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The choreography for the comeback song was already arranged exactly as it had been before his regression under Jeong Ido’s control, and after that, there was only endless repetition of practice with no end in sight.
Apart from that, what was immediately needed were various shoots that had to be done to visually conceptualize the completed song. The concept shooting was done individually for each member after completing the group shoot, and Kim Bunhong was the very last in order.
Before waiting for his turn, Bunhong first changed into his outfit. It was a white dress shirt and black shorts, but the long sleeves went far beyond his actual arm length. So from the outside, it looked like his hands were almost swallowed up by the clothes.
Moreover, a stylist staff member who had handed him the clothes approached and began unbuttoning about two of the buttons that Bunhong had meticulously fastened all the way to his neck.
“Don’t button it up, we’re going to shoot with a slightly loose feeling.”
Flustered, Bunhong touched his nape with his hand and trailed off.
“……Huh? Really?”
Even looking at himself in the mirror, buttoning it up completely did look a bit stuffy.
‘Before regression, what did Lee Hanbit look like when doing the concept shoot for this song.’
He remembered there had been subtle exposure that was barely visible. In contrast, throughout his idol activities, he had consistently maintained neat, proper clothing.
So that was more familiar to Bunhong.
After that, as soon as his makeup was completed by professionals’ hands, a hair designer quickly approached with a blow dryer as if waiting, and while he was having his hair done, the moment he tried to rub his eyes because they were itchy, the people around him hurriedly stopped him.
“If you keep touching it, it’ll be trouble. If all this falls off, we’ll have to reattach everything from the beginning!”
“Ah, I’m really sorry.”
A little while ago, the coordinators had been busily doing something, and when he checked later, they had attached something like glitter under his eyes. Bunhong, who had almost ruined the carefully applied makeup, quickly apologized.
It was fascinating how the glitter made his eyes look more sparkling, so he took a few selfies in advance.
“The fans will like it when they see it later, right……?”
Bunhong’s sudden soliloquy-like question. Then the hair designer, who was arranging his hair, laughed out loud as if hearing an amusing joke.
“You mean the photos you just took? Of course. They came out really cool and handsome?”
“……”
“Don’t worry. Originally handsome kids look handsome no matter how you photograph them.”
Is that so. But why does he look so ugly in his own eyes? He pouted his lips and couldn’t let go of his phone, fidgeting with it.
Then the manager took it from his hands and gave him a storyboard to look at instead, causing Bunhong to stop looking at his photos and begin reading it carefully.
As it had been before his regression, then and now, ‘Neverland’, originally the title track of the 2nd album produced by Jeong Ido, was a song motived by the island ‘Neverland’ where Peter Pan, a boy who never grows up, lives.
Since the original was a fairy tale, the music video’s color scheme was overall bright. As befitting fantasy, it had a refreshing yet dreamy atmosphere as its main characteristic, but there were gloomy corners to the extent that fans said in unison that the devices scattered throughout the music video gave it a somewhat cruel fairy tale feeling.
He heard that fairy tales themselves were adapted from originals to suit the age of their main readership, children, but in reality each had its own hidden side.
The fairy tale ‘Peter Pan’ was also like that. Realistically, what would be the way to remain a child forever? You could know the truth by just peeling back a little.
That was death.
Children in Neverland who weren’t fairies had to face death without reaching adulthood.
Nothing could be a refuge. Eternal paradise doesn’t exist. Like the contradiction inherent in the word ‘Neverland’ itself, it’s a place that couldn’t exist from the beginning.
The members of BLACK had to play boys, each their own Peter Pan, who tried to hide ugly truths to protect their ideals while knowing the reality of the island. Before filming began, the director kindly added additional explanation about the storyboard.
“……So we’ll put shackles on your body and film that. We agreed to have each member wear the device on different body parts, and Bunhong-ssi will wear them on both arms.”
“Both arms?”
That was exactly the same part Lee Hanbit had worn them before regression. Click. When he tried putting just one on first as a test, the feeling of it tightening around his right wrist was strange. A staff member who was helping Bunhong put on the device asked him.
“Are you okay? Isn’t it too tight?”
