“If you like her, you should just confess,” said Maru as he grabbed Giwoo’s shoulders.

Giwoo made a complex expression as he shook his head.

“Yeseul wouldn’t want me to confess to her.”

“So? Are you going to keep watching her like a flower in a vase? You are really frustrating. You have the smarts to study, but you don’t have the smarts in this area. Jichan will take Yeseul away from you like this, you know?”

“What?”

Giwoo widened his eyes and made a surprised expression, when,

“Cut. Let’s do that again. Giwoo, your expression is good, but don’t reveal it too much.”

“Yes, understood!”

Maru pushed up his glasses before taking a step back. This was the episode where Giwoo’s and Jichan’s one-sided love for Yeseul became deeper. It was the main event of youth dramas, the one-sided love. The role of Lee Chan - Maru’s character - in this episode was to fan the flames. He, along with Dongwook, induced Yeseul, Jichan, and Giwoo to gather in one spot while they watched. The cheerful girl who knew nothing about love, Yeseul, would start to become conscious of Giwoo, and Jichan would express his heart in a twisted way after he saw that.

“I guess our characters are turning into flintstones huh,” Maru said to Dongho, who stood next to him.

“Flintstones?”

“We are characters that lose all presence once we set fire to the event. There was a huge decrease in cuts after the trainee teacher’s first love episode.”

“What can we do about it? Their popularity is through the roof. Have you seen the forums?”

“I haven’t checked them since the first episode.”

“You should look at them when you go home today.”

Dongho sighed a little before leaving the camera angle. Producer Park Hoon’s ready signal entered Maru’s ears. He stood in front of Giwoo before getting his emotions ready. Since he just had to say a couple of lines, he didn’t need deep emotions for it.

“If you like her, you should just confess,” he uttered the same words.

* * *

“This shoot is quite long.”

Joomin sat next to him. When she opened the orange insulated bottle, a bitter coffee fragrance could be smelled. Maru reached out.

“What?”

“Aren’t you going to give me some?”

“I am, but you’re reaching your hand out like it’s natural. This is mine, you know?”

“I’m a bit tired. I haven’t done night shoots in a long time. Anyways, it is black coffee right?”

“I always drink black.”

He received the coffee that Joomin poured for him with both of his hands before taking a sip. It was 10:13 in the evening. They had returned from the field trip shoot to the school and had kept shooting until now. Only one episode aired per week, and there were rarely any night shoots since there were a lot of underage actors, but it seemed that they were going to spend the whole night today from the way things were going now.

“Why do we have to be caught up in this when they’re the ones busy?” Dongho grumbled.

Maru gave him the lid of the insulated bottle with coffee in it. He intended for Dongho to shut up after drinking it. After drinking a sip, Dongho made a sour expression before putting down the lid. Dongho did not like black coffee. Of course, Maru knew this already.

“If you don’t like that, you just have to become successful. The schedule is only tight because the main actors can’t make the schedule. We can’t really do anything about it.”

Maru shook the lid off before returning it to Joomin.

The reason they were shooting late into the night was because they were shooting for two episodes worth of shots. Since the three main characters, Giwoo, Yeseul, and Jichan, couldn’t make time to shoot together next week, they naturally shot more today.

“I also want to become a popular star so that everyone else can match my schedule,” said Joomin while resting her chin on her hands.

Maru looked 20 meters away from where he was sitting. In the corner of the school field, where bluish lights were installed on either side, Yeseul was sitting there. They were given a break after three consecutive NGs, and Yeseul, who was responsible for the NG cuts, was looking at the script with a face filled with worry.

“If they had me do it, I’m confident that I can do it without NGs.”

Dongho clicked his tongue. This time, Joomin gave him the lid filled with coffee. It had been five months since they had started working together. They knew how to handle each other now.

Maru picked up the script. Only when Yeseul completed this scene properly could they go to the next scene, and only then could they go home.

Yeseul: (Smiling, but not knowing what to do) Y-you’re here.

Giwoo: (Looking at Yeseul without saying a word)

Yeseul: You don’t need to mind what the others said during the day. They just said that to tease you.

