The Note on the Riverbank
"……."
"……."
"Um… do you want to talk about… anything?"
"Ah."
We'd both frozen solid, and only now did we come back to our senses. Without realizing it, I scratched behind my ear.
So… I just got confessed to, huh.
"Sorry. That was the last thing I expected to hear."
"No, no! I'd have been just as flustered if I were you!"
Baek Seojin had her head bowed so low I couldn't see her face, but the nape of her neck peeking out between strands of long hair was flushed bright red.
My throat went dry for no reason. I did my best to speak as calmly as I could.
"It's just… I'm not looking to date anyone right now. I'm sorry."
"Oh… I see."
Thankfully, her reaction to my careful words was fairly levelheaded.
What was I supposed to say next?
The awkwardness was doubled by the fact that I almost never read scripts with romance in them. If I'd known this was coming, I would've asked Noh Bihyeok for advice about something, anything.
"Sorry for confessing out of nowhere…. We're not even that close. You must've been shocked."
"Well… I was surprised, yeah."
I started to answer with a reflexive no, not at all, then scratched the back of my neck instead. Why did my whole body feel so itchy? I just wanted to escape this situation.
"Back at the entrance ceremony… it was love at first sight when I saw you."
But looking at Baek Seojin's earnest face, I couldn't bring myself to walk away.
And so we ended up sitting side by side on the stone path by the back gate, listening to her story.
"I always thought falling for someone just because of their face was pathetic. But it wouldn't listen to me. My heart, I mean."
"I see…."
"And then it turns out you're sweet on top of everything else… Is that just how you are?"
"Hmm, honestly, I don't know…."
Our conversation had definitely been stumbling along in stammers at first, but at some point Baek Seojin had squared her shoulders and started snapping at me, face flushed with embarrassment-turned-anger.
"Honestly! Isn't it a little unfair that someone who looks like you is in the same class as us first-years? You know exactly how handsome you are, don't you?"
"Seojin. Calm down."
"Calm down? Don't you dare act all sweet and gentle with someone if you have no intention of dating them! Huh? That's a crime, you know."
"Yeah. Sorry…."
When she told me never to call her "Seojin" so affectionately again and I agreed, she narrowed her eyes at me like she couldn't believe I'd said such a thing in the first place. What was I supposed to do, then?
After fumbling through her rant, Baek Seojin left without even a proper goodbye.
Long after she was gone, I stayed sitting on the rock, staring blankly at the dirt ground.
"Yeonjae!"
"Haah…. I knew you'd pull something like this."
The sigh burst out of me the moment I opened my eyes, automatic as a reflex.
"I like you too, Yeonjae! Teehee!"
"Say one more nice word and change back. Now."
An-gae, who had been grinning at me in Baek Seojin's form, only shifted shape after I grabbed its cheek and pulled.
Back in Nam Inhu's appearance, An-gae shyly poked at my shoulder.
"So? How was it? That was your first confession ever!"
"Let's just practice. We're filming tomorrow."
"But I'm dying to know! Can't you tell me just a little?"
"Where did we leave off practicing yesterday?"
I thought ignoring it would make it stop, but today, for some reason, An-gae's whining was relentless.
Still, it had been a while since I'd seen it this bright and carefree, and I couldn't help the way my mood softened because of it.
"What could you possibly be so curious about?"
"Everything! How did it feel when you got confessed to? Did you hear the bells, hmm? And why didn't you accept the confession?"
"It felt flustering. I turned it down because I have no plans to date anyone. And hearing bells is for when you have your first kiss, isn't it?"
"Same difference!"
What did it mean, same difference?
For some reason, An-gae was practically bouncing with excitement, so I gave its back a light pat.
"Happy now? Let's practice. You said you'd help me."
Only then did An-gae snap to attention and take its place beside me.
Without my saying a word, it had already changed into Lee Jin-woo's school uniform, which I found oddly impressive.
Still, we had run through the scene together a few times, and An-gae could mimic Lee Jin-woo convincingly enough.
