* * *
Shim Juhwan clutched his pounding heart and replayed the soon-to-be-released music video once again. No matter how many tis he watched it, he didn’t get tired of it.
“Ah, this is overwhelming. Seriously, way too overwhelming.”
At his exaggerated reaction, a rustling sound ca from the sofa behind him. Two directors wrapped in gray blankets stared at him with bloodshot eyes.
“Can we... maybe get so sleep now...?”
“I think I’m dying...”
This was an editing studio in Mapo District.
Shim Juhwan didn’t relax his grip on things until the very last second, relentlessly pushing both the editing director and the directing director. The desk was covered with empty energy drink cans, packed so tightly there wasn’t a single gap.
“But seriously, should we tweak the kiss scene just one more ti? I feel like we should show a bit more of the lips.”
He had replayed it so many tis that he had morized the entire tiline of the video. He clicked straight to the kiss scene, his face showing no sign of fatigue.
“What are you even saying?”
“I an, I let it slide when we changed the storyboard on set, but this—this doesn’t feel right.”
The two shot back fiercely. Unable to hold back their frustration, they jumped to their feet.
But Shim Juhwan, spinning his chair around, looked at the directing director with a serious expression.
“Be honest. It turned out better after the changes, didn’t it?”
“...Well...”
The directing director’s eyes, which had been dull with exhaustion just monts ago, suddenly lit up.
Both of them recalled the grueling shoot.
“Director, senior, sorry, but could we adjust the sofa scene?”
“Uh, Jeha, what are you trying to change?”
“I want to rework the overall positioning.”
If they followed Myeong Jeha’s suggestion, they would have to reshoot the full shot of the sofa scene that had barely passed before—but both the directing director and Shim Juhwan nodded imdiately.
Because what they saw in front of them felt far more vivid than what had been drawn in the storyboard.
The two weren’t sitting apart.
Leaning back against the sofa, Myeong Jeha had Han Yeoreum seated between his legs. Resting comfortably against his chest, Han Yeoreum ate her ice cream on her own.
‘What is this...’
‘These two...’
Even though only the positioning had changed, the feeling was completely different.
Shim Juhwan and the directing director forced their lips down with effort. Even the decision that she wouldn’t share the ice cream sohow felt right.
The next part followed the storyboard as it was.
Saying her hand was cold from holding the ice cream, Han Yeoreum spread her left hand wide. To warm it, Myeong Jeha took her hand.
And here, the acting changed again based on Myeong Jeha’s suggestion.
‘What is this...’
‘These two...’
A soft kiss. Holding her hand, Myeong Jeha pressed his lips to each of her fingers, one by one.
It was exactly like the beginning of a relationship—like he wanted to kiss her sohow, any way he could.
Even when she tried to pull away, tickled by the sensation, he didn’t let go. Instead, he brought her hand to his cheek, warming it.
The expressions of the staff watching the monitor were completely different from before.
Moderate romance. A compromised okay. Those kinds of scenes were nowhere to be found anymore.
Everyone’s lips were lifted high in genuine smiles.
“You rember, right? Huh? You rember.”
“...I get what you an...”
The editing director felt a strange sense of dread watching the two reminisce.
“What happened after that? Think about it, Director.”
“Yeah...”
The acting that followed flowed as naturally as water. It felt as though they were watching the happiest monts of a real couple unfold right in front of them.
Especially the kiss scene, where both of them expressed tension through their entire bodies. That one scene alone made Shim Juhwan’s heart itch more than anything he had ever seen.
It didn’t even feel like acting.
‘And that was Jeha’s first kiss scene!’
Han Yeoreum had only done one kiss scene before, and Myeong Jeha had none, so they had debated whether to include it at all while planning.
It could easily drag on or co out awkward, so they had even considered filming it only as a full shot.
Unlike other acting, a kiss scene perford in front of gathered staff carried imnse pressure. One slip, and it would have been better not to include it at all.
But the result was unexpected.
“Even knowing everything was staged on set, huh? Even with people crowding around watching, huh? It still hit like that. So it has to hit even harder for the viewers!”
“...You know exactly what I an...”
Shim Juhwan looked at the editing director, eyes sparkling.
“...Director.”
“Director...”
At so point, the directing director had also turned to look at him, calling out with equally sparkling eyes.
A chilling sense of dread crept in. A ridiculous, impossible feeling—that they were about to suggest re-editing sothing that had already been finalized.
