When Kim Seunghun turned his body toward the direction where he’d heard his name, he saw cinematographer Park Jinsu.
“You’re here now? You suddenly disappeared, so you really startled me.”
“Ah… yes. Haha.”
Kim Seunghun scratched the back of his head as if he felt awkward.
“Tsk, but because of that foreign actor in there… well… wasn’t there something like that? When I saw that guy earlier, he was kind of aggressive.”
“Yes?”
Kim Seunghun asked Park Jinsu with a curious look on his face.
“Don’t act like you don’t know. That guy said it. That you’re where you are because of your looks. Don’t get swayed by that kind of nonsense.”
“…”
Kim Seunghun smiled brightly at Park Jinsu’s words and nodded.
“You can drink, can’t you? You could soak him in alcohol once… ah, no. Would it be a bit much to land a blow like that over something like this?”
Park Jinsu gave a big “heh-heh” laugh at what he’d just said and poked Kim Seunghun in the side.
“Anyway. Let’s go in. Don’t get intimidated. If it comes to it, soak him in alcohol. I’ll help you, hah!”
Kim Seunghun gave a snort of a laugh as he watched Park Jinsu’s back going in through the door.
The atmosphere of Gyeong Chanhyeon’s crew was the same as ever.
As if they were meeting after a long time, conversations bloomed at each table and made a noisy bustle, and seeing that, Kim Seunghun naturally smiled.
“Oh! Hyung! Here! Here!”
From a table where Gyeong Chanhyeon was sitting alone with Andrew, Gyeong Chanhyeon waved and called Kim Seunghun loudly.
Kim Seunghun glanced at Andrew once and frowned slightly, but then he put on a bright smile and joined them.
“Haha…”
Gyeong Chanhyeon wore an awkward smile as he looked back and forth between the two, but they only stared at their glasses without saying anything.
“At times like this, you’ve got to get a little alcohol in you and then talk, right? Haha.”
When Gyeong Chanhyeon grabbed the soju bottle and poured a glass for each of them, Kim Seunghun showed a faint smile.
With the filming of Space Vagabond approaching, he’d thought he needed stricter management, so he’d barely even put alcohol to his lips.
At the sight of soju’s radiant figure after a long time, Kim Seunghun swallowed and took the glass.
Then, after clinking glasses, he poured it into his mouth.
As if he meant to feel even a single drop of soju, Kim Seunghun held it in his mouth for a moment, then swallowed carefully.
“Khh… as expected.”
“You like it that much?”
When Gyeong Chanhyeon asked, Kim Seunghun nodded repeatedly.
“Of course, you punk. Do you know how long it’s been since I drank? Because of Space Vagabond, I’ve been properly controlling my diet these days too. Today I’m drinking because I can’t help it. Since it’s been a while, I’m going to drink like crazy and leave. Don’t stop me.”
“Ah…?”
Gyeong Chanhyeon looked flustered as he saw Kim Seunghun’s eyes gleaming.
The day after, when they’d drunk at Gyeong Chanhyeon’s house saying he’d reconcile Lee Jeongu and Kim Seunghun when they were filming Night.
The hangover he’d gone through then was the worst hangover of his entire life.
Most of the credit for that hangover belonged to Lee Jeongu’s Captain Q, but Kim Seunghun’s share had been pretty big too.
“Uh…”
Andrew, beside them, saw Gyeong Chanhyeon making a strange expression and frowned as he asked,
“What did he say?”
“Ah, Andrew. Sorry. Haha. I’ll say it in English now.”
When Kim Seunghun spoke with fluent pronunciation, Andrew took a sip of the beer beside him.
“Yeah.”
A short, heavy answer.
Feeling a huge wall in Andrew’s reply, Kim Seunghun glanced once at Gyeong Chanhyeon.
Then Gyeong Chanhyeon started rambling.
“Well… what should we talk about? Haha… Like movies we’ve watched that were fun, or… dramas, music, songs, uh… ah, since you’re British, Premier League…?”
At that, Kim Seunghun snorted a laugh and said to him,
“Hey, Chanhyeon. Just go somewhere else. I think it’d be better if we talk among ourselves.”
“What?”
“You look really anxious right now. We’re grown adults, are we going to get into a fistfight or something? I’ll handle it through conversation, so go somewhere else.”
“…Alright.”
Gyeong Chanhyeon, still uneasy, looked at Andrew and Kim Seunghun once, then moved his seat near Lee Junseong.
Watching that, Kim Seunghun gave a small snort of a laugh and spoke to Andrew.
“Andrew.”
“Yeah.”
“Do you have some kind of complaint about me? We haven’t even known each other that long.”
At Kim Seunghun’s blunt question, Andrew tried to pour soju into the glass in front of him.
“Ah, in our country, normally the person sitting in front pours for you.”
Kim Seunghun snatched the soju bottle from Andrew’s hand and filled Andrew’s glass to the brim.
“I’m pouring it full, with the meaning of respect. Haha.”
Kim Seunghun smiled affably and showed off a “liquor-way” technique using surface tension.
Watching that, Andrew asked as if it was strange.
“Huh? Earlier Director Gyeong wasn’t pouring like this.”
“Chanhyeon must not rate you that highly.”
“Khem.”
After clearing his throat once, Andrew poured soju for Kim Seunghun.
The amount was half.
Seeing that, Kim Seunghun wore an uneasy smile.
“The feelings I have about you are exactly about this much. What you filled for me wasn’t respect—it was just manners.”
“Haha.”
“I’ve seen all the movies you were in.”
“Yes?”
Kim Seunghun’s eyes widened, startled by Andrew’s unexpected words.
“You can’t act. Except for Director Gyeong’s movies, it’s all trash.”
“…”
“The acting you showed in Night was acting Director Gyeong made for you, right? Can you really say you did it?”
