TBM Vol 2 Part 6

Seung-yeon, who had opened the driver’s side door, nodded toward the passenger seat. Il-seo, whose face had hardened from overthinking, opened the car door, and Seung-yeon started the engine and stepped on the accelerator. The large vehicle skillfully navigated out of the somewhat narrow alley.

Sitting in the passenger seat, he should at least fulfill his role as an assistant. Il-seo rummaged through his bag and grabbed a handful of candy.

“Would you like something? I have orange candy.”

“No.”

Recalling the chocolate that had been thrown in the trash, Il-seo quickly put the candy back into his bag.

“Then should I play some music on my phone?”

“It’s fine.”

“It would be nice…”

“It would probably be too noisy.”

He was sure their music tastes matched well. Il-seo, who had subtly wanted to appeal to him, firmly closed his mouth at the cold response, and after gauging the atmosphere, turned his head toward the window.

Like in the narrow alley last time, Seung-yeon drove well. Not just quickly, but he drove stably with almost no shaking of the vehicle. The diverse scenery became afterimages of similar shapes, disappearing behind the car window at a regular pace. Watching those patterns, Il-seo’s eyelids began to open and close more and more slowly.

The car, speeding down the nearly empty dawn roads, arrived at Seung-yeon’s home faster than expected. After parking in a private garage protected by a barricade, Seung-yeon unfastened his seatbelt and turned his head.

“We’ve arrived.”

“Thank you.”

Seeing Il-seo unfastening his seatbelt with a calm face, Seung-yeon gave a small snort.

“Pretending you weren’t asleep.”

“I’m sorry…”

He had dozed off helplessly because Seung-yeon’s driving was so comfortable. He thought he was good at catching sleep without it being noticeable since his school days, but Seung-yeon seemed to have known already. Honestly, he was tired. He suddenly envied Seung-yeon’s stamina, who showed no sign of fatigue despite participating in almost every shot during the long filming and even driving.

No conversation passed between them until they reached the house by taking the elevator connected to Seung-yeon’s private parking lot.

When the presence triggered the auxiliary lights at the entrance to come on, the interior brightened slightly before darkening again. Seung-yeon turned on just one indirect light as he walked down the corridor.

When a soft orange light filled the living room, Il-seo stopped in his tracks as he saw something familiar on the sofa. Of course, Seung-yeon, who didn’t stop walking, picked up three hangers at once and handed them over.

The clothes, neatly covered in plastic after dry cleaning, were hanging on hangers, with white underwear hanging at the very front. Il-seo hurriedly embraced all three at once.

“Th-thank you.”

“Wash up and come out. Let’s talk.”

“…Yes.”

As expected, the clothes were just an excuse, and there seems to be a reason for bringing him to his home. Il-seo pressed down on his sinking heart as he walked down the dim corridor and entered the guest bathroom.

Even after washing his dusty body clean in the hotel-like bathroom, his mind wasn’t refreshed. Wanting to avoid the conversation with Seung-yeon, Il-seo took as long as possible to wash up and then put on his own clothes, which were pressed like new. He neatly folded Seung-yeon’s clothes that he had been wearing, placed them in the laundry basket under the bathroom mirror, and hesitantly walked out to the living room.

“Sunbae, I’m done washing up.”

Unlike yesterday, Seung-yeon was sitting on the sofa wearing a gray tracksuit, a one-piece outfit. He also seemed to have showered, as wet hair covered his forehead, and he held a mug in his hand. The coffee aroma spreading through the living room was rich. As if reading his mind, the seated man put down his cup and asked.

“Shall I brew you a cup of coffee?”

“No, I think I won’t be able to sleep if I have some now.”

“I see.”

Il-seo sat down on the sofa positioned diagonally from Seung-yeon. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he calmly shared the words he had carefully prepared while washing.

“I’m truly sorry about the company dinner. For whatever reckless reason, I drank too much, ignoring your warnings. And even throwing up… I’m really ashamed. Did I make any other mistakes? If you tell me, I’ll correct them.”

“How many times do I have to say it’s fine? Enough, I didn’t call you here to talk about that disgusting story.”

“Pardon?”

Il-seo opened his mouth with wide eyes. Seung-yeon gently placed the white cup on the table. Brushing back his wet hair with his fingers, he asked in a rather serious voice.

“You said you were my fan, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“And you’re a Beta, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Seung-yeon briefly bit his lip and then released it, turning his head toward the sofa placed diagonally. In the quiet darkness, Seung-yeon’s eyes fixed on him in a straight line. His pupils were as black as his hair, and when meeting his gaze, one couldn’t help but feel tense and break into a cold sweat even without having done anything wrong.

