Young Alpha

“If they’re going to do this, why did you run so fast that you’re out of breath? I thought you had to stand in front of the camera as soon as you arrived.”

“It doesn’t matter who does this kind of minor role, so took them quickly. If it hadn’t been for running here, maybe one of the passers-by here would have taken on this role?”

Ji-an explained while pointing his finger in a straight line at the spectators standing sparsely around the set. The reason he exaggerated a little was because he wanted Woo-young to be alert.

Woo-young wrinkled his nose and rubbed the soles of his feet on the ground. He didn’t know why he was so dissatisfied with this.

Well, when he was around Woo-young’s age, he used to be extremely sensitive to everything. Looking at his attitude and his clothes, it was not surprising that Woo-young, who had grown up like a young boy in a greenhouse, had a lot of complaints. Woo-young made a loud noise.

“It wasn’t like that before.”

“This is how filming has always been. Rather, the division of labor has been subdivided and communication has improved, resulting in better schedule coordination than before.”

“No. The person I used to know has never been on standby.”

Only then did Ji-an let out an ‘ah’ sigh. Maybe Woo-young knows a famous actor. In reality, even though he was unemployed, it was understandable given that he was a trainee. He had no idea there were so many celebrities around Woo-young because he didn’t seem excited even at the filming location with well-known actors.

In fact, Woo-young was appealing in the entertainment industry. There were always kids who played with ordinary people who drew attention with their celebrity-like looks.

Such kids desired to collect ordinary people as trophies, much like gemstones. Because his job is to attract attention, he understands the psychology of being obsessed with someone like Woo-young, who can easily gain favor with others without putting forth any effort.

Ji-an answered Woo-young’s innocent curiosity with a smile.

“He must have been the main character.”

Woo-young expressed disappointment at the dull response. Of course, being the lead does not mean that there is no standby, but the crew was extremely considerate to them, and especially the high quality actors who had a temper even on set were well tolerated. In fact, Ji-an did his best to fit it as much as the circumstances permitted.

Even in his good times, Ji-an gave up his shooting order a lot. There were many lines that he had to memorize anyway, so it was good to have some time to relax and it was also the only time he could take a nap.

He pretended to be a picky superstar after meeting Seung-joon. He humbly accepted the rumors that “I heard that On Ji-an changed since he is doing well.”

Otherwise, meeting Seung-joon would be impossible. The next chairman of TK Group had a busier schedule than a popular actor. Even with his concessions, meeting Seung-joon’s schedule was difficult.

They didn’t date for a long time, but that’s why he didn’t see Seung-joon as frequently as they did when they were dating. So, after a half-year relationship, Ji-an wanted to live with him. Seung-joon was also impatient at the time. Seung-joon frequently begged Ji-an at the time by rubbing his lips against the back of his hand.

‘Can’t you just let me feed you? Just stay next to me and look at me for 24 hours.’

There was a time when Ji-an was excited because those words sounded like a proposal. After getting married, he realized that his behavior was an expression of disapproval of Ji-an’s job.

Seung-joon did not regard celebrities as professionals. A career at the mercy of the general public would not have seemed serious to him. He only mentioned his job being as difficult and important as Seung-joon’s a couple of times. Seung-joon pretended to respond positively when he explained with frustration.

It was nothing special. Seung-joon was born that way, grew up in that environment for 20 years, and lived for 36 years with ironclad vested interests, never feeling the need to change his life. Ji-an let out a light sigh and shook his head.

Ji-an realized Woo-young was bored, so he played the role of ‘Kevin’ in his head. The ‘Kevin’ he interpreted was a humorous character who was clumsy in Korean, so Ji-an quickly became a funny person. Ji-an waited for the evaluation while looking at Woo-young and asking what it was like.

“You look like a fool.”

Ji-an laughed as Woo-young muttered with a sullen expression.

Woo-young jumped up from his seat, as if he couldn’t stand being bored, and began snooping around the set. When Woo-young approached them, even the staff, who usually treated onlookers as if they were chasing flying flies out of annoyance, smiled gently. When Woo-young pointed his finger at this and that and asked questions while hiding his insatiable curiosity behind a blank expression, the staff responded with friendly explanations.

He gets better the more he sees it. Woo-young was truly a good one in Ji-an’s opinion.

The entertainment industry was at the bottom, with charm being the only measure of success. The reason why people like Woo-young is not simply because he is handsome. Even if everyone here was a beautiful human being, he’d seen more dandelion seeds flying in the air. Woo-young had a side that made viewers comfortable, aside from his outstanding appearance.