I swallowed the laugh threatening to escape and summoned Kang Tae-il to immerse myself.
"Tae-il. You still hanging around that kid?"
"Who?"
"The one who looks just like you."
Hanseong hyung-nim's question came completely out of left field.
I was puzzled, but brushed it off like it was nothing.
"Yeah. See him every day. Down at the riverbank."
"You should stop seeing that kid."
"…? Where'd that come from?"
Startled, my voice cracked mid-answer. I'd been clipping my toenails while I talked, and my head jerked up in shock.
I opened my mouth to ask why, but one look at hyung-nim's face and I shut it again.
"…Okay. I'll do that."
"Good boy."
When he made that kind of face, the smart move was not to poke the bear. Hanseong hyung-nim gave my shoulder a pat, as if satisfied with my choice.
I scratched my temple, watching his back as he left without another word.
Still. I should at least say goodbye.
I changed my clothes piece by piece and slipped out quietly. Didn't forget to tuck a stick of dalgona candy into my pocket, either.
The first time I'd given him candy, Lee Jin-woo had looked at me like I'd offered him something vulgar — what is this, charity? written all over his face.
The funny part was that even while glaring, he'd said thank you in the gentlest voice.
That kid, who bit into it like he was ready to spit it out on the spot, turned out to have a taste for it after all — from then on, he devoured every piece I gave him without ceremony. Cute little brat.
Tch. Gonna miss this.
I had no idea why I was being told to stop seeing Jin-woo, but Hanseong hyung-nim's word was law to us.
Losing our daily hour or so of conversation was a shame, but that didn't mean I had any intention of breaking the rules.
I'd been sitting on the riverbank with a tangle of feelings for a few minutes when a familiar scent drifted over.
"You came."
"I didn't even say anything. How do you know every time?"
"I can smell you, that's why."
Lee Jin-woo tilted his head.
He frowned faintly, and it didn't look like an act — he seemed genuinely puzzled.
"What smell could I possibly have? If anything smells, it should be you."
"Oh, big talk. Just got out of the womb, and you wanna die already?"
I spat the threat out viciously enough, but somehow a grin had already crept across my face.
Same for him.
The insufferable Lee Jin-woo I'd met a month ago was nowhere to be found; this version, snickering to himself, was almost… easy to be around.
Ah, man. This really is a shame.
I'd planned to bring up the real business the second he showed up, but damn it, I actually hesitated.
By now he clambered up onto the riverbank like he'd done it a hundred times, and settled in beside me. Since when.
"What's wrong with you? You hurt or something?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"It's all over your face. You took a hit to the stomach?"
His walk had looked a little off earlier, and the moment he sat down, I caught him holding his breath, just for a beat.
No way anyone was beating on him. Did he bump into something?
When I tilted my head back to get a better look at his stomach, I found his face frozen solid.
Lee Jin-woo was wearing an expression I'd never seen on him before.
"…You're saying it shows?"
"Yeah. If even you can't hide it, it must hurt like hell. Where'd you get hit? If it's bruised, put some ointment on it. That stuff fades bruises the fastest."
It wasn't like I could strip the shirt off a kid who'd barely been out for a month, so I just eyeballed his stomach a few times.
He'd clamped his mouth shut like a clam, and stayed silent the whole while after that.
Okay. Time to bring it up.
Excuses weren't hard to come by. I could just tell him I was being transferred to an orphanage in another region, something like that.
But Lee Jin-woo was being weirdly quiet, and it put me on edge. What was with him?
"Tae-il."
"Yeah?"
"I can't come here anymore."
The words out of his mouth were the exact ones I'd been about to say.
This little — he's stealing my line. I'd meant to joke about it, but for a moment I faltered, and the words wouldn't come.
"Hey… are you okay?"
Lee Jin-woo, staring out at the river, looked like a dead man.
"……."
For a long time, he didn't answer. He buried his head between his knees for a moment, then lifted it and looked straight at me.
"You still haven't given me your phone number?"
"…Huh?"
"We're friends now, aren't we? Sort of."
