“Wow, it’s cold.”
As the tightly shut studio door opened, a tremendous chill assaulted them. Seungun finally realized why the staff were wearing padded jackets. Every time the staff bustling around the set spoke, their breath became visible.
An industrial cooler was freezing the entire large studio solid. Dry ice was placed all over, and fog machines were installed as well. The studio, where the outside temperature wasn’t allowed in at all, was no different from a giant refrigerator. Seungun and Myeongwoo also put on the long padded jackets they received from the staff. Even just standing there for a moment was chilling.
“Sunbae-nim, are they filming the drama with a winter background the whole time?”
“No. Originally, all the winter scenes were already filmed. But additional scenes came up, so they hastily built a set and are filming like this. If they do even the breath with CG, there are limits to the expression, and it doesn’t feel realistic. The director’s a bit of a pervert. He’s making everyone tired.”
Myeongwoo said while shivering.
Soon, rehearsal began before the actual filming. The camera director attached a lens heater. Because the equipment batteries drained quickly due to the temperature, they finished the rehearsal swiftly and went straight into the shoot.
Every time the director called cut, the staff swarmed the actors. Myeongwoo hurriedly draped the long padded jacket over Siyoung. This was because the actor’s lips, performing in a thin suit in the cooled studio, had become frozen. Seungun quickly shook a heat pack and held it near Siyoung’s reddened neck and chin area.
Siyoung, dressed in clothes fitting his character and wearing makeup, was a completely different person. Even as the staff fussed with his body here and there, he stood next to the director and concentrated on monitoring. Those eyes were the most tenacious, cautious, and sharp of all the time he’d briefly observed him. His pupils, which had been moving along the choreography from start to finish, suddenly turned to the director like someone who had discovered a flaw.
“Director-nim.”
“Hm? Why, it’s really good, right? It came out well, right?”
The director urged as if wanting to hear praise.
“Didn’t you film too many close-ups of just my face?”
“Ah, I already restrained myself a lot with this. The viewers would actually want more of this, wouldn’t they?”
“That aside, this scene.”
On the monitor, a side view of Siyoung, who had infiltrated below a building window outdoors, was playing. The point from his forehead falling to his nose was very distinct.
“What. Don’t you like this angle? Should we go again?”
“No. There’s breath coming out.”
“Of course breath comes out since it’s cold, right? It’s the middle of winter and it’s freezing.”
The director wearing earmuffs said.
“He’s infiltrating, right? Mukho has a lot of field experience and is a cautious type in everything. Would that type of person let their breath billow out like that while hiding in the middle of winter? What if someone sees that breath? And from behind this building wall. There are so many people standing guard like that—wouldn’t they notice even one breath coming from behind the wall? If he gets caught by anyone, the mission and everything is screwed.”
The director, having heard Siyoung’s opinion, became lost in deep thought, then nodded his head with a face that had realized something.
“Actor Gi is right! Hey, window! Make some icicles on the window!”
The filming site became busy again. Soon, Siyoung, who went into the shoot again, hid his body below the window and tore off with his hand an icicle hanging from the window. Then the monitor filled with the image of him crushing the ice and shoving it into his mouth. As a result, a natural scene was created where no breath came out, just as Siyoung had suggested.
“Cut!”
The director shouted with a satisfied voice. Siyoung, who was more complex than expected, had sharp aspects to him.
The filming wrapped, and the button on the large cooler that had been running nonstop was also turned off. The studio door that had been shut tight like a prison opened. As if it were the fickle heart of people to long for cold winter in summer and hot summer in cold winter, the staff trembled and quickly went outside one by one.
Only after all the actors left the site could they park the massive truck that would load the filming equipment in the parking lot. It was just when a low-level staff member turned the corner to organize the trailers. The trailers where people had left early all had their doors wide open.
Among them, only one trailer had its door slightly closed. A faint voice flowed out through the open gap. The staff member, a longtime fan of Siyoung, immediately recognized the owner of that voice.
“He hasn’t left yet? What’s he doing inside?”
Stealthily approaching the open door, he peeked inside slightly. Inside the trailer were Siyoung and his staff. Somehow the atmosphere seemed unusual.
“Didn’t you put the ring somewhere separately and can’t find it?”
“No, I definitely put it here.”
“Didn’t you guys see it while organizing what you put here?”
Myeongwoo asked the makeup team again with a troubled face. However, the makeup team waved both hands in denial.
“We really didn’t see it. This is unfair.”
“Really. I checked two, three times too. There were only our things.”
Seeing what was happening inside, this wasn’t a situation to peek at. The staff member stealthily backed away from there just as stealthily as when he had approached the trailer.
Meanwhile, Seungun examined the inside of the trailer continuously with a face gone pale. Under the vanity and in the drawers, and just in case, he rummaged through all the trash cans in the trailer. However, the thin silver ring that Siyoung had entrusted to him before filming was nowhere to be seen. Siyoung rubbed his temples with an expression as if swallowing his anger. Even after checking several times, the ring didn’t appear. Seungun, now certain it was his fault, had nothing to say.
