༺ Requesting Cloud Support from a Shooting Star – 17 ༻
“We’ll finish filming now. Great job!”
On the set of the drama ‘Dive into you’ for the main poster shoot, director’s shout signaled the end. Kyung Seo shook his wrist once; holding the prop microphone throughout had left him feeling a bit stiff. The actress Kim Hye-jin, who played the female lead character ‘Han Sae-byul’, tilted her head and met his eyes.
“Kyung Seo, good job. Let’s meet on the script reading day.”
Hye-jin was a familiar actress to Kyung Seo; they had appeared together in a drama when he was a child actor. Although Hye-jin was ten years older than Kyung Seo and thirty this year, her youthful appearance made her suitable for college student roles without awkwardness.
Kyung Seo bowed silently in response. Knowing that Cheon Kyung Seo had always been brusque, Hye-jin just smiled past the stiff silence.
“Noona.”
Kyung Seo unusually called Hye-jin while she was turning around. Hye-jin opened her eyes wide.
“Huh?”
“The script reading tomorrow is only for the main and supporting roles, right? Others won’t be coming.”
Hye-jin blinked her eyes. It was surprising that the reticent Kyung Seo was suddenly asking about the schedule. It was strange that he was checking it anew, when it wasn’t his first time doing script reading.
“That’s right. It’s a meeting for the main and supporting roles. There’s still a lot left until the full script reading. Why?”
“… I was just confused.”
“What a dull response. Anyway, see you tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
With a nod, Hye-jin turned towards the changing room to change her clothes. Kyung Seo also moved among the busy staff to clear the shooting studio. At that moment, his manager Woo Jin approached. He handed Kyung Seo a coffee.
“You, good job. We need to move right away.”
“Yes, right away…”
It was just as Kyung Seo, holding the coffee, was about to follow the manager outside.
“Hey, Cheon Kyung Seo senior!”
At the sudden call, Kyung Seo stopped in his tracks. Glancing back, he saw a young man with bright, almost blonde hair, running towards him.
He was an actor who would be appearing as a group member with Kyung Seo in this drama, and was currently an active idol. Kyung Seo covertly scanned the man. Though he hadn’t yet heard the actor’s self-introduction, his profile was already lined up in Kyung Seo’s mind, like an idol encyclopedia.
His name was Han Dong-hoon. A member of the six-person idol group ‘Nectar,’ his position was sub-vocal. Twenty-one years old this year. Among the members, his public recognition was relatively high, but he reportedly lacked a core fan base. Kyung Seo’s eyes narrowed slightly. Apologies if it seemed prejudiced, but just by appearance, he seemed like someone with a problematic character.
Unaware of Kyung Seo’s thoughts, Dong-hoon raised his head, smiling brightly.
“I’m Han Dong-hoon. I look forward to working with you this time!”
“Yes, me too.”
“Acting is totally new to me apart from music videos, so I’m really nervous. But I’m relieved to be playing a character with a personality similar to mine. I think I can completely meet the director’s expectations!”
Kyung Seo slightly raised one eyebrow. Being held back by someone he had neither interest in nor familiarity with, unable to go home, and hearing about the uninteresting casting experience was not a pleasant experience. Dong-hoon, oblivious, cheerfully thumped his own chest.
“Ah, especially in episode 2, there’s a scene where I curse at a know-it-all. It’s a scene where I trash talk the people who criticize the company and members without really knowing anything.”
“Ah.”
“I really related to it. I’ll show you method acting! I’m really confident I can do it well.”
The role Dong-hoon was cast for was the most boisterous member of the team, a sort of troublemaker. Kyung Seo, who had been looking down at him with a knowing gaze, slightly bowed his head forward.
“Yes.”
His brief response cut off the conversation, and he turned around, leaving Dong-hoon staring after him in bewilderment. However, Kyung Seo didn’t seem to care. As he plodded forward, his hurrying manager Woo Jin caught up to him and whispered, hand near his mouth.
“I recommend not getting close to that guy. There are bad rumors about him.”
“When have you ever seen me become friends with anyone?”
“Um, never.”
“Besides, he’s exactly the type of person I dislike.”
Kyung Seo’s mouth twisted into a smirk. Clueless and stupid people, loud people, those with bad behavior. All of them were distasteful to him, but the worst was a celebrity who took pride in what they couldn’t do for their fans.
“Well, yeah.”
Woo Jin shrugged his shoulders. Without any further conversation, Kyung Seo, who had climbed into the van, pulled out his phone.
Woo Jin, who had clambered into the driver’s seat and fumbled with the seatbelt before starting the ignition, glanced back, then made a surprised expression.
