Chapter 96
After receiving shampoo and having staff dry my hair, makeup started first. The person in charge carefully examined my face through the mirror, with my hair fixed with clips.
“Oppa, you’ve lost some weight recently, haven’t you?”
Since learning that he was Lee Seogyeong’s younger brother, I had been barely able to eat properly. My sleep quality was terrible too. But I wouldn’t be the only one living like this. There was no reason to complain.
“Does it look bad?”
“No, you look sharper so it’ll probably suit your new role well… I’m just worried. You’re someone who doesn’t gain weight even when you eat anyway. Eat more heartily.”
I forced a smile at her as she pressed my shoulders encouragingly.
“Ah, hyung, Hongseo is here too right now.”
“Really?”
I looked up at the staff member who was standing beside me to assist. She was quite experienced among the assistant staff.
“But she seems to be in a bad mood today. I was too scared to even greet her.”
“Did she… read comments again?”
Manager Jang behind me said carefully. Everyone had known Hongseo for a long time and knew her habits well.
“Manager Jang, sorry but… let me go see Hongseo briefly before my makeup. I haven’t seen her in quite a while.”
Manager Jang readily removed the pins from my hair.
“Oh, oppa, go ahead. We have about 10 minutes to spare.”
I had also checked several articles reporting the confirmation of her appearance in Director Kang Woohyeon’s new work. Since not only Hongseo’s recent individual activities but also ‘Layered’s popularity had risen, the interest and number of comments on the articles were more explosive than before.
An overwhelming proportion were friendly comments left by Hongseo and ‘Layered’ fans, but there were also criticisms, ridicule, or even worse-level malicious comments mixed in.
—I’ve been a Hongseo fan for 6 years, but no matter how well Hongseo acts, she’s only good for an idol-turned-actor. Hongseo really isn’t right for a Kang Woohyeon film.
—Wow… after all this time, sprinkling idols on perfectly good rice extends even to Kang Woohyeon films?
—Didn’t they say the competition ratio for that role was 900:1? They had Choi Hongseo’s casting confirmed from the beginning and the audition was just for show. I feel sorry for the other actors who prepared desperately for the audition.
—I thought I misread the article and read it several times. They said a production budget of 10 billion was needed—was this a compromise to get investment? I’m a long-time fan of Director Kang Woohyeon and I’m really disappointed.
—Honestly, Kang Woohyeon doesn’t do well at the domestic box office either, and ultimately it’s about winning awards at international film festivals and such honors, so why is an idol greedy for honor when money and popularity should be enough? I had a good impression of Choi Hongseo, but this incident has turned me off.
I had also gotten quite angry at the comment claiming to have liked Hongseo for 6 years when she hadn’t even debuted 6 years ago. I had typed about half a reply saying Hongseo hadn’t debuted 6 years ago before deleting it.
If even I, an outsider, felt such momentary rage, what must the person involved feel?
The Choi Hongseo I knew was someone who suffered from one or two malicious comments mixed among a hundred. Whether it was dancing, singing, or acting, when she received criticism, she immediately increased her lesson and practice time.
That perfectionism was also the driving force that created the current Hongseo, but sometimes it was precarious and pitiful to watch from the sidelines.
Probably most of them were just aiming for criticism itself. Even if Hongseo improved the areas they pointed out, they wouldn’t acknowledge it, so no matter how much Hongseo tried and developed, she couldn’t completely silence them.
However, such advice couldn’t comfort the suffering person. It might even make her feel that her emotions weren’t being understood. While I thought that showing more interest and affection was all I could do, I felt guilty that recently I had been too overwhelmed with my own affairs to pay attention.
“Choi Hongseo.”
“Huh? Hyung! When did you get here?”
Hongseo’s makeup and hair were almost finished. Her face, which spotted me in the mirror, instantly brightened.
“I came a little while ago and got shampooed… I heard you were here so I stopped by.”
Come to think of it, we had talked on the phone when she congratulated me on the <Eternal Night> casting, but this was the first time seeing her face since the housewarming. I approached her as she stretched her arms toward me and took her hands.
“Hyung, why did you lose so much weight? You’re sexier but… did you lose it on purpose for your new role?”
“Ah… yeah, something like that. But I didn’t lose as much as it looks.”
A bitter smile escaped when I heard the same words from her as from the makeup artist.
The fact that the breakup with him was leaving physical traces that everyone around me could notice was fascinating and… on the other hand, I didn’t dislike the feeling. At least it was proof that we had been existences not easily erasable to each other.
The staff who had completely finished Hongseo’s hair tactfully moved aside.
When we were alone, Hongseo offered me a spare chair at the back of the room. She rotated her own chair to face me.
“Your character thinks he’s half-vampire, half-human, right? That sounds really attractive. Now that you’ve lost more weight, you seem more vampire-like too. You really got a good role.”
“How about you? When’s your crank-in?”
