Idol Hides His Military Service

Kang Sehwa.

She was a rookie actress who had been rising lately. freewebnøvel.coɱ

To be honest, calling her a rookie was a stretch, since she’d already been working for years starting from bit parts, but anyway, the reason people had only recently learned her name and face was because of the supporting role she’d taken in a recent drama, so publicly she was treated as a rookie actress.

'This is so damn annoying!'

And Sehwa—back when she first got cast in a new drama by Writer Kim Hyunsuk, a drama everyone dreamed of appearing in—was so excited she could barely sleep.

Her screentime was a single cut, a bit-part role. She’d only just started riding an upswing, so under normal circumstances she would’ve turned down a role like this, but because it was Writer Kim Hyunsuk’s work, Sehwa accepted without hesitation.

Because even if it was a bit part, if she impressed Writer Kim Hyunsuk this time and got on the radar, then in a later project, couldn’t she aim for a heavier supporting role, or even a lead?

That expectation was why.

And even though it was a bit part, it was still a role where her face showed properly and she had lines, so Sehwa soothed herself, telling herself that depending on how she did, she could leave a deep impression on the writer or the PD.

But—

-I heard it. One of the female lead roles this time got cast with an idol.

Because of what she heard after arriving on set today, there was no way her mood wouldn’t get wrecked.

'Does that even make sense? Someone like me starts as an extra that isn’t even a bit part and only now finally gets supporting roles, and she gets a female lead role from the start···.'

Through her life as an actress, Sehwa already knew the entertainment industry wasn’t fair.

Still, when she saw other actors—unlike her—charging ahead nonstop on the back of a good agency or good connections, she couldn’t help feeling robbed.

But now she had to watch someone who wasn’t even an actor, an idol, take a role far more important and significant than anything she had.

While not even being able to act properly, invading other territory that wasn’t even their stage—wasn’t that too much?

So from the moment Sehwa arrived on set today until now, she’d kept glaring at that insolent Lee Sion who’d stolen the role.

The sight of Lee Sion—acting like she’d been close with Writer Kim Hyunsuk from the start—giggling and chatting happily with Writer Kim Hyunsuk the entire time before filming.

-Wow, I’ve never seen Writer Kim Hyunsuk treat someone that warmly.

-Is she really trying to use her as the lead in her own work later?

-No way···.

-She’s known for using rookies in a bold way, so you never know.

-Lee Sion really hit the jackpot. If she’s the lead in Writer Kim Hyunsuk’s drama, it’s guaranteed success.

Hearing the staff whispering like that while watching Lee Sion and Writer Kim Hyunsuk, Sehwa was so furious she could’ve cried.

'Fine. Try getting a taste of it.'

Sehwa finally decided to cause an incident.

「A wide hotel lobby where people come and go.

The female lead, Seoyeon, is sitting in a chair, turning her head to face the male lead, Taewo.

From the front, a bit-part woman, Mina (female, early 20s), strides up.

Mina

(as if furious)

Who are you? Why are you hitting on Taewo?

Seoyeon looks at Mina without saying anything.

Seoyeon

(as if extremely annoyed)

What kind of nonsense is this person talking now?

Mina’s expression hardens. After glancing around, Mina steps closer.

Mina

You’re pretending you don’t know until the end. You’re trying to wag your tail at Taewo, aren’t you!

In that instant—

Smack!

Mina’s hand slaps Seoyeon’s cheek hard.

The lobby goes quiet in an instant.

Seoyeon stands there, ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) her head turned to the side.

Slowly, Seoyeon turns her head back and looks at Mina.」

The role Sehwa had was Mina, a typical extra character who blows up on the spot because Mina thinks the female lead Seoyeon is flirting with the male lead Taewo.

-You know, you swing it in front of the face.

-Yes.

In the script, Mina had a scene where Mina slaps the female lead’s cheek, but in cases like this, the usual thing was to match timing with the other actor so it looked like a slap without actually hitting.

Sometimes people really hit, but that was usually in provocative stuff like morning dramas. In a romance-comedy drama like this, there was no need to hit for real.

'A mistake. It’s going to be a mistake.'

But Sehwa planned to make a mistake.

She planned to misjudge the distance and really land one slap across Lee Sion’s cheek.

She wanted at least that much release—toward the idol who’d swallowed a role every actor coveted without effort, backed by connections.

With that intention hidden, filming finally began.

"Wow, what is she? She’s natural."

"She’s good. She’s not getting pushed around by Actor Yoo Jinseok, and the chemistry matches."

"Her line delivery and her expressions—where did she learn acting?"

The atmosphere on set was weird.

A scene Sehwa had been sure would rack up NG after NG flowed naturally, like a collaboration between veteran actors, and before she knew it, it had carried straight into the moment where Sehwa had to enter, like water running.

Because of that, the staff’s faces—full of complaints at first—changed, and quiet exclamations of admiration were leaking out here and there.

"Go in."