The editing director stepped back, rubbing his goosebump-covered arms.
“W-why are you doing this?”
Alone with hollow eyes, he shook his head desperately.
If they had any conscience,
If they were in their right minds,
If they were at least human...
“Co on...”
“You know...”
“I don’t want to know. No, I don’t.”
But it was a futile resistance.
Under the assault of their sparkling gazes, the editing director, seething with frustration, once again revised the final of the final of the final version.
And at last, D-day arrived.
* * *
Eunnyangi, a fan of Eun Baekhap, scrolled through the post list of the gallery, grumbling.
“Does this place even have moderators anymore?”
[The Great Garland Gallery]
[Holy shit it’s coming, it’s coming, Shim Juhwan serving Taeseok-Huijae]
Anonymous (17.1): Watch your mouth. Is God Juhwan your buddy? Show so respect.
Anonymous (2.35): The drama already ended but they keep feeding us content like this... I’ve never seen anything like it.
Anonymous (28.522): Damn it, show Huijae too, why are you only giving us Taeseok in the teaser lol
[Huijae was legendary too, and now Shim Juhwan is joining in? lol ah the playlist quality is insane]
This is the class of a national drama.
Anonymous (8.12): agreed, sigh, one hour left now
Shin Seojin Bald Preservation Squad (2.232): Gonna watch it the second it drops, insanely hyped
Everyone was fired up over the Taeseok-Huijae content. Normally, once a drama ended, activity in the gallery would die down. That was natural.
But the gallery was still packed, as if the drama were still airing.
“Are they just using this place among themselves or what.”
As she scanned the posts, Eunnyangi frowned.
Clips of Taeseok and Huijae as children kept being uploaded endlessly, as if people never got tired of them no matter how many tis they saw them.
“Shim Juhwan really has no eye for this... If it were , I would’ve gone with Ji Haebeom and Eun Baekhap. It’s a ballad, and he’s using kids for this? Seriously?”
Imagining a ballad layered over Eun Baekhap’s face felt absolutely perfect.
Clicking her tongue, Eunnyangi kept scrolling through the gallery before imdiately searching for Shim Juhwan’s new song the mont it hit 6 o’clock.
Shim Juhwan didn’t disappoint. As expected of a top ballad singer who dominated the charts with every release.
A calm lody, lyrical lyrics, and a voice filled with emotional appeal that made everything hit just right.
But suddenly, the lyrics stopped registering in Eunnyangi’s ears.
‘...Huh...’
By the middle of the first verse, the two of them were already acting like lovers.
When Myeong Jeha tapped his cheek with his index finger, Han Yeoreum naturally leaned in and pressed her lips against it. Then the other cheek, and finally his lips.
Receiving those short pecking kisses all over his face, Myeong Jeha smiled more happily than anyone.
‘This...’
The season had shifted to autumn. The two of them in trench coats made it obvious.
From their first eting in spring, through sumr, and now into autumn—the passage of ti was visible.
Then ca the scene that struck Eunnyangi’s head like a blow.
The two stood together under a streetlamp, frad almost the sa as the beginning of the music video.
Instinctively, it revealed which mont Myeong Jeha missed the most.
Under the orange glow, Han Yeoreum was wrapped in his arms.
There was a familiar tension, like she already knew what scene would co next. Myeong Jeha’s touch, as if reluctant to let her go, slowly carried intention.
Just before she went inside, her face, which had been buried in his chest as if trying to take him in one last ti, tilted upward. Myeong Jeha cupped her cheek with one hand. His large hand moved carefully, brushing over her smooth skin.
His thumb grazed her cheek as his lips slowly lowered.
As if asking for permission, he gently took her lower lip. Han Yeoreum squeezed her eyes shut, her eyelashes trembling.
Taking that sight in, Myeong Jeha’s eyelids lowered.
One hand on her back, the other on her cheek as if binding her in place, he tilted his head and parted his lips. The line of his jaw, angled to the side, stood out sharply.
Their breaths mingled in a lingering kiss. Every ti Myeong Jeha moved his lips as if to swallow her whole, the movent of his throat was clearly visible.
Han Yeoreum, who had been holding onto his waist, clenched the fabric of his clothes tightly as if she needed sothing to grasp.
Through the pulled fabric, the firm line of his waist showed in silhouette. Beneath her pale hand, the coat was left completely wrinkled.
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