“The film preparation had been halted due to investment issues. Crank-in is scheduled for early next year.”
“Were the investment problems resolved well?”
“Yeah… fortunately.”
She suddenly averted her gaze and trailed off. Maybe it was just my imagination, but even her action of turning her chair half a turn to grab coffee from the shelf seemed like she was trying to avoid something.
“Why do you look so down? Is that romance you mentioned before not going well?”
She, who had been just chewing the end of the straw without drinking the coffee, laughed weakly at the mention of romance. From her expression, at least the romance part didn’t seem to be troubling her. That was a relief.
“It’s not that… when things go well, that’s scary in its own way.”
“What’s scary about things going well?”
“At first… it was just a good feeling. Being in the same space made me pay attention to them a bit, getting close made me nervous and excited, and I was happy when they remembered something about me… anyway, there were only good feelings so I didn’t think deeply about it…”
Hongseo bit her lower lip hard once before releasing it, then anxiously scratched the edge of the coffee cup with her fingernail.
“I came to like them too much.”
“……”
“When you like someone too much, you have a lot of things to think about. What would happen if someone found out about our relationship, how far could we really go… when I was just attracted, it was purely good, but now… it’s frustrating and scary.”
Though the specific situation would probably be different, the nature of the worries I had wasn’t much different. And probably, perhaps, even if I continued my relationship with him, similar worries would inevitably continue.
“But at least that person has the same feelings as you, right?”
“Huh?”
“Since you’re not the only one who came to like them too much, but that person is the same… you don’t seem worried about the relationship itself with them.”
“Ah…”
This time her earlobes flushed slightly red. Though she was embarrassed and chewing her lips, she couldn’t hide the smile spreading across her face.
“Yeah. That person is the same as me. They’re really not someone who would confuse you about that kind of thing.”
It was a voice with cautious but definite conviction.
He was also someone who gave me that kind of conviction. However, I couldn’t return the same value to him.
‘I can’t give up for any reason, but hyung always has reasons to turn away from me. You say you’re interested and attracted, but it’s just… that much…’
He would probably continue to live thinking he was nothing special to me.
Even though I wasn’t even wearing a tie today, I felt suffocated.
Before returning to my room, I gently touched the ends of Hongseo’s beautifully styled hair. The hair that had endured frequent bleaching and dyeing looked glossy and shiny after styling, but the texture under my fingertips was only dry and rough.
A bitter smile escaped at the thought that this was like the exterior and interior of Hongseo, myself, and people in this industry.
■
Knox Resort Hongcheon was located at about 750 meters above sea level, around the border between Hongcheon and Inje. Thanks to this, despite being midsummer, I could feel a pleasantly comfortable temperature as soon as I got out of the car.
It was a resort including a public golf course¹⁾ with 3 courses and 27 holes, and unlike popular condo-type resorts, it felt closer to a high-end resort operated strictly on a membership-only basis.
Without building high structures and using the site generously, you could quietly appreciate the scenery of the mountain ridges surrounding the resort from anywhere. The surroundings were completely surrounded by nature, making it hard to believe that we had only driven an hour and a half from Seoul.
After finalizing the contract in the meeting room of the management building, we soon moved to the penthouse of the guest building where the company dinner began.
The penthouse, covering about 500 square meters, was a room belonging to the highest grade suite. It consisted of 3 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, a living room and kitchen equipped with cutting-edge facilities, and the terrace with a private swimming pool alone was about 20 pyeong in size.
On that terrace, chefs were grilling various barbecues on two large grills.
Deputy Kim Jiwon and I were drinking beer with barbecue on the terrace, avoiding the boring factions inside the living room.
Team Leader 1, who hadn’t even shown his face in the meeting room, could only be seen when we came to the penthouse. When we arrived, the team leader was already in high spirits, eating and drinking the food and alcohol gorgeously prepared buffet-style in the center of the living room.
While checking on the team leader far away through the glass door with a sideways glance, Deputy Kim Jiwon whispered.
“This is the most recently opened place among Knox Resorts. It’s been less than 2 years. Both the rooms and golf course have top-class facilities. I’m not really interested in golf so I don’t know much… anyway, Team Leader Park wanted to play golf and spend a day here using the contract and entertainment as an excuse, so we ended up meeting here. Sorry for making you come all the way here.”
“I’m rather grateful for the opportunity to come out here. Our Manager Yoon likes golf too, so that’s fortunate.”
What expectations had I been harboring?
Hongcheon was a somewhat regretful place for us. If it was him, the Team 2 leader, it would be a simple matter to show up at a contract meeting. So calling me here was also Hancheoeum’s plan?
After last Friday’s event, I had made up my mind to stop clinging to lingering feelings for both our sakes. A sighing sneer escaped due to the emotions that, as if mocking that resolution, rushed toward him on their own.
¹⁾ Public golf course: A public golf course operated on a non-membership basis.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
