BIE 28

Chapter 28…

Caught a Sucker

Oh Ju-hwan’s mind was a mess.

“Ju-hwan, ready? Time to go in.”
“Haa…”

Hearing it was time to shoot, Ju-hwan let out a sigh.

“Still not used to it yet?”

When his manager asked carefully, Ju-hwan glanced to the side and flinched.
It was because of him—the man who was watching him with a crooked smirk.

Woo Soo-han.

Because of him, his role had tanked, and now it had completely changed.

“Phew… no. I can’t get used to it.”
“You know it’s just acting.”
“I know, but still…”

Every time Ju-hwan crossed swords with him, that killing intent nearly made him wet himself.
And… his role had twisted into something else.
At first he was always chasing the masked man, but now he was always the one being beaten.

Others framed it as “bromance” or whatever, but in the end he was stuck as the punching bag villain.
But strangely enough, the audience reaction wasn’t bad.

“Still, they’re saying your acting improved.”
“Khk!”

Tears welled up.

“Your acting’s improved.”

Honestly, he wanted to scream the truth.
That he was terrified.
But when he saw comments praising his acting, there was no way to deny it.

Truthfully, since his debut, he had never gotten such positive comments.

“…I’ll go.”
“Yeah, hang in there! The director’s been praising you a lot too.”
“Yeah, sure…”

Ju-hwan dragged his reluctant feet forward.

He’s coming.

These days, thanks to this guy, life was fun.
He’d never had anyone to mess with like this before, and it was strangely addictive.

Ah! Not like school bullying or anything.

If you think about it, wasn’t the original sin his fault anyway?
If he hadn’t tried to crack my skull in the first place, my Black Flame Dragon wouldn’t have awakened.

“Hello, hyung-nim.”
“Yeah.”

Now this punk even called me “hyung-nim.”
Back then he used to act all superior as my senior, but after that one incident, every time we faced off, I scared him enough to make him nearly piss himself.

Now he knew his place.
So this is what power tastes like.

“…What’s with that look?”
“N-no, nothing.”

Tch, so he noticed me feeling cocky for a second.
This brat was pretty sharp.

I’d heard he struggled, going from an idol group to here.
But his acting wasn’t bad. Even I thought so.

It’s just… his good looks were a double-edged sword.
No matter how hard he tried, as a supporting role he couldn’t stand out easily.

Sounds like I’m lecturing, but really, this is my own experience.

I used to have a clean, nice-looking face too.
But that was poison.

No matter how miserable you act, if you’re good-looking, no one feels sorry for you.
And worse, my face was my biggest weakness against other rivals and women circling around me.

That’s when my struggle for survival began.
I had to learn survival acting first.

And because this kid was starting to listen to me lately, I almost felt like helping him.

“Hey, Ju-hwan.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
“You’re good-looking.”
“Eh? Oh… thanks.”
“But being good-looking is the problem.”
“…What?”

Brat should’ve understood from just one line.

“No matter how well you act, being good-looking stops you from getting good reviews.”
“…What’s that supposed to mean?”

Look at this kid. His eyes turned defiant for a moment.
Fair enough—he was just a minor role until yesterday, and now here I am lecturing him about acting.
And yeah, I used to be a beggar.

Most people knew that anyway. No point in hiding.
When GB Entertainment first came poking around, the casting guy was there too—no way it wouldn’t spread.

“What? You annoyed I’m saying this as a former beggar?”
“Erm…”

One glare and he caved right away. Why bother resisting then?

Forget it. I almost thought of making something out of him, but maybe not.

“Fine. Sorry. You’ve acted more than me anyway, right?”
“No, it’s not like that…”
“Tch. Was just trying to help you out a little.”

Thinking again—why bother?
It’s not like we started off on good terms anyway.

No need to give him even a speck of useful advice.

I turned around to leave.
Or… I tried to.

Huh?

What’s this annoying tug?

“Hey.”

Correction—he was tugging my clothes, not just pulling my mood.

“W-what is it… you can’t just stop mid-sentence…”
“Let go. It’s nothing important.”
“You can’t just stop like that. You know how frustrating that is for the listener?”

Hmm… true. Like taking a dump and stopping halfway.

But looking closer, his face didn’t match his words.
Behind that irritation was a messy swirl of emotions.

“You really want to hear it?”
“Yes…”
“But you’ve been acting longer than me.”
“….”

Okay, a bit insulting.
But fine. If he insists, I’ll say it.

Then he clenched his eyes and spoke.

“If someone acts better, he’s the senior, the teacher.”

Oh? Look at this kid.
That’s the look of someone willing to learn.

He might just be sucking up to get whatever benefit he can, but still… there was potential.

