Chapter 39
Min Hye-rin stopped removing lint from the costume and clutched her head, not knowing what to do. Cheong-yeon was equally amazed by the situation. He never imagined he would encounter a fan he had met at a fan signing event while filming a show.
“Oppa, aren’t you looking at the script?”
“I’ve already memorized my lines. But the writer only gave me my parts cut out, not the full script. Is that normal?”
“Huh? Why?”
Min Hye-rin, who had been suppressing her excitement while checking Cheong-yeon’s costume, jumped up and asked.
“I don’t know either. I heard they don’t give the full script to supporting actors because of the risk of script leaks.”
“Really? That’s strange. I just saw other supporting actors carrying their full scripts.”
Min Hye-rin stroked her chin, recalling what she had seen in the hallway earlier.
“Really?”
“Yes! I wonder if there was some miscommunication?”
“I guess so…”
Cheong-yeon also tilted his head in confusion. Min Hye-rin gasped and covered her mouth with her hand.
“Oppa, that angle is really amazing… I mean. Should I go get a script from the staff for you?”
“That would be great, thanks. But do you think you can get one?”
“It’s no big deal. I’ll go ask now!”
Before he could answer, Min Hye-rin dashed out of the waiting room.
The stylist who had been fixing his hair left to attend to another supporting actor, and except for staff members moving around to assist with filming, Cheong-yeon was alone in the waiting room.
Cheong-yeon awkwardly looked in the mirror, turning his head this way and that. Just as he was idly thinking that dyeing his hair brown had been a good choice, Min Hye-rin returned to the waiting room.
“Oppa! I got the script!”
In Min Hye-rin’s hand was a thick drama script book. Cheong-yeon took it immediately in surprise and checked the contents. It was indeed the complete script for the drama they were filming.
“Wow. How did you get it?”
“I just asked the coordinator for one, and they gave it to me.”
“Then why didn’t they give it to me…”
At Cheong-yeon’s muttering, Min Hye-rin laughed it off, suggesting there might have been a misunderstanding in the communication process.
“But you’ve already memorized your lines and choreography, right?”
“Yeah. Still, I should at least skim through the entire script just in case. I feel uneasy not knowing the full content.”
Seeing the staff bustling around, filming seemed imminent. Cheong-yeon opened the script and began speed-reading the general story and the lines for his role.
“We’ll head to the filming location in five minutes.”
Suddenly a staff member entered the waiting room and announced they should prepare to leave. Min Hye-rin asked the staff member instead of Cheong-yeon, who was reading the script.
“Wasn’t it supposed to be indoor filming?”
“It’s outdoor filming. But the location is less than twenty minutes away by car, so they decided to use the broadcasting station’s waiting room.”
“Ah, I see.”
“Anyway, please be ready to move so filming isn’t delayed.”
After the staff member left, Min Hye-rin efficiently packed their belongings. Although tasks other than costume management weren’t actually her responsibility, she didn’t seem to mind.
Rather, she bustled about the waiting room with an excited expression, looking for more tasks to handle.
“Cheong-yeon oppa. We should go now. We need to leave with the filming team’s van…”
“Ah, then I’ll check the script on the way.”
“You can wear this outer jacket.”
“Thanks.”
Cheong-yeon put on the jacket Min Hye-rin handed him and hurried downstairs to board the van. Perhaps because he hadn’t slept at all last night, or maybe due to nervousness, he was so distracted that he wasn’t even conscious of what expression he was making.
If it hadn’t been for Min Hye-rin, who had experience as an actor’s stylist, he would have been completely lost trying to get to the filming location.
His heart pounded at the thought that this was really the beginning. Cheong-yeon took a deep breath and stepped forward quickly with a flushed face.
*
The filming location they arrived at by van looked busy. Additionally, with vans carrying supporting actors and staff arriving one after another, there was barely room to step. The scale of the filming was substantial even at a glance.
“Please standby over here!”
“I’ll check the full shot angle with the jib one more time.”
“Please control the flow of people in the front area!”
