A Perfectly Normal Romance Chapter 2.2 - I Hate You

“Do you want to go on a blind date?”

“……What?”

As if giving me a chance to retract what I’d just said, Hyun raised an eyebrow questioningly. Facing that elegant face, I managed to open my mouth.

“Daeun said she knows someone who would be good for you, if you have time.”

“Ha.”

My words trailed off. A bitter laugh escaped my lips as his eyes narrowed. The fingers holding his cigarette twitched.

“You can’t even tell the difference between when you should smile and when you shouldn’t.”

He took a long drag of his cigarette, hollowing his cheeks, then muttered with a faint hint of contempt in his clear eyes,

“Can’t you tell the difference between what should and shouldn’t be said between us?”

“So what? I can ask.”

“So rudely, again and again.”

“What rudeness? The rudeness you showed when you dumped me?”

It was extremely rare for Hyun to be speechless. It must be because he knew what I was going to say next.

“Aren’t I being more polite than you, who said dating me was the worst choice of your life?”

“…….”

“I at least tried hard to hold onto you, out of politeness. Don’t you think?”

Sleep was definitely out of the question tonight. As we glared at each other, Hyun was the first to turn away. He turned his head without hiding his hardened expression and exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke. And in the midst of all that, the fact that I find his angled profile sexy is a real problem.

˙✧˖🎥⋆˙

Daeun said she had taken a day off to go to the hospital, government office, and bank. Since that precious vacation couldn’t be wasted, she insisted we grab brunch or something since she was in the neighborhood.

Thanks to that, I finished editing earlier than usual, at 5 am, and fell asleep, and now I’m dragging my slippers out the door. Feeling my phone vibrate in my hoodie pocket, I fumble around inside the spacious pocket. At first, I thought I had misread the message because my eyes were blurry.

[Jio.]

[No…….]

“Ah, seriously, why is even hyung doing this?”

The hyung that Geonjung had asked about, who had been so resolute during their fight, had been surprisingly sending lingering messages after their breakup. I was about to reply, ‘We’re over, hyung,’ but stopped myself. Ignoring him would probably be better. Hyung must have made a mistake.

Outside, it’s relentlessly bright. Rubbing my eyes, which were sore from staring at the video pixel by pixel, I pulled my cap down further. Daeun, who was waving enthusiastically from across the street, hesitated when she saw me.

“Did I make you come out when you’re so tired?”

“No. I’m always like this.”

“If you’re always like this, it’s even worse.”

She fidgeted anxiously, and then the menu changed from brunch to bone-in beef soup. When I asked why bone-in beef soup, she said it was full of all kinds of nutrients. I was fine with anything. Just seeing a familiar face that wasn’t from the industry was enough.

Thanks to it being a little before lunchtime, the restaurant was quiet. It was just before the office workers started pouring in. Our bowls of bubbling bone-in beef soup arrived, and we stirred them, letting them cool. After burning my lips too many times by hurriedly stuffing food in my mouth in front of Hyun, I’d developed the habit of letting it cool.

“Oh, right. I asked Hyun.”

“What? You said you weren’t close.”

“I’m not close, but I asked because of you.”

“Thanks. What did he say?”

“He said he’s busy.”

To be precise, the blind date topic never even came up, and he just treated me with contempt, but this was probably accurate. Hyun kept showing up for interviews looking as pale as he did on the last day of exams during college. He must be busy. So busy he doesn’t even have time for dating.

“I see. He is busy.”

“Yeah. He looked incredibly busy. So I couldn’t bring myself to insist.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s enough that you asked. I thought Hyun would probably refuse.”

“Then why did you ask me to?”

I was in the middle of eating a spoonful of cooled soup and chewing on some radish kimchi. Daeun suddenly looked around and said,

“This feels like we’re having hangover soup after drinking in college.”

“Yeah, it does.”

“You drank so much back then.”

“It wasn’t that I enjoyed it back then, but I didn’t know how to refuse a drink.”

“You don’t do that anymore?”

