༺ Requesting Cloud Support from a Shooting Star – 16 ༻
Hee-wook, having gotten in the car, habitually logged onto SNS. He pressed the paper airplane icon at the top to check his DMs. There had been no new messages since the day he had done a live broadcast.
Among the fans who remembered Hee-wook’s ID, many did not send DMs on the day of the live broadcast. The messages they had sent before were all pushed down. Among them, there were fans who had declared ‘Deok-exit’, stating they no longer liked Hee-wook.
Would the ones who left come back if he announced the news that he was going to appear in a drama? Just as Hee-wook was about to put his phone down with a bitter smile, like a lie, a new message came in.
[YK_woogie: Hee-wook Oppa!!! You worked hard today. I hope it was a day filled with good things. I hope you gain more strength in the future!! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥]
It was Yu-kyung. Almost the only one among his long-time fans who kept her place. He wondered how she knew about his good news.
“…Eun-sung.”
As Hee-wook, who was savoring the message, opened his mouth, Eun-sung, who had been fumbling with his seatbelt, looked up.
“I think fans are really precious.”
“Out of the blue? Unexpectedly?”
At Eun-sung’s snickering words filled with a chuckle, Hee-wook shrugged his shoulders.
“Now that something good has happened, I feel more grateful.”
Hee-wook put down his phone and started the car. He was thankful for the long-time fan who appeared at a good time when he needed support. She had said that she was studying abroad. He was curious how she was doing and hoped she was well.
“When we release an album again later…… If COVID is sorted out, let’s make sure to go on a U.S. tour.”
As Hee-wook murmured while starting the car, Eun-sung chuckled. Whether he thought it was a vain dream, or if he found the member who was suddenly emotional amusing, he didn’t know. Either way, Hee-wook glanced up at the sky with a hope that it would come true.
‘Yu-kyung, she must have grown a lot. I probably wouldn’t recognize her if I saw her again, right? I hope she’s careful with COVID…….’
As the tension was released, various thoughts seeped in and his body relaxed. Imagining how his young fan must have grown up, he drove on the road.
＊＊＊
The next day, Hee-wook sat on the chair in front of his desk, clearing his throat.
Now that something good had happened, he wanted to share the news with his fans. However, he was worried whether it was okay to tell them that he would be acting instead of singing. It was awkward to explain in detail how this had come about.
Therefore, before announcing the news, he thought he should revisit the song that had troubled him for a while.
He chose two songs that he had often listened to during his military service period, and a ballad that was currently high on the music site charts. After playing the MR of the first song, he closed his eyes and sang along with the accompaniment.
It was amazing. Recently, no matter how hard he tried to sing, he couldn’t concentrate at all, and it seemed like his skills were not as good as before, which upset him. But today, he was able to immerse himself quickly.
After trying to sing a few times and listening to it again, he slumped back as if falling backwards.
“That’s it.”
The sound quality was incomparable to the songs produced in a recording studio with all the proper equipment, but it was not so bad as to be embarrassing to show to his fans.
He stared blankly at the ceiling, then blinked his eyes. Perhaps the songs he sang when he was locked up at home, succumbing to depression, might not be so bad if he listened to them now.
Hee-wook was very aware of the fact that his singing skills were good. But back then, the thought of showing it to anyone was so dreadful that he’d rather have died holding the file.
He pressed his heavy eyelids against his forearm due to fatigue, then quickly sat up. He intended to quickly record the remaining two songs. Just then, a noise came from outside.
Ding-dong.
It was the sound of the doorbell. He wished that one of his family members would answer it, but there was no one in the living room. The doorbell, interrupting his workflow which was going well at the moment, irritated him tremendously.
“I’ll go.”
He trudged towards the living room. In the meantime, the doorbell rang once more. Through the intercom screen, Hee-wook checked the outside. He saw a postman holding something wrapped in yellow paper.
He seemed to remember hearing that due to Covid-19, most package deliveries were done contact-free. Hee-wook reached out to grab the mask hanging near the entrance and put it on. With a puzzled and irritable expression hidden behind the white mask, he opened the door.
“Is it a delivery?”
“Yes, it’s registered mail from the post office. Since it’s registered, you need to receive it personally.”
He looked down at the thick envelope that had suddenly come into his hands with a bewildered expression. The postman nonchalantly held out a PDA for signature.
“Are you Sung Hee-wook?”
“Excuse me? Yes.”
“Please write your name here.”
To his surprise, the name written on the envelope was indeed ‘Sung Hee-wook’. As he hadn’t bought anything recently and didn’t expect anything to be delivered to him, he was momentarily taken aback, but quickly completed the signature.
“Thank you.”
The postman turned around as he closed the door for Hee-wook. With the door closing behind him, Hee-wook began to tear open the envelope as he moved.
“Oh.”
The item in the envelope was a script. The phrase ‘Dive into you (16-part series)’ was written on the first page. It felt as if several small hearts were sprouting and throbbing all over his body. He almost tripped over the entrance threshold while walking into the living room, his gaze fixed solely on the script.
Hee-wook flopped down on the sofa as if collapsing, and began to slowly flip through the script. After the names and lines of the characters, which still felt unfamiliar, there was one word that came into sharp focus.
Hee-wook.
