NUTMEG 13

“…A movie theater.”

“I’ve barely ever been to a movie theater. Let’s go together next time. Is it okay to watch it on a tablet for today?”

“Huh? Uh…”

Choi Wonoh said it so casually that Minje ended up answering without thinking. Minje glanced at his profile, trying to gauge his true intentions. He was focused on installing a movie app on the large tablet he had taken out of his bag.

“……”

Go to the movies together…? If Choi Won’t go to a movie theater, it would surely cause a huge commotion. Is it okay to go? Director Shin would hate it. There don’t seem to be any movie theaters around here, either. Is he suggesting we go after the filming is over? No, he definitely said we should just be friends until the filming ends. Does that mean he wants to stay on similar terms even after that?

No, none of that was right. Minje lightly shook his head. There was no way Choi Wonoh had said that with a serious promise of a next time. Anyone would naturally respond that way if someone said they liked watching movies at the theater. He felt embarrassed for letting his imagination run wild, as if he were actually setting up a date over a casually tossed-out remark. He had never been to a movie theater with someone before, so he had momentarily misunderstood. Like a fool, as if he had actually become Choi Wonoh’s friend.

“Hyung, do you want a pillow behind your back?”

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

Choi Wonoh took the pillows from the head of the bed, placed two behind Minje’s back, and propped the remaining two behind his own. The only furniture in the small room the two shared was a bed, a student desk and chair set, and a small wardrobe. They had been sitting with their backs ramrod straight on the bed, as there was no other place to comfortably sit and watch a movie, but with the pillows Wonoh had propped up, it instantly became as comfortable as sitting on a plush sofa.

“…You’re surprisingly good at taking care of people.”

“You just realized? You’re surprisingly bad at taking care of yourself, hyung. You were just going to watch uncomfortably right now, weren’t you?”

As he said that, Choi Wonoh tilted the tablet on the desk so the screen would be clearly visible from where they were sitting on the bed. Minje self-consciously ran a hand over the back of his neck. Was I?

Soon, the movie began. It was a film about the clumsy love of high school students. It was an early work of a peer actress who was now referred to as the nation’s first love. In the middle of it, Director Lim, who must have disliked being in his room alone, opened the door and tried to squeeze in between the two of them several times, but each time, Wonoh drove him away with the words, “It’s too cramped.”

The movie became incredibly interesting from the midpoint on, when the male lead’s attitude, gestures, and lines began to look like friendship and also like love. The part where those precarious emotions exploded was the scene where the female lead touches the back of his short hair as he is left alone in the classroom, lying with his head down on his desk.

Tormented by his growing feelings, he couldn’t stand her actions, which she had done playfully as usual. The male lead shouted at her to stop and then stormed out of the classroom.

Suddenly, a warm presence touched the back of Minje’s head. Choi Wonoh was gently stroking the nape of his neck, which was so closely buzzed with clippers that his scalp was clearly visible. Minje, who had been sitting with his chin resting on his propped-up knees, flinched and stiffened his shoulders, looking at him. Wonoh’s curious eyes met Minje’s.

“…What are you doing.”

“It feels prickly here, so it’s fun.”

“Touch your own hair.”

Minje completely covered the back of his head with both hands and stared only at the screen. The sound of chuckling laughter came from over his shoulder. In the movie, the female lead was staring at the closed back door with a bewildered look. To her, the male lead’s attitude, and this whole situation, seemed to be nothing but baffling and incomprehensible.

Minje bit his lower lip hard. Would he also look like that to others? Reacting sensitively to every little thing Choi Wonoh did, getting his hopes up over a passing comment. It was a pathetic sight. This sudden existence of a friend was, in many ways, a little difficult to handle.

Earlier, when Director Lim had come into the room, he had looked at the two of them sitting close together and said, ‘You guys are really close.’ Every time he heard things like that from others, Minje’s heart swelled a little more.

But how long could they stay like this? The three months until filming ends? The three years until the clinical trial ends?

Would Choi Wonoh have any reason to contact him even after the filming was over? For the past few days, Minje had developed a habit of vaguely imagining the time after filming ended. What was the forgotten actor who played Minje’s role in his past life like? In his past life, had Choi Wonoh been a three-month-long friend to him, just like with him?

