“Thank you in advance.”
His waist bent deeply, then rose again. With an already well-built body polished even further, and clothes that revealed his lines, his strengths came fully alive.
Most of what they were filming at the outdoor set today was dance parts. As soon as he finished warming up, he went straight into his solo dance.
He handles the camera better than I expected.
Rookies usually show signs of awkwardness when a camera comes right up to their face and films only them with relentless focus.
But the closer the camera got to him, the more his expressions and movements came alive.
“This is exactly why I had my eye on Gowon since Debut Chart. Onstage, his whole body is screaming for people to look at him.”
“He doesn’t have that same feeling when you talk to him, though.”
“Ah... right. The kid is a little bad at talking. Well, won’t that get better after he goes on a few variety shows?”
“Will it?”
Gowon immediately began the dance break. As I kept watching, something slightly different from Team Leader Shin’s impression came to me.
Rather than screaming for people to look at him...
Hmm. It felt a little more desperate than that.
Like he wanted to shine, even if only for a single moment... maybe that kind of feeling.
Either way, whichever direction it was, it really didn’t suit his age.
“Oh, they’re filming the highlight. The weather makes me feel even worse about this.”
“Hm? Why?”
The moment I asked, streams of champagne poured down over Gowon.
“...Wow.”
It was clearly supposed to be some glorious scene celebrating an honorable winner... something like that.
But in the middle of freezing weather, it looked like he was being severely bullied.
Of course, once they edited the footage, it would probably come out well.
Soaked from head to toe, Gowon smiled brightly at the camera. But the director, who had been full of praise for Gowon until just moments ago, stretched his mouth sideways in pity.
“Oh no... his face has gone completely white. Please touch him up.”
“Yes!”
The makeup staff member who had been waiting quickly ran over and added color to Gowon’s cheeks and lips.
Even in the cold, Gowon bowed his head politely to the people who had fixed his makeup.
“He’s polite too. I hope that lasts a long time.”
“It will.”
“Oh, after everything you said, you’re admitting his character is good, at least?”
No. If Gowon had truly been the kind of kid who was simply good-natured from birth, I wouldn’t have been able to say that.
The entertainment industry could make even a perfectly normal person snap.
What I trusted was the desperate self-control he showed.
A twenty-year-old with a healthy appetite had dieted to the point of death through an extreme schedule, and even after being hit with water in the dead of winter while wearing only one thin layer, he could smile without letting it show.
That kind of desperate struggle didn’t come from ordinary resolve.
So of course he would last.
Q1-1. Crisis on the Brink!
Progress: 55%
Maybe thanks to that desperate earnestness of his, the number was rising smoothly too.
It definitely had been.
Q1-1. Crisis on the Brink!
Progress: 52%
Why was it doing this again all of a sudden?
“Everyone’s working hard.”
At that moment, an unwelcome voice came from inside the filming set.
“Hey, Hanzel. Why is that man here?”
I agreed with Team Leader Shin very much.
It’s Executive Director Choi.
Behind him trailed several Division Four staff members.
They claimed he had come to cheer Gowon on and to inspect the set in advance because Division Four would soon be using it too, but...
Executive Director Choi first shook hands with the music video director. The young director looked uncomfortable at an outsider suddenly barging in, but since he was told the man was an executive from a massive entertainment company, he seemed unable to express dissatisfaction.
Because Choi came over and acted as though they knew each other, Gowon also had to lower the towel he had been using to wipe off the champagne and stand straight.
Standing in front of him, Executive Director Choi looked Gowon up and down.
“Getting wet and all that is a little...”
“......”
“Isn’t it too old-fashioned?”
“Classic is the best. What the hell is he talking about?”
Team Leader Shin whispered in a voice only I could hear.
Over there, Gowon’s lips trembled slightly before he answered.
“I... like it.”
“Director Kwon and Division Five did a good job training one kid to be obedient. In the old-fashioned way, I mean. These days, people tend to respect artists’ freedom too.”
Wow. Since he had spent a few years managing celebrities, he really knew how to pick the exact words that would make kids that age bristle.
“......”
Though Gowon showed no particular reaction.
Because of that damn Executive Director Choi’s appearance, filming stopped in an instant.
Q1-1. Crisis on the Brink!
Progress: 49%
The progress that had barely crossed 50% fell along with it.
Seriously, what a rotten human being.
“Hanje, this won’t do. I’m going to call Taeyoung and tell him to do something about that man.”
I gently pressed Team Leader Shin’s hand down.
“Don’t dirty my brother’s hands. Save them for later. I can handle this much.”
“...Hey, hold on. What are you planning to do?”
