Woojin was trying his best to get to know each and every crew member, since he was not working alone, but it was hard for him to approach the main leads. This was because rushing to become closely acquainted or trying to be too friendly with celebrities could lead to misunderstandings. For a rookie like Woojin, he was in a position where he could not approach these celebrities unless they approached him first. However, now that it was plain and obvious that Kwon Sungmin did not like him, he could not even talk to the latter easily.

“It’s hard,” Woojin said to himself. As he could not mess up his hair that had just been styled, he wriggled his fingers instead in a bid to straighten out his messy thoughts. Bad memories of the past suddenly flooded his mind, making him feel helpless.

When he was a trainee, he had lived in a dorm with the rest of the group he was a part of, who were preparing for their debut. They were obviously good friends, and so there were no issues at first. However, from a certain point onward, they started to bully Woojin, instigated by the leader of the group. Later on, it became much more than just sarcastic remarks. They had even beaten him up as a group, targeting areas on his body that were not visible, so naturally his face was spared from all the beatings.

Even though they had recorded an album together, Woojin was excluded from the group. When the group finally made their debut without him, the discord among them was so intense that he felt relief instead of bitterness. Even up until today, he did not have any lingering attachment to the group or the agency. He had no regrets.

Perhaps because of that experience, in spite of the current uncomfortable ambience, he was used to it and it did not hurt his feelings. He had been hurt and betrayed by his close friends, and so, even though it might have been uncomfortable, the hostility from other people he was not well-acquainted with did not affect him.

Woojin returned to his normal self shortly after, leaning back against the chair and closing his eyes. Perhaps having such boundaries was not a bad thing. In the case of one-sided, unrequited love, it would be strange if two men who were fighting over the same woman had positive feelings toward each other. He still lacked the skill and experience to completely disconnect real-life emotions when he was acting, so it might be a good thing. As he thought about it that way, he started to feel more at ease.

Director Choi, who had pulled Kwon Sungmin aside for a chat, lit up a cigarette as soon as he sat down without asking the latter if he was okay with it. He tried offering Kwon Sungmin a cigarette, knowing that he was a heavy smoker, but Kwon Sungmin rejected him and smoked his own cigarette instead.

Being the straightforward person that he was, Director Choi asked Kwon Sungmin directly, “Park 

Jihyuk

 is evidently not a character who is jealous of Cha Hyunseung, so why are you acting like this?”

Today’s shoot had begun with Na Miyeon feeling sick, causing her to miss her classes for a couple of days. Cha Hyunseung could not hold himself back and decided to visit the studio apartment she resided in. Park Jihyuk then found out about Cha Hyunseung’s feelings for Na Miyeon when he got there. However, the immature Park Jihyuk did not know what jealousy was. He felt he did not need to be mindful of an insignificant teaching assistant who could not even be compared to himself.

“Did you fall for Miyeon? Well, it’s not surprising, because she’s a lovely girl.”

That line should have conveyed the pride Park Jihyuk had for the woman he loved, as well as sympathy for Cha Hyunseung, along with the unfathomable question of ‘Why do you love a girl whom you cannot covet anyway?’. But today, Kwon Sungmin had chosen to vent his jealousy, annoyance, and contempt on Cha Hyunseung instead.

“What kind of man is crazy enough to leave the guy who likes his girl alone?” asked Kwon Sungmin.

“Park 

Jihyuk

 is that kind of crazy man. Ordinary flowers are just weeds compared to the finest flowers in a garden. Don’t you think it’s weird to say that those beautiful flowers would be jealous of weeds?” asked Director Choi.

“In this case, we’re not talking about flowers but men, so it makes sense,” said Kwon Sungmin, expressing his discontent with Director Choi for making him repeat the same scene continuously. His voice seemed to carry an aggrieved tone.

“You clearly told us previously that we could portray our characters according to our own interpretation of them. But why can’t I do it when it’s okay for Chae Woojin to portray Cha Hyunseung in his own way? Cha Hyunseung has deviated from the script and is a completely different character now. He’s now the one setting the mood. Why can’t I do that? Why are you only targeting me?!” complained Kwon Sungmin.

“In order to do that, you should have portrayed the character like that from the get go!” snapped Director Choi, who was filled with a rage that appeared out of the blue. “Do you know what you’re doing right now? Your character’s personality is becoming inconsistent! Who’s going to be able to understand why Park Jihyuk snapped at Cha Hyunseung all of a sudden? I made it clear to all of you to study your own character in depth before acting them out. Besides, don’t you know that today’s scene is the best opportunity for you to show the audience what kind of person Park Jihyuk is like?”

Park Jihyuk was someone who was not considerate or understanding towards other people. He hurt Cha Hyunseung with his thoughtless and immature behavior, but he himself was unaware of the hurt he was inflicting on others. That was why he was such a cruel person, even though he was always high-spirited and endearing.

“I know! But if I stick to the original plan and portray him like this, I’ll end up becoming a villain. Should I not do anything about it?”

This was what Kwon Sungmin was concerned about. When the main lead turned into a villain from a certain point onward, the separation between ideals and reality was unbearable. If things had gone according to plan today, Cha Hyunseung would be in a foul mood as he loitered around in front of Na Miyeon’s house on a rainy day, where he would bump into Park 

Jihyuk

 wearing a uniquely innocent smile on his face. Cha Hyunseung, who felt inferior to Park Jihyuk, would have had to portray a much darker and more withdrawn image.

However, since Cha Hyunseung’s disposition had changed, Park Jihyuk’s child-like cruelty became more and more prominent, while Cha Hyunseung became more and more sad and heartbroken.

“That’s because you’re bad at acting,” replied Director Choi.

“I’m sorry?” Kwon Sungmin burst out laughing at Director Choi’s blunt words, which sounded absurd to him. Even though he was not a great actor, he had never heard anybody say that he could not act.