How long could he hide the fact that he was an Omega? What kind of expression would he make if he told him, who was chuckling and playing pranks beside him, that he was an Omega? In the end, Minje couldn’t resist asking the question.

“Why do you hate Omegas?”

At the question that came out of context, Wonoh turned his light-colored eyes and glanced at Minje. He didn’t seem to find it particularly strange.

“I don’t hate Omegas.”

“You said earlier it felt like you were going to throw up.”

“Ah. It’s not that I hate Omegas.”

Then what? As if asking with his eyes, Wonoh gave a half-hearted shrug. No particular emotion could be read in Wonoh’s eyes.

“It’s that I hate people who can’t even control their pheromones properly. The same goes for Alphas.”

“……”

For Minje, this was a worse answer than being told he hated Omegas. He had nothing to say, and at the same time, he had too much to say. But this time, he couldn’t figure out what the right thing to say would be. Just then, the movie became noisy, and Minje tightened his arms around his propped-up knees, pretending to focus on the movie.

Without him even realizing it, a feeling of disappointment was blooming rapidly. Alphas and Omegas might not be able to control their pheromones because of their constitution. It’s not like those people do it because they want to. In fact, it might be incredibly hard for them.

But it was difficult to know how much he could say. Choi Wonoh was the one who could freely come and go through the small door he had opened called ‘friend’; Minje could not.

To hope that he would acknowledge ‘me as an Omega’ while pretending to be a Beta. He either had a severe inferiority complex, or was terribly shameless. Or maybe both. His mind just wouldn’t settle, so Minje rubbed his scratchy elbow with his thumb.

“But is this a body wash scent?”

“Huh?”

“It doesn’t seem like perfume.”

“…Do I smell like something?”

“Yeah. A nice smell.”

In the bathroom that everyone shared, the original lavender-scented products and the unscented products Wonoh had brought sat side by side. Thinking the unscented ones were Wonoh’s, Minje usually used the lavender-scented products. But now, after being asked what the smell was, he couldn’t ask specifically for fear that Wonoh would say something other than lavender. A clear anxiety flickered in Minje’s eyes, but thankfully, it wasn’t noticed as they were sitting side by side watching the movie.

If he wanted to remain friends with him, he had no choice but to be careful. Minje waited for Wonoh to fall asleep before quietly slipping out into the living room alone. The room across the hall, where keyboard sounds were usually heard until dawn every day, was also quiet, so it seemed Director Lim had gone to bed as well.

The living room, untouched by the air conditioner, was sticky, even the floor clinging to the soles of his feet. Minje turned on the fan they had taken out to the dining table during dinner and laid his long body down on the living room sofa. The black leather sofa made an annoying sound every time he shifted.

🍊

After a period of sweltering heat and tropical nights, a refreshing downpour began to fall from early in the morning, a welcome change. Minje raised his brow, creased with the fatigue that had caked on from a few days of sleeping uncomfortably in bits and pieces in the living room, and looked up at the sky. To make matters worse, yesterday morning, Director Lim and Ms. Yeonja had seen him sleeping on the sofa and each made a critical comment to Wonoh, putting him in a difficult position. He didn’t want Wonoh to get an earful because of him. So this morning, he had even pretended to be washing up and getting ready before Kihwan woke up.

On top of having to act in an unfamiliar role every day, his significantly reduced sleep hours naturally left his condition in a mess. Minje gargled one last time before changing into his costume to soothe his swollen throat. His face in the vanity mirror looked terribly haggard. In his past life, he would have insisted that he would never stand in front of a camera in this state.

Today was a set shoot.

After changing into a school uniform and entering the set, he saw extras in the same uniform, each occupying a desk and chair. There weren’t many classroom scenes in the movie, but since many extras were needed, Director Lim wanted to film as many of those scenes as possible in one day. The shoot would continue late into the night today as well.

Minje sat down in his seat and unwrapped a throat lozenge he had brought, popping it into his mouth. His throat felt quite scratchy, but it wasn’t like he was singing, so it would probably be fine.

“Me too.”

Choi Wonoh pulled out the chair in front of Minje and plopped down, holding out his large palm. Without a word, Minje placed a small candy on his palm.

The moment he appeared, a murmur could be felt from the extras. He had seen Wonoh in a school uniform often during filming, but with nearly thirty people wearing the same clothes, he stood out even more. He felt sorry for the other friend sitting next to him, but it was hard to think of it as the same outfit. To the point where even Minje, who saw him every day, found his gaze being stolen by him.