I unzipped the padded coat I was wearing and walked over. The two of them noticed my approach and turned their heads.
“Seni...”
The padded coat, warm from sitting in front of the heater, was laid over Gowon’s shoulders.
As I did, his body brushed mine for a moment, and naturally, it was as cold as ice.
“Oh, Executive Director. It’s you. Hello.”
I sent Gowon behind me and greeted him brazenly.
“...Baek Hanje, you followed him all the way here?”
“I’m the composer, so I came because I was curious. Team Leader Shin, who planned the concept, is here too. But you, Executive Director...”
It was a jab asking why he had come when everyone on set had a stake in this album, while he had none.
Before he could open his mouth, I cleared my throat.
“Ah, maybe because the weather’s cold, it’s awfully dry. Do you know how much my throat is worth?”
No one answered that excessively self-important bullshit. So I nudged the person standing behind me.
“Right, Gowon?”
“...Pardon?”
“Can Young Ace, the group that built this company’s pillars, have a sore throat or not?”
“N-no...”
“Then go get me some water.”
“......?”
“Steaming hot.”
“......”
Gowon looked flustered as he glanced at the two people who were incomparably higher than him within the company.
“You’re not going?”
Only after hearing one more word from me did he turn around.
Once he got some distance from here, Team Leader Shin would take care of him.
After giving away my thick padded coat, cold swept over my body too. Still, I was wearing winter-appropriate clothes underneath, so my situation was better than his.
And I was far more practiced at pretending I wasn’t cold even when I was.
In front of Executive Director Choi, I smiled brightly.
“Gowon already shows great promise. Right? I’m trying to educate him in advance so he doesn’t succeed and lose his manners.”
“We’ll only know whether he does well or not after opening the lid.”
“That’s the eternal truth of the entertainment industry. Still, we’re K-Dom family, aren’t we? Instead of cursing people to fail, it’s better to cheer for all our juniors to do well together. Newton and Gowon both. Fighting?”
Just then, as if timed perfectly, a cold wind blew in. The chilly air seeped through every gap in my knitwear.
What a difficult season to pretend to be a cool senior.
“Still, seeing as you gave only Gowon an expensive song, I guess your affection differs from junior to junior.”
“What, are you telling me to hold an ideal-type tournament among juniors far below me? How embarrassing. They’re all about the same. You know that. I’m just...”
I jerked my chin toward the spot where Gowon had been drenched in champagne.
“Crazy about people who perform well onstage.”
“......”
“So the ones I have the most affection for are the Young Ace members.”
The eternal first place in my ideal-type tournament. No matter how much Gowon flew or crawled, my unshakable, zero-rank muses were them.
“Even if I’m not helping purely because I like him, he’s overcoming a difficult situation, so I do want to applaud him. Seeing him pitifully interrupted during a shoot on a cold day and unfairly attacked makes me pay even more attention to him.”
At my blatant words, Executive Director Choi clicked his tongue.
“When Young Ace makes a comeback, I’ll clap excitedly too.”
Well, that was obvious. It would be great news regardless of division, but this old man was changing the subject.
“Thank you. I’ll keep cheering on my dear junior with the love of someone higher up.”
Executive Director Choi looked like he wanted to wander around and throw his weight about some more, but since I stuck to him and made no attempt to hide the fact that I wanted him gone, he soon gave up and left.
“A company being too big is a problem too...”
Back when there was no division system, seniors and juniors lived like brothers and sisters, so the staff were close too. When activities got busy, we would even ride together in the same van.
I knew I couldn’t expect that much now, but to think there was so much internal competition that they were snarling at each other.
As I lamented the bleak reality, a warm presence approached beside me. Gowon was holding out a steaming cup to me.
He really was rigid in strange ways. He actually brought me water.
Then he handed the padded coat back too.
“They’re starting filming again. ...It might still be a little damp.”
“Of course it is.”
I had draped it over a wet person. Did he think I would complain about that?
I slipped my arms into the padded coat. Gowon watched me silently.
Contrary to his words that it might still be damp, the inside of the padded coat was warm as if it had become an electric blanket. I shuddered and buried myself deep inside it.
Only then did Gowon turn and head in front of the camera. But the behind-the-scenes filming team, who were supposed to film him, suddenly filmed me instead of following Gowon.
“Why me?”
Even though I looked at them in confusion, they silently smiled and captured me from different angles.
“Your junior’s love is warm, isn’t it?”
“Yes, well...”
I lightly shook the cup of water. They sent me another inscrutable smile.
Q1-1. Crisis on the Brink!
Progress: 56%
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