SDM 49

After that, Seong-woon carefully avoided Baek Sang-hyun with every chance he could. He made sure the seat next to him wasn’t empty during lectures and spent time sitting in his car between classes instead of going to cafes or anywhere else. He thought he could use his connections to get a B grade.

But no matter how much he avoided Baek Sang-hyun at school, there was no way to avoid him on the set. They had to act together after all. It was too late to cancel his appearance now…

The stylist carefully applied makeup to Seong-woon’s blank face. Responding halfheartedly to the compliments, Seong-woon just kept opening and closing his eyes as instructed. The director had said he wanted him to look pretty and forlorn, so they created a truly beautiful face accordingly. Though Seong-woon didn’t look in the mirror even once.

“Young master?”

“…Yes?”

“I think it’s about time we go in.”

They had already arrived at the warehouse corner of Incheon Port long ago. Seong-woon was startled to realize how much time he had spent sitting there in a daze, and got out of the car.

“It’s cold, please put on your coat.”

“It’s oka-“

…He was about to say it was okay, but it really was too cold. Missing his old body that didn’t feel the cold as much, Seong-woon put on the fluffy, padded coat Hyeong-seok handed him.

It was merely early December, and he had to wear such thick padding when it wasn’t even freezing yet. How on earth did Ryu Chae-yoon survive winters?

“Do you want more heat packs?”

Even with heat packs on his body, he still felt the shivers. Seong-woon nodded and accepted two more heat packs, putting them in his pockets. Even with the zipper up to his neck and a hat covering his head and ears, he could feel his face starting to freeze.

“Hello.”

“Ryu Chae-yoon? …Are you very cold?”

“Y-yes…”

The assistant director approached and asked with concern. Steadying his trembling voice, Seong-woon followed his guidance to a seat next to the relatively warm electric heater.

“You’ll have to take off the padding when filming. Will you be okay?”

“…Yes, I’ll be fine.”

“The clothes are thin, so heat packs will show.”

“I’ll take them off then.”

“If it’s too much, keep them on. We can try to erase them with CG.”

At least it was a humane filming environment. How thoughtful to consider the cold and heat for even a supporting actor. Seong-woon stood up as the director entered through the warehouse door.

“Oh, Ryu Chae-yoon!”

“Hello.”

“You’re early. I thought there was a snowman sitting there.”

“Haha…”

“We can’t have you catching a cold, so let’s get this done in one take. One take.”

“Okay.”

Seong-woon agreed with that. This body’s frailty remained unchanged, and he would surely suffer terribly if he caught a cold. After six months of being sick, Seong-woon was thoroughly sick of hospitals and didn’t want to create any reason to go back.

It really was cold since they rented an actual warehouse rather than a set. There was no waiting room either, so actors had to wait sitting on chairs behind the cameras. They had merely set up a makeshift tent for changing and touching up makeup.

Cursing Ryu Chae-yoon’s weak body, Seong-woon complained to C1012 about why he felt the cold more, even though his stamina had improved. C1012, who was quick to notice self-deprecation, replied that stamina and cold sensitivity were separate things before disappearing again.

“Um, young master…”

“Yes?”

“A coffee truck has arrived…”

“…A what?”

“A coffee truck. You know, the ones that provide coffee and snacks at filming locations…”

“I know what that is, but why has a coffee truck arrived… for what?”

“It’s for you, young master.”

Seong-woon pointed at himself and tilted his head in confusion. He was so surprised that he couldn’t even make a dumbfounded expression.

“Yes. The Chairman sent it.”

“My parents sent… a coffee truck?”

They even know about things like this? Seong-woon jumped up and followed Hyeong-seok outside the container. People were crowded around the coffee truck, presumably to warm up and fill their stomachs before filming.

“Mom and Dad are cheering on our little Ryu Chae-yoon!”

“Is this for real…”

Seong-woon stared at the large banner for a long time. Feeling a sudden lump in his throat, he pressed his solar plexus, noticing Hyeong-seok giving him a concerned look. But it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling like his attacks… it felt more like cotton candy expanding inside him.

