Idol of the Heavenly One - vanish into fiction

The music video storyline was fun. It was set in a high school, and while I fell in love, felt excited, got discouraged, and gathered the courage to confess, the members kept appearing beside me teasing, advising, and cheering me on according to the lyrics.

If there was a small blessing in misfortune, it was that the female lead did not have a very big role. Most of her scenes were distant silhouettes or shots from behind. Because of that, acting out being smitten or shy was not difficult. Thanks to this, Baek Jae-heon’s burning jealousy could calm down a little.

Still, one or two scenes needed to be filmed up close. Like the scene where I turned a corner in the hallway and almost bumped into the female lead coming from the opposite direction, or the scene where I was playing soccer and went to pick up a ball that flew far away only to run into her standing there. Since these were solo shoots, most of the members rested in the temporary waiting room. Baek Jae-heon was the only one who refused to rest, followed me around, and whenever the director shouted cut, he rushed in to place himself between me and the female lead.

“See, Myeong-hyeon acts well.”

And then he would always look for the behind-the-scenes camera, as if to show that he was not monitoring me out of jealousy. It was so obvious that it was funny and cute. So I usually laughed and accepted it, but the problem was the final scene.

On a rainy day, I had to grab the female lead’s wrist and pull her under the eaves while saying ‘I like you’. Because of the machine that created artificial rain, only the female lead, the camera director, and I could be inside the filming area. Which meant that Baek Jae-heon could not enter.

I had never grabbed a woman’s wrist in my entire life, so I was already flustered. But having Baek Jae-heon watching from a distance made me twice as tense. I wondered if I should barely touch her wrist.

“Sunbae, you can just grab my wrist firmly and pull me.”

“Oh, yes…”

“I think you are really good at acting with your expressions.”

“… Haha.”

Meanwhile, the idol playing the female lead kept talking to me. Maybe she was the type to get close easily. I did not hate it. I understood how she must be trying her best, not wanting to be disliked. So I tried to respond with a smile whenever possible, but the problem was that every time I smiled, I felt Baek Jae-heon’s gaze sharpen.

Still, the shoot came first, so I ignored the feeling of his fiery gaze burning into my back and continued. I grabbed the wrist of the female lead, who was running through the rain, pulled her with me under the eaves, and looked down into her eyes. Then I spoke my line.

“I like you.”

Her eyes widened slightly, and she looked up at me in a daze. The camera captured the two of us together and slowly pulled back. After a moment, the director called cut, signaling the end of the shoot. I bowed in greeting to the female lead as a thank you for her work.

Then I turned toward the staff, waiting for the rain machine to stop.

“Sunbae.”

“Yes?”

A voice suddenly called me from beside me, so I turned back to her. I thought she was going to say something like good job, so I planned to respond briefly and end it there.

“I think you are really cool…”

“… Me?”

“Yes. At the arena, and at the fansign too…”

“… Ah.”

“I want to become an idol as cool as you.”

She expressed her admiration. Her eyes were sparkling. It was not a stage reaction or polite flattery. It was the expression of someone who meant it sincerely. I felt strange for a moment. It felt unfamiliar that I could be someone that another person wanted to emulate. It made me feel like I should live even more diligently because someone might look up to me. It was not a bad feeling. I had not even debuted for a year, but thinking that someone might someday say something like this to me again made me feel excited for the days ahead.

“Thank you. I think you will become a great idol too, Jooha.”

I smiled and thanked her, then slowly turned my head. And I met Baek Jae-heon’s eyes. The rain between us had stopped.

“…”

I thought he would walk straight toward me, but Baek Jae-heon only stared blankly in my direction. So I headed toward him first. I bowed to the staff on the way, and since the next scene was one the female lead would film alone, Baek Jae-heon and I could return to the waiting room.

“Why?”

“…”

But Baek Jae-heon did not head for the waiting room. He stood still, looking down at me. I wondered if he had something to say, or if he felt jealous because I filmed those scenes with the female lead, so I asked with a smile.