“Really?”
“Yeah, I won’t watch them.”
It wasn’t a difficult request. He just needed to avoid watching them in front of Lee A-gon. How would the kid know if he watched them with his friends?
Park Hae-jun smiled and repeated, “I won’t watch them, Lee A-gon.”
“Hyung, thank you so much.”
Lee A-gon thanked him with a voice that had gone soft with genuine emotion.
“It’s nothing. No big deal.”
“From now on, don’t watch women dancing.”
“Okay.”
“You must absolutely never watch them.”
“I said I understand.”
If such simple words could make a child happy, Park Hae-jun was willing to say them a hundred times.
Lee A-gon, who had been staring at Park Hae-jun with intense eyes while clenching both hands, seemed to seize this opportunity to make a few more requests.
“Hyung, please be close friends with me from now on.”
“Sure, I will.”
That was exactly what he had been hoping for. Park Hae-jun gladly agreed.
Lee A-gon’s eyes sparkled. “I mean, just with me, not with other people.”
“On the film set? I’m already doing that.”
“No. Just with me. Don’t make other friends at school or anywhere else.”
Park Hae-jun hesitated at this excessive demand. Lee A-gon enthusiastically listed his requirements in a precise manner.
“Please promise that from now on, you’ll only look at me, only be close to me, and only talk with me.”
“Hey, that’s not right.”
“Why not? You can just be friends with only me forever.”
“How can a person do that? Can you do that? Can you play only with me without having any other friends?”
“Yes.”
Lee A-gon answered with a firm voice, as if cracking a walnut. His determination was so resolute that Park Hae-jun flinched.
“Yes, I can do that.”
“…Maybe you can, but I can’t. So don’t say such nonsensical things.”
“……”
“Don’t cry either. I can’t agree to that.”
Lee A-gon’s face turned red, and his eyes welled up. Park Hae-jun turned away abruptly. Not watching videos was doable. But not making any other friends? Playing only with him forever?
To be honest, Park Hae-jun didn’t find it particularly fun playing with Lee A-gon, who was much younger. He was in fourth grade while Lee A-gon was in first grade. This was a huge difference. Although Lee A-gon was unusually calm and smart for his age, he was still just a first-grader. He simply wasn’t on the same level as Park Hae-jun, who would soon be a middle schooler.
“Do you really hate it?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then from now on, I’ll play with Ji-hun hyung instead.” Lee A-gon said, sniffling.
“Ji-hun? Seo Ji-hun?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t lie. Would Ji-hun play with you?”
“It’s not a lie. Yesterday when you didn’t come to the shoot, Ji-hun hyung told me that. He said we should be close friends from now on. He said he was sorry for everything.”
What? Is that true? Park Hae-jun was genuinely surprised.
Seo Ji-hun was the first kid who had approached Lee A-gon. This meant that a child who had distanced himself because of Min-sung had come back wanting to be friends again.
Park Hae-jun asked urgently, “So you’re going to be close with Ji-hun from now on? Will you say he’s your best friend if someone asks?”
“Yes.”
Lee A-gon glared at Park Hae-jun with a face full of spite as he answered.
Wow, so this is how you’re going to play it?
Park Hae-jun let out a hollow laugh. After all his efforts, this felt like betrayal. Now he might lose the extended role to Seo Ji-hun. Park Hae-jun became anxious.
“Hey, you can’t do that.”
“Why not? You said you wouldn’t play with me.”
“When did I say I wouldn’t play with you? I just said I can’t play only with you.”
“It’s the same to me.”
There was no getting through to him. This little kid was being impossibly stubborn. Park Hae-jun’s fists trembled, but he couldn’t hit the boy.
Suppressing his anger, he spoke submissively, “Fine. I’ll only be close friends with you from now on.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So you keep your promise too. Swear you won’t be close friends with Seo Ji-hun.”
“……”
“What? Why aren’t you swearing?”
Lee A-gon stared at Park Hae-jun. Park Hae-jun grew uneasy.
“We’ll see.”
“What?”
“I’ll do that if I see you keeping your word.”
What is this little kid saying?
“Hey, don’t you trust me?”
“No, sorry, but I can’t trust you. You’re impulsive and act emotionally. You’re pretending to keep your promise because you need me now, but once we get out of here, you’ll forget right away.”
This little kid was uncomfortably perceptive. He seemed to sense that there was some ulterior motive behind Park Hae-jun’s desire to be closest to him.
Park Hae-jun wanted to smack him out of irritation, but he had to hold back. Taking a deep breath in and out, he forced a sweet voice, “I’ll delete all my friends from my contacts list once we get out. Will you believe me then?”
Park Hae-jun could see that Lee A-gon’s ears perked up.
“I’ll delete my video list too. No, I’ll just delete the app entirely.”
“Really?”
“Really. But how can I trust you? You could still become close friends with someone other than me.”
“I won’t. I only need you, hyung.”
“I can’t believe you.”
