The atmosphere, already like a sheet of black ice, froze over even harder.
“…Did something go wrong? I did what you directed.”
It’s just that he had added his own interpretation.
However he chose to lie down on the bed, there hadn’t been any specific direction that far.
If the core of this concept was to love every space, shouldn’t the bed, too, be an object he can’t help but love?
Rowoon’s imagination knew no bounds; it reached outward infinitely.
That was the beginning.
‘The one I can face with total ease and with my guard down.’
The only beings who pour out love unconditionally and accept you without conditions are just one kind.
Your parents.
‘Of course, not in my case.’
Across both his past life and this one, he had no ties with family, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand this common perception.
Rowoon burrowed into the bed as if, laying down all his fatigue, he were seeking comfort by being coddled by his parents.
The soft, cozy bed wrapped him up as if to pat him and hug him, saying he’d done well.
He felt, at once, a solid reassurance and a snugness like something that would protect him from any hardship in the world.
After savoring that peace for a moment, he reached out his hand, in accordance with the boards.
And—
Click.
The light went out.
“Cut!”
The moment the cut sign sounded and the lights came back on—
Lee Jinmyeong called to Rowoon.
And he asked:
“How is it?”
By now, it was a question he was more than used to.
It seems to have come out just as I imagined.
Watching the playback, Rowoon thought.
Grinding through it in real time like a Spartan drill made the body tired, but it was rewarding: awkward or clumsy bits were corrected on the spot.
His back looked endlessly exhausted.
Yet the steps toward the bed, separately from that fatigue, showed his buoyant mood very well.
He seemed to perch lightly on the edge of the mattress, then immediately threw himself into the plush bedding.
Judging by the clothes and bag dropped here and there, he looked like a corporate drone worn down by office life, but the face smiling happily, buried in the bed, was different.
From the place where you can lay down all worldly hardship came a satisfaction that welled up through his whole body.
While enjoying that tranquility, he let out a deep sigh.
He hadn’t even changed clothes yet, but the bed was so restful and comfortable that you could really feel he couldn’t bring himself to get up.
At length, Rowoon’s long fingers tapped the lamp—just a flick.
And the lights went out, and the video ended.
I don’t even need to use the Discernment Eye for this.
If he did activate it now, it would surely blaze golden.
So Rowoon answered:
“Yes. I think it’s good.”
But Lee Jinmyeong’s reaction was anything but ordinary.
“Are you truly saying you like this? Truly? Honestly?”
He even asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.
“…Did something go wrong? I did what you directed.”
“No. You just put your story into this!”
That was true.
Between the cuts—the invisible thread of story—he had inserted his own reading.
With the raised voice and the director’s ominous reaction, a cold wind whistled through the set, which had already been tense.
“Um, Director, let’s not do this and just…”
The manager, who’d been watching with worried eyes, sidled closer.
The Taewoon staffer who’d been nervously watching from the side and Lee’s assistant also stepped in.
They’d clanked along but somehow made it to the very end.
To have a fight right before it was over—
Absolutely not.
I was wondering when it would blow.
Everyone was thinking the same thing as they watched the hair-trigger scene play out—
When Lee’s agitated voice rang through the set.
“How did you come up with such a genius idea!”
“…Pardon?”
The people approaching froze.
Even Rowoon, who’d heard it right in front of him, doubted his ears for a second.
Not that Lee cared.
Once his tongue was loosed, he was like a runaway train.
“Let me guess. Did you think of family?”
“Uh… yes.”
“Ha! That a resting space is as cozy as a family’s embrace. How on earth do you come up with that?”
It was strange.
It sounded like praise but said with his face flushed red and in a scolding tone, it felt more like getting chewed out than complimented.
“In that case we can broaden the target segments. From fresh graduates and young adults, all the way to middle-aged and older consumers whose hearts can be moved by the keyword ‘family’!”
He hadn’t thought anywhere near that deeply.
By chance, he’d stumbled into it.
“Just where did a person like you come from! If someone like you had been around, my babies would’ve already come out into the world and seen the light!”
“Uh… yes?”
“I suspected from the start something was up. To draw more perfection out of those perfect shots…Eeven seeing it with my own eyes, I still couldn’t believe it!”
…So that wasn’t calling him over to harass him?
“Uh, Director? I think you’re a bit too worked up… could you calm down for a moment…”
Now the assistant began trying to calm him for a different reason.
Even the manager who’d stepped in to break things up and the Taewoon staffer were standing there wearing looks that said “what on earth is he talking about?”
“…!”
Only then, perhaps realizing how it looked, Lee fell silent and froze.
The set began to creak again, this time for a different reason.
His face, already flushed, turned nearly explosive.
With a flustered face and wavering eyes, he hurriedly looked around.
Naturally, everyone was staring at him.
Mouths agape, at that.
“T-th-then… T-that’s it for today’s shoot!”
The same Lee who had been perfectly composed moments earlier blurted it out, creaking like a rusty hinge.
Then, before Rowoon could say anything back, he scuttled off the set.
