By Zephyria 
He had a premonition.
It had been about an hour since he first received the call. Lee A-gon had said that if hyung didn’t buy the condoms, he would do it with the man raw.
His hand, which had been knocking, slid down the door with a weak scratching sound. He leaned his forehead against the door of room 1701, gasping for breath.
A moment later, Hae-jun lifted his head and hung the bag containing the condoms on the doorknob of room 1701. Then, he sobbed there for a long time before getting into the elevator.
“Hyung, why are you crying? What did the actor say?”
Yang Road asked in surprise. Hae-jun didn’t answer and kept crying. He didn’t want to cry, but the tears wouldn’t stop.
“Don’t tell me you’re angry because I bought one that’s too big? That’s too much. How are we supposed to know your size?”
Listening to Yang Road’s unfocused consolation, Hae-jun buried his face in his hands. His heart ached so much it felt like it would break. He felt like he’d rather die. Feelings of hatred, longing, and regret welled up instead of tears, suffocating him. Among them, the deepest, beyond his reach, was regret.
“No, what on earth did the actor say to make you cry like this?”
Listening to Yang Road’s flustered voice, Hae-jun regretted it. He regretted wondering if Lee A-gon’s heart had ached like this too. The ground sank, and the mountains crumbled. He prayed that his heart would die instead.
The next day, Hae-jun, with a haggard face, belatedly appeared at the filming set. Originally, he had planned to quit being a manager as of yesterday, but he realized that whether he saw him or not, he was only thinking about Lee A-gon anyway. If he didn’t see him, he felt like he would go crazy with curiosity, and his heart was tormented like sesame seeds on an iron plate.
During the day, Hae-jun pondered fiercely and came to a conclusion. If it was hell either way, he’d rather be in the hell of seeing him directly.
Lee A-gon was acting. It was a scene where he was arguing with Han Na-young, who played his mother. But his acting was strange. It was the worst acting Hae-jun had ever seen from Lee A-gon.
While delivering his lines to Han Na-young, who played his mother, Lee A-gon’s eyes were looking at empty space. His pronunciation was also subtly slurred. Anyone could tell that he wasn’t the usual Lee A-gon.
“Na-young, deliver your lines a little slower than you are now. And you keep raising your hand threateningly, but this scene needs to be more static. And you, actor.”
Kim Jun-haeng, who had been giving acting guidance to Han Na-young, frowned at Lee A-gon.
“What’s wrong with you today? You keep stumbling over your lines and your eye contact is off. Did something happen?”
“No.”
“We’re going to film the murder scene now. Can you do it?”
“Yes.”
“I’m only putting up with it because you’ve been doing so well so far. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Do well. Okay?”
Kim Jun-haeng left with an expression that said he had a lot more to say but was holding back. Hae-jun went to Yang Road and asked.
“Why is the actor like that?”
“Hyung, you’re here… Huh, Hyung! What’s wrong with your eyes?”
Yang Road asked in shock. Hae-jun pressed the hat he was wearing down further.
“Is it that obvious?”
The subject was omitted, but Yang Road understood immediately. He couldn’t not know, after seeing him crying so much yesterday.
“Anyone can tell you’ve been crying all night.”
“Haa. Anyway, why is the actor like that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe the sex was bad yesterday. Maybe the condom Hyung brought was too big, so he couldn’t do it. I don’t know the reason, but he’s been strange throughout the filming today. He keeps stumbling over his lines, his eyes keep wandering somewhere in empty space, and he keeps making mistakes. Director Kim’s temper is really nasty, but it’s so obvious that he’s holding back that it’s scary.”
Director Kim Jun-haeng was famous for his fiery temper. Back in the day, when a conflict arose with the actor playing the main character, he cut the actor and reshot the movie, which had been filmed up to the middle, from the beginning. It wasn’t like the production costs increased because of that, so the movie even changed genres from an action thriller to a drama. Even so, it exceeded 4 million viewers and was a box office success, so he definitely had the skills.
Although his personality had mellowed out a lot as he got older, his nasty temper hadn’t gone anywhere. The fact that he was putting up with Lee A-gon meant that he was really giving him a chance because he had been doing so well up until now.
While they were talking, the next scene’s filming continued. It was the scene where the mother sees her son’s crime scene for the first time.
『Hyun-woo!』
The building that her son had made his hideout had its construction halted due to financial problems. In that place, her son had already killed several animals. First, it was a rat, then a bird, and today it was a dog.