“No. It’s all pointless. Company dinners are enough to kill me.”

Everyone else’s alcohol tolerance seems to be increasing, but I feel like I’m going against the times. It’s the same with our team dinners. They always take pictures of me passed out and send them around, saying, ‘This is all our assistant director can handle.’ Just thinking about it makes my stomach churn.

Daeun seemed particularly nostalgic today. She badmouthed a professor who was stingy with grades in college, talked about her exchange student experience, and then it was onto relationship talk. My answer to that is always the same.

“He was just from another school.”

“Are you seeing anyone these days?”

“No. I’m busy.”

Someday, I might casually date someone, but… now, I’m just tired of it all. I’ll just say I briefly dated someone and broke up. That’s what I was thinking. When I get older, I might even lie and say I got married and divorced. Lie about being widowed so no one asks any further questions.

After we finished eating, office workers started to come in one by one and take their seats. Daeun, checking the time, said,

“I was going to go to the bank, but it’ll be crowded now. Shall we grab a coffee?”

“Sure. Let’s go there.”

So we sat across from each other in the comfortable interior of a franchise cafe across the street. Daeun’s face brightened as she ordered coffee and cookies.

“Ah, it’s so nice just not being at work.”

“Let’s not talk about work. My office is near here.”

I want to use my vacation time strategically, too, but in this industry, we can only rest during the week if a broadcast is cancelled. Thanks to that, the topic returned to college memories and jokes. Daeun, who had been listening intently to the conversation at the next table, suddenly turned her head.

“This is a secret.”

“What secret?”

“When I was young… twenty years old…”

“Yeah.”

“I had a little crush on Hyun back then.”

“You did. That’s not a secret. You told me, so what’s the secret?”

“Oh, come on.”

And I had to try my best not to listen to that consultation. I avoided Daeun so much at drinking parties and on the phone because I was afraid she’d bring up Hyun. I’ve been trying to avoid talking about that time ever since. Today, there’s nowhere to hide. Looks like I have no choice but to listen.

“I tried to use some of the things I’d learned, clumsily, on Hyun.”

“What?”

“Like, I’d pretend I didn’t know something and ask him about it. You know, that kind of thing. Don’t ask me. It’s embarrassing.”

“That kind of thing… Oh, I got it. Keep going.”

“Anyway, I ended up having some drinks and, with some newfound courage, I called him…”

“Yeah.”

This is already ominous. Of all things, alcohol. That bastard, when I came home drunk, he’d become incredibly cold, rip my clothes off like they were rags, and throw me onto the bed.

“I asked him… what he was doing, if he wanted to come out… Haha. Why did I do that?”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Do you know what Hyun said to me?”

“What did he say?”

“‘Daeun, are you making a mistake right now?’”

“Wow……”

Daeun’s voice, imitating the cold tone, was quite similar, but I couldn’t laugh. I was speechless. I just sat there with my mouth open, feeling stunned, as if I’d been hit in the back of the head. Daeun popped a cookie she was holding into my mouth. Even as I chewed, my head was still reeling. Unbelievable. That… that jerk.

“I had the exact same reaction as you. I sobered up instantly.”

“So, what did you say?”

“I almost apologized, but Hyun told me to be careful going home after I sobered up. Such a clean closing statement. So I said okay. And that was it. My feelings just disappeared in an instant.”

“Wow. Ah. Ah… What kind of jerk is that?”

Unlike my indignation, Daeun herself didn’t show much of a reaction, perhaps because so much time had passed.

“But later I heard… that I wasn’t the only one who tried those tricks on Hyun. There were so many others asking him to buy them medicine because they were sick, or asking him for directions because they were lost, and so on. All the girls in our class said Hyun looked approachable, but they all did that kind of thing at least once, right?”

“Really?”

No way. When did he have time for all that? Did my face flush because of the sudden rush of heat? I rubbed my face without realizing it. That bastard. He was always nagging me about looking at other people, but he was getting hit on like that all the time? And all the while, he was hounding me like that? And also, do people really find Hyun that easy to approach?