In the entertainment industry filled with handsome actors, the reason he particularly captured people’s attention was probably because of this gaze that could convey power even through the screen. After maintaining eye contact for a while, Seung-yeon carefully asked.

“I have a concern I’d like to share—would you listen?”

There was no way Il-seo would refuse the opportunity to hear Seung-yeon’s concerns. With a sense of duty he didn’t know he had, Il-seo clenched his fist and nodded.

“Of course, sunbae.”

Delaying his response momentarily, Seung-yeon slowly took another sip of coffee. After fiddling with the smooth cup, he slowly began to speak.

“I felt this from the previous filming, and today I became certain.”

“…”

“I can’t film bed scenes—what should I do?”

Though unexpected, considering today’s filming, he could immediately understand what Seung-yeon meant. Throughout filming the bed scene today, Seung-yeon had been unable to concentrate and seemed somewhat off.

Seung-yeon added as he put down his cup.

“Actually, let me correct that.”

“…”

“Bed scenes with Lee Il-seo.”

Il-seo’s eyes trembled and his heart raced. Indeed, had he done something wrong? Growing anxious, Il-seo carefully asked the reason.

“With me… why?”

“If I knew the reason, I wouldn’t be so lost. But if I had to guess.”

Seung-yeon didn’t continue immediately, pausing briefly. With each blink under the light, long shadows fell across his cheeks. After staring at the cup on the coffee table for a long time, Seung-yeon spoke in a slightly subdued voice.

“Regardless of gender, I’m not one to sleep with men.”

“…”

“I looked at reference videos, but I don’t understand what’s supposed to be erotic, or why Jang Tae-hyun is so affected by sex with Haru. As you know, I could barely concentrate today.”

At the mention of not sleeping with men, Il-seo’s face momentarily lost its strength, but he quickly controlled his lips and nodded. Since it wasn’t said with malice, feeling his heart waver at his words would be presumptuous. Unaware of Il-seo’s slight agitation, Seung-yeon continued.

“At first, since Haru is in a proficient state, portraying Jang Tae-hyun being led by emotions wasn’t that difficult. But as we move toward the latter part of the drama, Jang Tae-hyun needs to skillfully take Haru, and I’m not at all familiar with that.”

“…”

“It’s my first bed scene with a man, and having no experience, I think that’s why it’s difficult to immerse myself.”

“…”

“What do you think?”

‘If they ask you to act like you’re killing someone, would you act like an idiot because you’ve never killed someone?’

Seung-yeon’s scathing criticism came to mind. But he couldn’t respond so rudely.

“If you could think of me as a woman…”

“Haru isn’t a woman, so what’s the point of acting like you’re a woman? There must be a reason why Haru is set as a man in this drama.”

Though he wanted to advise Seung-yeon somehow, he was at a loss for words against such logical rebuttal.

“You seem to have learned quickly and become skilled right away.”

Seung-yeon looked at Il-seo after watching the black coffee creating ripples as he rotated the cup in circles.

“Is it because you have experience with men?”

Il-seo slowly furrowed his brow.

His quick adaptation to bed scenes was due to the desperate desire of an unknown actor not wanting to cause trouble and his determination not to tarnish the career of Seung-yeon, whom he had admired for so long. What was so impressive about his experience, which was limited to Koo Dong-young? Seeing Il-seo hesitate to answer, Seung-yeon emitted a short, pained sound from his throat.

“Hmm. I apologize for the rude question, but I’m quite desperate myself.”

With a somewhat pitiful expression, Seung-yeon chewed on his lip and wore a forced, sympathetic smile as if gauging the situation.

“I’m really curious if that actually helps.”

Seung-yeon took another sip of coffee. After a moment, Il-seo, who had been nervously fidgeting with his clasped hands, slowly nodded.

“I suppose it’s better than having no experience at all.”

“Hmm, so that’s how it is.”

A faint smile appeared on Seung-yeon’s lips, hidden beneath the coffee cup. But as soon as he put the cup down, the smile quickly faded.

“Maybe I should just find someone and get some experience.”

The content of this mutter, clearly audible to Il-seo, was rather shocking.

“Excuse me? That seems a bit…”

In response to his reflexive discouragement, Seung-yeon looked at Il-seo while running his hand through his hair.

“You’re right, that could be risky. But I can’t think of any other solution.”

