AUTHOR'S NOTE

I experimented a bit with the narrative style, so this is a little bit different from the previous chapters. And I kinda rushed this chapter, I'll usually take more time to edit and smooth things out here and there before publishing but I have no time because I'm going to be off for vacation... might as well put this out there before I'm off. I'll revisit this chapter later to see if I got things stupidly wrong or something... but I'll be off for now! Wish me a great vacation :)

When Kim Min-Seok first met them on the script-reading meet, he was definitely more nervous to greet her than to greet him.

They were both top star, sure. They were both actors who were in way different league than him, a mere up and coming actor whose most significant role was just ‘that other guy’ on the drama. They both hung out with a totally different circle of friends with him, so that the only thing that he knew about them was what he learned from the TV persona.

He’d always thought of his noona as an actress whose level he found so intimidating, someone who’s extremely beautiful, extremely charming, but somehow distant and hard to decipher. He knew virtually nothing about her aside from her acting, and it really made him nervous, not knowing what to expect when he’d greet her. On the other hand, he had watched his hyung a lot when he was the fixed cast for Running Man variety show, and his circle of friend was arguably the coolest actor gang in Korea. It gave him a rough idea of how his hyung would be in real life.

But when he awkwardly delivered his introduction to the entire room at the start of the script-reading, stuttering his speech at the sight of the two superstars in front of him, his noona looked at him with such attention he’d never expected to receive as a minor supporting actor, and she kept smiling at him encouragingly when he stumbled on his speech. And when he greeted them personally after the script-reading concluded, his hyung straight away told him the most memorable advice he ever received from an acting senior: “You should practice your first introduction the same way you practiced your lines when you’re casting for the role. Leave a strong impression to directors and writers so they remember you. That’s what’s getting you where you are now, and that’s what will get you further than this.”

His noona then proceeded to treat the whole cast and crew to lunch, and even when many of the casts and crews were constantly crowding her, excited to take their chance to talk with her personally, she never once lost the warmth of the smile on her face.

Even before filming started, he immediately decided that they were both the coolest leads he had ever worked with. He was determined to stick close to them during filming to learn as much as he could from his two incredible seniors.

--

His first day of filming with both of them was at the hospital, for the first episode scenes.

They wrapped up all the filming with supporting casts early on, and all that was left by the end of the day was the scenes involving only the two leads. He wasn’t needed on set any longer and yet he stayed behind, keen to watch his hyung and noona at work. The production assistant was trying to not-so-subtly tell him off, saying that he should be free to go since all his scenes were already good. But he was deliberately playing dumb to the hint, reasoning that he had nothing to do and would just hang around ‘in case you guys need some extra help’.

The assistant ignored him in the end, letting him stick around and watch as his hyung and his noona prepared for the filming, sitting side by side and going over the script together. They seemed to be discussing how to act out the scenes, and she laughed at something his hyung said, slapping his shoulder playfully while he stifled his laugh.

The director called for first take and they both got up from their chairs, their previous playfulness subsided into sheer professionalism.

Min Seok stood in the corner and watched as they assumed their place in the patient ward, the scene beginning with her dressing his wound, and the set was awfully silent as the two leads ended their flirty exchanges with a long, tender gaze at each other. He didn’t realize until the director yelled ‘Cut!’ that he was holding his breath the whole time, too fixated with the scenes that played out in front of him.

He could have sworn it was real attraction in the way they stared at each other, because there was no way a gaze that intense could be merely an act, but his hyung just casually broke the fourth wall after the cut, exclaiming smugly, ‘I win!’ while his noona just huffed out a laugh in disbelief.

They turned it into a little staring game between themselves, Min Seok thought, and his amazement only grew as he watched them reenact the scenes a couple more times for the alternate angle takes, effortlessly switching between the coy, flirty acting and the playful teasing in between.

No wonder they are such top stars.

--

He immediately took both of them as his acting parental-fi