“……Mm.”
Since it was his first time wearing handcuffs on his wrists, Bunhong couldn’t properly gauge whether this was the right fit or a bit small, so he tilted his head slightly.
“Should I make it a bit looser?”
“This seems not bad.”
“If it hurts at all, tell me right away. I’ll be waiting in the back.”
When he nodded as a sign of agreement, the person moved away from Bunhong and without a moment to breathe, someone standing next to him touched up his loosened makeup.
More layers of foundation were piled on top of his face that was already covered in thick makeup. It felt like a mask covering his face. After that, the makeup artist looked him up and down as if evaluating a completed work. Under that gaze, Bunhong felt strange, as if he had become idol Kim Bunhong rather than his original self.
The set created for filming was a bedroom.
“……Now please get on the bed and pose.”
“……”
Under the director’s instruction, he hesitated clumsily, then carefully went to the bed and sat down lightly. Even though he hadn’t intentionally dieted like Duho, his considerably lighter body seemed like it would photograph well, which was fortunate.
“Alright. Bunhong-ssi. Look at the camera, and I’ll go right ahead when you’re ready.”
When he reached out his hand, the pure white blanket wrapped around him softly as if waiting. The chronic phenomenon of his body shrinking from tension whenever he came to a filming location visited him again like a chronic illness.
When Bunhong stared at the camera stiffly frozen, the director laughed pleasantly, asking if he was taking an ID photo now and saying he was really handsome. However, he immediately sensed it wasn’t meant with good intentions.
‘Lee Hanbit, how did that guy do it……’
If he recalled the expression that guy had made and copied the same poses he had taken, he thought he’d be halfway there.
But this was strange. The answer was already decided, but instinctively he kept being drawn to something else. He recalled the existence of the man he had encountered at filming locations, who skillfully digested everything around him as if it had originally been his own.
‘There must be an answer that only you can give, one that no one teaches you. Definitely.’
Bunhong wanted to question him. You gave such kind words, but is that even remotely possible for someone as insignificant as me? I’m not you. Even if I died and came back to life, I couldn’t become like you, sunbae.
‘Still.’
He thought about Peter Pan’s secret and the cruel hidden side of the island called Neverland. His pure childlike nature was close to evil. Even though the hot blood drops shed by the boys he sacrificed to pursue his ideals hadn’t dried yet, he remained bright and cheerful as always.
Soon, looking at the handcuffs worn on only one hand, Bunhong said.
“I’ll put on the device now too.”
At the same time as those words, both arms were bound by shackles. Strangely enough, at the same time, his rigid body relaxed.
He thought it was good that they had unbuttoned his shirt in advance.
He muttered to himself that he seemed to have been too confined all this time.
‘……I was trying too hard to imitate being a good kid when it didn’t suit me.’
From a very young age, since attending school, he had consistently worn the mask of a model student. He couldn’t even imagine shortening his school uniform and always maintained neat clothing. Though doubts about such a life arose and boredom came, the reason he didn’t change his way of life was because it was comfortable and familiar. However, Bunhong knew painfully well the fact that he was never a good person.
While being photographed, Bunhong realized one thing. Since anything in excess becomes poison, if he couldn’t fully digest something as his own, it was better to remove it all instead.
Not to the extent of completely erasing his presence though. Like filling a glass with water, just enough to drink. Let’s fill it exactly halfway.
The moment he decided, Bunhong, who had been leaning powerlessly against the bed, slowly fiddled with the ribbon-tied necktie at his neck and loosened it.
He became expressionless, slowly releasing tension from his face to express an innocent face as much as possible. When he relaxed, his lips naturally parted slightly.
With the face of a pure child who knew nothing, Bunhong lightly crossed his legs.
Every time he moved his body slightly, the chain attached to the handcuffs made jingling sounds and swayed. Though unintended, each time he changed positions, the bed sheets gradually became more wrinkled.
When he was wondering why there were no instructions from the director demanding lively expressions or directing movements like before, a signal came that filming was ending.
“……Cut.”
That no more filming was needed could be known without checking the results, just from the expressions of the director and on-site staff looking at Bunhong, which were different from before.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