“There are more tea options than coffee.”

And they were all caffeine-free varieties. Seong-woon laughed without realizing it and approached the coffee truck to request warm barley tea.

“Barley tea, right? We prepared real boiled barley, not just tea bags, as requested.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Accepting the steaming paper cup, Seong-woon chuckled at the rapid-fire camera sounds. Hyeong-seok seemed to be taking photos enthusiastically. After taking a sip of the warm barley tea, Seong-woon turned around to see Hyeong-seok still holding his heavy camera, only putting it down after taking dozens of photos.

“Should we send these to your parents?”

“You mean proof shots? Of course.”

Should I post on social media too? His family always commented on every single photo he posted, so they might be disappointed if he didn’t.

Seong-woon received a few photos on his phone and uploaded them to social media. As if they had been waiting, his family’s comments started appearing immediately, including some surprising ones:

RCY: I’m sending the next one, got 2nd in the lots

Tiger_RYU: I’m third…ㅠ Mom can send a buffet, right?ㅠㅠㅠ

Drawing lots? When? The idea of them secretly drawing lots and sending coffee trucks without telling their youngest made Seong-woon laugh. Feeling his face heat up for some reason, he rubbed his palm, warmed by the barley tea, against his cheek.

“Hello. Am I late?”

“No, it’s not even start time yet. Traffic was bad, right?”

Hearing Baek Sang-hyun’s voice, Seong-woon turned around quickly and was startled to make direct eye contact. Baek Sang-hyun, who had been staring at Seong-woon, smiled gently with curved eyes. It was as if he understood exactly what Seong-woon had been thinking while avoiding him all this time.

“Hello, sunbae-nim.”

Before Seong-woon could greet him, someone darted out from behind to greet Baek Sang-hyun. It was one of the minor actors Seong-woon had greeted earlier.  Since Ryu Chae-yoon would be the most junior here, Seong-woon had been bowing deeply to everyone. This one looked quite handsome and somewhat familiar.

After observing him for a moment, Seong-woon realized who he was. Kim Hye-seong, that former idol trainee who couldn’t use his body… He was originally supposed to play the role that Seong-woon acted in “Human Justice.”

“Yes, hello.”

“sunbae-nim, I’ve really wanted to meet you. I was originally supposed to appear in ‘Human Justice’…”

As he said this, he glared fiercely at Seong-woon, apparently thinking his role had been stolen. Since “Ryu Chae-yoon” had gained quite a bit of popularity from that, he might think that should have been his… Seong-woon had seen too many people like this in his 30 years of acting to find it surprising at all.

After listening briefly to Kim Hye-seong’s rambling, Baek Sang-hyun cut in at just the right moment:

“Thank you for saying that. I look forward to your good performance today.”

“…Yes! Yes, sunbae-nim. Thank you.”

After a light handshake, Baek Sang-hyun approached Seong-woon and requested an iced Americano from the coffee truck. Envying both the cold drink in this weather and the ability to drink coffee, Seong-woon barely managed to look away from Baek Sang-hyun’s coffee after staring at it with longing eyes.

He considered leaving, but thought that might look stranger. Seeing ENG cameras here and there, they might be filming behind-the-scenes footage.

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

“…”

“You came to film?”

“…I attended class too.”

“You didn’t even answer when I told you to study.”

Well, he did ignore that message. He had tried so hard to avoid even making eye contact; how could he possibly set foot in that house again? They entered the container together and sat down, blankly watching everyone else busily preparing.

“You don’t want to get a B0?”

“…I’ll manage that somehow.”

He could always threaten the professor. Seong-woon brushed off the topic as if it were nothing. He just wanted to complete all the quests quickly, get untangled from Baek Sang-hyun somehow, and then live quietly or reach enlightenment.

“They did an amazing job with your makeup.”

“…Does it look strange?”

“No, the director will love it.”

Baek Sang-hyun stood up from his chair and bent down to examine Seong-woon’s face closely for a while. Though the gaze was burdensome, Seong-woon didn’t avert his eyes.

“Let’s start the rehearsal!”