“Yeah, I was surprised too. Other girls had it worse than me. At least he added something like, ‘Get home safe,’ since we knew each other. Usually, it was like, ‘I’m tired,’ or he’d just pretend he didn’t hear… all sorts of things.”

“Sounds like a mess.”

“It was like that when we were younger. Oh, he’s so annoying. People used to say things like that, but now that I’m older, I realize Hyun was handling things well.”

“Saying things like that?”

“Yeah, he didn’t beat around the bush and just cut things off cleanly. Seungpyo said he saw Hyun crying, so I guess he was sincere with the people he liked. Yeah, he’s too smart to fall for tricks, so he should only date people he truly likes.”

“He’s still harsh, though.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Daeun, who had been nodding vigorously, suddenly turned to me.

“Still better than you.”

“Me?”

“You just ignored people when they texted you.”

“I didn’t ignore them. I just couldn’t reply because I didn’t know what to say.”

“Oh, come on. Lies.”

But it’s true that I didn’t know how to respond. Asking me for directions to places I’d never been, if I had test banks, which clothes looked good, and so on. I genuinely didn’t know.

It was obvious what they were trying to do, but since I lacked the skill to smoothly brush them off, pretending not to see was the best I could do.

“Anyway, good work.”

“Yeah. I learned a lot back then. Thanks to that, I recognized someone who genuinely liked me and met my ex-boyfriend.”

Daeun took a forceful sip of her coffee with a cynical look on her face, clearly having moved on from Hyun. Unable to relate, I put the straw back in my mouth and then took it out again, trying to hide my lukewarm reaction.

“But who said that?”

“Who? About Hyun?”

“Yeah. Who?”

“Probably a lot of people. Jisu, Hyemi, Yura. There was another one… who was it?”

“I mean, what’s so great about him that everyone’s like that?”

I had to carefully control my tone, clipping each syllable to make it sound like pure curiosity rather than agitation.

“Hyun has that… thing, you know? Like, he seems out of reach, but… how should I put it? It feels like, just once in your life, you want to date someone who’s picky but sweet only to you…”

“Sweet, my ass.”

That pickiness transferred right over and meddled with my life, making it picky too. Unable to say that, I crunched on the ice in my drink and swallowed it, eventually giving up in frustration.

When will I finally be over him? He was with me at the start of my twenties, and now he’s still here at the end. I can’t even date properly. I’m going to die old like this.

Sipping the last of her coffee, Daeun checked the time again. She seemed to be getting ready to leave. As I listened to the last gurgling sounds, a thought struck me that I had to ask now or never.

“Daeun.”

“Yeah?”

“About your ex-boyfriend…”

“Ugh, seriously! Why bring him up all of a sudden?”

Flinching at her unexpectedly strong reaction, Daeun forced a bright smile and adopted an overly sweet tone.

“What is it, Jio?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“You already started. Hurry up and ask.”

“Well… I won’t ask if you don’t want me to.”

“Hurry up. What is it?”

“Well… You were pretty heartbroken after you broke up with him, right?”

“Yeah.”

Her short reply wasn’t very gentle.

“How did you get over it?”

“What do you mean, ‘how’?”

“Like… how did you get better?”

“I don’t think I’m the best person to answer this. I cried a lot, you know. Ask Hyegyeong. She gets over things quickly and moves onto the next relationship.”

“Ah, that’s true, but…”

Daeun put down her cup and thoughtfully wiped the moisture from her hands.

“I’m not very good at letting go of my feelings, so… I grieved for as long as we dated, and then I was okay. One year for one year. Two years for two years.”

“Ah……”

“Time heals best. Don’t you think?”

“That’s definitely true.”

I answered, but my heart felt heavy.

It was good. I wasn’t going to deny the time we spent together and the feelings we had. It was genuinely good. But it’s not fair that I’m suffering twice as long, even longer than the time we dated. I couldn’t ask Daeun, who already seemed to have escaped the shadow, about that. I guess I’m the only one being foolish.