Even Sehwa—until a staff member came over and told Sehwa it was time to enter—was so pulled into the two of them acting that Sehwa didn’t even realize.

Snapping out of it at the staff member’s voice, Sehwa walked toward them, click-clack, high heels sounding.

"Who are you? Why are you hitting on Taewo?!"

And Sehwa tried, with all her focus, to deliver the lines she’d been given.

On purpose—starting with a voice that sounded slightly shrill, all the way to her gaze and expression—Sehwa showed with her whole body that she truly couldn’t stand this.

"Haah···what kind of nonsense is this person talking now?"

Sehwa’s acting was good enough that Sehwa could proudly think she’d pulled it off, but Lee Sion’s acting—coming right after Sehwa’s line—was swallowing it whole.

A line that came out with an expression that looked genuinely bothered, in a voice carrying a faint edge of irritation.

And on top of that, the gaze wasn’t fixed on Sehwa—it alternated smoothly, once to Sehwa, once to the male lead Yoo Jinseok, handling eye-lines with ease.

Unlike rookie actors who can’t express anything not written directly into the script, Lee Sion was filling in the fine elements needed for acting on her own, and it made Sehwa doubt whether this was really an idol who hadn’t learned acting.

-Mina’s expression hardens.

And Sehwa—caught in Lee Sion’s acting—was expressing the stage direction written in the script, not as “acting,” but as something real.

'No way···this isn’t fair!'

At first, Sehwa wanted to slap Lee Sion out of anger—at the idol who couldn’t even act yet shamelessly grabbed a female lead role.

Now she wanted to slap her out of resentment toward the sky.

How could an idol acting for the first time today show better acting than Sehwa, an actress by trade?

Step.

Sehwa deliberately stepped one step farther than in rehearsal, raised her hand high, and sent it straight at Lee Sion’s cheek.

Watching that, Yoo Jinseok’s expression changed into horror.

As if instinctively knowing that at this rate, Sehwa’s palm would connect with Lee Sion’s cheek.

'It’s already too late.'

Right before Sehwa’s palm reached Lee Sion’s cheek—

Whoosh.

"Huh? She dodged?"

Lee Sion laid her torso back and dodged Sehwa’s palm.

***

'What the hell is wrong with this crazy bitch?'

I was flustered.

I was supposed to pretend to get slapped, but the other actor came weirdly close and shoved her palm in way closer than planned.

I stared without realizing it, thinking, Is she crazy? and then it felt like if I stayed like this, I was going to take a real slap, so my body moved on its own.

"Huh? She dodged?"

Then the other actor, looking flustered, looked back and forth between her own palm and me, and this time swung her other hand and sent her palm flying at me.

The posture was bad, and the position I was in was bad too, so dodging twice in a row didn’t seem doable, and I couldn’t help hesitating.

'Should I brush it off?'

I was confident I could slightly knock her incoming hand aside and go straight into a counterattack and knock her out in one shot.

But in that moment, I saw Manager Yunsik’s expression, watching me from one corner of the set.

-Hit her.

Maybe Yunsik also realized the other actor was trying to hit me on purpose, because unlike usual—when Yunsik would make an earnest face begging me not to—this time Yunsik mouthed “hit her” with an enraged face, without making a sound.

'Hm.'

That satisfied me.

If Yunsik had tried to stop me, the other actor’s jaw would’ve been twisted and she’d be unconscious by now, but this time, it felt like I could hold back.

"Yap!"

"Huh?!"

The moment I decided not to knock her out, I grabbed Actor Yoo Jinseok’s shoulder next to me and pulled him in to block the palm flying at me.

Smack!

"Kyaaaah!"

"Augh!"

The other actor’s palm—flying at me—hit Yoo Jinseok’s cheek dead-on.

The other actor screamed, shocked at having hit someone, and Yoo Jinseok screamed too from the unexpected blow, and the set rang with both.

"You···you!"

"Hands first, huh. Bad habit."

"You—!!!"

The other actor was clearly a pure-blood Korean. Even after failing twice, maybe she thought the third time would be different, because she swung her palm at me again. freewebnoveℓ.com

Since ancient times, there’s been a saying.

If you endure the character for “endure” three times, you can even avoid murder.

Meaning: if someone keeps screwing around three times, they deserve to die.

And I started to feel a need to teach this actor the life truth that you should watch who you mess with.

Tap!

I lightly knocked the palm flying at me to the side, then raised my hand toward the other actor’s face.

And then—

"Uwaaa!"

Maybe she knew her own sin, because she let out a girly scream just like Yunsik in Itaewon, and seeing that, even though she’d tried to harm me, I felt a tiny bit of pity.

'I went easy on her.'

Thwack!

The original plan was to twist her jaw, but I went very easy and finished by flicking her forehead hard, and with a crisp sound, the other actor collapsed on the spot.

"···Cut."

At the same time, Jo Changsu PD’s cut rang out across the set.

