"A word in front of my name?"
The confusion on PD Choi's face was plain.
A modifier in front of a name was not something PD Choi had ever imagined.
"Yes. After all the cast introductions are done, right at the end."
PD Choi ground his cigarette out quickly, took out his phone and opened the notes app.
The cast names were listed down the screen.
......
[Eun Tae-il]
[Lee Hui-seong]
......
The two actors' names sat near the end, wedged in among the rest of the cast.
"Move Tae-il to the last position and......"
"......"
"And if I put 'And' in front of Eun Tae-il here...... it can't overlap with another cast member either......"
PD Choi's fingers moved busily.
......
[Lee Hui-seong]
......
[And, Eun Tae-il]
Looking at the changed order, PD Choi let out a small sound.
Done this way, the Eun Tae-il who came last would stand out more than the actors before him.
'He's given up the order itself, so the other side has no grounds to object either. Huh...... was Eun Tae-il this clever?'
The corner of PD Choi's eye moved slightly.
If it had been a proposal that pushed other people down, like somebody else's, he would have refused, and there seemed to be no such intent in it.
Which made him more curious still.
"It's a good proposal. But...... as the episodes go on, the titles that air get shorter. The introduction of Tae-il at the very end will be the first thing cut."
"I know."
"Wouldn't it be better not to change the order at all?"
What Eun Tae-il's real intention was.
Tae-il did not avoid PD Choi's eyes on him.
'He means it looks good on the surface but the intent is suspect. Short career, and careful with it.'
At times like these, Tae-il knew, straight through the front was better.
Meeting PD Choi's eyes, Tae-il answered in a calm tone.
"Being cut is fine."
"It's fine?"
"The titles do their job as a first impression, that's all. What matters is how I make my case inside the production."
PD Choi said nothing.
It meant that the titles matter, but he attaches no more meaning to them than that.
'Eun Tae-il doesn't even see something like Lee Hui-seong.'
He was nothing like Lee Hui-seong, who kept his eye on Eun Tae-il and tried to get in his way.
Looking steadily at Tae-il, PD Choi nodded, as though he had decided something.
"Understood. We'll do it the way you say, Eun Tae-il."
"Thank you, PD Choi."
"......And."
PD Choi took a step closer to Tae-il.
'If you need anything during the shoot, tell me any time.'
PD Choi turned away from Tae-il and headed for Lee Hui-seong.
Lee Hui-seong, who had been watching the conversation between PD Choi and Tae-il, crowed inwardly and glanced over at him.
'He's delighted. Tsk......'
What that face would look like once episode 1 aired.
Tae-il turned his head, as though it were all too much trouble.
"Senior Tae-il."
A woman's voice came from beside him, with a sweet smell of perfume.
Tae-il lowered his script and met her eyes.
"Hye-in."
"Still that cold way of talking. Well, that's our senior's charm, I suppose."
Yu Hye-in, just finished with the poster shoot, stretched and stood beside Tae-il.
"Wow, the waiting is ages...... Are you still not up, senior?"
"Mine's going to be longer."
"Really? But......"
Yu Hye-in looked at Tae-il reading his script and tilted her head.
'That oppa really does live with a script in his hands.'
She could tell at a glance which page the scenes he acted in were on.
Unlike the other pages, some of them were worn ragged and black with notes.
Yu Hye-in, who had come over to Tae-il out of boredom, worked her mouth and took out her phone.
'They say Yu Hye-in is addicted to social media. Impressive.'
Watching her hold the phone up high and run detailed edits on the result, a laugh came out of him.
It was not on the same level as his own use of social media for publicity.
"Oppa. Let's take one together."
"I've got portrait rights."
"That's why I'm asking permission. I won't post it, I'll just keep it."
She grumbled, and Yu Hye-in understood.
Actors are people who cannot help being sensitive about photographs.
Just then.
"Thank you, everyone."
Lee Hui-seong, who had just finished his own poster shoot, was heading this way.