Above the dead dog, her son was hunched over with his large frame, doing something diligently. When the mother called out to her son, the son turned around. The son’s face was covered in blood.
The mother widened her eyes and gasped as she approached her son. Desperately clutching her designer bag, she looked over her son’s shoulder and confirmed what was in front of him. The son was rummaging through the dog’s corpse.
『Why. Why did you do this.』
To the mother’s question, the son answered very slowly, in a voice that seemed to slur as if he was dragging his tongue.
『Because I… wanted to.』
『So, why do you want to do something like this!』
『When I do this… my mind feels at ease. The stress… disappears. If I don’t… I want to do it, and after I do it… my head clears up… so I can study better too.』
『You study better?』
The mother looked back and forth between the dog’s corpse and her son’s face. Gradually, a different emotion rose on the mother’s face, which had initially been filled with shock. It was greed. She swallowed hard, gasped for breath, and then asked.
『How much better?』
『For a few days… When I killed the rat last time… I was in good condition for… four days.』
『Is that when you came in second at the academy?』
The son nodded, and the mother moved her eyes back and forth.
『Give me your hand.』
Finally, the mother made up her mind. She grabbed her son’s hand and wiped it with a tissue. After that, she stood her son up and dusted off the dirt on his clothes.
『Go wait in the car. Mom will take care of this.』
『Yes…』
The son nodded obediently and walked away with heavy steps. The remaining mother stared at the dog’s corpse with a disgusted look before lifting it up with her hands.
A little later, the mother returned. Now, there were traces of blood on the mother’s hands as well, where she had wiped them. She took out a wet wipe from the glove box and scrubbed her hands roughly as she asked.
『Is one a week enough?』
『Pardon?』
『If you only kill one a week, then can you maintain your current grades?』
The son, who had been blinking, slowly nodded. The mother continued to wipe her fingers, which were already clean. She screamed as she obsessively wiped her hands, then glared at her son with venomous eyes.
『You promised. Mom will somehow procure them for you, so you keep up your grades too. Got it?』
The son nodded again. The mother took a deep breath and quickly tidied her disheveled hair. The fingers combing through her wavy bob were sensitive and nervous.
『Memorize vocabulary while we go.』
『Yes.』
As soon as the son took out his English vocabulary book, the car started.
“Cut, okay.”
Kim Jun-haeng was satisfied as he monitored.
“I thought it was strange, but you were researching the role? You were acting out the process of gradually sympathizing with the murderer. It’s not bad, but you can’t act like this from the time you start seriously killing. Got it?”
It seemed that Kim Jun-haeng thought that Lee A-gon’s slow speech and slurred movements were a character created by the actor. And he thought that this appearance was the appearance of a murderer who was sympathizing with the murder and thought it wasn’t bad.
Hae-jun’s thoughts were different. He recalled when Lee A-gon had shown such an appearance.
It was like Lee A-gon when he was relearning how to speak.
∞ ∞ ∞
Lee A-gon’s condition gradually worsened. On the second day, the strength drained from his voice, and on the third day, he had difficulty delivering his lines. He stared blankly into the air without moving and was annoyed when someone approached him.
What was especially difficult was filming with animals. The dogs playing the roles of those being killed were all recruited through animal model agencies, but no matter how well-trained they were, a dog was still a dog. The amount of time they could concentrate was much shorter than that of humans, so filming was delayed, and Lee A-gon became sensitive each time.
“You have a fever?”
The staff member who was doing Lee A-gon’s makeup said that after placing her hand on Lee A-gon’s forehead. Lee A-gon flicked off the hand that was placed on his forehead.
“You don’t seem to be feeling very well. Can you film?”
Lee A-gon didn’t say anything and gestured with his hand to tell her to get lost. The staff member hesitated but stepped back, faltering.
Filming began. It was time to film the scene where the son, who failed to keep his promise not to let his grades drop, was beaten by his mother and exploded with anger.
The mother, who received the report card, couldn’t contain her anger and spewed out harsh words. Useless. Stupid. You’re just like your father. Shouting at the top of her lungs, the mother brought a stick and beat her son. Of course, she was only pretending to hit him, so it didn’t actually hurt much.
But Lee A-gon, who was hit by that weak beating, slid down. Kim Jun-haeng, who continued to roll at first, thinking it was an extension of the acting, cut when Lee A-gon couldn’t open his eyes.
“A-gon?”