༺ Requesting Cloud Support from a Shooting Star – 22 ༻
“What?”
At the sudden question, Hee Wook wore a bewildered expression.
There was nothing to lose from Hee Wook’s shooting with Kyung Seo. Rather, it was an opportunity he absolutely couldn’t miss.
“I won’t be a problem.”
Without any particular thought, he reached for the chicken. But suddenly, Hee Min grabbed Hee Wook’s arm. While he was surprised and taken aback, Hee Min firmly poked Hee Wook’s arm with her fingers.
“Brother, look at your arm, it’s gotten soft because you haven’t been working out for a while.”
Feeling embarrassed, Hee Wook quickly pulled his arm away. Looking at his blushing face filled with shock and embarrassment, Hee Min covered her mouth and laughed out loud.
“What if you compare too much with Kyung Seo?”
Hee Wook, who had been glaring slightly at his teasing younger sister, picked up a piece of chicken and stuffed it into his mouth.
“What are you talking about? I’m going to start working out again, so be quiet.”
“What are you going to wear tomorrow?”
“They prepared an outfit. Just wear casual clothes and change there.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Hee Min, who had been nodding with an unimpressed expression, suddenly widened her eyes.
“Brother.”
“What.”
“Don’t forget to take a selfie with Kyung Seo.”
At her serious gaze and voice, Hee Wook raised an eyebrow. Hee Min clenched her fist tightly and emphasized every word she said.
“It’d be nice to post it later pretending to be close, right? Posting a selfie will increase followers too. Don’t forget to ask to take it. Definitely!”
Looking at Hee Min, who was pleading repeatedly, Hee Wook laughed weakly. It would obviously be great if he could post a selfie with Kyung Seo on social media. But it sounded like a wildly unrealistic story.
He could already picture Kyung Seo’s face filled with annoyance and irritation.
“I wonder if that big star would even agree to take a picture.”
“Why? Is Kyung Seo not nice? Does he have personality issues?”
As Hee Min asked with wide eyes, Hee Wook just licked his lips. The image of Kyung Seo floated in his mind. A man with a rough and intimidating aura, who could completely oppress people with just a single word or a raise of his eyebrows. He certainly felt the man was impertinent, but…
It felt inappropriate to speak ill of a specific actor in front of his family. He knew very well how a rumor spread in the entertainment industry could inflate. He bit down on his lower lip hard, then shrugged his shoulders.
“…I guess I’ll have to see more of him to know about his personality.”
“Sure!”
Hee Min picked up a piece of chicken with her fork and pushed it into her mouth, chewing with both cheeks full.
Hee Wook gazed at his naive younger sister. Hee Min, who was six years younger than him, was the same age as the youngest member of Two Planet. Both Young Woo and Hee Min were twenty-three this year.
Hee Min, who used to come to the shooting site in her school uniform for fun during the early days of Two Planet’s debut, was already a fourth-year university student. Looking at his sister with a sudden curiosity, Hee Wook put down his fork. He stopped eating chicken, took another sip of diet cola, and stood up.
He had passed it off at the dinner table as if it was nothing, but when he returned to his room, the conversation with his sister earlier felt rather uncomfortable. Hee Wook examined his arms and body.
His arms, which were originally firm due to consistent workouts and practices during his active period, gained more muscle after his enlistment. Not all of it had disappeared, but since he hadn’t worked out properly during his rest period, it felt much thinner than before. He was considered in good shape among the team, and suddenly he felt a blow to his pride.
‘Would I look even smaller next to Kyung Seo?’
Kyung Seo’s profile listed his height as well over 190cm. Hee Wook wasn’t short either, but to the viewers, he might appear to be about 160cm tall next to that man. Kyung Seo was solid and dark, while he was pale, making them look like a tall tree and a small white mushroom.
As Hee Wook was about to climb into bed, he hurriedly got down on the floor. The first filming was tomorrow. He began with bodyweight exercises, including push-ups. Hee Wook moved until his back and neck were sweaty, then he threw off his clothes and headed for the bathroom.
After finishing his shower, he examined his body in the mirror. Compared to the past, a lot of his muscles had atrophied, but looking at his condition right after a workout, it wasn’t too bad. He smiled proudly and casually placed a towel over his head.
He returned to his room and picked up the script again.
“Do you know the hearts of the fans?”
He shouted the same lines emphatically, then quietly pondered them.
After a night consumed by exercise and script practice, the morning of his first shoot finally dawned.
“If they say casual clothes…”
At 5 AM, Hee Wook, with his closet door open, was lost in thought. He hadn’t gone shopping recently. Most of his clothes looked worn and shabby. Frowning, he shuffled through his clothes and found a garment that was practically new because he had hardly worn it.
‘Is it a bit too much?’
It was a shirt he clearly knew why he didn’t wear often. He held the clothing up to his body and looked in the mirror. It was a tight-fitting T-shirt with a deeply cut neckline. He had bought this expensive shirt as a souvenir at a duty-free shop when he was abroad for his schedule, but the design was a bit too much to wear casually around the neighborhood.
‘I’ve been working out, so it should be okay.’
He quickly checked the time and hurriedly took off his pajamas.
