“You look good these days.”
Those were the words of Soyeon, who had been filming together more frequently recently.
Startled for a moment, Dohyeong looked to the side. At her appearance staring at him and smiling, he let out a short sigh, ah.
His reaction was too late. He shouldn’t be caught by anyone, but fooling her, who was quick-witted, felt difficult.
“Ah, well… because filming is fun.”
“You don’t need to lie even to me. I can see everything.”
“What?”
“Things are going well with Jung Haesung-ssi, right?”
Blinking his eyes slowly, he smiled faintly and nodded.
For some reason, he felt like it would be okay to tell Soyeon.
“Right, I thought so. No wonder strange articles keep coming out.”
“How can you tell from something like that?”
“Originally, jealous people tend to swarm around happy people.”
Soyeon threw out a meaningful remark and smiled brightly.
Then she rested her chin and stared intently somewhere. Where her gaze was directed, Hakyung and the assistant director were standing.
“Isn’t it strange?”
“Strange, as in…”
“At most, he’s just famous as a reenactment actor. I heard he has some connections here. Thanks to that, he barely snagged a supporting role. But he doesn’t stand out as much as expected. He has no choice. His acting is flat and his interpretation is terrible.”
It was about Hakyung.
Dohyeong quietly looked at where Hakyung and the assistant director were without saying anything.
At that moment, Soyeon glanced at Dohyeong as if she had made a mistake. She wondered if her story had painfully dug into Dohyeong’s past.
As if making excuses, she hurriedly added her inner thoughts.
“It’s not that Dohyeong-ssi can’t act, it’s just that your acting skills couldn’t be properly displayed.”
“…Thank you, sunbae-nim.”
“I don’t say things that aren’t true. You know my personality.”
“Still. Being grateful is being grateful.”
At Dohyeong’s faintly smiling appearance, Soyeon let out a long sigh, hmm, and crossed her arms.
Her gaze was still fixed on Hakyung.
“But why, how. Could that person have been photographed with Jung Haesung-ssi? To be honest, Endpatch doesn’t touch Jung Haesung-ssi. Because they’re scared.”
“They’re scared?”
“Oh my, you don’t know?”
At Soyeon’s surprised question, Dohyeong could only smile awkwardly.
What would she say if he told her he didn’t know much about Haesung?
After hesitating, he nodded with difficulty.
“No, not really…”
But Soyeon understood such a Dohyeong. Right, with Jung Haesung’s personality, he’s not the kind of person to talk about such things.
“There was once a big scandal targeting Jung Haesung-ssi before. Don’t you know, Dohyeong-ssi? The scandal that broke out with Song Mirae-ssi.”
“Ah, I know.”
At the time, he was in the position of having a one-sided love for Haesung, so he couldn’t ask anything. But he wasn’t unaware.
“Right. At that time, Song Mirae-ssi was seeing someone else. Due to circumstances, they had to meet secretly. And that person happened to be Jung Haesung-ssi’s friend.”
“Ah…”
“But they took a photo of the three of them and it blew up everywhere. And that other person didn’t even have a mosaic. What could they do, that person got their face exposed, name exposed, occupation exposed.”
“So what did hyung do?”
“He counterattacked. Because they just wrote gossip without considering anything, saying that one civilian suffered. He probably sued them for every single item. He won a judgment for invasion of privacy. That person was a child from a wealthy family. Happened to be from the most troublesome family to mess with.”
Soyeon’s fingertip poked at the sky repeatedly.
He had heard it somewhere by chance. That you shouldn’t carelessly deal with stories of wealthy families. He recalled the words that if you get entangled even a little wrong, it becomes difficult.
“They got caught properly. You remember, right? The photos that appeared at the time. From morning to night, they came out like a whole series. The two were going on a secret trip, and Jung Haesung-ssi was helping them.”
“…Ah.”
He thought Endpatch was really something.
Did they have to go that far, he wondered.
“He sued them for that too. Saying they were stalkers.”
“What?”
Haesung’s idea wasn’t ordinarily novel either.
Ahaha, Dohyeong, who had been laughing awkwardly, nodded.
“Of course, it wasn’t accepted. But he was warning them that if they bite him, this side will tear them apart too.”
“That’s right. That’s like Haesung hyung.”
“Anyway, so after that, they generally didn’t touch Jung Haesung-ssi.”
Thinking about it that way, it was strange.
The story was that they became so averse they trembled. So why did they take a photo with Hakyung?
Also, who informed them that Haesung and Hakyung were there?
“And one more thing.”
At Soyeon’s continuing words, Dohyeong turned his head.
“During Dohyeong-ssi’s heat cycle. Who took that photo of Jung Haesung-ssi carrying you out? The staff at the time were in such panic they wouldn’t have had the presence of mind for that. In the first place, they know better than anyone that leaking filming location photos is prohibited. The contract was written that way too, right?”
Hearing it, that was true. Same with what happened in Canada.
Both actors and staff have confidentiality clauses in their contracts. Not to leak any photos or content from filming to the outside.
There’s no one who works while breaking that.
Because a stigma once branded in the industry is hard to erase. Like me in the past.
“But not just once, but twice with Yuchan-ssi and Dohyeong-ssi…?”
This is strange, isn’t it?
At Soyeon’s secretive whisper, Dohyeong’s thoughts deepened more and more.
It was the exact same situation as when Haesung talked about it.
Who, how, why. At that moment when he was absorbed in the continuing questions.
“Don’t trust anyone.”
Soyeon’s voice pierced his ears.
When he turned his head to look to the side, there was Soyeon looking at him with considerable worry.
“You can’t trust anyone. No matter how long they’ve been around.”
