Chapter 135: Studio (3)
"Hey, where are you going?!"
"The washroom."
Sang-Hyeon brushed past Ju-Hyeok and ran to the washroom. Thankfully, no one was in there.
Slam!
Sang-Hyeon slammed his hands on the sink. He was breathing heavily and his heart pounded.
Was he scared? No.
Sang-Hyeon grabbed his chest. He was angry.
Clench...
His white shirt was losing threads. He remembered that he was wearing a borrowed costume and released the pressure. The crumpled shirt slowly gained its shape again.
Sang-Hyeon turned towards the mirror and faced his familiar face. The Sang-Hyeon in the mirror had some meat on his face, red cheeks with a less defined jawline.
His mirrored self told him shamelessly,
‘I'm going to stop because it's not fun anymore.’?
“Kugh.”
He couldn't breathe for a moment.
Sang-Hyeon glanced down. He could see his immature eyes through his hair. No matter how well he pretended to act, he was still closer to being a child. He couldn't bear the weight of a life-changing lie.
His right hand trembled as it turned on the sink.
Splash...
Warm water flowed out. He gathered the water with his trembling hands and splashed it on his face.
Splash.
He needed more and spun the right side of the knob to turn the water colder. Again, he splashed himself on the face. The cold winter water sharply dug into his skin.
"Sigh..."
He finally came back. In the mirror, he could see a wet Yu Sang-Hyeon entering his thirties and staring back at him.
He asked himself, "What's wrong?"
The two met eyes.
"You've never been repulsed by seeing a bow in real life... What's wrong?"
Someone was asking questions, but nobody answered.
"Is it because they asked you to shoot?"
There was still no answer, but that seemed to be the case. No one had approached him with a bow and asked him to shoot since the accident, at least in real life.
Sang-Hyeon's eyes in the mirror became scattered. It was a habit he had when he started thinking.
"Should I tell them it's difficult because of my injury..."
He sought excuses to explain why he couldn't use a bow. He had to think of a natural excuse because there was a limit to how much Ju-Hyeok and Manager Oh could cover for him.
An injury would be viable. Everyone would accept it.
However...
"What about the next shoot?"
This was bound to happen in the future again. What would he do then? Should he tell them it was a permanent injury?
That wasn't a bad idea. Or should he use this opportunity to tell them honestly about it? No matter how good Manager Oh and Director Han were at keeping secrets, people would eventually find out.
‘Yeah, let's do that. There's nothing bad about it.’?
How far would the rumors go if only the studio crew knew about it?
Sang-Hyeon released his hands and put them on his waist, thinking he found the best solution.
"..."
But he couldn't take another step. His sticky and uneasy shadow wouldn't let him go.
He could hear So-Yeon's voice from the shadow.
"You're shameless."
Sang-Hyeon's eyes opened. He was finally back to himself.
***
Manager Oh and Supervisor Koh were raising their voices.
"Sigh... When does the medical work finish? We need this scene because Almond's character shoots arrows... We'll try to move our schedule around..."
"Ah... This isn't a matter that'll be fixed in a couple of days—"
"Shouldn't you at least tell us what kind of injury it is—"
Slam!
Sang-Hyeon entered after opening the glass door.
"—I mean."
"...Sang-Hyeon?"
Sang-Hyeon walked through the silence to the staff.
"I'll do it. Give it to me."
"... Sorry?" the staff's eyes widened.
'I heard you were injured?'
Judging from what Manager Oh said, wasn't he unable to use a bow?
"I'm alright. You can give it to me."
Sang-Hyeon returned to the studio. The set made for Sang-Hyeon was empty. Miho and Bubblegum stared at him worriedly.
Ju-Hyeok looked down, deep in his thoughts, unaware of Sang-Hyeon walking in.
"Are you sure you're okay with this? We can push it to another date if you want."
"That's alright. Manager Oh must've exaggerated because he was worried about me."
Ju-Hyeok lifted his head after hearing Sang-Hyeon's reply to the staff.
'Huh?'
And he saw what Sang-Hyeon was holding.
'?!'
He was about to shout at Sang-Hyeon to stop, but Ju-Hyeok stopped himself.
'He's doing it out of his own will.'
The staff and supervisor weren't forcing him to do it. Rather, Sang-Hyeon was taking the bow out of their hands.
'What happened? I was thinking of a bunch of excuses.'
Ju-Hyeok thought of a handful of excuses, assuming Sang-Hyeon couldn't use the bow.
‘Could he use it?’
Ju-Hyeok was confused.
"O-Okay, I’ll give it to you. If there are any problems, please let us know."
Sang-Hyeon took the bow from the staff member, who double-checked with him.
'Is he really going to do it?'
Gulp.
The camera PD sent a signal.
"Alright, raise your hand if you're ready. All you need to do is run quickly behind the obstacle and shoot at the target."
***
Thump, thump, thump—?
Sang-Hyeon's heart was usually calm, but it was pounding right now. His blood rushed, and he sweated profusely as if he was losing all his fluids.
Sang-Hyeon clenched his teeth.
'I can do this.'
He was going to do this. It wasn't false confidence. There was no reason he couldn't do it.
‘Their request is simpler than I thought.’
After he analyzed the situation and calmed down, he could see it.
'I can do it with this hand.'
