Payback

Today’s filming must have seemed a bit strange to the other staff members. The princess, who had always spent hours putting on makeup and kept everyone waiting before filming, was half engrossed in her own thoughts along with her manager, and started filming without saying a word. Moreover, she mumbled and uttered lines throughout the filming, as if reading a Korean book, and hurriedly left the filming set with a pale face. 

What was more surprising was PD Jung. He also surprised everyone as he okay-ed after the first shoot and accepted the princess’s half—spirited performance with a blank face. The time spent on the princess’s scene, which was usually considered the most troublesome, was cut to half a day meaninglessly, and when everything was over, the staff looked puzzled. And as soon as the princess left, PD Jung grabbed the staff one by one and asked strange questions, raising their suspicions.

“Do you guys know where the capital of Lithuania is? Hm? Hey, this is common sense, don’t you guys know?”

The staff came to the serious conclusion that he had finally gone mad. I looked at the staff who were murmuring about whether the director should be forcibly quarantined as I was separating the lights, and two people approached me. The manager and Hansoo seem to have come back to their senses. Still, as if the shock he had received from ‘Vilnius’ did not go away, he was clutching his chest with his hands.

“Taemin, do you really not need Cheongshimhwan? My heart is still pounding.” 

When the manager spoke while holding the empty shell of Cheongshimhwan like a talisman, Hansoo followed.

“Wow… my heart is still pounding. Who in the world would have known that Director Yoon would ask for the capital of Lithuania? Really, ahhh, really, such luck! If it wasn’t for the madman, we wouldn’t be able to answer at all…”

And Hansoo trembled, as if it was too scary to think about.

“… We might have been fired.”

Startled, the manager was particularly surprised and tapped my shoulder. He whispered in a low voice as I looked up from the detached light that I was just about to put in the bag.

“Call the madman. Tell him to ask more questions in the future.”

“…”

“Not only the capital, but also the local administrative cities, counties, prefectures, towns and villages, tell him to ask you anything… Gasp! Come to think of it, you didn’t get a call today, did you? Why?” 

That’s right, because he went to pee side by side with me. I simply swallowed the explanation, that the manager would not be able to take in, down my throat. If I gave him even more shock, I felt like the Cheongsimhwan would be insufficient and he would be taken to the emergency room. Well, it would be less troublesome to know the true identity of the madman later. Thinking about that, I put the lighting equipment on my shoulders and stood up.

Clang~

The separate light poles in the bag collided against each other and made a loud noise. Mixed with the sound, the manager and Hansoo sang praises, but other thoughts were filling up my mind. Could it be that he had a reason for asking that question? Wasn’t he just trying to make fun of me? After moving the lights, I went back to the back of the truck and texted the madman first, partly because the word ‘price’ came to mind. Perhaps these questions were not one of his prices.

— Was the question you asked part of the price? Are you trying to tell me something. 

After moving my luggage a few more times and loading all the lights, my phone buzzed with the reply.

— No. It was to piss you off.

Tap. Closing the phone aloud, I made a firm decision. Let’s never doubt him in the future. This guy is just a lunatic.

——— 

Thanks to the short filming of the princess, the work at this location was completed the next day, as expected. Since most of the movie was based on xxx city, it would not be an exaggeration to say that almost all of the movie was filmed. All that’s left was filming in Seoul. Years later, the protagonist lives in Seoul and finds friends from his hometown one by one, and confirms that they have changed. Most of the scenes were filmed a few months ago, so the one to be filmed as soon as we got to Seoul was Hansoo’s scene.

Early in the morning, after a long time, I left the motel I felt like I had been living in for a long time. The owner, who was accustomed to seeing off the guest, only glanced at us as we walked out the door with drowsy eyes. It felt like I had actually stayed longer than that, perhaps because I spent over 3 weeks, almost a month, wandering around xxx city. As I came out of the toll gate, Hansoo, who seemed to have stayed up all night, continued to look behind me as I was driving.

“It feels like I’m leaving home.”

As I entered the highway, I said ‘close your eyes’ and looked into the rearview mirror at the manager in the back seat. After drinking with the staff all night, he was still snoring asleep. 

“Will I be able to do well?”

As I turned my eyes to the dazed mutter, Hansoo’s face looking out was reflected in the window.

“Am I really going to get over my camera phobia after I finish this scene? I’m a little scared that nothing will change.”

When I changed gears and increased the speed, the old car made a louder noise with a ‘woo-woo-woo’. I knew I had to say that it would be fine, even if it were empty words, but the words did not come out easily. Hansoo was a person who I couldn’t understand. Perhaps, if it were the me before coming down here who had heard Hansoo’s concerns, I would have said something to stop his mumbles. Consolations that can come easily. 

But something had changed. Hansoo’s worries were still incomprehensible and troublesome, but now I couldn’t ignore them. Maybe because in the meantime, I moved and installed the lights, waited for the filming thoughtlessly, and got scolded by the camera director by not moving the lighting properly.

As I read the script to the point where it was tattered like a rag, all I did was try to understand. For the first time in my life, I had a serious headache, trying to understand someone other than myself. An existence that did not exist and had only a brief background description. The weeks spent together with that person might be the reason why I couldn’t come up with easy empty words.