When Park Hae-jun spoke skeptically, Lee A-gon rushed in eagerly.
“What do I need to do for you to believe me?”
“Hmm,”
Park Hae-jun thought carefully. Should he make him promise? Make him swear? No. More important than that was what he would say to the director. A definitive statement that Park Hae-jun was the closest hyung to him—that’s what mattered.
After that, he didn’t care whether Lee A-gon made other friends or became best friends with Seo Ji-hun.
“How about this? Hypnosis.”
Just then, an idea occurred to Park Hae-jun. These days, hypnosis games were popular among school friends. No one knew who started it, but it had spread like wildfire, and during break times, friends would hypnotize each other.
Park Hae-jun had seen a friend under hypnosis before. When given garlic but told it was a strawberry, the hypnotized friend ate it with delight. If told to sleep, they slept; if told to laugh, they laughed. It didn’t last long, but the effect was powerful. Park Hae-jun decided to hypnotize Lee A-gon.
“Hypnosis?”
“Yeah, have you ever tried it?”
Lee A-gon shaking his head. Park Hae-jun searched his pockets for something suitable for hypnosis. Fortunately, he had a pocket watch—a prop fitting the rich young master character he played.
“Now, look at this carefully.”
Park Hae-jun dangled the watch and swung the round metal disk in front of Lee A-gon’s eyes. As the watch’s metal disk left golden traces in the air as it swung, Lee A-gon’s pupils moved left and right following it.
“Lee A-gon only likes Park Hae-jun.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock, the watch passed with the sound of its second hand. Park Hae-jun continued to chant in a solemn voice.
“Lee A-gon only wants to stay with Park Hae-jun.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
Lee A-gon focused on the watch without even blinking.
“We are a team. We are best friends.”
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.
“Lee A-gon will never betray Park Hae-jun!”
Tick, the watch stopped.
Park Hae-jun inhaled with a gasp and then slowly exhaled.
Behind the metal disk of the stopped pocket watch, Lee A-gon blinked.
Park Hae-jun asked expectantly, “How do you feel? Any difference?”
“Hmm. I’m not sure.”
“Don’t you suddenly dislike Seo Ji-hun?”
Lee A-gon shook his head from side to side. That meant no.
“Aw, come on!” Park Hae-jun sat down with a deflated sigh. It was disappointing. Lee A-gon hadn’t been hypnotized.
“So will you be close friends with Ji-hun when we get out?”
“No. If you only stay close with me, I don’t need anyone else.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Lee A-gon nodded his head vigorously up and down.
“Promise? You’ll only be close friends with me?”
“Yes, hyung.”
“For sure. Really, really sure.”
Park Hae-jun and Lee A-gon hooked fingers and made a solemn promise.
When he woke up, it was complete darkness.
Park Hae-jun looked around with a dazed expression. The world was in darkness. It was so dark he couldn’t even see the tip of his nose. He screamed and called the name of his only companion.
“Lee A-gon! Lee A-gon!”
“Hyung.”
Immediately, a warm hand took Park Hae-jun’s. Park Hae-jun leaned toward Lee A-gon, panting.
“Lee A-gon, th-there’s no light coming in.”
“Yes, it just went out.”
Lee A-gon’s voice was calm, and his hand was warm. Park Hae-jun rested his forehead against that hand and bent over. He barely managed to suppress a groan.
This kind of darkness was a first for him. Having grown up in the city, Park Hae-jun had never experienced a state of perfect, complete darkness where nothing could be seen. It felt like being trapped in a grave. It was so suffocating he couldn’t breathe.
“It’s okay. The light just went out. Don’t be scared.”
In contrast, Lee A-gon was calm.
How could an eight-year-old be so composed?
Park Hae-jun was embarrassed to be gasping for breath in front of a child, but he couldn’t let go of Lee A-gon’s hand. It felt like if he let go, he would be sucked into the endless darkness.
“Lee A-gon.”
“Yes.”
“Lee A-gon.”
“Yes.”
“Lee A-gon. Lee A-gon.”
“Yes, hyung, I’m right here.”
Park Hae-jun pressed Lee A-gon’s hand to his forehead. Only then did the panic finally subside.
In a trembling voice, Park Hae-jun asked, “Are we going to die like this?”
“……”
“I don’t know how much time has passed. It feels like a long time, but why hasn’t anyone come to rescue us?”
Tears welled up suddenly. He didn’t want to cry in front of a much younger brother—this child had just graduated from kindergarten and was in first grade, while he was in fourth grade and would soon be a middle schooler—but he could no longer pretend to be composed. He missed his mother. At the same time, he resented her.
“I didn’t want to do this. It was all forced on me.”
Park Hae-jun sobbed and poured out his thoughts incoherently. These were genuine feelings he had never shared with anyone.
“I hate acting. I never wanted to do it from the beginning. I was dragged here against my will because of my mom.”
To die doing this work—it felt so unfair.