'Shall I scratch at him a little too?'
In that instant, mischief came into Tae-il's eyes.
"All right. Let's take it."
"......Eh? Really?"
"But I'm putting it on my social media. And him with us. Stand-in maa-an!"
Tae-il waved playfully, and Lee Hui-seong's eyes turned vicious in a flash.
But when he saw Yu Hye-in standing beside Tae-il, the anger went out of his face fast.
"T-Tae-il. That joke's gone too far. Haha."
Watching Lee Hui-seong force a smile, Tae-il clicked his tongue.
'Living a tiring life. Tsk, tsk.'
Lee Hui-seong's manner with women and with men was night and day.
The Lee Hui-seong in Eun Tae-il's memory was that sort of creature.
And Eun Tae-il had despised him openly for it.
"Hello, senior."
At Yu Hye-in's correct greeting, Lee Hui-seong's eyes curved.
"Hello, Hye-in. Did the shoot go well?"
"Yes, senior."
Because of Yu Hye-in, Lee Hui-seong was forcing a smile.
While the awkward greetings went back and forth, Tae-il cut in.
"Senior. Let's take a photo together."
"Wh-why would I take a photo......"
"Yes, let's!"
Lee Hui-seong, about to refuse, was pushed by Yu Hye-in's words into arranging his face.
"Seniors, I'm taking it. One, two."
Click—
He would rather not be in the same frame as this man, and Yu Hye-in was hard to refuse.
"Thank you, senior."
"Y-yes."
Having found himself in Yu Hye-in's selfie, Lee Hui-seong went back with a blank face.
After he left, Yu Hye-in looked at the result and worked her eyes.
"Senior. I'm...... really sending this."
"Yes. Why?"
At Tae-il's question Yu Hye-in shook her head side to side.
"Ugh...... give me a second. My face came out bigger than yours!"
"Did it? I can't tell."
"Ahh...... I should have stood further back."
After edits far more careful than the ones on the selfies she usually posted, Yu Hye-in sent the photo to Tae-il.
And Tae-il uploaded it to social media straight away.
"Oppa. But this senior......"
"What?"
"Nothing. It's just...... he seems to take a selfie like it's a photo spread."
Yu Hye-in could not bring herself to say it in the end.
That Tae-il, arranging his expression naturally, caught the eye far more than a Lee Hui-seong pulling a photo-spread face.
***
Only long after the shoot had started could Tae-il get into the poster session.
"Eun Tae-il. Look this way. One, two."
Click—
Tae-il thought of Do-hwan and held his poses.
A version with the tie on and a version with it loosened, a version with the front open and a version buttoned to the neck.
All of them things he had thought of while playing the character of Do-hwan.
"......I've got nothing to say. You hold the pose, I'll just press the shutter."
Click— Click—
The time given him was not long, and the shutter went harder than ever.
After the individual session, it was time for the group poster.
Kang Seong-jin and Yu Hye-in stood in the middle, with two supporting actors of near-lead weight on either side.
"CP Seong, good morning!"
CP Seong answered the actors' greeting with one hand, looked at the monitor and tilted his head.
"Hm...... PD Choi. This is a bit empty, isn't it?"
"It looks that way to me too."
"Think about it. What should we do?"
PD Choi thought for a moment, then turned his eyes.
"Eun Tae-il."
At PD Choi's call, Tae-il, at the back, raised a hand.
"Yes, PD Choi."
"Would you come out and stand on the end?"
The other actors, Lee Hui-seong watching in particular, wrinkled their noses.
When Tae-il came forward, Kang Seong-jin smiled.
"Hyung. Feels like I haven't seen you in ages."
Tae-il smiled without speaking and stood beside a handsome actor holding a brush.
He could hear the man's dissatisfied grumbling, and Tae-il did not react.
'By the original storyboard, Do-hwan isn't a character who'd hang on the main image.'
