Until we arrived at the filming site, Cha Jeonghan didn’t say a word to me. There was a staff member from the shop riding with us to the site, so it wasn’t an atmosphere for private conversation, but even aside from that, he didn’t make any work-related small talk either—he just kept his eyes closed.
Cha Jeonghan had been like this even when he was young. Whenever I said something that implied an ending, he would openly show his hurt feelings, get angry at me for saying such things, and plead with me not to.
‘After graduation, I won’t be able to come to your house as often as I do now, right? Even if we go to the same university, it’s hard to get into the same department…’
Back then, the word Cha Jeonghan hated hearing most was “graduation.” He didn’t want to hear that our high school life together would end. He didn’t want things to change from how they were now with me, and he didn’t want to become an adult either.
Knowing all this and still voicing an ending—that was clearly my fault. Lately, I’d been making mistakes with Cha Jeonghan too often. If I kept this up a few more times, Cha Jeonghan would think I was acting strange, and being perceptive as he was, he would dig into my gaps and pull out the emotions I’d buried deep, asking me what they were. I needed to get a grip before I was caught like that and forcibly lost everything.
Even I thought I was out of it lately, shaken too easily… I was swept away too easily by Cha Jeonghan’s every word and action. At this rate, getting caught would happen in an instant.
“We’ve arrived.”
At Dongyun hyung’s voice, I came to my senses and looked outside—we were in the parking lot. I quickly got out and hurried over to Cha Jeonghan’s side. I was about to open the door for him, but Cha Jeonghan opened it himself and got out alone, pulling up the mask that had slipped down to his chin. Then he glanced to the side and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward him. I tilted forward just as a car passed by.
“Don’t watch me—watch for cars.”
“…I was wrong. Please stop being mad.”
“……”
“Jeonghan-ah….”
“Don’t call my name. It makes my heart weak.”
Still, he looked at me with eyes slightly softer than before and entered the building with Dongyun hyung, who had gotten out of the car. I quickly followed behind them and got on the elevator going down to the basement. He was probably already in a bad mood about filming with Seo Piljun, and I felt heavy-hearted for having added to that.
When we entered the set, Seo Piljun, who had arrived first, approached with a smile and patted Cha Jeonghan’s shoulder. Knowing that Jeonghan hated when others casually touched or hit his body while talking, I glanced over to see his expression wasn’t very good.
“Cha Jeonghan! Long time no see! You’re doing too well these days, what are you gonna do being so successful all by yourself? Share some of it with the rest of us. Are you trying to starve all the other actors to death!”
With a face that said he didn’t want to respond, Cha Jeonghan took off his mask and greeted Seo Piljun while forcibly suppressing his emotions.
“It’s been a while, sunbae-nim. I’d like to rest too, but people around me keep saying if I rest I’ll fall behind, so I’m working while I can.”
“Such nice things to say again. Yeah, you gotta work hard when the tide comes in. The tide goes out fast. Even the ocean tide goes out regularly, and compared to nature, humans are just insignificant creatures, aren’t we?”
“Thank you for the advice from experience, sunbae-nim. I’ll work hard while the tide is in. Then I’ll go put on my outfit.”
As Cha Jeonghan bowed politely and passed by, Seo Piljun’s expression crumpled. He seemed offended by “advice from experience.” I was worried they might get into a fight, but remembering how Seo Piljun had openly ignored Jeonghan when he was a rookie and laughed saying he looked like he’d drown in the water that came in by chance, I felt satisfied inside.
“Yuhyeon-ah.”
“Yeah.”
“Can’t I just hit him once?”
“…No.”
“If you weren’t here, I’d already be trending on search rankings.”
“You held back well. Not completely, but still.”
“If patience became a person, it would be me.”
Cha Jeonghan greeted the on-site staff and entered the prepared waiting room, then changed into the prepared outfit. Today was a gathering to promote the new film by the director of <Autumn Night>, honoring their loyalty—the two actors who had appeared together were meeting up. At least it was fortunate that it wasn’t a long shoot.
“Jeonghan-ah. Just think of it as work. Just give model answers when he talks to you, and don’t think too deeply. It’s not even a long shoot today, it’ll be over quickly.”
“Got it. Don’t go anywhere, stay where I can see you. You know I can only hold back when I’m looking at you.”
“I know. I’ll be next to the director. Don’t worry.”
“You should be the one worrying.”
“Huh?”
“You’re dead when we get home. Just because I’m talking to you now doesn’t mean I’ve completely forgiven you.”
“Ah……”
“You better explain yourself properly. Today I’m really not letting this slide.”
I thought it wasn’t completely resolved, but hearing him point it out so precisely made my head already feel complicated. Various words tumbled around in my head, bothering me as I thought about what to say to make Cha Jeonghan feel completely better.
