Calm Before the Storm (3)
"...Ah, yeah."
My answer came late.
Chun Yeonho paid it no mind and kept talking.
"I've never seen Ahyoung praise anyone like that before."
"..."
"Just how impressive is what you've got?"
"No... not really."
"Size isn't everything, sure, but honestly, yours is pretty pathetic."
Yeonho said it shamelessly as he lit a cigarette.
Soft, billowing smoke rose into the air.
Mine really was nothing special, but...
"Hyung."
I almost told him he shouldn't say things like that, then swallowed the words. He really was a Sochu—I hesitated to even poke at it.
"Just kidding. Mine's the most pathetic of all."
"..."
"Or is it not quite that bad?"
"...It is that bad."
Yeonho stared at me hard. Then he let out a short laugh.
"The praise was real, though. She said you're a good manager. That being around you makes her body and mind feel so comfortable."
"..."
"She kept whispering compliments about you to me while she... took care of me."
I blanked for a second before the meaning half-clicked.
Took care of him? How?
"What do you mean by..."
"There's something I want to ask of you."
Yeonho slowly exhaled the smoke he'd drawn in.
It was the exact same scent that clung to Han Ahyoung's body, yet the feeling it gave was completely different. Just from knowing the cigarette had once been smoked by her, the fragrance turned far more alluring, far more seductive.
Hooo—
He'd said he had a favor to ask, then fell silent for a long while. I waited quietly until he was ready to speak. There was no conversation until he finished the cigarette at his leisure.
Yeonho flicked the short butt carelessly into the gravel and said,
"She jerked me off while praising you. Said mine was worthless and inferior compared to yours."
"...What?"
"She even imitated the moans she makes when you're inside her."
A shadow crossed Yeonho's face. I could feel the dark, stifling weight of it.
Chun Yeonho was Han Ahyoung's dog and slave. Before that, he was her fiancé—the man she'd promised to marry. Of course it would feel terrible that I'd been with her. Was he only accepting it because she was his Master, with no other choice?
I was the one who'd slept with Han Ahyoung, so I had no right to say this, but... if your Master told you another man's cock was better, it would mess with your head. Somehow I understood. It felt familiar.
Ah... I'd felt something similar myself.
My little sister had already told me she had a sex partner. A hung one, at that. Probably a good-looking guy with a great body—what people call an alpha male. Something in my chest ached, yet it also felt natural, inevitable. Just having her treat me like a cute little dog was more than enough to be grateful for.
A few days ago we'd video-called. The moment I saw her face, confessions had come surging up from my chest and I'd poured them out. Once I'd finally calmed down, we traded updates on what we were each doing. I learned calls would be hard for a while—she'd entered as an idol trainee. I'd heard she had no interest in being an idol right now, but apparently her feelings had changed. If she was going to do it, choosing quickly was the right call. These days people said even freshly adult idols were already too old...
She'd even asked if I wanted to be her manager. Of course I did. I would do anything if it could help my little sister. But... Master came first. When I shook my head, she'd given a prim little snort. I couldn't afford to make her hate me, yet there was nothing I could do.
Come to think of it... the Sparkling Cock had worked on Han Ahyoung too. It would definitely work on my little sister. Even if we had sex, she would never be disappointed in me. If, far from disappointed, she ended up loving it the way Ahyoung did...
Thump-thump♥
She might start treating me even more affectionately.
While I was lost in thoughts of my sister, I realized the world around me had gone quiet. Yeonho was watching me with a serious expression. I felt a little embarrassed for drifting off mid-conversation and opened my mouth to speak—
"I'm not saying any of this to make you feel guilty."
Yeonho, misreading my face, cut in.
"It was the best handjob I've ever gotten. So mind-blowing I couldn't forget it."
What was he even saying right now.
"So next time... ha, never mind."
In the end Yeonho never finished telling me what favor he'd wanted to ask. Looking again, a faint flush of excitement lingered on his face.
