Chapter 875. Sequence 14

Giwoo stood in the middle of the set. He exchanged gazes with the surrounding staff, and he was like a total human air freshener. People who flocked to his side all had relaxed expressions as though they smelled something fragrant. Even people who were working in a hurry gained leisure when they talked to him. Some even said that just talking to Giwoo made things work out. There were many people asking him for a handshake to get some of that ‘good energy’ as well. One of the local folklore superst.i.tions had formed on the set because of him.

Gaeul rested her chin on her hands and watched Giwoo. The better his reputation became, the more he smiled and the more the shooting set felt like a th.o.r.n.y vinefield. It would be great if he was someone she could outright disdain. It would be better if he just acted like Lee Miyoon and gnarled at her. She thought about how to get along with the wolf in grandma’s pajamas that was walking around the set. Just then, she made eye contact with him. He smiled pleasantly. This was the third time already. At this point, it couldn’t be anything but that he was intentionally doing this. It wasn’t that she was mistaken, and it wasn’t that she was being too proud either. That guy definitely had an interest in her.

She had a headache. Her patience was not as deep as those department store service employees that could keep upholding their smiles. At times like these, she envied Maru’s indifferent expression. Someone like Maru would gladly hang his arm around his archenemy and play around in a theme park together. Maru was a Swiss army knife, while she was a kitchen knife. Maru knew how to fold his blade, but she had no choice but to let her blade out all the time. She might be able to endure to a certain extent, but she would eventually burst out, just like the time with Lee Miyoon.

She barely managed to smile and turned around. She had to put the nail in the coffin before things turned strange. If he tried to do anything strange, then she would just give him a shoulder throw, and if he tried to talk to her about it, she would just say that she had no room for relations.h.i.+ps right now. Giwoo, who probably thought that she and Maru had broken up, would try to console her, but that was absolutely not happening.

Giwoo and Bitna’s acting began. Gaeul watched nervously. During the scene where Giwoo grabbed Bitna’s hands and started praying, Bitna kept causing NGs. As she usually didn’t make many mistakes, the director even had to carefully ask her what was wrong.

“Sorry, I’ll do it again.”

“Let’s take a ten-minute break. Bitna, you should take a breather as well. You don’t usually get nervous, but now that you are, you’re making me nervous as well. Is it something technically hard?”

“No, director, I’ll get myself together and do it properly.”

“I’m not trying to scold you, so don’t be so stiff. You’ve done well until now, so it should be fine as long as you can calm down a little before coming back to the shoot. I was like that before too. It was back when I first sat down in front of the monitor, and I suddenly dazed out after shooting so well. I couldn’t think about how to angle the shot, how to set the direction of the acting, nor what kind of things I should put on the screen. But after some much-needed rest, I could think about all of those things again. So don’t worry about it too much, Bitna. If you’re stuck on something, there are a lot of good seniors here, so you can ask around.”

Gaeul waited for the director’s words to end before approaching Bitna. The director was probably thinking that the air on the set had frozen her up. He probably had no idea even in his dreams that the one who made the young actress stiffen up was the actor smiling brightly right in front of her face.

“Do you want to go get some air with me?”

She left the set with Bitna after telling the director about it. She could feel Giwoo’s gaze hitting the back of her head, but she did not turn around. When she opened the door, the night air hit her face. Bitna heaved out a breath as though she had been holding it in this whole time. Gaeul waited for her to catch her breath. Bitna heaved heavy breaths, as though she was going to breathe in all the air around her small body, before raising her heels and putting them down again.

“Bitna, are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“I feel like you’re saying that you’re okay out of habit. Are you really okay? I saw that you were having a hard time shooting with Giwoo.”

“I might be having a hard time, but I can’t help it. I tried not to think about it, but I still kept causing NGs. The fact that I’m causing delays in the shoot makes it even harder for me.”

“Anyone causes NGs. Even the great seniors sometimes laugh for dozens of minutes once they burst out laughing. It’s incredible that a middle schooler continued to shoot without a single mistake until now. No one will blame you. Just take it slow.”

“I will.”

“Right. If you just finish the shoot today, you will never have to see Kang Giwoo again unless your schedule overlaps again, so just hold on for a little more. Rather than that, I’m sorry I can’t help you with anything besides cheering you on. I really wish I could take that guy away from you, but I can’t.”

Bitna covered her mouth and laughed.

“Unni, you can’t do that. You’ll get in trouble.”

“Right?”

“Yes. Acting is my thing, so I’ll try my best. I feel better thanks to you.”

“When things don’t work out, going outside and taking a breather does help out a lot. Just like what the director said, there are many good people around, so you can ask to your heart’s content. I’m sure people will be delighted if you ask them for help, Bitna.”

Gaeul placed her hands on Bitna’s shoulders and ma.s.saged them. The shoot must be fatiguing for her. After all, she had to act with someone filled with malice. No matter how mature she was as a child, the mental pressure must be taxing on her.

“Should we go see Woofie after the shoot today?”