“Yuhyeon-ssi, the fan club sent snacks so I’m going to go get them. Watch over Jeonghan, and if anything happens, contact me right away. I told Seo Piljun’s manager to keep a close eye on him too, so today should go smoothly. Jeonghan has grown up a bit anyway.”
“Of course. I’ll do well. Take care.”
Following Dongyun hyung out of the waiting room, I ran toward Cha Jeonghan, who was walking ahead. Physical distance was so easy to close. All I had to do was run like this. How nice it would be if I could easily close other distances too. Honestly, I no longer knew what I needed to do to close the emotional distance.
“Jeonghan-ssi, Piljun-ssi, please sit in the chairs in front. Ah, Jeonghan-ssi will sit on the right. We’ve already arranged the shot. Yes, perfect.”
I watched Cha Jeonghan on the screen from behind the director. Seeing him hide his uncomfortable face and show the kind, heart-fluttering smile that everyone loved made me happy even though I knew it was acting. The fans would probably be delighted today, saying “Dajeonghan” appeared.
Fans took Cha Jeonghan’s name and called him “Dajeonghan” on soft and kind days, and called him “Mujeonghan” when he had a cold and sexy concept. Besides that, when he wore bangs down, they called him “Sunjeonghan,” and when he didn’t post on the official homepage for a long time, they also called him “Maejeonghan.”
Among them, the funniest was when fans and the public saw flawless photos of Cha Jeonghan in a perfect suit at an awards ceremony and said he was determined to kill them all—that day was plastered with “Jakjeonghan” everywhere. Honestly, the fans and the public all had such great sense that reading the comments on Cha Jeonghan’s official page managed by the company was quite enjoyable too.
Today would be Dajeonghan and Sunjeonghan, so the fans would love it. A photographer from the agency was busy taking pictures around Cha Jeonghan for photos to go on the official SNS. Cha Jeonghan endured the cameras and gazes directed at him with familiarity as he read the script he’d received.
“Everything will be on the prompter, so just act natural. If you do well, we can finish in one take. Alright, if you’re ready, let’s begin. Ready, action!”
The moment the camera light turned on, Seo Piljun greeted the camera smoothly and made jokes toward Cha Jeonghan too. It was almost amazing how different his face was from the expressionless, uncomfortable look he’d worn just moments ago.
It was the same for Cha Jeonghan. When his pleasant, kind, appropriately low voice rang out, a staff member behind me said quietly that his voice was so good. Hearing Cha Jeonghan’s praise made me feel good too.
“Cut. The speech is too fast right now. Let’s slow it down a bit and go again.”
With the cut signal, the smiles disappeared from both their faces. I nodded at Cha Jeonghan to tell him he was doing well. Cha Jeonghan looked at me, then started speaking a bit slower when filming resumed.
Of course it would be good for everyone here if it ended in one take, but as they tried to film about 20 minutes of content, problems kept arising. Seo Piljun kept stumbling over his words and made NGs on the same part more than five times, causing sighs to leak out here and there. Dongyun hyung, who had appeared beside me at some point, shook his head and clicked his tongue.
“The shoot’s going to run long. I wondered why fans sent snacks for such a minor shoot, but they really know what’s up. They knew exactly that it would run long.”
“Right.”
As Dongyun hyung said, the filming ran much longer than expected. Even though they were filming in short sections, Seo Piljun made NGs every time. All he had to do was read the lines on the prompter with energy, but his tongue kept getting twisted, making strange pronunciations, leading to reshoot after reshoot.
“Alright, we have three parts left. Let’s take a 30-minute break and continue.”
After filming that had gone on for about two hours straight, the director declared a break, seemingly unable to continue, and stood up. Cha Jeonghan immediately got up from his seat and headed to the waiting room, rolling up the script as if crumpling it. Watching Dongyun hyung distribute the snacks Cha Jeonghan’s fans had sent to the staff, I quickly ran after Cha Jeonghan.
“Ah, that crazy bastard is really doing this on purpose.”
Cha Jeonghan entered the waiting room and tossed the script carelessly onto the table as he spoke. I quickly closed the door and sat him down.
“The last part isn’t even difficult and it’s the ending, so it’ll be over quickly. Just hold on a bit longer.”
“Can’t I just trend on search rankings? I can’t stand it. That bastard is grinning and doing this on purpose to screw with me. Did he cut out his tongue? How can pronunciation leak like that, seriously?”
“Earlier the staff were saying he might be doing it on purpose too. Everyone thinks it’s weird. His manager heard everything too and will tell him. So he won’t do it in the last part.”
“Fuck, seriously….”
I quickly gave him cold water and opened the snack case labeled “Actor Cha Jeonghan.” I saw earlier that the other sandwiches were ordinary sandwiches, but Cha Jeonghan’s specially had lobster sandwiches and lots of various fruits. Knowing better than anyone the desire to give Cha Jeonghan the best of everything, I was grateful to the fans who took care of him even better than I did.