At the director’s voice, Seong-woon jumped up. Taking off his thick padding, he shivered involuntarily from the cold, but it would disappear once he started acting. It had always been that way.

“Understand your movements, and when the camera comes in from this side, look here… The lighting comes from the upper left, so show your pretty side profile… Got it? Baek Sang-hyun, you need to exit quickly after this line.”

The director gave detailed instructions while standing next to him. Seong-woon calmly followed along, perfectly grasping the movements on set.

After removing all the heat packs from his waist and stomach and adjusting his clothes, Seong-woon stood before the many cameras. Mixing in with the group of minor actors playing young gang members, he lowered his head briefly before raising it, all the complex emotions from earlier completely gone from his face.

“We’ll start shooting now.”

The red lights on the cameras began to turn on one by one. After a deep inhale when closing and opening his chestnut-shaped eyes to set himself in the role, even his body that had been shivering from the cold stopped trembling. He could feel the minor actors next to him getting nervous as he exhaled when getting into the zone.

Seong-woon loved acting to death. The moment he stood in front of the camera, he could escape all the terrible realities. The role didn’t matter. He could be a lifeless zombie or the most twisted villain; , even a supporting male character that should never gain public popularity was fine. As long as he could escape the reality where no one loved him, he would accept any role that allowed him to stand before the cameras…

In dramas and movies, no matter what role he played, there was always someone who talked to him, someone who had feelings for him, someone who cared for him. That alone allowed Seong-woon to breathe. Acting, which he had simply enjoyed previously, became a necessity for life from that point on.

In a situation where his identity as an undercover cop was about to be exposed, he felt oxygen-deprived and his vision narrowed. Into that narrow field came a well-polished shoe tip. A muffled voice rang in his ears, and Seong-woon’s chin was grabbed and lifted. Just like Baek Sang-hyun had done at the audition.

They filmed the same scene from different angles several times before moving on to the next shot. He delivered lines memorized to the point of being ingrained, reacted, and acted out being thrown to the ground and beaten.

The smoothly flowing acting was momentarily interrupted by someone’s mistake. This happened after Seong-woon had already been drenched with water.

“Cut! Who said that line too early?”

The director’s irritated voice echoed in the quiet space. As soon as “Cut!” was called, Seong-woon’s body began trembling like an aspen tree.

“Young master, are you alright?”

“Mm, some warm tea please…”

“Here you go.”

Hyeong-seok rushed over, draping several blankets over him. Seeming to find that insufficient, he brought over the padded jacket with heat packs attached to the lining and put it on top.

“This will damage your health, to continue like this…”

Hyeong-seok worriedly asked while wringing out Seong-woon’s wet hair with a towel, then glared at the person who had messed up both lines and action cues. At the end of that gaze was Kim Hye-seong.

“It’s… fine.”

It’s nothing compared to falling into an icy pond three times. Seong-woon finished a steaming cup of barley tea and took off the padding and blankets.

“Director, I think we should reshoot quickly. Since there’s a cut after the water is poured anyway, couldn’t we start again from there?”

“Oh, uh… Ryu Chae-yoon is right.”

“Yes, please let’s do it before my body cools down.”

Although he could feel his body freezing as soon as he removed the blankets and padding, Seong-woon forced a smile and urged them to continue filming.

“Get in there now! If you mess up one more time, you’re out!”

“I’m sorry.”

Kim Hye-seong bowed repeatedly to the director and surrounding actors but didn’t say a word to Seong-woon. Hmm, he really seemed to think his role was stolen. His reaction showed how gently he must have been treated until now.

Extras with no lines can be replaced anytime. Seong-woon had never been cut because he hadn’t objectively done anything wrong, but he had seen directors and writers team up to cut several supporting actors many times.

Seong-woon smiled sweetly at Kim Hye-seong, who was glancing at him. He probably wouldn’t do anything stupid now for fear of being cut. Thankfully, the director was quite firm. Though it was likely due to his background as Ryu Shin and Ryu Young-ju’s son, Seong-woon had no intention of not using that advantage.

“You should have just told them to cut him.”