Don't tell me the favor he was about to ask was... that?
If I was a masochistic dog who could only ever lose absolutely to women, then Yeonho probably had his own sexual tastes too. Was I right about what I was thinking? It was hard to press him after he'd stopped himself mid-sentence.
Yeonho and I headed back into the set and went straight to find Han Ahyoung. Her scene had already wrapped. Whether she'd gone to the waiting room or not, she was nowhere near the current shooting location. As a lead with heavy screen time—and even more after the webtoon had been adapted into a drama—she'd be back for another take soon enough.
"It's OT."
A calm voice carried across the floor. At the script supervisor's words, the assistant director frowned.
"I told you not to use hard words on set."
"Director Gun—"
The assistant director's killing intent made the script supervisor stop and correct herself.
"It ran long."
OT—overtake. Every scene had a set length, and this meant they'd exceeded it. Apparently most scenes were planned around one minute each. Important scenes and ones that needed to be cut short would vary, of course. This take had blown past the pre-set estimated time. The blocking or the delivery of the lines had dragged.
"Hoo."
A handsome young master blinked. Moments later his manager hurried over, looking at the worn script and talking something through with him—pointing out where the blocking had gone wrong and where the pace had slowed.
Yoo Chan-hyuk. The lead actor of this blockbuster drama. I'd spoken with him once since arriving, and it felt like a halo of beauty hung around him. Search any simple "best lines compilation" on YouTube and you could watch him all day. He'd been cast in that many excellent films and left that many impactful scenes. An S-class actor more popular even than Han Ahyoung. Even someone like him racked up NGs. Ahyoung wasn't okay on every take either, but she was clearly gifted.
Two other actors were shooting the cut with Chan-hyuk right now.
"Chan-hyuk oppa. If you move like that, you cover me completely."
"Hm? That's how the scene is supposed to—"
"Do you want to cover me up? You've already got so many scenes. Hmph."
Chan-hyuk had been famous since his child-actor days. A young woman barely out of her teens was giving acting notes to a man whose career stretched well past twenty years—Oh Jihyeon, the rookie actress who would be trading a lot of banter with Master.
"Sorry. I'll fix it."
The age gap was large enough that he seemed to regard Jihyeon like a cute niece.
"That won't do. Chan-hyuk is doing it correctly."
Veteran actress Go Malhee—nearly sixty, the senior who had lately been teaching Master acting—spoke up.
"Jihyeon-ah, don't throw a tantrum. It'll all get cut in editing anyway."
"But stiiill. Chan-hyuk oppa can do it, right?"
"Wrong is wrong."
When the aegyo failed to work, Jihyeon switched targets.
"Hiiing. Oppa, was I being unreasonable?"
She puffed her cheeks seductively and sent him a sultry look. Chan-hyuk shook his head and soothed her.
"No, it's a fair point. I'll try to move so I don't cover you as much."
He'd fallen completely for Jihyeon's aegyo. It still felt like watching a doting uncle with a performing niece, but he'd folded all the same.
I'd only been watching from a distance, yet... I'd almost given in to her request myself. That aegyo was incredibly seductive and lethal. If I ever heard it directed at me, I wouldn't even be able to keep my expression under control. The fact that Chan-hyuk could answer it with a warm smile made him seem impressive.
Suddenly my eyes met Go Malhee's. I bowed politely at the waist.
After Director Gun Hyun-woo had told me to learn acting from her, I'd gone straight to her. Coincidentally her own manager had been hospitalized, so once shooting wrapped I started driving her home. After that everything moved smoothly. She'd taken a liking to Master's earnest attitude and readily agreed to the request. Originally I'd offered to pick her up for set as well, but she'd refused. Probably because she didn't want to make Ahyoung uncomfortable—or maybe because Ahyoung made her uncomfortable.