Giwoo: (Opening his mouth trying to speak, but then closing it again)

Yeseul: (Looking at Giwoo, before looking at the school gates behind him.) L-let’s get going. It’s pretty late. Should we get some tteokbokki on the way home? That place was really good.

Giwoo: Uhm, Yeseul..

Yeseul: (Flustered) …Yeah?

Giwoo: What the other kids said, they weren’t lying. I like you.

Yeseul: (Clasping her hands, looking a little uneasy) What do you mean. Wh-why are you..

Giwoo: (About to speak, but then looks at Yeseul’s hands) I-I was joking. I just said it because I wanted to see how you react? How could I possibly like you? We are just close friends.

Giwoo turns around, and Yeseul looks back. After a sigh of relief comes a sigh of disappointment. Yeseul shakes her head in an attempt to deny her own emotions, but she can’t call out to Giwoo so easily.

Yeseul: (Just barely, in a small, muffled voice) G-giwoo.

NA: If I had acted a little more gentle to Giwoo back then and had listened to his words just a little more carefully, maybe it wouldn’t have turned out this way.

The NG kept happening when Yeseul collapsed her hands. She looked visibly flustered even from afar. It wasn’t a scene filled with affection. It was more of a cozy love between high school students, but Yeseul kept freezing up and causing NGs. Maru inwardly tried saying that line. The number of periods in the lines indirectly expressed the pause between the lines. One was a short one, two was a visible pause, and three periods meant that there should be a slight pause in the audio.

Dongho, who stood next to him, said the lines in a falsetto voice.

“What do you mean. Wh-why are you. - What’s so hard about this?”

Maru pressed on Dongho’s shoulder before standing up.

“Where are you going?”

“To the director.”

“Why?”

“To tell him that I just found a new actress for the job. You can do it right?”

Dongho violently shook his head and pulled on his arms. He would probably stay quiet for a while.

“Have you ever shot romance, Joomin-noona?”

“Me? Other than when I helped out a senior of mine with her graduation piece, no.”

“Is it hard?”

“It’s different from person to person. You’ll have to act in front of the camera, right? I think that the emotion of liking someone can only be perfectly expressed when it is true to a certain extent. Yeseul is probably embarrassed by that. Not as much as stripping naked, but in any case, she would have to show her inner feelings to others. It’s hard to act in a love scene without any emotions at all. Moreover, this is about the awkward first love of a high school student, isn’t it? It’s a bit complex too. I looked at the script, and it doesn’t look that easy. Those directions before the lines, they only have their facial expressions to express them. It might have worked on the first try, but with things dragging out like this, it should be pretty difficult.”

As soon as Joomin’s words ended, a ‘cut’ could be heard from a distance. It seemed that the shoot was stopped once again. Maru saw Yeseul apologizing to everyone. Giwoo seemed to be consoling her, but Yeseul didn’t seem to be calming down at all.

“Looks like this will take long.”

“Right?”

“If they can’t do it, they’ll start with us, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Noona, do you have some coffee left?”

“Yeah.”

He took a sip of the steaming coffee when he saw the assistant director coming their way.

“We’re going to start right away, you okay with that?”

“Yes. But I don’t think that scene’s over yet.”

“We decided to do yours first. The director told me that we can’t keep you waiting.”

Maru drank the coffee in one go before standing up. Dongho and Joomin also followed him. The shot with the three of them was quite simple. They just had to hide on top of the platform and then come out and say a few lines.

They walked across the school field to the platform. Maru saw Yeseul and Giwoo leaving the camera frame and sitting on the stand. Maru met eyes with the two, but he didn’t say anything.

“Hyung-nim. Please do a crane shot from above and tilt down to the door on the platform.”

Park Hoon talked to the camera director before coming their way. Maru put away his script before looking at Park Hoon.

“You guys should go home after getting it done. As for your eyes, look at where Yeseul was looking. Also, watch out for your breath since it might turn white if you breathe too heavily.”

“Yes.”

Park Hoon returned to the monitor before giving the ready sign. He blew any thoughts besides those of the shoot out of his mind as he said his line. They got an okay sign pretty easily.

The camera director moved positions.