“You’ve been acting this way ever since you took a look at the scene we shot on the monitor yesterday. What do you think of it? Your character, Park Jihyuk, was so mean and immature that you wanted to punch him, right?” asked Director Choi.

What Director Choi said was true, so Kwon Sungmin kept his mouth shut and simply glared. Although Park Jihyuk was an immature person, he was not a detestable person. However, Kwon Sungmin had been portraying him in that light for some time.

Director Choi continued, “That’s why I made you repeat the scene a couple of times and pointed out your mistakes, but you didn’t listen at all. So, I decided to move on, thinking that was the version of Park Jihyuk you wanted. Now that you’ve personally seen it yourself, you regret it, right? But what can you do? It’s already too late. You want us to abandon all the scenes we’ve already shot and redo everything because of you? The bottom line is that I don’t want to do so.”

Director Choi had already pointed out Kwon Sungmin’s mistakes. He had made him repeat the scenes and shown him the videos. He had clearly asked Kwon Sungmin a few days ago if he thought that the character was being a little detestable. However, Kwon Sungmin had refused to acknowledge it. He had insisted that he was portraying the character correctly, and that Park Jihyuk was not detestable, just immature. Thus, he had ignored everything Director Choi said.

And then yesterday, when he was in the same frame as Cha Hyunseung, he realized his mistake. Cha Hyunseung ended up having a pure and sad image, while Park Jihyuk was gradually degenerating into an unlikable, immature young master.

“Regardless of whether he’s miserable or not, Park Jihyuk is a pure and reckless person. He would never look like a villain if you expressed that well. Besides, Cha Hyunseung is a bystander who has a one-sided crush on the female lead. His affection has no effect on the love between the two main leads. All you have to do is to portray the love between the two main characters; the type of pure, immature, and beautiful love one has in one’s twenties. However, you’re trying to insert Cha Hyunseung into the love between the two characters! That’s just not it,” Director Choi explained.

In truth, even though Kwon Sungmin was not good at acting, he also had a tendency to get caught up in Cha Hyunseung’s feelings. Cha Hyunseung was a person that Park Jihyuk did not care about, but Kwon Sungmin, who played Park Jihyuk, was constantly conscious of Cha Hyunseung.

That posed a problem. It should have ended with Cha Hyunseung being a person who observed them from the perspective of a bystander. In other words, it meant that regardless of how much Cha Hyunseung loved Na Miyeon, his emotions should not have affected the main leads’ emotions. However, Kwon Sungmin was trying to put him in center stage.

“He may be spiteful or immature, but Park Jihyuk isn’t someone who would be jealous or hostile toward Cha Hyunseung. That’s because he doesn’t feel the need to. He’s very confident of himself and Na Miyeon’s love for him. In a sense, he’s a steadfast person who doesn’t waver. That’s the gist of this movie! You said you didn’t want to be a villain, but should Park Jihyuk become a loser instead? Well, I think you’ve already taken a step forward in that direction.”

Director Choi sighed and asked if Kwon Sungmin wanted to portray the loser now that Cha Hyunseung was no longer one. Since the genre of the movie was not as exciting as action movies or horror thrillers, the buildup of the characters’ emotions was the most important aspect of the movie. Even if there was only one slip-up, it would be highly risky in the sense that the content could go in an entirely different direction, achieving an undesired outcome.

“Stay focused. If the main lead doesn’t exude any charm, ultimately, doesn’t that mean that you’re bad at acting? But if your character’s behavior becomes inconsistent, it’ll be over for you. I noticed that the actors who fall into a slump after acting in a G&C romance film are the ones who displayed bad acting. No matter how much you hate the role or don’t want to be in the movie, as an actor, you have to act well first. If an actor does a good job and the movie becomes a flop, the director and writers will be criticized. If an actor is bad at acting, I don’t have to tell you what will happen, right?”

Director Choi stood up from his seat after putting out the cigarette, saying, “Take some time to cool off a little before coming out.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll go with you,” said Kwon Sungmin.

As Kwon Sungmin stood up at the same time, Director Choi noticed that the look in his eyes had become much calmer. Hence, he nodded without saying anything more. Even after they arrived on set, he did not start shooting immediately. He gave Kwon Sungmin a little more time, using the excuse that the latter should fix his wet hair and smudged makeup.

He had kept telling Kwon Sungmin off for his poor acting, but compared to other actors in his age group, the latter had good sense and was rather smart. It was not easy to be that successful at such a young age. If he understood where he went wrong and was also given the opportunity to rectify it, he would do a good job that would not fall short of expectations.

As Director Choi gave the cinematographer and the sound supervisor instructions, he glanced over at Chae Woojin, who had already gotten into character. The latter was now Cha Hyunseung. With a graceful posture and a sullen look on his face, and not forgetting his half-closed eyes, he looked as though he had something on his mind. Woojin’s version of Cha Hyunseung was as clean-cut and beautiful as always.

Although Woojin’s appearance was very unique, the overall vibe he gave off was different from the other actors in general. Hence, when he started acting, he became a much more charismatic and beautiful person compared to the original character. Director Choi had not made a judgment on whether that was good or bad for Woojin as an actor.

Woojin had both skills and looks, so if he ever chanced upon a good opportunity, he would have a bright future. However, it was important for him to know how to navigate sudden success at such a young age. Hence, what kind of actor he would end up becoming was solely dependent on himself. 

Before he realized it, Director Choi had already approached Woojin and stood in front of the latter, looking at him. Sensing his presence, Woojin slowly lifted his head and looked at Director Choi. It was almost as if Woojin had been possessed by Cha Hyunseung. Not wanting him to break character, Director Choi nodded instead of telling him that they were about to start shooting.