The Take That Changed Everything

“Aah, aah, it hurts….”

Startled by the stunt actor’s groan, Yoo-hyun quickly let go.
“Are you okay?”

Director Baek, without even a “cut” command, strode purposefully into the set area designated for the actors.
Staff members, their legs freed from tension, rushed in with near-screams, surrounding Yoo-hyun.

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

Among the startled crowd, Director Baek seemed the most shocked.
With a pale face, he hurriedly pulled off the glove from Yoo-hyun’s hand.
The blade must have grazed his finger as he reached out, as the skin was slightly split.
I didn’t even feel it. When did…? Yoo-hyun gazed at the wound curiously.
It was a minor cut, like accidentally nicking yourself while peeling fruit.

Whether from relief that the actor’s finger was fine, Director Baek murmured “Oh my God” and squeezed his eyes shut before opening them again.
“…Go, go get some antiseptic, quick!” He weakly waved his hand at the trembling assistant director.
The pale-faced assistant director, unable even to respond, nodded frantically and ran off somewhere.

* * * *

Yoo-hyun could see Sang-jin, pushed back by the crowd and unable to get close, craning his neck and peeking from a distance.
Seeing him, Yoo-hyun smiled faintly.
Just then, the director standing beside him muttered.

“This really won’t do.”

“Huh?”

“This is going to be the death of someone—whether it’s the actor, a staff member, the director… someone’s definitely getting killed. This won’t do.”

At that, the action director, looking like he wanted to curse, stomped heavily toward the action team staff who had been handling the wires.
The action director’s sharp scolding aimed at Min-woong cut through the crowd and pierced Yoo-hyun’s ears.

“We ran through it earlier! What was that just now? Didn’t you see the signal to pull the wire?”

“I’m sorry. I made a mistake….”

It seemed the one who made the mistake among the two responsible for wire control in the corner was Min-woong, the one Yoo-hyun had joked with that morning.
Startled badly, his dark complexion had turned pale.

“You idiots! We rehearsed several times on set today, how can the word ‘mistake’ come out of your mouths!”

At the action director’s fierce reprimand, the filming set buzzed with tension.

While Yoo-hyun couldn’t tear his eyes away from that scene, the assistant director appeared soundlessly and began slathering on antiseptic and wrapping bandages layer upon layer.
I’m barely hurt at all…. But the assistant director’s expression was so solemn that Yoo-hyun couldn’t bring himself to say it was fine.
A bandage would have sufficed, but a full wrap? It was quite embarrassing.

Director Baek, having calmed the chaotic set with a brief break announcement, walked over with a heavy expression.
Yoo-hyun thought he knew what the director was coming to say without even hearing it.
He had to take the lead first.

“Director. I think what just happened was because they were nervous, and I completely understand. It’s only been one try, so if we do it once more, the coordination will get better, don’t you think…?”

“No. I think my greed got the better of me. Seeing that just now, I think we should remove it. It’s too dangerous.”

Yoo-hyun hurriedly unwound the thickly wrapped bandage—thick enough to suit a patient with broken hand bones—and spread his palm.

“Director, aside from this little scratch, I’m perfectly fine.”

“Even if you were lucky this time, who knows if luck will hold next time? It’s because of potential future risks.”

The determination was absolute, impossible to sway.
This wasn’t about the director’s personal feelings or preferences; it was the responsibility of the person commanding the set.
The director had been genuinely shaken.
But I’m confident I wouldn’t get hurt….

“I’ve practiced only this for weeks, and I don’t know if you heard earlier, but you yourself said I had talent, Director.”

“Yoo-hyun-ssi.”

“Yes.”

“Even the most experienced stunt professionals get hurt in action scenes when they slip up. You just saw that, right? And just because you’re greedy, you don’t always get results as good as your ambition.”

“Well, that’s true, but….”

“If you hadn’t dodged that knife just now, imagining where it might have embedded itself makes me want to stop filming right now. So let’s listen to me.”

Director Baek firmly grasped Yoo-hyun’s shoulder, which was full of regret and uncertainty.
The grip carried his stubborn will.
Unable to stubbornly persist in front of a director prioritizing safety, Yoo-hyun clamped his mouth shut.

“We need to rethink how to shoot this scene, so rest a bit and come back.”

Pushed along by Director Baek’s light pat, Yoo-hyun trudged toward the van, then suddenly stopped dead.
Even if I’m going, I should at least check one thing.

“Director.”

“Yes.”

“Then could I just monitor the footage once? I’m curious how it turned out. That much is okay, right?”

Director Baek gestured to an empty seat as if to say, Why wouldn’t that be okay? Yoo-hyun sat beside the director and looked at the monitor.

“…”

The frozen screen began to move.

* * * *

Sang-jin, starting the engine, hummed a tune.

“Hyung, aren’t you tired? Working the same schedule as me every day.”

Recently, Sang-jin had been in a state of perpetual excitement, almost embarrassing to witness.
Excessively happy about small things, excessively bouncing.
Even when he had to pick Yoo-hyun up at five or six in the morning for shoots, Sang-jin’s face was always all smiles when Yoo-hyun climbed into the car with his puffy face.
Today was the most extreme yet.