Baek Sang-hyun whispered in his ear as he approached. Seong-woon turned his head quickly to see a face so stern it surprised him. Hmm… it looked just like right before he was about to smash Choi Chi-hoon’s head into the table.

“Anyone can make mistakes.”

Seong-woon just waved his hand. Then he suddenly realized; didn’t that sound too much like Jin Seong-woon? No matter how he thought about it, it wasn’t something Ryu Chae-yoon, who had been acting for less than a year, would say.

Baek Sang-hyun looked down at the frozen Seong-woon for a moment, then curved his eyes as if he had heard something so rewarding.

“I knew you’d say something like that.”

He caressed Seong-woon’s wet and frozen cheek once before moving away from the camera as filming resumed. The threat of being cut seemed effective as Kim Hye-seong acted quite diligently. But he really couldn’t use his body well… he couldn’t even properly play the role of beating someone up. It was somewhat hidden by the number of people, to say the least.

“Okay. That was good.”

Only after having wounds drawn all over his face and finishing individual shots could Seong-woon put on the padding again. The individual filming actually took longer. The director was so greedy that they had to shoot from all angles.

The padding was so warm and comfortable. It was a warmth that made him forget how much he disliked looking like a snowman when wearing it. Seong-woon drank another cup of barley tea that Hyeong-seok gave him. His shivering body improved a little.

“So Ryu Chae-yoon, we’ll see you after the semester ends. Around December 20th? Our assistant director will send you the schedule.”

“Yes, thank you. Good work.”

“You’re the one who worked hard, Ryu Chae-yoon. It came out really well. I’m sorry if I went overboard because I got too greedy.”

“No, I’m grateful if you filmed it well.”

“Such a sweet-talker, too!”

His body resonated as the director patted his back hard. Even though it was acting, playing a role that got beaten up made all his joints creak.

“Young master, let’s get to the car quickly. You’re too cold.”

“I’m fine.”

Thanks to the heat packs, his body wasn’t shaking badly anymore. But because of the surgery scars left on Ryu Chae-yoon’s body, Seong-woon couldn’t change clothes here, so he decided to go to the car quickly.

Baek Sang-hyun blocked Seong-woon’s path as he was about to leave and insisted on giving him an ointment.

“Here.”

“…What is it?”

“Medicine for bruises.”

Not just his neck, but his whole body felt hot, probably bruised all over. If it had been his old body, it wouldn’t have bruised this much.

“…Thank you.”

Seeing the camera pointed their way, Seong-woon accepted the ointment and put it in his padding pocket.

“Rest well. I’ll see you at school next week.”

I don’t want to, though. Since he was planning to hide in his car again, Seong-woon didn’t answer and just bowed deeply. He gave Baek Sang-hyun proper senior treatment and responded to the praise pouring in from everywhere as he left the set.

“Why are you such a good actor? The camera seems to follow you on its own.”

“Thank you. It’s because the director filmed so well.”

“Such a sweet-talker, too!”

They’re saying the same thing as the director. When he was wearing the mask of Jin Seong-woon, such words were ignored even when he said them.

Seong-woon chewed on the past bitterly for a moment. The camera director, lighting director, and assistant director all showered him with kind praise. By the time he left the set, Seong-woon had to swallow dry saliva several times, nearly suffocating from the kindness.

As he entered the van with the heater turned on so high it was almost hot, his body relaxed, and drowsiness washed over him.

“Young master, please change your clothes.”

“…Okay.”

“You shouldn’t sleep now.”

Seong-woon shook his head to barely shake off the drowsiness and changed into a thick knit sweater and wool pants. Fortunately, his underwear hadn’t gotten wet from the water.

Yielding to Hyeong-seok’s urging, Seong-woon put on the jacket and sprawled out in the back seat. A hologram rose sluggishly at the edge of his vision. Then it burst into grainy flower petals, and a quest completion notification popped up.

Congratulations!

You have successfully completed the quest.

Reward: Adjustment of information disclosure range (2) – Jin Seong-woon’s life was a product of sin and mistake.

…What?