His real name was written there. It seemed too much of a coincidence for the character to have the same name as his, so it appeared that they had simply attached the actor’s real name to a character who didn’t have a predetermined name. Hee-wook checked his name and lines with curious eyes.
The lines of ‘Jung Hyuk’ followed before and after. ‘Hyuk’ was the name of the protagonist played by Kyung Seo. No matter how much he flipped the pages back and forth, Hee-wook in the drama only had conversations with Hyuk.
‘I’m always stuck with Cheon Kyung Seo, aren’t I?’
He had heard he would play the role of the protagonist’s friend, so it was obvious, but it made his face stiff. The image of Cheon Kyung Seo, who had given him a cold look, rose in his mind and a heavy sigh escaped his lips. He had to act opposite that man who seemed not to have a speck of sociability, giving off a ruthless impression.
‘Now that it has come to this… I should get along as best as I can.’
Hee-wook pulled out his phone and instead of going to contacts, he opened his messenger. Cheon Kyung Seo’s name popped up at the top of the friend list as a newly added friend.
Like Hee-wook, Kyung Seo’s profile picture space was empty. He glared at the three characters of the name he had saved himself on the day he received the number, and then tried pressing the edit button. In the ‘Name set by friend’ field, there were characters written that were not ‘Cheon Kyung Seo’.
‘Y’.
It was puzzling why it was ‘Y’ when there was no ‘Y’ in his initials. It probably was a pseudonym to prevent his phone number from being revealed.
For now, he opened a one-on-one chat window with Kyung Seo. As he had never contacted him before, the chat window was naturally empty. Hee-wook moved his finger anxiously.
[Hello, senior. I’m Sung Hee-wook, who plays the role of ‘Hee-wook’ in the drama.]
He contemplated sending a longer message but decided to send it as it was. He continued typing on the keyboard.
[It might be insufficient for you, but I will do my best not to be a burden during filming. I will learn a lot. Please take care of me.]
The recipient didn’t read the message while he was writing it. However, as soon as he sent the second message, the ‘1’ indicating an unread message disappeared immediately. Hee-wook widened his eyes at the unexpected quick read.
Despite quickly reading the message, Kyung Seo said nothing. Figuring that it would look strange if he checked the message immediately after it arrived, Hee-wook quickly put down his phone on the sofa.
He looked at the living room clock while biting his nails. After about 5 minutes, he checked his phone again. There was still no reply. However, there was one change.
“Huh?”
Kyung Seo had definitely not set a profile picture just a moment ago, but now, looking again, a photo was there.
It was a familiar photo. When he thought about where he had seen it, it was similar to the magazine cover of Kyung Seo he had found in his house last time. It seemed to be a photo taken by someone at the time of that photoshoot. The perfectly fitted white shirt, the languid expression, and the pose sitting with his legs crossed all seemed relaxed in many ways.
‘Acting all grown-up.’
The pose with his chin slightly raised gave off the feeling as if he was well aware of his own sexiness, which brought a wry smile to Hee-wook’s face.
‘What bad taste…’
He was enlarging and examining the photo when his phone vibrated. He was so startled he nearly dropped the phone.
[Cheon Kyung Seo: Did you intentionally leave your profile picture blank?]
It was a message from Kyung Seo. Hee-wook, who was scanning the message preview, cocked his head. He wondered if he possibly didn’t know his face. It was possible since there were many drama cast members. He had met Kyung Seo for the first time that day. He probably recognized him in the corridor by his red hair.
[Wouldn’t it be easier for you to recognize me if I put up a photo?]
Hee-wook replied while furrowing his brow. Kyung Seo read the message right away but didn’t reply again. Because of his incomprehensible message, Hee-wook was caught in a shallow quandary.
There was no special reason he had left his profile blank, so there was nothing preventing him from posting a picture. It just felt awkward to fill it after leaving it blank for so long.
He went into his gallery and after some thought chose an appropriate photo. It was a photo taken during his Two Planet album activities. It was one of the few good selfies he had taken around that time, but he hadn’t been able to post it because Yoon Min’s personal item was in the frame. If it were another personal item it wouldn’t be a problem, but since it was a pack of cigarettes he had decided not to post it.
Considering he wasn’t doing idol activities anymore, and he was using the photo for personal use, he decided to register it as his profile picture.
Even after setting the profile picture, Kyung Seo remained silent. With the feeling of a thirsty man digging a well, Hee-wook started typing again.
[Anyway, please take care of me!!]
He felt embarrassed to suck up again after being ignored by a man nine years younger who promptly set his profile picture and snubbed his text, so he added exclamation points.
[haha^^;]
As if noticing Hee-wook’s struggle, this time, Kyung Seo responded promptly.
[Cheon Kyung Seo: See you at the shooting. I’m curious to see how well you’ll do..]
“How well I’ll do?”
Hee-wook applied a bit of force to the hand holding his phone.
Kyung Seo’s tone was very strange. It was just text, but he could envision a bothersome face grinning with lips curled up in a smirk. He was wondering if he was just feeling insulted or if he was really being mocked when another message from Kyung Seo came in.
[Cheon Kyung Seo: lol]
“Laughing…?”
Hee-wook concluded that Cheon Kyung Seo was indeed mocking him. Blue veins popped out on the back of Hee-wook’s hand, flushed with indignation.
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