Damn Idol, Episode 64
The concept itself was fairly plausible.
But if they actually wore outfits like that, wouldn’t it look chaotic?
‘Or not? If the colors are the same, could it give them a sense of unity?’
Producer Kang Seoku had that thought, but he didn’t say it out loud.
Around then, Take Scene handed their self-designed outfit draft to the costume team.
It was an outfit that suited the team concept of “in the middle of filming a movie” quite well.
“You put this together nicely. We should be able to get the clothes quickly too. But these accents here are too much, so how about removing them or combining them into one?”
“Understood.”
“We’ll revise it!”
While Take Scene was revising their draft after accepting the costume team’s advice, Sedalbaegil also completed their self-designed outfit draft.
The chief designer studied Sedalbaegil’s draft closely, then chuckled.
“The idea is fun. But realistically, it’ll be hard to make the colors exactly the same.”
“Will it?”
“Yeah. How could a British classic suit and a hanbok have the same saturation and brightness? It’d be hard enough to match jeans and a school uniform in the exact same shade of blue.”
Today’s shoot was scheduled so that they would first shoot the version to be published in the magazine, and in the meantime, the self-designed outfits submitted by each team would be procured.
In truth, neither Take Scene nor Sedalbaegil had decided on the detailed design of their outfits.
They didn’t have the ability to do so, and there was no need for it either.
The idea was closer to each team submitting a draft at the concept level, and the costume team picking up appropriate clothes using it as a reference.
So if they demanded color uniformity like Sedalbaegil, the situation was bound to become complicated.
It wasn’t easy to find clothes with completely different designs but identical colors in just a few hours.
That was when Han Sion proposed a solution.
“Couldn’t the colors be adjusted after the shoot?”
“Adjusted?”
“Yes. It would be great if the outfits could be made from scratch, but since the circumstances don’t allow that, isn’t that the only way?”
“Hmm…… It’s not difficult, but it wasn’t discussed beforehand.”
When the chief designer glanced at Producer Kang Seoku, Producer Kang Seoku gave a hollow laugh inwardly.
Han Sion’s wicked silver tongue had already wrapped the chief designer around it.
At a glance, it sounded like an ordinary conversation, but Han Sion had shifted all responsibility for the current situation onto the production crew.
If the outfits could be made from scratch.
Since the circumstances don’t allow that.
This is the only way.
Those naturally arranged sentences created the context that all responsibility lay with them, but that he had offered a solution.
The designer caught up in it naturally focused only on the point of, “Is it okay to do it that way?”
Without even thinking to debate whether the outfit draft itself was acceptable.
In truth, this was a skill that office workers with a bit of rank used naturally.
It wasn’t anything tremendously special.
But that also meant it was difficult for a twenty-year-old aspiring singer to use.
‘He really is a strange guy.’
Thinking that, Producer Kang Seoku nodded to the designer.
At the same time, he looked toward Take Scene.
It meant that they shouldn’t provide convenience only to Sedalbaegil, but should adjust Take Scene’s colors as well.
The chief designer seemed to understand perfectly.
“All right, let’s do that. Then we just need to find designs that suit the concept draft, right?”
“Will that be possible?”
“The concept is clear, so I don’t think it’ll be difficult.”
“We’ll be in your care!”
“Thank you!”
Producer Kang Seoku chuckled as he watched Han Sion, having secured what he wanted, go back to acting like a baby chick.
* * *
While the self-designed outfits were being prepared, the pictorial shoot to be published in the magazine began first.
Today’s shoot was being carried out simultaneously, with Take Scene in Studio A and Sedalbaegil in Studio B.
“All right, we’ll start with the group shots!”
Interestingly enough, the ace and the weak link of each team were clear.
Take Scene’s ace was Eye Level.
Take Scene’s stage names were all filming terms, and eye level referred to an angle that looked at the subject from eye height.
An eye-level angle was heavily influenced by the actor’s acting ability.
A great actor’s eye-level angle gave a stable and comfortable impression, while a third-rate actor’s eye-level angle could only feel bland.
In that context, Take Scene’s Eye Level was the former.
Even when he received the same shot in the same composition as the other members, he shone.
“Nice! Glare a little more persistently!”
The photographer seemed to be enjoying shooting him, and began requesting all sorts of gestures.
If Take Scene’s ace was Eye Level, their weak link was Fade.
“Fade! Put some strength in your eyes! No, I’m telling you to stare hard!”
He looked lacking in confidence, and as if he had too many stray thoughts.
The Take Scene members felt unfamiliar seeing Fade like that.
What kind of guy was Fade?
At times he was so direct it was flustering, and at times so bold it was unpleasant.
In fact, Fade was a member who had once been eliminated from the debut lineup, then returned after a vacancy opened up.
In most cases like that, there was a high chance the memory of “having been eliminated” would make one shrink back, but Fade hadn’t been like that at all.
Rather, he had acted with confidence, as if he were the savior of a team that had almost fallen apart.
Of course, some teammates liked that attitude of Fade’s, while others found it irritating.
But no one denied that Fade was a person full of confidence.
And that Fade was cowed?
‘Did something happen?’
‘No way, on the bus with Han Sion?’
No matter how they thought about it, nothing stood out except what happened on the bus.
After all, Fade’s condition had definitely looked good until that morning.
The members’ guesses were correct.
Han Sion hadn’t applied any particular pressure beyond sitting in the seat next to Fade, but that was precisely what felt humiliating to Fade.