***

"What do we do with this?"

"···I don’t know either."

Jo Changsu, the producer of I Kiss Tomorrow You, was in confusion right now.

Lee Sion’s shoot scene—the headache he’d been dealing with—finally started.

Unlike what he’d expected, Lee Sion was delivering acting beyond the script up through the middle, and Changsu couldn’t help being impressed.

Because Yoo Jinseok was one thing, but Changsu had never even imagined Lee Sion would act this well, so part of Changsu almost wanted to cheer.

To the point that Changsu wanted to sew shut his own mouth, the mouth that had complained without even seeing anything.

-Good.

-She’s good.

Even the cinematography director—who normally wouldn’t praise acting easily—praised Lee Sion’s natural acting after seeing it.

But from the middle, the set started going in a strange direction.

Kang Sehwa—who was supposed to pretend to slap Lee Sion’s cheek when she entered—went out of control and tried to really hit, and Changsu and the cinematography director almost screamed in shock.

But Lee Sion dodged that hand like she’d predicted it—

-Augh!

Then used Yoo Jinseok as a shield, and at the end, even countered perfectly.

"She definitely went off-script, but···"

"And the footage came out pretty convincing, right?"

At Changsu’s words, the cinematography director nodded like possessed.

It was a completely different result from what they’d planned to shoot, but it fit the work—no, it fit even better than what they’d originally intended.

"Isn’t this okay?"

"Ah, Writer."

And it seemed Changsu wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Writer Kim Hyunsuk, who had been watching from the side, came over at some point and asked whether what they just shot wasn’t okay.

'What? Writer Kim is saying it’s okay?'

Changsu couldn’t believe that Writer Kim Hyunsuk—who usually hated actor ad-libs—was smiling with satisfaction after watching that scene.

"If it’s okay with you, Writer, then we can go with this as—"

"I’m fine with it."

To be honest, Changsu also liked the version they’d gotten, even though it came out on the spot, and the moment Hyunsuk’s okay sign dropped, Changsu thought, This is it.

While Changsu and the cinematography director replayed the shot again and started thinking about how to use it, over in one corner of the set—

"Are you insane?! If you’re going to do whatever you want, why are you an actor? Go home and act alone!"

"···I’m sorry."

"Sorry is all you’ve got?! You think filming is a joke?!"

Kang Sehwa, who caused this mess, was being held by the assistant director and getting cursed out in a big way.

Even if the result was good, the process going off on its own meant nobody could just let it slide, and Kang Sehwa was obviously going to have a hard time landing roles for a while once the rumor spread through everyone involved in this work.

"Ugh···why is her hand so spicy?"

"Jinseok, you should’ve dodged too."

"How am I supposed to dodge that, hyung?"

"Lee Sion dodged, though···."

And even after suffering the ridiculous, unexpected event of an improvised slap, Yoo Jinseok—like the label “serious actor” wasn’t attached for no reason—finished the scene excellently, and now was checking his face with his manager.

And finally—

"I told you I’d be back before the cola got warm, right?"

"You did great! But why’d you end it with a forehead flick? You should’ve really taught her a lesson!"

"I’m the icon of endurance, remember. The truly strong show this kind of composure—"

I cut myself off mid-thought.

"I’m the icon of endurance, remember. The truly strong show this kind of composure."

"Nice!"

After today’s insane performance, Lee Sion was sitting half-perched on a chair like a boxer between rounds, drinking cola while getting a massage from her manager.

***

"Are you really going to do it yourself?"

"Of course."

Sanghyeok felt an unexplainable anxiety from Raon’s blazing eyes.

'She wasn’t this bad before.'

Just a few months ago, Raon had been someone the phrase “Korea’s top female solo singer” fit perfectly, but at some point, Raon started looking like she was gradually getting soaked in madness, and it made Sanghyeok uneasy.

But he understood why.

-Raon PD is up too! Make an opening bid!

-Us! We’ll buy her for five million won!

-Sold! Bang bang bang!

-What?! Lee Sion, I wasn’t even up for auction!

-Are you saying you’re not going to join the charity donation, PD?

-Uh···what?

-There are children starving right now, desperately needing a helping hand, and you’re going to refuse the charity auction just because you don’t want to—mmph!!!

-I’ll do it! I’ll do it, okay?!

Not long ago, in that charity auction content, Raon had let her guard down for a moment and got sold off by Lee Sion as a 1+1 add-on to the Paldo Man filming team, so it made sense.

And not just that content—over the past few months, Raon had been toyed with by Iam’s members, including Lee Sion.

"This time, I’m going to set them straight properly."

It wasn’t strange that Raon—determined to show the members what’s what, this time for sure—was steeling herself like that.

"Hm."

"What is that reaction, CEO!"

"It’s nothing."

Swallowing the thought that Raon had gotten sharper, Sanghyeok had no choice but to place hope in Raon anyway.

Because the theme of the second mission of Three Kingdom was none other than Heritage.