Daeun rushed off to the bank, hoping the lines had shortened, and I trudged toward my office.

It didn’t seem like this was what Daeun was trying to say, but a phrase she used while describing Hyun’s anecdotes stuck with me. The phrase about him cutting people off cleanly without hesitation.

I think I was the opposite. I thought it was best to be agreeable, and if I didn’t know someone, I should meet them and get to know them. With that mindset, I let things slide. I fought with Hyun a lot because of my lip service and playful words. It became a habit because I was afraid he’d find out I was gay. Even with that excuse, Hyun got angry.

Ah, I really didn’t know. That he would be so ruthless. What do I do? Years later, a knot I couldn’t untie back then has finally come undone. You went that far, huh? I knew he was very strict about differentiating between those inside and outside his circle.

Is it because of the memory of being inside that circle once? Is that why I keep doing this?

Daeun said she’d come back if she had time in the evening, but she never did. So I walked alone. Seungpyo, who said he had a meeting nearby, saw me and exclaimed,

“Did you make up with Hyun?”

“Cut it out. You told him my address and everything, didn’t you?”

“Come on, you’re still on about that?”

“You could have at least told me first.”

“Sorry. Hyun said he wouldn’t ask for materials in the middle of the night if I told him.”

“He makes you work at night?”

“Yeah, no going home when he’s working on a project. He’d send a request at 8 pm, ask for it by 10 pm, then receive it and send feedback at 2 am telling me to check it. Isn’t he crazy?”

“So what did you say?”

“I told him, ‘Are you insane? Don’t you sleep?’ But what can I do if he doesn’t sleep? He said if I gave him your address, he’d be able to get to you, so he’d let me off at 8 pm that day.”

“Ah, so you sold my information so you could go home?”

“But then he sent more materials at 2 am. He’s really ruthless.”

“You trusted Hyun while he was working?”

“Yeah. That was my mistake.”

So my address at the boarding house was exchanged for your leaving work on time? What are you smiling about? I quickened my pace, dragging Seungpyo along beside me, despite his attempts to cling to me.

“Let’s eat quickly. Just eat quickly and get out of here.”

Without further ado, I went into a nearby pojangmacha. Unlike the time he used his wedding photoshoot as an excuse to run away, today he was ordering plenty of kimchi jjigae with pork and cheese rolled omelet. Fortunately, unlike the food, he only had a few sips of beer. As Seungpyo rambled on about his wedding and work, his voice louder than the surrounding chatter, he said clearly,

“He’s close to you.”

“No, he’s not.”

“That bastard is so sharp. He goes easy on you, even if he acts tough.”

Yeah, that’s true. On any other day, I would have told him to shut up, but after hearing what Daeun said, I couldn’t deny it.

“That was before.”

“Anyway.”

“I guess so.”

It’s been a while since I readily agreed with Seungpyo. Even I was feeling sentimental today. He didn’t give me time to dwell on it, excitedly exclaiming,

“More than anything, he’s usually so laid-back about everything, but he gets so worked up whenever you’re mentioned.”

“Uh……”

Isn’t that contempt?

“He asks about you often, too. He’s so funny. He told me not to tell you anything before. Now he asks the most.”

“He must have asked because of work. But he asked? What did he ask? Did he ask how I showed up and messed things up?”

“He was asking even before this case.”

“He must have been asking to get in on this.”

“This is a real secret.”

“You say everything’s a secret.”

“Hey, so you’re not going to listen?”

“What is it?”

“Hyun…”

Seungpyo immediately launched into the story without any hesitation. Hyun, well, how should I put it… even the most popular kids and the top students in high school didn’t attract this much attention. Lucky bastard. Everyone in our class only talks about you.

“Hyun was originally up for a special promotion this year, but he was passed over because they said he lacked communication skills.”

Lack of communication skills. That made me tilt my head. Hyun’s words can be harsh, but he communicates very clearly and precisely. Well, of course, being harsh could be considered a slight disadvantage in terms of communication skills. People have feelings, after all. He doesn’t hurt feelings so much as… he uses a tone that… provokes. Still, it shouldn’t be enough to lose a promotion.

