Free Web Novel[Elder: Hang in there^^]
Like hell I was going to feel encouraged. With desperate movements, I typed faster than anyone else.
Input: By any chance... in your previous experiences... has <Funny Bunny Harmony> ever failed... asking just in case...
You never know. Right. We really didn’t know. Maybe it had only exploded that one time by sheer luck?
‘Before my regression. Maybe that one huge success I remember was the only time, and all the others weren’t like that?’
Among all the countless worlds the Elder had seen, maybe there were timelines where <Funny Bunny Harmony> hadn’t performed well. I tried my absolute best to think positively.
Bzzz.
[Elder: Not once]
Not once?
[Elder: Has it ever failed.]
The hope I’d clung to just in case turned out to be wrong after all.
‘This ahjussi totally sent those separately on purpose...’
I sighed while staring at my phone. Right then, something cold touched my cheek.
“Ah, cold.”
“Hey. What’re you doing?”
It was Joo Junseo. After handing me a cold drink, he sat down beside me.
“Who’re you messaging that you look like that?”
“Just... something.”
“Why are you keeping secrets from me?”
The corners of Joo Junseo’s eyes tilted upward by ten degrees. Ignoring him, I took a sip from the drink he handed me.
What was it this time? Joo Junseo always picked out new menu items faster than anyone else. Even the cocoa he made me the other day had been seriously good...
“Huh...? It’s not a new menu item?”
But the familiar, clean taste filling my mouth—
It was jasmine tea.
* * *
Joo Junseo openly scolded Han Yeoreum for looking disappointed.
“Do you not know how much harder it is to lose weight after gaining during filming? Do you not know we can’t afford delays after coming all the way out for location shooting?”
“Come on. How much weight do you think people gain from one drink...?”
“Anyway, there’s stuff like that. So who were you talking to? I asked why you’re keeping secrets from me.”
Halfheartedly sipping her jasmine tea, Han Yeoreum suddenly spoke as if she’d remembered something.
“Ah, sunbae. Please send a coffee truck when I start Writer Hwang’s project.”
“Sometimes I think you see me as a vending machine. You’re always like this.”
“There’s a legitimate reason for asking you to send one.... I seriously rolled around suffering through hell, you know.”
A legitimate reason? Joo Junseo chewed on the straw thoughtfully. Clearly, after seeing his Chen Wei acting at the casino yesterday, she had finally concluded that Joo Junseo was better than Myeong Jeha.
There was no other possible explanation for a legitimate reason to send a coffee truck...
‘Wait. Who’s she going into that with?’
Joo Junseo froze.
“You mean that thing you said you were doing with Han Yohan sunbae?”
“That one’s still not done with pre-production yet. I heard the CG team’s still working too.... The one with Writer Hwang is with Seo Eden.”
The moment he heard Seo Eden’s name, Joo Junseo immediately remembered.
‘That idiot everyone was losing their minds over calling a “Name Couple” or whatever?’
Seo Eden. The guy who got shoved into “couple” rumors just because they’d hosted a music show together, exchanged a few meaningless comments, and happened to appear in the same frame.
His acting was worse than Joo Junseo’s, he was shorter than Joo Junseo, and his face... well, that part came down to taste, but still not better than Joo Junseo’s.
“Ha....”
There was only one legitimate reason for Joo Junseo to send a coffee truck to a set where Seo Eden was present. This was a territorial line in the sand.
A message saying: yes, you and I were once tied together under the phrase “Name Couple,” but that belonged to the past. Back then I was just a baby rookie, so standing beside you was enough. But now? Now the minimum standard is at least someone on Joo Junseo’s level.
That was exactly the message being delivered through the medium of a coffee truck.
And that “rolling around suffering through hell” she mentioned was probably just another way of ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ describing emotional suffering.
‘Bet that bastard’s been bothering her.’
Understandable. Joo Junseo nodded.
“Yeah. I get it now.”
“Then if possible, please add the extra-version iced cream latte too.”
“For real... fine.”
Suppressing a smile, Joo Junseo spoke.
“So what’re you doing after filming?”
Since they were overseas for filming anyway, spending free time together outside the schedule probably wouldn’t spark any rumors.
He’d been here once before too, so he knew plenty of good places nearby.
There wouldn’t be a better opportunity than this.
“Obviously I’m working. Can a person really rest?” fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
“Work...?”
Joo Junseo’s eyes tilted upward another ten degrees.
“I don’t have any additional shoots. So I’m taking tomorrow evening’s flight back to Korea.”
“What? Says who? You didn’t even tell me?”
“I haven’t had a single NG, and the Macau travel scenes are going smoothly. We just need a few more cuts tomorrow and we’re done. There’s no point staying longer. It’d just cost more in lodging expenses.”
“Hey, wait. Sit down.”
“As soon as I get back to Korea, I’m doing the styling meeting for <Dongdaemun Romance>. I need to raise the odds of success no matter what!”
“Hey!”
“And I also have to do stage greetings for <Funny Bunny Harmony>, plus promotions! Right! This is how you build core audience layers by age group!”