The staff’s loud voices echoed along the street.
“Oppa, aren’t you getting out?”
Min Hye-rin looked curiously at Cheong-yeon, who remained frozen in place despite the van door being open.
Only then did Cheong-yeon look around at where the van was parked, still clutching the script he had been reading.
The familiar scenery and building. The filming location wasn’t a set but in front of the JT Electronics twin buildings in a busy district.
“……”
With a rigid expression, Cheong-yeon checked his role in the script he was holding once again.
A passionate love story between a Recessive Omega unknown idol and a Dominant Alpha corporate executive.
This was the summary of the scene Cheong-yeon would be filming today. Kim Se-yun, an unknown idol attending a corporate event, coincidentally meets a third-generation chaebol heir, they develop feelings for each other, and ultimately fall into a passionate love that transcends differences in traits and family backgrounds, becoming embroiled in scandal.
The role Cheong-yeon would be playing was Kim Se-yun.
Cheong-yeon gripped the script so tightly that his fingertips turned white.
This is the story of Moon Do-heon and me.
His mood plummeted as if he had been hit on the head. Simultaneously, all the suspicious aspects of his casting for this drama suddenly made sense.
The director and drama production team had deliberately not told him what role he would be playing. They had used his story and cast him to create controversy.
That’s why he was accepted even though he auditioned with a swollen face, why the filming schedule was set so urgently, and why they didn’t share the full script with him. It was all a deception from the beginning, planning to attract public attention through provocative production.
“Cheong-yeon oppa…?”
It didn’t make sense from the start that a drama by such a famous director would come to him. The casting was decided suspiciously quickly, and it didn’t add up that a star director and writer would choose someone with no proper experience like him.
It was all just a trick to use his story as sensational material for the drama.
Only after arriving at the filming location did Cheong-yeon belatedly discover the truth that he alone had been kept in the dark.
Despite Min Hye-rin calling his name with concern, Cheong-yeon only looked around the filming location, frozen like a statue.
And of all places, the filming location was in front of the JT Electronics twin buildings. Do-heon’s office was actually somewhere inside this building. The director must have intentionally chosen this location for filming.
Dozens of staff members were already moving around for filming, and because it was a busy area with many people, the temporary control of movement rather created chaos with crowds gathering.
“We’ll do one rehearsal of Kim Se-yun’s entrance route and then shoot. Please standby!”
The director shouted from a distance. The eyes of nearby staff all turned toward Cheong-yeon.
At the same time, Cheong-yeon’s breath caught in his throat.
Dozens of staff members, expensive camera equipment, lighting, and props were all waiting for Cheong-yeon.
Feeling his parted lips trembling slightly, Cheong-yeon bit his lower lip hard. Though he knew intellectually that he should immediately go to the director or writer and say something, his stiffened body wouldn’t move.
Something was terribly wrong.
“Mr. Yoo Cheong-yeon. Let’s just check the movement once and then start. Come over here and check the camera position and where you’ll be walking. Hair and costume are all set, right?”
“……”
The director had approached Cheong-yeon. Only then did Cheong-yeon rise from his seat in the van and step outside. However, he didn’t know what to say first to the director standing before him.
“Yes! Costume and hair are all complete!”
As Cheong-yeon’s silence lengthened, Min Hye-rin tactfully answered for him. The director smiled with satisfaction.
“Very good. The outfit looks just like an idol’s. This was exactly the image I wanted. Is it because you’re a former idol? It really shows.”
“……”
“What are you doing, Cheong-yeon? Come here and let’s check your movement, I said.”
The director urged the rehearsal again, but Cheong-yeon could no longer hear anything. His heart was racing madly with betrayal and despair.
Min Hye-rin, who had brought out an armful of costumes, glanced worriedly at Cheong-yeon.
“Oppa, are you feeling unwell? Why aren’t you speaking…”
“Director. Why didn’t you tell me about this?”
Cutting off Min Hye-rin’s words, Cheong-yeon finally spoke after a long pause.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
