“You know acting requires brains too, right? Our Gi actor has a good brain, so even if I explain it like crap, he digests it perfectly, you know?”
“You’ve arrived, sunbae-nim?”
Instead of replying, Gi Siyoung welcomed Go Hanjeok, who appeared at the right time behind the director. He smelled like he’d been smoking. Go Hanjeok’s staff sprayed a mint-scented mouth spray on Go Hanjeok.
Gi Siyoung stretched in his seat until he felt his shoulders and spine spreading apart, and tilted his head left and right to relax his muscles. His pupils naturally flowed to one place again as he waited for Go Hanjeok’s preparations to finish.
It was the spot that caught his eye.
“Are you uncomfortable somewhere? But the set is a bit hot. Right?”
Go Hanjeok asked.
“It is hot. But I’m not uncomfortable…”
Filming started again. Strangely, he made NG five times in a row.
“Should we rest a bit more? Why are you like this today, unlike usual?”
Director Kim broke the flow of the scene and asked casually. The surrounding staff were now dedicating all their nerves to figuring out Gi Siyoung’s condition. Gi Siyoung slowly shook his head and bowed silently. He pressed the ends of both eyebrows firmly with his thumb and middle finger and rotated them as if doing acupressure to concentrate his scattered mind. He knew the reason for this better than anyone.
“Gi Siyoung. What? What did you just say?”
Go Hanjeok lowered his posture and asked, saying he couldn’t hear well.
“I didn’t say anything.”
Gi Siyoung, who raised his head, grinned broadly. But only his mouth was smiling. Go Hanjeok cleared his throat at the frighteningly honest eyes. The young guy had charisma.
“Time out for a moment. Let’s catch our breath and continue. Do we have a portable air conditioner? Let’s bring it here. Aw, it’s hot. I’m going to roast to death, roast to death.”
Director Kim got up from his seat, flapping his shabby shirt collar. At the director’s request, quick-footed staff hurriedly moved toward the equipment room. Gi Siyoung immediately got up from his seat. Until then, he could see Seungun, who had been stupidly blinking his eyes, startled by the noisy surroundings and looking around like a bird searching for food.
Gi Siyoung moved toward that direction without hesitation. Fuck… not even a bastard… just anxiously following behind all day long… fucking annoying…. He planned to shove that irritating face into the waiting room so he wouldn’t have to see it at all.
Im Seungun saw Siyoung approaching him and hurriedly took out a water bottle and twisted the cap. But his hands had no strength.
“Why won’t this open…?”
He grew impatient at the cap that wouldn’t open easily. He’d deliberately avoided Gi Siyoung since the fire alarm incident in Bali. It wasn’t that he was accepting Gi Siyoung’s absurd demands. As soon as Seungun returned to Korea and met President Gu, he felt it to the bone. That pine caterpillars must eat only pine needles.
At the thought of facing Gi Siyoung, cold sweat suddenly poured down like rain. When it finally dripped, he raised one shoulder to wipe under his chin. He had to give him water at the right timing, but his body wasn’t following along.
“Actor Gi, can we talk for a moment?”
“No, Director. Later.”
Gi Siyoung lightly brushed past the director calling him to stop as if it were nothing. Pop. Finally the water bottle cap opened. Seungun quickly raised his head and stepped forward. Walking forward suddenly was his downfall. He was one step away from colliding with a staff member moving lighting equipment.
However, a strong hand gripped his shoulder. If he’d collided with the staff, the large light would have fallen to the floor and shattered. When his thoughts reached that point, Seungun’s vision became distant.
No, his vision really became distant. A faint phosphorescence flashed. The surroundings became chaotic. Something had clearly happened on the filming set.
***
Seungun, who opened his eyes with a flash, opened his mouth to ask what happened on the filming set. But his vision was swaying up and down. Like a small boat on the sea fighting against fierce heavy rain.
“……”
He rolled his eyeballs up and down. Myeongwoo was driving roughly from the driver’s seat. The fabric touching his cheek was as fine as an angel’s skin. Seungun raised his head. He was lying on his side with his head resting on Gi Siyoung’s thigh.
