By Zephyria 
S#78. Lee Sol’s Room (Late Night)
The day Baek Kang was finally released after serving 8 years.
Lee Sol, Lee San, and Baek Kang. The three of them have dinner together. As if the 8-year gap didn’t exist, conversation and laughter flow endlessly at the dinner table.
Lee Sol apologizes to Baek Kang for not being able to accompany Sani to pick him up from prison. Baek Kang doesn’t mind. He tells her not to worry about it and gently covers Lee Sol’s hand on the table.
However, that harmony is merely a superficial liveliness created by Lee San alone. Excited by Baek Kang’s release, Lee San constantly reminisces about old times, making them laugh.
But once they are alone in Lee Sol’s room, the atmosphere changes drastically. What has the passage of 8 years altered? Its true nature begins to reveal itself.
He had memorized the script, including the lines of other actors. He didn’t know if it would help his acting, but he wanted to do anything he could for the film. Thanks to that, Song Hyun-soo could instantly recall the preceding and succeeding scenes just by looking at the stage directions below the scene number.
Scene number 78, this scene where Baek Kang and Lee Sol are alone for the first time immediately after his release, was a scene Song Hyun-soo had also thought would be difficult to act.
“So I just need to play Lee Sol, right?”
Yoon Joo-ho, his gaze fixed on the script, gave a short nod. The playful mischief from the living room was nowhere to be found.
Yoon Joo-ho, who had been engrossed, touching his lower lip, slowly lifted his face and looked at Song Hyun-soo. His expression and gaze were different. It wasn’t the Yoon Joo-ho who always picked petty fights at company dinners, nor the Yoon Joo-ho who was harsh with lawyers.
“You’re an actor, after all. You won’t be awkward or giggle, will you?”
“That won’t happen. More importantly, can you really immerse yourself looking at my face?”
“It’s not like you’re acting while looking at the actual person, no matter who is in front of you. You’re just a role, like a talking mannequin.”
He didn’t quite understand what that meant. Not until Yoon Joo-ho started acting.
Yoon Joo-ho slowly blinked his eyes open and closed repeatedly, taking deep breaths. Song Hyun-soo was momentarily captivated by the sunlight reflecting white on his long eyelashes.
When Yoon Joo-ho looked back, Song Hyun-soo felt like he was sitting next to a man he’d never met before. A warm smile that seemed to appear and disappear, a deep gaze that conveyed utter adoration. It was undeniably the face of someone looking at a person they were completely smitten with.
So Yoon Joo-ho could make a face like that. Does he treat his girlfriend like this when he’s actually dating?
“Sani is still the same. He hasn’t matured at all.”
A voice filled with affectionate amusement. This was Baek Kang’s first line after they were alone in Lee Sol’s room.
Startled by Yoon Joo-ho’s transformation into a soft, tender man, Song Hyun-soo forgot he was supposed to deliver his lines and focused only on his smile and gaze.
“What are you doing? Your lines.”
Seeing Yoon Joo-ho’s brow furrowed, Song Hyun-soo snapped back to reality.
“Sani waited for you so long. You should have played with him a bit longer?”
Lee Sol says this while undoing the clasp of her necklace in front of the mirror. Baek Kang, watching her from beyond the bed, approaches her from behind. He then gently embraces her lower abdomen. Just like he used to, 8 years ago.
“What about you? Didn’t you wait for me?”
The voice whispering in her ear, audible only to the other person, didn’t need to be perfectly clear.
Yoon Joo-ho didn’t come up behind Song Hyun-soo and embrace his lower abdomen like a stage direction in the script. But he maintained the facial acting. Leaning his upper body slightly towards Song Hyun-soo, his smiling eyes were enchantingly sweet.
We were just exchanging silly banter a moment ago, and now he can act like this while looking at me? Doesn’t he find it funny?
He was confused, even knowing he was a 30-year veteran professional.
He couldn’t tear his eyes away, as if he were watching a twin of Yoon Joo-ho with completely different personalities but the same face.
In the script, Baek Kang’s lips descend onto Lee Sol’s neck and shoulder. A soft yet passionate kiss follows. The two lie down on the bed, and Baek Kang confirms the skin of the lover he’s missed for 8 years. Just like before. Just like it had always been since they shared their first experience.
