“Alright, everyone. This is truly where we conclude.”
It was the CP who finally broke the silence, once again. As if fearing someone might object, he quickly rose and personally shook hands with each actor.
“I’m truly sorry, okay? You all worked so hard today. My apologies, really.”
“Not at all. Thank you.”
The CP grasped Doyun’s hand, who had been standing awkwardly at the very end, with both of his own and shook it warmly. After apologizing to all the actors, he personally escorted them to the door.
‘Finally, this strange audition is over!’ Doyun sighed with relief, following his fellow actors out the door. He had been anxious that Nam Yiwon might call out ‘Actor Kim Doyun’ again at any moment, but thankfully, it was truly the end this time.
‘What exactly was today’s audition about?’ Doyun cast one last glance behind him. He could see the back of Baek Seungjun’s head, facing Nam Yiwon. While he couldn’t discern their expressions or the content of their conversation, a single exasperated remark from the CP filtered through the closing door.
“If it was going to be like this, shouldn’t PD Baek have just punched him and gotten it over with?”
****
Standing in a corner of the nearly deserted parking lot, Seungjun let out a long sigh. He had just been berated by the CP, told to go make up with Nam Yiwon immediately. To ‘make up’ was, in essence, to apologize. Regardless of the reason, an adult resorting to fisticuffs was undeniably deserving of criticism.
‘Still, that filthy bastard started it!’ A surge of anger welled up, but Seungjun forcefully suppressed it. As Seonghyeon had advised, time wasted fighting was still money lost in labor costs.
He clenched his jaw and lifted his head. Nam Yiwon, who had been standing with his hands clasped behind his back, slowly lifted his eyelids with an infuriating smirk.
“Ha…”
Seungjun sighed again, losing count of how many times he’d done so. Even if he could turn back time, he felt he would have still thrown that punch; an apology simply wouldn’t come out. Instead, Seungjun sought a different compromise.
“Hit me.”
Nam Yiwon grinned. He unclasped his hands from behind his back, intertwined his fingers in front, and licked his upper lip. Seungjun’s voice was resolute as he addressed Nam Yiwon, who had merely changed his posture but showed no sign of further movement.
“You certainly deserved it, but hitting you wasn’t the right thing to do. So let’s just trade one punch and be done with it. But you, if you want to keep working with me, maintain a minimum level of respect. You’d do well not to even think about pushing someone into the drama without consulting me.”
“I wasn’t thinking of doing that?”
“You put on such a ridiculous show at today’s audition, clearly for my benefit, and now you’re going to play innocent? Kim Doyun is absolutely out, so don’t even dream of it.”
“Understood.”
Nam Yiwon’s reply was not merely compliant, but unnervingly cheerful. His ready agreement, coming from such a scoundrel, somehow irritated Seungjun even more.
“If you were going to be like this, why the hell did we waste time watching that guy dance? We’re a semi-pre-produced show, and we have two months until broadcast. Do you think we have time for this?”
“You said we had plenty of time when you insisted on auditioning hundreds of people yourself. Have you changed your mind since then?”
“Is that the same thing? I’m doing it to make a better drama, and you’re doing it just to spite me!”
“I didn’t do it with such malicious intent.”
‘He probably did it for the fun of it, not out of malice.’ Seungjun knew that Nam Yiwon’s nonchalant retort wasn’t a lie. His methods were never premeditated, nor was he the type to falter when things didn’t go his way. He quickly found alternative options, and if something proved unfeasible, he would immediately move on and explore a new path.
He was like water. When confronted with an obstacle, he would find a crack and seep through flexibly. There was no way to stop him from flowing onward relentlessly. Everything was spontaneous, driven purely by his whims, and trying to obstruct him only resulted in one ending up like a drenched rat.
“Enough. There’s no point talking to you, and wasting time fighting like this is a luxury we can’t afford. Just hit me already.”
Seungjun puffed out his cheeks, then released the air, relaxing his facial muscles. He knew a single punch wouldn’t stop this man from being contrary, but taking one would at least bring him some peace of mind.
As he thrust his head forward and looked up defiantly, Nam Yiwon raised an eyebrow. Seungjun offered his face, yet he secretly suspected Nam Yiwon had no interest in physical violence. He was usually suave and sly, like a slippery eel, a pervert who preferred psychological torment over physical blows—.
“Agh!”
A slap landed without warning. A crisp, quick smack, delivered with a precise flick of the wrist.
His skin burned. Seungjun swallowed his anger and steadied his breathing. ‘This bastard!’ He would have rather taken a fist to the face until his lips bled than endure such a humiliating slap.
“You want to die, you little punk?!”
“You told me to hit you.”
“I said hit my jaw, not give me an arrogant slap!”
