SDM 37

The moment he kissed Ryu Chae-yoon, Baek Sang-hyun realized something. He tried to chalk it up as if he was yearning for something, but it was all useless. Jin Seong-woon was his first love, the object of his first wet dream, and Sang-hyun just circled around him like a courting bird. Wasn’t it natural to feel this way toward the person who reconstructed and opened up his world?

“What…”

Ryu Chae-yoon tried to push Baek Sang-hyun away while their lips parted for a moment, but his strength was weak. Even if he had gained some weight and muscle, he couldn’t reject Baek Sang-hyun after suffering from a chronic illness.

Baek Sang-hyun licked the inside of his lips and hugged his slender waist. The hem of his luxurious coat was rumpled. Wanting to touch a more intimate place, Baek Sang-hyun pushed his hand in while lifting his coat. At the same time, he bit the tip of his small tongue and pulled. The hand that had been pushing away suddenly grabbed Baek Sang-hyun’s shoulder.

“Hng, hmm… .”

Baek Sang-hyun could clearly see Ryu Chae-yoon’s slender waist under the thin knit. The pure white back that had been revealed when he suggested him to put on a hot pack or something was vivid in front of his eyes. It was a body without a single spot or blemish, as if it had been carved out of marble.

Baek Sang-hyun embraced Ryu Chae-yoon’s body, now free of resistance and unnecessary tension, and swallowed the sweet nectar with satisfaction. Just moments ago, Baek Sang-hyun felt like he might faint on the spot and couldn’t breathe properly, but now he felt like he could close his eyes and fall asleep anywhere.

Every time their tongues intertwined, Ryu Chase-yoon’s back trembled. Each of his reactions was so lovable that Baek Sang-hyun felt breathless in a different way.

“…What are you doing?”

“Just giving you what you wanted.”

“What I… wanted?”

“If you were Ryu Chae-yoon.”

“…”

“That’s what you’d want, right?”

He threw out the words as if testing, observing the reaction. Ryu Chae-yoon, who had been staring at Baek Sang-hyun with a coldly frozen face, bit his wet and crumpled lips a few times before abruptly standing up. Then, brushing off his wrinkled coat, he left the prop room without looking back.

Savoring the exquisite sensation left on his lips, Baek Sang-hyun traced the marks he had left behind. He was amazed that he felt no regret at all.

* * *

“Young master, did something happen?”

“…No.”

Lee Hyeong-seok, who had been waiting outside prop room 4, approached and asked cautiously. After discovering what had happened between Baek Sang-hyun and ‘Ryu Chae-yoon’, Lee Hyeong-seok became more careful, but Seong-woon still couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or not.

“You don’t look well. If you’re not feeling good…”

“I’m fine.”

Meanwhile, what Lee Hyeong-seok was checking was the heart rate data transmitted from the watch. Seong-woon’s eyes widened when he saw the graph. So just now, probably when Baek Sang-hyun… did that to him, his pulse had risen almost to the danger zone.

“…”

“I told you, nothing happened.”

“…How can I believe that when I see this? Did Baek Sang-hyun do something bad?”

It was bad, alright. Seong-woon chewed on his lip for no reason. They hadn’t done much, but somehow a tingling sensation remained.

“Don’t bite your lip. You’ll suffer if it gets infected.”

“…”

Now he’s nagging just because I touched my lip. Seong-woon pushed out his lower lip sulkily and waved his hand.

“It was nothing, so don’t worry about it.”

“Why is there a cut on your lip?”

“…A cut?”

“Yes. Your lower lip.”

“…”

“…”

As Lee Hyeong-seok’s expression changed subtly, Seong-woon crossed his arms and shook his head. It was meant to signify that nothing had happened, but it didn’t seem enough to convince Lee Hyeong-seok.

“Could it be that Baek Sang-hyun is threatening you?”

“…What?”

“Did Ryu Shin make that kind of proposal?”

Um… that doesn’t seem right. Come to think of it, why did he kiss me? Did he do it because it’s what Ryu Chae-yoon would want? Suddenly? What a guy with a long aftereffect…

While thinking these foolish thoughts blankly, Seong-woon, arms still crossed, tapped his fingers on his other arm and opened his mouth dumbly.

So he meant that if it were Ryu Chae-yoon, he would’ve accepted even a kiss? Because the Ryu Shin secretariat had made a sponsorship offer full of sexual implications?

This is completely messed up. Does this mean that ‘Ryu Chae-yoon’ should just go along with it even if Baek Sang-hyun tries to have sex?

“Young master?”

“They say we’re finishing the script reading. I’ll go in.”

A producer poked his head out of the conference room, gesturing for everyone to come in quickly. Seong-woon, feeling his forehead suddenly hot, touched it once before reaching inside his shirt to pull out a heat pack.

“Please throw this away.”

“When did you put it on your back?”

“Earlier.”

“I told you I’d put it on for you. Want a new one?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Answering half-heartedly, Seong-woon went back into the conference room. Baek Sang-hyun was already sitting in the opposite seat, having returned at some point. Seong-woon glared at his smooth and pretty lips, with no wounds or peeling skin, and missed a line of dialogue.

“Chae-yoon-ssi…”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re doing great, so it’s okay!”

Was Director Lee Jun-ho always this openly positive? Bowing his head repeatedly to show his apology, Seong-woon took a long breath and tried to summon his emotions. Of all things, the part Baek Sang-hyun had cut off was the climax, so it wasn’t easy to suddenly start again from that point.