It wasn't that his right hand didn't function. It just didn't function delicately. Normally, his hand slightly trembled and this trembling grew stronger when he started typing for a long time.
This handicap only affected him when he had to land a bullseye for an archery target, but now?
What was their request? Did they want him to land a bullseye on a professional target with a professional recurve bow?
No.
All they wanted was for him to hit a green target far away. The green target was enormous and about twenty times bigger than an archery target. Even someone who wasn't proficient with a bow could hit it.
'If I fire it using a new way, it'll be easier.'
There was another reason Sang-Hyeon thought he could do it. He recently learned a new war technique for his game. The time it took to ready this bow was much shorter. It allowed him to fire quickly, and his trembling didn't matter.
It prioritized speed over precision, which was perfect for this situation. Precision didn't matter. He planned to fire many shots and hoped for one to hit.
'It'll work.'
The problem was he never used the technique in person, but Sang-Hyeon decided to believe in himself.
Chuk.
He raised his hand.
"Are you ready, Almond?"
"Yes, but... there's only one arrow here. Are there any more?"
***
Sang-Hyeon requested more arrows. Ju-Hyeok was confused as he watched it unfold from a distance.
"Ju-Hyeok, will Almond be okay?" Manager Oh sat beside him.
"Is there something wrong with Almond?"
Miho was sitting beside them as well. Bubblegum watched from a distance.
'Was it a bit noisy earlier?'
The incident with the staff from earlier gained too much attention. They also had to wait for Almond to finish the shoot.
"Ahem..."
Ju-Hyeok signaled to Manager Oh that he couldn't say anything since Miho was there. Manager Oh nodded but couldn't just send her away. Since it was her turn next, it was strange to send her away.
"Manager, is there something wrong with Almond?"
"..."
Ju-Hyeok kept his mouth shut and didn't even look at her. He wasn't doing it intentionally, but he thought he'd cough up the truth if they met eyes.
"Hello?" Miho asked again.
She had a nice personality. If a person were ignored, they would usually back off. However, she continued to ask him with an innocent smile. Ju-Hyeok started to feel bad.
"Hmm...?No, I think he was just... feeling unwell. That's why he went to the washroom... and it's probably because it's his first time doing a busy shoot like this."
"Ah...!" Miho smiled brightly and nodded. "Right, I was like that at first too."
"I see."
He replied like a robot, but Miho didn't seem to care. Rather, she pointed at Sang-Hyeon like a happy child.
"Oh! It looks like he's about to shoot now! This is my first time seeing someone shoot an actual bow, but why does he have four arrows..."
"Huh?"
Ju-Hyeok followed her finger and glanced at Almond. There were arrows in between his fingers—a total of four arrows.
'That's...'
It was the war technique Almond used in Battle Large. It was a strategy used to consecutively fire four arrows in a row.
'Will that work?'
It was possible since the one who spread the technique did it in real life, but Sang-Hyeon had never done it in person…
"Wow! That's the technique I saw in the Battle Large?video! I didn't know it was possible in person!"
'We don't know that yet...'
Miho was happy, but Ju-Hyeok couldn't think properly. Sang-Hyeon quit archery because of his right hand, yet he volunteered to do so. And he was firing not one, but four shots at once?
He was about to perform a war technique he wasn't used to.
Ju-Hyeok was confused as to what was going on.
Chuk.
Sang-Hyeon raised his hand again.
"Alright, I'm ready!"
Tang!
As the slate came down, the cue sign went up. Sang-Hyeon started to sprint forward, rolled his body, and stood before the obstacle.
"Woah…! He's good!"
"Woah, we didn't even tell him to roll. He's a natural."
Manager Oh and Miho were both impressed. Sang-Hyeon moved as if he practiced multiple times.
'That guy... is just naturally athletic.'
Ju-Hyeok was quietly impressed.
Sang-Hyeon lifted his bow behind the obstacle.
Creak…
Finally, one of the arrows in his fingers was nocked into place.
'Will it work?'
Before he could finish his thought…
Pang!!
The arrow flew as soon as he nocked it into place.
"!?"
The arrow landed on the lower half of the green pillar.
'It hit...'
Did this count? It was iffy. It wasn't the perfect shots Sang-Hyeon normally showed off.
'Why on the lower half?'
'What's going on?'
Manager Oh and Miho became startled. It hit, but why did he land it there? Did he miss? The two looked confused.
'Damn, he missed.'
Ju-Hyeok, who had seen Sang-Hyeon shoot before in videos, knew something was wrong.
However—
Pang!
The next arrow flew.
Thwack!
This time, a little bit higher.
"Oh!"
"It worked!"
The people got up with their mouths open as if to say something, but Sang-Hyeon's next arrow was already in the air.
Swoosh—?
The third arrow flew through the air and hit above the other arrows.
Thwack!!
This time, it was much closer to the center.
And the last...
Pang!!
The arrow quickly flew. If the target were a person, it would’ve landed perfectly on the head.
Thwack!
'It worked…?'
'!'
'...!'
There was a moment of silence. The PD took a look at the computer screen beside him. He could see the real-time CG of the giant's head being perfectly struck with an arrow.
The PD raised his hand.
"Cut!"
He smiled with an okay sign.
"Alright! Very good! This is insane? I can't believe he did this in one try?!"
Sang-Hyeon put his trembling right hand into his pocket and sat down. He had a smile on his face dripping with sweat.