BTT 52

Both of them stood there dumbfounded. The man knelt down again to scan the ground, but the missing 500 won was nowhere to be found.

The rain grew stronger, and the two protagonists were already soaked. That’s when the man took off his hat and placed it on Lee Yun-hee’s head.

“What are you doing?”

Lee Yun-hee exclaimed sharply and was about to remove the hat when she suddenly found herself speechless.

The man, now hatless, brushed his wet bangs aside and turned to smile at Lee Yun-hee. Droplets of water rolled down his pale white skin as his kind-looking dark eyes curved into a gentle smile.

“Keep it on,” he said, then ran off into the rain. 

Left alone, Lee Yun-hee stared blankly at his retreating figure.

The rain continued to pour endlessly, and Lee Yun-hee belatedly realized, “That man just ran off with my 4,000 won!”

“Cut!”

The shot ended. It was a smooth filming without a single NG.

“Good. Very good. But when he put the hat on her, this actor slightly doubled his actor (meaning he blocked the other actor). Let’s try once more?”

“Yes, I’ll be more careful this time,” Lee A-gon replied while drying his hair with a towel provided by the staff.

Again, the slate clapped. Soon after, the director shouted “Action!”

Park Hae-jun silently watched Lee A-gon, who was playing the female lead’s first love. Lee A-gon’s face looked gentle and fresh as he smiled broadly while placing the worn-out hat on the female lead’s head. Even though he was standing in the rain, he looked as if he was basking in May sunshine all by himself. His hatless hair became soaked. The sparkle of water droplets was mesmerizing.

“Cut. Okay.”

The second take ended. Park Hae-jun snapped out of it as if waking from a spell.

Strange. For just a moment, Lee A-gon had looked handsome.

***

“We really need to do well this time. If we fail again, it’s over. It can’t happen.”

“Oh director, why are you like this again?”

Kim, the planning team leader, grabbed the swaying director’s shoulders. Despite not having drunk much, the director, who was already drunk, sobbed into Kim’s arms.

“Team Leader Kim. I’m dying from the pressure. I insisted that we had to go exactly this way. They said we couldn’t have a female lead and suggested changing the gender to male, but then this movie wouldn’t work. You know that, right?”

“Yes, yes, I know. Now that’s enough.”

“The production company is going crazy demanding success, the investors are going crazy asking for actor recommendations. How can I not drink?”

The director repeated the same words a few more times before collapsing. The only people left were the planning team leader, the assistant director, the on-set scripter, the lead actress Ji Eun-young, a few supporting actors, Lee A-gon, and Park Hae-jun, who was present as Lee A-gon’s manager.

The atmosphere at the drinking gathering was gloomy. This was because the director had just dropped the bombshell that he had invested his house deposit money in this film before passing out.

How much money goes into making a film? It must cost at least 5 billion won. How much of that would be the director’s house deposit? Thinking about it, Park Hae-jun shook his head. It was frightening to contemplate.

“The mood is pretty shitty,” said lead actress Ji Eun-young as she opened a bottle of soju.

“Hello. I’m Ji Eun-young. Are you Lee A-gon’s manager?”

“Ah, yes. Hello. I’m Park Hae-jun. Yes, I’m Lee A-gon’s manager.”

Park Hae-jun hurriedly greeted her. Ji Eun-young smiled brightly in response. As the beautiful woman smiled at him, Park Hae-jun’s mood improved again.

“I’m glad we found the right person for Kim Jae-hyun’s role. I was a bit unsure during the script reading, but once we started filming, he was really good. Much better than the previous actor.”

“There was an actor before Lee A-gon?”

“He was replaced right before filming. He was an actor strongly pushed by the production company, but the planning team leader strongly opposed it, saying he was too ugly and the film would fail if we went with him.”

Park Hae-jun’s hand flinched at the mention of someone being replaced for being ugly. He could feel Lee A-gon, sitting beside him, flinch as well.

“It’s fortunate. Thanks to that, we got the more handsome Lee A-gon instead.”

“Fortunate… is it?”

“Of course.”

Ji Eun-young spoke as if it was so obvious that Park Hae-jun became confused for a moment. 

Do these people really think Lee A-gon is handsome?

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Lee A-gon. Perhaps he had lost his objectivity because the memory of their reunion was so intense.

But no matter how many times he looked again, Lee A-gon was definitely ugly. These people were the strange ones.

“Did you bring your car, manager?” Ji Eun-young asked.

“No. I don’t have a car yet.”

“Then have a drink too, manager.”

Ji Eun-young poured alcohol into Park Hae-jun’s glass. Park Hae-jun thanked her and brought the glass to his lips.

Just as he was about to tilt his head back, Lee A-gon snatched the glass away. When Park Hae-jun looked at him with a bewildered face, Lee A-gon shook his head. 