“Really?”

Bitna became infinitely bright in front of Woofie. Whenever she talked about dogs, her eyes that saw through what adults were thinking would disappear and be replaced by innocent ones. Yuna even told her that they were going to start raising a puppy soon. She also added that it was still a secret from Bitna. Perhaps she might even cry from happiness if she sees the small guest at her house.

They came back from the quiet outside to the set filled with various noises. Bitna’s expression became indifferent again. Did she calm down now? Or was even that a façade to hide her nervousness? Gaeul made eye contact with Bitna, who was under the lights. Bitna winked at her as though saying that there was no need to worry at all.

The shoot resumed. As though to prove that the wink was not a bluff, Bitna digested all the following scenes without a single NG. She did not get afraid even as she faced Giwoo. Gaeul thought that she should really learn a lesson from the young actress. She could endure it so smoothly, so Gaeul herself couldn’t just run out of patience and start going against Giwoo.

“Bitna’s really good,” Giwoo came over and said to her after his act.

“She is. She’ll probably be even more popular than us once she grows up.”

“I guess I should try to look good in front of her now.”

Giwoo drank some water from a plastic bottle as he sat down next to her. They were changing the position of the camera right now. Gaeul pulled up some webtoons on her phone. While she didn’t read them that often, she needed an excuse to avoid talking to him right now.

“Look at this. It’s an article about Maru that I haven’t seen before. There are quite a lot of them too,” GIwoo said as he pointed at his phone.

Gaeul just indifferently replied, “I see.”

“Have a look. A friend of ours is doing well, so you should cheer for him.”

“Not interested.”

She had already read all of those articles yesterday morning. She even shook Maru awake to tell him to take a look even though Maru said there was no need. Maru just chuckled, saying that she was even more elated than the person in question.

“Did you two get into a fight? You’re always in a bad mood whenever I talk about Maru.”

“I just want to focus on work while I’m at work. Also, he’s someone who’d do well by himself, so there’s no need to look out for him either.”

Giwoo put his phone inside his pocket. Every single action of his felt like the action of a hunter setting up a trap. He currently believed that she had broken up with Maru, but he would definitely suspect something if he found anything strange. She had to watch what she had to say.

“Uhm, about the thing I talked to you about before.”

“What thing?” Gaeul replied as she crossed her legs.

While she was pretending to not take any interest, every single one of her senses of perception with the exception of her vision was focusing on Giwoo’s actions.

“That puts me in a tight spot. Did I do anything wrong? Why do I feel like I’m being hated?”

“What is it now? Just tell me if you have anything to say.”

“Then I’ll tell you again. Let’s eat out together sometime, just the two of us. I have kept talking about it for a while, yet we never found the time, have we? Let’s just decide on a date and time today to meet up on a day when we’re both free and have time.”

Gaeul took her eyes off her phone. Her intuition turned into conviction. Giwoo was not hiding his emotions. This was a man inviting a woman out.

“That’s confusing me. I don’t think you’re just inviting me out to a meal.”

“We aren’t kids. I wouldn’t have even brought it up if we were going to go our ways after eating. So when is good for you?”

“Sorry, but do you think I’ll eat out with you?”

“Honestly, I don’t feel that confident, but I do know that you won’t just coldly refuse right off the bat.”

While he acted embarra.s.sed, his eyes contained the resolve of a dictator. He was the type of man to commit tyranny if he did not get the answer he wanted, secretly and discreetly. Gaeul looked straight into Giwoo’s eyes and spoke,

“No.”

It might have been better to be roundabout. She could have held back her words just as they were about to leave her mouth. But she was born as a fighter woman. What could she do about that? The daughter of the writer Choi Haesoo graduated from pretending to be kind when she graduated from her high school. She realized through Yuna that acting coy when talking to someone was nothing more than making a fool out of the opponent. If she told Maru about it, he would probably tell her that she should have been much more flexible about it, but he would then tell her that she did well.

Giwoo did not say anything. He kept blinking as though he never thought that he would get a ‘no’ straight in the face. Gaeul saw a crack appearing on the smiling prince. What wriggled under that thick surface layer was a disgusting selfish rage that she couldn’t even bear to look at. However, Giwoo was a pro as well. The crack disappeared in an instant and he returned to being a human air freshener. He became cheerful, warm, and delightful.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you didn’t. I just don’t want to. I want to focus on the drama, and a romantic relations.h.i.+p is something much too distant for me.”

“If you think that, then I guess I can’t help it.”

The ‘I guess I can’t help it’ came as a warning. Gaeul smiled and turned around. She had been going against Lee Miyoon for too long to feel anything from this amount of pressure.

“See you around.”

Giwoo left those words before hurriedly leaving the place. This was rather uncommon. He was someone who always waited for other people’s responses before moving after all. From how he practically ran away, it seemed that he was really fuming inside.

“Kang Giwoo, I would say no even if I die,” Gaeul said in a small voice to Giwoo’s back as he headed towards the lights.