What was swaying wasn’t a small boat but his vehicle. As Director Kang said, the car driven by Myeongwoo had distracting aspects that would make you dry heave if you rode without motion sickness medicine. He hadn’t noticed usually, but now that his condition was poor, he could feel it clearly.
“Ugh.”
“If you throw up here, I’ll throw you out onto the road.”
A monotonous voice came from above his head.
“……”
Seungun held back the rising nausea and barely asked.
“Where are we going?”
“Hospital.”
Gi Siyoung looked down with an irritated gaze. Seungun’s eyes widened.
“Are you feeling unwell somewhere?”
“……”
“What?”
“We’re going because of Im Seungun-ssi, not me.”
Gi Siyoung spoke as if chewing each syllable. Was this an idiot, a blockhead, a rice bucket? No, what was different from that? There was no indifference like this indifference toward oneself. Looking at the face on his lap made the pent-up irritation surge wildly.
“What. You’re awake? Seungun’s awake?”
Hearing the voice from the back seat, Myeongwoo made a fuss.
“Aren’t you watching the front?”
When Gi Siyoung snapped sharply, Myeongwoo squeaked and watched the front again.
“Can I get up now—”
Gi Siyoung pressed down firmly on Seungun’s forehead.
“You’ll lie still before I knock you out, won’t you?”
“……”
Before he could ask what happened with filming, screech! The vehicle came to a sudden stop. A large hand grabbed Seungun’s shoulder as it was about to be thrown forward. They were already in front of the hospital. Gi Siyoung skillfully took out a hat and mask from the cabinet. He put the mask on himself and put the ball cap on Seungun.
“Um, I can get up and go by myself.”
“If you talk with a half-dead voice, this door will open really well, won’t it?”
It was fortunate that Myeongwoo, who rushed out as soon as he parked the car, requested a mobile bed from the desk. What stopped Gi Siyoung, who seemed ready to grab him by the scruff of the neck and storm into the hospital, were the hospital people who appeared opening the car door wide, the breathless Myeongwoo, and the bed in the middle.
Seungun, still wondering why he had to receive such excessive treatment, was carried on the mobile bed into the hospital. His mind was clear and his body was fine. The hospital automatic door opened and the bed headed somewhere like a shot. And several tests began sequentially.
Gi Siyoung watched the closing door in front of the examination room. He put down Seungun’s hat that he’d taken off before entering the examination room next to the chair. Medical staff who approached in the meantime held out documents to receive patient information.
He gnawed on the end of the ballpoint pen and took out the phone that had come out of Seungun’s pocket. Tap, tap. If touched, it would light up, and after time passed, it would go dark again. The phone was locked with a password, so it was useless.
In other words, he couldn’t know the guardian’s contact information.
“Height, weight…. Past medical history….”
He couldn’t even touch the lifestyle habits and special notes section.
“Doesn’t seem to smoke… Alcohol consumption is….”
He didn’t really know how much he drank per week.
“What’s Im Seungun’s blood type…? Do I need to know overseas travel records too? Most recently went to Bali.”
Inside the mostly empty spaces, only the ink from the ballpoint pen he’d pressed spread wastefully.
“What happened!”
Myeongwoo, who had parked the car, belatedly ran over here. Instead of answering, he pointed at the examination room with his ballpoint pen, then turned his gaze back to the questionnaire.
“Hyung, do you know Im Seungun’s blood type?”
“Blood type? Of course.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Isn’t there something like family relations or emergency contact network on his resume?”
“Who writes family relations on their resume these days? And emergency contact network? I think we’d have to check with the company for that?”
Myeongwoo sat next to him and tilted his head together. He knew as little as Gi Siyoung. The silence was broken not long after. There was nothing as chilling as hearing unrelated noise in an unrelated place.
A sharp scream was heard from inside the examination room. The examination room door burst open. The medical staff who burst out from inside had a pale face, as if they were a newcomer unfamiliar with this situation.
“Guardian, could you please come in?”
Gi Siyoung and Myeongwoo looked at each other simultaneously and sprang up. The questionnaire and ballpoint pen fell to the floor. Through the open door, Seungun’s shouts could be heard clearly.
“Untie this right now! Untie it!”
Im Seungun was going berserk with an expression he’d never shown before.