Yeonho and I headed for the waiting room to find Ahyoung. Today was also my last day moving as her manager. Master's own shoots would be starting, and Yeonho was fully back now.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
The actors wrapping for the day and dispersing. The staff looked especially cheerful today—they would shoot through tomorrow, then get several days off. Pre-production that wasn't crushed by a tight schedule. They were carefully managing the pace for the sake of quality.
"Jiwoo-ssi."
Cocoa the writer approached me.
"Make sure you come to the company dinner tomorrow. Understood?"
A dinner had been scheduled for tomorrow as well—a day to honor the hard work of shooting all day without rest for a full week. You couldn't just keep sprinting forever. If they were going to shoot for months, the staff needed condition management just as much as the actors.
"Yes. Even if only for your sake, Writer-nim, I'll definitely be there."
"That's a promise."
As if something had just occurred to her, Cocoa asked,
"By the way, are you a minor, Jiwoo-ssi? You call Ahyoung-ssi 'noona.'"
"...No. I'm actually older, I just..."
"Just?"
"She's so mature and cool. Enough that I want to call her noona."
I knew it sounded a little strange, but I couldn't find a proper excuse. My answer had been a rambling mess, yet Cocoa nodded as if she understood perfectly.
"Ahyoung-ssi's nickname is 'Noona,' after all. Should I ask if I'm allowed to call her noona too?"
"...Yes. She seems to like being called noona, the way you do."
"Ahaha. Then I'll try it out tomorrow."
"..."
"Get home safely. Tomorrow, swap in a sturdy stomach before you come!"
"Yes. You too, Writer-nim. Get home safe."
After the goodbyes, I walked with Go Malhee, who had been waiting for me.
"Ahyoung isn't riding with us today?"
"No, Seonbae-nim. Yeonho-hyung is back now."
Normally once shooting ended she would give Master an acting lesson, but today they had decided to skip it. Lessons didn't need to happen every single day. You also needed time to make what you'd learned your own.
"Jiwoo's car is strangely, incredibly comfortable. I can't ride in any other car anymore."
Go Malhee was thoroughly satisfied with the comfort of the Cloud Doll. The Cloud Doll probably held a decent share of the reason she was teaching Master acting.
"Hm? The car is... what?"
Across the way I could still see Yeonho and Han Ahyoung, who hadn't gotten into their car yet. We'd already said goodbye earlier, but I waved again. For some reason Ahyoung was wearing a deliberately sour expression. Yeonho looked troubled too.
I told Go Malhee to go ahead and wait in the car, then walked closer.
"What's wrong...?"
I looked at Yeonho and Ahyoung in turn, mixing casual and formal speech at the same time.
"The car's just uncomfortable."
"Get in, Team Leader. I'm tired and want to go rest."
The moment Ahyoung saw me she spun on her heel and climbed into the van.
"Uh, right. You should rest comfortably. Let's go."
Yeonho hurriedly slid into the driver's seat. I was left alone.
Just now... had she avoided me?
Bewildered, I blinked. Then, with a soft slide, the rear window rolled down. Han Ahyoung lifted her chin and looked down at me.
"You're not even my manager anymore. Why bother caring?"
"..."
"Go take care of Seoh-ah."
Those words made my heart drop. Had I done something wrong? Had I somehow offended her?
"Noona... I'm sorry... I did something wrong..."
I looked steadily up at her. For a few seconds our eyes held.
Thump♥
Just locking gazes was enough to make my body react. My face flushed; my pupils trembled.
She let out a short laugh at the sight. But only for a moment. Ahyoung quickly composed her expression and shut the window. Her face disappeared. The car soon vanished from view.
I stood rooted in place, staring blankly.
Just this morning when she'd arrived on set she'd said she wanted to make me her dog. She'd said she would wait whenever. So why suddenly...
With Master already there, I could never be Ahyoung's dog alone... but still.
I thought about Han Ahyoung for quite a while before remembering Go Malhee waiting for me. I ran to her.