered, awkward, embarrassed, at a loss.
"Then if I want to see you, I'll just come here. How rustic. I like it."
Sure enough, Lee Jin-woo was something else. The fact that a voice that gentle could come out of a kid who'd looked at me like a piece of trash on the street—it didn't sit right with me at all. For the sake of a peaceful life, the golden rule was to never get tangled up with kids who wore two different faces. And yet—
"You little punk... I like you."
My life had never had anything to do with peace in the first place. I cracked a grin, and my eyes locked straight onto the ones that had climbed up along the curve of my mouth. From his wrinkle-free, immaculate clothes on down, this was clearly a kid who'd lived a life nothing like mine. Funny, though. I had a feeling this brat and I were going to get tangled up something fierce from here on out.
"Great work today, everyone."
"You worked hard~! Get home safe."
Today's shoot was over. We'd re-filmed a scene midway for a better take, but thankfully there hadn't been a single NG. The practice I'd done with the Fog yesterday had been worth it.
"Hyung, get home safe. See you tomorrow."
When I called out to Nam In-hoo as he trudged away, his half-dazed face murmured something quietly back. Something was clearly weighing on him, but at least it hadn't touched the shoot. I hoped he'd be feeling better tomorrow.
"Yeonjae...! What are you going to do now?"
With Nam In-hoo gone, Seong Ijun came fluttering over. I answered that I was headed home, wanting nothing more than to get there quickly—and the face in front of me froze mid-motion.
"Oh, I see.... Got it! Thanks for all your hard work today!"
"……"
If you make that face, what am I supposed to do about it? I deliberated for three whole seconds, then spoke.
"Want to grab dinner together?"
"...! Really? I can? As long as I'm not a bother...?"
"You're not. Let's do meat—ah, no, sushi. I'll ask Jinbae-hyung if he knows a good place."
Seong Ijun nodded, cheeks flushing pink, then trotted along at my heels. At the sight of him waddling after me like a duckling trailing its mother, I swallowed a sigh—partly exasperated, partly because I couldn't quite bring myself to shake him off.