“Hey, but why are you playing with that second phone?”
Once in the car and free from the eyes of others, Kyung Seo would promptly throw aside his phone for public use and take up the ‘fangirling’ phone, known only to those closest to him. Woo Jin, who was well aware of this habit, looked puzzled, and Kyung Seo replied nonchalantly.
“This one is my first phone. People all recognize me by this model.”
“Isn’t the one you hold onto longer usually the first?”
Woo Jin grumbled, starting the car. Kyung Seo half-listened to his manager’s words while looking down at his phone. Displayed on the screen was a single contact recently added.
[Sung Hee-wook]
Kyung Seo sighed heavily.
“Why are you sighing?”
“I’m wondering if this is really okay.”
“What is?”
“The number….”
He regretted it immediately after impulsively handing over his phone, seeing Hee-wook’s surprised face. But with each press of the buttons as he dialed the number, chills ran down his spine. A shock and thrill of breaking a taboo rose within him.
“It’s not good for a star and a fan to be too close; did I receive it needlessly?”
Contrarily, the corners of his mouth kept rising. Hee-wook’s number had many 0’s and 8’s. It looked round, just like him.
Moreover, feeling disappointed that the profile picture was empty, he said a word, and Hee-wook immediately uploaded a selfie. It was even an unpublished picture that came out so well that the eyes popped. He quickly captured it.
“This is nice, but…”
Hearing Kyung Seo’s muttering as if talking to himself, Woo Jin was about to brush it off but then flinched.
“What? You didn’t really get a fan’s number, did you?”
At the incredulous question, Kyung Seo, without changing his expression, looked up and nonchalantly showed his elongated middle finger. Woo Jin’s face crumpled.
“You rude person.”
“Why would I do something like that?”
“You wouldn’t. But if not that, then what is it?”
Kyung Seo, whose manager sighed as if the world was collapsing, went into the messenger. He zoomed in several times on Hee-wook’s profile picture, which he had already looked at and saved, pressing it until it filled the screen.
While examining the picture closely, he found something. Next to Hee-wook was a paper box that anyone could see was a pack of cigarettes. Initially surprised by the unexpected object, he thought that since many celebrities smoke, perhaps Hee-wook had been smoking for some time too.
He imagined Hee-wook taking a slanted drag on a white cigarette. Hee-wook, scowling while smoking due to frustration with a composition that wasn’t going well, would be incredibly sexy. Of course, it would be better not to have such an unhealthy habit.
‘Could it be another member?’
Upon careful thought, main vocal Hee-wook had always been particularly attentive to taking care of his throat. If it were his, he probably wouldn’t have allowed it to appear in the selfie.
‘It might be that bastard, Cha Yoon Min’s ciggs.’
Kyung Seo came to a conclusion alone and minimized the picture he had zoomed in on. With a satisfied look, he gazed at Hee-wook’s neat face and then broke into words.
“It’s just about the script.”
Kyung Seo pressed the home button firmly and carelessly put his phone down, leaning back in his seat.
Even with his eyes closed, Hee-wook’s face kept floating before him. The face from the photo with glamorous idol makeup gradually changed into the innocent bare face he had encountered not long ago.
The eyes with lowered tails, faint double eyelids that were barely visible through the epicanthic folds, and red hair dyed recently, even to the roots. The round nose and sharp lips visible thanks to the mask that had briefly rested on his chin while taking the photo.
‘…He’s so handsome.’
Kyung Seo tensed his forehead, recalling the unchanged beauty of his favorite idol, and let out a deep breath. If others were to see Cheon Kyung Seo right now, they would mistake him to be in the midst of the most serious and grave concern in the world. But Kyung Seo was entirely enraptured.
He had come face to face with the real thing for the first time in almost five years. It had been around middle school when he could no longer deceive others as a girl, so they parted ways. The joy of encountering Hee-wook in person, which was incomparable to seeing him on the screen, was enough to make his heart tingle.
‘I did see him from a distance two years ago.’
Just once. Utilizing his own celebrity status, he had obtained information that other fans couldn’t. Through his manager, he had asked around in the industry and found out Hee-wook’s enlistment date.
He could neither reveal his identity nor converse, so merely shivering from afar and sending a greeting was hardly something he could call “seeing his face.”
Hee-wook, whom he met after a long time, seemed unchanged except for his cheeks having thinned, giving him a more forlorn appearance. He was still noticeably handsome, cute, and a born entertainer. However, there was one part that gave him a feeling of discomfort.
“He’s naturally cold-faced, leaving his career aside. His speech is also quite blunt.”
The answer to the question was dull, and there were thorns in the eyes directed at me. He didn’t show it, but he was honestly shocked.