“Why?”

“He took on a case earlier this year, and the client’s daughter was apparently head over heels for him. Understandable. He stands out among all the skinny or chubby guys, doesn’t he? And he’s good-looking, too. He’s not just some consultant, he’s guaranteed a position if he moves to his grandfather’s fund. So the client apparently didn’t interfere much and just pushed for it. Saying, ‘If you’re not seeing anyone, why don’t you meet my daughter?’”

“Yeah, so?”

“But the girl’s side was a pretty big deal. You know, Samjung Construction. They entrusted him with the company split and consulting, and it couldn’t fall through. So his superiors pressured him, saying it was part of the job, and he finally went. Do you know what he said as soon as he sat down across from the girl at the hotel restaurant?”

“What did he say?”

“He said, ‘I’m gay, so I can’t meet you. I’m sorry,’ and just got up and left. That crazy bastard.”

“Uh……”

“Honestly, that’s not a lack of communication skills, it’s the absence of communication. He went back and his promotion was smoothly cancelled. But there’s also talk that they intentionally blocked his promotion to keep him at the consulting firm for another year since he’ll obviously move to his grandfather’s fund before he reaches manager level.”

“What’s the point of this story? I don’t get it.”

“He’s a guy who flips out and ignores anyone who doesn’t suit his temperament, but he consistently asks about you and gets worked up… Ah, it’s just different, you know?”

“This isn’t him going easy on me, it’s him setting fires everywhere else.”

Seungpyo, finding it amusing since it wasn’t his business, chuckled and poured some drinks. I couldn’t laugh. It felt too reckless for someone who told me not to just do whatever I wanted, but was I mistaken?

“I wish my grandfather was a former Minister of Strategy and Finance and the current head of a fund.”

“Even then, not everyone would act like that.”

“That’s true. Ah, if it were me, I’d start my day by taking a spin around Seoul in a sports car. Work out at a hotel fitness center. Check on my building. I’d live diligently so I wouldn’t have any regrets.”

“Hyun works surprisingly hard for someone from a well-off family, right?”

“He works hard and he’s good at it. He’s strange in many ways.”

“You’re good at your job too.”

Seungpyo talks a lot, but he actually passed the CPA exam, worked in the M&A team at a reputable accounting firm, and has done everything he’s supposed to. It’s just that he’s strangely hyper. Even at the compliment, Seungpyo, for once, didn’t make a fuss, just picked out the oily vegetables and said,

“I just reconcile historical records and apply changed accounting standards. He sees things differently.”

“Really?”

“Early last year, he made me work like crazy. Have you heard of the Speed Market app?”

“I heard of it before. Didn’t the name change?”

“Hyun bought it and changed it. I tried to talk him out of it at first. I asked him why he was buying something like that, and I thought he had money to burn, but then he suddenly asked me to analyze the cash flow of all these small companies. There was everything. Clothing shopping sites, electronic signatures, small escrow services. He bought them one by one and hired developers to work on them. In the end, he even added a payment platform called Speed Pay. I thought, ‘Can this even work?’ But it did. It actually worked. When he sold it all together, he multiplied the value by about ten times.”

“He did that too?”

Come to think of it, I think I installed that app once and then deleted it. I installed it and searched thoroughly because I couldn’t find the camera lens I was trying to buy used.

“He’s good at everything. He was the first to propose the current improved model for small loans from savings banks, and he made about two billion won by investing early in a home exercise equipment business and selling it on home shopping. There’s probably a lot more.”

As expected, they were achievements that didn’t quite resonate with me. I pushed the picked-out vegetables to the edge of the plate along with Seungpyo and muttered,

“Why would someone like that suddenly get involved with Link?”

“Exactly. Now that Hyun’s involved, people are asking if it’s okay.”

“Is it okay?”

“Hmm… Can I say this in front of the founder?”

“We’re already out, so what does it matter?”