“It’s okay. The people by my side right now…”
“It might be a slightly different situation, but… did I ever tell you about how I was stabbed in the back by my makeup artist of ten years?”
Although he was a little surprised by the sudden topic change, Dohyeong shook his head as calmly as possible.
“No.”
“Right, because I’ve never told anyone anywhere.”
Soon Soyeon, who exhaled deeply, gripped the blanket on her lap tightly.
“There was someone I really liked. White, small, precious.”
Dohyeong held his breath and waited for her next words.
It must have been a lover. Because it was a story about someone she designated as precious.
That’s why it must have been inner feelings she couldn’t tell others even more.
“We dated secretly. I was also in the midst of building my filmography, so I couldn’t say anywhere that I was dating. But that friend… was learning makeup.”
“Ah, then by any chance…”
“Yeah. I wanted to help somehow, so I connected them with my makeup artist. I told you, we go back ten years. That person had been in charge of me since my child actor days.”
“……”
“When we were dating, that person helped a lot too. Coming to the set under the excuse of teaching, letting us be alone together, or bringing them all the way home under the guise of a filming meeting, things like that.”
The voice she heard was so bitter that Dohyeong had to think about what to say the entire time he listened to the story.
But as if she didn’t want an answer, she continued the story.
“I was so grateful for that. What’s that kind of fame worth, the heart that helped me when I was anxious about even one article appearing. It felt like it gave strength to my resolution that if I just did a little better, if I climbed higher than now, I would reveal it then.”
For a moment, it didn’t seem like his imagination that Soyeon’s eyes looked desolate.
She, who had been smiling bitterly, looked back at Dohyeong.
“But then, suddenly one day, they said.”
Soyeon, who had let out a sigh, fiddled with her clenched hand.
Her feelings were revealed nakedly in her deeply sunken eyes.
“That they were pregnant.”
Thud. He heard the sound of his heart dropping.
It felt as if he had become one with Soyeon’s state of mind.
“And it was the manager’s child.”
“…Then, the two of them.”
“Yeah. The friend I was seeing was an omega, and the manager was an alpha.”
“…Ah.”
Soyeon sighed deeply and rested her chin. No, she caressed her cheek and then ran her hand through her hair.
Hadn’t he made her bring up a story that would needlessly be hurtful?
Hadn’t her goodwill trying to comfort him instead pushed her into a mire?
Countless thoughts crossed his mind.
“In the end, the two of them got married. And I…”
Soyeon seemed to furrow her brow, then smiled faintly.
She took a deep breath and let it out, then tilted her head with her arms crossed.
“I couldn’t even congratulate them. Words like ‘live well,’ and even more so ‘be happy’…”
“……”
“I’m pathetic, aren’t I?”
At Soyeon smiling while wrinkling her nose, Dohyeong was lost in thought for a moment.
If that had been his situation, would he have made a different choice from her?
No, he also wouldn’t have been able to give them words of blessing.
If the target were Haesung, even more so.
“So don’t trust anyone. Whoever it is, Kim Dohyeong-ssi should only trust yourself. The situation going on now, even I think it’s strange. It’s just like… someone is setting up a plan and detonating things one by one.”
“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Suspect the person closest to you first. That’s my creed that formed after that day. I hope Dohyeong-ssi does the same.”
Dohyeong nodded, and Soyeon smiled.
The awkward silence that flowed was brief, as a staff member from over there called for Soyeon.
Soon it would be her solo filming scene.
“Well then, shall I go earn my meal?”
When Soyeon stood up from her seat, Dohyeong grabbed her fingers.
“Why?”
It was too sudden physical contact. Dohyeong, who quickly let go lest another unnecessary story come up, smiled awkwardly.
And likewise stood up from his seat and exchanged gazes directly with Soyeon.
“I, thought that sunbae was confident anywhere. Cool. And a spirited person, so I asserted you were someone who wouldn’t have such wounds. I’m sorry.”
“Was I that cool?”
“Yes. You’re cool. You’re my role model.”
“That’s a bit strange. There’s a cooler person right next to you. Though I hate to admit it.”
“No, sunbae-nim is cooler.”
“Why?”
Usually if it were another person, they would have laughed shyly and ended it there. Dohyeong thought Soyeon, who confidently asked why, was cool.
That’s why he might have been able to speak more comfortably.
After taking a deep breath and letting it out, he slowly opened his mouth.
“At least you know your own heart straight. You don’t avoid it, and you don’t run away because you don’t want to realize it.”
Pfft, Soyeon burst into laughter. The well-tailored pure white suit suited her very well.
“Well, in that aspect, I am cooler than Jung Haesung.”
“And sunbae-nim.”
At Dohyeong’s call, Soyeon widened her eyes again.
It was a look that said there were still more words left.
“Even I wouldn’t have been able to say such things.”
Soyeon’s pupils shook finely.
But Dohyeong didn’t stop. He steeled his heart and conveyed each word, each word with strength.
“Even so, you don’t hate those people. You face the pain directly, and even if you couldn’t accept it, you don’t hate them. That strength is cool.”
Clearly they were words that filled her heart, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. Soyeon quickly averted her gaze and looked far away.
It would be troublesome if her makeup smudged with rehearsal coming up soon.
“You’re not pathetic. Sunbae-nim is sufficiently, a cool person.”
At the words that struck and lodged once more, Soyeon closed her eyes.
Hmm, deliberately making her breathing sound long, she clenched her fist tightly.
She now for the first time sincerely wished that someone she sent away long ago would just be happy.
“…Really, I have rehearsal now.”
The voice speaking complainingly was drenched in tears.
You’re cool. Dohyeong’s words seemed like they would be lodged in her head, in her heart, and wouldn’t come out for a while.