Wonoh asked as he put the candy in his mouth.

“It’s a throat lozenge? Is your throat sore?”

“A little.”

“Your face doesn’t look too good either.”

Choi Wonoh gently placed a finger on Minje’s forehead. Minje hid his surprise and pulled his head back. Wonoh’s head tilted as if he wasn’t sure. He had used his finger because placing his palm on it to check for a fever would have ruined the hair styling.

“We’ll go in after changing the lighting setup! We’ll be on standby for 30 minutes!”

At those words, the quietly waiting extras began to chatter amongst themselves. Being young peers, it seemed they had quickly become friends. Among them, a group of female students who had been constantly glancing this way scurried over to Wonoh and shyly asked for a selfie. When one of the girls, flustered at not being able to fit in the same frame as the tall Wonoh, he smiled, took her phone, and took the picture for her.

Minje, rolling the candy around in his mouth, glanced at Wonoh, who was spreading his long legs to match the height of the female students, and then looked straight ahead again.

‘He has good manners.’

It was nothing new. It wasn’t the first time he had seen him being kind to fans, but maybe it was because his condition wasn’t great. It wasn’t his throat, but the inside of his chest that started to feel scratchy. The seat in front where Wonoh was sitting was soon surrounded by other extras. It was because they all wanted to take a picture with him. Crunch. The throat lozenge shattered in his mouth. It was a lozenge, so he should have let it dissolve slowly, but he must have bitten down hard without realizing it. Minje tossed a second candy into his mouth and quietly left his seat.

His throat was sore and his chest felt tight. Should he get some cold medicine from the production team? No. If he did that and got drowsy and spaced out, it would be a problem. He walked, dragging his three-stripe slippers wherever his feet took him, and soon found himself in front of the restroom.

He suddenly remembered Wonoh saying he didn’t look well. Minje went into the restroom and stood in front of the clean, wide sink, quietly staring at his reflection in the mirror. It seemed like his lips lacked color. Or maybe not. His own face in the mirror felt strangely unfamiliar. It was because since the movie filming had started, he had, to his own surprise, paid little attention to his face or hair. Naturally, the number of times he looked in the mirror had also decreased.

Director Lim had liked the look the makeup artist had created, and Minje had complete faith in his judgment and the final film. But that clearly wasn’t the only reason.

Minje recalled an ordinary day from his past life. If someone casually said, ‘Doesn’t Minje’s makeup look a bit heavy today?’, he would demand it be fixed to his satisfaction, regardless of whether it was right before standby or in the middle of a shoot. Back then, Minje didn’t have the capacity to think about how people were waiting because of him, or how the staff would be put in a difficult position. He was just desperate. If he wasn’t told he was the prettiest, the most handsome, he would become extremely anxious. That one thing was the only thing Minje had that he had obtained by his own power.

But now, he would only glance at his face when washing his hands at the sink and that was it. It was such a gradual change that Minje himself only realized it today.

Minje checked the time on his phone. There were still about 15 minutes left before the shoot began. Just then, he saw in the mirror that someone was entering the restroom. He was wearing a school uniform, so he guessed it was one of the extras, but it wasn’t someone he knew. Yet, the face was strangely familiar, and as he was glancing at him in the mirror, the man spoke to Minje first.

“Excuse me.”

“Yes?”

“Did you get the part after an audition? The role of ‘Lee Eunsung’.”

“Ah… Yes.”

‘Lee Eunsung’ was the name of the character Minje was playing.

“I didn’t see you at the audition I went to. Where did you audition?”

“…At my agency.”

“One Entertainment?”

His tone was strangely sharp. Minje started to feel a bit uncomfortable and, without answering, quietly met his eyes in the mirror. Just then, another person entered the restroom. Striding in with his long legs was Choi Wonoh. Unlike Minje, whose expression relaxed upon seeing his face, the man visibly flinched, his shoulders trembling.

“Minje hyung.”

“Did you finish taking all the pictures?”

Wonoh smiled once at Minje, then belatedly noticed the man and furrowed his brow noticeably. At that, the man quickly scurried away. It really looked like he was running away from Wonoh.

“…You looked like a real bully just now.”