By Zephyria 
Lee A-gon leaned towards Seo Ji-hoon. Seo Ji-hoon moved his body back as if avoiding Lee A-gon.
“Jung-on. Look at me.”
“……”
“Jung-on. Jung-on.”
Lee A-gon called Seo Ji-hoon’s name as Jung-on with a sad face. Seo Ji-hoon kept turning his head away. In that state, the two continued their frustrating conversation. Jung-on tried to push Myung-eum away, and Myung-eum tried to hold onto Jung-on.
“Jung-on, if you really need to meet an Assistant, I understand. I’ll give in. Meet an Assistant. But meet me too. You can give your body to that Assistant. Just give me your heart.”
“Don’t say ridiculous things. How can I meet two people at the same time?”
For about 15 minutes, the two exchanged lines without stopping. It was a battle between Myung-eum, who said he loved him, and Jung-on, who said they had no future. They never stumbled over their lines and maintained a subtle yet fierce emotion.
As the conversation lengthened, Jung-on finally revealed his true feelings. “My Ability is to move people’s hearts. You say you love me, but that might just be a delusion caused by my Ability. You’re not? Can you really say with 100 percent certainty that it’s not? Really?”
Myung-eum couldn’t answer, and Jung-on smiled. “See, you can’t be sure either.”
And Jung-on leaves the cafe. That was the end of one scene.
“Cut.”
Director Lim called “Cut” and stared at the monitor for a while. Lee A-gon instantly returned to his usual calm face, and Seo Ji-hoon watched the director’s reaction.
“Why were you like that yesterday when you can do so well?”
Director Lim, who took his eyes off the monitor, smiled brightly.
“I was worried because you two seemed to be on really bad terms yesterday, but you’re doing so much better than I thought? Let’s go one more time. This time, with a little more emotional feeling. Okay?”
The second take proceeded.
It was a better start than expected.
Jung-on stood on the sidewalk with a dark face. His eyes were fixed on his phone screen, which displayed his mother’s name. As Jung-on watched, the call was disconnected, and soon a messenger app appeared on the darkened screen.
Son, why aren’t you answering the phone?
Jung-on, who saw the text, hesitated and slowly typed a reply. I’ll call you later. I’m sorry. I’m a little busy right now…… Jung-on, who had typed that far, was suddenly hugged by a man who appeared out of nowhere and rolled away.
“Are you okay?”
For a while, Jung-on didn’t realize what had happened to him. He raised his head with a bewildered face. A strange man was holding him tightly. He said with an apologetic expression.
“I’m sorry. The situation was a bit urgent.”
“What do you mean? L-let go of me first.”
Jung-on, who was pushing away the stranger, heard a thumping sound from somewhere. It sounded like a car was driving while crashing into something. The sound grew closer and closer, and soon it suddenly revealed its identity with a rough roar.
As the two watched, a car that had crossed the center line sped out. The car revved up and crashed into the wall before stopping. It was the exact spot where Jung-on had been standing just a moment ago.
“Hello. Yes, I’d like to report something. There’s a drunk driver right now……”
While Jung-on was frozen in shock, the man calmly finished reporting the incident and returned. He extended a hand to Jung-on, who was still sprawled on the ground. Only then did Jung-on snap out of it, pushing himself up and glaring at the man with suspicion. The man wore an amused expression.
“Aren’t you going to say thank you?”
“Why would I?”
“Why? Because I just saved your life.”
“You could have just told me to dodge.”
Jung-on retorted sharply, turned, and walked away. The stranger, Myung-eum, followed him.
“Hey.”
“……”
“Hey. Hey?”
Jung-on quickened his pace. Myung-eum persistently trailed behind.
“It’s fate that we met like this. Want to have dinner together?”
“I already had lunch.”
“Then how about coffee?”
“Why would I have coffee with you?”
“Hmm. Because I’m your savior?”
“I would have dodged it just fine even if you hadn’t helped.”
“Really?”
“Yes, I’m quite nimble.”
Jung-on replied defensively, quickening his pace. Myung-eum ran ahead and blocked Jung-on’s path. The sound of Myung-eum’s sneakers hitting the ground was light and cheerful.
“What, what is it?”
Myung-eum stared at Jung-on for a moment, then flicked him on the forehead. Jung-on was startled.
“Liar. You’re not nimble at all.”
Myung-eum bent down to meet Jung-on’s gaze and smiled. Jung-on, who was about to retort, was momentarily speechless at the sight of his gently curving eye-smile. His face, bright with sunlight, was so beautiful.
“Instead of that, just have a cup of coffee with me.”