The past between Shin Jung-woo and Shin Kang-woo is not explained in detail in this drama. Their relationship can only be inferred from a few lines of dialogue. Shin Kang-woo is Shin Jung-woo’s dog, and because he can never betray him, he was used as a double agent.

Shin Kang-woo is revealed to have been killed by Shin Jung-woo in the very first scene after being discovered as an undercover cop, so he has little presence in the middle part. After all, “Orbit Collision” depicts the conflict between detectives and organized crime. However, Shin Jung-woo’s downfall is brought about by Shin Kang-woo.

The betrayal of Shin Kang-woo, whom he trusted more because he was a double agent – Shin Jung-woo dies not by the police’s hand, but by Shin Kang-woo’s. And Shin Kang-woo turns himself in to the police.

“Baby, why are you here?”

“…You’re here.”

Due to the search warrant brought by the police, Shin Jung-woo temporarily retreats to a safe house in Incheon. It’s a place known only to his second-in-command and Shin Kang-woo, who would never betray him.

“I never told you to come here.”

Although he succeeded in shaking up the police by killing Shin Kang-woo, Shin Jung-woo was quite exhausted from the unexpectedly fierce counterattack. Against the backdrop of an even gentler tone than usual, Shin Kang-woo pulls out a gun.

“…Put that down, it’s dangerous.”

“I’m tired now. I’ve had enough.”

“Kang-woo.”

“Your father, and you, you never saw people as anything but dogs, right? The kind that rolls over when told to roll, and barks when told to bark…”

“Our Kang-woo has become mentally lax.”

“Y-you…”

“Do you want to be hung from the ceiling again?”

“…”

“You’re too old for that kind of discipline now, why would you do this.”

The exact meaning of being hung from the ceiling is not explicitly stated. But Seong-woon read the fear in Shin Kang-woo that existed between the lines. The fear of being choked, suffocating, even soiling oneself and falling below human status.

“Shoot if you want to shoot.”

“…”

“If you have the courage, that is.”

Even after Shin Jung-woo turned around with just a shrug of his shoulders, Shin Kang-woo continued to hold the gun with trembling hands. He should have aimed at that head and fired, but he just couldn’t pull the trigger. Absurdly, he ends up blowing Shin Jung-woo’s head off, startled by the sudden ringing of a cell phone.

For a while, Seong-woon continued to breathe shakily and make a choked sound as if someone was strangling him. It’s Director Lee Jun-ho’s unbreakable rule that villains should have the most anticlimactic deaths possible.

“Ha, haha, hahaha…”

Some people shuddered as if they had goosebumps at Seong-woon’s laughter, which sounded like he was rolling around holding his stomach. The clear laughter cutting through the quiet air had a strangely terrifying feel to it.

As the laughter subsided, that scene ended, and Seong-woon roughly wiped away the falling moisture with his palm. He had given his handkerchief to Baek Sang-hyun, so he had nothing to wipe with.

“Um… Ryu Chae-yoon-ssi?”

“Yes.”

Thinking he might have misinterpreted the script, he was about to open the script he had already memorized while holding a pen, but the director waved his hand.

“No, you don’t need to look at the script, um… You really haven’t acted before, right? Last time, what was it?”

“〈Human Justice〉.”

The production company representative chimed in with the answer.

“Oh, you just played a zombie there, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“It’s like you’ve been acting for 30 years.”

30 years… indeed. Seong-woon just nodded at Director Lee Jun-ho, who oddly picked out such an accurate number. It was a compliment, after all. The director turned his head sharply towards Baek Sang-hyun and gave a thumbs up.

“And Baek Sang-hyun-ssi! Wow, your acting is spot on, this… Are you two soulmates or something? Or did you two go on a training retreat?”

“We practiced a bit.”

“Ah, I saw the photo too. The one you two took and posted. But still, can you act this well just by matching a bit? Don’t you think so, Ji-kwang hyung?”

“It’s good that the young ones are doing well, what’s there to say?”

“It’s like you two are one body when you act! Did you match your breathing too?”

It’s good that he’s happy, but he’s going a bit far. Matching breathing… The kiss from earlier came to mind unbidden, and Seong-woon lowered his head deeply. He hoped the feeling of his ears burning was just his imagination.

“Let’s stop there and move on. The kid’s getting embarrassed.”

Actor Song Ji-kwang’s kind interruption couldn’t have been more welcome. After finishing the hectic script reading, Seong-woon was dragged to a meat restaurant, unable to resist the pressure from the director who insisted on an after-party and Song Ji-kwang, who had somehow developed an inner closeness.

“If we hit 3 million viewers, let’s go eat Korean beef. For now, we’ll make do with pork…”

“RBS gave us a huge production budget, Director Kim. Can’t we at least eat Australian beef if not Korean?”

“You said you didn’t like the set, so now the money…”

“Come on, isn’t renting cheaper than building a set?”

“No, it’s not!”

Hmm, this is really an uncomfortable table. A table with the production company representative, the director, and both lead actors. Moreover, Seong-woon was sitting between the two lead actors.

“Ah, after doing the script reading today, 3 million viewers doesn’t seem like a dream anymore.”

“We need to film it to avoid an adult rating.”

“I’ll try my best.”

It doesn’t seem like it will be easy. While the script itself didn’t feel that cruel, there seemed to be some knife-fighting action, so an adults-only rating was almost guaranteed. Maybe if they just changed that to fistfights it would be okay? Rather than emphasizing action or cruelty, it was a story with quite intense emotional lines.