“Hitting someone’s face with a fist seemed a bit too barbaric, you know.”
Nam Yiwon replied brazenly, then took a step closer. The hand Seungjun expected to push him away unexpectedly wrapped around his shoulder. Pulled gently, he lost his balance, and their chests collided. His eyes, already red with fury, only belatedly registered how excessively close they were.
Today, too, he smelled of lotion. It was a scent ill-suited for a man who constantly grated on others’ nerves. As Seungjun huffed and straightened up, a car sped past behind him. Nam Yiwon only released his shoulder once the car was far away.
‘So, don’t get hit by a car, but a slap is fine?’ Seungjun irritably shook off Nam Yiwon’s arm and dusted off his clothes.
“You have no respect.”
“Am I the junior? If we’re talking debut, I believe mine was earlier.”
The scoundrel prattled on annoyingly, refusing to concede a single point. His mention of their debut dates was utterly preposterous. Seungjun scoffed and retorted.
“Why do you think your debut was so unusually fast? You come from a good family, so you don’t go to the military, you’re given a stack of competition awards, and all the industry bigwigs are connected to your family. So what if you debuted faster than others?”
“Didn’t you also avoid military service, sunbae?”
“I was exempted because I ruptured my knee joint, thanks to you!”
“I recall telling you not to go up to the second floor. Why is that my fault?”
“I went up because of you! You, who infuriated me then and infuriate me now!”
Seungjun stopped, their faces almost touching. Nam Yiwon’s eyes, looking down at him without flinching, were still so stubbornly clear. Seungjun felt as if his own face was reflected in them—a face flushed with indignation, disheveled and agitated by turmoil.
“…To get the better of you.”
A regretful confession, a single phrase, finally slipped through his teeth. Not wanting to see Nam Yiwon’s expression, Seungjun abruptly turned and stepped back a few paces. He roughly straightened his clothes and spoke.
“Since you don’t treat me like a senior anyway, just call me PD Baek Seungjun from now on. I’ll call you Director Nam.”
With those words, Seungjun walked away. He stared at the ground as he walked, then broke into a run, sprinting breathlessly to the elevator. His slapped face burned unbearably.
****
Seungjun let out another long, drawn-out sigh. Even as he sat in the lounge reading a script, his leg occasionally twitched, kicking at the empty air. The events of yesterday kept replaying, making it impossible to concentrate. That was why he’d been stuck on a script for two hours, when he usually could have read it three times over in one.
‘Why did I do that?’
He had been hit, flared up, and said something utterly useless. He’d confessed that he got hurt trying to get the better of him—words Nam Yiwon would undoubtedly revel in. He had deliberately avoided looking at him afterward, so he hadn’t seen Nam Yiwon’s expression, but he was certain the man had smiled, just like before.
Old memories resurfaced. Nam Yiwon standing in front of the classroom. Nam Yiwon smiling as he looked back. Nam Yiwon, who ultimately hadn’t submitted the fully edited video to the competition. Things he had completely forgotten came flooding back like a tide after their reunion. Seungjun forced his eyes back to the script. Fortunately, the revised Part 4 script sent by the writer didn’t have any major issues.
Seungjun briefly summarized his feedback, then looked up. A new message notification lit up his phone, displaying a staff member’s name at the top. He had cleared out all group chats except for the one related to this drama. Wondering what was wrong, Seungjun checked the message, and his mouth tightened.
[Honestly, though]
[1:32 PM]
[Director Nam, with that face and career, having a sponsor is so disappointing]
[1:32 PM]
[‘Sponsor’ is too good a word for whatever great role that is]
[1:32 PM]
[It’s sexual exploitation lol]
[1:32 PM]
Shocking messages were being read in real-time in a group chat with over twenty people.
“s*x… sexual exploitation?”
Seungjun, who had been replaying the shock for several seconds, stammered as he read the messages. Such horribly blatant gossip. He had anticipated rumors, but directly witnessing the raw details was another matter. The message, sent to the wrong chat, was immediately deleted with a frantic apology, but its content lingered in Seungjun’s mind for a long time.
‘Sexual exploitation.’
‘Strictly speaking, it’s true. If he did something like that, he deserves the criticism. But…’
Even before filming had begun, the fact that such gossip was circulating among the staff was entirely his fault. Regardless of the truth, the thought that he was the starting point for this sordid rumor made him feel deeply uncomfortable.
“Haa… Damn it, I’m going crazy.”
Seungjun pressed a hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. Nam Yiwon was constantly on his mind, giving him a headache. The thought of seeing him soon at the casting meeting naturally caused tension to seep into his muscles. It was a tension born of discomfort. Moreover, Author Bae Wonjeong would also be attending today’s casting meeting.