Myung-eum took Jung-on’s hand. Jung-on stammered, “Uh, uh,” but was somehow dragged along by Myung-eum. But did you really eat? Then do you want to watch me eat? Myung-eum’s whispering voice faded away, and even the sound of footsteps grew faint, and then, above the trees swaying in the breeze, the movie title, Analgesic, appeared.
“I think Jung-on is right. An Ability User needs an Assistant. I don’t understand why Myung-eum is so hung up on Jung-on.”
Lee A-gon said, having successfully completed the first shoot. Hae-jun, still caught up in the afterglow of the filming, retorted.
“It’s not just men and women who fall in love in this world. Just like men and men can fall in love, and women and women can fall in love, Ability Users can also fall in love.”
“Men loving men and women loving women makes sense, but Ability Users falling in love with each other is impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re each other’s competitors.”
Lee A-gon explained. Imagine a prison where people live with shackles on their hands and feet. The shackles are so heavy that you can’t even lift a finger properly, and your head aches as if screws are tightened. Sometimes, a pain that feels like your insides are being gouged out comes.
Getting out of this prison depends on the heart of a juror. There is no other way. And the number of jurors assigned to a hundred prisoners is only one. To be chosen by him, the prisoners want to kill each other. It’s a fight where if you don’t die, I die.
“But you’re all prisoners. You can still love in prison.”
Hae-jun liked Analgesic. It was partly because it was the first work in which Lee A-gon played the lead role, but the content was also really good. That’s why he didn’t like Lee A-gon’s statement that Ability Users can’t love each other.
“Then let me make an analogy. Ability Users loving each other is similar to the probability of an American soldier and a Nazi falling in love during the war.”
“What…!”
Hae-jun’s eyes widened. An American soldier and a Nazi. He understood in an instant.
“Can you empathize with that kind of content?”
“Anyway, this movie is full of nonsense. The abilities that Myung-eum and Jung-on have are ridiculously great compared to real Ability Users.”
That’s right. Real Ability Users weren’t cool at all, so when the media dealt with Ability Users, there was always a correction. You couldn’t make a movie or drama with the ability to bend one spoon in two hours and move about one step in half a day.
“I’ll work hard. Until this movie wins awards overseas and I get to film commercials.”
Although he couldn’t empathize with the movie’s content, Lee A-gon was determined to do his best in this movie. He was still afraid of the threat Hae-jun had made—that after he dropped out, other actors would be cast in other movies and film commercials, while he would be relegated to minor roles.
The independent film shooting site was small.
It was so small that they had to do guerrilla shooting because they didn’t have the money to rent a shooting location.
“Remember. If customers come while we’re filming, we have to get out of the way.”
“Director? What did you just say?”
Hae-jun thought he had heard something wrong. Just before the shooting started, the director came to him, saying he had something important to say, and Hae-jun thought he was going to give him acting guidance, but he told him to quickly get out of the way if customers came while they were filming.
“The owner said he’s going to keep doing business, so he told us to film and leave on our own. So, please step aside when customers come.”
“No, didn’t you rent the place?”
“I did. But I didn’t have enough money.”
Director Im smiled sheepishly. Hae-jun was dumbfounded. Is that something a director should say?
The second shoot was the day they were filming a scene where they fight while choosing couple rings. That day, Lee A-gon and Seo Ji-hoon were filming a scene where they raised their voices and fought, but when customers came, they quickly stuck to the wall and waited.
“Well, I’m going to bite it to see if it’s real before I buy it?”
“Oh, customer. Once you bite it, you have to buy it.”
When a troublesome customer appeared who said he would buy it after biting it to see if it was pure gold, the staff and even Hae-jun had to step in to chase him away. That’s how they made the movie.
There were many fighting scenes in the third shoot as well. This day’s filming was a series of emotionally high scenes. They fought in the car, fought in the cafe, fought in the restaurant, and finally fought on the street.
“I’ve been in this alley all day, and there are no people and no cars passing by. Especially at night.”
The art director—who was also the props team, the costume team, the makeup team, and the location manager—said, having gone around scouting locations.
“The last bus in this neighborhood is at 11:20, so it doesn’t overlap with our shooting time.”
“Good. Very good.”
The two lovers will break up completely today. A lot of effort went into scouting the location to film this scene beautifully. First, the apartment shouldn’t be caught in the full shot, it had to be urban but quiet and deserted, and the moon had to be visible above the two actors’ heads. Finding a place that satisfied all those conditions was not easy.
The most important lighting for the night outdoor shooting was set up, and the two actors stood in their marked spots. The acting began with “Ready, action.”