“Do you want me to tell you how?”

Qtfc P uba erfv ab vglnlcu bc atf tlutkjs ja vjkc klat ofk mjgr, P rqbxf eq joafg j ktlif. Cr tf ibbxfv ja wf, atf defralbc ‘Lbk ktja?’ kjr tfjgv. 

“Lbk cba ab ojli.”

P jvvfv, mtjculcu atf raffglcu ktffi klat ws ifoa tjcv.

“Gb sbe xcbk kts P vbc’a agfwyif lc ogbca bo atf mjwfgj?”

Hearing these words, I could see Hansoo sitting upright with his ears open. 

“W-why don’t you tremble?”

“Make the nervousness go away.”

“Make it go away?”

At the questioning words, I reached out the bottom of my right hand and asked him to raise his hand, and Hansoo’s hand carefully came up. I grabbed and clenched his hand tight enough to crush it. Soon, a yell erupted from Hansoo’s mouth. 

“Arghh~!”

Only after twisting his body and him shouting ‘It hurts!’ I let him go. Hansoo shed tears and let out a cry.

“Ugh, I thought I was going to break a bone…”

But all his words were not heard. The manager, who was sleeping in the back seat, woke up to the noise and started talking loudly. 

“Vilnius!!!!!”

And the snoring again took over the back seat. After a long silence in the front seat, Hansoo opened his mouth.

“I should give the manager a tonic.”

I guess I was laughing out loud at those words. Hanso looked at his hands and my hands alternately and smiled. 

“It certainly hurts so much that I can’t even feel nervous.”

“Right. So sleep now.”

After speaking dryly, I added to Hansoo, who looked at his hand for a long time.

“I’ll hold it before filming.” 

———

In the end, Hansoo’s filming was only half successful. The shooting, which took place in the indoor studio late that afternoon, was about the culmination of a strange relationship and people that the main characters of the film meet during the day. Including an actor with camera phobia. Outside of the cluttered atmosphere of the set, another real film crew surrounded them. Hansoo, who should have turned pale in front of the camera, turned really pale and looked around before going in front of the camera and then ran to me.

“Ha, ha… H- hands.”

I could hear the assistant director calling out to Hansoo, but Hansoo held out his hand to me and couldn’t speak properly. I could feel the manager looking at me strangely from the side, but without saying anything, I held it and crushed his hand. 

“Ahh!!”

Hansoo screamed so much that all the staff looked around, then grabbed his hand and headed towards the camera.

“What are you doing now?”

The bewildered manager, who was nervous that Hansoo might not do well, asked me. There was no need to turn on the lights in the studio, so I turned back to the manager and brought up another topic. 

“Stop drinking.”

“Yes? Oh, why? Did I make a mistake?”

“No.”

“Then why?” 

I was trying to tell him that it seemed like he was going to immigrate to Lithuania, but then I turned my head to the sound of the director’s ‘cut’. Hansoo, who had just started acting, was startled by the director’s words, and his eyes widened.

“That’s not it. You weren’t nervous at all. How is it different from just reading lines?”

The director frowned, dissatisfied, but Hansoo blinked like a man who didn’t understand what he meant.

“Do what you normally do. You have a phobia of cameras, so you can just do it as it is. Did you think the camera was turned off?” 

When asked, Hansoo gave quietly, ‘Oh, no.’ and gulped. Then the director sent a signal saying that he will start over, telling him to do well. Silence fell inside as the assistant director hit the slate and stepped back. Everyone stared at only Hansoo, and after staring at the floor for a while, Hansoo raised his head and began to speak in a tense voice.

After that, the same shot was repeated a few more times because the director didn’t like it, but I wasn’t too worried. Because I was also aware of Hansoo’s condition, like the muttering of a manager who stood next to him and opened his mouth halfway.

“That guy… he’s acting.”

Filming ended when it was completely dark. And it was only when I came out that I realized that I was back in Seoul. Everyone seemed tired because of the schedule that went on without a break, so everyone was given a three-day vacation. But no one went straight home.The manager was already caught in the midst of the staff as if he was going to drink with them. Before I could stop him, Hansoo, who was on cloud nine, interrupted first. 

“Ah~ Taemin, you are going too, yes yes?”

As I grabbed my arm and shook off the drooping Hansoo coldly, the manager clung to me from the other side.

“Yeah, Taemin, let’s go too~ On a pleasant day like today, we should have a drink together!”

Yeah, you would like that. I shook off the manager, but the vicious cycle of Hansoo clinging to me was repeated. Then, at the moment when my temper from 5 years ago was about to be revived, fortunately, the phone rang and saved me from the two of them. When I took out my ringing cell phone, the eyes of the two of them who were clinging to each other lit up. 

“The madman again?!”

“The madman again?”

The two voices were now filled with joy. I pushed the two of them who were already acting like they were drunk away and finally checked the text on my phone. The two of them fell to the floor and said nonsense that they were full of energy, but there was no time to worry about them because of the content of the text. The sender is a stranger, but the content was a completely different experience.