‘Did he dislike me approaching him?’
Kyung Seo, in his joy and excitement to finally meet him, and fearing he might miss him, rushed to find Hee-wook as soon as he came out of the audition hall.
Kyung Seo nervously approached Hee-wook, who was alone, but was taken aback by a reaction that seemed anything but pleasant. He tried to act indifferent, but his lips and hands, unlike his usual self, kept freezing.
Congratulating him on the additional audition pass. It was something that would be lightly said to anyone else, but he couldn’t easily think of it, and for the first time, he resented his own unapproachable nature.
‘Has he become much more withdrawn over time?’
The Hee-wook that Kyung Seo knew was the embodiment of tenderness. A man so sweet that it was seriously hypothesized his blood flowed with honey, and his flesh and bones were made of sugar. No other idol could be as kind and warm as Hee-wook, he was sure of it.
Looking at Hee-wook, who seemed like a hedgehog with its quills raised, Kyung Seo suddenly felt sorrowful. A surge of disappointment welled up in him.
‘It must be because things aren’t going well.’
Anyone’s mind loses its calmness when situations get tough. Tenderness, too, comes from physical energy, and the current Hee-wook looked utterly exhausted. Kyung Seo’s heart felt like it was crumbling. He hoped that somehow Hee-wook could regain his energy, even if it was just a small spark of hope.
He had hoped that among the people who came to watch the audition, Hee-wook would be there. When he met Hee-wook, his prediction was correct, and he got goosebumps all over his body, but he was greatly disappointed to find out that Hee-wook had only come to follow Eun-sung, not for the audition.
From the Two Planet days, Kyung Seo neither disliked nor liked Eun-sung. He was completely indifferent. But at that moment, Eun-sung felt like he had stolen Hee-wook’s place, and Kyung Seo hated him to madness.
He diligently stared at Hee-wook as he left with Eun-sung after the audition. At that moment, when he was trying to capture his favorite idol in his eyes for even a second longer, the director opened his mouth.
“That person. Wasn’t his face quite good?”
Kyung Seo deeply admired Director Cha’s discernment as he tilted his head, but he casually pretended otherwise.
“I didn’t get a good look. Call him back.”
“We must.”
Watching Hee-wook return at Director Cha’s request, and eventually achieve the role, Kyung Seo internally shouted with joy. He was tense all the way, and at the moment the casting was decided, all strength left his body, and he slumped down. It was incredibly hard to hide the twitching corners of his mouth.
Hee-wook had shown his face to people after a long time, and Kyung Seo desperately hoped that he would regain his confidence and return to his original dazzling appearance.
‘When will he tell his fans that he’s appearing in a drama?’
Kyung Seo quietly picked up his phone that he used for his fan activities. He aimlessly browsed through Hee-wook’s SNS feed, which hadn’t been updated since the last live broadcast announcement.
“Shall I play some music?” Woo Jin asked, noticing Kyung Seo continually refreshing the page meaninglessly.
“Or the radio?”
“Play whatever you want, hyung.”
“Then I’ll turn on the radio. Let’s hear what’s going on in the world.”
“Sure.”
Kyung Seo, who responded listlessly, glanced at Woo Jin’s hand turning on the radio and then shifted his gaze back to his phone. But then he noticed that the picture of Hee-wook wearing a hat, which had been at the beginning, had moved one space to the side.
“Huh?”
The very first post had changed. A picture of the sky had taken its place. No, upon closer inspection, it was not a photo but a video. Kyung Seo’s hands were trembling with sweetness as he clicked on the newly uploaded post.
[Ballad Remix _ Cover by. Sung Hee-wook]
From the radio that Woo Jin had turned on, raucous laughter poured out. But to Kyung Seo, it sounded muffled, as if water had entered his ears. He suddenly jerked his head up, his mouth agape.
“Turn off the radio right now!”
“Ah, you scared me!”
Woo Jin, who had been taken by surprise, almost reflexively turned off the radio. Kyung Seo turned the volume on his smartphone to the maximum and immediately played the video.
Hee-wook’s clear voice rang out over the calm accompaniment. Kyung Seo, tensing his body, did not move an inch, focusing on Hee-wook’s song, which he hadn’t heard in a long time.
It didn’t feel like a song neatly recorded in a studio but rather something created alone with minimal equipment. However, Kyung Seo liked it even more.
There were no distractions at all. Only Hee-wook’s pure voice came through to him, entirely unadulterated.
“Singing? I’m a singer; I should be good at it!”
The confident words he had once thrown at Kyung Seo long ago came to mind. A thrilling chill ran through him, from the top of his head to the tips of his toes.
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