Chapter - 45화 (45/150)
"Somehow... it feels kind of eerie."
Iiyeon, finding the silence awkward, spoke to Minhyeok. Even though they were rivals competing over Dansol, Iiyeon thought Minhyeok was a pretty good person.
"How was the date...?"
"Are you... jealous?"
"I'm just asking."
But Minhyeok didn't seem to take it that way. Though he looked calmer than anyone, he was taking this competition very seriously.
"I can't really say it was good... or bad."
"Are you saying Dansol wasn't good right now⁈"
Minhyeok bristled as if he were Dansol himself.
"No, that's not what I meant...!"
Iiyeon tightened his expression at Minhyeok, who looked like he was about to act as Dansol's bodyguard, then lightly covered the microphone with his hand and lowered his voice.
"I think... Dansol is mad at me."
"At you, Iiyeon?"
"He asked me to apologize. To say I was sorry back then. But no matter how much I think about it... I don't know. I don't know what I did wrong. Ah, shit! That scared me...."
When Iiyeon reached the pine forest, he flinched at the ghost doll hanging at the entrance. Minhyeok fiddled with it like it was cute.
"Hmm... maybe that's the problem."
"What is?"
"That you don't know what you did wrong. Sometimes... there are people who hurt others just by existing."
"You're saying I'm that kind of person?"
"Iiyeon, you're gentle and kind to everyone... so the chances are high."
Iiyeon frowned, as if he didn't understand.
"Is being gentle and kind a sin?"
"In some situations, being kind to everyone can become a sin. It makes the person closest to you feel pushed aside. How should I put it... like you can feel lonely even when you're together."
"...I don't know. When did I ever do that...? Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Why are you asking me that? Feeling hurt starts from affection... I didn't even realize you and Dansol had become that close. For the sake of fair competition, I won't say any more."
"Hey! How is that fair! Tell me! Real fair competition has to start with equal conditions!"
"Equal conditions, my—aaaargh!"
"Aaaaargh!"
Minseong, who had been trapped in the pit for thirty minutes, had been covering his ears against the ominous cawing of crows and didn't even notice Iiyeon and Minhyeok approaching.
The three who ran into each other at the trap the crew had dug screamed in shock at seeing one another's faces in the sudden situation.
"Aaaah!"
"Ah!"
"Hah... Minseong?"
The first to recognize Minseong, drenched in sweat from being so tense, was Minhyeok.
"Uuuugh! Minhyeok! Iiyeon! Why are you only getting here now... That crazy Han Jisu abandoned me and left... anyway, let's talk details up there. It's so hot down here... and there are so many bugs... hurry up, let's climb out!"
"Uh...."
At Minseong's words, both Iiyeon and Minhyeok froze in place like statues.
"What are you doing! Hurry up! Didn't you come to save me?"
"We... fell in too."
"Wow... this place is really scary."
Even to Dohyeon, who appeared on variety shows often, the path the staff prepared to the set felt terrifying. The pine trees carried the sound of the ocean waves as-is, stretching straight up toward the sky, and there wasn't a single streetlight in sight.
And beyond that, the set was so meticulously made—modeled after an abandoned house that had been left to rot for decades—that it looked real. The fact that it didn't match the seaside at all only made it feel even more bizarre.
"Since the staff mainly worked on films, it really is different... Did they blow the budget building this and end up taking sponsorship for that weird drink...."
"..."
But Daesu stayed silent, lips pressed tightly shut. Fear suddenly surged in, and Dohyeon snapped, losing his composure.
"Ah! Why aren't you saying anything! Did you pee yourse—no, did you have an accident in your pants?"
Dohyeon shouted without thinking, then belatedly realized and softened his voice as he asked,
"...Not yet."
"Huh?"
Dohyeon's face twisted as if he'd just witnessed something he shouldn't have.
"Are you really scared?"
"Not yet...."
"What do you mean, 'not yet' over and over—aaaargh!"
While walking and looking at Daesu, Dohyeon didn't watch his footing and fell straight into a pit. Below, Minhyeok, Iiyeon, and Minseong pressed themselves against the wall and barely dodged to avoid colliding with the falling Dohyeon.