If Han Sion had picked a fight with him, Fade might have gotten angry, but he wouldn’t have been crushed.
But Han Sion didn’t pick a fight, nor did he act contrary.
He simply sat beside Fade and quietly wrote sheet music on a smartphone app.
It was an attitude that said he genuinely paid no attention to someone like Fade at all.
But Fade kept being conscious of Han Sion.
Just as Han Sion had thought, Fade was the type to be sensitive to unspoken hierarchies and invisible influence.
The fact that no matter what aspect he compared, he couldn’t measure up to Han Sion was tormenting him.
So he regretted it.
The fact that he had picked a fight with Han Sion.
‘……
Fuck!’
The very fact that he had felt regret filled him with self-loathing.
That was the reason Fade’s mentality had been shattered.
“Fade!”
“……
I’m sorry.”
“Go to the dressing room and clear your head for a bit. I can see you’re full of other thoughts right now.”
If Fade was being treated as the weak link in Take Scene like this, then the one being treated as the weak link in Sedalbaegil was Onsaemiro.
“Smile a little brighter. No! Try smiling like you mean it!”
However, his case was different from Fade’s.
Rather than lacking confidence, he looked awkward.
Onstage, because he overflowed with ambition and motivation, he even had the emotion of “I’ll prove myself,” but offstage, that wasn’t the case.
Everything he did was awkward.
Whether he stared at the camera, smiled brightly, or ran around like a mischievous child.
In contrast, the one going wild like a fish in water was Han Sion.
In fact, Choe Jaeseong was also showing himself to be very skilled compared to the other members, but because of Han Sion, he was overshadowed.
‘Wow, this kid was born to stand in front of a camera.’
‘If he were just a little taller, he could’ve succeeded as a model too.’
That was how even the most successful photographers in Korea were thinking.
“Han Sion, are your growth plates still open by any chance?”
There was even someone who felt genuinely disappointed enough to ask that question.
“I’m not sure.”
“How tall are you?”
“178.”
“Can’t you grow a bit more? Just about ten centimeters?”
“I think I’ll be done after growing maybe two or three more centimeters.”
In truth, Han Sion’s performance was only natural.
The pictorials he had shot so far must have numbered in the thousands, and the photographers he had worked with must have numbered in the hundreds.
He had even worked not in Korea, but with the most successful people in Hollywood.
It would have been stranger if he hadn’t become skilled.
But the people around him, who didn’t know that, were dumbfounded.
No matter how they thought about it, Han Sion seemed like a human made by mistake by God.
If he had been given absurd composing ability and vocal skill, he should have been lacking in other areas for balance to make sense……
But they couldn’t find a single shortcoming.
He danced well, looked excellent, spoke well, and overflowed with charm in front of a camera.
He wasn’t even the eccentric genius type, so he could get along smoothly with his teammates.
He even had luck on his side, like the fact that the composer of Flowers Bloom was Chris Edward.
On top of that, Producer Kang Seoku knew just how high Han Sion’s social intelligence was.
‘He really is perfect.’
Except for the occasional inexplicable mood swings, it wouldn’t feel awkward to call him flawless.
Because he was that kind of person, even amid ever-changing situations, the protagonist who took all the spotlight was invariably Han Sion.
“We’ll begin the individual shoot!”
At that moment, the group shoot ended and Han Sion’s individual shoot began.
Onsaemiro, who had been staring blankly at Han Sion in front of the camera, quietly rose from his seat.
The photographer had moved Onsaemiro’s individual shoot, which had been scheduled second, to the very end.
It meant he should watch the members and learn.
So even when Onsaemiro left his seat, no one paid any attention.
‘Where should I go?’
Onsaemiro looked around the fairly spacious studio like an uninvited guest, then headed for the dressing room.
With the certainty that no one would be there, since it was a space used only by Take Scene and Sedalbaegil.
But there was someone inside.
It was Fade of Take Scene.
* * *
My individual shoot ended after being delayed longer than expected.
Of course, I wasn’t delayed because I was bad.
It was because I did too well, and the photographer raised the target point of the results all at once.
Still, well, it wasn’t difficult.
I must have soaked up tens of thousands of liters’ worth of Hollywood broadcasting station experience.
However, one thing I couldn’t get used to was people telling me I was handsome.
Of course, I knew my looks were on the decent side.
But it had been impossible to be evaluated as special to this extent in the United States.
‘Among top stars, you’re just about okay? But your atmosphere is unique, so it doesn’t matter. Your looks also feel like they emphasize that uniqueness.’
That was what a top-tier artist, whom Hollywood stars paid nearly ten thousand dollars for makeup, had said to me.
He had put it in a roundabout way, but it probably meant I looked ordinary.
To surpass the unfamiliarity of race, wouldn’t one need to be at least on I Ion’s level?
In any case, after receiving nothing but evaluations like that for dozens of rounds, suddenly being showered with praise was a bit embarrassing.
Thinking that, I headed toward the dressing room.
I had seen Onsaemiro heading toward the dressing room, but he hadn’t shown himself since.
Surely he hadn’t hidden in the dressing room after being criticized by the photographer and fallen asleep without realizing it?
If he slept, his face would get puffy.
Thinking that, I was about to knock on the dressing room door when I heard voices from inside.
I couldn’t hear the conversation clearly.
But since the door wasn’t made for soundproofing, when I listened closely, I could roughly guess what was being said.
And then I was dumbfounded.
Because Fade was cursing Onsaemiro with crude words.