Seo Kyungju, who had his makeup retouched, returned to his position and filming resumed. As soon as it started, Muyoung had to act out grabbing and persuading Seo Kyungju.
─Standby. Action!
At the signal, the camera moved and Muyoung urgently approached Seo Kyungju and grabbed his arm. He dragged him to what was like the center of the location, delivering lines telling him to change his mind in a tone reproaching the male lead’s complacency.
After exchanging lines with Seo Kyungju, Muyoung would be pushed back by the force of him strongly shaking off his arm and lose his grip, but if he just continued with expressions and gestures of being unable to catch Seo Kyungju who remained resolute and just letting him go, the scene would be finished.
Thwack.
The hand strongly shaken off by Seo Kyungju throbbed. The pain felt a bit severe, making it precarious to maintain his expression, but it wasn’t bad. It didn’t seem like his body swayed much for what would appear on screen. Having done this much, he just felt relieved that there wasn’t an excessively loud sound compared to the force he’d been pushed with. If the sound was too strong or the motion too large, this take would also have difficulty getting an okay.
Relieved that he didn’t hear “cut,” Muyoung continued acting. The emotion that grew more heated as words were exchanged had to show on his face.
“What more responsibility can you even take? Do you think a relationship where you gain nothing will last long? Why do you keep trying to do what everyone opposes? You weren’t like this before.”
“I won’t know unless I try. You’ll never know even if you die.”
After finishing the last line, it seemed like scorn mixed with anger briefly appeared on Seo Kyungju’s face as he looked at him coldly, but he couldn’t confirm it since he immediately turned his back and walked away. More importantly, the take wasn’t over yet, so he kept still the arm he’d let drop helplessly.
─Okay. Let’s go with this one.
At the words that came from the director’s mouth, Muyoung bowed once more saying he was sorry and moved outside the camera’s range. There were still a couple more scenes left to film, but he had no intention of staying close to Seo Kyungju.
“What’s with him? Why is he acting like that today of all days at the very end?”
Section Manager Kim, who had attached himself to Muyoung’s side before he knew it, whispered so only Muyoung could hear and asked. Muyoung didn’t know either and shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know. You haven’t heard anything separately either, Section Manager?”
“If it’s stories about that guy being eccentric, I could talk for three days and nights, but he’s been quiet recently. Though I might not have heard because I was busy.”
“Just let it go. He’ll stop eventually. Pretend you don’t know.”
“Anyway, those slimy bastards are the biggest problem. With their slick faces, what are they scheming so much about?”
Thanks to Section Manager Kim grumbling, Muyoung’s frustration actually eased a bit. If even Section Manager Kim’s eyes saw that Seo Kyungju was acting strange, he figured he couldn’t do more than this. It was the first time in a while being harassed like this so it was bewildering, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t endure.
“Let’s go over there. Sit and rest comfortably even for a bit.”
Section Manager Kim’s hand grabbed Muyoung’s wrist as he tried to lead him in a different direction, wondering if they should go to the van. Just then.
“…Ah!”
Unable to bear the sharp pain, Muyoung flinched in surprise and clutched the wrist that had been grabbed. The wrist throbbed inside the palm clutching it. It was painful enough that even lightly moving his wrist was difficult.
“What, what’s wrong? Let me see.”
When Section Manager Kim, sensing something wrong, grabbed his forearm and rolled up his sleeve, the slightly swollen wrist came into view. The skin was reddened as if a bruise would soon rise. Compared to his other wrist, the difference was noticeably stark.
“…I have to go into filming again soon.”
“That bastard did this by hitting you earlier, right? Didn’t he aim for it on purpose?”
“Section Manager, your voice. No, there’s no way he went that far.”
“Of course he did. Ugh, really. I should have checked right away earlier.”
If they had, filming probably would have stopped completely, but everyone would have found out that Muyoung got injured because of Seo Kyungju. Knowing what Section Manager Kim’s feelings were like, Muyoung just shook his head and controlled his voice. Section Manager Kim also wasn’t completely unaware of why, so even while sighing, he took Muyoung to a place where he could rest first.
After sitting in a prepared portable chair, Muyoung examined his wrist once more. It didn’t seem like the bone was damaged, so he tried moving it a little like before but soon gave up. The movement was unnatural because of the pain. In the remaining filming scenes, there was no physical contact or confrontation. Fortunately, they weren’t scenes where attention would be completely focused on him, and it would be covered by his sleeve.
“This seems like it’s going to get worse, what should we do?”
“I can’t leave on my own. We just need to do a bit more, so… should I wrap it with a compression bandage or something?”