“Hah. Im Seungun-ssi.”
“Yes.”
“Can you tell me why Im Seungun-ssi is standing there?”
“……”
“You’re there to be my hands and feet. To make my body comfortable, to be there so I don’t have to worry about anything while on set and can focus only on acting.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did I ask for something difficult? Did I tell you to save the world, or to make a ring for me? I just asked you not to lose a ring and to take care of it—you can’t even do that?”
“……”
At the cold voice, the inside of the trailer froze more solidly than the studio where the cooler had been running. Seungun squeezed his eyes shut. From his first on-site assignment, he was thrown into a variety show filming that wasn’t in his stars, and immediately ran around the drama filming site with his feet on fire learning the work.
He’d been so busy that he completely forgot to stop by the trailer briefly to check on Siyoung’s ring. Since it was an item he’d specifically been told to store well, Seungun, who couldn’t properly follow even that one thing, suffered from desperate responsibility.
“Really, I’m truly sorry. I have nothing to say.”
“……”
“Hah, what do we do about this. First, you guys go ahead.”
Myeongwoo first sent away the makeup team who were standing there as if something big would happen any moment. Soon after, only three people remained in the trailer. Siyoung closed his eyes tightly and tried to maintain composure, but rather, that appearance came across as all the more ominous to Myeongwoo.
“I’ll search thoroughly again.”
Seungun crawled around looking for the ring inside the trailer as if mopping with his clothes.
“That’s enough. Let’s just go.”
As Siyoung brushed himself off and stood up, Seungun also sprang up from the floor.
“We still haven’t found the ring though?”
“Then are you going to wait here until you find the ring? How are you going to find it? Are you going to go through all the trash in the garbage dump? Are you going to dig up all the dirt around the trailer and check if it’s rolling around somewhere?”
“No. I’ll move the car right away.”
Seungun, who had been biting his lips hard, hurriedly left the trailer. Myeongwoo let out a sigh involuntarily. He’d thought things were going smoothly. Myeongwoo, caught in the middle like a shrimp’s back bursting, slightly closed the door and quickly chased after the departing Seungun.
Originally, new staff losing Siyoung’s belongings on their first day was a kind of ritual. He’d wondered if today would be any different. Previous road managers who had experienced this event would immediately return to the company and submit their resignation, or the next morning they’d go completely radio silent.
“Seungun-ah, Seungun-ah! Why is that guy’s walking so fast, Seungun-ah!”
The parking lot was busy with staff organizing equipment. Seungun, who had been dodging well between them, looked back. Myeongwoo immediately caught up with Seungun. Contrary to thinking he would be shaken, the face that looked back was calm. As if nothing had happened.
“Yes?”
“Um…. Are you okay?”
“……”
“Ah, of course you’re not okay. But please bear with it well.”
“……”
“Listen to me first. Then you’ll roughly understand why Siyoung is like that too. As I said earlier, his schedule’s a bit tight these days. On top of that, he went from variety show filming in the morning to filming the drama right away without rest.”
“Yes.”
“And variety show filming isn’t easy for actors either. No, I mean, it’s not that he did perfectly well scolding you like you committed some mortal sin over losing one ring, but still….”
“……”
“So what I’m saying is….”
“Sunbae.”
“Hm?”
Myeongwoo, who had been rambling, stopped talking. Seungun was staring straight at him. Somehow, seeing that expression gave him a strange sense of relief.
“Did you already forget what you asked me this morning?”
“Huh? What did I say? These days I forget even what I ate for lunch as soon as I turn around, haha.”
“You asked me if I had a strong sense of self.”
“Oh, right. I did. You remembered that. I said all sorts of things.”
“I don’t have a strong ego. I won’t get sulky just because I got scolded a bit.”
“……”
“I’m not going to go back to the company and write a resignation letter, and I won’t go radio silent either. Right? I just need to work without getting on Gi Siyoung-ssi’s nerves from now on.”
“Huh? Oh, I’m grateful you say that.”
Myeongwoo answered with a bewildered face. This was the first new employee like this. He could read in his eyes that his resolve was firm.
“And today’s incident is my fault. He specifically asked me to take good care of it because it was something Gi Siyoung-ssi cherished. But I failed to do that.”
“……”
Myeongwoo took a deep breath in and out while patting Seungun’s shoulder. He’d been the most likable interviewee from the time of the interview. It wasn’t simply because his face stood out. Though he didn’t know how to read faces, it seemed like sincerity and perseverance were stamped on his face like an ID card.
Director Kang had also looked at Seungun and immediately pointed him out, saying let’s hire this one. Myeongwoo was once again convinced that his eye hadn’t been wrong. Somehow his heart ached as if he’d gained a mighty force.