After passing through the most mature period as a child, he became a clumsy adult overnight when he turned 20 years old. The ambiguous immaturity, which is neither a child nor a fully mature adult, makes the viewer feel comfortable. Woo-young didn’t have the typical 20-year-old ruckus.

Woo-young was more than just a tough guy. No matter where he went, he was the type of person who would choose appropriate words and actions for the situation and carry them out to his liking. When Woo-young said the title ‘Ji-an-ssi,’ which is usually awkward when said by young people, Ji-an simply said, ‘That’s right. That’s my name,’ and moved on.

‘Can it be a second round of my life? Is he really the Seon ancestors who walked out of the mountain tomb?’

It was rare to come across a young boy who felt like a proper man. In the industry, it was regarded as a charisma that could not be mastered through learning. Furthermore, ‘Should I say he’s innocent or naive, not like kids these days…’

Ji-an remembered Woo-young’s words, ‘I’m just being careful of you,’ and smiled. Woo-young appeared to have given Ji-an a passing grade as a love target. However, he meant that he would look after himself and act modestly because he should not like married men. Ji-an felt like a kindergarten teacher who was proposed to by a student.

Ji-an returned to reading the script after watching Woo-young, who looked cute as he became a meddler on set.

Around the time Ji-an had been engrossed in a three-line dialogue for two hours, a large van came in front of the set. It was the Benz who picked up Son Hee-min, the lead actor of this drama, and the cause of the filming delay. Son Hee-min got off the new, top-of-the-line van, saying that unless he was an S-class star, he would be embarrassed to drive even if he had money.

Son Hee-min looked at the busy staff around him with a tired expression and suddenly met Ji-an’s eyes. A smile immediately blossomed from his grumpy expression. Hee-min has long been adept at transforming grumpy faces into happy ones. Hee-min approached Ji-an with a cool stride.

“On Ji-an. It’s been a long time?”

Ji-an raised only one corner of his lip and forced a smile.

Son Hee-min. An imitation of superstar On Ji-an, who once enjoyed unprecedented popularity.

Hee-min became ‘real’ after Ji-an retired by sweeping all the content that was modeled by On Ji-an. Son Hee-min of today was an SS-level actor who played the male lead in Seo PD’s drama.

No matter how hard it is, On Ji-an is not a jerk, but for now, it was difficult to face Son Hee-min with a smile right now.

*

Ji-an’s character ‘Kevin’ and the main character ‘Yoo Chae’ were members of an idol group called <Radiance>. The scene to be filmed on the day is a Radiance fan signing event, and ‘Yoo Chae’ argues with him, unaware that the soul of his deceased lover has transmigrated into ‘Shin Woo-joo,’ the troublesome member of the group. ‘Kevin’ argues that the ‘New Universe,’ in which the soul and personality have changed, is no longer the truth.

So, the line Ji-an had to say was as follows.

‘The new universe is not the truth! Stop abusing me again! Yoo Chae, you close the club!’

Son Hee-min said, ‘Hyung, It’s true that you can’t speak Korean…?’ When Ji-an received the line, he thought it was over.

Ji-an took three hours of waiting time and four takes to film this scene. Even then, he was taking a short break because he couldn’t finish filming. It was because of Hee-min’s blatant grumpiness.

Hee-min rarely said, ‘Hyung, It’s true that you can’t speak Korean…?’ Ji-an’s performance was not given an okay sign with the line. He repeatedly found fault with this and made intentional NGs.

“Oh, this won’t work. I guess there’s nothing much you can do if you take a break for two years.”

PD Seo also bitterly told him not to interfere with the director’s authority in the third take, possibly sensing Hee-min’s malice. Ji-an would have given Hee-min the title of angel mark early on if he had mowed down his temper with that level of nagging. Hee-min continued to argue about the next take, so PD Seo called him separately and took a break.

It was a situation where anyone could see that On Ji-an had lost his touch.

Everyone knew in their heads that Hee-min was holding the pod, but this field’s environment was like that. The truth was claimed by the higher position. Ji-an didn’t feel Hee-min’s hatred just yesterday or today, but as his situation worsened, it escalated. Ji-an sat in the shade of a tree and calmly took deep breaths to control his anger.

It was the longest day of the year, so the scorching sun remained the same even after hours passed. The resentment that reached the top of his head did not go down easily. Hee-min went to upset Ji-an shortly after finishing his conversation with PD Seo.

“It’s not easy to stand in front of the camera after a long time, right?”

There was no point in grabbing Hee-min by the collar here. Ji-an tried hard to smile kindly. His lips trembled because he put too much force on the corner of his mouth.

“How did On Ji-an, who used to fly, end up crawling like this?”