“It was fine until you were there, but I don’t know why it’s become like this. Why invest in stocks with company money? Their own value isn’t high enough yet.”

“Ah, Sungjae hyung’s hobby is stocks.”

“Figures.”

Even Seungpyo frowned as if he was fed up, then started eating the meat he’d picked clean of vegetables.

I thought he wouldn’t contact me again. But Hyun suppressed his feelings, and in an overly businesslike, emotionless tone, he texted me. Exactly one week later.

[Mr. Shin Jio, I request a meeting regarding a blind interview with a survey respondent. Is 9 pm on the 17th available?]

[I’ll check and get back to you.]

He’s sulking. This is sulking, not anger. The kind where you just need to play along a little. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief about this. I wonder if it’s okay to use the word “relief” in this situation. Probably not. Definitely not. Then what should I call this situation?

It had already been about five minutes past the time the PD had asked me to come to the meeting room for a brief chat. If I was any later, the atmosphere would be terrible from the start. It was already terrible. Letting out a long sigh, I opened the door to the meeting room. Chief Producer Choi, sitting in a chair in the middle of the empty meeting room, spoke as soon as I entered.

“You’re late.”

“I’m sorry. I got a sudden call.”

“Filming?”

“Personal matter.”

“I see.”

I thought he’d say something more, but thankfully, he didn’t. Was he telling me to sit across from him? As I slowly moved, Chief Producer Choi glanced at the proposal I was holding and said,

“How’s work these days?”

“Work?”

“Our work. How is it?”

“It’s fine.”

“I heard the department head meeting discussed the quality of the VCRs.”

“……I apologize.”

“No, they said it was good. Why are you misunderstanding?”

I stared directly at Chief Producer Choi, who had clearly teased me. At his smirk, I smiled back and renewed my patience once again. You’re the one who phrased it in a misleading way. Calm down. Calm down.

“That’s good to hear.”

“Put a little more passion into it. I was thinking of giving you a corner to direct, but you seem to lack passion.”

“That’s not true.”

“I heard you came from a famous advertising agency.”

“I worked there briefly.”

“A famous one, I heard. The sub-writer told me.”

“Yes, they seem to be doing well these days.”

“Do you want to go back?”

“……No.”

Saying “no” required a bit of conscious self-hypnosis. I didn’t want to go back to that company right now. Going back to the place where Sungjae hyung and the initial members had divided my shares. Even though I gritted my teeth to give that answer, I felt that my timing was a bit late.

“You came here suddenly because the previous assistant director left, right?”

“Yes.”

“I know you came suddenly, but try to settle in and do well. We have frequent company dinners to build teamwork.”

“Yes.”

Those company dinners where I die every time I attend. The thought of becoming one with the floor every time made me grimace. Chief Producer Choi cleared his throat and continued,

“You know, about that time…”

“That time?”

“Yes, about that time… so there are no misunderstandings.”

Misunderstandings? Why does he keep using the same word? Was there anything between us that warranted such a complex and emotional word like “misunderstanding”? Probably not. Our relationship is one where only very professional language is used.

I made a face that clearly showed I didn’t understand, and Chief Producer Choi’s face started to darken. As soon as I saw that, my mind started racing. Why? What? What is it?

“You mean when I drank the bomb shot you gave me and passed out on the stairs?”

“And then?”

“When you were also drunk and took a picture of me and posted it in the group chat…?”

That was more embarrassing for me. Why is he getting so worked up about it?

Ah, maybe it was that. I remembered bumping into him after he took the picture, when he was trying to help me up. He suddenly hugged me tight, and I thought he was crazy. I could barely walk. Ugh. I’d forgotten about it because I didn’t even want to think about it. With a resolute expression, I reinforced my professional demeanor.

“I don’t think anything of it. You were just drunk.”

“That’s how you act when you’re drunk?”

I couldn’t hold back anymore. I glared at him, then squeezed my eyes shut. That crazy bastard. What else would you call accidentally bumping into someone while drunk?

But he seemed to have run out of things to nag me about.

“Fine, then. Check the shooting plan and rent the heli-cam.”