However, that night, Baek Kang is rejected by Lee Sol. More accurately, he senses her reluctance and backs away first.
Lee Sol, who had seemed uneasy throughout his heated, tender kisses, finally pushes away Baek Kang’s hand as it strokes up her thigh from beneath her skirt.
Baek Kang, faltering, withdraws his hand and pulls away from her.
“It’s been too long, I rushed it?”
Lee Sol sits up, unable to meet his eyes.
“…I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It’s been 8 years. It’s natural to feel awkward.”
Baek Kang lies, both to her and to himself, that the reason she’s rejecting him is simply because it’s been too long. Because it’s awkward.
While comforting Lee Sol, who apologizes, Baek Kang can’t entirely hide his disappointment.
Yoon Joo-ho expresses this through subtle changes in his smile and breathing, and the fleeting gesture of him brushing his hair back. He still looks at Lee Sol warmly, but doubt and anxiety begin to mix with the truth that she is ‘his’.
When Baek Kang definitively noticed Lee Sol’s change of heart. The script doesn’t specify the exact timing. The medium of film doesn’t kindly summarize plot, situations, or psychology like that.
Even after reading the script over and over until he memorized it, Song Hyun-soo had interpreted that Baek Kang realizes Lee Sol’s change of heart much later. He believed Baek Kang accepted that even after meeting the film director, the object of her change of heart, and seeing Lee Sol happy with him, Baek Kang didn’t suspect anything between them.
But the Baek Kang that Yoon Joo-ho is portraying now is not like that.
As he met Yoon Joo-ho’s dark smile and pained gaze, Song Hyun-soo thought. Perhaps Baek Kang had a premonition at this very moment that Lee Sol’s heart was no longer the same.
“Then, is it okay if I just sleep next to you?”
Yoon Joo-ho, or rather, Baek Kang, pleads in a voice barely audible.
Baek Kang’s world was crumbling in his eyes. Because Lee Sol rejected him.
It was hard to bear those crumbling eyes. It felt like the genuine emotions of a person before him, not the acting of an actor on screen.
“Wouldn’t that be difficult? Today, maybe… you should just sleep at your place…”
Even Lee Sol’s lines, which continued to wound Baek Kang, were burdensome for Song Hyun-soo. He didn’t want to say things like this.
“It’s not like I’m here with you just to sleep together.”
Yoon Joo-ho’s beautiful hand caressed Song Hyun-soo’s, no, Lee Sol’s hair and cheek. It brushed the surface precariously, as if afraid to touch.
“I want to fall asleep just looking at you like this. I’m afraid it might be a dream.”
A touch so careful, as if saying there was nothing more fragile or precious in the world.
Just as he said, like a mannequin, or a teddy bear. Yoon Joo-ho was using himself as Lee Sol’s stand-in, imagining Lee Sol who wasn’t there, and acting. Yet, Baek Kang’s emotions flowed into Song Hyun-soo’s inner self.
Baek Kang’s monstrous devotion, willing to commit murder to rescue her from hell. Baek Kang, who shed blood for her and spent 8 years in prison, yet didn’t demand fidelity from her. His unrequited loyalty and devotion ached his heart. He felt wronged and angry. He wanted to scream that it was unfair.
Yoon Joo-ho’s thumb gently stroked Song Hyun-soo’s cheek.
“Sani will barge in in the morning, so I should sneak out the window. Like we used to when we were kids.”
At Baek Kang’s pained smile, knowing everything but having to pretend ignorance, Song Hyun-soo finally shed tears.
“……”
At that moment, Yoon Joo-ho’s immersion broke.
Yoon Joo-ho, who had been interacting with the imaginary Lee Sol, broke out of his immersion and looked at the real Song Hyun-soo. His eyes were surprised.
Song Hyun-soo himself was equally flustered. Quickly wiping away his tears, he tried to cover it up as casually as possible.
“Wow… I teared up a little. I’m usually someone who never cries, no matter how sad something is.”
He had been told not to break immersion, and he couldn’t even do that one thing properly. He braced himself for a scolding. But surprisingly, Yoon Joo-ho didn’t say much. He looked at Song Hyun-soo for a moment, then got up and walked behind the sofa, saying lightly.
“You don’t cry that easily, do you?”
Even so, it would be awkward to say anything to someone who teared up watching his acting.