“If you wrap it with a bandage, it seems like it’ll get worse. Is it very hard to move?”
“I’m not sure right now. But I’m worried I’ll make a mistake when filming starts.”
The truth was closer to the fact that he’d tried moving it a bit and gave up. He was afraid that the injury might get bigger and cause damage to the filming. If the schedule had some leeway it would be one thing, but even the scenes filmed today had to go straight to editing tonight. The final broadcast was in a few days, so there was no choice.
“Just in case, should I ask the production team or someone else? Oh, I think there was a pharmacy in front of here, I’ll be right back. Just a moment.”
“…I’m sorry.”
“For what. This is what I’m here for. Will you stay here? Or get in the car. You have your phone.”
“I’ll wait here. When you come back I’ll have to get treatment right away and go into filming anyway.”
“Okay, I’ll call from the pharmacy.”
Muyoung, who received the phone with his uninjured hand, saw off Section Manager Kim hurrying away while sitting. Since he’d hit hard enough to injure Muyoung’s wrist this much, Seo Kyungju’s hand must have stung quite a bit too. A hollow laugh came out wondering if that person had also just endured it stubbornly. Although there was nothing he could do since what happened couldn’t be undone, his mood wasn’t entirely good.
Supporting the wrist that seemed to keep swelling with his other hand, Muyoung leaned back against the chair. The sudden incident was both absurd and somehow deflating. If he just waited like this for Section Manager Kim to return and then went back to the filming site, the time would be quite tight.
When he even thought it would be fortunate if he could just shake it off with this, he didn’t want to think deeply anymore. After spacing out and sitting blankly for a moment, his phone vibrated and he answered right away.
“…Yes, Section Manager.”
─ Weren’t you in the middle of filming?
He’d naturally thought it was Section Manager Kim, but a different voice came through. Only after hastily looking at the screen and confirming it was a call from Dowon did Muyoung become flustered.
“Ah, I was resting for a moment.”
─ The timing worked out well. I called to confirm about going to the hospital tomorrow.
Placing his uncomfortable arm on his thigh and concentrating on the call, he nodded and continued answering to Dowon’s voice coming through. Since he’d already told him the hospital and time by text in advance, there was nothing to particularly worry about, but he felt unnecessarily sorry thinking he should have sent a confirmation text first anyway.
“Yes, filming wraps up today. If there’s no particular issue, there won’t be any changes.”
─ It’s good that filming is finishing… Ah, is this something I shouldn’t be happy about? Muyoung-ssi must feel reluctant.
“…Uh, no. I’m happy too. It’s good if it finishes quickly.”
Muyoung, who answered with a small laugh at Dowon’s joke, looked at the filming site visible in the distance. It wasn’t close enough to see exactly what scene was being filmed. Just the brightly lit lights, the feet of people continuously moving busily in the back, and various trucks full of equipment surrounded the area. Probably behind him too, the surroundings would be controlled by other people to some extent.
There was a time when he worried about how long he’d have to wait until this scene became familiar, but now he’d reached the point where he could even gauge for himself how long he could rest, so had he endured quite well?
─ That way Muyoung-ssi can play with me a bit too. You seem like the type who can only focus when you have nothing to worry about.
“…Me?”
─ You can’t really say no, can you? I think I’ve seen you thinking about other things sometimes. Well, that’s fun in its own way too.
Muyoung, who almost answered no without realizing it, just kept his mouth shut. He felt like he was being teased, but also felt wronged for no reason. If not other times, he’d been very nervous and focused every time he met Dowon.
But if asked if he’d been like that from the beginning… he couldn’t remember that well either. Back then, he’d had strong thoughts that once he filled up the number of times, wouldn’t he be someone he’d stop seeing.
─ I’m just saying I’m happy the time we can spend together is increasing. I’m also at a point where most things will wrap up soon. You’re not angry, are you?
“Angry… I’m not. But it seems even you have times when you’re free, CEO-nim.”
─ How could I always be busy? I have to adjust. But… it seems like you’re sulking anyway. Should I just let it go?
“It’s not like that…”
Even trying to be evasive wasn’t going smoothly at all. He’d thought it would be difficult to have a separate call today, so it was also because the call came, and it also bothered him that someone who didn’t contact him during filming had contacted him today of all days.
“You said you called because of tomorrow’s matter.”
─ Ah, right. Actually, I wanted to pick you up at your home matching the time Muyoung-ssi would leave, but it seems like the timing won’t work out. It looks like we’ll have to meet at the hospital.
“What? It’s fine. We were going to do that originally anyway.”
─ Still, I don’t feel right about it. You’re not even coming there together with your manager.