“Yes.”

I check the shooting plan anyway, you bastard. I muttered to myself and turned around. I firmly closed the door behind me and walked down the hallway. The sub-writer, passing by, said,

“Assistant Director, why the long face?”

“I just met with the PD.”

“Ah, that guy. Every time I see him, I’m amazed by his talent for ruining people’s moods.”

I almost choked from laughing at her words, so I covered my mouth and bowed my head. It was so funny I couldn’t control my expression.

˙✧˖🎥⋆˙

I hope everyone’s life goes wrong. Today, I’m filled with such extremely negative thoughts. But it can’t be helped. I can’t be the only one living such a shitty life. Especially Chief Producer Choi, I hope he faces some major setbacks.

“Hey! I told you I wouldn’t let you off if you cancelled because of the rain! What are you going to do about this shoot!”

The sound of the sub-writer berating someone on the phone pierced through even the pouring rain. I’d tried to intervene but had already been subjected to a torrent of abuse and retreated.

Standing under the eaves, shaking off my raincoat, I looked up at the sky as heavy rain poured down. No matter how much the weather forecast seems like a lottery every morning, it’s been really excessive lately. But they definitely said it would rain today, and when I checked the shooting plan and asked the PD, he said,

“They said they’d call everyone and rent all the equipment even if it rains. Don’t you trust me? Are a PD’s words meaningless now?”

He’d said that sarcastically, so I just said yes and let it go. The problem was that, unlike the forecast, it was raining incredibly hard, and the old farmer who had fled to the vinyl greenhouse next door started yelling at us, “If it rains like this, the seeds will wash away, how am I supposed to sow them? Are you going to take responsibility if I lose a year’s worth of crops? Just because you’re from a broadcasting station, you think you can do whatever you want?”

He had completely buried his past claims of sowing the seeds even if it rained. He was so indignant with me that I briefly wondered, did I make it rain? Do I have that kind of incredible power?

Thanks to that, the PD’s pent-up anger exploded on the sub-writer, who was now venting like a crazy person. But it’s so funny. He said we’d film even if it rained, so why is he only yelling at the writer now? I reflected once again, even if I’m embarrassed and my life is shitty, I shouldn’t live a life where I take it out on others.

Meanwhile, I glared at the sky as thunder rumbled, then checked the weather forecast again. The hourly forecast, as if mocking us, said the rain would stop briefly. For about an hour. Is this really happening? I quietly asked a nearby staff member,

“Even if the rain stops briefly, we’re not filming?”

“It’s going to rain again. We’re screwed. I was happy that the shop shoot went smoothly, but now we’re stuck here.”

“Damn it. I really need to go.”

“Why? Girlfriend?”

“No, work.”

I rubbed my head in frustration and looked around. Normally, we’d film two 9-minute segments, two restaurants, and be done, but for this special, we had to film a full 18 minutes. That’s why we were here filming the barley sowing, from the very beginning of the ingredients, but the weather wasn’t cooperating at all.

Is there any way? The misty mountain valleys looked quite picturesque, so if we could just film it somehow…

“Should we ask him later, when the rain stops, to pretend to sow just one furrow? I’ll lie down and focus. When the sky clears, we can capture him sowing the seeds, a short slow-motion shot, and then move on.”

“Let’s suggest it after the PD gets off the phone. I don’t want to sleep here either.”

“Please ask him.”

“Why don’t you ask him yourself, Director?”

“Didn’t you hear him yelling at me for taking the writer’s side? I want to end today’s quota of insults here.”

“Ah, I don’t want to either.”

Despite his words, he seemed willing to do it. I patted him on the shoulder, turned around, and quickly typed out a message.

[Sorry, I think I’ll be a little late.]

I thought he’d be working, but the reply came quickly. And it was short.

[Why.]

[Filming, but it’s raining and my clothes are a mess. I think I’ll be late if I change.]