“Tired? We finished early today, didn’t we? Thanks to actor Go Yoo-hyun doing so well.”

There goes hyung again…. Yoo-hyun stared with jaded eyes at his manager, who was crossing the line from excessive into hopeless territory.

“What’s with ‘actor’? Why are you talking like that? It’s awkward.”

“I saw the whole rehearsal earlier. So when you were filming, I thought, ‘Ah, something’s seriously wrong here,’ I knew it instantly! Your wire that should have gone up didn’t, for some reason you were just standing there, and the stunt guy behind you was coming at you with a knife, pulled by his wire… And then you whip your head around, completely unaware!”

“Hyung, stop it.”

“Yoo-hyun-ah… Hyung’s world went dark, I’m telling you! Not exaggerating, for real!”

“You’re not even listening.”

“But who would have thought you’d just take him down like that? Just like in the movies, bam!”

With a knife flying straight toward Yoo-hyun’s back, he probably wasn’t the only one whose world went dark.
The director had even considered changing the entrance scene by altering the script, and the two action team staff who had dozed off standing up, missing the timing to pull the wire and endangering the lead actor, got thoroughly chewed out by the action director.

Ironically, however, the result of the accident that had chilled everyone’s blood turned out so unexpectedly well that it narrowly avoided being completely edited out.
The monitored footage exceeded expectations, and Yoo-hyun, seizing on the reaction, persuaded the director to try it just once more.
Encouraged by the action director, who was looking for a chance to redeem his team’s mistake, filming resumed without script changes.
After capturing the same scene three or four times as rehearsed, the director, for some reason showing lukewarm reactions throughout, suddenly spoke while monitoring.

“It’s strange, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

“…Without the wire looks better. Don’t you think?”

Ever since confirming on video the accident that could have seriously injured several people, his face had carried a troubled expression.
To put it precisely, he seemed to want to take back his words about greed not yielding good results.

He seemed to like the near-accident footage, seemed to want to use it.
Even though using that scene would actually require removing and revising a significant portion of that day’s originally planned shooting continuity.

After that, as if some decision had been made, the director declared he would adopt the first take.
Thanks to that, Yoo-hyun, who would have otherwise had to hang from the wire contraption several more times, simply filmed the gun-to-the-ribs scene from various angles, and filming wrapped.
The schedule he’d braced himself for until evening ended half a day early.

And this whole series of events seemed to have appeared quite dramatic in Sang-jin’s eyes.

“Yoo-hyun, you were always something special. I recognized it early on. You’ve always been incredible with physical stuff. Just grabbing an arm like that!”

“Aah, I get it, so stop and please just take us home.”

“Uh? Right, let’s go, let’s go. Gotta safely escort actor Go home!”

Yoo-hyun glanced sidelong at Sang-jin in the driver’s seat with eyes as cold as if he’d bitten into a fresh lemon.
Upon closer look, he wasn’t just humming; he was even doing shoulder dancing.
Though Sang-jin was severely rhythm-challenged, making his movements look more like convulsions….

“Hyung.”

“What?”

“Hyung, are you really that happy about me filming this drama?”

“Of course. I’m thrilled.”

Thrilled, even.
It wasn’t his first drama shoot.
Though it was his first lead role, that “first” meant he could have done it before but hadn’t, not that he’d been unable.
So strictly speaking, it wasn’t something to be so ecstatic about, making Sang-jin’s strange attitude suspicious.

“Be honest with me. Hyung, are you dating?”

“Whaat?”

“…No?”

“Dating? No way! You’re the one dating!”

His reaction suggests it’s not dating.
Yoo-hyun raised an eyebrow.

“Then did you win the lottery? Or stocks? Didn’t you cry last time about taking a loss on a stock you bought at the peak?”

“No, hey! Why bring up stocks? I’d finally forgotten about it, and you have to make my stomach hurt again.”

“Then what is it? Did you invest in our drama? No way… our first episode hasn’t even aired yet…. Judging by your reaction, our drama ratings must have hit thirty percent or something….”

“Yoo-hyun-ah. Is that all you think of your hyung? You really don’t understand hyung’s feelings!”

Apparently overwhelmed with emotion, Sang-jin got all worked up again, and Yoo-hyun blinked blankly at him.

“Hyung is thrilled because it’s satisfying!”

“Satisfying how?”

“Because they’re sniffing around like bloodhounds!”

“Sniffing what?”

“What else? The smell of money!”

“…”

“Somehow they found out you signed with Wooshin, and the company’s getting calls. Even Clear contacted us about proceeding with contract renewal, the bastards… Those who dropped you like a hot potato, as if waiting to see if you’d land somewhere in between, how dare they covet you!”

Sang-jin, who just months ago had looked like he was delivering a death sentence when breaking the news of canceled ad contracts, was now thoroughly triumphant.
All because of that? Yoo-hyun rolled his eyes and answered half-heartedly.

“Still, if we can work with Clear, wouldn’t it be better to stay with them?”