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. Though he sat there to listen to Seung-yeon’s concerns, his inability to offer any help made his seat feel prickly.

In the stifling, almost bizarre silence, Il-seo felt Seung-yeon watching him. With growing suspicion, he looked at Seung-yeon with eyes that clearly revealed his thoughts.

The moment their gazes met, Seung-yeon asked straightforwardly.

“Then should I sleep with you?”

Il-seo’s eyes grew as large as teacups. The voice he just heard was so unbelievable that he questioned if it was truly Seung-yeon’s. Seeing Il-seo frozen, not even blinking, Seung-yeon slightly furrowed his brow.

“Yesterday you clearly said there was no reason we shouldn’t sleep together.”

“That was—I didn’t mean we should actually…”

The corners of Seung-yeon’s lips slowly dropped, and his forced voice scattered across the living room.

“I understand your discomfort completely. After all, we’re working on the same project.”

There was a faint hint of laughter in Seung-yeon’s voice, but Il-seo immediately realized it was merely an act of gentleness. It was a laugh that conveyed some kind of disappointment.

“Can’t be helped. I’ll have to quickly find another beta similar to Haru.”

The orange light filled his deeply set eyes. Perhaps because of the unusually brightened color of his eyes, he appeared momentarily immersed in melancholy. Faced with his warm-toned eyes and subdued voice, anyone would find it impossible to refuse.

“You can forget the request I just made. It was really just a question, so don’t think too hard about it.”

Seung-yeon laughed awkwardly, avoiding eye contact. Then slowly erasing his smile, he picked up his mobile phone and moved his thumb up and down, as if scrolling through contacts.

“…”

Il-seo touched his neck, now covered in cold sweat. Another beta similar to Haru… A strange pressure made his throat feel constricted.

Seung-yeon was so committed to his work that when Il-seo had difficulty with the kiss scene, he chose to kiss directly in front of the camera. Similarly, because he was struggling with the bed scene, he would somehow find someone else to practice with until he became “skilled.”

Having sex with Seung-yeon for acting practice. If he didn’t have feelings, he could agree for the sake of the project, but having developed personal feelings made it difficult to readily accept.

While Seung-yeon’s proposal was likely made with only the project in mind, Il-seo already struggled to control his feelings on set. If they were to mix bodies as well… With these complex emotions, Il-seo tightly closed his eyes.

But he didn’t want to let Seung-yeon go like this. To be precise, he disliked the idea of Seung-yeon mixing bodies with another beta male and then returning to act with him. Just imagining it made him feel so upset that his eyes threatened to burn with tears.

At that moment, Seung-yeon picked up his empty coffee cup and stood up.

“We’re done here. Go get some sleep, even if it’s just a little.”

As Seung-yeon walked to place the cup on the home bar, a small hesitant voice followed.

“Um, senior.”

“Yes?”

“Would once be enough?”

Seung-yeon, who had just put the cup down, slowly turned his head with an expression of disbelief. Standing alone in the middle of the spacious living room, Il-seo’s eyes were somehow flushed red.

“Are you accepting my request?”

At the end of the long act that had begun during filming the bed scene, having reached his desired ending, Seung-yeon smiled with narrowed eyes.

“Yes… You helped me with my acting before too.”

Lee Il-seo, who seemed somehow restless, added the reason. Seung-yeon wasn’t particularly curious about the reason, but with a smiling face, he listened attentively to what followed.

“If I can be of help to you, senior, I’ll try my best. We need to make a good project.”

“Thank you.”

Seung-yeon walked away from the home bar and stood in front of Il-seo. Looking into the large eyes gazing up at him, he raised his hand. As his hand approached, the round, clear eyes trembled increasingly. The movement of nervously biting his lips and releasing them was clearly visible under the backlit illumination.

The destination of Seung-yeon’s slowly raised hand was the thin shoulder.

Pat, pat. As he tapped it as if in encouragement, the guy, looking as if he had just come out of water, blinked and returned to reality.

“Let’s sleep first.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, let’s get some sleep. We only have an hour and a half.”

“Ah, yes. We should sleep.”

His face showed exactly what he must have thought when hearing the word “sleep.” The previously clouded eyes quickly filled with light, and with a slightly embarrassed expression, he scratched the back of his head.

“You can sleep in the room you used before. If you need anything, just text me.”

Seung-yeon returned to his room without lingering and closed the door. The sound of Il-seo’s quick footsteps, after standing briefly in the dim living room, was faintly heard beyond the closed door.