Andrew stared at Kim Seunghun and continued.
“Have you ever done theater?”
“No.”
As if he’d expected it, Andrew smiled like he was mocking him and said,
“I don’t treat an actor who hasn’t even done theater as an actor. Especially with your acting, rookie stench is wafting off you. A rookie like that gets to star in films with popularity earned from his face. Should I look on that kindly?”
Rookie.
Kim Seunghun’s acting career had passed ten years, but it was a word he hadn’t heard since right after his debut, so his brow furrowed.
“It’s not popularity earned just from my face. And my acting—”
“Sure, fine. My judgment could be wrong. But however the process went, your acting, to me, is just not good. Director Gyeong seems to like it, but it’s to the point that it’s shameful to be a fellow actor. That ‘Park Junsik’ guy who led another of Director Gyeong’s films is far better.”
Andrew frowned as he emptied the glass that had been filled again.
“But my acting has never caused a problem in a movie.”
“You probably only did acting you’re good at. Have you ever even thought about your acting spectrum?”
“…”
Andrew’s words struck bone.
At that, Kim Seunghun lost his words for a moment.
When he thought about the roles he’d taken so far, they were consistent roles.
Roles that highlighted the character’s charm, with the core being that he was handsome.
At the thought that even Space Vagabond might, in the end, have been chosen because being handsome was what mattered, Kim Seunghun’s lower eyelids trembled.
“An actor that doesn’t even worry about his acting? And he only builds his body and polishes his face to dress up his outer appearance? You’re wrong from your basic attitude as an actor.”
“But acting is something shown to people in the end, isn’t it? Then shouldn’t looks be something you have as a baseline?”
“You do need looks as a baseline. But for you, that seems more important than acting. Ha, then just shoot commercials. Why act? With your popularity, you’d get countless ad offers. Just build your body a bit and do clothing ads too and put on some family-man smile and do fridge commercials.”
“…”
Maybe because of all the soju he’d been pounding, Andrew continued with his eyes slightly unfocused.
“I hate it. Actors as handsome as you trusting their face and acting. The seats you stole. Huh? Those seats are so damn regretful to me!”
“What?”
“…”
Andrew kept drinking the glass in front of him in silence, again and again.
“So what you want to say is, like you said before, that I’m an actor whose only value is my face?”
“That’s right. Imagine your face looked like mine. Do you think you’d have been in that position?”
Kim Seunghun frowned at Andrew, who looked extremely drunk.
Now it didn’t feel like a conversation, but like he was just receiving Andrew’s drunken rant.
Maybe because that rant was irritating, the drunkenness didn’t rise easily.
Rather, it felt like he was sobering up, and Kim Seunghun frowned as he spoke.
“Then what, should I quit Space Vagabond right now and go to a theater stage? I’ve been doing things this way the whole time, and audiences were satisfied with my acting. Isn’t that enough!”
“Audiences? Ha, most of them were satisfied, sure. But was that satisfaction with your acting? Or satisfaction with your face?”
“…”
Andrew drank again. Because he’d been pounding drinks one after another during the short exchange, the number of bottles piled beside them was far greater than at other tables.
“It’s not your acting benefitting from your face. Your acting should be making your face benefit.”
“…”
“If you looked like me? My face has to be behind damn CG, but your face comes out on the screen as is. What a damn world. There are things that can’t be done by ability alone. Ha…”
Andrew spoke hollowly as he looked at the empty bottles.
“Damn it. I emptied it again already.”
“I’ll go get more.”
“No. I’ll get it.”
Leaning his arm on the table as if heavily drunk, Andrew barely pushed himself up.
“Guhh… hoo…”
With eyes completely loosened, Andrew took one laborious step at a time.
As people around him looked at him with worried eyes, Andrew frowned.
Maybe because he was drunk, their looks left him feeling unpleasant.
“What are you looking at! Damn it…”
The things he’d just said to Kim Seunghun.
Could it be him venting about the memories of having roles stolen?
That thought settled deep inside his heart.
But he shook his head, trying to erase those thoughts.
“Ah, are you okay?”
Park Jinsu wrapped an arm around Andrew’s shoulder as Andrew walked like he was about to collapse.
“Get lost. I’m fine.”
“Uh… I can’t speak English. Uh…”
As Park Jinsu spoke with eyes wide and blank, Andrew gestured for him to go away and took out another bottle of soju.
Park Jinsu’s eyes as he watched that.
When that gaze bothered him, Andrew glared at Park Jinsu.
“Do I look pathetic?”
“…?”
“I’m asking if I look pathetic! You bastard!”
(T/N: *cough* Yes.)
The atmosphere suddenly went quiet.
In that atmosphere, everyone in the bar looked at Andrew and Park Jinsu.
Park Jinsu, flustered, smiled awkwardly at the people around him and spoke in Korean, but Andrew couldn’t understand.
Then Gyeong Chanhyeon ran over quickly.
“Andrew. Are you okay?”
“I’m asking if I look pathetic! Damn it!”
With a soju bottle in one hand, Andrew shouted at Gyeong Chanhyeon.
He did not think he was pathetic.
He had to think that way for the misery to lessen, even if only a little.
The moment even he himself thought his own state was pathetic.
From then on, he would become truly pathetic.
That was what he believed.
After shouting loudly, maybe because it exhausted him, Andrew set the soju bottle down, placed both hands on his thighs, and panted heavily.
“Uh… this is not good…”
No sooner had Gyeong Chanhyeon finished speaking…
A waterfall burst from Andrew’s mouth.
T/N: There’s not much drama in Chanhyeon’s life that they felt the need to add a character that’s so unhinged (depressed alcoholic)… I don’t care for Andrew, but I’m hoping for character growth.
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