And I might not be able to make it. How do I explain this? The farmer originally said he’d sow the seeds even if it rained, but it’s raining so heavily that the seeds will all wash away, and he cursed me out. How can I convey this concisely and truthfully? While making it clear that I’m not breaking this promise on purpose.

Then, an unexpected reply came.

[If I pick you up, can you make it on time?]

That’s… a very uncomfortable solution in many ways.

[I’m not in Seoul.]

[Where.]

[Icheon.]

[I have to meet the interviewee and coordinate schedules here.]

[I’ll go when I’m done.]

Now my thoughts became urgent. The rain seemed to have let up a little. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. Anyway, it was better to try. I ran out to meet the PD as he came stomping back after ending the call. I’d also moved away from the others because I was afraid of getting chewed out for saying something.

The PD, wiping the raindrops off his forehead, saw me running towards him and nodded.

“Look for accommodations.”

“About our shoot… They say it’ll clear up briefly later. How about we film a close-up of the sowing then? We can add narration and sound effects during editing.”

“Let’s not cut corners with the filming.”

“We’ve already filmed the shop and other places. I’m suggesting this because of budget constraints. I’ll hold the camera and lie down. If we can convince the old man to use the equipment and just ask him to sow by hand, I’ll try to persuade him.”

“If the footage isn’t good…”

“Then we’ll stop filming and come back tomorrow. I’ll look for accommodations.”

The PD, wiping his eyes as raindrops dripped down, went off for a cigarette. He seemed to be deep in thought. The weather was too bad to film the scene as originally planned. And if we did it my way, he’d have to think about the editing points and such. After a while, the PD came back after his cigarette and said,

“Go and try to persuade the old man. Tell him we’ll film his hands and face.”

“Yes.”

“If the footage is bad, we’ll do it again tomorrow.”

“Yes, if it’s bad, we have no choice.”

“Get set up.”

“I’ll be filming handheld, so everyone else can pack up.”

Getting the staff to pack up wasn’t a big deal, but persuading the old man, who had been yelling from the shelter of the vinyl greenhouse, was a bigger task. I repeated the same thing countless times to the old man, who kept insisting he couldn’t sow the seeds today.

“No, you see! Grandpa, we’re not asking you to sow everything with the machine. We just want your hands to appear, sowing a little bit.”

“I told you, if you sow the seeds now, they’ll all wash away! Huh? Would you do this if it were your farm?”

“No, just a handful. Just a handful, sow it stylishly like this, and I’ll film from below.”

“Just because you’re from a broadcasting station, you think you can just barge in…”

“Grandpa, just one handful. One handful. We’ll film it, and if it turns out well, we’ll leave right away. Otherwise, we’ll borrow your vinyl greenhouse and wait inside until the rain stops.”

The old man, who had been glaring and threatening to make a fuss if anything went missing from his greenhouse, didn’t seem to like that either. While I put my boots back on and tried to persuade him, the rain stopped briefly. A staff member, gauging the brightening sky, shouted,

“Assistant Director, I think this is our limit.”

“Okay, I’m coming. Sir, I’ll lie down over there. We’ll film it in one take.”

After much coaxing and pleading, the old man grumbled but checked several times to make sure his face would be visible on camera. I cleared the area, picked up the camera, and lay down. With a splash, my pants and shoes were soaked. I looked up and glared at Chief Producer Choi, who was still adjusting the angles and hadn’t given the cue sign. But that bastard, even after seeing me like that…

“Sir, could you move back a little? Yes, thank you.”

He completely ignored me, soaking wet, while pretending to be all gentlemanly. That son of a bitch. That goddamn bastard. Only after the muddy rainwater had completely soaked my neck did Chief Producer Choi step back and shout,

“Ready, cue!”

With that, the forcefully scattered seeds rained down on my head and camera.

The filming was thankfully over. It was over, but he dragged it out even after drenching me, making me roll around in the mud to film from every angle since I was already soaked. Later, afraid he’d make me reshoot even after all this and make us get a room, I knelt down in the wet furrow and filmed. Even after seeing me go through all that, the PD meticulously checked the footage with a dissatisfied expression and then…