NUTMEG 16

“What should I do. It’s the first time I’ve liked every single take. Should we make a version for each movie? Huh? What do you think, assistant director.”

In the end, filming wrapped up as it neared 2 a.m. Wonoh, who was laughing at the assistant director snapping, “Are you crazy?” at Director Lim’s gleeful words, lightly tapped Minje’s shoulder. Minje, who was standing with his weight on one leg, swayed slightly, and Wonoh said, “Whoops,” and grabbed Minje’s arm. Minje wordlessly held up his reddened wrist right in front of his face. Wonoh just giggled when he saw the wrist. Minje laughed along with him.

Even after arriving at the costume room to change, Minje remained seated on the sofa, still immersed in the afterglow. He felt that if he took off the costume, the feeling would disappear, so he wanted to stay like this for a little longer. Belatedly, Wonoh came in, opening the door with his shoulder as he took off his costume. He blankly watched him pull off his t-shirt by grabbing it from the nape of his neck, then felt inexplicably sad and lowered his gaze.

Just then, his vision was suddenly filled with flesh tones. Surprised, he raised his head, and a sculpted, finely chiseled muscular torso came into view. Every time Wonoh exhaled, his perfectly defined abs tensed and relaxed with a soft breath. He smiled and said, “Sleepy?” then quickly put on the t-shirt and plaid shirt he had seen in the morning. After putting on his bag, he turned his head back towards Minje.

“Hyung. Today was really fun.”

When Minje just blinked, unable to respond to his words right away, Wonoh said it one more time. “I want to act with you again soon, hyung.” Only then did Minje reply.

“Me too, it was fun.”

After changing out of his costume with a light heart, he found Wonoh, who had left a good while earlier, being held up by the making-of team in front of the set. The on-site making-of team followed Wonoh around so annoyingly, and it was always nerve-wracking because you never knew where or when they had the camera on. This time too, it seemed they had waited for Wonoh after filming ended and then followed him. He tried to pass by, glancing over, but Wonoh’s words were faster.

“Minje hyung, let’s film this together.”

“Huh?”

“We filmed our first fight scene today. I think it came out brutally well. How was it for you, hyung?”

As he stood awkwardly beside him, Wonoh naturally took Minje’s arm and pulled him closer. On set, even when he was resting, he would sometimes raise his head and see the making-of camera filming him from over there. He had had similar behind-the-scenes cameras during his idol days, but being filmed for over a month straight was quite exhausting.

“Wonoh led me well, so…”

“It’s because you’re a good actor, hyung, so I’m always learning.”

“That’s really not true.”

“Hyung, that cursing you did during the third take was really scary. If that wasn’t acting, then was it for real? Were you mad at me?”

But Wonoh, even when they were just chatting, had a knack for noticing the camera and would naturally lead the conversation to comments or questions that would be good to capture on camera. The reason the making-of team always followed Wonoh’s tail was partly because he was Choi Wonoh, but also because Wonoh let them get the scenes they wanted. The making-of team just had to quietly film what Wonoh did.

“Ah…”

Of course, Minje was terrible at this kind of thing.

“Mr. Minje, aren’t you scared that they say a ghost appears on set?”

As he was just fumbling with Wonoh’s prank, a staff member who couldn’t watch any longer brought up a different topic. Thanks to Director Lim, the ghost story on set had long since become a form of greeting.

Wonoh had his arm on Minje’s shoulder and was waiting for an answer. With Wonoh next to him, this cut would definitely be aired… Troubled, he rolled his eyes and swallowed dryly.

“They say if a ghost appears… it means the project will be a huge hit, so I hope one comes for sure.”

When he had nothing to say, just saying something encouraging or polite was enough to get by. It was a strategy he had used countless times since his idol days. He had no talent for speaking and wasn’t funny, so there was no other way if he didn’t want to cause trouble for the team. In the past, if he got through it like this, it would usually be edited out, and eventually, the MCs wouldn’t ask him many questions.

However, the small face in front of him was creasing its expression and laughing at these boring words. He wondered if he was deliberately laughing because he was in front of the camera, but looking closely, it seemed like a genuine burst of laughter.

“If Minje hyung says so, then it must be so. I really hope a ghost appears.”

Then he even made a finger heart. Because he kept nudging him with his elbow, Minje also ended up making a finger heart just like him. Only then did the making-of team staff member satisfactorily turn off the camera.

While Wonoh left first at the call of his manager, Minje approached the making-of team staff who was packing up the camera.

“Um… I haven’t been able to ask your name all this time. What’s your name?”

They met every day, yet it suddenly felt strange that they always greeted each other without knowing their names. In his past life, he had never once thought that way, but the thought came to him out of the blue. Was it perhaps because of the image of Wonoh remembering the name of the high school student he met at the gym? Because he had thought that was really cool back then.

“Huh? Me? I’m Yang Hyesle.”

“I see. You worked hard today too, Ms. Hyesle.”

Minje gave a deep bow and headed to the dorm. From behind, Hyesle watched Minje’s retreating back with a bewildered expression.

The rain, which hadn’t stopped all day, was beating against the window, seemingly determined to fall all night. He needed to sleep to film tomorrow, but for some reason, he couldn’t fall asleep and was just tossing and turning in the bed he was lying in alone. A faint vibration came from his phone.

[Choi Wonoh:
Don’t cry while I’m gone
Be brave and do well.] 3:14 a.m.

He held up his phone in the dark room and stared blankly at the message. Choi Wonoh would sometimes call out of necessity, but he had never sent a playful message like this before. Minje stared intently at the blue window, then sat up and tucked a pillow under his armpit, lying on his stomach.