“You did try to smash my skull, but lately you’re acting more human. So I thought of helping you.”
“I didn’t mean to break your skull! Just… was hoping you’d slip up a bit…”
“Sure, sure.”
“No, really, hyung-nim!”

He sure loves calling me hyung-nim now.

“You realize all the praise you’ve been getting is only when you’re acting with me, right?”
“Uh… yeah.”
“Know why?”
“Well, because you keep trying to actually kill me, so it feels real…”
“That’s all?”
“Uh… not sure.”

This idiot.

“It’s because you’re actually terrified.”
“Y-yeah.”
“And the scenes you shoot are about being terrified.”
“Right. So it makes sense I can get into character easily.”

At least he’d thought about it.

“Exactly.”
“So you’re saying… method acting?”

Hah, so impatient. His face fell instantly.

“Method acting, my ass. What, you think it’s some kind of legendary sword technique?”
“…You know what that is? Even as a beggar?”
“Punk! You think beggars don’t go to PC rooms?”
“What? They let you in?”

This brat really thinks beggars are some alien species.

“Idiot! Being a beggar’s a job too! You gotta wash up to avoid diseases. Stop treating me like some vagrant bum.”
“….”

Ah, that look of disbelief—I hadn’t seen it in a while.
Well, can’t blame him. That’s how most people see it.

“Forget that. Point is—acting is experience. You know why you were scared of me?”
“Because of… your killing aura?”
“Right. And why do you think I can do that?”
“Because… it was real?”

Half right. I did think about ripping him apart a few times.

“Not wrong.”
“Gasp!”

Look at his face turn pale.

“It’s experience. You know I’ve lived rough. You pick things up along the way.”
“Y-you’ve even killed…?”

This brat. Crossing the line.

“Hey! You trying to make me a murderer? No one’s ever died in front of me, so shut it.”
“Y-yes.”

“You think I was like this from the start? Look—what do you think we have in common?”
“…We’re both human?”

Should I just turn him into a corpse and erase that common point right now?

“We’re both good-looking.”
“Uh… yeah.”
“What, don’t want to admit it? Be honest—I’m better-looking than you.”
“….”

Brat made a face like he’d bitten shit.

Wait. Don’t tell me he thinks he’s better-looking than me?

“You seriously think you’re better-looking than me?”
“…A little?”
“Wanna die?”
“Eek!”
“Sorry, slipped out. Anyway, because of my face, I had it rough too. Hard to look threatening when you’re handsome. But later I figured it out.”
“Figured what out?”

Damn, I’d rambled too long. Better say it.

“That you have to know how to make a good-looking face look ugly.”
“…What?”
“If you just keep that polished look, every line you say sounds the same. That’s your problem.”
“….”

He froze.
Guess someone else had told him similar before.

“I know… that’s why I’ve been learning.”
“Mm. I told you, I had the same issue. You get it yet?”
“…Huh?”
“Aren’t you curious how I got to where I am?”
“Uh…”

He was curious. Totally obvious on his face.

“Yes, I’m curious.”
“Then make me your teacher.”
“…What?”

Heh. We’re gonna be filming together a while anyway.
Might as well make him my underling.

Kim Dae-sung paused during prep when he saw something strange.

“…Huh?”

Woo Soo-han and Oh Ju-hwan were squatting in a corner, whispering together.

“Why do they suddenly look close?”

Dae-sung knew Ju-hwan disliked Soo-han.
And then, at some point, he started getting dragged along by him.

In acting, sometimes one side gets pulled in—and that was exactly what was happening between them.

From Ju-hwan’s perspective, Soo-han was the intruder who rolled in.
But now, they almost looked… close.

“Huh?”

Just then, Soo-han made a grimace, and Ju-hwan copied him exactly.

“Pfft!”

Some passing staff burst out laughing.

“What’s with them?”

Dae-sung asked casually, and one staffer, still chuckling, replied:

“No idea. Since the other day they’ve been doing that while looking at a smartphone. Said they’re practicing ‘making ugly faces’?”
“Making ugly faces?”
“Yeah.”

Dae-sung looked again.

Sure enough, they were trading back and forth, pulling the ugliest expressions they could.

“Well, I’ll be…”

His lips curled upward.
He understood what they were doing.

Ju-hwan’s expression looked good—really good.
To the staff, it just looked like silly face-pulling, but Dae-sung could see it was more.

“Right. He was an idol, wasn’t he?”

Ju-hwan had been an idol.

Plenty of idols could act well.
But most handsome idols hit a wall—because they were handsome.

Idols were, in old terms, “video-type singers.”
They trained to produce pretty, handsome expressions.

Hell, even taking selfies was part of training.
Idols weren’t allowed to have unflattering moments.

The problem was… those faces got stuck.

And what Soo-han was making him do now was breaking that hardened mask.
Brutal and simple, but effective.