What’s wrong with this guy? 

Park Hae-jun tried to take the glass back. Lee A-gon tightened his grip and resisted.

“Are you preventing your manager from drinking? Anyone watching would think Lee A-gon is the manager and Park Hae-jun is the actor. Why are you interfering with your manager’s drinking?” Ji Eun-young asked, amused. 

Finally, Park Hae-jun gave up and poured alcohol into a new glass. Lee A-gon snatched that one too.

Park Hae-jun looked at Lee A-gon with an incredulous expression. “What are you doing?” he mouthed, to which Lee A-gon made a frustrated face, as if wondering how Park Hae-jun didn’t understand.

“What’s the matter? Is there a reason Park Hae-jun shouldn’t drink?” Ji Eun-young asked when the standoff went on too long to be just a joke. 

Park Hae-jun had no choice but to put down his glass and smile. “I don’t handle alcohol well. My actor seems concerned about me.”

“How badly do you handle it? You can’t even have one drink?”

“Wouldn’t that make it difficult to work in this industry?” Ji Eun-young muttered as if talking to herself. 

Hearing this, Park Hae-jun reached for the bottle. He was thinking of chugging it straight from the bottle.

“Not even one drink.” That’s when Lee A-gon spoke for the first time. He took away even the bottle and continued in a resolute tone, “You can’t drink, hyung. Because you’re currently preg—”

“Hey!” Park Hae-jun shouted, jumping up from the table. 

The back of his neck felt cold. 

What was this guy about to say? Was he really going to suggest that I shouldn’t drink because I might be pregnant?

“Preg— What did he just say? I didn’t catch it. Preg-what?”

Ji Eun-young apparently couldn’t believe she had heard the word “pregnant.” 

Park Hae-jun shot Lee A-gon a look that said “shut up” before composing himself.

“Li-liver. My liver is bad. Liver.”

“Your liver is bad?”

“Yes, I have a chronic condition. The doctor told me not to drink.”

“What the heck. Then you shouldn’t have come here in the first place. Why did you tag along?” Ji Eun-young exclaimed, sounding deflated. 

Park Hae-jun apologized and bowed his head.

“Hey, there’s no need to apologize for that. I’m not that rigid. Anyone can have trouble drinking. You take it easy then, Park Hae-jun. Instead, this actor will drink with me, right? Cheers.”

Ji Eun-young coolly moved on, apparently not wanting to force drinks on someone with health issues. Fortunately, she didn’t mention pregnancy at all.

Of course, that made sense. Who would think he could be pregnant? Only Lee A-gon could have such a crazy thought. Only Lee A-gon, who was naïve enough to believe that he might have impregnated a man.

“Anyway, welcome Lee A-gon. Come on, cheers.”

The two clinked glasses and downed their drinks in one go. Several more rounds followed.

“By the way, was he really fired because he was ugly?”

As the atmosphere lightened a bit, Park Hae-jun asked Ji Eun-young. If that was the reason, he worried that his Lee A-gon might get replaced too.

“That was part of it, but also because the shoots were off-color from the beginning.”

“Pardon?”

Off-color shoots? Did she mean his acting was bad?

“During casting, you know. Do you think the director selects actors based only on acting skills? Absolutely not.”

Ji Eun-young replied while swirling her glass. She seemed a bit tipsy.

“It’s not about giving the role to the actor who ranks first in the audition. Just look at dramas—to make a 16-episode series, you’re locked up together for at least 4 months, and for a 24-episode one, you’re confined for 6 months, bumping into each other all day, eating and sleeping together like it’s a team project. Isn’t an actor with good empathy and good chemistry with other actors more important than just acting skills? Have you ever seen actors and wondered why they keep getting cast despite mediocre acting? That’s why.”

“So the actor before Lee A-gon…”

“His acting wasn’t bad. And his face, well, if he wasn’t at least somewhat good-looking, he wouldn’t have passed the audition in the first place. He got in through connections, but his personality was terrible. Since it’s awkward to criticize someone’s personality directly, they just said he was too ugly and kicked him out.”

Park Hae-jun looked at Lee A-gon. Ji Eun-young looked at him too.

“I don’t expect much from Lee A-gon. Just keep boundaries, act well, and keep being handsome. That’s how we protect our director’s house deposit.”

Ji Eun-young pointed at the passed-out director. Park Hae-jun and Lee A-gon looked at each other.

Maintaining boundaries. Acting well. Staying handsome.

All three were difficult, but the last one seemed the most challenging.

“Lee A-gon, be friendly and greet people nicely from now on. Just doing that will make people say you’ve got the basics down.”

Park Hae-jun advised on the bus ride home. After hearing that the predecessor was replaced because of his personality, he felt they needed to be more careful. Lee A-gon was kind but too introverted and timid. He was the type who could easily be misunderstood.