“Director— Directorrr! You can’t just leave like thaaat!”
The assistant’s pitiful cry chased after him.
And then—
[The karma score has decreased by 20.]
Only the system alert chimed faintly through the air.
“Uh… thank you…?”
A belated thank-you drifted about the spot its owner had vacated.
“The assistant called. Says the director doesn’t hate you.”
On the way home after all the filming wrapped.
The person who’d cleaned up the hastily, haphazardly concluded set was the assistant, who’d returned late and alone.
He delivered the news in a somber voice: at this moment, Lee was standing at the crossroads of life and death.
If he were to die, the cause of death would likely be “death by embarrassment.”
“He said it’s the first time he’s ever seen the guy like that. Apparently, he’s got too much pride to say he likes something easily.”
The manager, who’d looked on the verge of tears on set, had long since reverted to a bright, beaming face.
It seemed he was very proud that the great director had lavished such praise on Rowoon in the vaunted Taewoon ad.
“Ha… what do we do with our great Rowoon? Getting praise like that on the almighty Taewoon spot. But seriously, that director—no matter how I think of it, it’s hilarious. He’s not going to be like that again at the next shoot too, right?”
The manager’s words came true.
On the day of the second concept, the second spot in the series—
“Hello.”
“…”
Once again, Rowoon faced a silent Lee Jinmyeong.
I mean, what’s the point of a blank face if your expression is still…
[The karma score has decreased by 5…]
[The karma score has……]
The repeatedly chiming decreases spoke on his behalf.
When Rowoon smiled faintly, the assistant, unable to bear it, jabbed Lee in the ribs.
“Hey, what are you doing, Director! You pulled an all-nighter for two days to prep today! If you can’t even say that to score some points and you act like this again—what are you doing!”
Rowoon chose to protect Lee’s privacy.
Instead, he asked what he was curious about.
“Two days?”
“No wonder the set looked so out of the ordinary…”
He’d been stunned by the massive studio and its meticulous setting the first day, but—
Today, the second shoot, went even further.
They’d built an entire set as if they’d moved a real home onto the stage.
“You really put your back into it.”
“Ugh, don’t even start. The director was on such a tear. He’s been here since two days ago, fixing exact placements, locking them in, moving them, fixing again. It was no joke. And since every last thing here is unreleased product, we couldn’t even touch anything. Those folks really suffered.”
When the manager nudged for info, the assistant poured out the tale like a vending machine.
Sure enough, as the assistant said, the fatigue draped over the faces of the Taewoon staff standing to the side looked no ordinary thing.
You could tell how hard Lee had ridden them while fussing over the displays.
“All right, then—take one!”
The real shooting began.
Unlike the previous session which everyone had mistaken for a power struggle between the overall director and the lead model, the vibe was different from the outset.
Now that everyone knew why the awkward clanking had happened, it helped.
Of course, there were constants.
He still doesn’t talk, huh?
Apart from directing, Lee still only said a few words to Rowoon.
—“Mr. Lee Rowoon.”
—“Come take a look.”
—“How does it seem?”
At first, he’d taken those short lines as passive-aggressive digs.
Well, that’s possible. Not everyone has to be talkative!
If the other person is quiet, you can fill the gap from your side.
And he doesn’t seem like some rigid, block-of-wood type anyway.
Even with the misunderstanding during the last shoot, Lee had praised him when he added his own interpretation.
In this field, there are plenty of directors who accept no input whatsoever, as if any opinion is a challenge to their authority.
But Lee was different.
He was delighted when Rowoon offered ideas.
“Director, for this section, what if we tried it like…”
Every time Rowoon started like that, Lee’s eyes would sparkle.
Granted, the replies that came back were as stingy as if words cost money.
But that didn’t matter.
[The karma score has…]
The system messages popping up in his stead were telling him Lee’s inner voice more accurately than anything.
Lee no longer felt difficult to Rowoon.
Though, for someone getting more comfortable, that clanking reaction of his is getting worse…
Maybe the mistake was trying to chat him up during the break to get closer.
“Director. You’re drinking coffee through your nose.”
“Cough, fwoop, cough!”
“I really don’t know what to do with him… In ten years together I’ve never seen him like this…”
“Hack! Hkek!”
“Anyway—Mr. Rowoon. Our CG team loves you. They say there’s nothing to fix. The product’s the star, not the actor in theory. But as it is, the actor’s about to become the star.”
“I didn’t do anything. It’s all because you shot it well.”
“What are you talking about? Do you know how much our director— Ow! Why are you hitting me!”
“Hack, cough— Don’t—say—what—no one—asked—water, water…!”
Lee’s creaking seemed to have gotten worse; Rowoon felt a pang of guilt.
Whether he’d truly swallowed wrong or was using water as an excuse to smack him, Lee’s palm kept thwacking the assistant’s back.
In any case, thanks to that the shoot time ran a bit long, but the shooting itself wrapped smoothly and safely.
With that second shoot done, the third session also came to a close.
At last, the entire shooting schedule was finished.
T/N: OMG this director is adorable. Haha
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