* * *
Watching the two of them from atop the overpass, Kwak Cheolsik smiled. He looked completely immersed, almost like he was commentating a broadcast.
“Yeah. The little pony’s doing great. Really pushing hard.”
“I don’t think she’s actually trying to push him or anything~. But it is efficient.”
Yun Hyeonjo, rubbing one of his stiff shoulders, also sounded impressed.
Ignoring the yelling Joo Junseo beside her as if he didn’t matter at all, Han Yeoreum simply walked off toward filming again.
It was a scene depicting Influencer #1 after hitting a jackpot, collecting the winnings, and becoming addicted to luxurious travel with the money.
Completely intoxicated by talk of work, Han Yeoreum’s eyes glittered with greed more than ever.
“Hey. Jeha contacted me.”
Kwak Cheolsik waved his phone around. Yun Hyeonjo wasn’t interested enough to ask, but Kwak Cheolsik explained anyway.
“He asked how the food there was and whether we were eating well. Wahahaha! Right. Winning over the people around her always comes first.”
“He’s pretty diligent~.”
“He wants to score points with me, obviously! Hah, transparent little bastard. Guess he still gets shy around the little pony? Wahahaha! I should give him some advice.”
Yun Hyeonjo stared briefly at the oblivious Kwak Cheolsik before giving a short shake of his head.
By sending a message to Kwak Cheolsik, Myeong Jeha had gained at least four advantages.
First. Just like Kwak Cheolsik said, genuinely earning points. Later, Kwak Cheolsik publicly declaring support for Myeong Jeha would help... help...
‘Not sure if it actually would, though~.’
Still, better than nothing.
Second. It allowed him to check Han Yeoreum’s current condition.
Most actors ate the same meals on location shoots. Confirming whether her condition was good or bad was the most basic thing possible.
Third. It gave him a natural excuse to smoothly continue conversations that had become sporadic.
Not just conversations either. He could naturally ask what she wanted to eat first once she got back to Korea and use that as a reason to set up plans.
And finally, fourth. Even while separated, hearing Myeong Jeha’s name from Kwak Cheolsik’s mouth would imprint his presence once again.
It was a tactic designed to make someone feel like he was beside her even while absent.
‘He’s young, but he’s pretty smart~.’
At the very least, he was one move—no, a hundred moves—ahead of Joo Junseo down there. The rookie had probably picked the wrong opponent.
Honestly, Yun Hyeonjo didn’t feel all that sorry for him, but out of camaraderie as fellow actors on the same project, he clicked his tongue anyway.
The one who was apart from her was clinging obsessively and persistently without making it obvious, while the one actually beside her couldn’t even manage to make a move.
He couldn’t even properly tempt her with food or ask her to hang out.
Pitiful... no, honestly not that pitiful, but it was entertaining enough to watch when bored.
‘Idiot~.’
Looking down at Han Yeoreum filming below, Kwak Cheolsik spoke.
“Wouldn’t it be fun if those two met at the little pony’s fan meeting?”
Unable to contain his excitement already, he swung one arm around wildly. Yun Hyeonjo stepped two paces away to avoid accidentally getting punched and replied:
“They won’t meet~.”
“What? Why not?”
At Kwak Cheolsik’s genuinely confused question, Yun Hyeonjo raised only one corner of his lips in mockery.
“Because it’s inefficient?”
Kwak Cheolsik tilted his head at the incomprehensible answer.
“Don’t do that thing right now.”
“No, I can’t understand unless you explain it! What is it! What are you talking about!”
“Just think of it as one of those things. Anyway, are you going to the fan meeting?”
“The little pony’s? Of course! If I don’t go, who will? But seriously, what are you talking about?! You’ve gotta seize things right in front of you! What’s inefficient about it?”
Without bothering to explain further, Yun Hyeonjo walked down the overpass.
And so, the next day, Han Yeoreum’s first overseas location shoot wrapped successfully without a single NG.
* * *
“Wow. She’s harsh....”
Myeong Jeha laughed while looking at the chat window Han Yeoreum had already exited after saying only what she wanted to say.
“What a materialist... only comes looking for me when she needs something.”
Myeong Jeha deleted the message he’d been typing. The amusing story he’d been about to tell her suddenly felt better saved for later.
It seemed like it would be far more effective if she found out on her own later.
And when that happened, she’d come looking for him first again.
That was just the kind of person she was.
Inside the dry, freezing filming set, Myeong Jeha tilted his neck to loosen his muscles. It was time to film Kim Kangil’s retirement scene now. If your movements got sluggish, it showed immediately on screen.
“Jeha. Stand over there.”
After over a month of filming together, O Seonyul had grown comfortable enough with Myeong Jeha to call him casually.
At this point, anyone looking at the <Seoul Metropolitan City> set would think it was a genuine apocalypse backdrop.
The stark white hospital walls still carried streaks of red blood.
Handprints that looked as though someone had carved their violent resistance directly into the walls.
Standing before those long smeared marks that resembled desperate struggles against being dragged away, Myeong Jeha stopped in place.
Wearing a red leather sukajan jacket, Myeong Jeha put on his helmet.
The filming for <Seoul Metropolitan City> was finally approaching its end.