The cut they were taking now was the poster that would go on all the publicity material and the homepage's front page.
It was a chance to tell people he was in this production.
Standing beside the handsome actor holding the brush and wearing a pleased smile, Tae-il turned his eyes toward Kang Seong-jin.
With a cold look, and a complicated feeling loaded into it.
'......Good sense. He knew at once what was needed.'
CP Seong checked the result and patted PD Choi's shoulder.
"Okay. Thank you, everyone."
With PD Choi's declaration, the poster shoot wrapped.
The next day, the title-sequence shoot finished too, and a modest dinner followed.
Sizzzz—
He did not forget the good sense of turning the meat over when it was done enough.
"Well now, I get to eat meat grilled by Eun Tae-il."
CP Seong, his face gone ruddy, offered him a glass.
Matching the mood as well as anyone, Tae-il grilled away.
The tables laid out in a long row held crew and actors enjoying the dinner.
Unlike the production team enjoying the noise, Writer Shin was tipping her glass quietly and looking at her phone.
"Writer Shin."
When Tae-il put a well-grilled piece down for her, she snorted and beckoned him over.
"Tae-il. Have you seen this?"
Writer Shin, working her chopsticks, pushed her phone toward Tae-il.
On it was the selfie Tae-il had put up with Lee Hui-seong and Yu Hye-in, and people's reactions to it.
-wow...... Eun Tae-il's face is something
-who's that next to him?
-insane, the face restaurant is open
-Lee Hui-seong is handsome in person. why does he look like this here?
-Eun Tae-il seems to hate Lee Hui-seong. did he frame it like this on purpose?
-don't twist it. if anything Lee Hui-seong is the one pulling every trick.
-lolololol the Lee Hui-seong squid theory
-he's been squidded standing next to Eun Tae-il
-still a squid as pretty as a flower though
-so a flower-squid?
-insane lolololol flower-squid lololololololol
-nobody's saying a word about Hye-in unni lolololol
-Hye-in unni is beautiful!
-you lot all came for Eun Tae-il's face, we know.
-(flinch)
Writer Shin lifted her glass and shook her head.
"A flower-squid. Now I've got a headache. How am I supposed to give lines to a boy people are calling a squid."
"I'm sorry."
"I'm not after an apology. You won't have meant it either, Tae-il. Just be careful from here."
Something called a conscience moved faintly in him, and then Tae-il nodded.
Looking at Lee Hui-seong sitting at the far end, his face was set hard, as though he had chewed on something foul.
'Lee Hui-seong got a talking-to from Writer Shin, I hear? For wrecking the image.'
'It's a flower boy concept and he's being called a flower-squid......'
'He took a beating from Eun Tae-il's face. Ugh......'
The other handsome male actors were glancing at Tae-il and avoiding his eyes.
When Tae-il lifted his glass and moved to stand, there were some who quietly got out of the way.
"Hyung. Sit over here."
At Kang Seong-jin's invitation, Tae-il sat.
Whoever reacted however, Tae-il simply enjoyed the dinner.
***
Two days after the dinner.
It was the day of the last shoot for episodes 3 and 4.
That day too, Tae-il opened his eyes before dawn and headed for Yeouido, where the crew buses were.
He passed several buses and got onto the one with "Flower Boy......" written on it.
"Good morning."
The crew, who had once been awkward about Tae-il getting on, seemed used to it now, and raised their hands in welcome.
"Tae-il. Over here."
At the invitation of PD Choi, who was sitting alone, Tae-il took the seat across from him.
"We're moving out."
The AD finished his check and the bus pulled away.
"Tae-il. You've seen today's script, haven't you?"
"Yes. Is something wrong......?"
"Today's scene is rough, isn't it. Especially the...... you've been working hard on your image lately."
At PD Choi's worry, Tae-il opened his script as though it made no difference.
"It's fine. The abuse a villain takes is a decoration."
The script Tae-il had opened had the word "leash" written across it in large letters.