“Watch out for double action! Just do what you did just now!”

Hearing Park Hoon’s words, Maru returned to his original position. Since they shot several cuts of the same scene with the same camera from different angles and edited them in post, the actions of the actor differed quite a lot according to each scene, but when it became discernible to the audience, it would become a clear error. Since he had put his hands on the floor of the platform, he put his hands on the platform this time as well. He bent his right knee slightly and lengthened his neck out.

“Noona, didn’t you place your hand on my shoulder before?”

“Ah, right. I forgot.”

“What about Dongho?”

“I’m ready. I’m the same as before.”

“I don’t look different, right?”

“You don’t.”

Confirmations between actors were important as well. The camera started rolling again and they repeated the same lines. Thanks to practicing together while they rested, they were able to get an okay sign in one go without an NG.

“Thanks for your work. You should go home.”

Home, hearing that sweet word, Maru smiled subconsciously.

“Your eyes were good, you three. Well done.”

“Thank you.”

The compliments of a camera director had a different flavor to a director’s.

“I just wish that they could do as well as you. I want to go home too.”

The camera director walked away from the camera while groaning. Maru looked at Dongho and Joomin. The three of them climbed down the platform with pleased smiles on their faces.

“I’m going home~.”

Dongho hummed for a while before coming back to himself. He started saying his goodbyes to the staff and the director. Maru and Joomin also said their goodbyes to everyone they came across. They couldn’t show their excitement to everyone else who would be staying behind. If they weren’t polite, people might talk bad behind their backs.

“Thanks for your work.”

“Watch out on your way home.”

Since they worked together, if he talked to them with respect, the other party would reply with smiles as well. He picked up his bag that he put in front of the vehicle carrying the props. Dongho was picked up by his parents, while Joomin ran outside saying that she had called a taxi.

Phew, it’s over - just as he was about to leave the shooting location with ease of mind, he heard a voice calling out to him. When he turned around, he saw Giwoo and Yeseul.

“Do you have some time?”

It was Yeseul who spoke first. However, Maru could see that it was Giwoo, standing a step behind Yeseul, who urged Yeseul to speak to him.

“What for?”

“Uhm, Giwoo told me that asking you will help quite a lot.”

“Help?”

Maru looked at Giwoo standing behind her.

“You were of big help during Apgu as well. I was reminded of that time.”

He understood what this was about now. Maru looked at Yeseul.

“I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t know how a girl thinks on the inside.”

“I knew it, huh.”

Yeseul sighed. Maru looked at the staff members standing behind the two. Since he had experience being a background actor, he knew how stressful it was for the staff when the shoot kept getting delayed. Maru was reminded of producer Park Hoon’s tired face. It wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed at any moment due to exhaustion.

“Let me ask you something.”

“Huh?”

“What do you think of Giwoo?”

“Giwoo? Why do you ask?”

“Do you like him?”

“N-no.”

“Then are you awkward around him?”

“No, that’s not it either.”

“Then there’s only one thing you can try out here. Would you like to try? I can’t guarantee that it will be effective though.”

Yeseul nodded. Maru waved at Giwoo.

“Stand face to face.”

“Like this?”

Yeseul looked at Giwoo. Giwoo also looked at Yeseul.

“Try hugging each other.”

“What?”

Yeseul took a step back as though she thought that this was nonsensical. Giwoo looked like he didn’t care.

“If you can’t do it through acting, what else can you do other than make yourself actually feel affection? I heard that skin-to-skin contact is good for raising emotional intimacy. That’s all I can say to you. Whether you try or not, it’s up to you. But bear in mind that the director’s expression does not look good right now.”

He told them to work hard before turning around. Maru predicted that the two would try hugging. What could they do about it? Time was ticking after all.

‘Rather than that, Kang Giwoo, that guy, I really like him.’

He asked for help wherever possible in order to escape a disadvantageous situation. Maru wanted to applaud him when he acted like this had nothing to do with him. He really liked this guy. So much in fact, that he felt angry.

Maybe this was a likes repel scenario? Maru clicked his tongue.

He felt like he would never be able to get close to that guy, ever.