What is this kid on about.
I opened my mouth to say, you know I don't have a phone — but those eyes looking back at me already seemed to know the truth.
His eyes….
The eyes that met mine were calm, utterly still.
And yet they looked confused to an almost unnatural degree. Like a placid sea right before an enormous wave rolls in.
I had to say something, but my throat felt squeezed shut, the words catching and stopping dead.
"It's fine. Then I'll give you my number — you call me whenever. Promise."
"……."
He pressed a slip of paper into my hand and stood up.
The sudden jump in my line of sight made me look up, and the shimmering glow of the sunset forced my eyes closed without my meaning to.
With a see you next time, he vanished in an instant.
"The hell was that…."
When I came back to myself, I was alone.
Feeling like I'd been bewitched, I moved to get up — then a soft rustle pulled my gaze downward.
010-XXXX-XXXX. Jin-woo.
The neat, precise handwriting suited its owner perfectly.
But something about the thin paper's texture made the whole note look strangely fragile.
"Cut!"
I closed my eyes at the call.
After a confusion both brief and endless, I opened them again, and Nam Inhu spoke as if he'd been waiting.
"Six seconds."
"Thanks."
After watching Manager Ahn Jinbae call out the count for me a few times, at some point he'd started keeping time himself. I told him he didn't have to — it seemed like a bother — but he just waved it off like it was nothing.
"……."
Nam Inhu, who usually chattered nonstop after a cut was called, was unusually quiet today.
Holding his head buried between his knees in exactly the pose Lee Jin-woo had been in, he mumbled something.
"Are you… really… going to do it?"
"What?"
"Nothing. Forget it."
His pronunciation wasn't clear, so I asked him to repeat it, but he only shook his head.
Maybe he still hadn't climbed out of Lee Jin-woo's emotions — there was a heavy gloom radiating off him as he stared at the river in profile.
I considered saying something, anything, but in the end I just stayed quiet and watched the river with him.
"Yeonjae! Ahhh, my lucky charm! I could cry."
The hushed air broke only when Director Yoon came bounding out.
I followed him to review the footage and found a scene so stunning it surprised even me.
"I planned the whole shot around your eyes, and seeing it come out this perfect — I swear I might actually tear up."
The gently rolling glow of the sunset had been captured in my eyes, exactly as they were.
Even my drifting, haze-like gaze shimmered on screen.
It was that same look that had appeared in every one of Director Yoon's films. Strange, seeing it from the outside.
Director Yoon's face was flushed scarlet, whether from the thrill of seeing his vision realized exactly as he'd imagined it. He seemed so worked up it was honestly a little embarrassing.
"Let's swap roles and shoot right away. This time, Yeonjae plays Jin-woo, and Inhu plays Tae-il."
"Yes, sir."
Nam Inhu and I headed into the tent to change.
He looked even more downcast than before, but he didn't let it show in front of the camera.
By the time the Lee Jin-woo shots wrapped, the sunset that had been fading at the edges had vanished completely.
If we'd run even a little late, we'd have had to reshoot all this tomorrow.
Rarely, night shooting was scheduled back-to-back today. I was hurrying to eat and move on to rehearsing the next scene when Manager Ahn Jinbae came over smiling.
"Actor-nim. Actor Lee Jeonghyeon sent over a big group lunch box set for everyone."
"…Again?"
Seriously, this hyung.
I swallowed a sigh and dialed, and a voice even higher-pitched than usual spilled out of the receiver.
Ever since he'd come back to Korea, Jeonghyeon hyung's spirits had been soaring straight into the stratosphere.
The call started with him nagging me and somehow ended with me thanking him.
Every passing staff member kept stopping to say their thanks too, which made things even more chaotic.
The lunch boxes, loaded with fried shrimp, were impressively generous — and yet Nam Inhu's face was dark.
I thought about asking if something was wrong, but it didn't seem like my business to pry, so I kept quiet.
But hearing what came next, I couldn't stay out of it.
"Eh, I'll just phone it in. I'm not even in the shot anyway."
"What?"