— You’re in Seoul, right? Hurry up and come to Alice now. Also, I thought of you all day and carried two 100 won coins in my underwear, and my body felt hot. 

As soon as I saw it, I immediately clicked delete. Are you sending me a filthy thing that looks like iron poison in your body as seduction? And how the hell did the boss of Alice know that I was in Seoul? When I was wondering if there was a tracker on my body, the two of them approached me again and showed interest in the text.

“Tell him to come if it’s the madman. Let’s have a drink together and introduce ourselves. yes?”

“Yeah, we didn’t get fired from the company because of him, but I also want to say hello.”

He said that he wanted to say hello on the surface, but his expression and eyes showed the desire to actually meet him and compete in a quiz show in person. 

“It’s not the madman.”

“Then who was it?”

“Fake madman.”

“…” 

“…”

They both turned to stone in astonishment, asking if the madman was a celebrity they didn’t know about. Indeed, he was a little famous technically. Come to think of it, we had not been in touch today. When we met in xxx city, I thought he’d call me right away to see him in Seoul. Well, it was good that I could go to the goshiwon and sleep comfortably. As I came to that conclusion and put the phone in our pocket, this time it was the manager’s phone that rang out loud.

As soon as he saw it, he tilted his head and said, ‘It’s the company,’ and walked away to talk on the phone. In the meantime, I was going to inform Hansoo that I was going to go back first, but a staff member approached us with a surprised face.

“Did you hear about actor Cha Jungwoo?” 

The name that came from the staff was a fairly famous talent I knew. As far as I know, he was one of the Hallyu stars and his drama was aired in foreign countries. Of course, Hansoo also recognised it. Although for a different reason.

“Oh? Cha Jungwoo belongs to Dream as well. But what’s the news?”

“Ah, I’ve only heard the news on TV just now. Well, Cha Jungwoo…”

As the staff was about to say something, the manager came up to us with a grave expression and interrupted. 

“Sorry, tell the director that we’ll have a drink next time.”

He spoke to the staff in a hurry and looked back at Hansoo and me.

“Now there is an emergency at the company. Since all the managers are told to gather, I have to go back…”

“Ah, then I will follow. What’s going on?” 

The manager briefly explained as he was in a hurry, taking Hansoo and me by car. The fact that Dream’s star, Cha Jungwoo’s military service scandal all of a sudden broke out and it was a mess now, but that wasn’t the problem. The company was already aware of that fact and was working hard to deal with it quietly, but suddenly, evidence came up on the Internet and the matter exploded. The manager whispered, making me understand why there was an emergency.

“A transaction in which the disseminated data was leaked was from within the company.”

I was not planning to follow him because it had nothing to do with me, but as one thing that suddenly came to mind, I got into the manager’s car. I remembered the name Cha Jungwoo not only because he was famous. I was used to hearing it because he was one of the actors that Hansoo said Myeongshin was trying to imitate. So I wanted to check.

The front of the company building was already full of reporters and the actor’s fans, so we could barely get into the underground parking lot. Because of this, all the company’s employees were unable to leave work, so the parking lot was unusually full. 

I went to the break room on the first floor with Hansoo while the manager went up and filled my hungry stomach. It was past 9 o’clock, but more than half of the seats were occupied. About 40 minutes after being seated there, the manager rushed down as if to deliver the news and picked up the bread we had left for him first.

“This is a serious problem. Munch munch, the broker was caught by the police just this evening, and he must have stated that it was all true. Because of that, we couldn’t even say that the things that appeared on the Internet as evidence were falsification…”

The manager gulped down the cold drink with ice still floating around.

“Then what will happen to Cha Jungwoo?” 

When Hansoo asked, the manager shook his head.

“Well, he’s over. In Korea, if you get caught for military irregularity, no matter how much of a top star you are, you are done for several years. Besides, given the current situation, I think he will have to go to the military.”

He ripped another piece of bread and popped it in his mouth.

“By the way, how many commercials did he do? Besides, I know he has already signed a contract for a drama that he will appear in in the future…” 

“How many?”

“Hm?”

“How many commercials did he do?”

To my question the manager blinked his eyes and gave me three fingers again. 

“Five for TV alone.”

“Are they going to choose a new model for all five?”

“Right. Taemin-ah, if you are aiming for that…”

I shook my head and burst out laughing. 

“Because I thought of someone other than me who will aim for it.”

“Other? Who…”

As if he knew what I was talking about, he shut his mouth and tilted his head.

“I know what you think, but he’s not in that position yet.” 

Then he looked at me with serious eyes.

“Taemin-ah, did you think he might have been involved in this…”

The manager’s words were suddenly interrupted by a voice mixed with laughter coming from behind. To be exact, it was an exuberant laugh.

“Ha! ‘Taemin’?” 

I automatically turned my head to the name that referred to me. But before that, I saw Hansoo with a deathly pale face sitting opposite me. Well, even if I didn’t see his face, a familiar voice revealed the identity of the person who called me.

“You… you, what. Why are you here? And, with them of all people?”

Myeongshin looked at my face with poisonous eyes.

“Fuck. Lee Yoohan.”