"Ah... I thought it was still 'not yet.'"
Having heard screams at the same timing twice, Daesu guessed that at this point, there had to be some kind of device.
Maybe Dansol would have focused on Dohyeon's words, but Daesu had no reason to. His "not yet" meant there wasn't a noticeable device yet.
"So this is what it was. How Han Jisu got two date tickets...."
As if to prove they really were friends, Daesu calmly lowered himself to look into the trap without any intention of helping. Just like Jisu, he was about to leave.
"Uuuugh! Sunbae! Where are you going! You have to save us before you go!"
"...Why would I?"
"Well...! People fell into a trap—are you just going to leave?"
"What do I gain from saving you? Whether it's date tickets or voting rights, I have no intention of sharing any of that with you."
"We won't take them!"
Minhyeok shouted, his long hair plastered to his face with sweat. Daesu snorted at that.
"How can I trust that? You saw it too—Ma Taeohh stealing the voting rights from your pocket."
The way Daesu looked down at them was like a ruthless loan shark. The people trapped in the pit started to get confused about whether this was a scene from a movie, or whether they'd actually done something wrong and been dragged into this. Even in this heat, Daesu stuck to a white shirt and suit pants, and that choice of clothes made the bright romance survival variety show feel far more brutal.
"If we find voting rights or date tickets, we'll give them all to you. It's more advantageous to search with more people than alone. And also..."
Daesu quickly seemed to lose interest. He crossed his arms and tilted his head.
"Dansol."
"What?"
Iiyeon, who had been quiet the whole time, spoke up.
"Dansol is the next runner... if you just leave like this, won't he be disappointed? Do you want to look like someone who didn't save this many people and hoarded the voting rights all by yourself... like Han Jisu?"
Speaking smoothly like a salesman, Iiyeon caught the faintest hint of Daesu's head nodding.
"If you save us, once we get out of here, we'll tell Dansol everything. Oh! And come to think of it, we can clearly mark that there's a trap here. Dansol might fall in too. We happen to have two headlamps..."
"Enough. Climb up."
Cutting Iiyeon off, Daesu tied a rope to a nearby tree and lowered it down. Minseong, who didn't even have the energy to climb and had only been clinging to the rope, finally managed to step onto solid ground thanks to Daesu hauling him up.
The PDs monitoring the footage of Daesu helping the others snickered. Even a top star was still human. Their individual appearance fees were enough to match a quarter's worth of production budget, but it had been worth splurging.
"Hey, the shot where Jeong Daesu grabs Jegal Minhyeok's hand—zoom in and lay epic music under it. Make it overlap with that movie Jeong Daesu filmed last time."
"Heh... this is funny, isn't it? Where else would you ever see those people playing around this childish."
"Joo Dansol is Jeong Daesu's weakness. If it comes down to it, he looks like he'd chase him to the moon. Since it's come to this... it'd be fun to lock the cast up somewhere like an uninhabited island with no bridge, too."
"That's a good idea. The outside world would go crazy, but they'll still watch out of curiosity. We spent this much on the budget—no matter what we do, we have to secure the ratings."
As the assistant director and writers threw out ideas, Mijin seemed to like it and quietly nodded.
When she said something, she meant it. The staff glanced around, because if the cast had heard, they might have panicked, called in their company legal teams on the spot, and demanded to terminate their contracts.
Then she noticed the youngest assistant director standing quietly in the corner. Mijin asked for his opinion too.
"What do you think?"
"Huh? Ah... love is supposed to be childish, isn't it?"
"Hey! You bastard—were you thinking about something else? You're not paying attention?"
Criticism immediately rained down on the youngest assistant director for saying something that didn't fit the context, like his mind had been elsewhere. Even at that reaction, he only raised one corner of his mouth into an awkward smile and scratched the back of his head.
"He's not completely bad at his job... but something...."
"Huh? PD?"
"Ah... no."
At the PD's muttered words, a writer asked back, but Mijin quickly closed her mouth.
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