┕ Why would I cry |

┕ You do well with your schedule too |

He didn’t know what to reply to such a sudden message, so Minje wrote and erased his answer several times. If he said, ‘Why would I cry?’, it seemed too defensive, but just sending a simple ‘You do well with your schedule.’ felt like he was putting up a wall when Wonoh had made a rare attempt to joke around. He wanted to send a friendly reply, naturally, like Wonoh.

The ‘1’ in front of the message had already disappeared, and it didn’t seem right to ponder for a long time, so in the end, he just wrote ‘ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ’ and sent it. Why was he worrying so much about this? His palm, gripping the phone, was even sweaty, as if he were nervous. Minje pointlessly gnawed on his lower lip. The sleep that hadn’t come in the first place had completely fled. A new message arrived immediately on the screen he had been clutching until a reply came.

[Me:
Hehehehe] 3:18 a.m.

[Choi Wonoh:
I don’t want to go to the shoot tomorrow.
I want to act with you, hyung.
Should I not go?] 3:18 a.m.

[Me:
What are you talking about haha
Do well. I’ll watch you on TV] 3:20 a.m.

[Choi Wonoh:
What are you filming tomorrow, hyung?] 3:20 a.m.

[Me:
I think I’m in scene 5-5.
A classroom scene.] 3:21 a.m.

[Choi Wonoh:
It’ll be boring without me.] 3:21 a.m.

After that, the silly messages continued until Wonoh said he had arrived at his home in Seoul. As he sent a final ‘good night’, Minje suddenly remembered that he had never messaged someone like this before.

🍊

“I heard you’re from One Entertainment.”

The next day, during standby, he was messaging Wonoh when a familiar man blocked his path.

“You don’t even have a profile picture on the portal sites. When did you join the agency?”

Minje just glanced at his face before fixing his gaze back on his phone. He had neither the obligation nor the inclination to answer such a sharp and accusatory question. On the message screen was a picture of a pet snake that Wonoh had just sent. It was an animal that had appeared as a guest on the variety show taping, apparently. A message that said, ‘This thing keeps trying to get inside my clothes,’ made him chuckle.

“Excuse me. Do you think you’re something just because you hang out with Choi Wonoh? Why are you ignoring me?”

“Who are you?”

The tone of voice that brought up Choi Wonoh grated on his nerves, so Minje finally lowered his phone and raised his head. The man’s face was red, and the corners of his mouth were twitching. He had been on set yesterday too, but to come and do this today when Choi Wonoh wasn’t here. His petty intentions were so transparent.

Unfortunately for the man, Cheon Minje was a formidable opponent who had more than enough experience when it came to being bullied. At a level where he would blush at a provocation of this mere extent, it seemed eternally impossible for him to even leave a small scratch on Minje.

By the way, looking at him this closely, he really did look familiar. Not because he had seen him often on set, but as if he had known him from a longer time ago…

“I don’t know why you’re so confident when it’s nothing to be proud of, not even knowing the name of an actor you’ve worked with for a month. Remember it. It’s Lee Jinki.”

“Ah.”

Hearing the name, he finally remembered. Lee Jinki was the man who had played Minje’s role in his past life. He hadn’t been able to recall him right away because he hadn’t expected him to be appearing as a supporting actor. No, to be honest, he hadn’t even thought he would see him again in this life. Minje carefully looked at his face again. He had seen the movie so many times, but his impression was still vague. Besides, unlike in the movie, his hair was long, so his impression was a bit different.

“Your performance yesterday was quite something.”

“……”

“Your skill at creating lines that aren’t even in the script was quite a sight. Is that why you don’t need a script.”

Did he even know that bringing up the script was tantamount to admitting that he was the one who had torn it? Seeing his triumphant expression as if he had landed a decisive blow, it seemed he didn’t. Minje let out a long sigh without the man noticing and stood up from his seat.

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“Minje, let’s do a fitting for the costume one time~”

He was about to leave, but just then, Director Park Youngmi from the costume team called him, allowing him to move away naturally. As he passed, he saw Lee Jinki’s face turn red and then blue.

He didn’t know the details, but it seemed he had snatched the role of ‘Lee Eunsung’ just as he was about to be cast. Regardless of the outcome, he was the one who had played the role of ‘Lee Eunsung’ in his past life, so. He had wondered why he was being so hostile, but if that was the reason, it was more than understandable. Minje felt a lingering unease thinking about him, even while putting on the costume the team had brought and getting Director Lim’s confirmation.

It was because of the thought that he had stolen his role. And by imitating his acting at that. His chest felt heavy. It also bothered him that he was hated by Wonoh because he was an Omega. I’m hiding the fact that I’m an Omega and getting along well with Wonoh. It felt as if, in this life, he had received the world’s misfortunes in his place.

So, when Lee Jinki conspicuously spilled yukgaejang on his newly changed costume, he wasn’t angry.

“Oh my, what do I do! I’m so sorry.”

“……”

It was during dinner, when they were eating the Korean set meal provided by the food truck. Lee Jinki, pretending to misstep, spilled the bowl of yukgaejang from his tray onto Minje’s white costume. His sleeve became soaked in red, and the soup splattered on the food he was eating as well. Minje put down the spoon he was about to bring to his mouth.

“See, who wears their costume while eating? What are you going to do if it gets stained.”

It was so childish that it was embarrassing to even listen to. He must have never bullied anyone before, because everything he did was so crude. Did he even know that if he dirtied the costume like this, the one who would ultimately suffer wasn’t him, but the costume team? No, in the end, Minje would feel terribly sorry while taking the dirtied costume, so if he was aiming for that, then he had succeeded. He ignored the snide remarks from the side and returned the more than half-eaten meal as it was.