Chapter Text
It was a bright saturday in Seoul, Lee Jungjae was on a break from the promotion of Annoying Love, his latest drama. Things were going good, success followed him, it was fun doing interviews along Lim Ji Yeon, his young co-star, but… something lacked. He looked up at the cloudless sky taking a cigarette out of his pocket at the same time. As he prepared to light it, he felt a buzz inside his jacket. Almost annoyed, he took out his phone out to see a big white message: “Incoming call from hwang dong-hyuk” As he picked up, the director was fast to greet him in his broken english.
“How you doing, my friend?”
He sounded really excited, but well, he always did.
“haven’t spoken in a while” the actor answered.
“You’ve been quite busy as I can tell, and well, I’ve got my own thing y’know” he heard a small chuckle from the other side “How about some lunch tomorrow? There’s something I’d like to share with you”.
Jungjae tried to remember, but there was no more promotion set until Monday.
“I guess I’m free tomorrow. Are you gonna keep me in mystery for so long?”
“Haha, I’m so excited to tell you, but we’re professionals, y’know? we must set meetings and shit” They both laughed, but didn’t take long to wish each other farewell and hang up.
“I’ll see you there then” was all Jungjae said before going back into the building.
Hours and hours passed, leading eventually to the promised lunch. They would meet at this quite chill restaurant slightly out of town, trying to avoid as much attention as possible. When the time arrived, they coincided at the entrance of the place and shared a quick hug and greetings. Sitting down, one could see the eagerness on Dong-hyuk's face.
“So, what did you want me for?” Jungjae said with a smile.
“Ohh c’mon don't be like that, I could be just talking to your manager! I wanted to catch up with you and, y’know, say congrats for your new project, you seem to be doing pretty well!” He stopped for a second “Actually I must say, it seems like you still got that romantic lead in you-!”
At that moment, a waiter interrupted them to take their orders, which was solved in just a few quick words.
“So you were saying, you want me in a rom-com now?” Jungjae proposed, raising his eyebrows.
“Well… not exactly. There is this thing I've been writing in my free time” dong-hyuk cleared his throat “I wanted to make a drastic change, right? I believe this is something completely different to whatever else I've ever done, and honestly, after working with you, I could not think of a better actor for this role”.
He stopped when the waiter came back with their food, thanking him and leaving Jungjae expectant.
“I'm sure it'd be a pleasure to work with you again, director Hwang” said the man with a big grin, although the director looked a bit uncomfortable.
“I mean I'm sure too, but there's a question I need to ask you first” he lowered his voice a bit, putting his hand on the table “how do you exactly feel about… gay dramas?”
Silence. They just looked at each other for a few seconds. That was not the question he was ready for.
“I- I mean I have nothing against it, I just never have… I didn't think you would… uhh you know…” he coughed awkwardly “I would trust you on any project no matter what, but isn't it… I mean I guess I could do it if you… uhhh I don’t know, I need to think it through a bit more maybe… Should I hurry in my decission…? Is this, like, happening? Do you already have a co-star and all that shit…?”
The director fidgeted with the chopsticks as he spoke, not really meeting the actor’s eyes, probably avoiding them.
“Well y’know, nothing very official yet, but lately I've been talking a little with byung-hun as well…”
Fuck.
Fuckfuckfuckshibalfuck.
“What the hell are you up to here?” Jungjae sounded now frustrated “I truly don't understand you, it was alright with the promotions, but then you did the brokeback mountain thing, which don’t you think I didn’t notice, and now this? What are you even trying to do!?”
Donghyuk held his hands up in the air, like defending himself.
“Relax! I’ve been thinking about this project for a long time, and it’s really special for me. I could easily hire any actor, not everything is about you, but I just feel like I’ve never had such a good experience on set than with you, not to mention you guys are the biggest names around” He got a bit closer, now playing him a little “Which if you actually think about it… you lowkey owe me that…?”
Jungjae looked incredibly insulted as he replied quickly.
“Excuse you? I’ve been a renowned actor for several decades!”
“Of course you were but they didn’t love you abroad, you gotta face the truth! Now, you actually have the chance to make a great difference, reach millions of people!”
“Make a difference how? Embodying your fetichs?”
The silence was loud, showing how offended the director was. Now he spoke lower, but more harshly.
“That is not what this is about. I truly believe this could change lives, if done the right way. Which means not only having a respectful, well developed story, but also great actors who are able to do their best performance despite not agreeing with the character at worst. So now, as a director, I believe you are capable of this; I trust your range and ability. As a friend, I ask you kindly to take this risk with me”.
He offered his hand over the table, questioning if Jungjae would shake it. The actor looked at him, pressing his lips, closing his eyes, and sighing. Finally, he lifted his hand as well.
“I hope I won’t regret this” he said while holding the hand “And sorry about my… incriminations. I don’t think you are a fetishist, that was really rude”.
“Don’t worry, I was a little mean too” the director formed a big, big smile “It’s great to be back on business”.
It had been a long day, but Lee Byunghun finally managed to get to his favorite place in the world: his car. The leather seat felt soft and comfortable around him, the belt performing its melodious click, he could finally feel peace. It didn't take long until the ring of his phone could disrupt it. With a sigh, he picked up, hearing an excited yet familiar voice.
“Great news! He said he's doing it!”
Looking out the window, the actor let out a soft laugh.
“Good for you I guess. I'm curious though, was it difficult to, you know, convince him?”
“Well, way more than it was to convince you, I must say, which was surprisingly easy considering your pressed schedule”.
He responded with a quite fake, incredibly awkward chuckle.
“Yeah, I guess… You didn’t tell him that, right?”
“Nah don’t worry, I mean I did mention you, I just said it was something ‘not very official’” Hearing no response, Donghyuk continued “Anyway, uhm… How’s Min-jung? We haven't really talked lately, well, aside from business”.
Byunghun looked around, building after building passing in his window. Was that question really necessary? But he didn’t believe the director had anything but good intentions. And he did want to vent a little.
“I mean, I guess we are not exactly in our best moment… But hey I wouldn’t want to bore you with that, would I?”
That was it, that was all he allowed himself to say.
“Oh, uh… sorry, I didn't mean to be nosy or anything” Donghyuk said uncomfortably “Guess i'll see you around then”.
“Yeah, you can send me all the details whenever you want, see you later”.
The call ended with a short beep. He knew what he was doing, he knew it was crazy, but it didn't matter. He was Lee Byunghun, Korea's biggest star, who clearly had no problems at home and who knew himself to be beyond silly things like shame. He was gonna do what he knew best: act. This was no different to any of his other projects, he would just play the role he was given, being able to detach himself from it, being mature enough to be normal about it. Yes, this would all work perfectly fine.