***
Hee Wook’s first shooting location was a café alley in Seongnam City. Hee Wook was told to arrive at the shooting site by 9:30 AM and wait.
If he left from Guri, it would take over an hour and a half by public transportation to get to the shooting site. Trying to avoid rush hour as much as possible, he decided to leave early and got on a bus at 5:30 in the morning.
Even though he was tired from not sleeping much, it was better than being late for the first shoot. He transferred buses twice and headed towards Seongnam.
It was already the end of May. Spring had ended by the end of April, and the weather was getting warm. At least it was cool because it was dawn, Hee Wook thought, slightly pulling the straps of his mask. The wind that entered through the window, opened about half a palm’s width, dried the sweat on his cheeks.
After adjusting his mask again, he looked outside the window. He could see the bus stop where he was to get off. After grabbing his bag, he stood up from his seat.
The address the writer had given him led to a deep part of the café alley when he looked it up on the map. After passing by several shops that hadn’t yet opened, he found a café that was bigger than he had expected.
The inside and outside of the café were bustling with drama shooting staff. He wasn’t sure if he could go inside, so Hee Wook just stood still and looked around.
Then he spotted a woman moving busily. He had seen her face at the script reading. Confirming that she was the drama’s assistant director, Hee Wook hurriedly followed her and started a conversation.
“Excuse me, hello.”
The woman, who had been walking quickly, suddenly stopped and furrowed her eyebrows. Hee Wook quickly bowed in greeting.
“I’m Sung Hee Wook.”
“Oh! You arrived really early.”
She gave a small laugh and looked Hee Wook over.
“You’ve dressed stylishly. You look more like an idol than an idol fan.”
Hee Wook’s eyes widened. He had a moment of regret, wondering if he should have dressed more like his character.
“They said they’d prepare costumes for me.”
“Oh, right. Please, come in.”
Following the woman, who quickly entered the café, Hee Wook moved his steps.
The assistant director led Hee Wook to the second floor. The filming equipment was being set up around the bar situated inside.
“Please wait here for a bit. The costume hasn’t arrived yet.”
She led Hee Wook to a table on the opposite side. She checked her watch and gave a small smile.
“Kyung Seo will be here soon as well.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Typically, there’s a lot of waiting time on a set. You can use your phone or do whatever you want, just make yourself comfortable.”
Hee Wook nodded vigorously. The assistant director gave a smile and disappeared again at a quick pace. Hee Wook looked at the bustling people for a while, then pulled out the script.
There was a limit to how long he could examine the script he’d worn out to the corners. The part Hee Wook was to act today didn’t even fill two pages. He flipped through the script aimlessly, then picked up his phone. The battery was already down to 50 percent.
Thinking that it was a good idea to have brought a charging device, Hee Wook clicked on the blue icon to log into his SNS. There weren’t many fans who mentioned him on SNS now, but he was still curious if there was anyone talking about him at the moment.
However, there were unexpected stories. Hee Wook’s eyes widened at the results that came out when he casually searched his name.
Seo Yu @HW_YK00
#SungHeeWook #HeeWook Drama appearance mentioned in the news!!!
Nectar Han Dong-hoon, cast in drama ‘Dive into you’… Promises ‘a rough charisma 180 degrees different from his sweet everyday image’
3 Retweets 5 Likes
Cinnamon @woogieloversclub
Wook and Eunsung are in a drama? With CGS too? Wow;;
The images attached by the fans included captured content of part of an article. The article was about Dong-hoon, a member of Nectar, acting in an idol group along with actor Cheon Kyung Seo, musical actor Hyungkyun, and Eun-sung from Two Planet, and Hee Wook’s name was at the end of the line.
[Sung Hee Wook, who is also a former member of Two Planet like Lee Eun-sung, will participate in the drama.]
Kyung Seo’s drama casting news was already revealed a while ago. It seemed that the casting news for the supporting actors was being released by their respective agencies after the entire script reading. Eun-sung and Hee Wook, who were not affiliated with any agencies, had no reason to release an article, so it was surprising that this information was disclosed this way.
It was intriguing how the fans found out something that even he didn’t know. He was examining the reactions on SNS with a sense of bewilderment.
“Ah, Kyung Seo!”
The voice of a staff member rang out. Startled, Hee Wook looked up. He saw Kyung Seo striding up the stairs.
As soon as Kyung Seo reached the second floor, he spotted Hee Wook. Their eyes met, and Hee Wook, almost unconsciously, scanned Kyung Seo’s face starting from his eyebrows.
‘His eyebrows are quite flat today.’
He seemed to be in a good mood. Hee Wook was relieved, considering they were going to be shooting together. Hee Wook was about to offer a greeting, and started to smile and rise.
“Hee…”
Just as he opened his mouth upon seeing Hee Wook’s face, Kyung Seo froze. Slowly, his gaze drifted downwards. Hee Wook realized that Kyung Seo was scanning his outfit.
And then, in that moment, deep furrows formed again between Kyung Seo’s thick eyebrows. Seeing Kyung Seo’s frown deepen, Hee Wook felt a twitch at the corners of his mouth.
‘What’s the problem now…’
Sweat formed in his tightly clenched fist.
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